In the heart of Burgundy, in a small Visitation monastery that nothing destined for fame, an unassuming nun received between 1673 and 1675 one of the greatest private revelations in the modern history of the Church: Christ showed her His Heart, burning with love for men and wounded by their ingratitude, and entrusted her with the mission of spreading its cult. This nun was Margaret Mary Alacoque. Through her, a devotion hitherto discreet — already prepared by Saint John Eudes, Saint Francis de Sales and the whole French school of spirituality — became the great spiritual movement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which would mark Catholic piety for the three centuries to come.[1][2]
The story of Margaret Mary is one of striking contrast: a fragile woman, long ill, humble to the point of self-annihilation, misunderstood and even persecuted in her own community, becomes the instrument of a message destined for the universal Church and the kings of the earth. This article retraces her life, her apparitions, her reparatory spirituality and the long posterity of Paray-le-Monial. For the sanctuary itself, its chapels and pilgrimages, see The Shrine of Paray-le-Monial; for devotion to the Heart of Christ as such, see The Infinite Love of God in the Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy.
A Burgundian childhood marked by the Cross
Birth at Verosvres (1647)
Margaret Alacoque was born on 22 July 1647 at the hamlet of Lhautecourt, in the parish of Verosvres, in the diocese of Autun, in the heart of Burgundian Charolais.[3][4] She was the fifth of the seven children of Claude Alacoque, a notary and royal judge, and Philiberte Lamyn, a family of modest rural standing, well-off but untitled.[5] Tradition holds that, even as a small child, she showed an early piety and a love of silence and prayer; at about the age of five, she is said to have made a vow of chastity whose full meaning, she would later say, she did not yet understand.[6][7]
Her father's death and the years of trial
The first great wound of her life was the death of her father, when she was about eight years old (around 1655).[8] Entrusted for a time to the Urbanist Poor Clares of Charolles, the little girl received a pious education there, but a serious illness soon forced her to return home.[9] Above all, the administration of the family property passed to relatives who moved into the house and exercised a harsh authority over the widow and her children. Margaret then went through years of domestic humiliation which she would later describe without bitterness, as a first school of the Cross: by her own account, she could do nothing without permission and had to wait, for the smallest request, until these relatives were well disposed.[10]
Illness, vow and healing
At about eleven or twelve, after her First Communion, Margaret was struck by an illness that kept her bedridden for nearly four years — an ailment biographers describe as rheumatic fever or a form of paralysis.[11][12] It was in this trial that she made, by her own account, a vow to the Blessed Virgin: if she were healed, she would consecrate herself to religious life. Healing soon followed, which she attributed to Mary's intercession, and the young girl then added the name Mary to her own, out of gratitude.[13] All her life she kept a filial tenderness for the Virgin, whom she called her "good Mother."
The lure of the world and the persistent call
As a teenager and young woman, Margaret went through a period when the world attracted her: balls, finery, the pleasures of provincial youth, and pressure from a family that wished to marry her off.[14] She hesitated, gave herself over for a time to amusements, then recovered herself, torn between her vow and the solicitations of those around her. She reports an interior word of Christ that firmly brought her back to her vocation:
"Christ appeared to her, scourged and covered with wounds, reproaching her for her infidelity after so many proofs of His love." — after the Autobiography[15][16]
This grace settled everything. At the age of twenty-three, she left the world for good to enter religion.
Entry into the Visitation of Paray-le-Monial
Why the Visitation?
Margaret Mary's choice was no accident. The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, founded in 1610 by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, embodies a spirituality of gentleness, humility and love of the Heart of Jesus that admirably prepared the mission she was about to receive.[17][18] The Salesian motto — "Live Jesus!" — and attention to the loving Heart of the Saviour form the spiritual soil in which Paray-le-Monial would take root. It is no chance that Christ chose as messenger of His Heart a Visitandine, rather than a nun of a more austere order.
