Interior of the Chapel.

Chapel of the Miraculous Medallion

By Paul Jensi

Paris Kiosque - February 2001 - Volume 8, Number 2
Copyright (c) 2001 Paul Jensi - Used with permission.

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The discreet entrance to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medallion is like a quiet mouth, closed, calm and carefully keeping its secrets. A fitting image because the modest Sister who made the chapel famous proved with her life that she could keep her word.

Many people know the story of Lourdes, a small town in the French Pyrenees, where in 1858 the Virgin appeared to a child and began performing miraculous healings. Yet except for the five thousand people who visit the Chapel of the Miraculous Medallion daily, few know that the exact same story took place in the heart of Paris twenty-eight years earlier.

Orphaned when she was nine, Catherine Labouré helped raise her nine brothers and sisters before leaving her farm in the Burgundy region of France to come to Paris when she was twenty. Four years later, she became a "novice" in the Community of the Daughters of Charity, a convent established by a holy man named Saint Vincent de Paul to serve the poor. Catherine Labouré's dedication to her mission was so great that in the year of her arrival she spoke with the Virgin Mary not once but twice.

Fresco depicting the first vision.

The first time was July 18, 1830, the eve of the feast of St Vincent de Paul, at half-past eleven in the evening. Catherine awoke from a deep sleep to find a small boy standing at the foot of her bed whispering "Sister, sister" over and over again. When the child saw that she was awake, he told Catherine to get out of bed because the Virgin Mary was waiting. After rising from her bed and dressing, she followed the child to the Chapel where she discovered Mary standing beside the Father Director's chair. Still, she hesitated to believe what was happening until the small boy spoke with a man's voice saying, "Here is the Blessed Virgin!"

At that she fell to her knees before the figure and placed her hands in the Virgin's lap. She later described that moment as the sweetest of her life. The Virgin spoke with her for two and a half hours, predicting a revolution in France and dangers for the Church and its leaders. The news was so disturbing that Catherine was unable to sleep for the rest of the night. The next morning, she confided in her confessor, Father Aladel, knowing that he was bound by the sacrament of the confessional and could not share her revelations with anyone else. Catherine did not want anyone to know of her conversation because she considered herself a tool of God, nothing more, and believed that if the news of her meeting got out the fame it brought her would only complicate her task. Perhaps another reason for her hesitation was the fear that no one would believe her; a fear Father Aladel himself justified because he remained skeptical after his novice had explained her story. He did not, however, remain doubtful very long. On July 28, 1830, just ten days after Catherine predicted political turmoil, the French people attacked Paris's religious institutions and overthrew King Charles X. The Virgin appeared to Catherine again, four months later. During the vigil of the First Sunday of Advent, while the Community was praying, Catherine looked up and saw the Virgin standing to the right of the main altar, surrounded by light. No one else noticed anything.

Entrance to the Chapel.

Catherine saw two images of Mary: in the first the Holy Virgin standing on a small dome, crushing a serpent with her foot and holding a small, golden globe in her hands. In the second vision, rays of light emanated from Mary's hands and lit up the sphere on which she stood. A voice that came from inside Catherine told her, "These rays are the symbol of the graces that Mary obtains for all." A ring in the shape of a medallion encircled the vision and an inscription crowned it reading: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you. The image then spun around to offer Catherine a view of the reverse side of the medallion where Mary's initial appeared above two hearts, one crowned with thorns and another pierced by a sword. As she stared at this image Catherine heard, "Have a medal made from this model. All who wear it with confidence will receive great graces."

Catherine divulged this vision to Father Aladel, who helped her have the medallion struck. The first medals were made in 1832, during a terrible cholera epidemic in Paris and distributed to the sick in Paris hospitals. The faith the medallion instilled cured so many patients that the pendant became known as the Miraculous Medallion.

Many other miracles followed, among the most impressive concerned the chapel itself. The Chapel of the Miraculous Medallion is located beside the Bon Marché (the first department store in the world) and when the store caught fire in 1915 the blaze threatened to destroy the chapel. Yet though the shop was reduced to cinders and flames danced against the adjoining church, the chapel remained unscathed. [Verify the condition of the building.] The medallion caused so many miracles that Monsignor de Quelen began an investigation into the origin of the medallion; but when asked, Father Aladel could not answer because he was restricted by the sacrament of the confessional and Catherine herself would not because she considered her part in the miracles to be secondary.

The Virgin and the fire.

Not only did miracles take place throughout Catherine's life, they accompanied her to her death and even after. During the summer of 1876, Catherine foretold of her own demise, saying she would not live out the year. Before that, however, Mary had instructed Catherine to have a statue built of the Holy Virgin and to place it at the exact spot of her appearance in the chapel. In order to gain the support she needed, Catherine had to finally tell her secret. Catherine confessed her visions to her Mother Superior, forty-six years after first meeting Mary, in May of 1876-the year she died. Indeed, Catherine's prediction of her own death came to pass as she'd stated, for she died New Year's Eve 1876.

Remarkably, even that does not end Catherine's story. After she was beatified in St Peter's basilica on May 28, 1933, the Church had her body exhumed so that it could be returned to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medallion, where it was opened in the presence of Cardinal Verdier, the Archbishop of Paris. As the coffin lid was removed, those present gasped with astonishment. Catherine lay there, looking exactly as she had the day she'd been lay to rest, fifty-seven years before. Her skin had not darkened a shade and her eyes were as bright blue as they had been when they'd looked on the Holy Virgin. Her body now lies for all to see at the front of the Chapel of the Miraculous Medallion, at the feet of the statue of Our Lady who stands in the exact place she stood the night Catherine met her.

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In 1990 Paul quit his job in the United States and sold everything he had in exchange for a one-way ticket to Europe and a train pass. Figuring he would ride the rails until his money ran out, he voyaged through most European capitals before marrying the first French girl he met and moving to Paris in November of that year. Since then he published 123 articles and posted 192 of his photographs during his one-year tenure as Chief English writer at AOL France's Digital Paris Web site. His current goal of walking on every street in the city has revealed not only the importance of comfortable footwear but also the splendor of the city he calls his own (despite copyright infringement laws). He is currently working on ``Paris Misguided'', an unguide that will help him spread that love around. He can be contacted via PJensi@aol.com.