Saint claude de la colombiere biography sampler free

He is remembered principally as the spiritual director who recognized the truth of the revelation that St. Margaret Mary Alacoque received; he also showed heroic virtue in enduring imprisonment that weakened his health and led to an early death. He entered the Society of Jesus when he was 17 and followed a normal course of studies: grammar, literature, philosophy and theology.

After teaching for a few years in Avignon, he studied theology in Paris and was ordained April 6, He taught for another three years and then became preacher at the Jesuit church in that city before going on to tertianship.

Claude de la Colombiere

During that year of prayer and reflection, he felt moved to take a special private vow to obey all the rules of the Society in the most strict manner possible. The French Jesuit's first assignment after tertianship was to be superior of a small community in Paray-le-Monial, where there was also a convent of cloistered Visitation sisters. One of them was Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque to whom God's presence in prayer was revealing a message of divine love.

Some other members of her community thought her prayer was a delusion, and their skepticism caused her suffering. She received assurance from the Lord, however, that he was sending her his "faithful servant and perfect friend. Margaret's spiritual director. She opened her soul to him and told of the supernatural events taking place in her life. He had the insight to recognize this prayer as a real gift from God and a true revelation.

James Palace. The chaplain had to come from outside England; so the young French Jesuit left his own country to live in a foreign court.