Postulancy, habit, profession (1671-1672)
Margaret entered the monastery of the Visitation of Paray-le-Monial on 25 May 1671.[19][20][21] She received the religious habit on 25 August 1671 and took the name Sister Margaret Mary. Her profession, initially delayed — her superiors hesitating before a postulant whose behaviour was at times disconcerting and whose extraordinary graces were unsettling — was finally made on 6 November 1672.[22] The table below summarises the stages of her entry into religion:
| Stage | Date | Place |
|---|---|---|
| Birth | 22 July 1647 | Verosvres (Lhautecourt) |
| Entry into the Visitation | 25 May 1671 | Paray-le-Monial |
| Reception of the habit | 25 August 1671 | Paray-le-Monial |
| Religious profession | 6 November 1672 | Paray-le-Monial |
A hidden and contradicted life
From the novitiate onward, Margaret Mary disconcerted those around her. Drawn to silent prayer, with little talent for outward employments, subject to states of recollection that seemed suspect, she met with persistent mistrust.[23] Far from ceasing after the apparitions, this contradiction would only grow worse: it is the ordinary fabric of her religious life, and the price of her mission.
The great apparitions of the Sacred Heart (1673-1675)
It was about two and a half years after her entry that the revelations began which would make Paray-le-Monial a high place of Christendom. Historians classically distinguish four great apparitions, spread over nearly two years, each clarifying and deepening the one before.[24][25]
First apparition: 27 December 1673
On 27 December 1673, feast of Saint John the Evangelist — who at the Last Supper had rested his head on the Saviour's breast — Margaret Mary received the first great manifestation. At prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, she felt herself "wholly possessed" by the divine presence; Christ in turn allowed her to rest upon His Heart and unveiled its wonders to her, telling her she would be the instrument of their spread:
"My divine Heart is so passionately in love with men, and with thee in particular, that, being no longer able to contain within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity, It must needs spread them abroad by thy means." — words reported by Saint Margaret Mary, Autobiography, § 53[26][27]
Second and third apparitions (1674)
During 1674, several apparitions clarified the message. Christ showed Himself with His Heart laid open, encircled by a crown of thorns and surmounted by a cross, and uttered a complaint that would become the centre of all reparatory devotion: His love receives in return only ingratitude, indifference and contempt, above all in the sacrament of the Eucharist.[28][29] It is to this period that the request for reparatory Communion dates, as does the institution, in Margaret Mary's life, of the Holy Hour on Thursday evening.
The great apparition of June 1675
The fourth apparition, known as "the great apparition," took place in June 1675, during the octave of Corpus Christi (the Blessed Sacrament). It is the summit of the whole cycle. Christ showed His Heart one last time and spoke the most famous words of Paray-le-Monial, which Margaret Mary recorded in her Autobiography (§ 92):
"Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, to show them Its love. And in return I receive from most of them only ingratitude, by their irreverences and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt they show Me in this sacrament of love. But what pierces Me most keenly is that it is hearts consecrated to Me that treat Me so." — Saint Margaret Mary, Autobiography, § 92[30][31]
It was in this same apparition that Christ formulated the request that would henceforth structure the cult: the institution of a liturgical feast in honour of His Heart.
The three requests of Christ
The message of Paray is not reducible to a vision: it includes concrete requests, which make devotion to the Sacred Heart a response of love and reparation, not a mere sentiment.[32] They are classically reduced to three.
The feast of the Sacred Heart
Christ asks that a special feast be instituted in honour of His Heart, on the Friday following the octave of Corpus Christi, to repair the outrages He receives in the Eucharist and to honour His love.[33][34] This request, at first limited to the Visitation, was gradually extended: the feast was granted to various dioceses in the 18th century, then extended to the whole Church by Pope Pius IX in 1856.[35][36]
Reparatory Communion and the First Fridays
Christ asks for a Communion of reparation, particularly on the first Friday of each month, to console His Heart for ingratitude and sacrilege.[37] From this arose the devotion of the Nine First Fridays: receiving Communion on the first Friday of the month, nine months in succession.
