St. John Eudes

Born in Normandy, St. John Eudes was educated by the Jesuits and joined the Congregation of the Oratory. Ordained to the priesthood at 24, he became the most prodigious missionary in France since St. Vincent Ferrer and over twenty years conducted more than 110 missions, each lasting several weeks. Through his missionary work he saw how essential a clergy zealous for souls was for the salvation and sanctification of the people.

In 1634 he left the Oratory to found the Congregation of Jesus and Mary for the restoration of a Christian spirit among the faithful and training of priests. The Congregation’s seminaries were influential in combatting the errors of Jansenism by stressing the infinite compassion of God. But the Jansenists responded with a campaign of calumny directed against the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge, which the saint founded for penitent women and would later produce the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.

For a time St. John was suspended from preaching and hearing confession, so he directed his efforts towards writing on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. St. John’s popularising the devotion led to the first feasts in honour of the Sacred Heart and Immacuate Heart, with a proper Mass and Office which he himself composed. In addition he wrote several works on aspects of the priesthood. On this day in 1690, with the words ‘Jesus’ and ‘Mary’ on his lips, St. John died in peace, worn out by more than sixty years of missionary work.