“The participants in the AMM General Assembly formulated the enclosed ‘Lines of Action’ which I ask you to reflect on during this Advent season”, writes Fr. Gregory Gay, C.M., Direcotr General of the Association of the Miraculous Medal in the Circular addressed to worldwide Vincentian Family.

Letter of Fr. Gregory Gay CM
Director General of the Association of
Miraculous Medal

Rome, 8 December 2014

To All members of the Vincentian Family:

My dear brothers and sisters:

As we embrace Advent to pray and prepare for the coming of the “Word made flesh” (Jn.1:14), it is an ideal time to reflect on Mary, the Mother of the Lord. Her “Fiat” – a full submission to the will of God as she entered into the Incarnation – has resounded over the ages as it does today. Our Lady remains the first and most faithful disciple of the Lord.

The gift of the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine Laboure was an expression of Mary’s desire to lead all people to her son, Jesus. For over a century, the Association of the Miraculous Medal has promoted devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to receive the abundant graces of God through Mary, who fortifies us in a world hungry for justice and mercy.

I was honored to preside and participate in the first-ever General Assembly of the Association of the Miraculous Medal in Rome from November 2-9, 2014. This joyous gathering of a hundred participants from across the globe strengthened our common bond to promote devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and to engage in works of charity and justice of the Association.

The participants in this General Assembly formulated the enclosed “Lines of Action” which I ask you to reflect on during this Advent season. In the coming year, I request that the various branches of our Vincentian Family, particularly those with a special devotion to the Miraculous Medal to pray, reflect, and discuss how to promote awareness and further devotion to Our Lady and the pious and charitable works of this wonderful Association.

May Our Lord bless you and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal intercede for you!

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

Gregory Gay, C.M.
Superior General

Participants of the First General Assembly of the AMM in Rome

Association of the Miraculous Medal
General Assembly, November 3-10, 2014
LINES OF ACTION

INTRODUCTION

The Miraculous Medal is a great evangelizing and transforming force for all who wear it with faith. To come to the foot of the altar, to receive the abundance of the graces of God through Mary, fortifies us in a world hungry for justice and mercy.

Since 1909, we, the members of the Miraculous Medal Association, consciously aware of Mary as our Mother, promote Mary’s request to St Catherine Laboure in 1830 – to wear this medal of her image. With this gift of God through Mary, we give the medal as ministry to all, especially the poor, the sick, the thirsty, the hungry, the naked, the oppressed, the imprisoned and all who seek the Kingdom of God. (Mt. 25: 31-46). The fruits of this ministry that is, the deeper love of God experienced in the poor, evangelizes us to receive God more fully, thus impelling creativity in our ministry unto infinity.

INTERNATIONAL LEVEL CHALLENGES

Communication:
Line of Action: Create a network of (local, national and international) communications to exchange experiences, activities, information, formation, data, techniques and specialties.

Formation:
1st Line of Action: Within the framework of the New Evangelization, which hopes to reach out to all of humanity (Mt.28:19-20), the International Council will offer clear criteria for continuous formation in the Association. This formation will include the Church’s social doctrine, ecclesiology, scriptures, Vincentian identity, ecumenism and other material of entities that strive to empower the poor.

2nd Line of Action: The International Council will suggest optional ways to do the initial formation of New Members.

Family Reality:
Line of Action: The International Council will send to the national councils a circular letter to help them see families as a place of evangelization thus encouraging them to do home visits with the Virgin Mary in ever-creative ways. These letters will coincide with the different events leading up to and including the World Meeting of Families (September 2015).

NATIONAL LEVEL CHALLENGES

Formation:
Line of Action: The National Council will extend its formation program to include the member’s family.

Sense of Belonging:
Line of Action: The National Council will encourage activities of collaboration with other members of the Vincentian Family. These include, but are not limited to, working on common projects, gatherings, sharing common formation activities, networking, spiritual retreats, etc., especially with the Vincentian Marian Youth.

