Blessed Mother Apparition in France - Blessed Mother Apparition in France This medal measures 2 inches tall and is made out of solid brass. This medal or pendant shows our Blessed Mother and has the year 1930 at the bottom. The year that she appeared to Sister Catherine Laboure telling her about the Immaculate Conception and also the Miraculous medal. Catherine Laboure was born in Burgundy on May 2, 1806 as the 9th of 11 children to a farmer family. In 1830 Catherine entered the Sisters of Charity and after a few months she was sent to the motherhouse at rue du Bac in Paris. On November 27, 1830, during evening prayer, the Virgin Mary appeared to Catherine in the convent chapel, standing on a large globe with dazzling rays of light streaming from her outstretched hands. An oval shape appeared around the Blessed Virgin with the inscription: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”. The Virgin instructed Catherine to have a medal made of this vision, spreading the word that those who wore it around the neck would receive great graces. The vision then seemed to turn to show the reverse of the Medal: the letter M surmounted by a cross with a bar at its base; below this monogram, the Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. Catherine asked how she was to have this medal struck and Mary told her to consult her confessor for help. Catherine did as she was told but her confessor, Father Aladel, at first did not believe her, but after two years, he finally went to the archbishop. With approval of the Church, two thousand medals were struck and distributed in Paris in 1832. Almost immediately the blessings that Mary had promised began to shower down on those who wore her Medal. The devotion spread like wildfire as a flood of reported cures and spiritual conversions were attributed to the medal. Before long people were calling it the Miraculous Medal. By autumn of 1834 there were already 500,000 medals in existence and in 1835 more than one million worldwide. In 1836, a Canonical inquiry undertaken at Paris declared the apparitions to be genuine and in 1876 more than a billion medals were distributed. Father Aladel kept Catherine’s identity secret and until shortly before her death in 1876, nobody knew who had begun the devotion.

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Blessed Mother Apparition in France - Blessed Mother Apparition in France This medal measures 2 inches tall and is made out of solid brass. This medal or pendant shows our Blessed Mother and has the year 1930 at the bottom. The year that she appeared to Sister Catherine Laboure telling her about the Immaculate Conception and also the Miraculous medal. Catherine Laboure was born in Burgundy on May 2, 1806 as the 9th of 11 children to a farmer family. In 1830 Catherine entered the Sisters of Charity and after a few months she was sent to the motherhouse at rue du Bac in Paris. On November 27, 1830, during evening prayer, the Virgin Mary appeared to Catherine in the convent chapel, standing on a large globe with dazzling rays of light streaming from her outstretched hands. An oval shape appeared around the Blessed Virgin with the inscription: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”. The Virgin instructed Catherine to have a medal made of this vision, spreading the word that those who wore it around the neck would receive great graces. The vision then seemed to turn to show the reverse of the Medal: the letter M surmounted by a cross with a bar at its base; below this monogram, the Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. Catherine asked how she was to have this medal struck and Mary told her to consult her confessor for help. Catherine did as she was told but her confessor, Father Aladel, at first did not believe her, but after two years, he finally went to the archbishop. With approval of the Church, two thousand medals were struck and distributed in Paris in 1832. Almost immediately the blessings that Mary had promised began to shower down on those who wore her Medal. The devotion spread like wildfire as a flood of reported cures and spiritual conversions were attributed to the medal. Before long people were calling it the Miraculous Medal. By autumn of 1834 there were already 500,000 medals in existence and in 1835 more than one million worldwide. In 1836, a Canonical inquiry undertaken at Paris declared the apparitions to be genuine and in 1876 more than a billion medals were distributed. Father Aladel kept Catherine’s identity secret and until shortly before her death in 1876, nobody knew who had begun the devotion.