COURSE PLAN THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

COURSE PLAN THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL COURSE PLAN METHODOLOGY:, the Story of Our Lady s Appearances to St. Catherine Laboure by Mary Fabyan Windeatt is represented by the abbreviation. Each weekly assignment is summarized in the first line of the week s daily course plan. The specific daily assignments are outlined in the following lines indicated by the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 abbreviations. We suggest assigning the weekly written assignment at the beginning of the week to be completed by the following Monday. This will allow the student to think about the assignment while he is reading. The chapter study questions, chapter vocabulary and glossary are located in the Literature Study Question booklets available for purchase from. Answers should be given in complete written or oral sentences. SSM1

COURSE PLAN WEEK 1 Book Weekly Breakdown Goals and Notes for the Week Chapter 1-12 Note there are NO vocabulary words for. Study questions may be completed as the student reads or at the end of the week when reading has been completed. Notes Student Daily Assignments 1 Chapter 1-3 Parent Daily Guidelines Have the student read Chapters 1-3 and answer the Study Questions. At half-past eleven, on the night of July 18, 1830, an angel awakes Sister Laboure and invites her to the chapel where the Blessed Virgin is waiting for her. They rush to the chapel through the empty but lit corridors. They arrive at the chapel with the altar candles ablaze. Sr. Laboure kneeled at the communion rail and waited. When the angel tells her that Mary has arrived, Sr. Laboure cannot tell if she is awake or not and does not approach her. After much urging, the angel finally losses patience with Sr. Laboure and uses a deep stern voice to tell her to approach the Blessed Virgin. Mary warned Sr. Laboure that she would know sadness, but in times of trial she should come before the altar to pour out her troubles and receive consolation. The message Mary brought was that God had a mission for Sr. Laboure, and that she would have to suffer much. She warned of the future for France and for the religious. Then Mary left and Sr. Laboure realized she did not ask what her mission was to be. She spoke to the convent chaplain, Fr. Aladel, who did not believe her and told her to forget about it. Fr. Aladel had a hard time believing Sr. Laboure because three months earlier she had told him that she had seen the heart of St. Vincent de Paul, founder of her order the Daughters of Charity, floating in the air over the silver box in the chapel containing his relics. Sr. Laboure remembered that Mary told her to bring her troubles to the altar so she knelt before the Tabernacle and prayed. The Blessed Virgin answered by appearing a second time. This time Mary had numerous brilliant rings on her fingers. Dazzling rays of light came from them though some stones had no rays coming from them. She held a small golden ball with a cross. The globe represented the world, especially France and everyone in it. The rays were graces that she shed on those who asked for them. She held a golden ball that vanished and then an oval frame appeared about her with the prayer, O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. A heavenly voice spoke within her heart SSM2

