The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary attained broader recognition relatively late, largely as a result of the Blessed Virgin Mary apparitions of 1830 experienced by Sister Catherine Laboure, a novice of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of Staint Vincent de Paul. On 27 November 1830, the Mother of God revealed to her the design of a medal and instructed that it be minted, which subsequently took place in 1832. Numerous documented testimonies of healings and conversions contributed to the rapid dissemination of the medal, which came to be known as the Miraculous Medal.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, two Polish priests made a substantial contribution to the development of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception. In 1904, Fr. Franciszek Ksawery Domoradzki CM, Vincentian missionary and village priest in the territory of the Austrian partition, submitted an initiative to Archbishop Józef Bilczewski of Lviv seeking the granting of privileges and indulgences to the Miraculous Medal, as well as the ecclesiastical approval of the Association of the Miraculous Medal. On 3 June 1905, the Apostolic See conferred the requested privileges and formally approved the Association. A subsequent milestone was the approval of its statutes for the universal Church by Pope Pius X on 8 July 1909, achieved through the efforts of the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, Fr. Antoni Fiat CM.
The apostolic mission of the devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception within the Association of the Miraculous Medal consists in bearing witness to Christian life in the presence of the Immaculate One and in revealing the truth that God is love. The Apostolate of the Miraculous Medal constitutes a lasting and vital element in the development of the Church, both in Poland and throughout the world.