The Miraculous Medal Novena

The Miraculous Medal novena is nine days of prayer to Our Lady under the title she gave herself in Paris in 1830 — the Immaculate Virgin whose medal she asked St Catherine Labouré to strike, promising, "All who wear it will receive great graces." Its heart is the great Novena Prayer, "O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus and our Mother," said with the invocation stamped around the medal itself: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. It is prayed for any pressing need, but above all for conversion, purity of heart, and a happy death — and, in its most famous form, the nine days leading to the feast of the Miraculous Medal on 27 November. Below is the complete devotion, the nine days, the variants people search for, and the true story behind the medal.

The full Miraculous Medal novena

The devotion has a fixed order of prayers, said once each day for nine days with your intention held silently at the appointed place. This is the form kept at shrines and in the perpetual novena of the Vincentian Fathers and the Daughters of Charity, the spiritual family of St Catherine Labouré. If you are new to this kind of prayer, our guide to what is a novena explains the nine days and their meaning.

Opening

Begin with the Sign of the Cross, then call on the Holy Spirit:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, who instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to savor what is right, and always to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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

The prayers to Jesus Christ

Lord Jesus Christ, who hast vouchsafed to glorify by numberless miracles the Blessed Virgin Mary, immaculate from the first moment of her conception, grant that all who devoutly implore her protection on earth may eternally enjoy thy presence in heaven.

Lord Jesus Christ, who for the accomplishment of thy greatest works hast chosen the weak things of the world, that no flesh may glory in thy sight; and who for a better and more widely diffused belief in the Immaculate Conception of thy Mother, hast wished that the Miraculous Medal be manifested to St Catherine Labouré, grant, we beseech thee, that, filled with like humility, we may glorify this mystery by word and work. Amen.

The Novena Prayer

This is the central prayer, and the one most people mean by "the Miraculous Medal novena prayer." Name your intention where marked:

O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus and our Mother, penetrated with the most lively confidence in thy all-powerful and never-failing intercession, manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal, we thy loving and trustful children implore thee to obtain for us the graces and favors we ask during this novena, if they be beneficial to our immortal souls, and the souls for whom we pray.

(Here privately form your petitions.)

Thou knowest, O Mary, how often our souls have been the sanctuaries of thy Son, who hates iniquity. Obtain for us then a deep hatred of sin and that purity of heart which will attach us to God alone, so that our every thought, word, and deed may tend to His greater glory. Obtain for us also a spirit of prayer and self-denial, that we may recover by penance what we have lost by sin, and at length attain to that blessed abode where thou art the Queen of angels and of men. Amen.

The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, we fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, our Mother. To thee we come; before thee we kneel, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer them. Amen.

The Act of Consecration to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

O Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate, we dedicate and consecrate ourselves to thee under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. May this medal be for each one of us a sure sign of thy motherly affection for us, and a constant reminder of our filial duties toward thee. While wearing it, may we be blessed by thy loving protection and preserved in the grace of thy Son. O most powerful Virgin, Mother of our Savior, keep us close to thee every moment of our lives, so that, like thee, we may live and act according to the teaching and example of thy Son. Obtain for us, thy children, the grace of a happy death, so that, in union with thee, we may enjoy the bliss of heaven forever. Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (three times)

Many close with a Rosary, or at least a decade, and the aspiration repeated. That is the whole daily set; say it once a day for nine days.

The nine days: a meditation for each day

Beyond the fixed prayers, the tradition assigns a distinct meditation to each of the nine days, drawn from what St Catherine saw. You may read the day's theme before the Novena Prayer, letting it shape the intention you bring. This is the pattern of the shrine novena:

