Religious of the Visitation Order. Apostle of the Devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647; died
at Paray-le-Monial, 17 October, 1690.
Her
parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less
for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an
honourable position. 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. At the end of this period, having made a vow to
the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to religious life, she was
instantly restored to perfect health. The death of her father and the
injustice of a relative plunged the family in poverty and humiliation,
after which more than ever Margaret found consolation in the Blessed
Sacrament, and Christ made her sensible of His presence and protection.
He usually appeared to her as the Crucified or the Ecce Homo, and
this did not surprise her, as she thought others had the same Divine
assistance. When Margaret was seventeen, the family property was
recovered, and her mother besought her to establish herself in the
world. Her filial tenderness made her believe that the vow of childhood
was not binding, and that she could serve God at home by penance and
charity to the poor. Then, still bleeding from her self-imposed
austerities, she began to take part in the pleasures of the world. One
night upon her return from a ball, she had a vision of Christ as He was
during the scourging, reproaching her for infidelity after He had given
her so many proofs of His love. During her entire life Margaret mourned
over two faults committed at this time—the wearing of some superfluous
ornaments and a mask at the carnival to please her brothers.
On 25 May, 1671, she entered the Visitation Convent at Paray, where
she was subjected to many trials to prove her vocation, and in November,
1672, pronounced her final vows. She had a delicate constitution, but
was gifted with intelligence and good judgement, and in the cloister she
chose for herself what was most repugnant to her nature, making her
life one of inconceivable sufferings, which were often relieved or
instantly cured by our Lord, Who acted as her Director, appeared to her
frequently and conversed with her, confiding to her the mission to
establish the devotion to His Sacred Heart. These extraordinary
occurrences drew upon her the adverse criticism of the community, who
treated her as a visionary, and her superior commanded her to live the
common life. But her obedience, her humility, and invariable charity
towards those who persecuted her, finally prevailed, and her mission,
accomplished in the crucible of suffering, was recognized even by those
who had shown her the most bitter opposition.
Margaret Mary was inspired by Christ to establish the Holy Hour and
to pray lying prostrate with her face to the ground from eleven till
midnight on the eve of the first Friday of each month, to share in the
mortal sadness He endured when abandoned by His Apostles in His Agony,
and to receive holy Communion on the first Friday of every month. In the
first great revelation, He made known to her His ardent desire to be
loved by men and His design of manifesting His Heart with all Its
treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation. He
appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi as
the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her “the Beloved Disciple of
the Sacred Heart”, and the heiress of all Its treasures. The love of the
Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the
Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she
refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: “What have I in heaven
and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God”, and died
pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus.
The discussion of the mission and virtues of Margaret Mary 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 obtained by pilgrims attracted thither from all parts
of the world. Her feast is celebrated on 17 October.
[Note: She was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.]
SISTER MARY BERNARD DOLL (Catholic Encyclopedia)
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