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Miniature gilt cross barbée with laterally-pierced ball for ribbon suspension; the face with a circular central medallion with the half-length full-face figure of Saint Rumoldus with headdress, his right arm raised in blessing, his left hand holding a primitive cross, circumscribed ‘SANCTUS RUMOLDUS’, the arms of the cross elaborately decorated with fanned leaves; the reverse with a circular central medallion inscribed ‘DE ECCLESIA / BENE MERENTI / ARCHIEPISCOPUS / MECHLINIENSIS’ (from the Church, well merited, Archbishop of Mechelen), a border of flowers above and below, stippling on the inner arms; diameter 14.43mm (0.57 inch); on an old ribbon in the Papal colours.
The Archdicese of Mechelen-Brussels includes the whole of modern-day Belgium and the Medal would have been awarded for service to the Church in Belgium. Saint Rumoldus is the patron saint of Mechelen; his biography is imprecise but he was probably of Hiberno-Scottish ancestry and is known to have been martyred near Mechelen, probably in the year 775AD.
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