The Miraculous Medal: Origin and Diffusion

## The Second Appearance of the VirginWhile the Revolution of 1830 raged between July 27th and 29th, the *Three Glorious Days* were celebrated. The king was deposed, and all the bloody wars that had been threatened were underway. Even the Archbishop of Paris was a target of popular fury. It seemed as if the dark days of 1793 were returning. But there was a protection, as prophesied—the Lazarists and Daughters of Charity. The threats of young rioters stopped at the door of the communities of Saint Vincent de Paul.## The Miraculous MedalWas this the end? No. Four months later, she received a specific order: to have a medal struck with the image of the *Immaculate Conception*, which she saw radiant with God’s gifts. On December 27th, she had a strong desire to see Saint Mary.> “A desire so intense that it convinced me I would see her as beautiful as on her most beautiful day. I saw the Most Holy Virgin at the same height as the picture of Saint Joseph […]. Standing, dressed in white silk of the color of dawn, of average stature, with an appearance so beautiful that it would be impossible to describe her beauty. She wore a white silk dress of the color of dawn and a blue-silver cloak, with a veil of aurora. Her hands were extended, from which radiated streaks of light, whose glow was blinding. At the same time, I heard a voice saying: ‘These rays are the symbol of the graces that Mary obtains for humanity’” (Life, 90-91). It was five and a half in the afternoon, during prayer, “in profound silence.” Father Aladel, her confessor, did not record this event, leaving only Catherine’s own account:> “During prayer, the novice saw an image representing the Virgin Mary as she is usually depicted with the title of *Immaculate Conception*, standing, with her arms outstretched. She was dressed in a white dress and blue-silver cloak, with a veil of aurora. Around the picture, in golden letters, read: ‘O Mary, conceived without sin! Pray for us who have recourse to you’” (Life, 91).**Memories of Catherine: Her Feelings and Visions**Catherine’s recollections detail her emotions at that moment:> «Regarding this, I cannot express what I felt and saw: the beauty and brilliant light, the rays…» […] «I distribute [these graces] to people who ask for them», [she heard Catherine say]. She made me understand how generous she was with those who pray to her. How many graces she grants to those who ask, and what joy she feels in giving them. At that moment, whether I was there or not, I rejoiced, I do not know» (Life, 91-92). Father Aladel continues his story briefly, echoing Catherine: «A few moments later, this painting turns, and on the back she distinguishes the letter “M” and above a small cross, and below, the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. After the nun carefully reflected on all this, a voice told her: ‘It is necessary to make a medal in this model, and those who wear it and pray with piety will have special protection from the Mother of God’».**Subsequent History**At first, Father Aladel rejects Catherine’s experiences. He considers them an illusion and advises her to honor Mary by imitating her virtues and avoiding imagination. Catherine, seemingly calm and composed, retreats without argument, primarily due to self-control and the grace promised. The shock was intense but temporary. She strives to obey.**Third and Final Appearance (December 1830)**In December, she sees the painting again, as on November 27th, at «half past five», after meditation. Mary wears the same high-collared dress, in the color of dawn, and her blue veil. Her hair is tied with a decorated band, two fingers long, Catherine describes meticulously. The rays emanating from her hands «filled the lower part so that one no longer saw her feet». Once more, she hears «a voice» within: «These rays are the symbol of the graces that the Blessed Virgin obtains for those who ask her». This appearance has a parting nature. Catherine receives this message:> «I will not be seen again, but you will hear my voice during your prayers».**Service to the Poor**On January 30, 1831, Catherine took the habit and left the novitiate. She is assigned to the nearby house of Reuilly so she can be seen; as a nun, she will cause no inconvenience. She served with perfect discretion throughout her life, but the medal had not yet been made.In March 1832, a terrible cholera epidemic struck Parisians within hours. Twenty thousand died from dehydration. It is a national drama, a time of condolences, mutual aid, and prayer. At this moment, Mr. Aladel persuades Monsignor Quélen, also troubled by the drama of the Revolution which cost him his archbishopric on January 15, 1831, to combat this tragedy. He returned to visit the sick. In May, the epidemic subsided, only to resume in mid-June. And all this accelerated the production of the medal. On June 30, 1832, the first 1,500 copies were distributed. The archbishop wore it and had an image made with his effigy. Catherine received hers at the beginning of July. And miracles began to occur, lasting cures after countless instances of healing. Nothing specific is said about Catherine’s life; she remained steadfastly a discreet and effective servant to the poor. In Reuilly, she quickly became a peasant in charge of the garden and animals, always ready for her tasks, even before somber and authoritarian elders. She demonstrated the true measure of her discrete authority and adaptability during the 1871 Commune. She no longer had apparitions, but sometimes received communications and messages that she was tasked with relaying. In these cases, she persisted until obedience reduced her to silence.**The Cross of 1848**At the threshold of the 1848 Revolution, Catherine sent Mr. Aladel a new request: a large cross to be erected in Paris as a spiritual lightning rod:> “This cross will be called the Cross of Victory. It will be highly revered. People from all over France and even from distant countries will come to it out of devotion, others on pilgrimage, and still others out of curiosity. There will be very special protections related to the miracle. No one will come to Paris who does not visit and see this cross as if it were a work of art.”And the sublime ended in the mundane; Father Aladel found reasons to laugh at what the sister said. She continued:> “At the foot of the cross, all this revolution will be represented exactly as it happened. The base of the cross seems to me to be about 10 to 12 feet square and the actual cross itself about 15 to 20 feet high. Once erected, it seemed to me to be approximately 30 feet tall.”(Life, 191)Again, Catherine was not heeded. Father Aladel ordered her never to speak of it again. She had one last letter to write:> **”My Father, this is the third time I am asking you for this cross, after consulting God the Good, Holy Virgin and our good father Saint Vincent.”** […] **Instead of feeling relieved, I felt more compelled to write to you. So, out of obedience, I submit. I think I will no longer worry. I am, with the deepest respect, your devoted daughter of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary”** (Life, 190-191).The cross was very popular in 1848. Some demonstrators triumphantly carried a cross they had saved from the attack on the Tuileries, but Aladel did not take advantage of the opportunity.**Lourdes, 1858**When Catherine heard about the apparition, she immediately said: **”It is the same [Lady]”** (Life, 197). Her superior, Sister Dufès, wrote that **”the most extraordinary”**, without having read any published works, Catherine was aware of everything that had happened, even more so than those who had gone on pilgrimage. According to her, the Virgin chose to appear so far away because the community chapel for the nuns was not open to the public. Three sisters recorded their reflections: **”And think that these miracles could have taken place in our chapel!”** (Testimony of Sister Tranchemer). **”If the colleges wanted, Our Lady would have chosen our chapel”** (Mr. Millon). **”My Good Mother, no one here wants to do what you want, manifest yourself elsewhere!”**Catherine expressed her dissatisfaction that the chapel on rue de Bac was not open to the public, hindering the congregation’s growth as it was too small for the numerous nuns and 500 novitiates. It was April 25, 1865, when M. Aladel died. He had been Catherine’s confessor until his death.**The Virgin with the Globe**Catherine was troubled because the Miraculous Medal, then a million copies, did not represent what she had seen in 1830: the Virgin holding a globe radiant with light. Sister Dufès began: **”You will say I am crazy!”** “Oh! Not for the first time! M. Aladel treated me like a bad wasp many times when I insisted on these things.” Then she told him about it. **”What happened to this globe?”** “All I could see were rays coming from her hands,” responded Catherine. **”But what will happen to the Medal if all this is made public?”** **”You must not touch the Miraculous Medal”** replied Sister Dufès. **”But if M. Aladel refused, it means he had his reasons”**. **”It is the martyrdom of my life!”** countered Catherine. **”But the globe of the earth is already under her feet, so there will be a second globe in her hands?”**

