Sister Laboure got up with a start and hurried into the sanctuary. The sanctuary is where the altar and the pulpit are. Sister Laboure went up to the chair where Our Lady was and knelt down placing her folded hands into Our Lady's lap. Our Lady told Sister Laboure that God had a very special task for her to do. She also said that dreadful times lay ahead for France. The government would be overthrown. The Church would be terribly persecuted. The Archbishop of Paris would lose his life. However, Sister Laboure was not to fear, for the daughters of Charity and the Priests of the Mission would be protected by the Blessed Mother herself. Then suddenly Our Lady departed, leaving Sister Laboure alone with the little boy. For 2 whole hours Sister Laboure had listened and looked at Our Lady. Sister Laboure turned and looked at the little boy who had been there all the time. "She's gone now," he said, and led her back to her room, after which, he disappeared.
Sister Laboure told the convent confessor, Father Aladel, what had happened on the night of July 18th. Seeing as Sister Laboure had only been in the convent for a short while, Father Aladel did not exactly believe her. Still she insisted that Our Lady really did come and so did the boy, whom she believed was her Guardian Angel. But Father Aladel told her that she was just dreaming and to forget all about it.
Months later, in the afternoon of November 27th Our Lady appeared again to Sister Laboure who was praying with the rest of the other nuns in the chapel. She was standing on a globe and her clothes were sparkling with beauty. She wore many rings of stone of which some had the most dazzling light rays coming out, while others were dull and had next to nothing coming out of them. Our Lady was holding a ball of gold with a cross on top of it.
Our Lady looked at Sister Laboure "The globe which you see represents the world, especially France and everyone in it. The rays are the symbol of the graces I shed on those who ask me for them. The stones which send forth no light represent the graces for which people forget to ask me." Then the little globe that she was holding disappeared. As she lowered her hands the rays grew brighter as more of her rings gave light. An oval frame appeared around Our Lady with an inscription of gold words which read: O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee.
"Have a medal made after this model," Our Lady commanded, "All who wear it after it has been blessed will receive great graces especially if they wear it around the neck. Graces will abound for those who wear it with confidence." Then the vision turned around, the oval frame was still there. In it was a letter "M" mounted by a cross and a bar. Under the "M" were 2 hearts, the hearts of Jesus and Mary. The heart of Jesus was enveloped by a crown of thorns, and Mary's heart was pierced with a sword, all of which was surrounded, not by an inscription, but by 12 stars.
Father Aladel refused to do anything about it. By the end of December Our Lady had appeared 3 times. She wanted something to be done. But Father Aladed assured Sister Laboure that she had too much of an imagination.
After Sister Laboure had taken her final vows in January 1831 she was known as Sister Catherine. Soon after her vows she was moved to a convent in the suburbs. There she would work in the kitchen and help with the caring of poor old men. Although Sister Catherine dearly loved her job her heart was still sad, for it was already 1832 and there nothing was being done about the medal. But Mary appeared to her that year and told her that there was no need to worry. "One day Father Aladel will do as I request. He is my servant and would fear to displease me."
This message had quite an impact on Father Aladel. He then decided to tell the archbishop know about the visions, and if the archbishop wanted the medal to be made, well... then they'd get started.
After hearing the story he was quite impressed and very interested in the whole affair.
"This medal must be made immediately!" the archbishop told Father Aladel. He then asked Father Aladel who the Sister of Charity was that see the Blessed Mother. Father Aladel then explained that he could say no more. The archbishop was very surprised, for surely the nun was a true saint. Father Aladel continued to say that Our Lady had said that the nun could not tell anyone except her confessor about her visits.
"Then how is the artist going to know what to draw then?" the archbishop questioned.
"Don't worry your excellency, I'll think of something." reassured Father Aladel.
Father Aladel described Sister Catherine's vision to the artist. The artist sketched a few drawings, telling Father Aladel that he would use whichever one the sister liked best. Sister Catherine looked through the sketches. She was very happy that something was at last being done. Then something familiar caught her eye. She picked up the sketch and examined it. It depicted Our Lady as standing on a globe, her hands outstretched, with bright rays of light emanating from her rings and streaming towards the earth. Her hair was covered by a veil, her feet bare, crushing the head of a serpent beneath them. Yes this was the one that she wanted. Father Aladel brought the sketch back to the artist, and the work began.