• Day 1 — The first apparition. Our Lady comes to the young sister in the chapel of the Rue du Bac and speaks with her of the sorrows to come and the graces she wishes to give. We ask the grace to listen, as Catherine listened.
• Day 2 — Refuge in trial. Mary tells her that "the times are evil" and bids the faithful come to the foot of the altar for help. We commend our own troubles to her.
• Day 3 — The Cross despised. She foretells an age that will scorn the Cross of Christ. We ask fidelity when faith is mocked.
• Day 4 — The serpent crushed. Catherine sees Mary standing upon the globe, her heel on the serpent's head — the woman of Genesis and the Apocalypse. We ask victory over sin.
• Day 5 — The globe in her hands. Mary holds a golden globe, offering the whole world to God. We entrust to her the Church and all mankind.
• Day 6 — Rays of grace. From her open hands stream rays of light — the graces she pours on those who ask, and the graces left ungiven because no one asks. We resolve to ask.
• Day 7 — The invocation. Around the figure appears the prayer O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. We make it our own.
• Day 8 — The reverse of the medal. The vision turns: the letter M surmounted by the Cross, and the two Hearts, of Jesus crowned with thorns and of Mary pierced by a sword. We honor the united Hearts.
• Day 9 — "Have a medal struck." Our Lady commands the medal, promising great graces to those who wear it with confidence. We give thanks and renew our petition.

Variants people search for

The Miraculous Medal novena prayer alone (the short version)

If time is short, the essential prayer is the Novena Prayer, O Immaculate Virgin Mary, framed by the invocation O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Said with real trust, that alone is the Miraculous Medal novena in its shortest true form. Add the Memorare when you can.

A novena for a specific intention (a "powerful" novena)

There is nothing more or less "powerful" in the words themselves — the power is Our Lady's intercession and God's free mercy, never a formula that compels Him. But the Miraculous Medal novena is the natural recourse for a grave or seemingly hopeless need, because that is precisely what it was given for: Mary's own promise of "great graces" to those who ask with confidence. Name your intention plainly at the marked place, and ask, as the prayer itself does, only if it be beneficial to our immortal souls. For the gift of a child, name that petition here; for the sick and suffering, many join the Miraculous Medal novena to the novena to Our Lady of Lourdes, the Church's great recourse in bodily need.

The perpetual novena to the Miraculous Medal

The perpetual novena is not nine days but a standing weekly devotion — most famously every Monday, kept since 1930 at shrines and parishes around the world, where the faithful gather to say these same prayers before Our Lady's altar. To "join the perpetual novena" is simply to take up this weekly prayer, alone or with others, without a fixed end. The prayers are the same as those above.

A printable PDF of the novena

The complete text you need for a printable, day-by-day sheet is given in full above — the opening, the two prayers to Jesus, the Novena Prayer, the Memorare, and the Act of Consecration — said once daily for nine days. Copy it to a page to keep beside you, or pray it from the Iter Fidei app with the words and audio already in hand, so no printout is needed.

How to pray the Miraculous Medal novena

When does it start? The novena may be begun on any day for any need — Our Lady set no season on it. But its classic dates run the nine days from 18 to 26 November, ending on the eve of the feast of the Miraculous Medal on 27 November, the anniversary of the apparition in which she revealed the medal. Monday is also the traditional weekday of the devotion.

How to pray it well. Choose a fixed hour and keep it for nine days running. Say the daily set once through, forming your petition silently at the marked place, and — if you can — wear a blessed Miraculous Medal while you pray, for the medal and the prayer belong together. Join it where possible to Mass, Confession, or the Rosary; Our Lady asked expressly for prayer at the foot of the altar. Above all, ask in submission to God's will: the novena that is heard is the one prayed in trust, content to receive either the favor named or the better grace God chooses to send. For the mystery this medal proclaims, see the Immaculate Conception; for Mary's united Heart, engraved on its reverse, the novena to the Immaculate Heart.

Who is St Catherine Labouré, and the story of the medal

Zoé Labouré was born on 2 May 1806, the ninth of eleven children of a farming family at Fain-lès-Moutiers in Burgundy. Her mother died when she was nine, and the child, kissing a statue of Our Lady, is said to have chosen the Blessed Virgin for her mother from that day. Unlettered but resolute, she entered the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul at the age of twenty-four, taking the name Catherine, and came to the community's house on the Rue du Bac in Paris in 1830.

There, that same year, Our Lady came to her. On the night of 18–19 July 1830, a child woke her and led her to the chapel, where the Blessed Virgin sat and spoke with her for more than two hours, warning of trials soon to fall upon France and the Church, and bidding the faithful come to the altar for grace. On 27 November 1830, Mary appeared again, standing upon a globe, rays of light streaming from her hands, framed by the words in gold: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. The vision turned, showing the letter M beneath a cross and the two Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Then came the command: "Have a medal struck upon this model. All who wear it will receive great graces."

