SAINT CLAUDE DE LA

COLOMBIERE
1641-1682
by SCTJM
“At whatever the price, it is necessary for God to be happy”

Feast Day: February 15

Biography...
Act of Confidence...
Homily of Canonization....
John Paul II’s Address to Jesuits...
Article on the Saint’s life...

“Oh, Hearts, truly worthy of possessing all the hearts of angels and of
men! You are from now the rule of my conduct, and in all occasions I
will try to be inspired in your sentiments. I want my heart to be from
now on inspired in Jesus and Mary, that the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
be in mine so that they can communicate to me their movements, and
for my heart not to move, but according to the impressions received
from them.”
Introduction

The Jesuit Priest St. Claude de la Colombière was the first to believe in
the mystical revelations of the Sacred Heart given to St. Margaret
Mary in Paray le Monial Convent, France. Thanks to his support, St.
Margaret Mary’s superior also believed, and propagation of the
devotion to the Sacred heart was started.

St. Claude not only believed, but dedicated his life to propagate the
devotion, always spiritually united to St. Margaret Mary and trusting
her discernment.

He was a holy and wise priest who knew how to discern well the
authentic divine intervention in St. Margaret Mary’s soul. Even though
at this time, many people, theologians and religious thought of her to
be mad and despised her.

Glory for Our God

A contemporary artist of St. Claude’s time painted a picture of him

when he was about 35 - 41 years old: his face was long, his eyes were
small and brilliant, he had a very penetrating gaze, wide forehead, a
well proportioned mouth, and a pointed chin. It is mentioned that when
Claude entered the Company of Jesus he was robust, joyful in
character, with elevated ideas, prudent and very pleasing. What
religious life did was fully develop his natural gifts.

In his natural intelligence he was accustomed to sincere and

penetrating judgments. Claude loved the arts and maintained
correspondence with Oliverio Patru, member of the French Academy of
Arts, who praised very much his writings. All these natural gifts would
have been worth little in the work of souls if he had not united them to
the interior spirit of a religious thirsting for the glory of God.

The fountain of his interior life was union with God in prayer, fully
giving himself. He habitually reached the way of referring everything
to God. Human respect and worldly motives did not exist for him. This
extraordinary detachment of the world was his principal characteristic.

His birth and life

St. Claude was born in 1641 in Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon, near Lyon.

His family was well-known, pious and had a good social status. We
have no special data about his life before entering the Jesuit School of
Lyon. Even though religious life was not appealing to him, he managed
to conquer this and was immediately admitted to the Company of
Jesus.

He did his novitiate in Avignon, and after two years transferred to the
school of that city to complete his philosophical studies. Upon finishing
his studies he was sent to teach grammar and humanities from 1661-
1666. Since 1659, the city of Avignon had experienced terrible
conflicts between the nobility and the people. In 1662, the famous
encounter between the Pontifical Guards and the group of French
Ambassadors took place. Because of this incident Louis XIV sent his
troops and occupied Avignon which belonged to Papal territories. This,
however, did not interfere with his school work. The Calvinists’
increased presence only lead to more zeal from the Jesuits, who then
consecrated themselves even more to their apostolic ministry in the
city and the nearby districts.

When peace was established in Avignon the canonization of St. Francis

de Sales was celebrated. A great liturgical celebration took place in the
oldest convent of the Visitation Order. At this great occasion St. Claude
demonstrated for the first time his gifts as a preacher. Although he
was not a priest yet, he was one of those elected to preach the eulogy
of the Holy Bishop in the convent Church.

The text he chose was: “From strength softness has gushed forth”
(Judges 14:14). His sermon was magnificent. In the meantime Claude’s
superiors decided to send him to finish his theological studies in Paris,
the center of the French intellects. In Paris he was given the task and
honor of watching over the education of two children of the famous
Colberts. What probably happened was that Colbert discovered the
intellectual capability of Claude and chose him for this important task,
even though Colbert was not a personal friend of the Jesuits.

The relations between the saint and this distinguished family

terminated poorly. A humorous phrase used by Claude in one of his
writings was made known to the minister, who felt offended by it and
asked the superiors of the Company of Jesus to remove him and send
him back to his province. This did not occur until 1670.

