Introduction
Saint Margaret Mary was born on July 25th, 1647, at
Janots, a small town in Burgundy. She was the fifth of seven
children of a prosperous notary.
At the age of four, Margaret made a promise to the Lord. She
felt inspired to compose this prayer: “Oh my Lord, I
consecrate to you my purity and I make a vow of perpetual
chastity.” Although she herself later confessed that she did
not quite understand the meaning of the words: “vow” or
“chastity.”
Her father died of pneumonia when she was eight years old,
and she was sent to school with the Urbanist nuns at
Charolles. She loved the peace and order of the convent
life, and the nuns were so impressed by her devotion, that
she was allowed to make her First Communion at the age of
nine. Two years later, a rheumatic affliction kept her
bedridden until she reached the age of fifteen. During this
time she was brought home, where some of her father’s
relatives had moved in and taken over the direction of the
farm and household.
Daughter of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Being seriously ill upon her return, Margaret sought refuge
in the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. She made her a vow that if
she would heal her, she would become one of her daughters.
Immediately after making this promise, she recuperated her
health. Saint Margaret recalled: “As soon as I made this vow
I was cured, with a new protection from the most Blessed
Virgin, who now became so completely the mistress of my
heart that She looked upon me as belonging to her and
governed me as being dedicated to her, reproving me for my
faults, and teaching me to do the will of my God.”
Aside from obtaining her health, this vow accomplished in
Margaret a deep sense of union with the Blessed Virgin Mary.
However, her road to sanctity was not free of detours. “On
recovering my health,” she later confessed, “I thought only
of seeking pleasure in the enjoyment of my liberty, without
concerning myself much about the fulfillment of my promise.
I gave myself up to vanity and the affection of creatures,
flattering myself that the tenderness which my mother and
brothers had for me would allow me to amuse and enjoy myself
as much as I liked...”
The Blessed Mother reprimanded her when she saw her almost
yielding to the terrible struggle that she felt within
herself. On one occasion, while seated and reciting the Holy
Rosary, Our Lady appeared to her and gave her the following
reprimand, which she never forgot: “I am surprised, my
daughter,” she said, “that you serve me so negligently!”
These words left such an impression on her soul that they
served her as warning for her whole life.
But our Blessed Virgin is also tender and consoling. One
day, she told Margaret: "Do not fear anything; you will be
my true daughter, and I will always be your good mother.”
Saint Margaret made another vow to Our Lady: to fast every
Saturday and to recite her Office of the Immaculate
Conception. Seeing her ardent desire of total consecration,
the Blessed Mother helped her reach her goal.
The Most Blessed Sacrament
The situation in Margaret’s household was quite difficult.
Her father’s relatives ignored her mother and her and
treated them almost like servants. After Margaret’s
recovery, her relatives tried to regulate all her comings
and goings. Everything was under lock and key, and there was
nothing she and her mother could do without their
permission.
Under these circumstances, Margaret began to direct all her
affections towards the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, where
she sought delight and consolation. However, she was not
able to do this freely and without difficulties, for she was
not allowed to attend church as often as she pleased. At
times, she would receive permission from one of her
relatives and later be confronted by another who denied it.
If this situation made her suffer, even greater was the
grief she felt seeing the condition of her mother. She
suffered from erysipelas (a bacterial infection) on her face
which made it swell excessively. Margaret felt her mother
would die at any moment. She begged her relatives to help
her mother, and they contented themselves with having her
bled once by a village surgeon who passed by the house. He
expressed to all the family members that Margaret’s mother
would not recover without a miracle, but still no one showed
the least trouble or concern. Margaret again took refuge in
the Holy Virgin and her Sovereign Master, to whom alone she
could confide. On the feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord
she went to Mass and asked Him to be Himself the physician
and remedy of her poor mother, and to teach Margaret what
she must do for her.
On her return home she found the swelling had burst, leaving
an open wound on the cheek about the size of the palm of the
hand which emitted so unbearable an odor that no one could
approach her. She did not know how to dress a wound, and
until then had never been able to look at or touch one.
Fighting her natural repugnance, Margaret would remove each
day a quantity of putrid flesh, but she felt courage and
confidence in the Lord. In a few days, contrary to all
expectations, the wound was healed. Throughout the time of
her mother’s illness, Margaret ate and slept very little,
but she had perfect conformity with God’s most Holy will and
would say to Him: “O my Sovereign Master! This would not
have happened if Thou hadst not willed it so, but I return
Thee thanks for having permitted it, that thereby I may be
made more like unto Thee.”
