Beginning Advent this year in Poland, the Congregation of the Mission and the 3 Provinces of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul will start a nine-year NOVENA in honor of the IMMACULATE MARY, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (2021 – 2030). Its purpose is to prepare for the 200^th anniversary of the Mary’s apparitions to St. Catherine Labouré, a Daughter of Charity, that took place in 1830 in Paris (rue du Bac).

The essence of the Novena is to spread the message of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, revealed in the Miraculous Medal, to the entire country. Representatives from the Family of St. Vincent de Paul, specifically the Daughters of Charity where the apparitions took place, the Congregation of the Mission, and the Association of the Miraculous Medal, intend to visit parishes in towns and villages in the next nine years and, in response to the call of the Immaculate Virgin, encourage parishioners to join Her in the intercessory prayer for the world. The Virgin Mary also asked for the recitation of the rosary for this intention. Successive apparitions such as those in Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje, refer to this invocation. We hope that the nine years of pilgrimage will contribute to the reconciliation of people with God and to our own spiritual rebirth. The sign of the Miraculous Medal given to us by the Immaculate Mary is to help us in this.

As sons and daughters of St. Vincent de Paul in whose family the Blessed Virgin revealed for the first time that She was immaculately conceived (inscribed in the Miraculous Medal), we would like to encourage the faithful to join in the fulfilment of the request of the Immaculate Mary.

The Novena will have as its slogan “Miraculous Medal: a sign from heaven and a signpost to heaven.” Its logo is the reverse of the Miraculous Medal. Information related to the Novena can be found on the website www.cudowny-medalik.pl under the ‘Novena’ tab.