The Miraculous Medal
adopted as the Livery of the Children of Mary.
From this time, 1847, thanks to the benediction of Pius IX, the Sodality of the Children of Mary, spread rapidly in all quarters of the globe, wherever the Daughters of Charity were established. A manual containing the rules of the Association, its privileges and obligations, was compiled by M. Aladel, the Director of the work. The livery naturally adopted by the Children of Mary was the Miraculous Medal, suspended from a blue ribbon.
The new Association from its very origin gave a wonderful impulse to youthful piety; humble girls, earning their daily bread, practiced the most heroic virtues, under the influence of a desire to become faithful Children of Mary; and, sustained by the same spirit, the poorest courageously resisted temptation, and complied with those duties so little esteemed at the present day—filial devotion and self-denial.
The Miraculous Medal
adopted as the Livery of the Children of Mary.
To these precious fruits are also joined some beautiful flowers of devotion; how eagerly the Children of Mary repair to re-unions of the Association, especially on all their Mother's feasts, chanting her praises and exciting one another to fervent piety.
But the death of these young girls is still more admirable than their life; many of them stricken down in the very bloom of youth, fortified with their medal and ribbon as with a precious talisman, smile at death and defy hell.
Thirty years have passed since the grain of mustard seed was confided to the earth, and it has now become an immense tree, whose branches overshadow the most distant countries. Europe numbers nearly a thousand of these Sodalities, about six hundred being composed of externs, or mixed associates. They amount, in other portions of the world to nearly two hundred. This displays the visible effects of the benediction of St. Peter's Successor; the promises made in 1830 were not realized until they had received the approbation of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, Pius IX, whose name will always be dear to the Children of Mary.