Define the mission and commitment of the National Delegates during and after the General Assembly.
Line of Action: the delegates have the responsibility to communicate to all its members’ information obtained in the assembly before the end of the year.

Systemic Change:
Line of Action: The AMM is involved in formation and service with the poor in order to enable them to be protagonists of their own destiny, through projects of Systemic Change, always conscious that they are our “Lords and our Masters.”

LOCAL LEVEL CHALLENGES

Growth of the AMM in quantity and quality:
1st Line of Action: Give witness to the joy of our faith and of belonging to the AMM in our families, in our work place, in the local parish, etc. and in our ministries (families experiencing difficulties, street children, nearness to the sick, etc.)

2nd Line of Action: Work together with all the branches of the Vincentian Family (volunteers, sympathizers, etc.)

“Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person’s side.” (Revelations 3, 20)

O MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN,
PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO YOU.

Treść listu po polsku jest dostępna w portalu FAMVIN.ORG

Rome, 27 November 2012
Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

To call the Vincentian Family to greater devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Vincent:

May the grace and peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with us forever!

As the Church rejoices at the start of this “Year of Faith”, I am very pleased to write to you in this month of November as we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. This is a time for us to pause and give thanks to the Lord for all the graces we have received through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother.

In light of the “Year of Faith” proclaimed by Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, it is noteworthy that among the various proposals suggested during the recent Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization for Transmission of the Faith was one calling for promotion of pilgrimages to different Marian shrines throughout the world. In light of this, I would especially encourage our various shrines throughout the world dedicated to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to promote pilgrimages throughout this Year of Faith. Hopefully, the local Associations of the Miraculous Medal can be of great assistance in this undertaking.

The Synod of Bishops also encouraged people to celebrate this Year of Faith by studying and deepening their understanding of the documents of Vatican II, in this, its 50th anniversary. These documents continue to be prophetic today, calling us to embrace the world by our own witness of love. The gift of faith given us in baptism and strengthened by the Word of God and Eucharist make the transforming love of God our standard in the midst of a secular society.

To assist us in this endeavor, the Synod reminded us of the importance of our Catholic Social Doctrine and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which celebrates 20 years since its publication .Both Catholic Social Doctrine and the Catechism are key instruments for the New Evangelization, and were recommended by Pope Benedict in his opening address.

We are called to proclaim our faith in the risen Lord Jesus, and to show that through expressions of charity to one another, and especially to the poor and marginalized. The fruit of faith and charity is service to the poor; this message was clearly presented by the Pope. As the Association of the Miraculous Medal, we are encouraged to continue to evangelize with renewed enthusiasm. This can be accomplishing through prayer, service, and in the tradition of home visits, which occur over a month. Members go to one another’s homes with an image of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to pray, share Scripture, and enter into a faith dialogue. The “Year of Faith” provides an opportunity for our Association to continue this tradition or to even start it up. It is a wonderful way for all of us to participate in the New Evangelization.

From November 3-4, The International Council of the Association of the Miraculous Medal met in Havana, Cuba, as mandated in our general statutes. In reports presented by different national councils, we had the opportunity to learn about the work of the Association. We also noted with regret a lack of information from some areas, which deprives us of knowing the wonderful efforts being made by other national councils.

In light of this, I want to encourage all Visitors and Visitatrices to make every effort to accompany this branch of the Vincentian Family by those you have appointed as moderators of the Association of the Miraculous Medal. By their efforts at animation, I am sure they will continue to find creative ways to bring the laity into roles of leadership that will strengthen our Vincentian charism.

This letter will also serve to inform you of the convening of our first General Assembly of the Association of the Miraculous Medal in 2014. Previous meetings held in 2001, 2005, and 2009 were not considered Assemblies, as the statutes of the Association were not fully in place. This First General Assembly will be held in Rome from November 17-24, 2014.

I thank you for your spiritual and temporal support of the Association of the Miraculous Medal, and in this “Year of Faith” and “New Evangelization”, I urge you to continue to do so. By our prayer and activities, we can continue the work of Jesus and Mary as instruments of evangelization.