Proclamation of the Word of God and Exaltation of the Sacred

Heart

In 1673, the young priest was named preacher of the Avignon School.
His sermons, on which he worked intensely, were real models because
of the solid doctrine and the beauty of the language. The saint seemed
to have preached the same sermons in England. He preached in the
chapel of the Duchess of York, Maria de Modena, who became Queen
when Jacob II inherited the throne. She is responsible for the
publication of these sermons.

During his stay in Paris the saint studied Jansenism with all its half
truths and slander. He combated this heresy from the pulpit, animated
by the love of the Sacred Heart and the greatest devotion against
Jansenism. At the end of 1674, Father La Chaize, rector of the saint
received the order from the general of the Company of Jesus to admit
him to solemn profession after a month of “Spiritual Exercises.” He
consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The saint added to the solemn vows of profession the vow of absolute
fidelity to the rules of the Company of Jesus down to the smallest
details. According to his diary, he had lived for some time this perfect
fidelity and wanted to consecrate his conduct under a vow in order to
make it more lasting. At 33 years of age, the same age when Christ
died, he was inspired with great desire to die completely to this world
and to self. He wrote in his diary: “I believe, Lord, it is time for me to
live in You, and only for You, at my age You died for me in particular.”

Chosen by and for the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Two months after his solemn profession in February 1675, Claude was
named Superior of the Paray-le-Monial School. It was an exceptional
honor to entrust the government of a house to a recently ordained
priest; but on the other hand, the small community of Paray consisted
of only 4 or 5 priests, an insignificant amount for the great gifts Claude
had.

This was all a part of the designs of God so that he may contact a soul
needing his help: Margaret Mary Alacoque. This religious was in a
troubled period of her life with much suffering due to the extraordinary
revelations given by the Sacred Heart of Jesus which became clearer
and more intimate every day.

Following the indications of her superior, Mother Saumaise, Margaret

Mary had confided her experience to a learned priest who lacked
knowledge on mysticism. The priest thought that Margaret Mary was a
victim of the devil’s deception. This confused St. Margaret Mary even
more.
Moved by Margaret’s prayer, God sent her his faithful servant and
perfect friend, Claude de la Colombière.

Father La Colombière one day went to preach to the Visitation

community. While he was speaking, Margaret wrote, “I heard in my
heart these words: He is the one I sent you.” Since the first time that
Margaret went to confession with Father La Colombière, he treated her
as if he was aware of all that was occurring. The saint felt a
tremendous repugnance to opening her heart and did not do so even
though she was convinced God’s will was that she confess with Fr. La
Colombière. In the following confession, Father La Colombière told her
he was very happy to know that he was the motive behind her self-
denial. Margaret Mary said: “Immediately, without hurting me, he
discovered the good and the bad in my heart. It consoled me very
much and he exhorted me not to be afraid of God’s ways as long as I
remain obedient to my superiors, renewing my offering totally to God,
so He can treat me as He pleases. Father Claude showed me to
appreciate God’s gifts and to receive them with faith and humility.”
This was the great service of Father Claude de la Colombière to
Margaret Mary. On the other hand, the saint worked tirelessly,
promoting the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He saw in this
devotion the greatest remedy against Jansenism.

Testimony before persecution

The saint did not spent much time in Paray. His following occupation
was very different. By recommendation of Father La Chaize, who was
confessor of Louis XIV, his superiors sent him to London as preacher to
Maria Beatriz d’ Este, Duchess of York. The saint preached in England
with his example and words. Love of the Sacred Heart was his favorite
theme. The process of beatification spoke of his apostolate in England
and the numerous Protestants he converted. The position of Catholics
in this country was very difficult because of the hostility against them.
A movement was formed in court to exclude the Duke of York from the
succession to the crown because he converted to Catholicism. He was
substituted by the Prince of Orange.

The imprudence of Titus Oates and his followers invented a story

about a “conspiracy of the Papists,” in which Father La Colombière was
included with the rest of the Catholics. The conspiracy’s object,
according to the slanderers, was to assassinate King Charles II and the
destruction of the Church of England. Claude was accused of
exercising his priestly ministry and of converting many Protestants. He
was imprisoned, and by intervention of Louis XIV his life was prevented
from martyrdom.

