SSH Patron Feast Day...

<p><span style="font-size: large;">Today, we the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus celebrates one of our Congregation's Patron saints. Saint Margaret- Mary Alacoque.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: large;">let's read about her life..</span>(an abstract from wikipedia.org)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div id=":tb" class="ii gt"> <div id=":tc" class="a3s aXjCH "> <div dir="auto"> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">She worked to prove the genuineness of her vocation and her visions of Jesus and Mary relating to the Sacred Heart. She was initially rebuffed by her mother superior and was unable to convince theologians of the validity of her visions. A noted exception was</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesuit Saint Claude de la Colombi&egrave;re, who supported her. The devotion to the Sacred Heart was officially recognized 75 years after Alacoque's death. [2] In his encyclical</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Miserentissimus Redemptor , Pope Pius XI stated that Jesus Christ had "manifested Himself" to Saint Margaret and referred to the conversation between Jesus and Saint Margaret several times. [3]</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: small;">Early life....</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Alacoque was born in 1647 in</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">L'Hautecour, Burgundy, France, now part of the commune of Verosvres, then in the Duchy of Burgundy, the only daughter of Claude and Philiberte Lamyn Alacoque, who had also several sons. [4] From early childhood, Margaret was described as showing intense love for the Blessed Sacrament, and as preferring silence and prayer to childhood play.</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">After her First Communion at the age of nine, she practised in secret severe corporal mortification , until rheumatic fever 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. [4] In recognition of this favor, she added the name Mary to her baptismal name of Margaret. According to her later account of her life, she had visions of Jesus Christ , which she thought were a normal part of human experience and continued to practice austerity.</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Alacoque lost her father at a young age, and the family's assets were held by a relative who refused to hand them over, plunging her family into poverty. During this time, her only consolation was frequent visits to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the local church. When she was 17, however, the family regained their fortune and her mother encouraged her to socialize, in the hopes of her finding a suitable husband. Out of obedience, and believing that her childhood vow was no longer binding, she began to accompany her brothers in the social events, attending dances and balls. [4]</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">One night, after returning home from a ball for Carnival dressed in her finery, she experienced a vision of Christ, scourged and bloody. He reproached her for her forgetfulness of him; yet he also reassured her by demonstrating that his Heart was filled with love for her, because of the childhood promise she had made to his Blessed Mother. As a result, she determined to fulfill her vow and entered, when almost 24 years of age, the Visitation Convent at</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Paray-le-Monial on 25 May 1671, intending to become a nun. [4]</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small; color: #ff0000;">Monastic life....</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesus appearing to St. Margaret Mary, Church of San Michele, Cortemilia , Italy</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Alacoque was subjected to many trials to prove the genuineness of her vocation. She was admitted to wearing the religious habit on 25 August 1671, but was not allowed to make her religious profession on the same date of the following year, which would have been normal. [5] A fellow novice described Margaret Mary as humble, simple and frank, but above all kind and patient. [6] Finally, she was admitted to profession on 6 November 1672. It is said that she was assigned to the infirmary and was not very skillful at her tasks. [7]</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small; color: #ff0000;">Visions.....</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">In this monastery Alacoque received several private revelations of the Sacred Heart, the first on 27 December 1673 and the final one 18 months later. The visions revealed to her the form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month,</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Eucharistic adoration during a " Holy hour " on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. [8] She stated that in her vision she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night to meditate on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Gethsemane . The Holy Hour practice later became widespread among Catholics. [9][10]</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">On 27 December 1673, the feast of St. John, Margaret Mary reported that Jesus permitted her to rest her head upon his heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of his love, telling her that he desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of his goodness, and that he had chosen her for this work.</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Initially discouraged in her efforts to follow the instruction she had received in her visions, Alacoque was eventually able to convince her superior, Mother de Saumaise, of the authenticity of her visions. She was unable, however, to convince a group of theologians of the validity of her apparitions, nor was she any more successful with many of the members of her own community, and suffered greatly at their hands. She eventually received the support of St.</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Claude de la Colombi&egrave;re, S.J. , the community's confessor for a time, who declared that the visions were genuine. In 1683, opposition in the community ended when Mother Melin was elected Superior and named Margaret Mary her assistant. She later became Novice Mistress ,[7] and saw the monastery observe the Feast of the Sacred Heart privately, beginning in 1686. Two years later, a chapel was built at Paray-le-Monial to honor the Sacred Heart.</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Alacoque died on 17 October 1690.</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small; color: #ff0000;">Veneration....</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart and St. Margarette Mary Alacoque adoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">After Alacoque the devotion to the Sacred Heart was fostered by the</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesuits and the subject of controversies within the Church. The practice was not officially recognized until 75 years later. [8]</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">The discussion of Alacoque's own mission and qualities 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</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Sacred Congregation of Rites passed a favourable vote on the heroic virtues of this "servant of God". In March 1824,</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Pope Leo XII pronounced her</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Venerable and on 18 September 1864</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Pope Pius IX declared her Blessed. [11] When her tomb was canonically opened in July 1830, two instantaneous cures were recorded to have taken place. Her incorrupt body rests above the side altar in the Chapel of the Apparitions, located at the Visitation Monastery in Paray-le-Monial, and many striking blessings have been claimed by pilgrims attracted there from all parts of the world. [4]</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">Alacoque was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, and in 1929 her</span></div> <div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: small;">liturgical commemoration was included in the General Roman calendar for celebration on 17 October, the day of her death. In the reforms of 1969, the feast day was moved to the prior day, 16 October.</span></div> </div> <div class="adL">&nbsp;</div> </div> </div> <div class="gA gt acV"> <div class="gB xu"> <div class="ip iq"> <div id=":ta">&nbsp;</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="nH bkK nn" style="width: 1009px;"> <div class="nH"> <div class="nH"> <div class="nH ar4 z"> <div class="aeI"> <div class="AO"> <div id=":4" class="Tm aeJ" style="height: 425px;"> <div id=":2" class="aeF" style="min-height: 235.417px;"> <div class="nH"> <div class="nH g id">&nbsp;</div> <div class="nH g id"><em><span style="font-size: large;">Happy Feast Day Sisters.....st Margaret Mary, pray for us.</span></em></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>