COURSE PLAN 2 3 Chapter 4-6 Chapter 7-9 telling her that her mission was to have a medal made that looked like the vision and that all who wore the medal would receive great graces, especially if it was worn around their neck. The vision turned around and revealed what the back side of the medal was to look like. Have the student read Chapters 4-6 and answer the Study Questions. Fr. Aladel once again does not believe Sr. Laboure when she tells him that Mary appeared to her again. He also doesn t believe that she was given a mission to have a medal made. Sr. Laboure obeyed Fr. Aladel and tried to put the whole thing out of her mind, but then one month later the Blessed Virgin appeared to her again. Sr. Laboure once again described what the medal should look like and Fr. Aladel questioned her. She took his questions to mean that he believed her, which he did not. Fr. Aladel questioned her as to what words should be on the back of the medal and Sr. Laboure didn t remember there being any so Fr. Aladel told her to ask the Blessed Virgin the next time she appeared. A few weeks later (January 1831) she took her vows with the Daughters of Charity and was given the new name of Catherine. Sr. Catherine had a nagging worry that she was not yet successful in having the medal made. She constantly prayed for the Blessed Virgin to answer her. Finally she received her answer through an internal voice speaking to her soul. Sr. Catherine told Fr. Aladel who still did not believe her and tried to put her off by saying they needed to wait longer. Sr. Catherine was moved from the Motherhouse to the convent in Enghien, a suburb of Paris, where she would not see Fr. Aladel as frequently. Sr. Catherine once again heard the voice of Our Lady who assured her that Fr. Aladel is her servant and would fear to displease her. When Sr. Catherine told Fr. Aladel what Our Lady had said, he knew that he could not willingly disobey Our Lady and immediately went to see the Archbishop in Paris. The Archbishop had no doubts that the Blessed Virgin appeared to Sr. Catherine and had no objections to the medal being made. The Archbishop wanted to meet the Sister whom the Blessed Virgin appeared to, but Fr. Aladel informed him that he had promised not to give away her identity. Our Lady had told Sr. Catherine that she was to only confide in the priest who heard her confession. The Archbishop agreed that Fr. Aladel should find an artist to sketch what the medal should look like. The Archbishop thought that the medal would be the saving of France in which two years earlier a revolution had begun and the religious were being persecuted. Have the student read Chapters 7-9 and answer the Study Questions. Fr. Aladel immediately found an artist to make the sketches. Without being able to talk to Sr. Catherine directly, the artist had difficulty in making the sketches because Mary appeared in two different ways during the apparitions. He had other questions too, such as how much of the globe that Mary was standing on was visible? Did she have bare feet or were they covered? Was the Devil in the form of a snake? How was her hair SSM3

COURSE PLAN and veil? The artist ended up making a whole series of drawings for Sr. Catherine to choose from. She chose the sketch in which Our Lady was standing with outstretched hands atop a cloud-encircled glove, the rays from her open palms streaming earthwards in a blaze of glory. Her hair was covered, her feet bare, crushing beneath them an evil-looking serpent. They initially had two thousand medals made. Fr. Aladel worried they had made too many. Within a short time the story of the medal got around and they ran out of medals. The interest spread and several thousand more medals were made. It was soon realized that people who wore the medal were saved from the cholera plague that had broken out. Excitement for the medal grew even more rapidly. The medal became know as the Miraculous Medal. The Daughters of Charity, Sr. Catherine s order, gave them to all of the orphans and the sick in their care. They all questioned who the sister might be that Our Lady appeared to. Sr. Catherine worked in the kitchen at the convent and even joined in their guessing game when they pressed for an opinion, although, she felt a much greater need to promote a love of Our Lady. Two things Sr. Catherine felt were important were frequent and devoutly praying the prayer and that the medal be worn around the neck. Some of the old men did not want to wear the medal around their neck. They did not want to seem pious. For years the Church had been persecuted in France and people did not show outward signs of their faith. They were ashamed of their faith and everything connected with it. Sr. Catherine decided to win the trust of the old men in order to get them to wear the medal instead of just putting it in their pockets. She asked the Blessed Mother for help and began to add sacrifices of all sorts to attain her goals. One morning the Superior informed Sr. Catherine that old John was sick and was asking for her. Sr. Catherine was very busy in the kitchen but she wanted to help old John. She was hoping that with his illness came a desire to change. She was wrong. He felt he wasn t being treated properly by the other sisters and wanted Sr. Catherine to be his nurse. John wanted her to tell him a story that did not involve saints or angels. Sr. Catherine was saddened by how hard the Devil was making it to win John s soul. She was afraid John would die without the Sacraments. Sr. Catherine told him she only knew holy stories, so John asked her to tell him something interesting about herself. She didn t want to talk about herself, but to try to win his confidence she reluctantly began her story. She told him how her mother had died when she was nine years old and that she asked the Blessed Virgin to be her mother. At this point in the story, John reminded her that he didn t want a holy story. She insisted that it was all part of what happened to her and he allowed her to go on with the story. She described how the Blessed Virgin helped her by seeing to it that the neighbors were very kind to her and her family and that her aunt took her and her little SSM4