The saint was simply taken into exile in England. The prison had taken
an effect on his weak health. Upon his return to France in 1679, the
saint was terminally ill, even though at times he recovered a little and
exercised his priestly ministry. A kidney disease left him restless. His
superiors sent him to Lyon and Paray thinking he would recover his
health. During one of his visits to Paray, Margaret Mary told him that
he will die in this city.

Father Claude arrived at Paray in April 1681, as recommended by the

doctors, to recover his health. During this time there were
communications between Father Claude and Sister Margaret Mary,
sharing the ardor of their souls and apostolic projects in favor of the
Sacred Heart.

Father Claude’s illness worsened. He though of moving somewhere

with a different climate, but St. Margaret Mary advised him that he
should stay in Paray if it did not cause a disobedience. She sent him
this message: “He has told me that He wants the sacrifice of your life
here.” Such an affirmation eliminated all plans to travel.

Death and glory

After giving a marvelous example of humility and patience, Claude de

La Colombière gave his soul to God in the afternoon of February 15th,
1682. The following day, St. Margaret Mary received an announcement
from heaven that Claude was already in the glory of God and did not
need any prayers.

A very devout person wrote the following on Claude de La Colombière:

“May your affliction cease. Invoke him. Don’t fear; he has more power
now than ever before to help us.”

Father La Colombière was beatified in 1929 and Pope John Paul II

declared him a saint in 1992. The Universal Church celebrates his feast
day on February 15th.

Act of Confidence in God – Saint Claude de la Colombière

 My God, I’m so persuaded that You watch over
all who hope in You and nothing can be lacking
to those who await from You all things, that I
have determined to live from now on without
any concern, letting go and giving You all of my
anxieties. I will sleep and rest in peace because
You, O Lord, and only You, have secured my
hope.

Men can deprive me of possessions and

reputation; illnesses can take away my strength
and means to serve You; I myself can lose Your
grace because of sin; but I will not lose my hope;
I will conserve it until the last instant of my life
and all the efforts from demons trying to take it
away from me will be useless. I will sleep and rest in peace.

May others expect happiness in their richness and talents; some may
lean on the innocence of their lives, or the rigor of their penitence, or
above all on the amount of their good works, or the fervor of their
prayers. As for myself Lord, all my confidence is my confidence itself.
Because You Lord, only You have secured my hope.

No one has been deceived by this confidence. No one who has waited
in the Lord has been frustrated in their confidence.

herefore, I am sure that I will be eternally happy because I firmly hope

to be; and because You, Oh, My God, are in Whom I expect all. In You I
hope Lord, and never will I be confused.

I know very well . . . too well that I am fragile and inconstant, I know
well the power of temptations against the most firm virtue; I have seen
thestars fall from heaven and columns from the firmament; but none
of this can frighten me. As long as I maintain firm my hope, I will be
conserved from all calamities; and I am sure to hope always, because I
hope the same in this unchanging hope.

In conclusion, I am sure that I cannot hope in excess in You and that I

will receive all that I would have hoped for in You. Therefore, I know
You will sustain me on the most rapid and slippery slopes, that You will
strengthen me against the assaults and make my weakness triumph
over the most tremendous enemies.
 hope You will always love me and I will love you without interruption;
to take once and for all my hope as far as it can reach. I hope in You
and only in You! Oh, My Creator! In time and for all eternity.

Amen.

Homily of the Canonization Mass for Saint Claude La

Colombiere
H.H. John Paul II, May 31, 1992

1. “So that you love for me may live in them” (Jn 17:26).

Christ prays in the Upper Room. He prays on the evening in which he

instituted the Eucharist. He prays for the Apostles and for all those
“who will believe through their word” (Jn 17:20) down the generations
and centuries. He is asking the Father that all “may be one”, as the
Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father: “That they may be
one in us” (Jn 17:21).

To be one: the unity of Divinity and the unity of communion of the

Persons—the unity of the Father in the Son and of the Son with the
Father in the Holy Spirit. Unity through Love.

Christ prays for love: “So that your love for me may live in them” (Jn
17:26).

Christ reveals the secret of his Heart. Precisely this human Heart of
God’s Son is an ineffable sanctuary which contains all the treasures of
love: it is a Heart “overflowing with goodness and love” (Litany of the
Sacred heart of Jesus).

