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Tag Archives: St. Vincent de Paul

Immaculate Conception and St. Catherine Laboure at Miraculous Medal Shrine

28 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by Brian in Miraculous Medal

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Immaculate Conception, Miraculous Medal Shrine, St. Vincent de Paul

mary side shrine 2Immaculate Conception, or the birth of Mary. Her parents were Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. She was born free of original sin as proclaimed in 1854, Pope Pius IX’s solemn declaration, Ineffabilis Deus. As a result she shares in the benefits of salvation in Christ from the very moment of her conception.

mother of the church

The Miraculous Medal was originally known as the Medal of the Immaculate Conception. Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who has recourse to thee.

main altar miraculous medal shrine

In 1830, the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830 three times. The first time, to tell her of troubling times to come and job she had for Catherine.
ist apparation without frame
1st apparation

The second time, appearing as the Mother of the World, holding a globe with a cross on top.
2nd apparation

The third time, depicted in what we now call the Miraculous Medal, hands outstretched, standing on the globe, crushing the snake, with rays of graces shining down on the world.

3rd apparation

The Blessed Mother said that people who wore the medal around their necks and prayed would be blessed with special graces.

Mary told St. Catherine to “Come to the altar and pray and great graces will be shed upon you.”

The famous Spanish painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo had a devotion to Mary, and created several paintings of the Immaculate Conception in the mid to late 1660s.

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Murillo was the inspiration for the the stained glass window at St. Basil’s Church in eastern Pennsylvania. The Immaculate Conception was created in late 1890’s of German design.

immaculate conception Murillo st.basil

Appropriately, high in the ceiling is The Eye symbolizing the Holy Spirit and the important role in the Immaculate Conception.

st.francis de paul

The Vincentians, Congregation of the Mission are the shrine gaurdians of the Miraculous Medal Shrine. St. Vincent dePaul stands at the entrance to the Seminary, and at Mother Mary’s side.

eye holy spirit

St. Vincent de Paul

27 Tuesday Sep 2022

Posted by Brian in Miraculous Medal

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Miraculous Medal Shrine, Shrine of Philadelphia, St. Vincent de Paul, Vincentians, Vincentians Catholic

4 Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent dePaul is founder of the Vincentians Catholic religious order. A peasant from birth, he chose the priesthood to make something of his life and succeeded in reaching the highest levels of society through his charm and social skills. A turning point came in midleife when he heard the dying confession of a peasant and determined afterward to devote his life to serving the poor.

The Vincentians operate The Miraculous Medal in Germantown, Pennsylvania which is a suburb of Philadelphia. Along with St. Loiuse de Maillac, Vincent founded the Daughters of Charity to serve the poor and sick. They have a presence in Germantown PA today.

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Vincent instructed priests and religious, “The poor are your masters and you are their servants.”

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A view of the Miraculous Medal Shrine in Germantown Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia.

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Vincent icon in front of St. Vincent’s Seminary building, which is next to the Miraculous Medal Shrine they operate. Vincent died on September 27, 1660 at the age of eighty. He was later named patron of all charitable societies. Sources: Blessed Among Us/Give Us This Day Daily Prayer Guide.

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Inside the Miraculous Medal Shrine.

lower shrine close up
Inside the Lower Level Shrine – The Virgo Potens.

All Saints Day

01 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by Brian in Saints, Uncategorized

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All Saints Day, Blessed John Paul II, Gregory of Nyssa, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Basil, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Macrina The Younger, St. Vincent de Paul

With All Saints Day celebrated on November 1, it is true: saints are made not born. There apparently is no magic gene. Witness St. Augustine who lived a rebellious and hooligan lifestyle before becoming righteous. St. Ignatius was a gambler and ruled by the sword before reforming. These two saints overcame adverse lifestyles to become larger than life saints.

Blessed John Paul II said, “The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church’s history.” The saints are needed now as in other times of church turmoil.

The entrance antiphon for St. Basil’s feast day earlier this year, “Let the peoples recount the wisdom of the Saints, and let the Church proclaim their praise. Their names will live on and on.” (Sirach 44:15,14)

“Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.”
– St. Basil the Great

“You must ask God to give you power to fight against the sin of pride which is your greatest enemy – the root of all that is evil, and the failure of all that is good. For God resists the proud.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

“What power was given to Mary, Virgin and Mother, against the enemies of souls? Most certainly a power greater than that of the saints.”
“To believe without bothering to perform good works amounts to laughing in the face of God.”
– St. Anthony of Padua

“God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God’s purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.

All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.

As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.”
– St. Ignatius

St. Macrina the Younger

There are no quotes or words written by Macrina the Younger, except this passage of her dying prayer, recorded by St. Gregory of Nyssa.

You have released us, O Lord, from the fear of death. You have made the end of life here on earth a beginning of true life for us. You let our bodies rest in sleep in due season and you awaken them again at the sound of the last trumpet. You entrust to the earth our bodies of earth which you fashioned with your own hands and you restore again what you have given, transforming with incorruptibility and grace what is mortal and deformed in us. You redeemed us from the curse and from sin, having become both on our behalf. You have crushed the heads of the serpent who had seized man in his jaws because of the abyss of our disobedience. You have opened up for us a path to the resurrection, having broken down the gates of hell and reduced to impotence the one who had power over deaths. You have given to those who fear you a visible token, the sign of the holy cross, for the destruction of the Adversary and for the protection of our life.

God eternal, Upon whom I have cast myself from my mother’s womb, Whom my soul has loved with all its strength, To whom I have consecrated flesh and soul from my infancy up to this moment, Put down beside me a shining angel to lead me by the hand to the place of refreshment where is the water of repose near the lap of the holy fathers. You who have cut through the flame of the fiery sword and brought to paradise the man who was crucified with you, who entreated your pity, remember me also in your kingdom, for I too have been crucified with you, for I have nailed my flesh out of reverence for you and have feared your judgements. Let not the dreadful abyss separate me from your chosen ones. Let not the Slanderer stand against me on my journey. Let no my sin be discovered before your eyes if I have been overcome in any way because of our nature’s weakness and have sinned in word or deed or thought. You who have on earth the power to forgive sins, forgive me, so that I may draw breath again and may be found before you in the stripping off of my body without strain or blemish in the beauty of my soul, but may my soul be received blameless and immaculate into your hands as an incense offering before your face.
Macrina the Younger

Excerpt taken from the book:
The Life of Saint Macrina, by: Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa. Translated by Kevin Corrigan

Entire book in public domain: Gregory of Nyssa: The Life of Macrina, trans. by W.K. Lowther Clarke, (London: SPCK, 1916)

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The Cover Art

Jan Van Eyck, “The Adoration of the Lamb” 1432 from the Ghent Alterpiece. Detail: The red altar where the lamb stands reads, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” and “Jesus the way, the truth, and the life”, both quotes from Gospel of John. In this image and in the book of Revelation the Lamb is Jesus. Directly around the Lamb on the altar are angels who are carrying the instruments in the Passion scenes, like the cross and crown of thorns.

gichontree

There's beauty in sacred spaces; from the stories they tell in architecture, stained glass windows and icons; to the rituals and liturgy that arises our soul. Inside a shrine, the angels and saints praise God with us. I hope to relay the message for the kingdom, power and glory of God, now and forever.

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