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January 20, 1842 – Italy

Alphonse, a French, upper-class, secular Jew, was no fan of religion. He particularly opposed Catholicism after his brother converted and became a priest. Yet providential circumstances brought Alphonse to Rome where Baron Theodore de Bussières, a family friend and fervent Catholic, challenged the 27-year-old skeptic to wear the Miraculous Medal and say the Memorare prayer each day. Alphonse obliged and, on the morning of January 20th, he felt drawn to walk into a church.

“I was scarcely in the church when a total confusion came over me,” he later wrote. “When I looked up, it seemed to me that the entire church had been swallowed up in shadow, except one chapel. It was as though all the light was concentrated in that single place. I looked over towards this chapel whence so much light shone, and above the altar was a living figure, tall, majestic, beautiful and full of mercy. It was the most holy Virgin Mary, resembling her figure on the Miraculous Medal. At this sight I fell on my knees right where I stood. Unable to look up because of the blinding light, I fixed my glance on her hands, and in them I could read the expression of mercy and pardon. In the presence of the Most Blessed Virgin, even though she did not speak a word to me, I understood the frightful situation I was in, my sins and the beauty of the Catholic Faith.”

That day, he went to meet a Catholic priest. Eleven days after, Alphonse was baptized, confirmed, received Holy Communion, and added “Marie” (that is, “Mary”) to his name. That same year a formal Vatican investigation into his instant conversion judged it a divine miracle operated through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Marie-Alphonse was ordained a priest five years later and alongside his priest-brother labored twenty-nine years establishing religious houses and evangelizing Jews in Palestine, or present-day Israel. At the first Pentecost, 3,000 people in Jerusalem were converted to Christ through the Apostles. The Lord Jesus would have us also use our personal testimonies, invitations, and prayers to win souls for him today.

January 12-13, 1866 – Czech Republic

For more than a decade, Magdalena Kade suffered from very poor health. At age 30, her condition took a turn for the worse such that her two physicians thought she would soon die and her priest gave her the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick with Last Rites. One Friday night, while Magdalena lay in bed attended to by Veronika Kindermannová, her friend from next door, “All of a sudden the room became luminous, full of more light than daytime.” As Magdalena would later testify in the bishop’s investigation, “I was frightened. I elbowed Veronika, saying to her: ‘Veronika, wake up, do you not see this glow?’ Veronika said: ‘But I do not see anything.’ In front of my bed was a figure that emanated a very white light, with a golden crown on its head. I quickly thought it was the Mother of God. I united my hands in prayer and began to pray: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit exults in God, my Savior.‘ [Mary spoke these words at the Visitation.] Having said this, I heard a voice – but an unusual voice, different from that of people: ‘My child, from this moment on you will be healed.’ And in that moment the person disappeared and I no longer felt any pain.”

That night, Magdalena rose from her bed to the great joy of her family and on Saturday morning she walked to the local bakery to buy bread. When the townspeople of Filipov saw her and asked how she was well, she replied, “Last night I saw the Virgin Mary and she told me I would be healed. And I am healed. Nothing more and nothing less happened.” Magdalena would go on to retell her story many times to inquirers and the room where she was healed became a place of pilgrimage. After her bishop’s investigation affirmed the supernatural character of Magdalena’s cure, a church was built on the site. In 1885, Pope Leo XIII elevated it to a minor basilica and officially consecrated and dedicated it to “Mary, Help of Christians.” Like Mary before her, Magdalena could rejoice that “the Almighty has done great things for me” and, by plainly sharing her firsthand experience, she led others to deeper faith in Christ. Let us likewise share the stories our own miraculous, God-touched moments with family, friends, and neighbors as well.