2. The prayer offered by Christ in the Upper Room continues in the

Church: from century to century, from generation to generation, it is a
perennial “source of life and holiness” (ibid.). But there are particular
moments in history, specially chosen places and persons who almost
discover and reveal anew this perennial and undying truth about love.

The man whom the Church today proclaims a saint—Blessed Claude La

Colombiere—is certainly one of these persons.

An intense spiritual movement enlivened the Church in France

3. In France the 17th century has been called “the great century of
souls”. It was a time of high human culture, of the development of the
institutions of that prestigious European nation. But it was also a time
of cruel conflict and human poverty. The clergy and religious orders
were often decadent; as a result the people remained far from the
light of faith, the benefits of the spiritual life and of ecclesial
communion. However, after the Council of Trent, after founders such
as Francis de Sales, Berulle and Vincent de Paul, an intense spiritual
movement enlivened the Church in France. A great work of reform
took place: the priestly ministry was renewed, notably through the
establishment of seminaries; religious returned to the authenticity of
their vocation, new foundations came into being; evangelization of the
countryside took on new vitality through parish missions; a flowering
of mysticism was joined to theological reflection.

In the middle of this century lived Claude La Colombiere, who entered

the Society of Jesus at a young age. He exercised his mission in Paris
and in several provinces; he had a notable influence because of his
intellectual effort, and even more, because of the dynamism of the
Christian life which he knew how to communicate.

4. A true companion of Saint Ignatius, Claude learned to master his

strong sensitivity. He humbly maintained a sense of “his
wretchedness” so as to rely only on his hope in God and his trust in
grace. He resolutely took the way of holiness. He adhered with all his
being to the Constitutions and Rules of the Society, rejecting all
tepidness. Fidelity and obedience were expressed, before God, by the
“desire ... for trust, love, resignation and perfect sacrifice” ( Retraite,
n. 28).

Fr. Claude forged his spirituality in the school of the Exercises. We still
have his impressive journal. He dedicated himself first of all to
“meditating a great deal on the life of Jesus” (Ibid., n. 33).
Contemplating Christ allowed him to live in familiarity with him so as
to belong to him totally: “I see that I absolutely must belong to him”
(ibid., n. 71). And if Claude dared to aim for this total fidelity, it was in
virtue of his acute awareness of the power of grace which transformed
him. He attained the perfect freedom of one who gives himself
unreservedly to the will of God: “I have a free heart”, he said (ibid., n.
12): trials or sacrifices he accepted, “thinking that God only expects
these things of us out of friendship” (ibid., n. 38). His whole taste for
friendship led him to respond to God’s friendship with a loving zeal
renewed each day.
Fr. La Colombiere was active in the apostolate with the conviction that
he was the instrument of God’s work: “To do much for God, one must
belong entirely to him” (ibid., n. 37). Prayer, he also said, is “the only
way ... to have God united to us so that we may do something for his
glory” (ibid., n. 52). In the apostolate fruits and success come less
from personal abilities than from fidelity to the divine will and
openness to his action.

Saint Claude spread devotion to

Sacred Heart

5. This pure-hearted and free religious

was prepared to understand and to
preach the message that the Heart of
Jesus was entrusting to Sr. Margaret
Mary Alacoque at the same time. Paray-
le-Monial, in our eyes, would be the most
fruitful stage in Claude La Colombiere’s
very short journey. He came to this town,
long rich for its tradition of religious life,
to have a providential meeting with the
humble Visitandine engaged in constant
dialogue with her “divine Master”, who
promised her “the delights of [his] pure
love.” He found her to be a religious who
ardently desired the “all-pure cross”
( Memoire, n. 49) and who offered her penance and sorrows without
hesitation.

