"This new lustre bestowed upon the devotion to Mary conceived without sin, should console religion and raise our hopes.... Oh! in this desolated region, how should we rejoice to see appear in Heaven, if not an omen of the end of all combats, at least the pledge of new triumphs and new conquests!" (Circular of the Archbishop of Digne.) * * * * * May this beautiful devotion, be powerful in attracting the benedictions of Heaven upon earth, ever increase. Let us fervently implore the Immaculate Mother of God to enkindle it in all hearts, to bless that France whose protectrice she has so often proved herself, to preserve and augment therein faith and piety, and to make all the children of France but one family, united by the bonds of religion and charity. Let us also implore the same grace for all countries, all peoples. Let each one of us wear the precious sign of her maternal tenderness, this Miraculous Medal, which, recalling to our minds the first and most glorious of her privileges, she gives us as the pledge of all her favors. Oh! if we knew the gift of our Mother! oh! if we understood the excess of her bounty! Does she not seem longing to give us knowledge, when she displays to us the abundance of her riches and the prodigies of her liberality, in those rays of grace she showers upon us like a deluge of love and mercy? Does she not likewise unveil to us the mystery of her charity, in the image of her heart united to that of the divine Jesus?... The same fire consumes them, the same zeal devours them, thirst for our salvation. This union of love and sacrifice is very clearly represented by the august Mary's initial joined to the sacred sign of the cross above the two hearts, as an authentic testimony, of the co-operation of the Mother of the Saviour in the salvation of the human race. Wear then, little children, this cherished medal, this precious souvenir of the best of mothers; learn and love to say: "O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!"