The Holy Hour
Christ asks lastly that, every Thursday night into Friday, the soul keep watch for one hour (from about eleven o'clock to midnight) to unite itself with His agony in the Garden of Olives and obtain mercy for sinners.[38] This is the origin of the Holy Hour, still widely practised today.
The twelve promises and the great promise
To those who honour His Heart, Christ attaches, in Margaret Mary's writings, a series of promises which tradition has grouped into twelve.[39][40] The most famous, called the "great promise of the First Fridays," concerns final perseverance. In the words tradition reports from the saint, Christ promises, in the excess of the mercy of His Heart, to all who receive Communion on the First Fridays, nine times in succession, the grace of final repentance: they shall not die in His displeasure nor without receiving their sacraments, His divine Heart becoming their assured refuge at that last hour.[41][42]
The shrine of Paray-le-Monial and spiritual collections present these promises as an encouragement to conversion and fidelity to the sacraments, not as a magical automatism: the great promise presupposes a genuine Christian life and the grace of God, never a mechanical guarantee independent of faith and charity.[43][44]
Saint Claude La Colombière, the witness sent
A Jesuit director at Paray (1675)
Faced with graces so extraordinary, Margaret Mary was at first alone, doubted by her superiors and tried in her own uncertainty. It was then that there arrived at Paray, in 1675, a young Jesuit, superior of the small residence of the Society: Claude La Colombière.[45][46] A man of discernment and holiness, he recognised the authenticity of the apparitions, became the nun's spiritual director, and consecrated himself to the Heart of Jesus. His endorsement was decisive: it carried the message of Paray from the secret of a cell to the spread of a genuine apostolate. For his own life and his mission in England, see Saint Claude La Colombière.
The faithful servant and the perfect friend
According to Margaret Mary's account, Christ pointed out La Colombière to her as the faithful director He was sending her to establish devotion to His Heart.[47] The Jesuit spread the message by his preaching and writings — notably his Spiritual Retreat — and when he was sent to London as preacher to the Duchess of York, he carried the newborn devotion there. His premature death, in 1682, deprived Margaret Mary of her surest support, but the seed was now sown.
The trial of the mission: opposition and recognition
Resistance in the community
Margaret Mary's life after the apparitions was nothing like a triumph. Far from it: her accounts were met with scepticism, her requests judged presumptuous, her fragile health and ecstasies turned to mockery.[48][49] Several theologians consulted at first concluded illusion. The saint, faithful to her spirit of humility and obedience, accepted these contradictions without defending herself, convinced that the Cross is God's signature upon His work.
Mother de Saumaise, Mother Melin
The turning point came from the superiors. Mother de Saumaise, at first reserved, ended by supporting Margaret Mary after consulting enlightened men.[50] Above all, from 1683 onward, the election of Mother Melin as superior — who appointed Margaret Mary her assistant — put an end to official hostility: the community gradually adopted devotion to the Heart of Jesus and celebrated the feast within the monastery.
Mistress of novices and assistant
Recognised at last by her own, Margaret Mary was entrusted with the formation of the young nuns as mistress of novices (around 1685) and held the office of assistant.[51][52] She then passed on the spirit of the Sacred Heart to the novices, and it was in the community of Paray that, on 21 June 1686, the feast of the Heart of Jesus was solemnly celebrated for the first time — the first radiance of a cult destined to become universal.[53]
Death and glorification
Paray-le-Monial, 17 October 1690
Margaret Mary died at Paray-le-Monial on 17 October 1690, at forty-three, after a short illness.[54][55][56] Her last words, according to tradition, were an act of love at the name of Jesus. She left a modest but decisive written work — her Autobiography, written out of obedience to her directors, and spiritual letters — and above all a message entrusted to the whole Church.
