History of the Miraculous Medal

In Paris, France Saint Catherine Laboure had a vision of the Virgin Mary and was instructed by her to create the Miraculous Medal that we all know today. This vision happened in the year 1830 one day when Catherine was all alone.

Various saints, Jesus, and God had all appeared to Catherine before on a fairly consistent routine. She was always in prayer and lived a good Christian life. The first time that Catherine saw the Virgin Mary was the one time it took for her to obtain Mary's message and follow through with the right steps to bring the world the Miraculous Medal.

On top of a white sphere, the mother of Christ herself, showed herself to Catherine. Mary's hands were full of extremely valuable, different colored diamonds. These diamonds were giving off some of the brightest, most beautiful light that Catherine had ever laid eyes upon. Mary told Catherine the meaning behind the rings. She said that every person who prayed to Mary and asked her for grace, faith, or any righteous virtue was represented by the shining, bright lights. There were also rings on her fingers that were not shining or giving off a dull light. She explained that these stood for people not asking for her help and accepting their daily struggles with no effort to better themselves. A large circle of light came around Mary where she was in the room and words formed together in mid-air. They formed a short prayer, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you". Mary instructed Catherine that she needed to make a medal of Mary in the position she was in, along with the prayer she had shown to her. Mary just wanted people to know that they should be asking her for grace and strength everyday.

Mary vanished and Catherine was left by herself in the room in complete bewilderment. A moment later Catherine saw something on a nearby table so she looked to see what it could be. It was a cross with a capital M over it. Underneath the cross and M she saw two hearts. This is the image that ended up going on the reverse side of the Miraculous Medal.

The front of the Miraculous Medal is the image of Mary, as Saint Catherine remembered it in her mind, when she visited Catherine that day. Mary wanted the medal to be made so that people would see her on it and remember that she was there to help them through struggle.

Catherine did just as Mary wanted, she had the medal produced in large amounts and distributed to those who wished to have one. People saw the medals and began praying to Mary more often, just as it was planned to happen.

For her efforts in completing the task assigned to her by Mary, Pope Pius XII thought it would be a good idea to make her an official saint of the Catholic Church. The canonization process took place in the year 1947.