The miraculous medal owes its origin to the Marian Apparition in the convent chapel of the Daughters of Charity in Rue du Bac, Paris, France in 1830. At this time the Church was suffering through another of the persecutions which had begun with the French revolution in 1789.       On the night of Saturday November 27, 1830, a little child came to St. Catherine Laboure, a Daughter of Charity and led her to the convent chapel where the Immaculate Virgin appeared sitting in a chair. She knelt before her and lay her hands in her lap. She was given another vision which is described below in her own words: "Her feet rested on a white globe...I saw rings on her fingers...Each ring was set with gems...the larger gems emitted greater rays and the smaller gems smaller rays... I could not express what I saw, the beauty and the brilliance of the dazzling rays. "They are symbols of the graces I shed upon those who ask for them." (a voice said) A frame formed round the Blessed Virgin. Within it was written in letters of gold: "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." Then the voice said: "Have a Medal struck after this model. All who wear it will receive great graces; they should wear it around the neck." At this instant the tableau seemed to turn, and I beheld the reverse of the medal; a large M surmounted by a bar and a cross; beneath the M were the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the one crowned with thorns, the other pierced with a sword."       The medal was struck according to instructions. On the front of the medal was an image of Our Lady standing on the earth, her foot crushing the head of the serpent, with her hands outstretched and rays of light coming from her fingertips. Around the medal was inscribed "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee." The rays of light from her hands symbolize the graces which she is only too eager to bestow upon those who wear the Medal and pray to her. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception had not yet been proclaimed. This would happen a few years later in 1854.       (More information on the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.)       St. Catherine Laboure never told anyone except her confessor and superior about this apparition. She kept this secret to her death and lived as a simple nun. Her body lies incorrupt at the right of the altar in the picture above.       The medal was immediately distributed far and wide. Numerous graces of conversion, protection and healing were obtained. Faced with such extraordinary events, the Archbishop of Paris ordered an official inquiry into the origin and effects of the medal of the Rue du Bac. The result was as follows: The exraordinary rapidity with which the medal has been propagated, the prodigious number of medals struck and distributed, the astonishing benefits and singular graces that the trust of the faithful have obtained, appear to be signs by which heaven has confirmed the reality of the Apparitions, the veracity of the seer's account and the diffusion of the medal.       In 1927, in Philadelphia,Pa, a novena to the Miraculous medal was begun. It proved so popular that the novena was held every Monday and became the Perpetual Novena in honor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Today this novena flourishes in churches and chapels here and all over the world.