Biography of Saint Margaret Mary
Marguerite Alacoque was born on July 22, 1647 in Verosvres (France). She was raised in a family that was very fervent in faith and she always showed great love for Christ, especially in the Eucharist. At the age of five, she made this promise to Jesus: “O my God, I consecrate my purity to you and take a vow of perpetual chastity.”. When she was eight years old, Marguerita’s father passed away, so she and her mother were taken in by people who unfortunately were very violent. Due to the above, Margarita often took refuge in prayer and practiced several mortifications. In fact, his spirituality allowed him to start having visions of Christ on the Cross or during the Passion. Moreover, the Lord himself taught him to pray!
On June 20, 1671 Marguerite entered the Convent of the Visitation of Paray-le-Monial, after hearing Jesus tell him: “This is where I want you”. One day, when she asked the Mother Superior how to pray, she replied: “Go and stand before Our Lord, who is present in the tabernacle, and tell Him that you want to be before Him, like a canvas waiting for a painter”. Margarita lived mystical experiences and ecstasy that made her feel the intimate presence of Jesus. For example, one day, while praying under a hazel grove (which is still famous), Jesus revealed to the young novice how her passion was a testimony to her infinite love for humanity. The Lord revealed her vocation to him: to join him in her passion and thus be an apostle of her love. In fact, she received from Jesus himself the revelations of his Passion. On November 6, 1672, the young novice made her religious profession and took the name Margaret Mary. Later, she was sent to the infirmary as an assistant. There, she Margarita had the privilege of receiving many special graces: one day, the Virgin gave her the Child Jesus, another day, she had a vision of Saint Francis of Assisi, who was given to her as her spiritual guide. Between 1673 and 1675 Margaret Mary had the three great apparitions of her in which she received the great revelation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In 1675, a young Jesuit father, Claudius de la Colombierewas appointed superior of the Jesuit community of Paray-le-Monial and he was chosen to be the spiritual father of Sister Margarita María. After listening carefully to the young mystic, she realized that it was the Spirit of God that was acting, and she advised her to humbly abandon herself to him. Father Claudio asked her to write down everything that happened to her and the young woman did so out of obedience, although a little reluctantly.
In 1678, Margaret Mary gave Jesus her whole being to Jesus and he for his part made her “Heiress of his Heart”. In 1684, the novice experienced the grace of having a spiritual wedding with Christ. She was subsequently appointed mistress of the other novices, to whom she taught the cult of the Sacred Heart. In the convent, the sisters were attentive to the message of Jesus and began to fulfill his requests: the holy hour and the veneration of the image of the Heart. In fact, a chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the monastery garden. In 1686, Father Rolin asked Sister Margarita María to write her autobiography. The same year, he took the “vow of perfection”.
Margarita María died on October 17, 1690 and although the popular voice immediately proclaimed her a saint, her beatification was only made effective in 1864 by Pius IX. In 1920 she was canonized by Benedict XV and her party was established on October 16.
(Find other saints in ‘s guide to saints).
Message and words of Jesus to Marguerite-Marie
Saint Margaret Mary had a privileged relationship with Jesus from her childhood. During her religious life in the Visitandine convent, she had visions and apparitions of Jesus, who entrusted to him the revelations of his Passion and the secrets of his Sacred heart. These secrets are message that Jesus wants to reveal to the whole world. At the request of his confessor, Sr. Margaret Mary wrote her autobiography. These writings, entitled: “Saint Margaret Mary: Her Life, Written by Herself-Authentic Text”they give us the message of Jesus’s Heart nowadays.
On December 27, 1673, the young nun had a vision of the Heart of Jesus: “While I was before the Blessed Sacrament, I found myself completely penetrated by His divine presence. The Lord made me rest for a very long time on His divine chest, in the which revealed to me all the wonders of his love and the inexplicable secrets of his Sacred Heart. He told me: “My Divine Heart is so passionate with Love for men, in particular towards you, that, not being able to contain in it the flames of its ardent charity, it is necessary that it pour them out using you and manifest itself to them to enrich them with the precious gifts that I am discovering to you which contain the sanctifying and healthy graces necessary to separate you from the abyss of perdition. I have chosen you as an abyss of unworthiness and ignorance, so that everything is my work.”
In June 1675, during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Christ told him: “Here is the Heart that has loved men so much and that has spared nothing to the point of exhausting itself and consuming itself to testify to them its love. And, in compensation, he only receives, from most of them, ingratitude through their irreverence and sacrileges, as well as for the coldness and contempt they have for me in this Sacrament of love.“On that occasion, Jesus expressed to Sister Margaret Mary his suffering for the ingratitude of men, especially during participation in the Eucharist.
Later, Christ asked him to live the devotion to his Sacred Heart: the holy hour It consists of accompanying Jesus from eleven o’clock until midnight on Thursday, remembering his agony in the Garden of Olives. The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesuswhich is celebrated three weeks after Pentecost, was instituted in 1765 and extended to the entire Church in 1856. On this day, Jesus insists on the importance of Eucharistic communion.
Prayers of Saint Margaret Mary
Prayer to the heart of Jesus
“Eternal Father, I offer you the Heart of Jesus, your beloved Son, as He offers Himself to you in sacrifice.
Receive this offering for me together with all the desires, feelings, affections, movements of that Sacred Heart.
They are all mine, since he immolates himself for me, and I do not wish to have more desires than his from now on. Receive them in satisfaction for my sins and in thanksgiving for all your benefits.
Receive them so that through their merits you may grant us all the graces we need during life and especially the grace of final perseverance.
Receive them as so many acts of love, adoration and praise that we offer to your divine Majesty, because only through the Heart of Jesus are you honored and worthily glorified.
Amen.”
Prayers to the Sacred Heart with Saint Margaret Mary
To discover the message that Jesus entrusted to Saint Margaret Mary, we present to you this beautiful consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Novena to the Sacred Heart, which you can pray as part of the preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, or at any other time of the year. The most important thing is that by praying them, you will be able to discover the wonders of the Heart of Jesus.