CLAUDE LA COLOMBIÈRE, Blessed. - Jesuit, promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at St-Symphorien d'Ozon (Dauphiné) on 2 Feb 1641, died at Paray-le-Monial on 15 Feb 1682. Having entered the Society of Jesus, overcoming a severe aversion, he completed his studies and became a preacher at Lyons; then in 1675 he was appointed first superior of the residence at Paray-le-Monial. At the end of 1676 he was sent to the English court as preacher to the Duchess of York, Mary Beatrice of Este. The alleged plot of Titus Oates led to his imprisonment, from which he was freed through the intervention of the French ambassador and then exiled. He returned to Paray, where he died.
His name is linked to the propagation of devotion to the Sacred Heart, a mission he had received through the revelations made to St Margaret Mary Alacoque on 16 June 1675. He had approved the spirituality of the saint and the reality of the divine messages in the face of widespread disapproval, and he accepted his task with great enthusiasm, immediately consecrating himself to the Sacred Heart and spreading its devotion among all whom he directed. Though obliged by reasons of health to leave Paray-le-Monial, he remained there nonetheless, in obedience to the celebrated note of the saint: «He [Jesus] has told me that He desires the sacrifice of your life here».
After his death there appeared his Sermons preché devant son Altesse Royale, Madame la Duchesse d'Ork (3 vols., Lyons 1684; enlarged to 4 in the 2nd ed., 1716; 1687; Italian tr., Venice 1707 and Turin 1913); La retraite spirituelle (ibid. 1684); Le lettres spirituelles (2 vols., ed. P. Charrier, Grenoble 1902, Italian tr., Milan 1907). All these works went through many editions and translations.