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In the quiet countryside of seventeenth-century France, when the wounds of religious war still bled and the heresy of Jansenism chilled many hearts with fear of divine judgment, Christ chose a humble Visitation nun to rekindle love in the Church. Her name was Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690)—a woman whose own heart would become a mirror of the burning Heart of Jesus.

Born in the small village of Verosvres, Margaret Mary was delicate in body but fierce in soul. As a child, she longed for the Eucharist with a love far beyond her years. Even during long illnesses that confined her to bed, she would pray for the strength to receive Holy Communion. Yet her youth was not without temptation—one night, returning from a dance, she saw a vision of Christ, wounded yet radiant, asking her gently why she sought joy in the world instead of His friendship. That moment changed her life forever.

At twenty-three, she entered the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Paray-le-Monial, seeking only silence, prayer, and the hidden life. But heaven had prepared a mission for her that would reach every corner of Christendom.

Between 1673 and 1675, while praying before the tabernacle, Jesus appeared to her in mystical vision—His Heart radiant like a living sun, ringed with thorns and surmounted by a cross. He said, “Behold this Heart that has loved men so much, yet is loved so little in return.”

Christ revealed to her that His Heart burns with mercy for all humanity, yet suffers from coldness and ingratitude. He entrusted her with a mission: to make His Heart known, loved, and consoled. Through her, He asked the Church to embrace specific acts of reparation:

• Communion on the First Fridays of nine consecutive months, in reparation for sin.

• A Holy Hour of prayer each Thursday night, recalling His agony in Gethsemane.

• The institution of a Feast of the Sacred Heart, to celebrate His infinite love.

At first, her superiors dismissed her visions as imagination. But with the guidance of St. Claude de la Colombière, her Jesuit confessor who recognized the authenticity of her mission, the devotion began to spread—first within France, then across Europe, and finally throughout the world.

Margaret Mary’s life was one of quiet heroism. Her community often misunderstood her, and her health remained frail. Yet she offered every trial in reparation to the Heart of Jesus. She spent her days teaching novices, caring for the sick, and performing menial tasks with love.

When she died on October 17, 1690, she whispered, “I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the Heart of Jesus.” Her death passed almost unnoticed—but her message would transform the spiritual life of the Church.

In 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized her, officially naming her the Apostle of the Sacred Heart. The Feast of the Sacred Heart was later extended to the universal Church, and its image—Christ’s Heart aflame with love, crowned with thorns, and shining with mercy—became one of the most beloved symbols in Catholic devotion.

The seventeenth century was a time of tension for the Church. France, once called the “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” was wounded by political unrest and theological rigorism. The devotion to the Sacred Heart was God’s merciful response to this spiritual coldness.

Through the Jesuits, the message spread to the Americas, Asia, and beyond. In 1856, Pope Pius IX made the Feast of the Sacred Heart universal, declaring it the remedy for a world grown indifferent to divine love.

What began in a small convent chapel became a global movement of reparation and renewal—an eternal reminder that even in times of darkness, the Heart of Christ beats with undying love for humanity.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque teaches that holiness begins in surrender. God reveals His greatest secrets not to the powerful, but to those who are humble and obedient. Her hidden life became the torch that illuminated the Church with the light of divine mercy.

May her witness draw us closer to the Eucharistic Heart of Christ, where every wound meets mercy, every sin is forgiven, and every heart is set ablaze with divine love.