The first medals were done - all 2 thousand of them. The archbishop told Father Aladel not to worry, for Father Aladel thought they had made too many of them for the first time.
"The people will seek them," he said, "after all, it is Our Lady who sends them."
Right the archbishop was, for the story of the apparitions spread like wild fire throughout Paris, and soon all 2 thousand were gone. Soon other cities wanted the medal and several thousand more had to be made. Then, things really got crazy when everyone noticed that people who wore the medal were not only protected by the cholera plague, which had just broken out, but if the medal was placed around the neck of a sufferer, they were instantly cured. As the excitement grew, more and more medals were made. It seemed nothing could stop the spread of this devotion.
The medals were surnamed by the people the "miraculous medal." But as the medal became more and more popular, people began to wonder who the sister of Charity was.
"Imagine, seeing a real life saint," they said. Constantly people asked each other, the archbishop, religious, Father Aladel, anyone, who she might be. Sister Catherine was worried sick that they would find out. Father Aladel promised her that he would not tell anyone who she was no matter how many times he was asked. Sister Catherine was relieved and happily went about the convent doing her chores, appearing to be just an ordinary nun.
In 1842, Our Lady appeared again. But this time it was in Rome to a Jew named Alphonse Ratisbonne. Alphonse was 28 years old, and had spent most of his life scoffing the teachings of the Church. A Catholic friend of his asked him if he would wear the little miraculous medal. In order to please his friend he agreed to wear it. While he was in Rome, Our Lady appeared to him in the exact same way she appeared on the medal and she converted him on the spot. After that he became a priest and started a congregation called the Fathers of Sion, its sole aim being to convert the Jews and Mohammadens. It was 12 years earlier that Our Lady had promised Sister Catherine that many graces would be had for those who wore the medal, especially around the neck.
1865 brought the sad death of Father Aladel. Poor Sister Catherine was more lonely than ever. Now there was no one to talk to about Our Lady's visions. In 1871, just as Mary had foretold, there was a great persecution all over France. Sister Catherine longed for the companionship of Father Aladel, and the counsel of Our Lady.
Our Lady came again in 1876 to Sister Catherine with one final mission. She requested that a special statue to be made for the chapel of the Mother house, in Paris, were she had first appeared to Sister Catherine. Sister Catherine was indeed worried. If she dared suggest that Our Lady wanted this, then people would suspect that it was her that Our Lady had appeared to. While she was puzzling over the problem she heard a voice in her heart, a voice she knew quite well and loved. It was Our Lady's voice, giving Sister Catherine permission to tell everyone that it was her that she had appeared to. Yes, the secret that Sister Catherine had kept for 46 years was free to tell.
July 18, 1830. It was 11:30 pm in the mother house of the Sisters of Charity in Paris, France, when Sister Catherine Laboure woke up. She was 24 years old and had been at the convent for 3 months. When she looked out through her bed curtains she saw a beautiful little boy. He looked to be about 5, had blue eyes and curly golden hair and his clothes were sparkling white. The little boy told Sister Laboure that Our Lady was waiting for her in the chapel. Sister Laboure got dressed quickly and followed the little boy down the hall.
When she arrived at the chapel, Sister Laboure found it all lit up, although she did not see anyone there besides herself and the boy. She knelt at the altar rail and waited for the Blessed Virgin to come. A few minutes later a lady walked in and seated herself in a chair in the sanctuary. The boy told Sister Laboure that, indeed the Blessed Mother had come. But Sister Laboure did not move for she was afraid that all of this was just a dream and would go away. The little boy got impatient and with a stern voice he cried, "Yes, it is Our Lady, Go to her, Can't you see that she is waiting for you?!"
There was much excitement when the news got out. Sister Catherine Laboure, that sweet old nun, was really and truly the sister of the Miraculous Medal? You could never guess. She blended right in with her chores, stationed in the suburbs, caring for the old men. It was too good to be true, and she surely was a real life saint. Everyone knew now and everyone was happy, including Sister Catherine.
The statue was now done. It was simply beautiful. Our Lady was holding the little ball with a cross on it. Her eyes were looking at Heaven and her dress was a soft golden white. She was standing on the world, and her foot seemed to be merely stepping on the head of a snake, but the astonished expression on the snake's face, satan, showed that she was not just stepping on it's head, but was crushing it, smashing all of the power out of it. It showed how much power Mary has over such a slippery creature as satan, the snake.
