Saint Benedict Medal
On the staff and scroll were written in full the words of which the mysterious letters were the initials,[3] a Latin prayer of exorcism against Satan.
[4] The manuscript contains the exorcism formula Vade retro satana ('Step back, Satan'), and the letters were found to correspond to this phrase.
M. le Curé of Sens, wearing his stole, exorcised the devil, driving him away with holy water and the words, which he made the penitent repeat.
[6] Medals bearing the image of St. Benedict, a cross moline, and these letters began to be struck in Germany, and soon spread over Europe.
[8] In Gabriel Bucelin's 1679 Benedictus redivivus, he recounts several incidents in which St. Benedict's Medal was viewed as efficacious in addressing illness or some local calamity.
In the 1743 Disquisitio sacra numismata, de origine quidditate, virtute, pioque usu Numismatum seu Crucularum S. Benedicti, Abbatis, Viennae Austriae, apud Leopoldum Kaliwoda, Abbot Löbl, of St. Margaret's Monastery of Prague, recommended recourse to the medal as a remedy against bleeding.
[4] On the back of the medal is Saint Benedict holding a cross in his right hand, the Christian symbol of salvation,[4] and in the left his Rule for Monasteries.
'[11][dubious – discuss] On the front is a cross, containing the letters C S S M L - N D S M D, initials of the words Crux sacra sit mihi lux!
[4] The Blessing of St. Maur is customarily bestowed on the sick using a relic of the True Cross, in hopes of assisting speedy recovery of their health.
V: In the name of God the Father + almighty, who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, I exorcise these medals against the power and attacks of the evil one.
Almighty God, the boundless source of all good things, we humbly ask that, through the intercession of Saint Benedict, you pour out your blessings + upon these medals.
May those who use them devoutly and earnestly strive to perform good works be blessed by you with the health of soul and body, the grace of a holy life, and remission of the temporal punishment due to sin.
May they also with the help of your merciful love, resist the temptation of the evil one and strive to exercise true charity and justice toward all, so that one day they may appear sinless and holy in your sight.