COURSE PLAN 4 5 Chapter 10-12 Written Assignment sister to live with her for two years. Her aunt also looked after her older brothers too. John listened, but interrupted from time to time, especially when the story took a religious turn. Sr. Catherine passed over her older sister s entrance into the Daughters of Charity, but she did tell him the story of her own vocation. She wanted to be a nun, but her father wouldn t let her. She told him of a strange dream with an old priest who told her God expects something from you. Don t forget that. To her surprise John fell asleep during the story. She knew that John would not wear a Miraculous Medal, so while he slept she hid one under his mattress and prayed to the Blessed Mother for him. Have the student read Chapter 10-12 and answer the Study Questions. Later the same afternoon, Sr. Catherine was called to old John. He seemed better and was even using manners. He asked Sr. Catherine to continue her story, which she did. John was very touched by her story and was sympathetic to the fact that she had to wait twelve years to enter the convent. John wanted to love God, but felt he couldn t love Him the way Sr. Catherine did. She convinced him that he just needed to ask for the grace to love God. Because of Sr. Catherine s kindness, old John agreed to wear the Miraculous Medal around his neck and to say the prayer daily. Everyone was astonished that old John was wearing the medal. Fr. Aladel didn t think that old John would be converted, but Sr. Catherine put it in Our Lady s hands. Fr. Aladel asked if the Blessed Virgin was still appearing to Sr. Catherine, and she reminded him that Our Lady told her before she received her habit that she would no longer see her, but that she would hear her voice, which she did hear at certain times. Fr. Aladel asked what Our Lady said to her. Sr. Catherine told him that in less than forty years, troubles of all kinds would come to France. There would be a revolution, bloodshed, and martyrdom for young and old. She said that even though many graces were being won, that there were several among the Daughters of Charity and the Priests of the Mission that were not faithful to their duties. They spent little time praying and doing spiritual reading. They preferred the rich and important over the poor and sick. Sr. Catherine asked Fr. Aladel to talk about asking for graces in his sermons. Fr. Aladel didn t know what graces they should ask for, so he asked Sr. Catherine what she would have told the people to ask for. She said to tell the people to ask the Blessed Virgin for the grace to love God as she did when she was their age. Fr. Aladel admired her for this perfect act of love. Have the student complete the written assignment in a minimum of 1 paragraph, due Monday. Written Assignment: Describe the difficulty Sr. Laboure had trying to get Fr. Aladel to believe that she had seen the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why didn t he believe her? What was her attitude about his disbelief? What can you learn from this situation? SSM5

COURSE PLAN Week 1 Grade Book Assignments Include (A) Points Earned (B) Possible Points A/B x100 =% (C) Study Questions Written Assignment Other: Week 1 Average Add up column C & divide by number of included assignments = % SSM6

COURSE PLAN WEEK 2 Book Weekly Breakdown Goals and Notes for the Week Chapter 13-21 Note there are NO vocabulary words for St. Dominic. Study questions may be completed as the student reads or at the end of the week when reading has been completed. Notes Student Daily Assignments 1 Chapter 13-15 Parent Daily Guidelines Have the student read Chapters 13-15 and answer the Study Questions. Fr. Aladel s sermons were chiefly concerned with the suggestions of Sr. Catherine. His sermons were spoken so earnestly that soon devotion to the Miraculous Medal was becoming stronger than ever. After two years in production, one Paris factory reported that they had sold two million gold and silver medals and eighteen million brass ones. Other factories reported tremendous sales too. To Sr. Catherine s delight, one day old John told her he wanted to go to confession. He hadn t been able to sleep at night for weeks because he felt black with sin. Besides wanting to go to confession, John also wanted to try to get the other men in the home to wear the medal around their necks too. John made a good confession and was very successful at getting the other old men to wear the medal. After this, many people were sure that Sr. Catherine was the nun that Our Lady had appeared to. Sr. Catherine laughed at those stories. When Sr. Catherine was reassigned from the kitchen to the laundry and linen room, the speculation was that she couldn t be the nun because she would have been given far more important work than that. In the fall of 1836, six years after the apparitions at the Motherhouse, the Blessed Virgin gave Sr. Catherine a message for Fr. Aladel. Our Lady wanted Fr. Aladel to found a spiritual society for young girls to be called The Children of Mary. Sr. Catherine explained to him how it should be done. On December 8, 1836 The Children of Mary received the first members. This was the first society in France made up of the poor coming together in Our Lady s name. After much prayer, Sr. Catherine told Fr. Aladel that she felt they should include boys in The Children of Mary. In Rome, 1842, a wealthy young Jew named Alphonse Ratisbonne had an extraordinary conversion connected with the Miraculous Medal. At the urging of an ardent convert, Count de Bussiere, Alphonse agreed to wear a Miraculous Medal. Although Alphonse was very anti-christian since his brother had converted and become a priest, he still wore the medal. The Count left Alphonse for a short time in the SSM7