Fr. La Colombiere, with highly reliable discernment, straightaway

authenticated the mystical experience of this “beloved disciple [of the]
Sacred Heart” (ibid., n. 54), with whom he had a beautiful spiritual
kinship. He received from her the message which would have great
repercussions: “Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it
spared nothing to exhaust and consume itself in testimony of its love”
( Retraites, n. 135). The Lord asked that a feast be established to
honour his Heart and that a “reparation of honour” be made to him in
Eucharistic communion. Margaret Mary passed on to “the faithful
servant and perfect friend”, whom she recognized in Fr. La
Colombiere, the mission of “establishing this devotion and of giving
this pleasure to my divine Heart” (ibid.). Claude, in the years left to
him, interiorized these “infinite riches”. His spiritual life then
developed in the perspective of the “reparation” and “infinite mercy”
so underscored at Paray. He gave himself completely to the Sacred
Heart “ever burning with love”. Even in trials he practiced
forgetfulness of self in order to attain purity of love and to raise the
world to God. Sensing his own weakness, he gave himself over to the
power of grace: “Accomplish your will in me, Lord.... It belongs to you
to do everything, divine Heart of Jesus Christ” (ibid., Offrande, n. 152).

6. The past three centuries allow us to evaluate the importance of the

message which was entrusted to Claude La Colombiere. In a period of
contrast between the fervor of some and the indifference or impiety of
many, here is a devotion centred on the humanity of Christ, on his
presence, on his love of mercy and on forgiveness. The call to
“reparation”, characteristic of Paray-le-Monial, can be variously
understood, but essentially it is a matter of sinners, which all human
beings are, returning to the Lord, touched by his love, and offering a
more intense fidelity in the future, a life aflame with charity. If there is
solidarity in sin, there is also solidarity in salvation. The offering of
each is made for the good of all. Following the example of Claude La
Colombiere, the faithful understand that such a spiritual attitude can
only be the action of Christ in them, shown through Eucharistic
communion: to receive in their heart the Heart of Christ and to be
united to the sacrifice which he alone can offer worthily to the Father.

Devotion to the Heart of Christ would be a source of balance and

spiritual strengthening for Christian communities so often faced with
increasing unbelief over the coming centuries: an impersonal
conception of God will spread; individuals, moving away from a
personal encounter with Christ and the sources of grace, will want to
be the sole masters of their history and to become a law unto
themselves, to the point of being ruthless in pursuing their own
ambitions. The message of Paray, accessible to the humble as well as
to the great of this world, answers such aberrations by clarifying the
relationship of the human person with God and with the world of the
light which comes from the heart of God: in conformity with the
Church’s Tradition, it turns his gaze towards the cross of the world’s
Redeemer, towards “him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37).

May Saint Claude inspire Church to live consecration to

Christ’s Heart

7. We give thanks, again today, for the message entrusted to the

saints of Paray, which has never ceased to extend its radiance. At the
beginning of our century Pope Leo XIII hailed “in the Sacred Heart of
Jesus a symbol and clear image of Jesus Christ’s infinite love, a love
which impels us to love one another” (Encycl. Annum sacrum, 1900).
Pius XI and Pius XII encouraged this devotion and saw in it a spiritual
answer to the difficulties which the faith and the Church were facing.
Certainly, forms of expression and sensitivities develop, but the
essential element remains. When one has discovered in Eucharist
adoration and meditation the Heart of Jesus “ever burning with love for
human beings” ( Retraites, n. 150), how could one let oneself be
seduced by forms of meditation which turn in on the self without
welcoming the presence of the Lord? How could one be attracted by
the proliferation of conceptions of the sacred which only mask a tragic
spiritual emptiness?

For evangelization today the Heart of Christ must be recognized as the

heart of the Church: it is he who calls us to conversion, to
reconciliation. It is he who leads pure hearts and those hungering for
justice along the way of the Beatitudes. It is he who achieves the warm
communion of the members of the one Body. It is he who enables us
to adhere to the Good News and to accept the promise of eternal life.
It is he who sends us out on mission. The heart-to-heart with Jesus
broadens the human heart on a global scale.

May the canonization of Claude La Colombiere be for the whole Church

an appeal to live the consecration to the Heart of Christ, a
consecration which is a self-giving that allows the charity of Christ to
inspire us, pardon us and lead us in his ardent desire to open the ways
of truth and life to all our brothers and sisters!

8. “Righteous Father, the world also does not know you but I know you,
and they know that you sent me” (Jn 17:25).

They: Claude La Colombiere—Margaret Mary Alacoque. The Church.

During the Easter season the Church relives the theophanies of her
Redeemer and Lord—the Good Shepherd who “lays down his life for
the sheep” (cf. Jn 10:15).