Neither Catherine nor Sister Dufès ever explained how the seer reconciled the two images.

Sister Dufès is even more perplexed by the fact that Catherine was not infallible in her intuitions. She had the ground dug up at Reuilly, after the town hall, to discover a flat stone, “like a tombstone,” at a depth of 1.50 meters, “with which” they were to “build a chapel, or rather, a church.” They searched but found nothing: “You are wrong,” concluded Sister Dufès.

Catherine had given in to the evidence: “Well, my sister, I was wrong. I thought I was speaking the truth. I’m glad you know the truth.”

From all this, one measures the difficulty of discernment in matters of apparitions. Did Aladel discern correctly by rejecting the cross of 1848, which could have had a considerable influence at that time? Was he right to reject the Virgin with the globe whose design Sister Dufès eventually supported, despite an initial categorical refusal from her superior? There’s no denying it: two images of the Virgin would present many difficulties in high places due to revolutions. But he had granted a private realization of this model for the Reuilly house. The model fixed according to Catherine’s indications, while maintaining her anonymity, was finally placed in the chapel on the rue de Bac without anyone realizing what all this could add to the open-handed and radiant Virgin already placed on the central altar.

In short, at the beginning of the apparition, the Virgin held a radiant globe (the Earth) in her hands. The light became blinding. Catherine no longer saw, at that point, the first globe but only the rays illuminating the globe under the Virgin’s feet (and which also represented the Earth). What was the position of her hands then? The investigations do not specify it. However, Catherine explained to Sister Dufès:

“Nothing must be changed on the medal!”. This makes it likely that Aladel was right in retaining the final phase represented on the medal because it is not the globe that radiates light, but the Virgin’s hands. The medal could only represent this final phase, whatever the variants of each of the three apparitions.

As Catherine approached her seventies, she began to feel the weight of old age. Her secret started to be revealed furtively, and she received a discreet visit from Marshal Mac Mahon (Life, 286) at a time when families were not allowed to visit the sickroom. During her fervent agonia, she still manifested this intuitive side, as a double vision that discreetly accompanied her regular daily work, perfectly integrated into various social situations. For her death, she asked sixty-three children to recite each invocation of Our Lady’s litanies around her bed.

“She is losing her mind,” “they have started to think. There are only thirty-seven invocations in the Immaculate Conception litany used by the Daughters of Charity. And even fewer in the Loreto litanies.” protested Catherine. You will find them in the Office of the Immaculate Conception in our prayer book.

Sister Dufès calculates the account. It is correct. Catherine, who was so good at counting on her fingers before learning to read and do arithmetic, knew how to count as evidenced by the impeccable accounting she maintained for her farm in Reuilly, for cows, rabbits, and pigs. She found satisfaction with this last question that had nothing to do with clarity, but with the precision of her accountant’s mind, a touch of poetry, and something symbolic.She saw in the figure **sixty-three** the illustration of an oral tradition that attributes sixty-three years to the Virgin: fifteen years before the birth of the Son and another fifteen after thirty-three years of Christ’s life. Thus, Catherine dedicated her seventy years of hard labor to Our Lady, making her the oldest sister of Our Lady. In all this, she brought her poetry, familiarity, humor, but also her joy of being closer to heaven.> “Why should we fear to go see Our Lord, His Mother, and Saint Vincent?”These were Catherine’s last words before closing her blue eyes.To understand the Marian devotion linked to the Miraculous Medal, consult Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus on popular piety and the cult of Mary.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and the Master’s in Mariology.

See the complete list of recognized Marian apparitions by the Church.