COURSE PLAN 2 Chapter 16-18 church of St. Andrea della Fratte. Alphonse wandered around the church until he came to the side chapel dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. Here, Our Lady appeared to Alphonse. Our Lady said nothing to him but indicated that he should kneel. In an instant she made him understand the true state of his soul and she disappeared. Alphonse said nothing to the Count about what happened, but asked to see a priest. Alphonse wanted to be baptized and spend the rest of his life telling people about Our Lady. Have the student read Chapters 16-18 and answer the Study Questions. Sr. Catherine soon found out that not only was Alphonse Ratisbonne becoming Catholic, he also broke off his marriage engagement and was going to enter the seminary. Sr. Catherine longed for people everywhere to understand, as both she and Alphonse did, about the graces flowing from Our Lady s hands to those who asked for them. Fr. Aladel continued to stress this point in his sermons and gradually people began to see the picture on the Miraculous Medal in a new light. Sr. Catherine felt the nineteenth century was the Age of Mary and that God wants us to come to Him through His Mother. Our Lady then appeared in the small villages of La Salette (to two peasant children) and Lourdes (to another peasant child). Sr. Catherine believed that this was only the beginning of Mary s earthly mission in modern times. Sr. Catherine s duties at Enghien changed again. She was no longer working in the laundry and linen room; she was put in charge of the fifty old men in the home. Sr. Catherine loved her new job. She felt it was good to be loved and needed by the poor. On April 25, 1865, when Sr. Catherine was fifty-nine years old, Fr. Aladel became sick and died. It was a day that Sr. Catherine had been dreading. She had lost her confessor, the one person she could talk to about the apparitions and the promotion of the medal. She hoped the Blessed Virgin would tell her to confide in another priest. She prayed and waited but received no heavenly answer. By 1871 vicious men tried to overthrow the government and stamp out all religion. Paris was under siege. Priests and nuns were murdered, churches desecrated, and religious communities forced to close their doors. Sr. Catherine remembered the first apparition when Our Lady warned her of these horrible things. She also remembered that Our Lady told her to come to the foot of the altar and graces would be showered upon all that ask for them. As other religious orders were fleeing, the Daughters of Charity decided to stay and use their convents as hospitals and to continue taking care of the orphans and old people in their care. Then without warning the rebels declared that the sisters would have to leave Enghien at once. The sisters were forced to seek safety in different locations. But four weeks later, the revolution was over, and soon the sisters could return to the convent. All along Sr. Catherine had told everyone that it would be alright because Our Lady would take care of them, and she was right. They would be back during Mary s month, the month of May. The Superior decided that when they returned that they would have a real SSM8

