Popular devotion November 27Marian feast

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

On November 27, 1830, the Virgin Mary showed Saint Catherine Labouré the design of the Miraculous Medal.

Alois Gege, The Apparition of Mary in Paris, 1830, to Saint Catherine Labouré (mid-19th century, reverse glass painting). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Who was Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal?

In the chapel of the Daughters of Charity on the Rue du Bac, Paris, Mary appeared to the novice Catherine Labouré standing on a globe, with rays of light streaming from her hands, framed by the words "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." She asked that a medal be struck with this image and promised great graces to all who wear it with confidence. The back shows the letter M topped by a cross, twelve stars and the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Feast day and traditions

The medal was first made in 1832 and so many graces were reported that people called it "miraculous". In the US, the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Germantown, Philadelphia, has held a Perpetual Novena every Monday since 1930, and a solemn novena leads up to the feast each November.

Prayer

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen.

Novena

To pray a novena that ends on the eve of the feast, begin on November 18 and finish on November 26.

Mass readings

Read the Mass readings for November 27 from the US bishops (USCCB).

Open readings →

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We'll remind you of the feast

Get an email before November 27 with the saint's story, prayer and a greeting ready to send.

Celebrate as a family

Give a Miraculous Medal to someone you love and pray the invocation together.

Wish someone a happy feast day

Send a greeting with this saint's story and prayer.