Mary's great gift to her afflicted children

On the occasion of the Feast of the Visitation, May 31, 2017, and the conclusion of the "month of Mary" in the Vatican Gardens, the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, who serve the Vatican's St Martha House, presented the participants with a "Miraculous Medal" whose "design" was given by the Virgin Mary herself to St Catherine Labouré on November 27, 1830, in Paris, at the convent on Rue du Bac.

The "miracles" that accompanied the first distributions of the medal earned it its popular name, but, as the reverse side of the medal indicates by the two Hearts of Jesus and Mary, what is miraculous is the supernatural love to which the gift of the medal bears witness.

It is a tradition that the month of Mary concludes in the Vatican with a torchlight procession to the "Lourdes Grotto" in the Vatican Gardens and the prayer of the Rosary.

The Superior of the Daughters of Charity, Sr. Stefania Monti, explained this gesture of the Sisters on Vatican Radio: "To give this miraculous medal to the pilgrimage participants at the end of the month of Mary is a way to look again at this great gift that the Blessed Virgin gave to St Catherine Labouré and to the whole community… It is a sign of God's great tenderness for all humanity."

Speaking of the ministry of the Sisters at St Martha's, Sr. Stefania said: "It is a special service, a service that we live in the heart of the Church, close to the Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis."

Zenit