Medal of Mary, Help of Christians

"The faithful sometimes like to wear on them, always and usually around their neck, medals with the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are witnesses of faith, signs of veneration to the Mother of the Lord, expression of trust to her motherly protection. The Church blesses those objects of marian piety, reminding us, that they "recall God's love and contribute in faith, growth and trust to the Blessed ", but at the same time, admonishes the faithul that the devotion to the Mother of Jesus requires mostly "a coherent life witness"" (Directory on populr piety and liturgy n. 206).

Among these medals we want o underline the Medal of Mary Help of Christians, widespread by don Bosco, as a direct and simple way of manifesting externally the heart feeling and the commitment to live as christians. Don Bosco distributed with filled hands, in Italy and abroad, medals of various formats which, in one part depicted Mary Help of Christians and on the other hand the Most Blessed Sacrament or Jesus's Sacred Heart, symbolizing the Don Bosco frequently referred "two columns". He adviced often to wear that medal, to kiss her while in temptation, to entrust to the Help of Christians every kind of dangers. He liked to say: "wear this medal on your neck and remember that Our Lady loves you so much and pray wholeheartedly for help" (MB III 46). For Don Bosco, the Mary Help of Christians' medal was not a lucky charm but as commonly said, a powerful means to remind us of Mary's potentiality and a constant filial trust in Her to the sight and in the mind. He adviced Don Cagliero: "you know how to remove every fear togliere... The same antidote: Mary help of Christians medal and the short prayer: "Mary Help of Christians, pray for us": frequent communion; that's all!".

The Mary Help of Christians' medal is above all a powerful arm against sin, as Don Bosco said it during a "Good Night" on 4th September 1868: "Few days ago in a hospital there was a seriously sick woman who did not want to confess. The danger of death grew and it was suggested to call Don Bosco. She said: - Let anyone come; I'll never confess.
Don Bosco went and met the sick:
- Don Bosco is here.
- I'll confess when I am healed.
- Don Bosco will heal you.
- I'll confess if he succeeds.
I was holding the Mary Help of Christians' Medal in a hand through a cord and I presented it to her. The sick took it, kissed it and put on her neck. All the bystanders at this sight cried tears of confusion. Don Bosco ordered to send the people away at a distance; he made a sign of the cross and the lady did the same; the priest asked for her last confession before she could confess all her sins. She said at the end:
- Why this? I have confessed finally and yet I never wanted it! She was very happy.
- I don't really know, he replied; look, it is the Blessed Virgin who wants your salvation. Don Bosco left her fully converted and a good christian.

So let us put all our trust in Mary and let all those who still have to acquire the medal do so; at night, when tempted, let us kiss that medal and we'll draw a great advantage for our soul" (MB IX 337-338). Against the sin of incredulity, iron shield: the Mary Help of Christians' medal.

That sign is even present when the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians was created, much before don Bosco and Maria Mazzarello's first personal encounter, just to say that Our Lady has spiritually and apostolically united both the great educators and evangelizers of the youth. "It came to be that way at don Pestarino's first visit to the Oratory. Don Bosco listened with delight the account of the examplary life of the little peasant girls and don Pestarino's returning to the countryside, gave them two medals of Mary Help of Christians. He gave one medal to Maria and the other to Petronilla saying:
- Don Bosco sends it to you and on his behalf I want you to keep it devoutly, for they will free you from so many harms and from it you'll get help throughout. He wants you to pray unceasingly but you must fight to prevent the offense to God, even through an ordinary venial sin.
Don Bosco was unknown by the two young ladies, but they knew don Pestarino who was an outstanding priest youth minister. In Maria Mazzarello, the Saint already saw a founding stone for the Institute to be founded for the young girls; nevertheless he kept a prudent reserve on that issue. The medal that was given became a price for the zeal exercised and for the recommendations and paternal cares that Don Bosco could have for the new Institute" (MB IX 618).
It is interesting to note that Mary Help of Christians was particularly invoked and her intercessions naturally, in big changes, were efficient: earthquakes, vulcanic eruptions, epidemic sicknesses, tempests, to witness that the victory over the natural elements were a sign of the victorious power and more efficient of grace over sin. 

"The secured mind with which the Saint promised the preservation from cholera to the French was amazing. To Don Ronchail, Rector of Nizza, he wrote on 1st July: 'It seems God wants to visit us. Let our youth and our friends have a sure antidote for cholera: a Mary Help of Christians' medal, reciting: Maria, Auxilium Christianorum, ora pro nobis'. So on 18th august he could write to Ms Louvet: 'I have a great and nice news to give you. All the houses in France, all the benefactors of our youngsters, thanks to Mary Help of Christians, were preserved from the whipping that stroke France " (MB XVII 238-241). 

