Saint Catherine Labouré witnessed many apparitions during her lifetime. The first happened when she was a teenager: Saint Vincent de Paul appeared in her dreams and invited her to enter his Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. She has received more apparitions during her novitiate: she saw Jesus in the Eucharist beyond the appearance of Bread, and as Christ King crucified, deprived of all of his ornaments. She hid the apparitions for her whole life, telling them at the point of death only to her confessor.
The most famous apparitions Saint Catherine is famous for are the ones involving the Immaculate of the Miraculous Medal. They happened in July and November 1830 in the Novitiate Chapel. On July 18th, 1830, Catherine prayed to Jesus with fervor in order to grant her wish to see the Virgin Mary. She woke up at 11.30 PM because she heard someone calling her name, and saw a mysterious child in front of her bed, inviting her to get up. “The Virgin Mary is waiting for you,” the child told her while emanating rays of light at each step. Catherine identified the child as her own guardian angel. He led her into the Chapel where Mary was waiting for her sitting on the right side of the altar. Catherine said: “Then, I flung myself close to her, falling on my knees on the altar steps, my hands resting on her knees. That was the sweetest moment of my life. It would be impossible for me to say what I felt. The Most Holy Virgin told me how I should behave with my confessor and many other things.”
When asked about the Virgin’s look, Saint Catherine could hardly find the words: “She was average height, and so beautiful that I cannot describe her. She was standing, her dress was sunrise-white silk and “virgin style”, that is, high-necked and with smooth sleeves. A white veil went down from her head to her feet. Her hair was divided and she wore some bonnet with a 3 centimeters wide crochet on it, gently laid on her hair. Her face was quite visible; her feet were upon a globe, or better, a half-globe, or at least I saw a half of it.” The Saint said she had kneeled in front of Mary and rested her hands on Mary’s knees in reverence.
During the second apparition on November 27th, 1830 around 5.30 PM, the Virgin Mary entrusted Catherine with the forge of the Miraculous Medal. The Virgin said that the medal would be a sign of love, a pledge of protection, and a source of grace for those who would trust in it. The Virgin herself showed Catherine what the medal should look like. Catherine said that Mary’s feet were upon a half-globe during the apparition, which symbolizes the Earth, crushing a green and yellow snake’s head. The Virgin’s hands were adorned with rings and precious stones, which projected rays of light of different intensities and colors downwards. Mary explained to Catherine that those rays “symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them“.
Catherine saw some oval frame appearing around Mary, and a writer from her right hand to her left hand, creating a semicircle of words written in gold: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee“.
That became the front image of the Miraculous Medal: Mary crushing the Snake‘s head, as forewarned by the Bible (“And I will put enmity between you and the woman […] he will crush your head and you will strike his heel”, Gen 3,15). Rays of light shoot out from her hands, symbols of the graces granted by God, and the invocation “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee” frames the whole picture of maria’s miraculous medal
The apparition continued, and the mystic picture seemed to rotate in front of Catherine’s eyes, showing her what the reverse side of the Medal should depict: “There was the letter M (first letter of the name Mary) topped by a cross with no crucifix and with the letter I (first letter of the name Iesus, Jesus) as the base. Below there were two hearts, one was surrounded by thorns (Jesus’ heart), the other pierced by a sword (Mary’s heart). Twelve stars surrounded the whole picture. Then everything dissolved, as something that is switched off, and I was left there, full of something I don’t know, good feelings, joy, comfort“.
Here is the explanation of the reverse side of the Miraculous Medal: the M for Mary supports the cross without a crucifix. The monogram I for Jesus (Iesus) intersects the M and the Cross and symbolizes the salvation brought by Jesus and Mary, the indissoluble relationship that ties Jesus and his Most Holy Mother, becoming a witness of the Salvation of humankind carried out by his Son Jesus and making her a participant in Christ’s sacrifice. The heart crowned with thorns is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the heart pierced by a sword is the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The twelve stars symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. The Virgin herself is also called Star of the sea in the prayer of Ave Maris Stella.
The Virgin spoke again to Catherine, telling her to have a medal forged following that model: “All the people who will wear it will receive great graces especially if they wear it on their neck; graces will be generous for those who will wear it with trust.”
Catherine encountered some resistance, but in the end, the Medal was forged in 1832, in about 1500 pieces, but its power showed immediately through so many healings and conversions that it was necessary to develop a million pieces. Even Popes Gregory XVI and Pius IX used it and the Apparitions Chapel became a place of cult and pilgrimage.
The Meanings of the Miraculous Medal: Miraculous, Shiny, and Painful
Miraculous
The Medal the Virgin suggested to Saint Catherine so that she could have it forged and distributed is called the miraculous Medal, referring to the many healings and conversions it caused. In February 1832, Paris was devastated by a terrible cholera epidemic, which caused more than 20.000 deaths. The Daughters of Charity distributed the first 2000 medals on that occasion, and healings began to show right away, along with conversions. That is why Parisians began to call it ‘miraculous’.
Shiny
The rays of light shooting out from Mary’s rings are the symbol of the graces she grants to all of her children and of her loving mission as the intermediary between man and God. The rays of grace falling on Earth spread out love and salvation, and the light they emanate symbolizes Mary’s triumph, the first among those who were and will be saved, immaculate since her conception, bringer of a special grace thanks to the Son she carried in her womb. In this role of Mother and Savior, Mary kills the snake, the cause of all humankind’s evil.
Painful
On the reverse side of the medal, there are two monograms, of Mary and Jesus, their hearts are pierced; they tell a never-ending story of pain and love and sacrifice. In particular, Jesus’ heart crowned with thorns symbolizes His sacrifice of love for men, while his Mother’s heart, pierced by a sword, symbolizes Christ’s love, who lives and burns within her, and through her, it transfers to all humankind.
(This article is edited and adapted from www.holyart.com)