Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on Rue du Bac in the 7th arrondissement is one of Paris's most visited pilgrimage sites – drawing over two million pilgrims a year, more than Sacre-Coeur. In 1830 the Vincentian sister Catherine Laboure reported repeated apparitions of the Virgin Mary here, who instructed her to strike the oval Miraculous Medal. Within years millions of medals had been distributed worldwide and the modest chapel became a global devotional destination. The right side altar holds Laboure's incorrupt body in a glass coffin, the left contains the heart of Saint Vincent de Paul. The atmosphere inside the plain chapel is intensely focused, with many visitors kneeling in silence.