Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal — Attraction in Paris

In 1980, when Pat and I entered a building in a back street near the center of Paris, we saw the corpse at once. Displayed in an illuminated glass coffin was the body of an elderly lady dressed in the black robes of a French nun. The body had not deteriorated in any way. Indeed, she was so lifelike that she could have been in the middle of a peaceful sleep. The building that we had entered was the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, which is located at 140 Rue du Bac in the seventh arrondissement of Paris, France. In life, this elderly lady had been Catherine Laboure, who was born in the Burgundy region of France in 1806 and who died and was buried in 1876. Many years later, the Roman Catholic Church was considering conferring sainthood upon her and, in 1933 in relation to that, her body was exhumed. It was found to be what the Church calls “incorrupt”. In other words, the body was and still is in exactly the same state as at the time of death, despite the fact that no preservatives of any kind had been used. This was the body that we were looking at over a century after her death. The Church considers this to be a miracle. In 1947, it canonized her, not just because of the condition of her body but because of the events in her life that we describe below, and she is now Saint Catherine Laboure.

At the time, Pat and I had needs in our own lives that called for a couple of miracles. We were living in the Marylebone area of London and visited a local church on nine occasions to pray for these miracles to be granted to us. We were undertaking what is known in the Church as a “novena” and selected the Novena of the Miraculous Medal, which brings us back to Saint Catherine Laboure. Her story is that, as a young woman, she became a member of a nursing order founded by St. Vincent de Paul. She was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly after the death of her own mother. On a number of occasions in 1830, when she was 24 years of age, she believes that she was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary who showed her certain images. Mary told her to take details of these images to her father confessor and to ask him to create medallions containing them. Mary then told her that all who wear the medallion will “receive great graces”. The father confessor referred the situation to the church hierarchy. Within a few years, after due investigation of Catherine and her story, a Miraculous Medal containing those images was created by the Church and distributed. This was done without any mention of Catherine. Indeed it was not until after her death many years later that her part in the creation of the Miraculous Medal became known. Catherine lived out the rest of her seventy year life as an ordinary nursing sister, humble and well liked, with her peers unaware that they were in the presence of a saint.

While Pat and I were undertaking our novena, we both wore the Miraculous Medal. Then, to give our nine prayer sessions a special emphasis, we visited the little chapel at 140 Rue du Bac and prayed again in front of Saint Catherine Laboure. Shortly afterwards, our prayers were answered and our miracles arrived. Precisely what we asked for is not relevant to this story. Suffice it is to say that what we were asking for certainly needed miracles. Our medallions were not some kind of good luck charm. Instead, they are a testimony to faith and to the power of trusting prayer. I recall that, many years ago, my dear mother prayed as hard as any human being could for something that she particularly wanted. She was truly a most deserving person. Yet her prayers went unanswered, for the simple reason that she did not believe that they would be answered. So the moral of this story is to trust in the power...

Thought provoking. Seeing the incorrupt body of St. Catherine Laboure right before your eyes makes your Faith in the living God stronger. Incorruptibility of the human body is one of the results of one’s faith in HIM!

Apparitions of the Virgin Mary is one proof of her motherhood and how she loves us and her desire to intercede for us as her children!

St Catherine of Laboure of the DC (Daughters of Charity) Congregation was the visionary who was instructed by the Virgin Mary in several apparitions, to have a medal struck depicting the exact second apparition. With the help of her spiritual confessor, who,after two long years, finally believed her, the priest was able to later persuade the bishop of the apparition and the Virgin Mary’s request to have a medal made.

During St. Catherine’s evening meditations, after the Virgin Mary’s second apparition, She showed herself inside an oval frame, standing upon a globe with rays of light coming from her hands toward the globe. Around the frame were the words,

“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

The first 2000 medals started the worldwide devotion.

When you want to hear mass in English though, check their schedule online! Remember, the chapel is small and the number of church-goers are limited at a time. You will have to stand in queue outside the DC premises which, by the way, is surrounded by famous brand stores.

I suggest you look up several articles online so you will know more about the life of St Catherine Laboure and her humility. She never, by the way, revealed to her fellow DC Nuns that she was the visionary. It was only at her death bed that she revealed to her mother superior that she was...

My best friend and I traveled to Europe to celebrate our June birthdays. Paris was on our itinerary for 2-days. Unfortunately, my friend was stricken with a terrible sinus flare up and feeling sick so she went to see a doctor. I knew she'd be okay without me for the day and my goal was catching a taxi to 140 Rue du Bac. The anticipation of arriving at this famous address left a million butterflies. Arrived...wide eyed and so joyful--and just in time for Stations of the Cross and a front row seat gazing at the saint before me. At the time I was unaware of another saint in this Chapel--Saint Louise de Marillac!! What a lovely and unexpected surprise.

My emotions were overflowing during my visit--I never wanted to leave Saint Catherine's side and could have stayed there for an eternity. I thank God for this wonderful blessing to have been afforded the opportunity of this trip to Paris. It was then that something changed in me. Soon after I started collecting very old French Catholic medals. I even have a Vachette (signed) Miraculous Medal possibly made in the late 1830's early 1840's. I'd love to consult with a history buff on Vachette medals as there seems to be no information on the internet. I can't begin to tell you the graces I've received from wearing this wonderful devotional medal. Every Catholic...