Saint Claude de la Colombière

Claude de la Colombière was born in 1641 near Lyon, France, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1658. A gifted preacher and teacher, he made a commitment during his tertianship to follow the Jesuit rule with total fidelity. In 1675 he was sent as superior to the small Jesuit house at Paray-le-Monial.

There he became the spiritual director of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun who had received revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Claude recognized the authenticity of her experiences and became the first to spread the devotion. In 1676 he went to London as preacher to Mary of Modena, Duchess of York. During the anti-Catholic panic known as the Popish Plot he was arrested in 1678, imprisoned and expelled from England. His health broken, he returned to Paray-le-Monial, where he died on February 15, 1682. He was canonized by Saint John Paul II in 1992.

His relics rest in the Jesuit chapel at Paray-le-Monial, near the Visitation monastery where the Sacred Heart appeared, and pilgrims visit both.

His 'Act of Confidence in God' is still prayed by many, and devotees of the Sacred Heart in Latin America and the Philippines remember him as one of its first apostles.