Venerable, blessed, saint
Margaret Mary's reputation for holiness grew slowly, but her cause at last attained the highest honours. The table below summarises the stages of her glorification:
| Stage | Date | Proclaimed by |
|---|---|---|
| Death | 17 October 1690 | Paray-le-Monial |
| Introduction of the cause and venerability | 30 March 1824 | Leo XII |
| Beatification | 18 September 1864 | Pius IX |
| Canonization | 13 May 1920 | Benedict XV |
| Liturgical feast | 16 October | — |
Her canonization by Benedict XV on 13 May 1920 — the same spring as that of Joan of Arc — consecrated, more than two centuries after Paray, the solemn recognition of her mission by the Church.[58][59]
The relics at Paray-le-Monial
The saint's body is venerated today in the Chapel of the Apparitions of the Visitation monastery of Paray-le-Monial, in a shrine where her relics are exposed to the devotion of pilgrims.[60] Paray has thus become, around this tomb and the place of the apparitions, one of the great pilgrimage centres of the Catholic world: see the detailed article The Shrine of Paray-le-Monial.
The posterity of the message of Paray
From private devotion to universal cult
The message of Paray spread remarkably. At first limited to the Visitation and then to the Jesuits, the cult of the Sacred Heart won over many dioceses in the 18th century. The great liturgical milestone was the extension of the feast of the Sacred Heart to the whole Church by Pius IX in 1856.[61][62] In 1899, Pope Leo XIII, in the encyclical Annum sacrum, consecrated the whole human race to the Sacred Heart — a gesture of unheard-of scope, fulfilling on a worldwide scale the request made to a humble Burgundian nun.[63]
Miserentissimus Redemptor and Haurietis aquas
The Magisterium confirmed and deepened the message of Paray in two great encyclicals. In 1928, Pius XI, in Miserentissimus Redemptor, developed the doctrine of reparation to the Heart of Christ, in the direct line of the requests made to Margaret Mary.[64] In 1956, Pius XII, in Haurietis aquas (15 May 1956), gave the cult of the Sacred Heart its most complete theological charter and expressly recognised the place of the revelations of Paray-le-Monial in the development of the devotion.[65] The message of a contradicted nun had thus become a major part of modern Catholic spirituality.
Paray, capital of the Sacred Heart
From Paray-le-Monial there radiates at last a whole heritage: the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre in Paris, raised partly as a national vow to the Heart of Jesus[66], the countless congregations and works placed under this title, and the worldwide practice of the First Fridays and the Holy Hour. All this flowering has its roots in the cell of a 17th-century Visitandine.
Spirituality of Saint Margaret Mary
Margaret Mary's spirituality is not a matter of extraordinary visions: it is a doctrine of love, accessible to all, of which the apparitions are only the seal. Three traits sum it up.
Reparatory love
At the centre stands reparation: answering despised love with love. The Heart of Jesus suffers less from persecutors than from the coldness of souls consecrated to Him; the consolation Margaret Mary proposes is therefore not sentimental but theological — a love that seeks to console Christ and make reparation for offences against His eucharistic love.[67] On this reparatory spirituality and its great figures, see Victim Souls and What the Saints Say on Reparation.
Humility and self-annihilation
Margaret Mary is a saint of humility pushed to the annihilation of self. Persecuted, mocked, doubted, she never justifies herself and sees in abasement the very path of her Master: by her own account, Christ made her understand that He took pleasure in annihilating her soul, since, being but nothingness and sin, she was to find her joy only in seeing Him glorified upon the ruins of her self-love.[68]
This humility is not morbid self-contempt, but lucidity about her own weakness and total trust in the strength of God — exactly the little way that Saint Thérèse of Lisieux would later bring to perfection.
Abandonment to the divine will
The last trait is abandonment to the will of God. Margaret Mary's whole life is a surrender of herself into the hands of Christ, in health as in sickness, in consolation as in trial. This abandonment touches the very heart of the Catholic spirituality of trust, and prepares from afar the great grace of life in the Divine Will that other mystics would develop. That is why the Sacred Heart is not, in her, an isolated devotion: it is the door to a total love, in which the soul learns to live only on the Heart of Jesus.
