Statutes

THE CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

On November 27, 1830, Our Blessed Mother appeared to Sister Catherine Laboure in the Chapel of the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity, on the rue du Bac in Paris, France. During this apparition, Mary revealed to Sister Catherine a model of a medal. Mary told Sister Catherine: “Have a medal struck after this model. All who wear it will receive great graces; they should wear it around the neck. Graces will abound for persons who wear it with confidence.”

After a delay of nineteen months, the first medals of the Immaculate Conception were made. Upon seeing the medal, Sister Catherine said: “Now it must be propagated.” As devotion to the medal spread, numerous wonders followed. So many miracles of mercy and healing and grace were granted through Mary’s intercession that people gave the medal of the Immaculate Conception the name “the Miraculous Medal.”

Article 1. ORIGIN OF THE CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

In March of 1915, Father Joseph A. Skelly, C.M., with the approval of the Provincial of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission, established The Central Association of the Miraculous Medal (CAMM). It is an apostolate of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission of Saint Vincent de Paul in Germantown.

Article 2. PURPOSES OF THE CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

GENERAL PURPOSES. CAMM promotes devotion to Mary Immaculate and to her Miraculous Medal, encouraging people to be invested in and to wear the Miraculous Medal. CAMM also works for the sanctification of its promoters, members, and benefactors and for their integral formation in the Christian life; finally, promoters, members, and benefactors are encouraged to have a practical charity for the poor. By wearing a Miraculous Medal blessed by a priest, a person becomes a member of The Association of the Holy Medal of the Immaculate Conception.

The Statutes of The Association of the Holy Medal of the Immaculate Conception, popularly known as “The Association of the Miraculous Medal,” were approved and confirmed by His Holiness Pope St. Pius X on July 8, 1909. A revision of these Statutes was approved and confirmed on February 19, 1998 by the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of the Apostolic Life.

SPECIFIC PURPOSES. CAMM has four specific purposes:

1. To render honor to Mary Immaculate and to encourage the use of her Miraculous Medal with prayers and devotions to her under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

2. To support the education and formation of men for the priesthood and brotherhood in the seminaries of the Congregation of the Mission.

3. To support the aged and infirm Vincentians of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission.

4. To support the apostolic works of the Eastern Province on behalf of the poor.

Article 3. LEADERSHIP

A. The Director General

The Director General of The Association of the Holy Medal of the Immaculate
Conception is the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity.

B. The Provincial Superior of the Eastern Province

CAMM is under the immediate authority of the Provincial Superior of the Eastern
Province of the Congregation of the Mission and his Council. The Provincial Superior also serves as the President of CAMM and as a trustee on CAMM’s Board of Trustees.

C. Director

The Director of CAMM is named by the President of CAMM and confirmed by the
the Director General of the Association of the Holy Medal of the Association of the Immaculate Conception. His term is for six years and is renewable.

Article 4. MEMBERSHIP

MEMBERSHIP. Membership in CAMM is to be understood as spiritual membership, entitling those so enrolled to the spiritual benefits attached to CAMM. Members are not required to have any specific religious affiliation. As such, spiritual members do not enjoy any voting rights.

A. General Members

Any person who wears a Miraculous Medal blessed by a priest becomes a member of
The Association of the Holy Medal of the Immaculate Conception (the Association of the Miraculous Medal) and shares in the spiritual privileges outlined in its Statutes.

B. Particular Members

Particular members are those individuals who have been registered in the records of
CAMM. The annual membership fee for each person is 25 cents. A person may enroll oneself or be enrolled by another. Perpetual enrollments are available for individuals and/or families. While no longer considered members, those who were/are perpetually enrolled continue to share in the spiritual benefits of CAMM after death.

C. Promoters

A promoter is a member who enrolls 8 or more people in CAMM.

Article 5. SPIRITUAL BENEFITS

A. General Members

General members share in the spiritual benefits of The Association of the Holy Medal
of the Immaculate Conception.

B. Particular Members

Particular members share in the spiritual benefits of 2,500 Masses offered annually
for them and for their intentions. They are also remembered in a weekly Mass offered by the Director. In addition, they are remembered in the Masses and prayers of the members of the Vincentian Community.

C. Promoters

Promoters share in all of the spiritual benefits enjoyed by members. In addition,
promoters share in the spiritual benefits of an additional 500 Masses offered for them and for their intentions. Promoters receive a special “Promoter’s” Miraculous Medal. At the time of death, a promoter is perpetually enrolled in CAMM.

Article 6. LITURGICAL FEAST DAY

The principal feast of CAMM is November 27th, the feast of the Apparition of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. On this day, the Church recalls and celebrates the apparition of Mary Immaculate to Sister Catherine Laboure in 1830.

Each year, in preparation for this feast day, CAMM sponsors a Solemn Novena. At the conclusion of the Solemn Novena, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a special Feast Day Mass is celebrated in Mary’s Central Shrine.

Article 7. MARY’S CENTRAL SHRINE

The spiritual “heart and soul” of CAMM is Mary’s Central Shrine. It is located in an apse of the Immaculate Conception Chapel, which is attached to St. Vincent’s Seminary in Germantown, Philadelphia. Mary’s Central Shrine was dedicated on September 8, 1927. It was in this chapel that Father Skelly, C.M. inaugurated the Perpetual Novena Services on December 8, 1930.

Article 8. FINANCES

Support for the pious works (the four specific purposes) of CAMM comes from various sources: membership fees, donations, bequests, annuities, Mass offerings, donations for enrollment cards and votive lights, collections in the Shrine, sale of religious articles, and various appeal letters.

After retaining those funds needed for ordinary operating expenses, CAMM sends the remaining funds to the Congregation of the Mission of Saint Vincent de Paul in Germantown, Pennsylvania. The Provincial Superior together with the members of his Council, determine how the funds will be allocated, respecting the intentions of the donors and the purposes of CAMM.

Article 9. PARTICULAR STATUTES

Amendments to these Statutes shall be formulated at any regular or special meeting of the Board of Trustees of CAMM and approved by the Director General.

Article 10. CLOSING EXHORTATION

Member, promoters, and benefactors, remembering that Mary, “taken up to heaven ... did not lay aside her task in the plan of salvation, but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation” (Lumen Gentium, 62), should very frequently pray the words that appear on the medal, “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.” Let them keep in mind, however, “that true devotion consists neither in sterile or transitory affection, nor in a certain vain credulity, but proceeds from true faith, by which we are led to recognize the excellence of the Mother of God, and we are moved to a filial love towards our Mother and to the imitation of her virtues” (Lumen Gentium, 67).

SRS&Y Draft 10-22-01

Revised March 16, 2002

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