Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

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 shrine located in Paris, France.

History

Originally constructed per the imperial decree of King Louis XVIII on 25 March 1813, the chapel was formerly within the former building of Hotel de Châtillon. It was blessed and dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus 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.^[1]

The famed address of the shrine is #140 — Rue du Bac, Paris, France. The chapel is reputed to be where the Blessed Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a novice of the Daughters of Charity, Catherine Labouré, in December 1830 and requested the creation of the medal of the Immaculate Conception that came to be known as the Miraculous Medal by popular demand.

Leo XIII 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 and the image was crowned on 26 July 1897. Accordingly, Pope Pius XII granted a decree of coronation for another image venerated in the Church of Saint Matthias in Maastricht, Netherlands on 15 March 1956 which later took place on 27 May of the same year.

Marian apparitions

The interior of the Chapel in panoramic view

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 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.^[2]

Shortly after, Labouré saw Christ present in the Sacred Host, and on 6 June 1830, the Feast of the Holy Trinity, Christ appeared as a crucified king, stripped of all his adornments.^[2]

In 1830, Labouré (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 be established.^[2] Accordingly, the Virgin Mary later requested the creation of a medal with the following invocation:

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

From 1832 a cholera epidemic swept Paris. The sisters disseminated the medal, and as the epidemic receded and fewer people were infected, and Parisians began to call the medal "miraculous."^[3] 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.

The venerated statue crowned by Pope Leo XIII in 1897 helped establish the image and spread its devotion.

Present status

The chapel is owned by the Daughters of Charity.^[3] Only the 17th-century tabernacle remains 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 and was installed there before the French Revolution.

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