To go further
- The Shrine of Paray-le-Monial — the place of the apparitions, the chapel of the Visitation and the great pilgrimage of the Sacred Heart.
- Saint Claude La Colombière (1641-1682) — the Jesuit, faithful servant and perfect friend, who authenticated the apparitions and carried the devotion to England.
- The Infinite Love of God in the Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy — the great devotion to the Heart of Christ, of which Paray is the modern source.
- Saint John Eudes (1601-1680) — the liturgical pioneer of the Holy Hearts, who composed the Mass of the Heart of Jesus before Paray-le-Monial.
- Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) — founder of the Visitation and master of the spirituality of the Heart and of gentleness.
- Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) — co-foundress of the Visitation, the order in which Margaret Mary received her mission.
- Victim Souls — French reparatory spirituality, in the lineage of the message of Paray.
- What the Saints Say on Reparation — anthology in which Margaret Mary figures among the great witnesses of the Heart of Jesus.
Notes and References
Wikipedia (FR), "Marguerite-Marie Alacoque": fr.wikipedia.org. Biographical reference notice: born 22 July 1647 at Lhautecourt (parish of Verosvres, Burgundy), fifth of the seven children of Claude Alacoque, notary and royal judge, and Philiberte Lamyn; father's death around 1655; childhood illness and healing attributed to the Virgin, addition of the first name Mary; entry into the Visitation of Paray-le-Monial on 25 May 1671; first apparition of the Heart of Jesus on 27 December 1673, feast of Saint John; apparitions of 1674 and the "great apparition" of June 1675; Saint Claude La Colombière as director and witness; request for the feast of the Sacred Heart (Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi), reparatory Communion of the First Fridays and the Holy Hour; the twelve promises; first celebration of the feast at Paray on 21 June 1686; death at Paray-le-Monial on 17 October 1690; beatified on 18 September 1864 by Pius IX, canonized on 13 May 1920 by Benedict XV; feast on 16 October; extension of the feast of the Sacred Heart to the whole Church by Pius IX in 1856; consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart by Leo XIII (Annum sacrum, 1899).
1 3 8 17 19 23 25 35 39 45 48 53 54 58 61Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Paray-le-Monial, "The message": sacrecoeur-paray.org. Official site of the shrine. Text of Christ's words at the great apparition of June 1675 ("Behold this Heart which has so loved men…; it is hearts consecrated to Me that treat Me so"); the same page also gives the words of the first apparition ("My divine Heart is so passionately in love…") with the reference "Autobiography, § 53" (taken up in the shrine's booklet The Message of Paray); Christ's requests: feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of the Blessed Sacrament (extended to the whole Church by Pius IX in 1856), reparatory Communion of the First Fridays, Holy Hour on Thursday evening (11 pm–midnight, in union with the agony in the Garden of Olives), devotion to the image of the Sacred Heart. The saint's relics venerated in the Chapel of the Apparitions / of the Visitation of Paray-le-Monial.
2 24 27 28 31 32 33 36 37 38 43 60 62 67Catholic Encyclopedia (The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, Robert Appleton Company, 1910), "St. Margaret Mary Alacoque": newadvent.org. Notice: born at Lhautecour (Verosvres), 22 July 1647; First Communion at nine; paralysis confining her to bed for four years, recovery after a vow to consecrate herself to religious life; vision of Christ scourged reproaching her infidelity after a worldly period at seventeen; entered the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial 25 May 1671; final vows November 1672; the great revelations of the Sacred Heart; Christ appointed "the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi" as the feast of the Sacred Heart; mistress of novices; died 17 October 1690; declared Venerable (1824, Leo XII), beatified 18 September 1864 (Pius IX), canonized 1920 (Benedict XV).
