In the summer of 1830, St. Catherine Leboure received the first of three apparitions to hear the voice of a child summoning her to the chapel of Rue Du Bac, Paris. When she entered the chapel the Blessed Mother was there. The Blessed Mother told St Catherine that God was going to change what he wanted St. Catherine to do. She promised St. Catherine would be given the grace that she needed to complete the task because the task was going to be adversarial.
In Nov of 1830 the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Catherine again and this times They spoke of France and how France was having a difficult time, including the poor and refugees of war. She spoke of how the plight of the French poor would reach out though the rest of the world. There were rays of lights coming from the Blessed Mothers fingers and the ones not illuminated St. Catherine was told were those graces not asked for.
The third apparition saw a change in the image that saw the Blessed mother standing on a globe with rays of light streaming from her fingers. This time she appeared inside of an oval frame. She was standing on a globe, and wearing rings of colors. The rays of light shown over the globe. Around the frame the words appeared in French. Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. One of the interesting facts here is this phrase does back up the Catholic Dogma that Mary was conceived without original sin. The frame started moving showing a circle of 12 stars and had a large letter M surmounted by a cross There was also a Sacred Heart of Jesus with a crown of thorns and Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword..
St. Catherine was then told to take this to her father confessor, the person who helps Saints with their persecutions, and request that it be put on medals promising All who wear them will receive great graces.
St Catherine followed what she was told and after two years her priest took the apparition to the archbishop and explained that they needed to produced these medals. The Archbishop agreed and they began producing the medal. As the word spread people began wearing these medals and all gave the feedback of feeling protected or feeling the graces and blessings, thus leading to the name miraculous medal. The word of the greatness of these medals spread and they became very popular. .
The chapel where St. Catherine had her visions is in the mother house of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul. Both St. Catherine and St. Louise de Marillac, who is a co-founder of the Daughters of Charity are interned there. Both are enshrined in a glass coffins and have uncorrupted bodies, meaning their bodies remain perfect without any decay. Many believers go to this chapel daily to pay their respects and to see where the Blessed Mother appeared.
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