MARGHERITA MARIA ALACOQUE, saint. — Born on 22 August 1647 at Verosvres (Burgundy), died on 17 October 1690 at Paray-le-Monial. Even amid domestic occupations, she devoted long hours each day to prayer and assistance to the poor. After overcoming family difficulties and refusing marriage offers, she entered the Visitation convent of Paray-le-Monial on 25 August 1671.
The extraordinary mystical graces that she began to enjoy from the novitiate onward were regarded with suspicion by the superior. Having offered herself as a «victim to the Heart of Jesus» at her profession, the graces increased; and she responded to them with more intense prayers, penances, mortifications, and flagellations. The Lord willed that she live in a permanent state of sacrifice; M. M. eventually came to find nausea in food, and distress in rest, conversations, and brief recreations, which she always concealed in community, appearing serene and cheerful. Added to this was the incomprehension of her fellow sisters: she was judged hypocritical, and her docility and austerity were considered eccentricities.
Particular importance was assumed by the revelations concerning the public worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On 27 December 1673, while she was adoring before the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus manifested to her «the wonders of his love» for humanity and «the inexplicable secrets of his Heart», and proclaimed her «the beloved disciple of his Sacred Heart». Subsequently, the Heart of Jesus was presented to her «upon a throne of flames, radiant like the sun, with the adorable wound, surrounded by thorns», surmounted by a cross; and it was revealed to her that devotion to the Sacred Heart would be «the supreme effort of divine love which wished to favor humanity». She was also asked to perform acts of reparation, especially Communion on the first Friday of every month. But even her spiritual directors were distrustful, branding her a fanatical visionary and causing the Saint intense anxieties. These came to an end when the supernatural character of the visions was recognized by the blessed Claudio La Colombière, who, in February 1676, became her spiritual director and always encouraged her in her path. The following June (during the Octave of Corpus Christi), the Lord asked her that on the first Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi a special feast of the Sacred Heart be instituted, as honorable reparation for the offenses of humanity, and promised special graces of holiness to those zealous for the devotion. The first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the monastery of Paray in 1686, and soon spread to other houses of the Order.
Moreover, at the order of her director, in 1686 M. M. described in the Autobiography the graces and heavenly revelations with which she had been favored. Besides the Autobiography, there have come down to us the Memoirs of the first years of her religious life, instructions and counsels for the novices, of whom she was elected mistress in 1684, prayers and hymns, and a copious correspondence.
She was beatified by Pius IX (18 September 1864) and canonized by Benedict XV (13 May 1920). Her tomb, at Paray-le-Monial, is a pilgrimage center for devotees of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Feast day: 17 October.