In the midst of all this, she felt strongly drawn to mental
prayer and to the Most Blessed Sacrament. She would express
that she knew not how to pray, and the Lord Himself became
her teacher. He made her prostrate herself humbly before Him
to ask His pardon for everything by which she had offended
Him, and, after an act of adoration, she would offer Him her
prayer. He presented to her a mystery in which He wanted her
to consider Him. Her heart was consumed in the desire of
loving Him, which gave her an insatiable longing for Holy
Communion and for suffering.
When her mother and other relatives started to talk about
marriage, the young Margaret feared going against the vow
she had made. She felt a lot of pressure and there were many
who sought her in marriage. Her mother, incessantly weeping,
told her that her only hope that would put an end to her
misery was by marrying her as soon as possible, adding that
this would be a great consolation to her. Furthermore, the
devil took advantage of the tender affection which she had
for her mother, unceasingly representing to her the tears
that she shed, suggesting that she would die of grief if she
became a nun. On the other hand, the desire to be a nun and
the extreme horror which she had of anything against purity
haunted her without ceasing.
Finally, the tender love for her mother began to get the
upper hand, and she thought that, as she was but a child
when she made her vow and did not understand the meaning she
thus could easily obtain dispensation from it. She therefore
began to frequent society and to adorn herself in order to
please others, trying to enjoy herself as much as she could.
But during the time she spent in the midst of company and
amusement, the Lord continually knocked at the door of her
heart. He made her understand that it would be hard to
resist the power of His love. She wrote in her diary: "He
aimed such burning darts at my heart that they pierced and
consumed it on all sides; and the pain I felt in consequence
rendered me quite speechless. I felt myself bound, as it
were, with cords and dragged with such force that I was at
last constrained to follow Him Who called me.”
On one occasion Jesus said to her: “I have chosen thee to be
My spouse, and we pledged each other fidelity when thou
didst make thy vow of chastity. It was I who urged thee to
make it, before the world had any share in thy heart,
because I wished to have it quite pure... And then I
confided thee to the care of my Holy Mother, that she might
fashion thee according to My designs.”
Finally, the Lord Jesus appeared to her all disfigured, as
He appeared after the scourging, and said to her: “Wouldst
thou take this pleasure, whereas I never had any and
delivered Myself up to every kind of bitterness for love of
thee and to win thy heart? Nevertheless, thou wouldst still
dispute it with Me.” She understood that her vanity had
reduced Him to this condition, and that she was wasting
precious time, of which He would demand a rigorous account
from her at the hour of her death. Along with this
extraordinary grace, her desire for religious life was
rekindled in her heart with such intensity, that she
resolved to embrace it at any cost.
Her entrance into the Visitation Monastery
Seeing her so resolute, her relatives sent her to one of her
uncles whose daughter was a religious from the order of the
Ursulines. But Margaret did not feel drawn to enter this
community. The more she was pressed to enter, so much the
greater was her aversion to do so, and she felt an inner
voice say to her: “It is not there that I would have thee,
but in the Holy Virgin Mary.” Once, while looking at a
picture of St. Francis de Sales, it seemed to her that he
called her ‘his daughter,’ and cast upon her a look so full
of paternal love that she no longer regarded him otherwise
than as ‘her good father.’ She felt she must belong to the
order which this great saint had founded: the Visitation.
She also felt her desire to enter there increase, owing to
the sweet name of ‘Holy Mary’ which made her feel that she
should find therein what she was seeking.
After many difficulties and trying to convince her family of
wanting to enter the Visitation, she was finally drawn to
Paray and as soon as she entered the parlour, she heard
interiorly these words: “It is here that I would have thee
to be.” Her brother gave Margaret the dowry and she was able
to enter the convent on the 12th of June, 1671.
After two months as a postulant, she received the habit on
the 25th of August, 1671. She expressed what she felt at the
time: “My Divine Master gave me to understand that now was
the time of our espousal by which He acquired a new right
over me, and that I was now doubly bound to love Him with a
love of preference. He gave me further to understand that,
after the manner of the most passionate of lovers, He would,
during that time, allow me to taste all that was sweetest
and most delightful in the tokens of His love, which were
indeed so excessive, that I was often quite overcome and
thereby incapable of acting.”
The young novice was humble, obedient, simple and honest.
One of her novitiate companions testified that she edified
the entire community “due to her charity towards all the
sisters, to whom she never said a word that might offend
them, and because of the patience with which she bore all
kinds of reprimands and humiliations to which she was
submitted frequently.” Her novitiate was indeed far from
easy. For example, she found it hard to keep herself in the
ordinary ways of the spiritual life. She said: “No matter
how much I tried to practice what I was taught, I found it
impossible to follow the method of prayer presented to me
and was always constrained to return to my Divine Master,
although I made every effort to forget all and turn away
from Him.” This caused her a great deal of pain since her
greatest desire was to be obedient to her Superior.
