St. John Eudes

Feast day 19 August

Born in 1601 to a farming family at Ri in Normandy, John showed great promise as a boy and was sent to be educated by the Jesuits at Caen. Once he had finished a somewhat lengthy education he joined the French Oratorians in 1623, inspired by Philip Neri and stayed with them for twenty years. Reckoned to be the great preacher of his day, it was said he touched the hearts of all who listened to him. John was also noted for his missionary work and the care of the sick during epidemics.

In 1643 he founded his own movement, the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, or Eudists for the education of priests in seminaries. He started foundations at Coutances, Lisieux and Rouen; he also founded refuges for fallen women. John’s work prospered and his houses became much more numerous, even after his death at Caen in 1680.

In the field of faith John gave impetus to the spread of devotion of the Sacred Heart by providing a firm doctrinal basis for it. This completed the revelations made to Margaret Mary Alacoque, the Burgundian nun and mystic. John Eudes was canonised in 1923.

John Hayward