The Apostle of the Sacred Heart

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, 1647 to 1690, is honored throughout the Church as the Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Within the quiet walls of the Visitation Convent at Paray le Monial, the Lord entrusted to her a mission that would rekindle love for His Heart, draw souls to Eucharistic reparation, and inspire a universal feast in His honor. She did not found an order or write a grand theological treatise. She listened, obeyed, and suffered with Christ, and through her fidelity the Lord gave the Church a path that unites contemplation and compassionate action. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the meaning at the core of this devotion: “Jesus knew and loved us each and all during His life, His agony and His Passion and gave Himself up for each one of us” and “He has loved us all with a human heart.” (CCC 478). This is why her life matters. The Heart revealed to her is the Heart that beats in the Eucharist and burns for every person.

A Childhood Captivated by the Eucharist

Margaret Mary was born on July 22, 1647, in L’Hautecour near Verosvres in Burgundy, France, to Claude Alacoque, a notary, and Philiberte Lamyn. Early sorrows marked the family when her father died, and relatives mismanaged the household. As a child she developed a deep love for the Blessed Sacrament; after her First Communion around the age of nine, she spent long moments in prayer before the tabernacle. A debilitating illness then confined her for several years, leaving her partly paralyzed. In that trial she vowed to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would give herself entirely to God. She recovered and kept the promise. Drawn by the gentle spirituality of Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, she entered the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary at Paray le Monial on May 25, 1671, and made her profession on November 6, 1672. The Visitation charism of humility, meekness, and hidden charity formed her heart for a mission she could not have imagined. She later wrote a brief maxim that distilled her path of love: “We can love Jesus Christ only so far as we love the Cross.”

Behold this Heart

Between December 1673 and June 1675, Jesus granted Margaret Mary a series of extraordinary apparitions. He opened to her the mystery of His Heart, inflamed with love and wounded by indifference. In prayer He asked for concrete acts that would help the faithful answer His love. He requested a weekly Holy Hour on Thursday nights in memory of His agony in Gethsemane. He asked for reception of Holy Communion on the First Fridays, nine months in a row, in a spirit of reparation and trust. He asked that the Church celebrate a feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, with solemn worship and an image of His Heart, encircled with thorns, surmounted by a cross, and shining with charity. In one of the great apparitions He allowed her to hear the cry of His love: “Here is this Heart which has loved men so much that it has spared nothing in order to testify to them Its love.” He also entrusted what many call the Great Promise regarding the First Fridays, inflaming hope for final perseverance without turning devotion into superstition. The Lord raised up a wise companion for her mission in the Jesuit priest Claude de la Colombière, who recognized the authenticity of her graces, consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart, and became a key witness to the message.

Tested and Proven

Margaret Mary’s holiness matured in contradiction and humiliation. Many sisters doubted her claims and some directors advised severe tests. She accepted every obedience, worked quietly in the infirmary, served as assistant superior, and later as mistress of novices. Her interior life was intense, yet it remained anchored in daily duties and charity. She united her trials to Christ and sought no vindication for herself. Her confessor encouraged her to write an account of the graces she had received, which later aided the Church’s discernment. She did not perform spectacular public works, yet she forged hearts for God by teaching the novices to adore the Eucharist, to make acts of reparation, and to love hidden sacrifice. Her own words reveal the posture that sustained her: “Do what Thou pleasest, O Lord, and it is sufficient for me.” When illness returned near the end of her life, she embraced suffering with serenity, repeatedly invoking the Holy Name of Jesus. She died at Paray le Monial on October 17, 1690, entrusting everything to the Heart she had loved.

Fruits While She Lived

The most striking fruits of Margaret Mary’s lifetime were spiritual rather than sensational. The devotion spread first within her convent and then through visiting clergy and the faithful who adopted the Holy Hour and the First Fridays. Hearts were softened, lukewarmness gave way to repentance, and many found strength to return to frequent Confession and Communion. Father Claude de la Colombière carried the message into the wider Church and encouraged consecration to the Sacred Heart. Margaret Mary’s guidance helped souls endure trials with peace, settle family disputes through prayer before the Eucharist, and make reparation for offenses against the Sacrament of Love. She taught that intimacy with Jesus is learned in silence before the tabernacle and is proven in daily patience and charity.

Signs after Death

After her death, devotion to the Sacred Heart continued to grow. Reports of favors and healings multiplied among those who prayed at her tomb in Paray le Monial and who took up the practices given through her. In 1765 the feast of the Sacred Heart received approval for certain places, and in 1856 Pope Pius IX extended it to the universal Church. In 1899 Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart, recognizing in this devotion a remedy for a wounded age. In 1956 Pope Pius XII issued Haurietis Aquas, a profound teaching on the theology and practice of honoring the Heart of Jesus. Margaret Mary herself entered the Church’s canon of saints through a careful process that judged her life and writings. She was declared Venerable in 1824, beatified in 1864, and canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Her body rests beneath the altar in the chapel at Paray le Monial, where countless pilgrims still come to pray and to receive the grace of a heart conformed to Christ.

Let the Heart of Jesus Shape Your Heart

Saint Margaret Mary reminds us that the Christian life is a response to a Person who loves us first. The Sacred Heart is the human expression of divine charity, and it invites your whole self, mind and affections, to be healed and made strong. Read CCC 478 and make it personal. Visit the Blessed Sacrament this week and speak simply to Jesus about your life. Consider making a weekly Holy Hour and receiving Holy Communion on the First Fridays with an intention of reparation for sins in the Church and in the world. Enthrone an image of the Sacred Heart in your home and let that image set the tone for family prayer, mercy, and hospitality. When discouragement comes, remember her counsel and pray with her words: “We can love Jesus Christ only so far as we love the Cross.” If you guard peace of heart and choose daily fidelity over dramatic gestures, you will discover what she discovered, that Christ’s Heart is a refuge that never fails.

Engage with Us!

I would love to hear your thoughts and how the Lord is stirring your heart through Saint Margaret Mary’s story. Share in the comments below and let’s pray for one another.

1. How does the revelation of the Sacred Heart change the way you see Jesus and His love for you personally today?
2. What small, doable step could you take this week to honor the Heart of Jesus, such as a Holy Hour or First Friday Communion?
3. Where is the Lord inviting you to embrace the Cross with love, as Saint Margaret Mary did, in your family, work, or parish?
4. How might enthroning the Sacred Heart in your home shape your daily rhythms of prayer and charity?
5. Which line from her “Golden Sayings” challenges or consoles you most right now, and why?

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus set your heart on fire with divine love. Go forth in faith, and do everything with the love and mercy that Jesus taught us.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us! 

---

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more insights and reflections on living a faith-filled life.