There was yet another situation which was an occasion of
mortification. It concerned a disgust for cheese to which
her whole family had so great a natural aversion that, when
making arrangements for her reception into the convent, her
brother requested that it should never be asked of her to
eat it. As the matter was indifferent, consent was easily
given, but once she had entered, everyone seemed to have
forgotten about it, and Saint Margaret was obliged to eat it
under the vow of obedience. At the beginning she struggled
from the nausea; but she begged the Lord to assist her since
she did not want to be different from the others. After
great efforts and self-denial, she was able to eat cheese
and offered it as a sacrifice for a period of ten years.
Another difficulty was her reception of supernatural favors
from the Lord. Her superiors indicated that such was not the
spirit of the daughters of Holy Mary which admitted nothing
extraordinary. They saw her experiences as illusions and
deceptions, and asked her to request from the Lord, as a
proof of security, that He would render her useful to holy
religion by the exact observance of all that was prescribed.
When St. Margaret took this to prayer the Lord responded:
“Tell your Superior that I shall render thee more useful
than she thinks, but in a manner known at present only to
Me. Henceforth, I shall adjust my graces to the spirit of
thy Rule, to the will of thy Superiors and to thy weakness;
so that thou must regard as suspicious everything that might
withdraw thee from the exact observance of thy Rule, which
it is My will that thou shouldst prefer the will of thy
Superiors to Mine, whenever they may forbid thee to do what
I command thee. Suffer them to act as they please with thee;
I shall know well how to find means for the accomplishment
of my designs, even though they may appear to be opposed and
contrary thereto. I reserve for Myself only the guidance of
thy interior, and especially of thy heart, for, having
established therein the empire of My pure love, I will never
yield it to others.”
The Lord was not teaching her that the Divine Will is
subject to human authority. What He was showing her was that
obedience to her superiors is in fact the greatest means to
embrace His most Holy Will. Although her superiors are just
limited creatures, her obedience would make the Divine Will
triumph in spite of everything. The Lord promised that if
she obeyed her superiors... “I shall know well how to find
means for the accomplishment of My designs. ”Her Mother
Superior and her Novice Mistress were both satisfied with
this promise, the effects of which were so manifest that
they could no longer doubt that they were the words of the
Eternal Truth. At last she attained the long desired
happiness of holy profession on November 6th, 1672. The Lord
kept His promise by purifying and transforming her heart,
rendering it into a heart similar to His own.
The priest who celebrated at her profession said to her:
“Jesus Christ will give you the light. Go forth through the
path of the just, as the shining dawn!”
Saint Margaret wrote that same afternoon: “I, pitiful and
miserable nothingness, protest to my God that I submit and
sacrifice myself to everything He asks of me, immolating my
heart for the fulfillment of His good pleasure, without
reserving any interest other than His greater glory and His
pure love, to which I consecrate and abandon my entire being
and my every moment.”
Three weapons for the battle
Margaret received from the Lord three necessary weapons in
order to wage the battle that would win her purification and
transformation.
The first weapon: A delicate conscience, and a
profound aversion and pain before the slightest fault
One day, on account of a fault she had committed, the Lord
told her:
“Learn that I am a Holy Master and One that teaches
holiness, I am pure and cannot endure the slightest stain.
Therefore thou must act with simplicity of heart and with an
upright and pure intention in My presence. Know that I
cannot endure the least want of straightforwardness, and I
shall make thee understand that, if the excess of My love
has led Me to constitute Myself thy Master, in order to
teach and fashion thee after My manner and according to My
designs, nevertheless I cannot bear tepid and cowardly
souls, and, if I am gentle in bearing with thy weakness, I
shall not be less severe and exact in correcting and
punishing thy infidelities.”
Margaret confessed that nothing was more painful and
terrible to her than to see Him ever so slightly displeased
with her. All other sufferings, corrections and
mortifications were nothing to her in comparison. She went
promptly to ask a penance for her faults, for she knew He
was satisfied with those imposed upon her by obedience. This
weapon was rooted in her great desire to love.
The second weapon: Holy Obedience
The Lord rejected her works performed through self-will and
thus reprimanded her severely in her faults against
obedience to her superior or to the rule. The smallest reply
to superiors, manifesting repugnance to obey, is unbearable
to Him in the soul of a religious. Jesus said to her:
“Thou deceivest thyself, in thinking to please Me by actions
and mortifications chosen by self-will which, rather than
yield, prefer to make Superiors bend their will to it. Oh!
Be assured, that I reject all such things as fruits
corrupted by self-will which I abhor in the soul of a
religious. I would rather that she should take all her
little comforts through obedience, than overburden herself
with austerities and fasts through self-will.”