And the Church looks to heaven together with Stephen the deacon, the
first martyr stoned to death in Jerusalem. the Church looks to heaven
as Stephen did at the moment of his death as a martyr.

“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the
right hand of God.... Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:56-59).

Amen!

John Paul II’s Greetings to French Pilgrims

Dear friends,

Pilgrims of the dioceses of Autun, Chalon and Macon, who have

accompanied your Bishop, Msgr. Raymond Seguy, I am happy to be
able to briefly meet with you after the canonization of Claude La
Colombiere. You have come to share in the entire Church’s joy over
the inclusion among the Saints of this son of your land, this great
witness of the spiritual history of your country.

In welcoming you the precious memories of my pilgrimage to Paray-le-

Monial return to mind. I am happy to greet among you the
representatives a town with a long monastic and religious tradition,
still alive and constantly renewed, with the particular lustre given it by
the Visitation nun Saint Marguerite-Marie and the Jesuit Saint Claude.

In the seventeenth century the Lord chose your town to bring forth a
new source of merciful and infinitely generous love on which
generations of pilgrims would draw. The fecundity of grace attached to
the cult of the Sacred Heart is especially manifest in the development
of pilgrimages to Paray over the past few years. The diocese and the
different communities present have helped bring many people to
share in the wealth of the message entrusted to the Saints of your
town.

I am happy to know that Paray nourishes the spirituality of many

priests and religious and inspires the early formation of candidates to
the priesthood. The sessions which bring together young people and
families are a true motive of hope for the vitality of the Church in your
country and of pilgrims from other nations. You also contribute greatly
to sacred art so that our contemporaries can express the praise of God
and celebrate the treasures of his love more eloquently.

I encourage all who are engaged in daily pastoral life and in the
organization of pilgrimages and sessions: I have in mind most
particularly the monastic communities, the priests of the diocese, the
Jesuit Fathers, the Community of Emmanuel, the faithful of the city and
of the Saone-et-Loire district, as well as all those who are united with
them in this fervor. May Saint Claude La Colombiere and Saint
Marguerite Marie sustain you with their intercession and obtain from
the Lord that Paray-le-Monial radiate still more the spiritual hospitality
he made of it.

In the joy of this feast-day I willingly call down on you God’s blessing.
 John Paul II’s Address to Jesuits,
The Apostleship of Prayer and
Other Pilgrims

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. I am happy to welcome you to this

special audience after yesterday’s
solemn celebration in which I had the
joy of enrolling Blessed Claude la
Colombiere in the list of saints. I
address my affectionate greeting to
all of you present, with a special
thought for the Bishops
accompanying you and for the priests
of the Society of Jesus who have seen
one of their confreres raised to the
glory of the altars.

The decisive event which marked the

life and spirituality of Saint Claude La Colombiere was certainly his
meeting with Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque, which took place in the
Visitation Monastery in Paray-le-Monial in February 1675. On the
occasion of a meditation which he gave the community, an interior
voice suggested to the woman religious to turn to him in confidence:
“This is the one I am sending you.” In face, from her first confession,
Fr. Claude was aware of the authenticity of the mystical experience of
the young Visitation Sister and Margaret Mary knew she was seeing
the fulfillment of the vision of the flaming heart of Jesus with two other
hearts which became lost in the divine heart: hers and that of the
spiritual director who had been sent to her.

In her autobiography the great mystic then fully described the vision
she had on 15 June 1675 in which Jesus, showing her his Heart, said to
her: “Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it spared nothing
to exhaust and consume itself in testimony of its love, and in place of
gratitude receives ingratitude from the majority of them...”. For this
reason Jesus himself asked that the first Friday after the octave of
Corpus Christi be dedicated especially to honoring his Heart with
participation in the Eucharist and with special prayers of reparation for
the offenses committed against the Sacrament of Love.

Not knowing how to do everything that was expected of her, Sister

Margaret Mary hesitantly asked Jesus for some direction; this is what
she wrote in her autobiography: “He told me to turn to his servant
whom he had sent me to fulfill this plan.” Father Claude accepted the
mission and thus became a fervent apostle of devotion to the Sacred
Heart and of commitment to reparation.

