June 30 first 2000 Miraculous Medals Are Delivered

June 30 anniversary of first 2,000 Miraculous Medals

1. June 30: First 2,000 Miraculous Medals

2. Introduction
During the apparitions of Mary to
St. Catherine Labouré, the design
of what is now known as the
Miraculous Medal was revealed,
and Catherine was told to “have a
medal struck according to this
model. Those who wear it with
confidence will receive great
graces.” Catherine confided this to
Fr. Aladel, C.M., her confessor, who
initially dismissed the idea, asking
her not to think about all these
“fantasies” anymore.

3. [In Father Aladel’s defense, the poor priest
was in a difficult situation.] Things were
crystal clear to the plain mind of the
country girl from Burgundy: Our Lady had
appeared to her, had ordered something to
be done. All that remained was to do it; it
was as simple as that. It was certainly not
as simple as that to Father Aladel. Our
Lady had not appeared to him. All his
knowledge of this wondrous thing, this
Medal, was second-hand, and he had his
knowledge from a simple, illiterate novice.
He had to convince himself whether these
things were indeed true. He had to decide
whether such actions were wise.

4. Catherine’s ignorance, of course,
was the key to the situation. The
priest began to see that more and
more as time went on. She was
intellectually incapable of making
up the Apparitions. Then, there
were the several prophecies she
had reported, some of which had
already come true. Consideration
of these two facts would be
enough to convince him in time,
especially when they were seen in
the light of Catherine’s character.

5. But, it must be remembered,
everything was not so evident to
Father Aladel at the moment.
Father Aladel’s task was made
doubly difficult by Catherine’s
insistence that her identity remain
secret. This made the task his, and
his alone. He could not temper or
bolster his opinion by having some
trusted advisor listen to the
remarkable tales of the Saint. He
could not even lead her forth to
testify before some competent
ecclesiastical tribunal. She would
have none of this.

6. Father Aladel, then, and he alone,
had to decide upon her character,
her reliability, the truth of what she
said. Others more skilled, Church
officials trained in such matters,
would handle it from there, but he
had to be convinced himself before
he referred the matter to them. [It
would take him two years to be
convinced.]

7. All the while, Our Lady was not to
be thwarted. The promised voice,
the voice Catherine “would hear in
her prayers,” now raised itself in
steady complaint that the Medal
had not been struck.
“But, my good Mother,” Catherine
pleaded, “you see that he [Father
Aladel] will not believe me.”
“Never mind,” the voice replied,
“he is my servant, and would fear
to displease me.”

8. Sister Catherine reported this
faithfully to Fr. Aladel. Our Lady
had touched a sore spot, and the
good priest trembled in his fear. He
was troubled to the depths of his
soul at the veiled threat. “He would
fear to displease me.” God knew, it
was the last thing he wanted to do!
It is no small thing to displease the
Queen of Heaven; it is worse to be
threatened by her.

9. And so it came about, after all the
admonition and argument, all the mental
wrestling, all the prudence and caution,
that these few words from the lips of the
Mother of God spurred Father Aladel to
action. Not that he was wholly
convinced. These words had not
suddenly parted the curtain and shown
him the truth of Sister Catherine’s claims.
He had been impelled to action primarily
by fear. Our Lady had said well that “he
would fear to displease me.” … For this
reason, although not completely satisfied
as to the reality of Catherine’s visions,
the priest resolved to act.

10. All this is borne out by the way in which
he acted. He did not rush headlong, but
waited for an opportunity to present itself.
He consulted with his friend Father
Etienne. It was proper for him to do so,
for the Medal was a matter of public
concern. Not that he told his friend the
identity of the favored Sister at this time;
that would come later, at a time approved
by Our Lady. It was Father Etienne, at the
time Procurator General of the
Congregation, who finally afforded Father
Aladel the opportunity to act concerning
the Medal.
Photo, dated 1861, of Fr. Etienne, left, and Fr. Aladel, right

11. In January 1832, Father Etienne
had an official call to make upon
Archbishop de Quelen, and asked
Father Aladel to accompany him.
When his friend had finished his
business with the Archbishop,
Father Aladel seized the occasion
to tell the Archbishop the story of
his penitent Catherine, her visions,
and the request of the Blessed
Virgin for a Medal to be struck.

12. The Archbishop listened keenly
and questioned him closely as to
the character of the Sister and the
theological details of the Medal. At
length he was satisfied. He saw
nothing contrary to Church
teaching in the Medal. Rather, it
expressed in apt and beautiful
symbolism doctrines the Church
had always taught. He gave his
permission for the Medal to be
made, and asked that some of the
first ones be sent to him.

13. Shortly after Father Aladel’s historic
interview with Archbishop de
Quelen, a virulent epidemic of
cholera broke out in Paris. Thus,
ironically, after a delay at which the
Queen of Heaven herself had
complained, the striking of the
Medal had to be delayed again, in
the very moment of victory. Nursing
the sick was the primary work of
the Sisters of Charity; and as they
moved into action in the cholera
crisis, Father Aladel was wholly
taken up in directing their
campaign of mercy.

14. It was the month of Mary before
the busy priest made his all-
important visit to the engraver, M.
Vachette, at 54 Quai des Orfevres.
M. Vachette had founded his firm in
1815; the firm has long since gone
out of business, but the order of
20,000 Medals given it by Father
Aladel on that blessed day in May
1832 has assured it of immortality.

15. The first 2,000 Medals of Father
Aladel’s order were delivered on
June 30, 1832. When Catherine
received her share of these first
Medals from the hands of the
priest, she said:
“Now it must be propagated.”

16. Catherine always kept some of these first
Medals with her throughout her life. About
ten of them survive today, jealously
guarded in the archives of the Sisters of
Charity in Paris. One is on exhibition in the
Miraculous Medal Art Museum in
Germantown, Philadelphia. They are
essentially the same as the Medals we
know today, except that they are not the
masterpieces of artistry and engraving
effected by modern craftsmen. Little, flat,
oval pieces of some alloy, they are a far cry
from the ravishing vision Catherine saw, yet
they are the sole reason for the vision. Our
Lady herself came down from Heaven to
model them.

17. The propagation of the Medal
urged by Catherine was carried out
so swiftly that it was miraculous in
itself. The first supply of Medals
vanished in no time. The new
“Medals of the Immaculate
Conception” began to pour from
the presses in streams, spilling
over France and escaping to the
world beyond.

18. Wonders sprang up in their wake,
miracles of mercy and healing and
grace. By December 1836, the firm
of Vachette had sold several million
Medals. Eleven other Parisian
engravers had equaled this
number, and four Lyon engravers
were hard at work to meet the
demand.

19. Excitedly, people passed the Medal
from hand to hand:
“Take this Miraculous Medal….”
Its formal name (“Medal of the
Immaculate Conception”) was
forgotten. It was the “Miraculous
Medal” even in those first days, for
the power working through it was
seen to be truly miraculous. It
would never be called anything
else.

20. Saint Catherine Labouré of the Miraculous Medal IX. The Secret of Forty-Six Years
https://vincentians.com/en/saint-catherine-laboure-of-the-miraculous-medal-ix-the-secret-of-forty-six-years/
 
Saint Catherine Labouré of the Miraculous Medal X. The Medal and its Wonders
https://vincentians.com/en/saint-catherine-laboure-of-the-miraculous-medal-x-the-medal-and-its-wonders/
Author: Joseph Dirvin, C.M. · Year of first publication: 1958.
Images: Depaul Image Archive
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