4 7 9 12 13 15 21 34 52 56Wikipedia (EN), "Margaret Mary Alacoque": en.wikipedia.org. Cross-check of the facts: born 22 July 1647 at Lhautecour (Verosvres), Burgundy; parents Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn; private vow of chastity in childhood; father died 1655; sent to the Poor Clares (Urbanists) at Charolles; four-year illness, vow to the Blessed Virgin and recovery, adding "Mary" to her name; family pressure to marry, resisted; entered the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial 25 May 1671, received the habit 25 August 1671, professed 6 November 1672; the apparitions of the Sacred Heart (27 December 1673; 1674; the "great apparition" of June 1675 during the octave of Corpus Christi); the requests: feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, Communion of reparation on First Fridays, the Holy Hour on Thursday nights; the nine First Fridays and the "great promise"; the Jesuit Claude La Colombière (arrived 1675) confirmed the revelations; opposition in the community; Mother de Saumaise, then Mother Melin (1683) with Margaret Mary as assistant and mistress of novices (from c. 1685); autobiography written under obedience; died at Paray-le-Monial 17 October 1690, aged 43; beatified 18 September 1864 (Pius IX), canonized 13 May 1920 (Benedict XV).
5 6 11 14 20 22 29 46 49 50 51 55 59Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, Autobiography (in Life and Works of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque). Text of the great apparition of June 1675 at § 92 ("Behold this Heart which has so loved men…"), reproduced notably by the Shrine of Paray-le-Monial (sacrecoeur-paray.org/le-message) and confirmed by the notice on fr.wikipedia.org. The Autobiography was written out of obedience to her spiritual directors; it also contains the account of the first apparition (27 December 1673) at § 53 ("My divine Heart is so passionately in love…"), a reference confirmed by the Shrine of Paray-le-Monial, and that of the vision of the scourged Christ reproaching her for her infidelity. The passages on family life and self-annihilation are rendered in this article as paraphrases from her account, their exact reference having not been established.
10 16 26 30 42 47 68Wikipedia (FR), "Ordre de la Visitation": fr.wikipedia.org. Founded 6 June 1610 at Annecy by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane Frances de Chantal; contemplative women's order of Salesian spirituality (gentleness, humility, love of the Heart of Jesus), to which the monastery of Paray-le-Monial where Margaret Mary entered in 1671 belongs.
18The twelve promises of the Sacred Heart, made by Christ to Saint Margaret Mary and grouped by spiritual tradition: see the synthesis on fr.aleteia.org and Father Joãozinho's work, The Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Made to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (Salvator). The twelfth, called the "great promise of the First Fridays" — the grace of final repentance for those who receive Communion on nine successive First Fridays — has come down to us through the saint's writings as spiritual tradition has gathered them; text taken up by the standard liturgical collections.
40 41 44Wikipedia (EN), "Margaret Mary Alacoque": en.wikipedia.org — the Sacred Congregation of Rites having voted favourably, Pope Leo XII declared her Venerable on 30 March 1824, introducing her cause for canonization; cross-checked by the Catholic Encyclopedia ("In March, 1824, Leo XII pronounced her Venerable").
57Leo XIII, encyclical Annum sacrum (25 May 1899), on the consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: vatican.va. The Pope therein prescribes the consecration of all mankind to the Sacred Heart, fulfilling on a worldwide scale the spirit of the requests of Paray-le-Monial. See also the Ignispedia dossier Leo XIII.
63Pius XI, encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor (8 May 1928), on reparation due to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: vatican.va. Develops the doctrine of reparation and consolation of the Heart of Christ, in the direct line of the revelations made to Saint Margaret Mary.
64Pius XII, encyclical Haurietis aquas (15 May 1956), on the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: vatican.va. Major theological charter of the cult of the Sacred Heart, situating the revelations of Paray-le-Monial to Saint Margaret Mary within the legitimate development of the devotion and confirming its biblical and doctrinal foundation.
65Wikipedia (FR), "Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre": fr.wikipedia.org. Raised in Paris following the national vow of 1870–1871 and the vote of the National Assembly, as an ex-voto to the Heart of Jesus — a late fruit of the radiance of Paray-le-Monial.
66