The Miraculous Medal: Its Origin, History, Circulation, ResultsAladel, Jean-Marie
Religion
The Miraculous Medal: Its Origin, History, Circulation, Results
Aladel, Jean-Marie
Labouré, Catherine, Saint, 1806-1876; Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint; Miraculous Medal
"About the 15th of December, 1843, a little girl, Zénobie de
M., just one year old, was attacked, at the same time, by
water on the chest, a disease of the bowels, and cerebral
congestion. Dr. Flandrin, a friend of the family was called in
immediately, and gave the child every attention, but his skill
was powerless, and the family was plunged in the deepest grief.
The child's eldest sister alone cherished a faint hope in the
depths of her heart; she had intended consecrating herself to
God in a religious state, and had always regarded the birth
of this little one as a gift of Providence, sent to take her
place in the family, and console her afflicted parents. God
will not, she thought, take back the child. In her room was a
picture representing the apparition of the Miraculous Medal;
she knelt before it, begging the child's recovery, and renewing
her promises of embracing a religious life should the petition
be granted. This generous offering she kept a secret. A little
while after, the doctor came and declared the child's case
hopeless, and moreover, its recovery not desirable as it would
remain imbecile, paralyzed or blind. He proposed, however, a
consultation with M. Blache, physician of the Necker hospital,
who prescribed energetic treatment, but said, 'this child
cannot live.'
The poor mother, deeming it inadvisable to cause the little
creature unnecessary suffering, gently laid it in the cradle,
saying with the faith and resignation seen in none but a
Christian mother: 'The Lord gave it to me, the Lord wishes
to take it away, may His holy will be accomplished!' In the
afternoon, one of the aunts came to accompany the elder sister
to church, and whilst their prayers ascended to the Most
High, more for the mother than the child, this mother obeys
spontaneously a supernatural impulse, and taking the Miraculous
Medal as a last hope, she applies it to the body of the child,
and repeats with confidence the invocation: 'O Mary! conceived
without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!' The
plaintive cries ceased, and when M. Flandrin came that evening
to see if the little one were still alive, he was greatly
surprised to perceive a faint improvement since morning, the
whole body covered with a gentle perspiration, and the little
paralyzed arm able to move in any direction. 'But what a pity,'
said he, 'the child will be blind,' which indeed it seemed to
be already, as a light passed several times before its eyes
produced no effect whatever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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