Margaret Mary Alacoque
| Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, V.H.M. | |
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Margaretha Maria Alacoque, Merazhofen Pfarrkirche Chorgestühl
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| Disciple of the Sacred Heart | |
| Born |
22 July 1647 L'Hautecour, Duchy of Burgundy, Kingdom of France |
| Died | 17 October 1690 (aged 43) Paray-le-Monial, Duchy of Burgundy, Kingdom of France |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 18 September 1864, Rome, Papal States, by Pope Pius IX |
| Canonized | 13 May 1920, Vatican City, by Pope Benedict XV |
| Major shrine | Monastery of the Visitation, Paray-le-Monial, Saône-et-Loire, France |
| Feast | October 16 (October 17 by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary and universally prior to 1969; transferred to Oct 20 in Canada) |
| Patronage | those suffering with polio, devotees of the Sacred Heart, loss of parents |
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, V.H.M. (French: Marguerite-Marie Alacoque) (1647–1690), was a French Roman Catholic nun and mystic, who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form.
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 Saint Claude de la Colombière, who supported her. The devotion to the Sacred Heart was officially recognized 75 years after Alacoque's death. In his encyclical 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.
Alacoque was born in 1647 in L'Hautecour, 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. From early childhood, Margaret was described as showing intense love for the Blessed Sacrament, and as preferring silence and prayer to childhood play.
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. 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.
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