Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Margaret Alacoque was born on July 22, 1647, at L'Hautecour, in Burgundy, France. Her father died when she was a child, and she suffered a long illness and hard treatment at home. In 1671 she entered the Visitation convent at Paray-le-Monial, where she took the name Margaret Mary.

Between 1673 and 1675 she reported a series of revelations in which Jesus showed her his Heart burning with love for humanity and wounded by indifference. He asked for Communion on the first Friday of each month, a Holy Hour of prayer on Thursday nights and a feast in honor of his Sacred Heart. Many in her community doubted her, but the Jesuit Saint Claude de la Colombière recognized her sincerity and supported her. She died on October 17, 1690, and was canonized by Benedict XV in 1920.

Paray-le-Monial in France is a major place of pilgrimage. The devotions she spread, the First Fridays, the Holy Hour and the enthronement of the Sacred Heart in homes, remain very popular in Latin America and the Philippines.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart, celebrated after Corpus Christi, was extended to the whole Church in 1856.