Paris - Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Médaille Miraculeuse - 10

The Chapel of Graces of the Miraculous Virgin (French: ''La Chapelle du Grâce de Sainte Vierge Miraculeuse'') or informally the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, is a Marian pontifical shrine located in

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Originally constructed via the imperial decree of King Louis XVIII on 25 March 1813, the chapel was formerly within the ''Hotel de Châtillon''. It was blessed and dedicated to the Sacred Heart of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

on 6 August 1815 and served as a part of the motherhouse of the Order of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. The famed address of the shrine is #140 — Rue du Bac, Paris,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The chapel is reputed to be where the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

allegedly appeared to then religious

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

Catherine Labouré Catherine Labouré (May 2, 1806 – December 31, 1876) was a French member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the famo ...

in December 1830 and requested the creation of the medal of the "

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

" that came to be known as the "

Miraculous Medal The Miraculous Medal (french: Médaille miraculeuse), also known as the Medal of Our Lady of Graces, is a devotional medal, the design of which was originated by Catherine Labouré following her apparitions of the Blessed Virgin MaryAnn Ball, 20 ...

" by popular demand.

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

granted the venerated Marian image enshrined within a decree of pontifical coronation on 2 March 1897 via the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal

François-Marie-Benjamin Richard François-Marie-Benjamin Richard de la Vergne (; 1 March 1819 – 27 January 1908) was a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and served as the Archbishop of Paris. His cause of canonization has commenced and he has the title of Servant ...

and was crowned on 26 July 1897. Accordingly, Pope Pius XII granted a decree of coronation for another namesake image venerated in

Maastricht, Netherlands Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

on 27 May 1956.

History of the Marian apparitions

Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Médaille Miraculeuse1

The chapel at Rue du Bac, Paris, is the site of a number of apparitions said to have been experienced by Catherine Labouré. It was here on three successive days, while praying, that

Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. Afte ...

showed her his heart three times in a different colour: * White — the colour of peace * Red — the colour of fire * Black — an indication of the misfortunes on the city of Paris."The Apparitions", Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
/ref> Shortly after, Labouré saw Christ present in the Sacred Host, and on 6 June 1830, the

Feast of the Holy Trinity Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the ...

, Christ appeared as a crucified king, stripped of all his adornments. In 1830, Labourè (age 24) received three visits from the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the first visit, the night of 18 July, she received a request that a Confraternity of the

Children of Mary The Sodality of Our Lady, also known as the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary (in Latin, ''Congregationes seu sodalitates B. Mariæ Virginis''), is a Roman Catholic Marian society founded in 1563 by young Belgian Jesuit Jean Leunis (or Jan) a ...

be established. Accordingly, the Virgin Mary later requested the creation of a medal with the following invocation: From May 1832 onwards, the medal was extraordinarily disseminated and is said to convert, protect, and perform miracles, was called "miraculous" by the faithful. In 1849, the chapel was expanded and thereafter other modifications were executed. Since 1930, the date of its complete renovation, the chapel is as it is known today.

Marian iconography

* Due to the popularity of the

, a 19th century iconography of the Virgin Mary in its outstretched arms later became popularized in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

titled as "Our Lady of Grace" in the 1950s due to the apparitions at the namesake "Chapel of Our Lady of Graces of the Miraculous Virgin". * Accordingly, the venerated statue crowned by

in 1897 helped recognize the image and help spread its Marian devotion. However, in some Italian and Spanish

Catholic countries The Catholic Church is "the Catholic Communion of Churches, both Roman and Eastern, or Oriental, that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome (the pope)." The church is also known by members as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the ...

, the original name was retained as "Vergine di Miracolo" (Basilica della Santa Andrea Fratte) or "Virgen de (Medalla) Milagrosa". It features a standing pose atop a globe with a serpent and two six-pointed stars while another variant image of the apparition called "Our Lady of the Globe" features a standing Virgin holding a globe by her arms (enshrined at the side altar of the chapel).

Present status

Only the 17th—century

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

remain unchanged since 1815. This tabernacle came from the original building allocated in 1800 to the Daughters of Charity. Once lost, it was rediscovered in the chapel of the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

and was installed there before the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. Catherine Labouré declared that it was in front of the tabernacle that the Blessed Virgin Mary prostrated herself in the nights of 18 — 19 July 1830 and that she was above it during the third apparition in December 1830. In 1850, an

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

was placed on top of this tabernacle.

Marian pilgrimages

The chapel, as a site of

Marian apparition A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a series of related such appearances during a period of time. In the Catholic Church, in order for a reported appearance to be classified as a Marian a ...

, is a

Marian shrine A shrine to the Virgin Mary (or Marian shrine) is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destinatio ...

and hence a site of

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

. The wax effigy containing the bones of

Louise de Marillac Louise de Marillac , also Louise Le Gras, (August 12, 1591 – March 15, 1660) was the co-founder, with Vincent de Paul, of the Daughters of Charity. She is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church in the United S ...

and the heart of

, founders of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, are kept there. The incorrupt body of

, member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and famous Marian visionary, also lies in a glass coffin at the side altar of the chapel.Callbeck, Cara. "Pilgrims in Paris and a Lesson for Lent", Ignatian Spirituality
/ref>

References

Books

* ''Petit guide de la chapelle Notre-Dame de la Médaille Miraculeuse'', Editions du Signe, 2002

External links

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
– Official Website {{coord, 48.850974, N, 2.323770, E, scale:5000, display=title Shrines to the Virgin Mary Roman Catholic chapels in Paris Roman Catholic churches in the 7th arrondissement of Paris 1815 establishments in France Roman Catholic shrines in France