Marie Alacoque

Marguerite Marie Alacoque, or Al Coq (22 July 1647-17 October 1690) was a French nun of a mystic tendency, the founder of the devotion of the Sacred Heart.

Related Topics:
22 July - 1647 - 17 October - 1690 - French - Nun - Mystic - Sacred Heart

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She was born at Lhautecour, a village in the diocese of Autun in 1647. From early childhood Margaret showed intense love for the Blessed Sacrament, and preferred silence and prayer to childish amusements. After her first communion at the age of nine, she practised in secret severe corporal mortifications, until paralysis confined her to bed for four years. Having been cured of this, as she believed, by the intercession of the Virgin Mary, she changed her name to Marie and vowed to devote her life to her service.

Related Topics:
Lhautecour - Diocese - Autun - Blessed Sacrament - Prayer - Communion - Paralysis - Virgin Mary

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On 25 May 1671, she entered the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial, where she was subjected to many trials to prove her vocation, and in November, 1672, pronounced her final vows. Though her reading was confined to the lives of the saints, she taught in the school kept by the nuns for the girls of the neighborhood, to whom she endeared herself by her kindly disposition. The appalling austerities, however, to which she was allowed to subject herself quickly affected her mental and bodily health. Hallucinations, to which she had been always subject, became more and more frequent. She conceived herself to be specially favored by Christ, who appeared to her in the most extravagant forms. At last, by dint of fasting and lacerating her flesh, she succeeded in reducing herself to such a state of ecstatic suffering that she believed herself to be undergoing in her own person the Passion of the Lord. Her reward was the supreme vision in which Christ revealed to her his heart burning with divine love, and even, so she affirmed, exchanged it with hers, at the same time bidding her establish, on the Friday following, the feast of Corpus Christi, a festival in honor of His Sacred Heart.

Related Topics:
25 May - 1671 - Visitation - Paray-le-Monial - 1672 - Saint - Nun - Hallucination - Christ - Passion of the Lord - Divine love - Feast of Corpus Christi - Sacred Heart

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The first to believe in the authenticity of her mystical revelations was a young Jesuit priest, Claude de la Colombiere, who had been assigned to be the confessor at her convent. It was not until ten years later, in 1685, that the festival was first celebrated at Paray, and not until after the death of Margaret, on the 17th of October 1690, that the cult of the Sacred Heart, fostered by the Jesuits and the subject of violent controversies within the Church, spread throughout France and Christendom.

Related Topics:
Jesuit - Claude de la Colombiere - 1685 - France - Christendom

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The discussion of the mission and virtues of Marguerite Marie continued for years. All her actions, her revelations, 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, Leo XII pronounced her Venerable, and on 18 September 1864, Pius IX declared her Blessed. When her tomb was canonically opened in July, 1830, two instantaneous cures took place. Her body rests under the altar in the chapel at Paray, and many striking favours have been claimed by pilgrims attracted there from all parts of the world. St. Marguerite Marie was finally canonized by Benedict XV in 1920.

Related Topics:
Revelation - Maxim - Apostle - Sacred Congregation of Rites - 1824 - Leo XII - Venerable - 18 September - 1864 - Pius IX - Blessed - 1830 - Canonized - Benedict XV - 1920

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Her short devotional writing, La Devotion au Sacre-Coeur de Jesus, was published by J. Croiset in 1698, and is now very popular among Roman Catholics. Her feast is celebrated on 17 October.

Related Topics:
1698 - Roman Catholic

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