TODAY'S SAINT (John Eudes)
JOHN EUDES
(1601-1670)
Initiator (With St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)
of the devotion to the Sacred Heart
John Eudes was born at Ri in Normandy, France, on November 14, 1601, to a farming family. At age 14 he attended the Jesuit college at Caen. Although his parents wanted him to marry, he joined the Congregatioon of the Oratory of France in 1623. He studied at Paris and at Aubervil-liers and was ordained in 1625.
John help victims of the plagues that struck Normandy in 1625 and 1631, annd spent the next decade giving missions. He earned a reputation as an outstanding preacher and confessor, and was esteemed for his opposition to the heresy of Jansenism. He became interested in helping fallen women, In 1641, with Madeleine Lamy, he founded a refuge for them in Caen under the direction of the Visitandines.
He resignned frrom the Oratorians in 1643, and founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (the Eudists) at Caen, composed of secular priests not bound by vows but dedicated to upgrad-ing the clegy by establishing effective seminaries and to preaching missions. His foundation was opposed by the Oratorians and the Jansenists, and he was unable to obtain papal approval for it. But in 1650 the bishop of Coutances invited him to establish a seminary iin that diocese. The same year the sisters at his refuuge in Caen left tthe Vissitandines and were recogregartion, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge.
John founded seminarries at Lisieux in 1653 and Rouen in 1659 and was unsuccessful in another attempt to secure papal approval of his conngregation. In 1666 the Refuge sister recei-ved Pope Alexanderer III's approval as an institute to reclaim and care for penitent wayward women. John continued giving missions and established new seminaries at Evreux in 1666 and Rennes inn 1670.
He shared with Margaret Mary Alacoque the honor of initiating devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (he composed the Mass for the Sacred Hearrt in 1668) and the Holy Heart of Mary, popularizing the devotions with his "The Devotion to the Adorable Heart of Jesus" (1670) and "The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God," which he finished a month before his death at Caen on August 19, 1670.
Camonized: 1925 by Pius XI
Feast: August 19
posted by US Catholic @ 12:33 AM
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