January 8, 1815 – Louisiana

Mary as Our Lady of Prompt Succor (which means, “rapid aid”) has been celebrated in New Orleans, Louisiana on this date for more than 200 years since a famous military victory. The Ursuline Sisters in New Orleans had honored a statue of Mary by this title for several years in their chapel, but when the British army threatened to capture their city during the War of 1812 these nuns and many townsfolk spent the night beseeching her help. The convent’s prioress made a vow to have a Mass of Thanksgiving sung annually should the American forces prevail. During Mass the next morning, as Holy Communion was being distributed, a messenger rushed into the chapel with the news that the British had been defeated.

Though the British army had outnumbered the American troops (about 8,000 to 5,700) the invaders were repulsed and swiftly defeated in just over a half hour of fighting. The commanding general of the American side, the future president Andrew Jackson, went to nuns’ convent afterwards to thank them for their prayers: “By the blessing of heaven, directing the valor of the troops under my command, one of the most brilliant victories in the annals of war was obtained.” For each American soldier lost or wounded in that battle, the British had experienced roughly thirty casualties. This victory was commemorated by Johnny Horton’s 1959 #1 hit song “The Battle of New Orleans.” Since 1928, Our Lady of Prompt Succor has been honored as the principal patroness of the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana.

December 12, 1531 – Mexico

The Blessed Virgin had previously appeared to St. Juan Diego, a Native American, Catholic convert, twice sending him to the local bishop to ask that a church be built near Tepeyac Hill in what is today Mexico City, Mexico. The bishop was not persuaded by the native’s story but asked him for some kind of sign from Mary. On this date, Mary directed Juan to pick some non-native roses miraculously in bloom out of season on that hill and to bring them to the bishop. Juan gathered these in the front of his poncho-like garment (called a tilma) and set off.

When Juan opened the front of his tilma before the bishop to reveal the roses, Our Lady of Guadalupe’s image was found on the humble fabric of his garment. Her appearance was that of an Aztec princess, clothed in the Sun with the Moon under her feet, bearing a Divine Child in her womb. The image’s rich symbolism spoke compellingly to the native people and Mexico was converted to Christ.

That tilma, made of rough cactus fibers, should have deteriorated centuries ago, but this garment and its brushstroke-less image remain on display in Mexico’s greatest shrine to this day. Like many things, it’s a miracle existing in plain sight. Our diocese also has a beautiful shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, located just south of La Crosse. If you’ve never visited, it’s worth the pilgrimage.

December 8, 1854

On this date, to the delight of the Church in Heaven and earth, Pope Pius IX employed the gift of papal infallibility to dogmatically affirm our ancient belief in the sinlessness of the Mother of God: “We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”

In her apparitions at Lourdes, France three years after, Mary affirmed, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The Church celebrates Mary’s Immaculate Conception on December 8th and her birthday nine months later, on September 8th. Every one of us, from the greatest to the least, begins very, very small. But God loves to make great things of the small.

November 27, 1830 – France

Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Labouré, a 24-year-old novice (training to become a vowed religious sister,) in the Daughters of Charity’s convent chapel in Paris, France. In this, Mary’s second of three appearances to her, Catherine saw something like two living paintings, one fading into the other, in which the Blessed Virgin stood in a white silk dress upon a half-globe, her feet crushing a serpent. Mary held a small golden globe topped with a cross which she lifted up towards Heaven. Catherine heard a voice say, “This globe represents the entire world, including France, and every person.”

In the second image, beautiful rays of light streamed from Mary’s open hands, her fingers covered with jeweled rings. Catherine heard, “These rays are a symbol of the graces that I pour out on those who ask them of me. The gems from which rays do not fall are the graces for which souls forget to ask.” Then an oval formed around the apparition and Catherine saw in a semi-circle these words in gold letters: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.”

Then a voice commanded Catherine, “Have a medal made according to this model. For those who wear it with confidence, there will be abundant graces.” The image turned and Catherine saw the reverse side of the medal: an “M” topped with a little cross and two hearts, one crowned with thorns and the other pierced by a sword. With approval by the Archbishop of Paris, the medal was minted and shared, leading to such gifts of grace that it came to be called “The Miraculous Medal.”