24/06/2026
If you think the Miraculous Medal is just Catholic superstition, Fr. John Hardon’s story is hard to ignore.
Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon was a Jesuit priest, teacher, and theologian. He was not someone who easily believed stories about miracles.
When a Vincentian priest spoke about the Miraculous Medal and the graces connected to it, Fr. Hardon later admitted:
→ “I was not impressed.”
He did not wear medals. He did not own a Miraculous Medal. He took the enrollment prayers, put them away, and forgot about them.
A few months later, while serving at St. Alexis Hospital in Cleveland, Fr. Hardon visited a young boy who had suffered a serious head injury after crashing into a tree while sledding. The child had been unconscious for about ten days.
Fr. Hardon later said that the question was not whether the boy would recover, but whether he would live.
As he was leaving the room, he suddenly remembered the Miraculous Medal.
He searched the hospital until a nurse found one. Another nurse found a blue ribbon so the boy could wear it. Fr. Hardon blessed the Medal and prayed the enrollment prayers.
Then something happened that he never forgot.
According to Fr. Hardon’s own testimony, the boy opened his eyes for the first time since the accident. He looked at his mother and said:
→ “I want some ice cream.”
The doctors were called.
In the days that followed, Fr. Hardon said that tests showed no remaining signs of the expected brain damage, and the boy returned home.
This experience changed him.
The priest who once doubted the Miraculous Medal spent the rest of his life promoting devotion to Our Lady and encouraging people to wear the Medal.
God alone works miracles. Catholics do not believe the Medal is magic. But God often gives His graces through the prayers of Mary and through sacramentals that lead us to Christ.
A skeptical Jesuit witnessed something he never forgot.
If this happened today, would most Catholics believe it, or would they explain it away?
Because miracles like these still happen everyday...
