He was born in Normandy, France in 1601. He joined the French Religious Community of the Oratorians and was ordained a priest at the age of 24. During the severe plagues of 1627 and 1631 he continued preaching among the people and cared and nursed the sick. In order to prevent the spread of the disease to his community, he lived in the middle of a field in a huge cask.
He worked as a parish missionary, spending time in particular parishes in the Normandy region for weeks and sometimes months at a time. He eventually founded his own order, the Congregation of Jesus and Mary to train and develop the training of priests. He founded several seminaries in Normandy.
In 1641 encouraged and inspired by Madeleine Lamy, who had cared for women trying to escape a life of prostitution, he assisted in establishing the Institute of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the refuge in Caen, where these women could have a place to call home and be treated with dignity and respect. He promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
He wrote numerous prayers and writings. He died in 1670 and was canonised in 1925.
From the Life and Reign of Jesus in Christian Souls (St John Eudes)
“Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires and his disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do unceasingly”.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.