Your brother in St. Vincent,

G. Gregory Gay, C.M.
Superior General

The story began on the night of July 18-19, 1830. In those times it was the vigil of the feast of St Vincent de Paul (in old liturgical calendar). A child (perhaps her guardian angel) awakened Sister Catherine Labouré, a novice in the community of the Daughters of Charity in Paris, and summoned her to the chapel. There, St. Catherine stopped near the chair, used by the priest in the sanctuary. She then heard a sound similar to the swish of a silk dress. Catherine hurried to the knees of the Blessed Virgin who was sitting on a chair. The Virgin Mary spoke with her for several hours. “I then bounded to the steps of the altar, knelt and let my hands rest on the knees of the Blessed Virgin”, St. Catherine said later in her words, “there I spent the most pleasant time of my life. It would be impossible for me to describe what I experienced. The Blessed Virgin told me how I should conduct myself with regard to my confessor and many other things.” Mary told her  she would give Catherine the mission.

On November 27 1830 at 5:30 pm, during meditation, St. Catherine saw a picture of the Blessed Virgin. (It was the place where presently a statue of Virgin on the Globe is located). “I saw the Blessed Virgin, standing, dressed in white; she was of medium height and her face was so beautiful that it would be impossible for me to describe that beauty.” – said Catherine Laboure… Standing on a half-globe holding in her hands a small golden globe: her feet crushing a serpent. Coming from the open hands of the Blessed Virgin were beautiful rays of light and at that same moment St. Catherine heard a voice saying: «These rays are symbols of graces that Mary obtains for people ».

Then an oval formed around the apparition and Catherine saw emblazoned in a semi-circle this invocation, until then unknown: « O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to you » written in gold letters. Streaming from rings on Mary’s fingers as she held the globe were many rays of light. Mary explained that the rays symbolize the graces she obtains for those who ask for them. However, some of the gems on the rings were dark, and Mary explained that the rays and graces were available but did not come because no one had asked for them.

Then the picture turned and St. Catherine saw on the reverse side: the letter M surmounted with a little cross and below it the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Catherine then heard these words:« Have a medal made on this model. Those who will wear it with confidence will receive great graces ».

The website of the Chapel of Our Lady of Miraculous Medal
in Paris offers a virtual guided tour of the chapel

One day in December 1830, she does not give the precise date, Catherine had the third vision of Mary. During meditation, Catherine again heard the rustling sound, this time from behind the altar. The same image of the medal was present near the tabernacle, slightly to the back of it. But this time vision was changed showing our Lady standing on a globe with her arms now outstretched and with the dazzling rays of light still streaming from her fingers. Again, an inscription: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you was framing the picture. The vision turned and showed the design of the reverse side of the medal. Twelve stars encircled a large letter “M” (standing for Mary) from which arose a cross. Below are two hearts with flames arising from them. One heart is encircled in thorns and the other is pierced by a sword.

On the the third apparition Virgin Mary repeated the mission she gave to Catherine in November: « Have a medal made on this model. Those who will wear it with confidence will receive great graces ». The other mission on request of Mary was to have a Confraternity of the children of Mary established. St. Catherine reported all this visions and instructions she was given to her spiritual director and confessor, Fr. Aladel. However, he was not receptive to the message and forbade her to think about it which severely shocked her. Faithful to confessor’s request she did not reveal that she received the Medal until soon before her death 47 years later. On January 30, 1831, Catherine finished her novitiate and received the habit of the Daughters of Charity. The next day she left rue du Bac for the Hospice of Enghien at 12 rue de Picpus at Reuilly, in a poverty-stricken area on the east side of Paris, where she would serve the poor throughout 46 years quietly and unknown.