The third weapon: Her Holy Cross
The Cross was the greatest of all her gifts. One day, after
Holy Communion, a large cross was shown her, the extremity
of which she could not see, but it was all covered with
flowers. The Lord said to her:
“Behold the bed of My chaste spouses on which I shall make
thee taste all the delights of My pure Love. Little by
little these flowers will drop off, and nothing will remain
but the thorns, which are hidden because of thy weakness.
Nevertheless, thou shalt feel the pricks of these thorns so
keenly that thou wilt need all the strength of My love to
bear the pain.”
In this intense and purifying way the Lord would accomplish
His designs in the heart of Margaret. In order to detach her
from the affection towards the things of this earth, and
even from herself, he allowed her to experience continuous
humiliations and neglect. Nonetheless, He would grant her
all the graces necessary to endure these trials.
On a particular occasion, the Lord told her: “You must love
as if you were not inclined to love, having as your only
wish the desire to please me. Do not look for joy outside of
Me, for in doing so you would deny my omnipotence and would
offend me greatly, since I desire to be everything for you.”
The day after her profession, Margaret Mary was given an
“obedience”. She was assigned as nurse’s aide to Sister
Catherine August Marest, an excellent religious, but with an
active, officious, and fiery temperament. Margaret Mary, on
the contrary, was calm, composed, a little slow in her
movements. Later, when Margaret wrote about her assignment
in the infirmary, she said: “God alone can know how much I
had to suffer there!!” She did not exaggerate, for she
certainly received a great deal of insults and humiliations.
Jesus made her participate in His terrible anguish of the
Garden of Olives, and desired for her to be an immolated
victim. She told Him: “I want nothing but your Love and your
Cross, and that is all I need in order to be a good
religious, which is my desire.”
Revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
First Revelation
On December 27th, feast of St. John the Apostle, Margaret
Mary was only 26 years old and had only fourteen months of
profession. She was kneeling as usual before the Blessed
Sacrament exposed in the chapel. It was the moment chosen by
God for a great revelation. She told us how it happened:
“I was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, when I felt
myself wholly penetrated with that Divine Presence, but to
such a degree that I lost all thought of myself and of the
place where I was. He made me repose for a long time upon
His Sacred Breast, where He disclosed to me the marvels of
His love and the inexplicable secrets of His Sacred Heart.”
Jesus told her:
“My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for
thee in particular that, being unable any longer to contain
within Itself the flames of Its burning charity, It needs to
spread them abroad by thy means, and manifest itself to them
(mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious
treasures which I discover to thee, and with contain graces
of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them
from the abyss of perdition. I have chosen thee as an abyss
of unworthiness and ignorance for the accomplishment of this
great design, in order that every thing may be done by Me.”
“After this,” she continued, “He asked me for my heart,
which I begged Him to take. He did so and placed it in His
Adorable Heart where He showed it to me as a little atom
which was being consumed in this great furnace, and
withdrawing it thence as a burning flame in the form of a
heart, He restored it to the place whence He had taken it
saying to me: See, my well beloved, I give thee a precious
token of my love, having enclosed within thy side a little
spark of its glowing flames, that it may serve thee for a
heart and consume thee to the last moment of thy life; its
ardor will never be exhausted, and thou will be able to find
some slight relief only by bleeding. As a proof that the
great favor I have done thee is not imagination, although I
have closed the wound in thy side, the pain will always
remain. If hitherto, thou hast taken only the name of My
slave, I now give thee that of the beloved disciple of My
Sacred Heart.”
After this great favor, Margaret remained for many days on
fire and inebriated with divine love, and so completely out
of herself, that she had to do herself violence in order to
utter a single word. The effort she had to make in order to
join in recreation or to take food was so great that it was
all she could do to overcome herself. She could not explain
herself to her superior, as she would have wished. She was
also not able to sleep because of the pain of the wound
which produced such heat that it burned and consumed her
alive.
From the time of this first revelation, Margaret would
suffer every first Friday of the month a renewed pain in her
side, up until the time of her death. It was at these times
that the Lord would manifest what he required of her and
disclose to her the secrets of His loving Heart.
Jesus said to her on one occasion: “I search for a victim of
My Heart, someone who would want to sacrifice herself as an
immolated host for the fulfillment of my designs.” In her
great humility, Margaret proposed to the Lord various souls,
whom she thought would be worthy and faithfully correspond
to such a grace. But the Lord answered that it was she whom
He had chosen. This would disturb Margaret greatly, since
she feared to be recognized personally for the graces she
received from the Lord.
