Wearing Your Faith: Catholic Medals for Devotion and Protection.

Wearing Your Faith: Catholic Medals for Devotion and Protection.

Why do Catholics wear medals of Jesus and Mary or of the saints?
Some people wear saint medals because that saint is their patron saint. Some wear them as a sort of protection, that is, if the medal is blessed. The tradition of wearing religious medals offers Catholics a way to symbolize their faith and encourage their devotion to Jesus and the saints. Catholic medals for protection are designed to help you become closer to your faith. Mostly Catholics wear medals because of their devotion. It reminds them of a particular devotion and to profess their believes.
Our Catholic Faith is filled with sacramentals that work with, and point to, the spiritual. They are visible reminders of invisible realities.
Catholics are to profess their faith by living a life according to the faith. Example going to Mass on Sundays, leading a prayerful life, making the sign of the Cross, etc. One of the ways to profess one’s faith is to wear blessed medals (sacramentals).
If you enjoy wearing your faith proudly, Catholic medals for protection
are the perfect Catholic “jewelry” for you. Transitionally wearing of religious medals offers Catholics a way to symbolize their faith and encourage their devotion to Jesus and the saints. Blessed Catholic medals (are sacramentals) for protection are designed to help you become closer to your faith. Finding the right one for you is important, so ask yourself what would make you feel closest to the God or to your patron saint.

Of course, Catholic medals don't function as magic amulets : they do not cause spiritual graces. However, once they are blessed by a priest or deacon, medals serve as sacramentals—that is, special devotional objects that, by God's power, can dispose and prepare us to receive grace. This blessing sets apart the medal as an expression of faith rather than an item of worship that has pagan roots.
Sacramentals are devotional medals and symbols created by the Church that help the believer recall his or her faith or religious duties. They are reminders to help the believer to pray, to perform acts of reverence to God or Jesus Christ.

Ordinarily Catholic design medals are just a piece of jewelry (or just an item) but blessed items, by a priest, represent special blessings from God. Never should we look upon the wearing of a religious medal as a “charm,” but always as a sacred symbol of the supernatural protection offered directly by our Lord, Blessed Mother, or saint.

Catholic medals are usually designed to be worn around the neck of the person or to be attached to a rosary or key chain. Actually, the wearing of religious medals is a very ancient tradition in our Church. Religious medals as they are known today began to appear in the 16th century, and the blessing of medals came into use at this time. Pope St Pius V (d. 1572) is credited with inaugurating the custom of blessing religious medals and attaching an indulgence to them. For example, in 1566 he blessed medals with the image of Jesus and Mary and granted an indulgence to the faithful who wore them.
What medals should a Catholic wear?
The Top Catholic Medals for Men and Women are:
St. Benedict’s Medal
St. Michael the Archangel
The Miraculous Medal.
The Crucifix Necklace.
Four Way Cross Necklace
Patron Saint Medals.
While the most popular way to wear saint medals are on chains and necklaces, there are different ways to wear and display your Catholic faith and have your favorite patron saint be with you wherever you go.
Well you can wear more than one medal! A charm bracelet can display many different saints that you pray to, or perhaps medals from the same saint, or even a saint that represents each member of the family, which is a great gift for a mother.

What Catholic medal is for protection?
The Saint Benedict Medal is the strongest symbol of protection known in the Christian world. Hang this medal on the entry of every doorway to claim all your spaces and places for Jesus Christ. In the words that are imprinted in Latin, pray with authority as we proclaim, “ONLY GOD IS WELCOME HERE.” Amen.
This powerful St Benedict medal for your daily protection of God against evil and temptations, through the intercession of St. Benedict.
St Benedict is invoked against Poison, Witchcraft and the Devil.
As St. Benedict is invoked against evil, his medals are considered particularly efficacious against it. This is the medal the Church uses when she’s had just about enough.
The medal itself has an important prayer used in the Rite of Exorcism, in abbreviated form, on one side and an image of St. Benedict on the other. Apparently, that's all that's necessary to ward off evil.
There is no special way prescribed for carrying or wearing the Medal of St. Benedict. It can be worn on a chain around the neck, attached to one's rosary, kept in one's pocket or purse, or placed in one's car or home.
The Miraculous Medal.
The Miraculous Medal was originally called the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, but, because of the numerous accounts of miracles by those who wore it, people began to call it the Miraculous Medal, and the name stuck. The Medal is a visual reminder of our salvation through Jesus Christ.
It’s very tiny, barely an inch long and half-inch wide. There’s nothing elaborate or stunning about it. It’s not even made out of silver or gold. How can something so small and simple be such a momentous force in the world? And yet, it is.