Watch the presentation of the story of life of St. Catherine Labouré DC

After careful investigation, Fr. Aladel obtained the approval of Mgr. de Quelen, Archbishop of Paris, and on June 30, 1832, the first medals were struck and with their distribution the devotion spread rapidly. One of the most remarkable facts recorded in connection with the Miraculous Medal is the conversion of a Jew, Alphonse Ratisbonne of Strasburg, who had resisted the appeals of a friend to enter the Church. M. Ratisbonne consented, somewhat reluctantly, to wear the medal, and being in Rome, he entered, by chance, the church of Sant’ Andrea delle Fratte and beheld in a vision the Blessed Virgin exactly as she is represented on the medal; his conversion speedily followed. In 1836, a Canonical inquiry undertaken in Paris declared the apparitions to be genuine.

Fr. Aladel fulfilled the second request of Virgin Mary as well. On February 2, 1840 he established first group or sodality of children from Daughters of Charity schools in Paris. Later on June 20, 1847, Fr. Jean Baptiste Etienne CM, Superior General, obtained from Pope Pius IX the privilege to erect in each house of the Daughters of Charity a pious confraternity, dedicated to Mary Immaculate, made up of young girls attending their schools or workrooms, with all the indulgences attached to a similar society established for its students at Rome by the Society of Jesus. This confraternity adopted the Miraculous Medal as its badge, and the members, known as the Children of Mary, wear it attached to a blue ribbon.

The Brief of Pius IX of September 19, 1876, permitted the admission into this association of young girls not attending the schools or workrooms of the Daughters of Charity. Leo XIII confirmed these privileges by the Briefs of May 21, 1897, August 2, 1897, and April 29, 1903. The statistics of 1897 gave one hundred thousand living members throughout the world, four hundred thousand having been registered from the date of the first canonical erection, in Paris, 19 July, 1847. From the same date to 1908, forty thousand were registered in the institutions of the Daughters of Charity in the United States alone.

As the cult of the Miraculous Medal spread rapidly throughout the world on June 8, 1905 Pope Pius X has internationally recognized the Association of Miraculous Medal and in 1909 approved its charter. There are two Associations of Miraculous Medal in the United States. The original purpose of the Central Association was to spread devotion to Mary Immaculate by encouraging devotion to Mary under her title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

In March of 1915, Father Joseph Skelly CM established the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA. Three years earlier Father Skelly, received a special assignment from the Provincial of theUS Eastern Province of the Congregation of the MIssion to raise funds for the construction of a Minor Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. He placed a small Medal in each appeal letter that he mailed to raise funds for the Minor Semniary. So generous was the response brought through the intercession of Mary Immaculate that Father Skelly felt some special mark of gratitude to Our Lady was in order. After prayer and consultation, it was decided to form – in March of 1915 – The Central Association of the Miraculous Medal (CAMM) with Father Skelly as its first Director. Fr. Skelly died in 1963.

In 1918 another Association was established by the US Western Province of the Congregation of the Mission at Saint Mary’s of the Barrens Seminary, Perryville, MO. At first it was operated by the Vincentian seminarians under the direction of their religious superior. Soon the Association expanded and was given its own director, staff, and office space. The first director was Father Joseph Finney, C.M. He served from 1924 until his death in 1962.

On 23 July, 1894, Pope Leo XIII, after a careful examination of all the facts by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, instituted a feast, with a special Office and Mass, of the Manifestation of the Immaculate Virgin under the title of the Miraculous Medal, to be celebrated yearly on November 27.

To learn more about Miraculous Medal devotion Association of Miraculous Medal in the United States visit websites of

Miraculous Medal Shrine in Philadelphia

National Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville

You may find interesting the international website of the Association of Miraculous Medal where number of formation materials and documents can be found.

Jeżeli interesuje Cię działalność Stowarzyszenia Cudownego Medalika w Polsce zapraszamy na stronę APOSTOLATU MARYJNEGO.
Bardzo dokładny opis kaplicy Objawień Cudownego Medalika przy Rue du Bac w Paryżu można znaleźć w witrynie SIÓSTR MIŁOSIERDZIA PROWINCJI KRAKOWSKIEJ

Aby obejrzeć ten film w wersji polskiej przejdź do kanału FAMVIN.ORG-POLSKA na YouTube

[story based on:
Chapel of Our Lady of Miraculous Medal,
New Advent Encyclopedia and again,
AMM and CAMM]