COURSE PLAN 3 Chapter 19-21 celebration in honor of Our Lady and the Miraculous Medal. Peace had finally come to France, but now Sr. Catherine had a new worry. Sr. Catherine had received another message from heaven, but there was no one to share it with. Our Lady wanted a statue made in the likeness of her second apparition to Sr. Catherine. She prayed for weeks, months and years and still no answer from Our Lady. In 1876, because she hadn t been able to obey Our Lady s wishes, Sr. Catherine s health began to fail. Sr. Catherine knew that she would never live to see 1877 and feared she would die without doing what Our Lady asked of her. She decided she needed to see Fr. Chinchon right away and tell him everything. Have the student read Chapters 19-21 and answer the Study Questions. Mother Superior wanted Sr. Catherine to wait until Fr. Chinchon came to Enghien because she felt the journey to Paris was too hard for the old frail nun. Mother Superior let her go and sent her with a companion. When they reached Paris they discovered that Fr. Chinchon had been transferred and a new young priest was to be their confessor. Sr. Catherine insisted she had to speak to Fr. Chinchon right away and requested the Superior of the Priests of the Mission have him brought back. He would not do it. Sr. Catherine broke down in tears. He thought she was being childish and grew impatient. Sr. Catherine realized that no matter what she did, she would not be able to see Fr. Chinchon. They left and headed back to Enghien. Sr. Catherine cried out of fatigue and discouragement. She knew she only had a few short months to live. Slowly she began to feel that she needed to tell Mother Superior everything. She told Mother Superior that she d like to speak to her the next day because she wanted to pray for an answer before she spoke to her. At meditation the next morning Sr. Catherine got her answer. Our Lady gave her permission to tell Mother Superior everything. For two hours Sr. Catherine told Mother Superior everything, including the new mission to have a statue made. Mother Superior was amazed. Mother Superior hired a famous sculptor and the statue was made. Mother Superior was sad when Sr. Catherine told her that the statue did not look like the Blessed Virgin. Then Sr. Catherine told her to tell the artist that it was very beautiful, even though no human hand could ever match the true beauty of Our Lady. All of the sisters looked at Sr. Catherine with a new respect. They commented on how she seemed so ordinary. She had never called attention to herself and had done her work quietly and carefully. Sr. Catherine became sick and feeble and had to spend most of the day in bed. To the sisters who visited her, she explained how we should all love God. The sisters had a hard time understanding that the Children understand how to love God better than adults. Sr. Catherine told them it is because most of them haven t yet learned to be really selfish. Children are happy to be God s tools and adults are afraid of God or what He may ask to them. When Sr. Catherine was near death and barely able to speak above a whisper she asked the Sisters gathered SSM9

COURSE PLAN 4 Chapter 13-15 around her to promise that they would do everything in their power to promote the Miraculous Medal among the boys and girls they knew. They all agreed to do so. She also asked them to have the children explain it all to their families and to distribute the medal to as many older people as possible. The Sisters asked her if there was anything else she wanted done and she happily whispered No, that s all. On July 27, 1947, Sr. Catherine Laboure was officially declared a Saint of the Church by Pope Pius XII. Have the student read Chapters 13-15 and answer the Study Questions. Fr. Aladel s sermons were chiefly concerned with the suggestions of Sr. Catherine. His sermons were spoken so earnestly that soon devotion to the Miraculous Medal was becoming stronger than ever. After two years in production, one Paris factory reported that they had sold two million gold and silver medals and eighteen million brass ones. Other factories reported tremendous sales too. To Sr. Catherine s delight, one day old John told her he wanted to go to confession. He hadn t been able to sleep at night for weeks because he felt black with sin. Besides wanting to go to confession, John also wanted to try to get the other men in the home to wear the medal around their necks too. John made a good confession and was very successful at getting the other old men to wear the medal. After this, many people were sure that Sr. Catherine was the nun that Our Lady had appeared to. Sr. Catherine laughed at those stories. When Sr. Catherine was reassigned from the kitchen to the laundry and linen room, the speculation was that she couldn t be the nun because she would have been given far more important work than that. In the fall of 1836, six years after the apparitions at the Motherhouse, the Blessed Virgin gave Sr. Catherine a message for Fr. Aladel. Our Lady wanted Fr. Aladel to found a spiritual society for young girls to be called The Children of Mary. Sr. Catherine explained to him how it should be done. On December 8, 1836 The Children of Mary received the first members. This was the first society in France made up of the poor coming together in Our Lady s name. After much prayer, Sr. Catherine told Fr. Aladel that she felt they should include boys in The Children of Mary. In Rome, 1842, a wealthy young Jew named Alphonse Ratisbonne had an extraordinary conversion connected with the Miraculous Medal. At the urging of an ardent convert, Count de Bussiere, Alphonse agreed to wear a Miraculous Medal. Although Alphonse was very anti-christian since his brother had converted and become a priest, he still wore the medal. The Count left Alphonse for a short time in the church of St. Andrea della Fratte. Alphonse wandered around the church until he came to the side chapel dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. Here, Our Lady appeared to Alphonse. Our Lady said nothing to him but indicated that he should kneel. In an instant she made him understand the true state of his soul and she disappeared. Alphonse said nothing to the Count about what happened, but asked to see a priest. Alphonse wanted SSM10

