Saint Mary Margaret Alacoque
Feast: 17th October
Patronage: against polio, against the death of parents, devotees of the Sacred Heart, polio patients
I personally love the Feast of the Sacred Heart as we were married on this Solemnity, yet at the time I did not know its origins..
St Margaret Mary Alacoque was the Saint whom God chose to reveal this devotion to the world. God chooses individuals to do his special work. We just need to listen to the instructor, the Holy Spirit, just as Margaret Mary did.
The trio of canonised Saints; Margaret Mary Alacoque along with John Eudes and Claude de la Colimbiere worked to popularise the devotion to the Scared Heart Of Jesus.
Born in 1647 Claude and Philiberte’s fifth of seven children was Margaret Alacoque. Margaret’s father died when she was only eight years old, this not only brought great grieving for Margaret and her family but also great financial hardship.
Margaret had a love for the church and a deep devotional life at a young age. At the age of nine, due to her deep relationship with Christ Margaret was able to receive her First Holy Communion. Soon after she made this sacrament she fell dramatically ill which kept her bed ridden for four years. Her relatives, whom had taken over her family home attempted to control Margaret’s comings and goings. They stopped her from attending Mass which caused her much pain. This ended when her brother became of age.
Margaret received a proposal of marriage which rejected after a vision she had inspiring her to enter a convent. She joined the Order of the Visitation, founded by Saint Francis de Sales, in her early twenties. She continued to live a life of prayer, penance and faithfulness to God.
Margaret Mary had experiences with the supernatural; seeing visions and hearing Christ speak to her three years after joining the convent. She had these visions for over eighteen months. She sought advice from her superior whom reprimanded her for her presumption (1). Margaret’s visions were of Christ revealing the promises and devotion to the Sacred Heart. She knew that she was to show people a new devotion to the Sacred Heart. Due to her superiors scolding and rejection, Margaret fell violently ill. The superior then took this as a sign that Margaret was truthful and humble so she begged God to spare her life. The superior then took the accounts of the visions to some theologians. These theologians rejected her accounts (2). Yet St Claude de la Colombiere understood and declared her visions as true.
The devotion was to bring people to see Christs love through the Sacred Heart. The devotion was later and eventually spread throughout England, France and Poland.
At the age of forty three Margaret fell ill again and after receiving the Last Sacraments, she said “I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus.” The Sacred Heart is regarded as “the symbol of that boundless love which moved the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take our sins upon Himself, and, dying on the Cross, to offer Himself as a victim and sacrifice to the eternal Father.” (1)
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.
The promises of the Sacred Heart:
1) I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2) I will establish peace in their homes.
3) I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4) I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
5) I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6) Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7) Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
8) Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9) I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.
10) I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11) Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.
12) I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment. (1)
Sources:
(1) http://www.ewtn.com
(2) http://www.americancatholic.org
(3) http://www.marypages.com
Originally posted 2014-10-14 04:40:37.