Novena
The Miraculous Medal Novena
The Miraculous Medal novena, November 18 to 26, and the story of the medal Mary asked for in Paris in 1830.
Pray the Miraculous Medal novena ›
The Miraculous Medal novena is nine days of prayer, November 18 to 26, ending on the eve of Our Lady's November 27 feast. Each day you say the novena prayer, name one intention, and say the medal's own prayer three times.
Quick facts
- Prayed to:
- Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
- Feast day:
- November 27, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
- When to pray:
- Begin on November 18 so that the ninth day falls on November 26, the eve of the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on November 27, the anniversary of the apparition in 1830. It is also prayed week after week as a “perpetual novena”, and at any time of need.
- Prayed for:
- Any grace asked of God through Mary’s prayers: conversion, healing, a family, a hard decision, and above all the grace to turn from sin.
The Miraculous Medal novena prayer
This is AngelGuard’s own novena prayer, the one our app prays each of the nine days. Say it once a day, naming your intention at the place marked, then pray the Memorare and the medal’s own words below.
O Mary, conceived without sin,
Mother of Jesus and my mother,
I come to you as Catherine came, at night, with nothing in my hands.
I bring you the intention I carry in these nine days,
and I name it now before you.
(Name your intention.)
Ask your Son for what I need, and not only for what I want.
Where I have forgotten to ask, ask for me.
Keep me from sin,
and stand between my house and the enemy,
you whose foot is on the serpent’s head.
Let me wear your medal not as a charm, but as a promise to pray.
And whatever the answer, keep me close to your Son.
Amen.
Then pray the Memorare, just below, and end with the medal’s own words, three times: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Two lines are worth reading slowly. “Ask your Son for what I need, and not only for what I want” is the heart of every novena: Mary’s prayer never stops, and a mother asks for what is good for her children, which is not always what they ask. And “not as a charm, but as a promise to pray” is what the Church teaches about every sacramental: it disposes us to receive grace, it does not work by itself (CCC 1670, 2111).
The medal’s own prayer, and the Memorare
The words around the image on the medal, as Catherine Labouré was shown them in 1830, and the Memorare, the old prayer of confidence in Mary’s help. Both are given as The Raccolta prints them in English (1910, nos. 255 and 196).
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that any one who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help, or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired with this confidence,
I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother;
to thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful;
O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions;
but in thy clemency hear and answer me.
Amen.
“Never was it known … left unaided” is a prayer of confidence, not a guarantee of the thing asked: it trusts that Mary hears and prays, and leaves the answer to her Son.
When to start the Miraculous Medal novena: November 18 to 26
The feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is November 27, the anniversary of the apparition of the medal in 1830. To end on the eve, begin on November 18:
- Day 1: November 18
- Day 2: November 19
- Day 3: November 20
- Day 4: November 21, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Day 5: November 22
- Day 6: November 23
- Day 7: November 24
- Day 8: November 25
- Day 9: November 26, the eve of the feast
The feast is proper to the Vincentian family (Leo XIII granted it to the Congregation of the Mission in 1894) and is widely kept, but it is not on the general calendar, so your parish may not mark it. The novena needs no one’s permission. It also leads straight into Advent and to December 8, the Immaculate Conception, the doctrine the medal proclaimed twenty-four years before it was defined.
The story: St. Catherine Labouré and the rue du Bac, 1830
Catherine Labouré was born in 1806 at Fain-les-Moutiers in Burgundy, the eighth of ten children of a farming family. She entered the Daughters of Charity, the sisters of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac, and in 1830, aged twenty-four, was a novice at their Mother House, 140 rue du Bac in Paris. The chapel’s own history tells what happened next. On the night of July 18, 1830, the eve of St. Vincent’s feast, she was woken at half past eleven by a child who told her, “The Blessed Virgin is waiting for you,” and led her to the chapel, where Mary came and spoke with her. On November 27, at half past five in the evening, during the sisters’ meditation, Mary appeared to her again.
This time she saw Mary standing on a half-globe, her feet crushing a serpent, with rays of light streaming from jewelled rings on her fingers. A voice said, “These rays are a symbol of the graces that I pour out on those who ask them of me.” An oval formed around the vision, with the words in gold, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.” Then: “Have a medal made according to this model. For those who wear it with confidence, there will be abundant graces.” The image turned, and she saw the back: the letter M under a cross, and two hearts. In December the vision came once more, and then no more.
Catherine told only her confessor, Father Aladel, who at first refused to hear of it. He came round, took the design to the Archbishop of Paris, Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen, who approved it, and the first medals were struck on June 30, 1832, while cholera was killing thousands in Paris. The Daughters of Charity gave out the first two thousand. By 1835 there were more than a million.
Catherine herself stayed hidden. She spent the rest of her life caring for elderly men at Reuilly, on the poor south-eastern edge of Paris, “keeping her secret to herself, while the medal miraculously spread throughout the world”, as the chapel puts it, and died on December 31, 1876. When her body was exhumed for her beatification in 1933 it was found intact, and it now lies in the chapel at the rue du Bac, beneath the altar of Our Lady of the Globe. Pius XII canonised her on July 27, 1947.
