She worked to prove the genuineness of her vocation and her visions of Jesus and Mary relating to the
Sacred Heart
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...
. She was initially rebuffed by her mother superior and was unable to convince theologians of the validity of her visions and revelations. A noted exception was the
Claude de la Colombière, later a canonized saint, who supported her. The devotion to the Sacred Heart was officially recognized 75 years after Alacoque's death.
Verosvres
Verosvres () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
History
The name Verosvres is derived from the Gallic word ''Verobriga'', ''vero'' meaning "true" or "good" and ''briga ...
, then in the
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy (; la, Ducatus Burgundiae; french: Duché de Bourgogne, ) emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the ...
, the only daughter of Claude and Philiberte Lamyn Alacoque, who also had several sons. From early childhood, Margaret was described as showing intense love for the Blessed Sacrament, and as preferring silence and prayer to childhood play.
After her
First Communion
First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Commun ...
at the age of nine, she practiced in secret severe corporal mortification, until
rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful ...
confined her to bed for four years. At the end of this period, having made a vow to the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...
to consecrate herself to religious life, it is said she was instantly restored to perfect health. In recognition of this favor, she added the name "Mary" to her baptismal name of Margaret. According to her later account of her life, she had visions of Jesus Christ, which she thought were a normal part of human experience and continued to practice austerity.
Alacoque lost her father at a young age, and the family's assets were held by a relative who refused to hand them over, plunging her family into poverty. During this time, her only consolation was frequent visits to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the local church. When she was 17, however, the family regained their fortune and her mother encouraged her to socialize, in the hopes of her finding a suitable husband. Out of obedience, and believing that her childhood vow was no longer binding, she began to accompany her brothers in the social events, attending dances and balls.
One night, after returning home from a ball for
Carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival t ...
dressed in her finery, she experienced a vision of Christ, scourged and bloody. He reproached her for her forgetfulness of him; yet he also reassured her by demonstrating that his heart was filled with love for her, because of the childhood promise she had made to his Blessed Mother. As a result, she determined to fulfill her vow and entered, when almost 24 years of age, the Visitation Convent at
Paray-le-Monial
Paray-le-Monial is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Since 2004 is Paray-le-Monial part of the Charolais-Brionnais Country.
It is nicknamed the "city of the Sacred Heart" a ...
on 25 May 1671, intending to become a nun.
Monastic life
Alacoque was subjected to many trials to prove the genuineness of her vocation. She was admitted to wearing the
religious habit
A religious habit is a distinctive set of religious clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anchoritic life, ...
on 25 August 1671, but was not allowed to make her religious profession on the same date of the following year, which would have been normal. A fellow novice described Margaret Mary as humble, simple and frank, but above all kind and patient. Finally, she was admitted to profession on 6 November 1672. It is said that she was assigned to the infirmary and was not very skillful at her tasks.''Lives of Saints'', John J. Crawley & Co., Inc. /ref>
Visions
In this monastery Alacoque received several
private revelation
Private revelation is, in Christian theology, a message from God which can come in a variety of types.
Roman Catholic theology
According to the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', public revelation was complete in New Testament times, but de ...
s of the Sacred Heart, the first on 27 December 1673 and the final one 18 months later. The visions revealed to her the form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of
Holy Communion
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...
Holy hour
Holy Hour () is the Roman Catholic devotional tradition of spending an hour in Eucharistic adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. A plenary indulgence is granted for this practice. The practice is also observed in some Lutheran chur ...
" on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ): article ''Margaret Mary Alacoque, St'' She stated that in her vision she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night to meditate on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Holy Hour practice later became widespread among Catholics.
On 27 December 1673, the feast of St. John, Margaret Mary said that Jesus had permitted her to rest her head upon his heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of his love, telling her that he desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of his goodness, and that he had chosen her for this work.
