Also called Medal of Our Lady of Graces, Medal of the Immaculate Conception, Médaille miraculeuse
An oval Catholic medal of Mary standing on a globe with rays from her hands, designed after the visions of Saint Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830 and worn as a sign of trust in Mary's prayers.
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Take care: A Catholic sacramental, treated as a prayer and a sign of faith, not a charm that works by itself. Keep small medals and chains away from young children.
Alphonse Ratisbonne, a young man from a Jewish family in Strasbourg, agreed to wear the medal at a friend's urging while in Rome. In January 1842 he reported a vision of Mary in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, was baptized and later became a priest. The story spread the medal's fame across Europe.
The first medals were struck in 1832 and distributed by the Daughters of Charity during the Paris cholera epidemic of that year. Reported cures gave the medal its popular name, the Miraculous Medal, which stuck instead of its official title.
In 1830 Catherine Labouré was a 24-year-old novice of the Daughters of Charity at their motherhouse on the rue du Bac in Paris. She reported that on the night of July 18 a child led her to the chapel, where Mary spoke with her for hours. On November 27 she saw Mary standing on a globe with rays of light streaming from her hands, framed by the words of the prayer, and then the reverse design. She was asked to have a medal made from what she saw.
With her confessor Fr. Jean Marie Aladel, the request reached Archbishop Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen, and the first medals were struck in 1832 during a cholera outbreak. Millions circulated within a few years; an inquiry opened in 1835, and Archbishop de Quélen approved the medal in 1836. Catherine kept her role secret, caring for the elderly and sick in Paris for over forty years. She died on December 31, 1876, was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1947, and her body lies in the rue du Bac chapel.
Two small squares of brown cloth joined by cords and worn over the shoulders, a Catholic sacramental that signals a person has entrusted themselves to Mary as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is a sign of faith and a commitment to Christian living, not a charm that works on its own.
A Catholic sacramental medal showing Saint Benedict on one side and a cross ringed with Latin initials on the other, worn or hung in homes as a prayer for protection against evil and temptation.
Milagros are small metal charms shaped like body parts, people, animals or objects, pinned to a saint's image to ask for healing or to give thanks; ex-voto paintings tell the story of a miracle in thanks for help received.
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