These few lines, according to her, should be inscribed at the base of the Blessed Virgin's statue. On this occasion, contrary to her usual custom, she could not refrain from an exclamation of joy at the thought of the homages which would be rendered Mary! "Oh! how delightful to hear it said: 'Mary is Queen of the Universe, and particularly of France!' The children will proclaim it, 'She is Queen of each soul!'"
When Sister Labouré related the third apparition of the medal, M. Aladel asked her if she had seen anything written on the reverse. The Sister answered that she had not. "Ah!" said the Father, "ask the Blessed Virgin what to put there."
The young Sister obeyed; and after having prayed a long time, one day during meditation, she seemed to hear a voice saying: "The M and the two hearts express enough."
None of these narrations mention the serpent, yet it always figures in representations of the apparition, and certainly in conformity with Sister Catherine's earliest revelations of the vision. The following shows why we are so positive of this fact.
Towards the close of her life, after a silence of forty-five years, M. Aladel being no more, this good daughter was interiorly constrained to confide to one of her Superiors the communications she had received from the Blessed Virgin, that they might serve to reanimate devotion and gratitude to Mary. Having done this, her mind was relieved; she felt that now she could die in peace.
The Superior, favored with her confidence, wishing to realize one of her venerable companion's most cherished desires, proposes a statue of Mary Immaculate, holding the globe. On asking Sister Catherine if the serpent must be represented under the Blessed Virgin's feet, she answered: "Yes; there was a serpent of a greenish color, with yellow spots." She also remarked that the globe in the Virgin's hands was surmounted by a little cross, that her countenance was neither very youthful nor very joyous, but indicative of gravity mingled with sorrow, that the sorrowful expression vanished as her face became irradiated with love, especially at the moment of her prayer.
Our attempt at representing the vision was successful, although the tint of the robe and veil, the celestial radiance of the face, the splendor of the rays, must always remain an impossibility for art; as the good Sister, whilst declaring her satisfaction, betrayed by her tone of voice and expression the disappointment she felt at the impotency of human skill to depict the beauty of the celestial original.