Second Revelation
One or two months after the first apparition, the second
revelation took place. St. Margaret Mary wrote:
“The Divine Heart was presented to me in a throne of flames,
more resplendent than a sun, transparent as crystal, with
this adorable wound. And it was surrounded with a crown of
thorns, signifying the punctures made in it by our sins, and
a cross above signifying that from the first instant of His
Incarnation, that is, as soon as the Sacred Heart was
formed, the cross was implanted into it and from the first
moment it was filled with all the sorrow to be inflicted on
it by the humiliations, poverty, pain, and scorn of His
sacred humanity was to endure throughout His life and during
His sacred passion.”
“And He (Jesus) made me see that He intensely desired to be
loved by men and to snatch them from the path of perdition
onto which Satan was driving them in throngs. It was this
that made Him decide to manifest His heart to men -with all
the treasures of love, mercy, graces, sanctification and
salvation it contained. Thus, all who wanted to render to
Him and obtain for Him all the love, honor and glory in
their power would be enriched with the abundance and
profusion of these divine treasures of the heart of God
which was their source. This heart of God must be honored
under the form of His heart of flesh, whose image He wanted
exposed, and also worn on me and on my heart. He promised to
pour out into the hearts of all those who honor the image of
His heart all the gifts it contains in fullness, and for all
those who would wear this image on their persons He promised
to imprint His love on their hearts and to destroy all
unruly inclinations. Everywhere this holy image was exposed
to be honored, He would pour fourth His graces and
blessings. This blessing was, as it were, a final effort of
His love. He wanted to bestow upon men during these final
centuries such loving redemption in order to snatch them
from the control of Satan, whom He intended to destroy. He
willed to place us under the sweet freedom of His rule of
love, which He wanted to re-establish in the hearts of all
who were willing to embrace this devotion.”
In this second great revelation, Our Lord began to unfold
His intentions and to formulate His promises. The image of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the symbol of His ardent love
for us. This image was to be exhibited in homes or worn on
the breast, especially in the form of a medal, offering
promises of graces and blessing to all who would venerate
it. But for the moment, Margaret could not reveal anything
of what she had seen, because the time had not come to do
so. These revelations would first have to endure trial and
suffer great opposition. And there was a lot more that Jesus
desired to reveal.
Third revelation
Although this apparition has not been dated with certainty,
we have good reason to think it took place in the beginning
of June, 1674, most probably on Friday within the Octave of
the Feast of Corpus Christi, for Margaret Mary had said that
“the Blessed Sacrament was exposed.”
“Once, among other occasions, when the Blessed Sacrament was
exposed, after feeling completely drawn inward by an
extraordinary recollection of all my senses and powers,
Jesus Christ, my gentle Master, appeared to me resplendent
with glory, with his five wounds shining like five suns, and
flames issuing from every part of His sacred humanity. But
above all, from His adorable breast which looked like a
furnace; and uncovering his breast, He showed me His most
loving and lovable heart, which was the living source of
these flames.”
At that time Jesus explained to her the marvels of his pure
love, and to what extent His love for mankind had gone
although He received from them nothing but ingratitude. This
apparition was greater than the rest. As a passionate lover,
He complained about the ingratitude of His loved ones, and
as a divine beggar, stretched out His hand to request our
love.
He gave her the following petitions:
* You are to receive Communion as often as obedience will
permit you.
* During the night of Thursday through Friday I shall make
you share in that mortal sadness that I willed to feel in
the Garden of Olives; sadness which will reduce you to a
kind of agony more dreadful to endure than death.
* To accompany me in this humble prayer that I shall then
present to my Father amid all my anguish, you will rise
between eleven o’clock and midnight, and prostrate yourself
for one hour with me, your face against the ground, to
appease the divine anger by begging mercy for sinners, and
also to lessen in some manner the anguish I experienced in
my abandonment by my apostles, which forced me to reproach
them for not having been able to watch one hour with me.
The most memorable part of this series of apparitions
occurred when Jesus pronounced these words: “Behold this
heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing,
even to the point of spending itself and being consumed to
prove its love to them. And in return, I receive from most
men only ingratitude because of their irreverence and
sacrileges and the coldness and scorn they have for me in
this Sacrament of love. But what offends me most is that
hearts consecrated to me act in this way. Do thou at least
console me by supplying for their ingratitude, as far as
thou art able.”
After hearing these words, Margaret could only express to
Jesus her impotence, and He replied: “Behold, this will
supply for all that is wanting in thee.” And at the same
time His Divine Heart, being opened, issued a flame so
ardent that she thought she should be consumed, for she was
wholly penetrated within it, and no longer being able to
bear it, she asked Him to have pity on her weakness. He then
responded:
“I will be thy strength, fear nothing, but be attentive to
my voice and to what I shall require of thee that thou
mayest be in the requisite dispositions for the
accomplishment of my designs.”