The Miraculous Medal is a heavenly gift to us from Mary. It’s everyone’s Medal, because she is everyone’s Mother. Moreover, she wants us to wear it with love and trust—not superstitiously like a lucky charm.
It’s a reminder, a tangible sign through which she expresses her Motherly love and desire to help us. We need to wear it as her true children, trying our best to imitate her virtues, to grow deeper in our faith, and to see beyond our own needs and reach out to help the poor, the forgotten, and the lonely.

Those who wear this medal will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around the neck.
“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”
Those who repeat this prayer with devotion will be, in a special manner, under the protection of the Mother of God. Graces will be abundantly bestowed upon those who have confidence.”

It’s a reminder that she is always ready to listen, to ease our suffering, to comfort us when we mourn, to heal our souls and bodies, and to rescue us in times of trial. She wants to be our companion, our friend, and our guide. However, all of these things require reciprocation on our part.
Mary and her Miraculous Medal are just as important today as they were back in 1830. They are the solution to all of the difficulties we’re facing. Now more than ever, we need our Blessed Mother’s comfort and protection. Now more than ever, we need to discover her peace. Now more than ever, we need to know that our Mother is with us. And she is.

St. Michael’s Medal.
Another patron saint often called upon is of course the Patron Saint of protection - St. Michael the Archangel. Saint Michael is an archangel, a spiritual warrior in the battle of good versus evil. He is considered a champion of justice, a healer of the sick, and the guardian of the Church. In art Saint Michael is depicted with a sword, a banner, or scales, and is often shown vanquishing Satan in the form of a dragon. Michael fights to reestablish divine justice; he defends the People of God from their enemies and above all from the arch-enemy par excellence, the devil.

Wearing the medal provides those who wear it a sense of security. They feel that the warrior angel is close and watching over them. People who face danger every day working to protect us find that St. Michael's medal fortifies their faith and reinforces their commitment to the protection of others.

Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of soldiers and battles. He has provided protection to countless military personnel around the world for millennia. He is also the patron of the dying. Undoubtedly he has interceded for the souls of many fallen soldiers, ensuring that they died in a state of grace before God.

The Crucifix necklace.
What does it mean to wear a crucifix necklace?
In the Christian religion, the cross is a powerful symbol of love and sacrifice, and the cross necklace's meaning epitomizes that. It represents how Jesus, the Son of God who came to earth as a human, died to save all people. He was crucified on a cross, buried, then rose from the dead three days later. Thus the Crucifix represents the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Other interpretations include the cross as a symbol of sacrifice, faith, and victory over death. The wearing of a cross necklace can serve as a personal reminder of these beliefs and can also be worn as a symbol of one's faith.
The crucifix cross that Catholics wear are with the corpus of Christ.
A crucifix (from the Latin cruci fixus meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the corpus (Latin for 'body').

Why is the crucifix such a powerful symbol?
The Passion of Christ was the fulfilment of his passage on earth. The cross became the symbol of victory over death, of the bond between humanity and God. Today it is a powerful symbol, a sign of gathering, of recognition of the whole Christian community.

The Crucifixion imagery also reminds us that Christ freely took on our human nature and had a human body that was subject to suffering and death, just as we are. When we are in pain, a crucifix can help us remember that God himself knows and understands what we are going through.
Both the cross and the crucifix are symbols of what God has done for mankind and for each of us personally. Both depict the perfect, radical, and sacrificial love of God for every one of His children. Both are wonderful ways to show our faith and devotion as Catholic Christians.
The crucifix is a powerful symbol because it reminds us of a powerful reality. Through the gift of the sacraments, we share in that reality.

Devoted Catholics cherish these medals because it reminds them of God's grace. These Catholic medals also serve as a visual identification of our Faith. Any Catholic of any age can incorporate Catholic medals and pendants into daily wear, as subtle reminders of our obligation to live out our faith in every situation.

As Catholics, we honor the Saints, those who have run the good race and merited their place in heaven. By wearing the saint’s medals, we subconsciously have their care over us, and we ask them to pray for us, for our needs and special intentions.

There are patron saints for virtually every cause, in every state in life, and every hardship. Spend time poring over the many saints medals and pendants in our online store.
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