COURSE PLAN 5 Written Assignment to be baptized and spend the rest of his life telling people about Our Lady. Have the student complete the written assignment in a minimum of 1 paragraph, due Monday. Written Assignment: Describe old John s conversion. What was he like before he wore the Miraculous Medal? What was he like after he started wearing it and saying the daily prayer? Week 2 Grade Book Assignments Include (A) Points Earned (B) Possible Points A/B x100 =% (C) Study Questions Written Assignment Other: Week 2 Average Add up column C & divide by number of included assignments = % SSM11

COURSE PLAN WEEK 3 Book Weekly Breakdown Goals and Notes for the Week Written Assignment Written assignment: Congratulations! You have finished reading The Review Final Exam Miraculous Medal. Now you need to write a nice book report on the story. Notes Student Daily Assignments Parent Daily Guidelines 1 2 3 4 5 Written Assignment Review Final Exam Written Assignment. Have the student work on book report. Review the paper to make sure everything written supports the thesis statement, and the entire paper has a gentle flow from one supported idea to the next. Check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Have the student rewrite the paper neatly if he is writing it in long hand. Have the student study for the Final Exam. Review all your Study Questions. Have the student take the Final Exam. Week 3 Grade Book Assignments Include (A) Points Earned (B) Possible Points A/B x100 =% (C) Written Assignment Final Exam Other: Week 3 Average Add up column C & divide by number of included assignments = % SSM12

ASSIGNMENT ANSWER KEY WEEK 1: Written Assignment: Describe the difficulty Sr. Laboure had trying to get Fr. Aladel to believe that she had seen the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why didn t he believe her? What was her attitude about his disbelief? What can you learn from this situation? After the first appearance of the Blessed Virgin, Fr. Aladel told Sr. Laboure that she must have been dreaming, thought that it was childish nonsense and told her to forget about it. Fr. Aladel had known many holy priest and religious and none of them had ever had an event like this so he could not believe that this young novice really experienced what she described. He also thought she imagined it because of other things that she had seen, like the heart of St. Vincent de Paul floating in the air. Sr. Laboure was disappointed he didn t believe her, but she was obedient and prayed even more. It took three appearances and one time when she only heard Our Lady s voice for Fr. Aladel to finally believe her. We can learn to be obedient, pray more fervently, and to be patient when things don t go the way we want them to. WEEK 2: Written Assignment: Describe old John s conversion. What was he like before he wore the Miraculous Medal? What was he like after he started wearing it and saying the daily prayer? Old John was a cranky man in the home at Enghien. Through the prayers and sacrifices of Sr. Catherine and the use of the Miraculous Medal, old John s life was changed, and he finally went to confession. After his conversion, John encouraged the other old men of the home to also wear the Miraculous Medal. Through his example and efforts all of the men began wearing the Miraculous Medal. SSM13

