Today is the commemoration of the apparition of the Immaculate Conception to St. Catherine Laboure at Rue d' Bac, Paris in 1830.
Pictured is the image of the Blessed Virgin as she appeared to Alphonse Ratisbonne, an agnostic Jew, effecting in him an instantaneous conversion to the Roman Catholic Church. (The Church is in Rome and is called S. Andrea della Fratte.) Ratisbonne had been persuaded by a friend to wear the Miraculous Medal, or as it was first known, the medal of the Immaculate Conception.
As a result of his conversion, the devotion of the medal swept Europe, thus gaining recognition as the Miraculous Medal, due to countless graces generated through the devotion.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourseto thee.
One of the sweetest memories of my Catholic boyood is of going to the Miraculous Medal Novena and Benediction on Monday afternoon with my grandmother and hearing her recite the prayers in the little booklet and sing the hymns to Our Lady. Some things mark one for life.
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