The Lord then described to her exactly how the practice of
devotion to His Sacred Heart would come about, along with
its purpose, which is reparation. Finally, Jesus Himself
warned her about the temptations with which the Devil will
try to deceive her.
“In the first place thou shalt receive Me in Holy Communion
as often as obedience will permit thee whatever
mortification or humiliation it may cause thee, which thou
must take as pledges of My love. Thou shalt, moreover,
communicate on the First Friday of each month. -Every night
between Thursday and Friday I will make thee share in the
mortal sadness which I was pleased to feel in the Garden of
Olives, and this sadness, without thy being able to
understand it, shall reduce thee to a kind of agony harder
to endure than death itself. And in order to bear Me company
in the humble prayer that I then offered to My Father, in
the midst of my anguish, thou shalt rise between eleven
o’clock and midnight, and remain prostrate with Me for an
hour, not only to appease the divine anger by begging mercy
for sinners, but also to mitigate in some way the bitterness
which I felt at that time on finding Myself abandoned by my
Apostles, which obliged me to reproach them for not being
able to watch one hour with me. During that hour thou shalt
do what I shall teach thee. But listen, my daughter, believe
not lightly and trust every spirit, for Satan is enraged and
will seek to deceive thee. Therefore do nothing without the
approval of those who guide thee; being thus under the
authority of obedience, his efforts against thee will be in
vain, for he has no power over the obedient.”
Severe trials
After the apparition, Margaret lost all consciousness and no
longer knew where she was. When they came to withdraw her,
seeing that she did not reply or even stand, except with
great difficulty, they led her to the Mother Superior. On
seeing her thus, as it were, completely beside herself, all
burning and trembling on her knees before her, she mortified
and humbled her to the utmost capability of her power. After
she had told her, though with extreme confusion, what had
taken place, she proceeded to humble her still more, and
refused to allow her for the time being, anything of what
she believed the Lord had asked of her, regarding all that
she told her with contempt.
The fire which consumed Margaret from the inside due to the
revelations caused her to endure a continuous fever. Her
Mother Superior became frightened and had a very wise idea.
She said to Margaret: “Why don’t you ask God to cure you? In
this way we’ll know if all this comes from the Spirit of
God.”
As always, Margaret obeyed. Having presented all this to the
Lord, she did not fail to recover her health immediately.
For the most Blessed Virgin, her good Mother, appearing to
her, bestowed upon her many caresses, and after having
conversed with her for a long time, she said: “Take courage,
my dear daughter, in the health which I restore to thee at
the will of my Divine Son, for thou hast yet a long and
painful way to go upon the Cross.”
Mother de Saumaise continued to wonder. Following the most
authentic spirit of the Church, she decided to consult
theologians. She believed she must force her to break the
profound silence she had observed up until that time, with
the purpose of treating the subject with persons learned in
matters of doctrine. At her superior’s command, therefore,
Margaret Mary appeared before “persons of doctrine” of whom
we know nothing, not even their names. She was obliged to
tell these venerable personages everything that had happened
to her. We readily guess she did this only with extreme
timidity. God permitted, to increase His servant’s merit,
that a few of those whom she consulted did not at first
recognize the Spirit who guided her. They condemned her
great attraction to mental prayer, called her a visionary,
and forbade her to pay any attention to her inspirations.
Even one of the counselors who had been invited to express
an opinion had casually answered: “Give this girl some soup
to eat and everything will be better.”
“They began to say that the Devil was the author of all that
occurred within me, and that my soul would be lost if I did
not disregard his deceits and delusions.”
Margaret suffered much, not because they would think poorly
of her, but rather because of the internal conflict caused
by this situation. She began to think that she was mistaken,
but as much as she made every effort to resist these
attractions, it was impossible for her to resist this
Spirit.
The opposition grew stronger, even within the convent walls.
As could be expected in a convent where silence is the rule,
this animosity found expression most of the day in the form
of meaningful headshakes, reproving glances, surly faces.
Having a visionary in the house, according to some nuns, was
like an invasion from the devil himself. It was a danger, a
threat to everyone. It went so far that Margaret Mary later
admitted that some of the sisters used to “throw holy water”
on her, as though to exorcise Satan’s obsession from her.
Triumph
The Lord had promised Margaret that his work would triumph
regardless of all obstacles. This promise began to be
fulfilled when, at the beginning of the year 1675, He sent
her the Jesuit priest named Claude de la Colombière. As soon
as this priest spoke with Margaret, he was able to discern
her sanctity and believed in her revelations. He
communicated his impression of the young nun to her
superior, and this was enough to reassure her, since Fr.
Colombière was renowned for his own sanctity and wisdom.