EXAM Grade: /130 Part I. Identify. Give a description and brief character analysis of each of the characters. (3 points each) 1. Sr. Catherine Laboure 2. Father Aladel 3. old John 4. Alphonse Rattisbone 5. Mother Superior 6. Fr. Chinchon Part II. Short Answer. Answer in complete sentences giving as much detail as possible. Omit one or do all for extra credit. (4 points each) 1. Who awoke Sr. Laboure to tell her that the Blessed Virgin was waiting for her? 2. Who did Sr. Laboure confide in? 3. What do the rays coming from Our Lady s hands represent? 4. What is the Miraculous Medal prayer that Sr. Catherine wanted everyone to recite daily? 5. What story did Sr. Catherine tell old John? 6. Who was the old man in Sr. Catherine s dreams? 7. What did old John do to help him learn to love God? 8. How did Sr. Catherine know what Our Lady had to say? 9. What did Sr. Catherine want Fr. Aladel to tell the people in his sermon? 10. What did John want to devote himself to doing? 11. What did Our Lady want Fr. Aladel to do? 12. Why did Alphonse Ratisbonne hate the Catholic Church? 13. What happened to him after he started wearing the Miraculous Medal? 14. What did Sr. Catherine call the nineteenth century? 15. What became Sr. Catherine s permanent assignment? 16. What happened on April 25, 1865? 17. What was Our Lady s new request for Sr. Catherine? 18. Why did Sr. Catherine s health begin to fail? 19. Who did Our Lady let Sr. Catherine confide in? 20. What was Sr. Catherine s last request to her fellow Sisters? Part III. Essay. This should be a minimum of three paragraphs with examples or quotes from the text to support your answer. (32 pts) Relate the story of Catherine Laboure s childhood and her entrance into the convent. What was her childhood like? When did she decide to become a nun? What stopped her? What virtues did Catherine have during her childhood and young adult life that we can use in your own life? SSM14

EXAM ANSWER KEY Part I. Identify. (3 points each) 1. Sr. Catherine Laboure the heroine of the story, whom Our Lady appeared to. She was humble and obedient and did her best to promote the asking of graces through the Miraculous Medal. 2. Father Aladel the confessor and confidant of Sr. Catherine. At first he doubted Sr. Catherine s stories but came to believe and preached about asking for graces. 3. old John a cranky old man in Enghien who through the Miraculous Medal converted and promoted the medal. 4. Alphonse Rattisbone a wealthy young Jewish man who hated the Catholic faith. He agreed to wear a Miraculous Medal and was converted after Our Lady appeared to him. 5. Mother Superior the superior of Sr. Catherine who became her confidant after many years of not having one. She helped Sr. Catherine to have a statue of Our Lady made. 6. Fr. Chinchon - Sr. Catherine s confessor after Fr. Aladel died. He was a holy old priest. Part II. Short Answer. (4 points each) 1. An angel who looked like a little boy about five years old blue eyed, golden-haired-dressed in shining white garments. 2. She confided in the convent Chaplain, Fr. Aladel. 3. Graces that Mary was giving to those who asked for them. 4. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. 5. She told him the story of her childhood and began to tell him about her own vocation, but he fell asleep before she finished. 6. It was St. Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Daughters of Charity. 7. He agreed to wear the Miraculous Medal around his neck and say the prayer daily. 8. She heard Our Lady s voice. 9. She wanted him to tell the people to ask Our Lady for the grace to love God as she did when she was their age. 10. John wanted to get the other men in the home to wear the Miraculous Medal. 11. Our Lady wanted Fr. Aladel to form a society called The Children of Mary. 12. He was a Jew and resented the Catholic Church after his brother converted and became a priest. 13. Our Lady appeared to him and showed him the true state of his soul. 14. Sr. Catherine called the nineteenth century The Age of Mary. 15. She was assigned to be in charge of the fifty old men at Enghien. 16. Fr. Aladel died. 17. Our Lady wanted a new statue made in the image of her second appearance to Sr. Catherine. 18. Sr. Catherine s health began to fail because the strain of not being able to obey Our Lady s wishes. She had had no one to talk to since Fr. Aladel had died. 19. Our Lady told Sr. Catherine that she could tell Mother Superior everything. 20. She asked the Sisters to do all in their power to promote devotion to the Miraculous Medal. SSM15

EXAM ANSWER KEY Part III. Essay. (32 pts) Relate the story of Catherine Laboure s childhood and her entrance into the convent. What was her childhood like? When did she decide to become a nun? What stopped her? What virtues did Catherine have during her childhood and young adult life that we can use in your own life? Answers will vary. The story is on pages 41-49. The student should recognize the humility, obedience, and patience of Sr. Catherine. We can all learn to accept what God sends our way and to continue to pray and suffer to do His will. SSM16