St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is a religious of the Order of the Visitation, who received confidences from the Sacred Heart.

Newsroom (November 1, 2022, 7:00 PM, Gaudium Press) St Margaret was born on July 25, 1647 in Janots, Burgundy. Inspired by grace, she took a vow of perpetual chastity at the age of four.

She was orphaned and taken to the Poor Clare school, but had to return soon after because of illness. She made a promise to the Blessed Virgin that she would become a nun if she were cured, and she recovered her health.

However, when Margaret turned 17, her mother and brothers decided that she should marry.

Driven by filial love, the young girl gradually began to take part in the merrymaking of her age – though she kept herself from offending God – and to cherish the idea of marriage, even though she already had several suitors. A long and intense battle was waged within her: on the one hand, the attraction to common life whispered to her that it was even a duty of filial piety to build a home, because in this way she could better support her sick mother.

On the other, the voice of grace reminded her of the vow of perfect chastity she had already taken as a child, and of her promise to become the wife of Christ.

Never mind, you were too young to understand what it said, so those promises were worthless; you are free now! – was the answer that came next in her mind.

This cruel clash of souls lasted for some years. But, helped in a sensitive way by Our Lord, the religious vocation won out in the end.

While contemplating a picture of St. Francis de Sales, she felt strongly called to be part of his daughters, the Visitandines, and entered the Convent of Paray-le-Monial on June 20, 1671.

In this monastery she lived by mystical graces and intense contact with Our Lord Jesus Christ. As this was strange to the superiors, Jesus “adapted” her graces to the rule of the Congregation and gave her three weapons for the daily fight for the purification and transformation of her soul: a delicate conscience and a horror of the smallest fault; holy obedience; and her holy Cross.

He received the most beautiful revelations of the mercy of the Heart of Jesus: “Behold the Heart that loved men so much and was so little loved by them”.

Jesus allowed her to suffer much because of the incomprehension of the superiors and sisters in the habit, but gave her the great St. Claude de la Colombière as her confessor.

She died on October 17, 1690. Only three years after her death the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, of which she was so enthusiastic, began to be spread.

She was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.

Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Jesus made twelve promises for the benefit of the devotees of his Sacred Heart:

I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.

I will preserve peace in their families.

I will console them in all their afflictions.

I will be their safe refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.

I will pour abundant blessings on all their endeavours.

Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

The timid souls will become fervent.

The fervent souls will rise quickly to great perfection.

I will bless the houses in which the image of my Sacred Heart is exposed and venerated.

I will give priests the ability to touch the most hardened hearts.

The people who spread this devotion will have their names eternally inscribed in my Heart.

To all those who make the Communion of reparation on the first Friday for nine months in a row, I will grant the grace of final perseverance and eternal salvation. My Divine Heart will be their safe refuge in this extreme hour.

Source: arautos.org