Mother de Saumaise commanded her daughter to open her soul
to him as well as she could.
Fourth Revelation
It was after meeting Father Colombière that Margaret
received the fourth and last revelation, the one relating to
the creation of a feast in honor of the Sacred Heart.
It took place during the course of the octave of Corpus
Christi, in the year 1675, between the thirteenth and the
twentieth of June. Margaret said: “Being before the Blessed
Sacrament one day of Its Octave, I received from God signal
tokens of His love, and felt urged by the desire of making
Him some return, and of rendering Him love for love.” He
said:
“Thou canst not make Me a greater return of love than by
doing what I have so often asked of thee.” Then, showing her
His Divine Heart, He said: “Behold this Heart, Which has
loved men so much, that It has spared nothing, even to
exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify to them
Its love; and in return I receive from the greater number
nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and
sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show
Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel the most
keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me,
that treat me thus. Therefore, I ask of thee that the Friday
after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a
special Feast to honor my Heart, by communicating on that
day and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in order to
make amends for the indignities which It has received during
the time It has been exposed on the altars. I promise thee
that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed in abundance the
influence of Its divine love upon those who shall thus honor
It, and cause It to be honored.”
Father de la Colombière ordered her to commit to writing all
that she had made known to him concerning the Sacred Heart
of Jesus. Margaret obeyed, and her greatest desire was that
the designs of Jesus would be fulfilled.
Ten years were to lapse before the Feast of the Sacred Heart
was adopted even by the monastery of Paray. Throughout those
ten years, conflict had persisted around the case of
Margaret Mary. In 1678, Mother de Saumaise, who had come to
believe her, protected and admired her, left the monastery
of Paray to become superior at Moulins. But before she left,
she ordered Margaret to reveal to the community all that the
Lord had told her. Margaret delivered the message, stood up
before the community and told them of the “punishments that
divine justice” intended to inflict on that very monastery.
While she knelt motionless, the sisters became furious. If
she had been able to gather together all the sufferings she
had experienced until then and those she had since, this
would not seem comparable to what she had to endure that one
night. She was dragged from one place to another, with
unbelievable humiliations. This had been the culminating
moment of opposition against her. Most of the nuns opposing
her quickly realized that they had gone too far. The next
morning, there were not enough confessors to meet the needs
of all the nuns seeking absolution. During Mass on that day,
Margaret Mary had the consolation of hearing the following
words deep within her soul: “Finally, peace has been
established and 
my
holiness of justice is satisfied by the sacrifice you have
made to me!”
Much against her will, Margaret was named assistant to the
superior and mistress of novices. This was part of the
fulfillment of the Lord’s plan, in order that Devotion to
the Sacred Heart would be established. However, during her
life Margaret was never able to see the full recognition of
this devotion.
On the evening of October 17th, having previously announced
herself that this would be the date of her death, she
entrusted her soul to the Lord, the One whom she had loved
wholeheartedly.
Only three years after her death, Pope Innocent XII
addressed a brief to the monastery at Dijon whereby he
enriched the feast of the Sacred Heart with precious
indulgences, extending the privilege of celebrating it to
all Visitation monasteries. In 1765, Pope Clement XIII
introduced the feast at Rome. Finally, in 1856, Pope Pious
IX extended the feast to the entire Church. Finally, in the
year 1920, she was beatified by Pope Benedict XV.
Supernatural Interventions
The life of St. Margaret Mary was marked by supernatural
experiences; but these were never a cause to escape the
realities of daily life. Much on the contrary, they brought
about many trials and the need to exercise heroically the
virtues which make up the sanctity needed on a day to day
basis.
In the year 1680, she was gravely ill. Approaching the feast
of Corpus, she was allowed to receive the Bread of Life, but
at the same time, was forbidden to take medicine or visit
the infirmary for a period of five months. Her superior
added, in writing, that under Holy obedience, she had to
request her health to the Lord in order to fulfill
everything that the rule demanded of her, up until the feast
of the Presentation of Our Lady of that same year.
During the five months set by the Mother Superior, St.
Margaret was perfectly healthy, and thus Mother Saumaise was
satisfied with her accomplishment of this trial.
Another divine intervention occurred when St. Margaret was
about to enter her annual retreat. At that time, she was in
the infirmary with a high fever. Her Mother Superior said to
her: “My daughter, I entrust you to the care of Our Lord
Jesus Christ; may He guide, govern and heal you according to
His will.” The Lord appeared to her, made her get up from
bed and told her: “I want to return you healthy to the one
that has put you under my care.” She was thus cured and
appeared as though she had never been sick.