Note the condition in the promise: “for those who wear it with confidence”. The graces are tied to trust, not to the metal, which is exactly how the Church understands every sacramental.
What the Miraculous Medal means, side by side
Every part of the design says something, and the chapel at the rue du Bac explains it.
- Mary on the globe. “Her feet are planted on a half-sphere and crush the head of a serpent. This half-sphere is the globe.” It is the promise of Genesis: “She shall crush your head” (Genesis 3:15).
- The rays from her hands. The graces she obtains for those who ask. Grace is God’s, and she is the one who asks it for us: “Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy” (Hebrews 4:16).
- The words around the edge. “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” The Immaculate Conception, prayed on a medal in 1830 and defined by the Church in 1854.
- The M and the cross. “The ‘M’ is Mary’s initial; the cross is the Cross of Christ.” The two are joined, as they were at Calvary: “Woman, behold, your son!” (John 19:26).
- The two hearts. “One encircled by the crown of thorns and the other pierced by a sword”: the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, of whom Simeon said, “a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Luke 2:35).
- The twelve stars. “They represent the twelve apostles and thus the Church”, and recall the woman of Revelation with “a crown of twelve stars” (Revelation 12:1).
A sacramental, not a charm: what the medal does and does not do
The Miraculous Medal is a sacramental, like holy water, the scapular and the St. Benedict medal. The Catechism explains what that means: sacramentals “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church” (CCC 1667). They “always include a prayer” (CCC 1668), and here the prayer is written on the medal itself.
What a sacramental does is precise: it does “not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it” (CCC 1670). The medal works through faith and prayer, not through the metal.
That is why the Church draws the line it does: “To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition” (CCC 2111). A medal worn as a lucky charm, or a novena that promises its result “never fails” if the words are said the right number of times, has crossed that line. The Miraculous Medal worn as a reminder to pray, and the novena prayed with trust and open to God’s answer, have not.
Does it have to be blessed? No source we read makes a blessing a condition of wearing it, but having it blessed by a priest or deacon is the fitting thing to do, and the Association of the Miraculous Medal asks its members to wear a blessed medal. For the other sacramentals Catholics wear and use, see the Brown Scapular, the St. Benedict medal and holy water.
Day 1 (November 18): A young sister in a chapel
Everything began in an ordinary place: a convent chapel in Paris, a novice at her prayers. Mary’s own life was the same: most of it hidden, most of it spent “pondering” (Luke 2:19). Begin the novena in whatever ordinary place you pray, and name your intention simply. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Holy Mary, you came to Catherine at her prayers.
Find me at mine, ordinary as they are.
I bring you this: (name it).
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen.
Day 2 (November 19): Conceived without sin
The words on the medal are a whole doctrine in six words. Gabriel greeted her, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). She was kept from sin by grace, for Christ’s sake, from the beginning. The same grace that preserved her is offered to us to heal what sin has done. Pray today for purity of heart. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Lord, you kept Mary free from every stain.
Cleanse my heart of what does not belong to you,
and keep me close to you today.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen.
Day 3 (November 20): Her foot on the serpent
On the medal Mary stands on the globe and crushes the serpent’s head, the first promise of the Gospel: “I will put hostility between you and the woman … She shall crush your head” (Genesis 3:15). It is her Son who wins, and she stands in his victory. Bring today the temptation or habit you most want to be free of. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Lord Jesus, you have already won.
Give me a share in your victory
over (name the sin or temptation).
Mary, you who stand on the serpent, pray for me.
Amen.
Day 4 (November 21): Rays of grace
Today is the Presentation of Mary. On the medal, rays stream from her hands, which she told Catherine were a symbol of the graces she obtains for those who ask. Ask, then. “Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Ask for the grace you need most, not only the favor you want most. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Father, I come to you with boldness, as you invite me.
Give me the grace I most need,
even if it is not the one I thought to ask for.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen.
Day 5 (November 22): The M beneath the cross
On the back of the medal Mary’s initial stands under the cross, where she stood at Calvary. From the cross Jesus gave her to the beloved disciple, and to us: “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:27). Pray today for someone who is carrying a cross, and for the grace to stand beside them. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Lord Jesus, from the cross you gave us your mother.
Let her stand beside (name) in what they are carrying,
and give me the courage to stand there too.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen.
Day 6 (November 23): Two hearts
Beneath the M are two hearts: the Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced by a sword. Simeon had told her, “a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Luke 2:35). Love that is real can be wounded. Pray today for a sorrow that has pierced your own heart, and for anyone grieving. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Sacred Heart of Jesus, crowned with thorns,
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced with sorrow,
hold this grief of mine: (name it).
Teach me to love without closing my heart.
Amen.
Day 7 (November 24): Twelve stars
Twelve stars ring the medal: the twelve apostles, the Church. Mary is never alone, and neither is anyone who prays with her. Revelation sees “a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Revelation 12:1). Pray today for the Church, for your parish, and for those who have left it. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Lord, gather your Church around your mother,
as the apostles gathered with her before Pentecost.
