Today is the anniversary of my Baptism, which took place when I was three weeks old, on Friday the 27th of November 1953, the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, in the church of St Theresa of the Child Jesus (Perry Bar, Birmingham). I discovered this very late in life and, Deo volente, I shall never cease to thank Almighty God for everything He did to make this possible on His Mother's feast day and in a church dedicated to Ste Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus.
Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata!
The Traditional Rite of Baptism
See here for a PDF showing the powerful words and actions that the Church included in the traditional rite of Baptism before the tragic excisions and alterations that followed in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.
The story of the Miraculous Medal
The following text is reproduced from The Miraculous Medal Shrine website:
"It’s very tiny, barely an inch long and half-inch wide. There’s nothing elaborate or stunning about it. It’s not even made out of silver or gold. How can something so small and simple be such a momentous force in the world? And yet, it is."
THE APPARITIONS
It began on the night of July 18, 1830, when a beautiful child, dressed in white and emanating heavenly light, awakened a young Daughter of Charity novice, Catherine Labouré (1806-1876), from her sleep. She followed him to the Chapel, where all the candles were lit, as if for midnight Mass. After hearing something that sounded like the rustling of a silk dress, Catherine saw a beautiful woman walk in and sit on the chair used by the director of the community. She remarked, “I went closer and, throwing myself on my knees, rested my hands on the knees of the Blessed Virgin. At that instant, I tasted the sweetest joy of my life—a delight beyond expression.”
The next time Mary appeared on November 27, 1830, she was standing on the world with her feet crushing the head of a serpent, with a “globe in her hands. Her eyes were lifted up to Heaven, and her countenance was radiant as she offered the globe to Our Lord.” Then, Catherine saw that Mary had rings of precious stones on her fingers. Rays of light beamed from the stones, enveloping Mary “in such a dazzling light that I could see neither her feet nor the robe. …It is beyond my power to give an idea of the beauty and magnificence of the rays.”
During this apparition, Mary told her that the rays symbolize the graces that she bestows to all who ask for them. The stones that shed no light represent the graces that people forget to ask for. Then an oval appeared around the Blessed Mother, with the words:
Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Catherine heard the words, “Get a medal struck after this model. Those who wear it when it is blessed will receive great graces, especially if they wear it about the neck. Graces will be abundant for those who have confidence.” Then the image turned, and Catherine saw the letter M, intersected at the top with a cross and a bar. Underneath were the hearts of Jesus and Mary with twelve stars surrounding the entire image.
THE MEDALS
When Catherine Labouré told her spiritual director, Fr. Jean-Marie Aladel, CM, about what she had seen and heard, he wanted to take every precaution to ensure that the apparitions were authentic. It wasn’t until he spoke to the Archbishop of Paris and received his approval that Medals were made. This task was initially entrusted to Adrien-Jean-Maximilien Vachette, one of the official jewelers of Louis XVIII’s court, in June of 1832. He started by producing two thousand Medals.
The Daughters of Charity began wearing them and giving them to the elderly and sick. Almost immediately, miraculous healings, cures, and conversions occurred; people began clamoring for the Medal of the Immaculate Conception (as it was originally called). The Medal quickly spread throughout France and then the world. Before long, people were calling it the Miraculous Medal; everyone wanted the Medal that Mary had brought from Heaven. Not only did the Archbishop of Paris request some of the first Medals, Pope Gregory XVI put one at the foot of the crucifix on his desk; and the founder of the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (in the United States) put the image of the Miraculous Medal on his ordination card.
The demand for the Medals became so great that between 1832 and 1836, Vachette made more than two million of them. There were eleven other engravers in Paris producing Medals, as well.
Indeed, the Medal is a condensed catechism on Mary. On it we see her as the woman who crushes the serpent’s head in Genesis (iii. 15) and the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation (xii.1). We see the Hearts of Jesus and Mary united at the Cross. The wording confirming Mary’s purity circles around her, and the rays from her hands depict her as the dispenser of God’s graces. So it wasn’t a surprise when on December 8, 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was officially defined by the Church.
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