 

"Another fact happened when he had to realize the hand of Mary Help of Christians with a news that came the same days to Don Bosco. A dangerous eruption of the Etna that threw terror among the so far peaceful populations along the lower slopes of the famous vulcan. The most threatened countryside was Nicolosi, a commune of nearly four thousand souls. The given estimated flow speed of the larva in that slope was fifty to sixty meters per hour. Pinewood, chestnuts farms, cultivated spaces were invested, dry and distructed. The inhabitants have abandoned their homes. At that terrible moment the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Catania and of Agira wrote to Don Bosco, begging him to suggest some means to ward off the danger. Don Bosco adviced them to scatter immediately the Mary Help of Christians' medal on the spot and he would himself pray for them and bless them. The parish priest received from the sisters some medals and had them scattered here and there. What a marvel! These medals became a kind of territorial limit to stop the terrific natural element that stopped its course. 'The larva has reached three hundred meters and is suspended at the high slope of the countryside". Now they could notice that the fire corrent, 'suspended at the slope', was liquid but the eruption went on. Men of science expected Nicolosi's disappearance. Even the anticlericaled Gazzetta di Catania adverted with a special publication, giving the precise stopping point naming it and expressing it this way: 'At Altarelli the larva has branched and left them safe. Miracle'. Toda y the accumulated larva body is a visible perpetual memory of that wonder" (MB XVIII 153-154).
Don Bosco was so much attached to that God's given instrument, as for many other things, it became the gift of "multiplication", for the good of the souls: "Don Belmonte, rector of the Sampierdarena Hospice, attested that at S. Siro a marvelous fact happened. Don Bosco was distributing the Mary Help of Christians medals in the sacristy but the medals got finished, nothing remained from nowhere. Then the Rector gave him some spare ones, less than fourty. The Saint restarted the distribution. The place was crowded and he gave out medals to all strechted hands. The nearby Don Belmonte and mister Dufour could'nt believe it: these medals just distributed were numbered hundreds or a thousand. How could it be possible ?" (MB XVIII 43). 

Faithfully, let us wear that Medal with love: we shall become the peace makers in Jesus Christ's name!

 

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Novena to Mary, Help of Christians

OPENING PRAYER

In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. LET US PRAY Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, and sought your intercession, was left unaided, inspired with this confidence I fly unto you; O Virgin of virgins, my Mother!  To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful, O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer me.  Amen. (These introductory prayers are repeated every day.)

DAILY PRAYERS (Novena starts on the 15th day of every month)   FIRST DAY O holy Mary, powerful help of Christians, I turn to you with faith.  In your mercy hear the prayers of this poor sinner who implores your help to avoid sin and all its occasions. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   SECOND DAY O holy Mary, Mother of goodness and mercy, with your visible aid you have often delivered Christians from the attacks of their enemies, defend my soul, I pray, from the assaults of the devil, the world and the flesh so that I may be victorious over the enemies of my soul. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   THIRD DAY Mary, most powerful Queen, you alone triumphed over the many heresies which sought to tear away many of your children from the bosom of the Church, help me, I pray, to hold on firmly to my faith and to keep myself free from the snares and poison of so many perverse doctrines. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   FOURTH DAY O Mary, my sweetest Mother, the Queen of Martyrs, do infuse into my heart the strength to persevere that, overcoming all human respect, I may be able to live my religion and show myself, on every occasion, a devout child of yours. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   FIFTH DAY Dear Mother Mary, in the triumph of Pope Pius Vii you showed your powerful patronage, protect the whole Church and especially her supreme head on earth, the Holy Father.  Defend him always from the attacks of his many enemies, deliver him so that he may safely steer to port the boat of St. peter and triumph over the proud billows which strive to submerge it. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   SIXTH DAY O Mary, Queen of the Apostles take under your powerful protection the bishops, priest and all the children of the Catholic Church; obtain for them the spirit of union, of perfect obedience to the Holy Father, and of fervent zeal for the salvation of men.  I beg of you especially to extend your loving patronage to missionaries, that they may be able to bring all the races of the earth to the true faith of Jesus Christ, so that there may be just one flock under one Shepherd. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   SEVENTH DAY O Mary, gracious and merciful Mother,  by your efficacious intercession, you have saved Christians from plagues and other bodily scourges, help me and deliver me from the disease of impiety and irreligion which creeps into my soul in many ways to turn me away from the Church and the practices of religion.  I implore you; watch over the good that they may persevere, strengthen the weak and call poor sinners to repentance, that truth and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ may triumph here on earth, so that Your glory and the number of the elect may be increased in Heaven. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   EIGHT DAY O Mary, Pillar of the Church and Help of Christians, I ask you to keep me firm in my holy faith and to preserve in me the liberty of a child of God.  With the help of grace, I promise obedience to the Holy Father, and to the bishops in communion with him, desiring only to live and to die in the bosom of the Catholic Faith, where only I can hope with certainty to attain eternal salvation. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   NINTH DAY Most kind Mother, in every age you wished to be the help of Christians, assist me with your invincible aid in life, and especially at the hour of my death, so that after having loved and praised you on earth, I may deserve to come and sing your mercies forever in Heaven. (Recite three times)  Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. (Recite once) Hail Holy Queen.   CONCLUDING PRAYER   LET US PRAY O Almighty and Merciful God, you have given the Blessed Virgin Mary to all Christians as their everlasting Protectress, graciously grant now, that, strengthened by Her aid and striving onward in life, I may be victorious over the wicked one in the hour of my death.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen. (Say three times)  Mary Help of Christians. Pray for us!