Initially discouraged in her efforts to follow the instruction she had received in her visions, Alacoque was eventually able to convince her superior, Mother de Saumaise, of the authenticity of her visions. She was unable, however, to convince a group of theologians of the validity of her apparitions, nor was she any more successful with many of the members of her own community, and suffered greatly at their hands. She eventually received the support of Claude de la Colombière, the community's
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Novice Mistress, and saw the monastery observe the Feast of the Sacred Heart privately, beginning in 1686. Two years later, a chapel was built at
Paray-le-Monial
Paray-le-Monial is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Since 2004 is Paray-le-Monial part of the Charolais-Brionnais Country.
It is nicknamed the "city of the Sacred Heart" a ...
to honor the Sacred Heart.
In 1689, Alacoque received a private request from Jesus to urge the King of France,
Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
, to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart, so that he may be "triumphant over all the enemies of Holy Church." Louis XIV, along with his successors,
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
and
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
failed to consecrate the nation, and 100 years after Alcoque's vision, Louis XVI was stripped of his power in 1789, during the events of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
.
Alacoque died on 17 October 1690.
Veneration
After Alacoque the devotion to the Sacred Heart was fostered by the
and the subject of controversies within the Catholic Church. The practice was not officially recognized until 75 years later.
The discussion of Alacoque's own mission and qualities continued for years. All her actions, her
revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.
Background
Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...
s, her spiritual maxims, her teachings regarding the devotion to the Sacred Heart, of which she was the chief exponent as well as the apostle, were subjected to the most severe and minute examination, and finally the Sacred Congregation of Rites passed a favourable vote on the heroic virtues of this "servant of God". In March 1824,
Pope Leo XII
Pope Leo XII ( it, Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga (; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death ...
pronounced her
Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cat ...
and on 18 September 1864
Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
declared her
Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
. When her tomb was canonically opened in July 1830, two instantaneous cures were recorded to have taken place. Her
incorrupt
Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of thei ...
body rests above the side altar in the Chapel of the Apparitions, located at the Visitation Monastery in
Paray-le-Monial
Paray-le-Monial is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Since 2004 is Paray-le-Monial part of the Charolais-Brionnais Country.
It is nicknamed the "city of the Sacred Heart" a ...
, and many striking blessings have been claimed by pilgrims attracted there from all parts of the world.
Alacoque was canonized by
Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his deat ...
in 1920, and in 1929 her liturgical commemoration was included in the
General Roman calendar
The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgical rite is in use. These cel ...
for celebration on 17 October, the day of her death. In the reforms of 1969, the feast day was moved to the prior day, 16 October.
In his 1928
encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...
affirmed the Catholic Church's position regarding the credibility of her visions of Jesus Christ by speaking of Jesus as having "manifested Himself" to Alacoque and having "promised her that all those who rendered this honour to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces".
Alacoque's short devotional writing, ''La Devotion au Sacré-Coeur de Jesus'' (Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus), was published posthumously by J. Croiset in 1698, and has been popular among
Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
On the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia there are two flower festivals supported by their Societies. Each society has a patron saint on whose feast day the grande fete is celebrated. For the Roses it is the feast of St. Rose of Lima on 30 August; and for the Marguerites it is that of St. Margaret Mary Alacocque, 17 October.
Quote
Popular culture
In
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
's short story " Eveline", in his book '' Dubliners,'' a "coloured print of the promises made to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque" is mentioned as part of the decorations of an Irish home at the turn of the 20th century, testifying to Joyce's fine eye for the details of Irish Catholic piety.
In J. K. Huysmans's controversial novel ''La-Bas'' (''The Damned''), Saint Mary Alacoque is said to have mortified herself through means involving two of her sick patients.
First Fridays Devotion
The First Fridays Devotion, also called the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a Catholic devotion to offer reparations for sins and which had its origin in the apparitions of Christ at Paray-le-Monial, France, reported by Marg ...
* The amulet used by Spanish soldiers is said to derive from Alacoque's emblems.
Notes
References
*
*
*Gaddis, William. '' The Recognitions''. Penguin Classics, New York, New York. 1993, pp. 66–67.
*