Site: 18ST399 Susquehanna

Context: Unit 2319 Level E, Layer just above cellar fill from the destruction of a late 18th-century house.

Context Date Range: Late 19th century

Metal: Copper alloy

Dimensions: 0.75” (19 mm) wide, 1” (27 mm) tall, 0.03” (0.7 mm) thick

Front:
“MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO YOU” and the date “1830” around the Virgin Mary with rays emitting from her hands.

Back:
Miraculous Medal motif showing the letter “M” with a cross over it, and under both are the Sacred Heart of Jesus with a crown of thorns, and the Sacred Heart of Mary pierced by a sword.

History:
The Miraculous Medal motif is attributed to Zoe Labore, a member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris, France. She was canonized as Saint Catherine after the Virgin Mary appeared to her three times in 1830, and ordered that a medal with this image be struck so that those who wore the medals would be blessed with great graces. Most Miraculous Medals depict Mary on the front with rays emitting from her fingers as seen in Labore’s first vision. The first medals were made in 1832 (Glass 1911).

Courtesy Naval District Washington, Naval Air Station Patuxent River.