On this holy day when we praise and glorify God and honor His Mother under her title of the Immaculate Conception, let us also remember two of the Church's greatest grace filled gifts to us: the devotion to the Miraculous Medal and the Sodality of the Children of Mary... and the two special Daughters of Charity who promoted these devotions.
The first Daughter of Charity is St. Catherine Laboure. Our Lady requested of St. Catherine that she be honored under the title Mary Immaculate in the year 1830. Our Lady asked St. Catherine to have a medal struck to include the words: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee. We have come to know this medal as the Miraculous Medal because of all the miraculous favors that flow from heaven as fruit of this devotion. Devotion to Our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception and to the medal honoring this title, the Miraculous Medal, is precious to all Daughters of Charity then and now and is also responsible for the origin of The Children of Mary. "The Sodality of Children of Mary Immaculate owes its origin to the manifestation of the Virgin Immaculate of the Miraculous Medal, on which the Church has placed a seal, by appointing the twenty-seventh of November as its feast." (Catholic Encyclopedia). As of 1847 in each house of the Daughters of Charity was erected a pious Confraternity dedicated to Mary Immaculate, at first for young girls attending their schools or workrooms, but later to include little boys in their charge, and youths educated by the Lazarists. Eventually the Sodality was opened to include young girls and boys not under the charge of the Daughters of Charity and Lazarists and then all those desiring to be called Children of Mary. By 1897 there were 100,000 living members through out the world. The numbers have continued to grow and grow. The badge worn by the Children of Mary is the Miraclous Medal.
Thank you St. Catherine Laboure, Daughter of Charity, for giving us the Miraculous Medal.
The second Daughter of Charity, Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey now continues God's plan. It was the Sodality of the Association of the Children of Mary that captured the heart of Sister Marie. She poured her heart into the the care of all the hundreds of children God placed in her care in France and then in Turkey. Sister Marie brought them all into the Sodality of the Children of Mary where she knew Our Lady would look after their souls. She also encourage this devotion among the hundreds of infirm under her care in the hospitals she managed. She continues this work today from heaven! Sister Marie, continues to call the Children of Mary to the spiritual refuge of Mary's House. After all, she is Foundress and spiritual mother to Mary's House and all of Panaghia. (Fr. Eugene Poulin)
Thank you Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey, Daughter of Charity, for giving us Mary's House.
So today on this holy day, when you blow a kiss to your Heavenly Mother, Mary Immaculate, also kiss the Miraculous Medal and thank God for the Sodality of the Children of Mary, a devotion close to the heart of Sister Marie both then and now. Sister Marie wants to show us the simple way to God through Mary. She has opened for us the Doorway to the Virgin. How blessed we are to be called Children of Mary and to be welcomed into her safe and love-filled home. So hold Sister Marie's hand and with a heart full of gratitude don your Miraculous Medal and do come in!
Make a virtual visit to the Miraculous Medal Shrine in Paris by following the Miraculous medal link in the left toolbar.
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