The meaning of the Miraculous Medal according to the Madonna
Meanings
The words and images imprinted on the right of the medal express a message with three intimately linked aspects.
«O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who turn to you».
miraculous ...
A few months after the apparitions, Sister Catherine, sent to the hospitalization of Enghein (Paris, 12th) to treat the elderly, goes to work. But an inner voice insists: the medal must be struck. Catherine reports it to her confessor, Father Aladel.
In February 1832, a terrible cholera epidemic broke out in Paris, causing more than 20.000 deaths. In June, the Daughters of Charity begin to distribute the first 2.000 medals, made minted by Father Aladel.
Healings are multiplying, like protections and conversions. It was an extraordinary event. The people of Paris called the medal "miraculous".
By autumn 1834 there were already more than 500.000 medals. In 1835 there were already more than a million worldwide. In 1839 the medal was widespread in more than ten million copies. At the death of Sister Caterina in 1876, there were already more than a billion medals!
…bright
Mary's identity is explicitly revealed to us here: the Virgin Mary is Immaculate from conception. From this privilege, which derives from the merits of the Passion of her Son Jesus Christ, derives all her power of intercession, which she exercises for those who pray to her. And this is why the Virgin invites all men to resort to her in life's difficulties.
On December 8, 1854 Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception: Mary, by a special grace, which was granted to her before the Redemption, deserved by her Son, has been sinless since her conception.
Four years later, in 1858, the apparitions of Lourdes confirmed Bernadetta Soubirous's privilege of the Mother of God.
His feet rest on the half of the globe and crush the snake's head
The hemisphere is the terrestrial globe, the world. The snake, as with the Jews and Christians, symbolizes Satan and the forces of evil.
The Virgin Mary herself is engaged in the spiritual battle, in the fight against evil, of which our world is the battlefield. Mary calls us to enter into the logic of God, which is not the logic of this world. This is the authentic grace, that of conversion, which the Christian must ask of Mary to transmit it to the world.
His hands are open and his fingers are adorned with rings covered with precious stones, from which rays come out, which fall on the earth, widening downwards.
The splendor of these rays, like the beauty and the light of the apparition, described by Catherine, recall, justify and nourish our trust in the fidelity of Mary (the rings) towards her Creator and towards her children, in efficacy of her intervention (the rays of grace, which fall on earth) and in the final victory (the light), since she herself, the first disciple, is the first fruits of the saved.
... painful
The medal carries on its reverse a letter and images, which introduce us into Mary's secret.
The letter "M" is topped with a cross. The "M" is the initial of Mary, the cross is that of Christ.
The two intertwined signs show the indissoluble relationship that binds Christ to his most holy Mother. Mary is associated with the salvation mission of humanity by her son Jesus and participates, through her compassion (cum + patire = to suffer together), in the very act of Christ's redemptive sacrifice.
Below, two hearts, one surrounded by a crown of thorns, the other pierced by a sword:
the heart crowned with thorns is the heart of Jesus. Remember the cruel episode of the Passion of Christ, before death, told in the Gospels. The heart symbolizes his Passion of love for men.
The heart pierced by a sword is the heart of Mary, his Mother. It refers to the prophecy of Simeon, told in the Gospels, on the day of the presentation of Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph. It symbolizes the love of Christ, who is in Mary and calls his love for us, for our salvation and acceptance of the sacrifice of his Son.
The juxtaposition of the two Hearts expresses that Mary's life is a life of intimate union with Jesus.
Around twelve stars are depicted.
They correspond to the twelve apostles and represent the Church. To be Church means to love Christ, to participate in his passion for the salvation of the world. Each baptized person is invited to join in the mission of Christ, uniting his heart to the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
The medal is a call to the consciences of each one, so that he may choose, like Christ and Mary, the way of love, up to the total gift of himself.
Catherine Labouré died in peace on 31 December 1876: «I am leaving for heaven ... I am going to see Our Lord, his Mother and Saint Vincent».
In 1933, on the occasion of his beatification, the niche opened in the chapel of Reuilly. Catherine's body was found intact and transferred to the chapel on the rue du Bac; here it was installed under the altar of the Virgin at the Globe.