A brief biography of the blessed Disciple of the Sacred Heart.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was primarily a private devotion, hidden away among the cloisters of Europe throughout much of the Church’s history. It was not until the 17th Century that the devotion was revealed to the world through the efforts and sufferings of a humble sister of the Order of the Visitation of Mary in Paray-le-Monial in France.

Saint Margaret Mary was born to pious parents on July 22nd, 1647 in L’Hautecour, France. Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were fairly well-off and devoted Catholics. From an early age, young Mary showed a fervent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, preferring silence and prayer rather than the amusements of children. At the age of 4, Margaret Mary received an inspiration from the Holy Ghost to take a vow of virginity, something that she did not quite understand at the time. After receiving First Communion at 9 years old, Mary was bedridden for four years with rheumatic fever. Toward the end of this illness, young Mary made a vow to the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to the religious life. She was instantaneously relieved of her affliction and soon took the baptismal name of Margaret. She continued to practice complete devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament throughout her childhood, receiving many visions of Our Blessed Lord. It wasn’t until later in life that Margaret Mary came to realize that these visions were a special gift, she had thought that they were a normal part of the human experience.

By the age of 17, Margaret Mary had forgotten her vow to religious consecration and was pushed by her mother to socialize and attend balls and social events. One evening, while attending a ball in celebration of Carnival, Margaret Mary received a vision of Christ brutally scourged and covered in blood reproaching her for forgetting her vow. From that night forward, Margaret Mary’s desire for consecration into the religious life was reignited and she fulfilled her vow at the age of 24, entering the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial on May 25th, 1671.

Her fellow novices were quick to notice her profound virtue, but remarked at her inability to successfully carry out her daily duties. Margaret Mary would spend much of the day in fervent prayer and ecstasy before the Blessed Sacrament, resulting in her sisters having to physically retire her to her cell. Apart from her intense ecstatic prayer, St. Margaret would often inflict severe bodily fasts and penances on herself in reparation for sin. One extreme instance saw her scourge herself to the point of blood, resulting in her being reprimanded by her superior. And another instance saw St. Margaret carve the Holy Name into her breast. These severe bodily penances were soon abrogated by her superior under the order of obedience, which she abruptly complied to. This elimination of physical penance coupled with a restricted time for daily prayer, lead to an interior agony within St. Margaret Mary. Her fervent love for Our Blessed Lord influenced St. Margaret to desire a constant state of suffering for Him.

Beginning on December 27th, 1673, the first of many private revelations of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary began with the declaration that she was Christ’s chosen instrument to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the world. Three significant revelations occurred over the next 18 months, with Our Lord requesting the establishment of the devotion to the Nine First Fridays in reparation to His Sacred Heart as well as instructing St. Margaret to take a holy hour every Thursday in remembrance of His Agony in Gethsemane, where the Apostles were unable to pray with Him for even an hour. The next revelation saw Our Lord instructing St. Margaret Mary to seek the establishment of the Feast of the Sacred Heart the Friday following the octave of Corpus Christi. Her final major private revelation would not come until 1689, with Our Blessed Lord requesting the consecration of France to the Sacred Heart by King Louis XIV.

Saint Margaret Mary’s visions were faced with much skepticism from her superiors initially, although her own personal sanctity was well-known throughout the convent and surrounding village. It was not until later, with the arrival of Saint Claude de la Colombière as the convent’s confessor, that St. Margaret’s visions would be validated. St. Claude became so convinced by the reality of St. Margaret’s visions that he himself became a fervent devotee to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, attempting to spread it as far as England.

Saint Margaret’s personal sanctity resulted in a great reverence for her among the novices to the Visitation Convent, with all of the religious at the convent becoming devoted to the Sacred Heart. The devotion spread slowly throughout France, coming to be accepted by the local Bishop with a push towards acknowledgment from Rome.

By 1690, at the age of 43, Saint Margaret Mary firmly declared that she would die within the year. Much to the concern of many of her sisters, who saw no life-threatening ailments afflicting her. St. Margaret persisted in her assurance of her death that year, even going as far as to prophecy that two nuns, Sister Rosalie Verchere and Sister Peronne-Rosalie de Farges, would be the ones in whose arms she would expire. On October 16th, 1690, St. Margaret began requesting the holy Viaticum, declaring that her end would be very soon but was denied this request due to the disbelief of her superiors. After being examined by the physician, a man who believed in St. Margaret’s sanctity, he declared that he could find nothing life-threatening about her condition outside of a slight fever. By that evening, St. Margaret suffered fainting spells and was bed-ridden. She again requested the holy Viaticum, but was denied once more since there was nothing fatally wrong with her. She then revealed that her communion that morning was received with the intention of it being her holy Viaticum.

On October 17th, 1690, St. Margaret Mary suffered a slight convulsion in the evening which was followed with a swift deterioration of her condition. She was surrounded by her fellow sisters, with Sisters Rosalie Verchere and Peronne-Rosalie de Farges at her bedside. After receiving the rite of extreme unction from the priest, she expired in their arms just as she had prophesied. Given that there was no identified ailment which caused her death, it was believed that St. Margaret died simply out of intense love for Jesus Christ.

The Sacred Heart devotion spread quickly after her death, with many locals declaring her sanctity within days of passing to her eternal reward. St. Margaret Mary was declared a Servant of God by the Sacred Congregation of Rites after a rigorous investigation of her life and devotion to the Sacred Heart. She was declared Venerable in March of 1824 by Pope Leo XII; beatified on September 18th, 1864 by Pope Pius IX; and finally canonized by Pope Benedict XV on May 13th, 1920. Her feast day was established on the anniversary of her death, October 17th in the old Roman calendar.

Sources: Revelations of the Sacred Heart to the Blessed Margaret Mary by Emile Bougard; Wikipedia; New Advent.org