"Do you have a miraculous medal? That's the name of a special medal that the Blessed Mother herself commissioned on this day in the year 1830. Hello, I'm Father James Kavicki, and the young religious woman to whom Our Lady appeared was Saint Catherine Labouré.When she was only nine, her mother died, and after the funeral Catherine picked up a statue of Mary, kissed it and said, "Now, you will be my mother." In time, Catherine entered the Daughters of Charity, a group founded by Saint Vincent de Paul, and Mary appeared to her, asking for a medal with her image, and the words, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." This was the beginning of what is now known as the miraculous medal, and it became so popular that within four years ten million medals had been made to meet the demand.
Sister Catherine lived the rest of her life in such obscurity that Pope Pius XII who canonized her in 1947, called her the saint of silence. None of her community knew that she was the sister to whom Our Lady appeared, and when someone once suggested that she might be the sister of the apparitions, she just laughed.
Besides her humility, we can also learn something about prayer from her. Here's how she described her own prayer life.
When I get to the chapel, I put myself before the Good God and say to him, "Lord, here I am. Give me what you wish."
If He gives me something, I am happy, and thank him. If he gives me nothing, I thank him still, because I do not deserve anything more. Then, I tell him all that comes into my mind. I tell him my sorrows and my joys, and …I listen.
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• Saint Catherine Labouré. 2 min.
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For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your strength be. -- Isaiah 30:15
In the multitude of words there shall not want sin: but he that refraineth his lips, is most wise.
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