A Miraculous Medal To Beat Hell: Mary's Word

08-24-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

Our Lady has always intervened to support her children throughout the centuries with various manifestations. We remember, for example, the interventions of Lepanto (1571) and Vienna (1683), where she saved European Christianity from Islamic military aggression. For several centuries, this infernal aggression has become more subtle and, we might say, increasingly "ideological." At the end of the Napoleonic adventure, having entered into "modernity", the anti-Christian revolution, while accentuating its violent fight against the Church, developed a whole current of thought that would justify the persecution of Christians and the construction of a society hostile to God and human nature.

From "tangible" interventions, Mary's intervention then shifts to a more prophetic role, reminding us of God's will and the damage that comes from ignoring it, transmitting to us His messages and requests. This context includes the apparitions of 1830 on Rue du Bac, Paris, in which the Blessed Virgin addressed St. Catherine Labouré, a Vincentian nun, prophesying the imminent fall of the last sacred king of France, the turmoil that would strike that nation, and the Paris Commune of 1870 and the assassination of its bishop. The most significant apparition occurred on November 27, 1830, …

Our Lady appeared to her wearing rings of varying sizes on her fingers; some emanated rays of light, others did not. The former represents the graces bestowed upon humanity, which asks for them; the latter represent the graces Mary would like to obtain for us but which no one asks for. Thus, we learn that it is not Heaven that withholds graces, but rather humanity's lack of trust that prevents them from descending to earth. Then an oval was formed around the Blessed Virgin, with the following written in gold letters: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you”. A voice said: “Have a medal struck like this model. All who wear it will receive great graces. Graces will be abundant for those who have faith.” The inscription predates by 24 years the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Blessed Pius IX in 1854.

Suddenly the painting seemed to turn, and Catherine saw the back of the medal on which the letter M for Mary was engraved and inside it the letter I for Jesus; from both emerges a single cross of salvation. Below them: on the left, the Sacred Heart of Jesus pierced by the thrust of a lance and crowned with thorns, and on the right the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced by a sword. From both emerge the flames of Their love. The interweaving of M, I, and CROSS recalls how Mary is the Mother of God, carrying Him in her womb and inextricably linked to the work of human redemption. Surrounding the image, twelve stars represent each person, the twelve apostles, the tribes of Israel, the Church, and humanity in all its aspects. Due to its rich symbolism, the Medal has been called a "Marian microcosm"; it recalls the mystery of Redemption, the love of the Sacred Hearts, and the role of the Most Holy Virgin as Mediatrix.

The circulation of the medal grew significantly. By the time of Labouré's death (1876), it is estimated that more than a billion copies had been minted. Numerous miracles were associated with it. The most famous is the conversion of the Jewish Alphonse Ratisbonne, a well-known French banker, who agreed to wear it as a bet and five days later was struck by an apparition of the Madonna in the guise of the medal. During the time of the vision, he converted irreversibly to Catholicism, received unheard-of theological knowledge, and began a rapid journey of faith, which he concluded as a Catholic priest, abandoning enormous wealth, his fiancée, and his family of origin.

The saints had immense faith in devotion, starting with Catherine Labouré. Bernadette Soubirous wore it around her neck when Mary first appeared in the grotto at Lourdes. As a child, Thérèse of the Child Jesus placed medals in the pockets of workers' jackets. (Padre) Pio of Pietrelcina always kept small medals in his pocket to distribute and died with them in his pocket. St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, captivated by the story of Ratisbonne's conversion, adopted the Miraculous Medal (which he called the bullet) to obtain graces and conversions, and to fight evil. The Polish martyr drew inspiration from these apparitions to found the Militia of the Immaculate Conception and chose to celebrate his first Holy Mass at the altar of the apparition.

In the years before the war, Father Kolbe wrote, in Rome "the Masonic mafia, repeatedly disapproved of by the pontiffs, dominated in an increasingly brazen manner. It did not even give up waving a black banner with the effigy of St. Michael the Archangel under the feet of Lucifer through the streets of the city during the celebrations in honor of Giordano Bruno, much less waving the Masonic insignia in front of the windows of the Vatican... This mortal hatred towards the Church of Christ and towards its vicar on earth was not just a prank by misguided individuals, but a systematic action deriving from a principle of Freemasonry: 'Destroy every religion, especially the Catholic one.' Spread in the most diverse ways and in more or less obvious ways throughout the world, the cells of this mafia aim precisely at this goal.

They also make use of a whole congeries of associations with the most varied names and purposes, which, however, under their influence, spread religious indifference and weaken morality. They pay particular attention to weakening the latter, in accordance with the resolution they have taken: 'We will not conquer the Catholic religion by reasoning, but only by perverting customs.' And they drown souls in a flood of literature and art aimed at weakening the moral sense: the invasion of moral filth flows everywhere like a wide river. Personalities collapse, homes fall to pieces, and sadness grows greatly in the depths of soiled hearts. Not feeling within themselves the strength to throw off the yoke that binds them, they avoid the Church, or even rebel against it" (Kolbian Writings no. 1328).

It is not surprising, therefore, that Saint Maximilian Kolbe wrote in the act of establishing the Militia of the Immaculate: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee and for those who do not have recourse to thee, especially for the Freemasons… ”. It was October 16, 1917, just three days after the miracle of the sun at Fatima, which had decreed yet another triumph of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A prayer as timely as ever! (Diego Torre)