Margaret Mary Alacoque
by Gabriele Cantaluppi
Having died in Annecy in 1690, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque was beatified almost two centuries later in 1864 and canonized in 1920, so much so that the promoters of the beatification process said that: "it takes more formalities to have a saint declared than to become a saint ”. The reason for such a delay lies in the opposition to devotion to the Sacred Heart on the part of the Jansenists and some Catholic groups. Even today the "great promise" revealed to her by Jesus does not receive sympathy from some: "I promise you, in the excessive mercy of my Heart, that to those who approach the sacred table for nine consecutive months, every first Friday of the month, the almighty love of my Heart will grant the gift of final penance: they will not die in a state of sin, nor without receiving the holy sacraments and my Heart in those last moments will be a safe asylum for them".
The Heart of Jesus had confided to her that what he liked most in a consecrated soul was the spirit of obedience and Margherita had always confided to the Superior on duty in her community everything that that Heart asked of her, whether or not she approved. This was precisely because the graces of which she was the custodian always made her fear, sometimes with real anguish, that she was the victim of a deception by the devil. Communion on the first nine Fridays of the month should not be understood as an insurance policy for Heaven, but as the desire to live in the sacrament of the Eucharist the desire to immolate the Crucified Jesus and make amends for the sins of the world: it is therefore a commitment of daily conversion, which does not leave us unprepared for death. Fifth daughter of Claudius, notary and lawyer of Louis XIV and Philibert Lamyne, Margaret was born in Lauthecourt in central France on 22 July 1647, receiving baptism two days later.
At nine years old, which was exceptional for those times, she was admitted to her First Communion, thanks to the education in the faith she received from a godmother who had entrusted her and then to a boarding school run by the Poor Clare nuns of Charolles. The Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary became her great devotions, so much so that she wrote: “The Blessed Virgin has always taken great care of me; I turned to her in all my needs, and she got me out of great dangers." The cross soon began to weigh on her shoulders. A long illness forced her to bed for four years, from ten to fourteen, and the following years were also difficult, because she lost a sister and her father who was just forty years old and the relatives, whom her mother had called to manage their assets, deprived her of every freedom, treating them as servants. When, for example, Margherita asked for a decent dress to go to mass, she was refused it and was forced to borrow it from a friend.
Overcoming the resistance of her mother and family, who would have wanted her to marry a good match, she received Confirmation at the age of 22 by adding that of Maria to her baptismal name, and was able to fulfill her dream of becoming a nun at the monastery of the Visitation in Paray-le-Monial, 25 May 1671. «Place yourself before Our Lord, like a canvas waiting for the painter» was the advice received from the mistress of novices upon her request to teach her to pray. She took this recommendation seriously, spending many more hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament than required by the rule, and her sisters began to look at her with distrust, thinking that she wanted to show off. To keep her "down to earth" they entrusted her with the most humble jobs and sometimes she was forced to suffer from the harshness with which her superiors treated her, but she tried to overcome every repugnance and to be obedient in every little thing. On December 27, 1673, Jesus revealed himself to her for the first time: "My divine Heart is so passionate with love for men that, no longer able to contain within itself the flames of its ardent love, it feels the need to spread them through you." Other times he suggested her religious practices and other promises, inviting her to make them known to the world, to the point of asking that the feast of the Sacred Heart be established on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi. But she didn't know what to do, surrounded by the distrust of her sisters, who wouldn't even allow her to make an image of the Sacred Heart and display it publicly.
Providence came to her aid, in the person of the Jesuit Father Claude La Colombière, who was her spiritual director for many years and, recognizing the revelations received as truly inspired by God, encouraged her, supported her cause with the superiors of the Visitation and he himself became an apostle of devotion to the Sacred Heart. In the last paragraphs of her autobiography, written out of obedience, the Saint describes the gifts she received from the Heart of Jesus to make her participate more intimately in her passion: she always lived suffering in joy and in the clear awareness of the presence of the Lord. Little by little, first her monastery, then some families, finally many faithful joined the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which experienced an extraordinary diffusion. Less than a hundred years after his death, Clement XIII, urged to establish a feast of the Sacred Heart for the whole Church, learned with amazement that there were already 1.090 confraternities consecrated to it in the world and was convinced to grant this feast on 6 February 1765 Don Guanella wanted his Works to be placed entirely under the protection of the Heart of Jesus: “Our Works have flowed from the most august Heart of God, who has fertilized and supports them, and we cannot make them prosper and ignite in us better. the fire of charity that unites us with the Heart of Jesus Christ, learning its virtues and drawing its favors". (Lett. Circ. IV,1397).