St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Feast day: October 16
Born in 1647 in Burgundy, France, Margaret Mary was sent to a Poor Clare school after her father died. There, she was bedridden for five years with rheumatic fever, regaining her health at the age of 15. In 1671, she entered a Visitation convent and was professed the following year. She experienced visions and was informed by Christ that she was his instrument in spreading devotion to his Sacred Heart. After being rebuffed by her superior and local theologians, Margaret Mary’s visions were declared genuine by St. Claude de la Colombière. Margaret Mary helped promote a special feast to the Sacred Heart and encouraged First Friday devotions. She died in 1690 and was canonized in 1920. She is patron of polio patients and of devotees to the Sacred Heart.
Collect
Pour out on us, we pray, O Lord,
the spirit with which you so remarkably endowed
Saint Margaret Mary,
so that we may come to know
that love of Christ which surpasses all understanding
and be utterly filled with your fullness.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
