Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque was born on July 22, 1647 to Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn at Lhautecour on Old Burgandy, France. At only four years old, Margaret Mary took a vow of chastity, even though she did not yet understand what the words 'vow' and 'chastity' meant. Since being a young child, she was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin.
After her father died when she was eight, she was sent to the school of the Urbanist Nuns at Charolles. There, she received two years of schooling, her only formal education. While she was there she received her First Holy Communion and soon after became very ill. For the next four years she suffered; sometimes her bones pierced her skin. She consecrated herself to the Blessed Virgin with the promise that she would become one of her daughters if she cured her. She was cured and taken anew under the protection of Our Lady.
Her mother wanted her to marry. And she struggled with the temptations of the world. On May 25, 1671 she visited the convent and interiorly heard, "It is here that I would have you be". She made her profession November 6, 1672. Our Lord made many revelations to Margaret Mary. They began on December 27, 1673 and ended with the greatest "Behold this Heart" in June of 1675. In 1677, Christ appeared to her in a vision. In her words, "I could plainly see His Heart, pierced and bleeding. Yet there were flames too, coming from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold His Heart which so loved humanity. Then He seemed to take my very heart from me and place it there in His Heart. In return, He gave me back part of His Flaming Heart. There were four revelations during which the now familiar 12 promises were made. In June or July of 1674, Jesus asked to be honored under the figure of His Heart of Flesh. He asked for a devotion of expiatory love-frequent Communion, Communion on the First Friday of each month and observance of Holy Hour.
In 1675, on the feast of Corpus Christi, Sister Margaret Mary reported that Jesus told her, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men....instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude.
Father Claude de la Colombiere of the Society of Jesus was appointed extraordinary confessor to the Visitation Community. He encouraged her and he himself became an apostle of the Devotion of the Sacred Heart. He helped promote the Sacred Heart. |
| Margaret Mary died on October 17, 1690. Her body is still in Paray le Monial. She was declared Venerable in 1824, Blessed in 1864 and became Saint Margaret Mary on May 13, 1920. Her brain and heart remain uncorrupt. |
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