Friedrich Bernard Christian Maassen
United Sees of Macerata and Tolentino
Vicariate Apostolic of Mackenzie
Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon
Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyria de Mailla
François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran
Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre
Marcellinus of Civezza, O.F.M.
Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament
Prefecture Apostolic of Mariana Islands
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill
Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Lucius Perpetuus Aurelianus Marius Maximus
Vicariate Apostolic of Marquesas Islands
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Diocese of Marseilles (Massilia)
Vicariate Apostolic of the Marshall Islands
Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza
Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli
Missionaries of the Company of Mary
Servants of Mary (Order of Servites)
Society of Mary (Marist Fathers)
St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus
Richard Angelus a S. Francisco Mason
Devises and Bequests for Masses (United States)
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
Prefecture Apostolic of Mayotte, Nossi-Bé, and Comoro
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Abbey and Congregation of Melk
Vicariate Apostolic of Méndez and Gualaquiza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode
Delegation Apostolic of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich
Francis, Joseph, and Paul Mezger
Military Orders of St. Michael
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola
Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde
Prefecture Apostolic of Misocco and Calanca
Congregation of Priests of the Mission
Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales of Annecy
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle
Mission Indians (of California)
Catholic Indian Missions of Canada
Catholic Indian Missions of the United States
François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno
Diocese of Molfetta, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière
Principality and Diocese of Monaco
Canonical Erection of a Monastery
Monophysites and Monophysitism
Monothelitism and Monothelites
Montagnais Indians (Chippewayans)
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert
Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon
Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Anne, First Duke of Montmorency
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon
Dioceses of Mostar and Markana-Trebinje
Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
Toribio de Benavente Motolinia
Congregations of Mount Calvary
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Karl Ernst, Freiherr von Moy de Sons
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Clair Augustine Mulholland
Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen
Archdiocese of Munich-Freising
The gift of miracles is one of those mentioned by St. Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians (xii, 9, 10), among the extraordinary graces of the Holy Ghost. These have to be distinguished from the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost enumerated by the Prophet Isaias (xi, 2 sq.) and from the fruits of the Spirit given by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians (v, 22). The seven gifts and the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost are always infused with sanctifying grace into the souls of the just. They belong to ordinary sanctity and are within the reach of every Christian. The gifts mentioned in the Epistle to the Corinthians are not necessarily connected with sanctity of life. They are special and extraordinary powers vouchsafed by God only to a few, and primarily for the spiritual good of others rather than of the recipient. In Greek they are called charismata, which name has been adopted by Latin authors- they are also designated in theological technical language as gratiae gratis datae (graces gratuitously given) to distinguish them from gratiae gratum facientes, which means sanctifying grace or any actual grace granted for the salvation of the recipient.
The gift of miracles, as one of these charismata, was expressly promised by Christ to His disciples (John, xiv, 12- Mark, xvi, 17, 18), and St. Paul mentions it as abiding in the Church . " To another [is given] the grace of healing . . . To another, the working of miracles "- (I Cor., xii, 9, 10). Christ imparts this gift to chosen servants as He did to the Apostles and disciples, that His doctrine may become credible and that Christians may be confirmed in their faith, and this the Vatican Council has declared in chapter iii " De Fide ". This gift is not given to any created being as a permanent habit or quality of the soul. The power of effecting supernatural works such as miracles is the Divine Omnipotence, which cannot be communicated to either men or angels. The greatest thaumaturgus that ever appeared in this world could not work miracles at will, neither had he any permanent gift of the kind abiding in his soul. The Apostles once asked concerning a cure of demoniacal possession: "Why could we not cast him out ? Christ replied, this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting (Matt. xvii, 18 sqq.). Eliseus could not raise to life the son of the Sunamitess with his staff.
The grace of miracles is therefore only a transient gift by which God moves a person to do something which issues in a wonderful work. Sometimes God makes use instrumentally of contact with the relics of the saints, or visits to sacred shrines for this purpose. The miraculous work is always the effect of Omnipotence, nevertheless, men and angels may be said to work miracles in a threefold way
To Christ even as man, or to His humanity, was granted a perpetual and constant power of miracles. He was able of His free will to work them as often as He judged it expedient For this He had the ever-ready concurrence of His Divinity, although there was in His Humanity no permanent quality which could be the physical cause of miracles. Benedict XIV tells us sufficient with regard to miracles in their relation to sanctity of life when explaining their estimate in the cause of the beatification and canonization of the saints. He says: It is the common opinion of theologians that the grace of miracles is a grace gratis data, and therefore that it is given, not only to the just but also to sinners (though only rarely). Christ says that He knows not those who have done evil, though they may have prophesied in His name, cast out devils in His name, and done many wonderful works. And the Apostle said that without charity he was nothing, though he might have faith to remove mountains. On this passage of the Apostle, Estius remarks:
These graces manifest themselves in two ways. One way as dwelling in the Church, teaching and sanctifying her, as, for example, when even a sinner in whom the Holy Ghost does not abide works miracles to show that the faith of the Church which he preaches is true. Hence the Apostle writes: God also bearing them witness by signs, and wonders, and divers miracles, and distributions of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will (Heb ., ii, 4). In another way, the manifestation is made by the graces of the Holy Ghost as belonging to him who performs the works. Hence in Acts it is said that St. Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people (Acts, vi, 8). Here we have a distinction clearly drawn out as to the manner in which gratiae gratis datae may be to the advantage of the person receiving them as well as to the utility of others, and how it is that by these graces persons without sanctifying grace may perform signs and wonders for the good of others. But these are rare and exceptional cases and real miracles can never be performed by a sinner in proof of his own personal sanctity or in proof of error, because that would be a deception and derogatory to the sanctity of God Who alone can perform miracles. A. Devine.