Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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PLAGUE MEDAL

A medal specially worn to obtain God's protection during a plague or pestilence. Popular during the Middle Ages, plague medals have the image of St. Roch or St. Sebastian, but generally of the Blessed Virgin or of one of her shrines. When comets were objects of dread, medals were worn to shield the people from their supposed calamity; others commemorated important events in the Church's history.