Catherine told only her confessor, Father Aladel, and kept her own part hidden for the rest of her life. After examination, the Archbishop of Paris permitted the medal to be struck in 1832 — just as cholera swept the city — and the graces and conversions that followed were so many and so sudden that the people themselves gave it the name it still bears: the Miraculous Medal. Its most famous fruit was the conversion of the Jewish banker Alphonse Ratisbonne at Rome in 1842. Catherine, meanwhile, spent forty hidden years caring for the aged poor at the hospice of Enghien, known to no one as the seer of the Rue du Bac. She died on 31 December 1876.

When her body was exhumed in 1933 it was found incorrupt, and it rests to this day beneath the altar in the chapel on the Rue du Bac. Pope Pius XI beatified her in 1933, and Pope Pius XII canonized her on 27 July 1947. Her feast is kept on 28 November, the day after the medal's own feast. Because her whole message is the Immaculate Conception — the truth defined by the Church in 1854, foreshadowed in the very words on the medal — the devotion belongs wholly to the Church's traditional Marian treasury, alongside the novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Miraculous Medal novena?

It is nine days of prayer to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, asking her intercession under the title she revealed to St Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830. Its heart is the Novena Prayer O Immaculate Virgin Mary, joined to prayers to Jesus, the Memorare, and an Act of Consecration, and sealed with the medal's own invocation, O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. It is prayed for any grave need, and especially for conversion, purity, and a holy death.

When does the Miraculous Medal novena start?

It may be begun on any day, but its traditional dates run the nine days from 18 to 26 November, ending on the eve of the feast of the Miraculous Medal, 27 November — the anniversary of the apparition of the medal. Monday is also the classic weekday of the perpetual novena.

How do you pray the Miraculous Medal novena?

Say the daily set of prayers once a day for nine days running, at a fixed hour: the opening call on the Holy Spirit and the invocation, the two prayers to Jesus, the Novena Prayer with your intention named silently, the Memorare, and the Act of Consecration, closing with the aspiration said three times. Wear a blessed medal if you have one, and join the novena to Mass or the Rosary where you can.

What is the prayer of the Miraculous Medal novena?

The central prayer begins, "O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus and our Mother, penetrated with the most lively confidence in thy all-powerful and never-failing intercession, manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal…" Its full text, with the other daily prayers, is given in full above.

Is the Miraculous Medal novena the same as the perpetual novena?

They share the same prayers. The nine-day novena is prayed for nine days for a particular need; the perpetual novena is a standing weekly devotion — most often on Mondays — kept without end at shrines and parishes since 1930. You may pray either; the words are the same.

What is the Miraculous Medal, and who was St Catherine Labouré?

The Miraculous Medal is the medal Our Lady asked to be struck when she appeared to St Catherine Labouré, a Daughter of Charity, in the chapel of the Rue du Bac in Paris in 1830. It bears her standing on the globe with the invocation O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee, and on the reverse the letter M with the Cross and the two Hearts. Catherine, canonized by Pius XII in 1947, kept her role secret for forty years; her incorrupt body rests in that same chapel today.

Do I have to wear a medal to pray the novena?

No. The prayers may be said by anyone. But the medal and the novena belong together — Our Lady attached her promise of "great graces" to those who wear the medal with confidence — so it is fitting to wear a blessed Miraculous Medal while you pray, and to have it blessed by a priest.

Pray the Miraculous Medal novena with day-by-day reminders, the full prayers, and audio in the Iter Fidei app. Download it here.

Sources. Holy Scripture (Genesis 3:15; Apocalypse 12:1); the apparitions to St Catherine Labouré at the Rue du Bac, Paris (1830) and the account of Father Aladel; the traditional novena and perpetual novena of the Miraculous Medal (the Novena Prayer O Immaculate Virgin Mary, the prayers to Jesus Christ, the Memorare, and the Act of Consecration to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal); the definition of the Immaculate Conception (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854); the beatification (Pius XI, 1933) and canonization (Pius XII, 1947) of St Catherine Labouré.