Bring home those who have drifted from it,
and make me a better member of it.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen.
Day 8 (November 25): “Whatever he says to you, do it”
A medal is a sign that points past itself, the way Mary does at Cana: “Whatever he says to you, do it” (John 2:5). That is the whole of every Marian devotion. Ask today not only for what you want, but to know what her Son is asking of you, and for the grace to do it. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Lord Jesus, your mother tells me to do whatever you say.
Tell me what you are asking of me now,
and give me the grace to do it.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen.
Day 9 (November 26, the eve of the feast): Behold the servant
Catherine Labouré spent the forty-six years after 1830 caring for old men in a poor quarter of Paris, keeping her secret, doing ordinary work. She had learned it from Mary: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). End the novena the same way, placing what you have asked in God’s hands. Tomorrow is the feast; give thanks, and if you wish, make the act of entrustment below. Say the novena prayer, the Memorare and the invocation, then:
Lord, for nine days I have asked through your mother.
Let it be done to me according to your word.
Whatever the answer, keep me close to you.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen.
An act of entrustment to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
For the feast on November 27, or any day after the novena. These are AngelGuard’s own words: a short act of giving yourself to Mary, and through her to her Son.
O Mary, conceived without sin,
on this feast I give myself to you,
and through you to your Son,
who gave you to us as our mother from the cross.
Let this medal be for me
a sign of your care and a reminder to pray.
Keep me in the grace of your Son every day of my life,
stay with me at the hour of my death,
and bring me with you to see him for ever.
Amen.
Four years after the Immaculate Conception was defined, the lady at Lourdes named herself with the medal’s own words; the doctrine behind them is explained on the Immaculate Conception page, and two days after this feast, on November 29, the Immaculate Conception novena begins its nine days to December 8. And a week after this feast, Advent brings two more novenas: the St. Andrew Christmas novena from November 30, and the Our Lady of Guadalupe novena from December 3.
“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”
Go deeper
What is this novena?
The Miraculous Medal Novena is nine days of prayer to Mary under the title she gave at the chapel of the Daughters of Charity, 140 rue du Bac, Paris, in 1830. A young novice, Catherine Labouré, saw Mary there that year: first on the night of July 18 to 19, and then on November 27, when she was shown the design of a medal and asked to have it made. On the front, Mary stands on the globe with rays of light streaming from her hands and the words “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” On the back, an M under a cross, two hearts, and twelve stars. The first medals were struck in 1832 with the approval of the Archbishop of Paris, in the middle of a cholera epidemic. Cures, conversions and protection from the disease were reported so often that the people of Paris began calling it the “miraculous” medal, and the name stuck. Its feast, November 27, was granted by Pope Leo XIII in 1894 to the Vincentian family, the priests and sisters who guard the chapel, and it is kept by many parishes and shrines, above all the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal in Philadelphia, which has prayed a Perpetual Novena week after week for decades. The medal is a sacramental, not a charm. The Church is clear that a sacred sign works by disposing the person who uses it to receive God’s grace, not by itself, and that a practice treated as automatic becomes superstition. The novena is the same: nine days of asking Mary to pray with you, and of turning your own heart toward her Son.
Keeping the nine days
Begin on November 18, and keep one intention for all nine days. Each day: make the Sign of the Cross, read the short reflection for the day, pray the novena prayer with your intention, pray the Memorare, and say the invocation “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee” three times. It takes about five minutes. Wear the medal during the nine days if you have one, and have it blessed by a priest or deacon if you can. It is not a condition of the novena; it is a way of keeping the prayer on you through the day. On November 27, the feast, give thanks, and consider making the act of entrustment below. If you miss a day, carry on: the nine days are a discipline of faithfulness, not a chain that breaks. And if a Mass is offered for the feast in your parish or at a Vincentian church near you, go.
Questions people ask
When do you start the Miraculous Medal novena?
On November 18, so that the ninth day falls on November 26, the eve of the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on November 27. It can also be prayed at any time, and many parishes pray it weekly as a perpetual novena.
What is the prayer for the Miraculous Medal?
The medal’s own prayer is the invocation on its face: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” AngelGuard’s novena adds a short daily prayer of our own and the Memorare, all given in full on this page. Many parishes pray the longer Perpetual Novena prayer of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal in Philadelphia, which the Association publishes.
What are the benefits of praying the Miraculous Medal novena?
The Church does not promise a result for any novena. What it teaches about sacramentals applies: they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it (CCC 1670). Nine days of asking Mary’s prayers and turning from sin is the benefit the novena itself asks for.
Does the Miraculous Medal have to be blessed?
Wearing an unblessed medal is not forbidden, and no source we read makes a blessing a condition of wearing it. Having it blessed by a priest or deacon is the usual and fitting practice, and the Association of the Miraculous Medal asks its members to wear a blessed one.
Who was St. Catherine Labouré?
A French Daughter of Charity who, as a novice at the rue du Bac in Paris, saw Mary in 1830 and was given the design of the medal. She spent the rest of her life caring for elderly men and kept her secret until her death in 1876. She was canonised by Pius XII on July 27, 1947, and her body rests in the chapel.
