Miraculous Medal and Lourdes

The undecayed corpse of St Catherine Labore and the chair in which our Lady sat during one of the apparitions. St Catherine Laboure (Large picture)

Introduction

A Brief history of the Medal and an explanation of it's design.

Origin and design of the Medal (Feast day 27^th November)

The design of the "Miraculous Medal" was shown by Our Lady during her apparition to a young French nun Sr Catherine Labore in the Rue du Bac, Paris in 1831. Mary showed Catherine this design of this new medal she wanted people to have and then she asked her to get them manufactured. Sr Catherine with the help of her Spiritual director got the medal produced and it was originally called the "Medal of the Immaculate Conception". Since there was a plague in France at the time and there was many cures through the medal the people of France just called it the "Miraculous Medal".

Explanation of the medal

The Front of the medal

On the front of the medal we see Mary standing with her heel crushing the head of the serpent Satan who is on top of the world. Mary is showing us that she is the immaculate "New Eve" who was never conquered by satan to sin. During the appararition Catherine could see rays coming from Mary's hands down onto the world. These are the graces that Mary obtains for us from her Divine Son Jesus to help us conquer satan and his temptations for us to sin. Mary is the "Mediatrix of all Graces". Catherine saw gaps in the rays coming from Mary's hands and she asked Mary the reason for that and Mary told her that the missing rays were to symbolise the graces she could get for people but they do not ask her to get them. Around the border of the medal during the apparition Sr Catherine saw the prayer "Oh Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to you" which again shows that Mary is the sinless New Eve.

The Back of the medal

Around the border of the back of the medal we see 12 stars which symbolise the Church which Jesus founded on the 12 Apostles. We are all called to be apostles and to share our Faith with others. In the center of the medal we see a Cross on top of an Altar with a large M underneath. The "M" beneath the Cross symbolises Mary our Mother who stood and suffered at the foot of the Cross at Calvary as her Divine Son suffered for our sins. This large "M" beneath the Cross may also symbolise the Catholic Mass because during the "Consecration" of the Mass we too are present at the foot of the Cross at Calvary. At the Consecration of the Mass the "Bread and Wine" are changed into the real "Body and Blood" of Jesus Christ at Calvary where He suffered and died for sinners on Good Friday. Underneath the large M there are two hearts Burning with Love for mankind. On the left is the Sacred and Divine Heart of Jesus which is on fire with so much LOVE for mankind that he died on the Cross for all of us. His Heart is crowned with thorns by our sins but also by the pain He suffers because so many of us do not really believe that He Loves us even though He suffered so much to prove that to us. The heart of Mary is also on fire with love for us because she became our Mother also when she became the Mother of Jesus. Her heart is pierced with the tremendous Sword of suffering and Sorrow of Calvary which was predicted to her by Saint Simeon when Jesus was presented as a child in the Temple. Mary also loves us so much because Jesus LOVES us so much.

Conclusion

The Medal is a "Sacramental" which means that it is used by God to grant graces to His children and it should be blessed by a priest. Mary asked "people" (not just Catholics or Christians) to wear the medal around their neck and she would protect them from satan if they asked her for help. There are so many small and big miracles through the medal which remind us that it really is from Heaven. Sr Catherine was very humble and remained anonymous behind her Spiritual Director all her life. She died in 1876 and when the Church had examined her life and declared that she was truly a Saint it was discovered that her body had never decayed.

Lourdes – 150th Anniversary this year ( Feast day 11^th February) also celebrated as "World Day of the Sick" Click here for Novena prayer

Introduction

A short history about St Bernadette and this marvelous place.

The churches which Our Lady requested young Bernadette to ask the priests to build on the huge rock over the Grotto of Lourdes. The Grotto of Lourdes where Mary appeared to Bernadette. Photo of Bernadette just after her death.

St Bernadette (Large picture) The undecayed corpse of St Bernadette who died in 1879!.

Lourdes is a small village in the South of France and on the 11th of February in 1858 Our Lady appeared to a 14 year old peastant girl Bernadette Soubirous as she was collecting firewood with her sister for the family home. Mary did not identify herself at the first apparition but said the Rosary and asked Bernadette to return to that grotto everyday for two weeks. During the next two weeks Mary asked for a church to be built there and for the sick to come there. Mary told Bernadette to dig in the ground and to wash her face in the water that then surfaced. The water turned into a fount of spiritual and sometimes physical healing for so many of the pilgrims that have gone to Lourdes since. That spring that Bernadette opened on the surface at Mary's direction has never stopped flowing. The whole town wanted to know who this mysterious woman was who Bernadette said was appearing to her and Mary finally told Bernadette on the 25th of March ( The Feast of the Annunciation ) that she is the "IMMACULATE CONCEPTION" ( Mary's exact words in Bernadette's own dialect were "QUE SOY ERA IMMACULADA COUNCEPCIOU". Fourteen year old Bernadette did not undersatand these big words so she repeated them over and over again as she ran back to tell the parish priest. The priest then believed in the apparition because he knew that just four years earlier in 1854 that the Pope had declared it a Doctrine of Catholic faith that Mary is the "Immaculate Conception" or was conceived without sin. Bernadette became a nun and later she died in Nevers which is south of Paris in France on the 16th of April in 1879 after alot of physical suffering. Bernadette who was nearly always ill suffered painful attacks of Asthma, tuberculosis of the Lung and of the right knee. She never complained about her illness's and it was only shortly before her death when the doctor saw her limping and then examined her leg that they realised that she was so ill. Actually the Mother Superior of the house who had known Bernadette since childhood in Lourdes and who had never believed Bernadette's account of the apparitions only then repented and recognised Bernadette's holiness. Thirty years later the Church began the official process of examining her life to see if she was a Saint. Part of this process is official identification of the persons remains and when the Bishop, the Mayor, Doctors and workmen removed her coffin on the 22nd of September 1909 they discovered that her body had not decayed and was in a perfect state of preservation. Even now over 126 years later her body still remains incorrupt waiting for the "Day of RESURRECTION".

I am the New Eve

On the 25^th of March 1858 Mary announced herself to 14 year old Bernadette as the "IMMACULATE CONCEPTION". This title was confirming that Mary is the New Eve. The first Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. At the first apparition 14 year old Bernadette started praying her five decade rosary but Mary held and prayed the "Brigidine Rosary" which has six decades. This is confirmed by the fact that Mary is holding a sixdecade Rosary in the large "Crowned Virgin" statue of Mary in Lourdes. This six decade Rosary is called the "Brigidine Rosary" and the extra decade is said for the Souls in Purgatory. If we look at Bernadette's earthly life from her own Conception nine months before her birth on the 9^th of January 1844 to her death on the 18^th of April 1879 we see that she lived for just over 36 years. So part of Mary's message to Bernadette and the world is that she is the New Eve. Perhaps God sent Mary the New Eve to Lourdes because the people there had a long tradition of praying the 6 decade Rosary instead of the usual five decade one. The extra decade was said i think in thanksgiving to God.

More Photo's of Saint Bernadette

More Photo's of Lourdes

©copyright Sisters of Charity, Nevers, Convent Saint-Gildard, Espace Bernadette 34 rue Saint-Gildard 58000 NEVERS FRANCE. All photos used with the permission of the official web site of the Sisters of Charity, Nevers (available in other languages)

© Copyright Sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes/EURL Basilique Rosaire
All Photos used with permission Official Lourdes Website (Available in six languages)

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