The Miraculous Medal Novena
One of the most popular and widespread devotions in the Catholic Church is the Miraculous Medal Novena. Here at Saint Matthias the novena is prayed every Monday morning after the 8 am Mass. The miraculous medal had its origin in Paris France in 1830 when Saint Catherine Labouré received an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Catherine was born on May 2, 1806. Her mother died when she was 9. Catherine asked the Blessed Mother to be her mother in place of her deceased mother. In January 1830 she joined the Daughters of Charity and in July of that year, she had the first of several apparitions of the Blessed Mother. During one of these apparitions in the chapel of her convent in Paris, the Blessed mother showed herself inside an oval frame standing upon a globe with rays of light coming from her hands towards the globe. Around the frame were the words, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Mary asked Catherine to have the image struck as a medal. The image rotated and on the back, Catherine saw a large letter M surmounted by a cross with a bar at its base. Below this monogram, there was an image of the Sacred Heart crowned with thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.
Initially 2000 medals were made and distributed and some extraordinary healings and miracles occurred so quickly that people began to call the medal The Miraculous Medal. Today millions of Catholics wear the medal as a sign of their devotion to Mary and to implore her intercession.
Reciting the novena prayers takes less than 10 minutes. Among the prayers is the Novena Prayer which goes like this: O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus and our mother, penetrated with the most lively confidence in your all-powerful and never-failing intercession, manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal, we your loving and trustful children implore you to obtain for us the graces and favors we ask during this novena, if they be beneficial to our immortal souls and the souls for whom we pray.
Msgr. Brennan