The Miraculous Medal
Based on Vintage Holy Card

"O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to you!" These are the words below the phrase The Miraculous Medal at the bottom of this darling old holy card.

The Miraculous Medal was introduced in 1832 by Saint Catherine Labouré, a novice, as she was instructed to in a vision she had of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary had told her that France was in a wicked time, and that she should have medals struck to help their faith.

In the convent chapel, Mary showed herself to Catherine in a tableau of the Miraculous Medal and told Catherine to have the medal struck to look as she was appearing in the oval, with the 12 stars, the M, and the streams of grace from her fingers.

When Catherine asked why some of the jewels in the rings on Mary's fingers did not have light flowing from them, Mary told her that that those were the graces people didn't ask for, but that they could.

Sometimes called Our Lady of Graces, there are many, many illustrations of this image in the last 190 years. But we were struck with this one from the late 1800s. We thought it looked classy and balanced. It was printed by one of the great Parisian holy card printers, Boumard & Fils, and we think the Maison was the same man who later joined up with Bouasse-Lebel, another one of the great holy card printing houses of 19th Century Paris.

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. All Approx! Fine art printers do this because the images are almost never the same rectangular ratio of the standard paper sizes. It also gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in a frame without a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - CatholicArtAndJewelry.