Priest assisted the Sacred Heart

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	St. Claude Colombière When: 1641-1682 Where: France and England Who: Jesuit priest, preacher, who helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart Feast: Feb. 15 Canonized: 1992

Many Catholics have probably never heard of St. Claude La Colombière. Even those who have most likely know him only as the confessor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Her private revelations about the Sacred Heart have led to widespread practice of that devotion and, with his help, its addition to the liturgical calendar on the Friday after Corpus Christi.

But this 17th century saint did far more. He was born at Saint-Symphorien d'Ozen, near Lyons, France, where he studied at the Jesuit college. When he was 17, he entered the Jesuits and studied at Avignon and Paris, while tutoring the sons of J.B. Colbert, King Louis XIV's finance minister.

When he was 32, Claude decided he needed to follow the Jesuit rule completely and to obey his superiors without question.

By the time Claude was ordained in 1675, he was already known as an outstanding preacher. In one of his sermons, Claude spoke of the small frustrations of daily life - someone offends us, the weather is bad, a bore talks to us, something is broken, a dress is torn. "I know that these are not occasions for practicing very heroic virtue," he said, "but they would definitely be enough to acquire it if we really wished to."

After his ordination, Claude was named superior of Paray-le-Monial College in Burgundy. While there, he visited the Visitation convent and met Sr. Margaret Mary, who said an inner voice had told her: "This is he whom I have sent to you."

Sr. Margaret Mary confided in him her visions of the Sacred Heart. He assured her that these visions were authentic and they began working together for a new feast day.

Claude already had a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart even before meeting Sr. Margaret Mary. He emphasized Sacred Heart devotions as a way to counter the growing influence of Jansenism, a heresy that emphasized the sinfulness of humanity and argued for predestination and that Jesus had died only for those predestined to go to heaven.

After only 18 months in Paray, Claude was sent to England as a preacher to Mary Beatrice d'Este, the Duchess of York. It was a highly dangerous assignment because the country still had laws against Catholic priests. Claude devoted himself to preaching, encouraging persecuted Catholics, helping Catholics who had left the faith to return to it and working to convert Protestants.

After Titus Oates falsely accused Catholics of hatching the Popish Plot to kill King Charles II, Claude was imprisoned and sentenced to be executed.

King Louis XIV intervened and arranged for him to be sent back to France. But his imprisonment in a damp cell left him an invalid and he was never able to regain his health.