Jesus once appeared to her carrying the Cross, covered with
wounds and bleeding. On that occasion He said to her: “Is
there no one to take pity on Me and share my sorrow in the
pitiful state to which sinners reduce Me, especially at the
present time?” The saint offered herself and took on her
shoulders the heavy cross, all studded with nails.
Once, as she approached the Eucharistic table, she saw the
Host as a resplendent sun and the Lord who had a crown of
thorns in his hands. He placed it on her head as he
pronounced these words: “Receive, my daughter, this crown as
a sign of the one you will soon experience by conforming
yourself to Me.”
Her three ardent desires
Her greatest desires were:
-To love God and to receive Communion.
-Desire to suffer. As a consequence of her desire to love,
she wanted to surrender her life, since she had nothing more
to give.
-Desire to die, in order to be united to Her Love. She was
nonetheless content to live until the day of judgment, if
that was the will of God, although this separation was as
painful as a thousand deaths.
Along with her love of God, she had the most tender charity
towards her neighbors, even more so when it came to her
religious sisters.
Her natural qualities
St. Margaret was quite sensible, timid, discrete and good
spirited, her heart was charitable to the extreme. She had a
poor formal education, but at the same time, she had a
profound wisdom when it came to supernatural truths. She was
just and brave in order to be faithful to the truth. She
knew how to forgive from the heart. The greatest
persecutions and humiliations she endured were forever
buried to the point that she was able to be extremely gentle
to those who had made her suffer.
She overcame her natural repugnance out of love.
Among other things, she felt an aversion to writing and
attending the parlor. However, she made a vow to the Lord,
promising to fulfill these tasks without manifesting her
dislike, as an offering so that a young woman would receive
the sacraments. The Lord allowed this and furthermore, the
young woman made the religious vows before her death.
Throughout her life, Margaret feared breaking this vow, due
to the resistance she must offer herself.
Oblation to the Lord is more important than her actions
She must surrender herself entirely out of love, in
adoration and self oblation, in conformity to the sacrifice
of Jesus, whom she received in the Eucharist.
These graces gave rise to new flames of ardent zeal in the
heart of Margaret, but before being an apostle through her
actions, she would first be a martyr due to the numerous
physical and moral pains that she endured from having
offered herself as a holocaust to the Lord.
Her friends, the souls in Purgatory
She treated the souls in Purgatory as her beloved friends.
Her Divine Master had donated Margaret to these souls during
the year 1683. She must do whatever and suffer whatever to
rescue them from the fires of Purgatory. St. Margaret
participated in the sufferings endured by these souls; she
would pray and practice penances in order to obtain their
freedom. One day, while sitting before the Blessed
Sacrament, a soul appeared to her, surrounded by flames. It
was the soul of a Benedictine monk who had once confessed to
her. He asked her to apply to his soul all that she should
do and suffer for three months, which she promised to do
with the consent of her superiors. He explained to her that
the causes of his sufferings were his preference for his own
interests instead of the glory of God, his strong attachment
to his own reputation; secondly, his poor charity toward his
brethren; and finally, for his twisted intentions in his
practices of devotion and in his relations with creatures.
Margaret promised to cooperate, and during three months his
soul remained close to this voluntary victim, making her
participate in the effects of the purifying fires of
Purgatory.
The intense pain made her shed tears and groan continually.
At the end of the three months, he appeared to her in a very
different state; he was bathed in joy and glory, and about
to be admitted into eternal bliss. He thanked her and
promised to be her protector before God.
Her Death
At the end of the life of this faithful spouse of Christ
there was still missing the last purification of her soul,
which was done by the One who always was her Spouse of
holiness and justice. In the midst of her admirable peace
she suddenly felt attacked with terrible doubts about God’s
judgment. Her ardent desires to die were replaced by
profound terror. “Would I be saved or condemned?” This
painful doubt oppressed her and broke even more her wounded
hands which were pressing the crucifix against her heart;
and she cried out with her voice all broken from her tears:
“Be merciful Oh Lord, be merciful!” Nevertheless very soon
she submerged herself in the Heart of Jesus and in doing so
a profound peace invaded her heart never to leave her again.
On October 17th, 1690, St. Margaret Mary asked to receive
the viaticum and after a day of intense sufferings, she died
at 7:00pm. She was 43 years old and had 18 years of
religious profession. The doctor on his knees beside her bed
said that, since she lived only for love, love was the cause
of her death.
Before she died she said: “I only have the need of God and
the need of immersing myself in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Of the many promises Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Saint
Margaret Mary in favor of souls devoted to His Sacred Heart
the principal ones are as follows:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state
of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite
ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred
Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most
hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their
names eternally written in my Heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you
that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will
receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive
months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in
my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my
Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
Go to Main Page for St.
Margaret Mary>>>
Back
to the Main Page on the Saints>>>