2. As you know, Fr. Claude’s stay in Paray-le-Monial was brief;

however, he had perfectly understood that against the coldness of
Jansenism and the religious indifference of many Christians, and even
of consecrated persons, it was necessary to preach and help people
feel deeply the true motive behind creation and redemption: Love!
Consequently he continued to be the tireless herald of that message
for the rest of his life.

Today, too, Saint Claude La Colombiere, that master of enlightened

spirituality, teaches us that Jesus Christ alone leads to the true God,
that love alone—which the Bible symbolizes as the Heart, the
expression of Jesus’ whole Person and mission—enables us to
penetrate the mysteries of God, our Creator, Redeemer and Rewarder!

In fact, in the Heart of Jesus God shows that he wants to be understood

in his absolute desire to love, forgive and save; in the Heart of Jesus
God teaches that the Church, in her ministry and Magisterium, must
always be loving and sensitive, never aggressive or oppressive,
although she must always condemn evil and correct error; in the Heart
of Jesus God has us understand that it is necessary to share in his work
of salvation through the “apostolate of prayer” and “commitment to
reparation.”

Justly, therefore, the movement of the Apostleship of Prayer has these

three ideals and goals: “the proclamation of and witness to the infinite
treasures of the Heart of Jesus, who wants only to love his creatures
and be loved; the constant sense of Jesus’ true presence in the
Eucharist, maintaining a deep, lively Eucharistic devotion through
Mass, Communion, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; the
commitment to reparation—including sacrifice and suffering, which
Jesus himself expressed a desire for in his message to Margaret Mary.
Thus Saint Claude La Colombiere once wrote to a person whom he was
directing: “I do not recognize devotion unless there is mortification”
( Letters, n. 74).

Conversion, salvation and the sanctification of souls is the true content

of devotion to the Heart of Jesus and of the undying message of Saint
Claude La Colombiere.

3. With pleasure I greet all the French speaking pilgrims present; I

would especially like to address the Superiors and Fathers of the
Society of Jesus. With you I give thanks for the canonization of your
companion, Claude La Colombiere. You recognize in him a faithful son
of Saint Ignatius, a model and intercessor for the Jesuits of today. His
writings, which eloquently testify to his spiritual life, reveal his
profound experience of the Exercises. He achieved an unlimited assent
to the kingdom of God, he gave his consent to the person of Christ.
The sorrow caused him due to sin was equal to nothing but his
unshakable trust in the merciful forgiveness. In the image of the Son,
he conformed his will to that of the Father, which he endlessly
translated into prayer and preaching: “Just as I cannot live without
you, make me never live but for you” ( Sermon, 56).

May the intercession of Saint Claude sustain you in your very diverse
ministries on all continents, such as spiritual direction, preaching,
education, theological research and instruction, the many forms of
apostolate entrusted to you, and the mission ad gentes!

Naturally, the canonization of Claude La Colombiere leads me to

emphasize the “munus suavissimum” which he himself received from
the Lord, to spread and preach the mystery of his Sacred Heart. It is
the whole Society which continues to have this charge, as I myself had
the joy of confirming for you at Paray-le-Monial, near the tomb of Saint
Claude. There is a genuine kinship between Ignatian spirituality and
that of the Sacred Heart. Do not cease to show your brothers and
sisters that “near the Heart of Christ, the human heart learns to
recognize the genuine, unique meaning of its life and destiny and to
have a filial love for God and love of neighbor” ( Letter to Fr.
Kolvenbach, 5 October 1986).

4. I am pleased now to greet the Spanish-speaking pilgrims present for

the solemn canonization of Claude La Colombiere, priest of the Society
of Jesus. The Church wants to present him as an apostle of devotion to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This devotion was spread beginning with
Father Colombiere’s meeting with Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in
Paray-le-Monial. In the Sacred Heart of Jesus is represented the
infinite, merciful love which God poured out on the world through his
divine Son. May the new saint help all of us to be apostles of this
devotion and witness to Christ’s love for mankind. Commending you to
his intercession, I impart to you and your families my Apostolic
Blessing.

5. To the English-speaking pilgrims who have come for the

canonization of Claude La Colombiere I extend a cordial welcome. I
invite you to learn from the life and teaching of the new saint the value
of personal and intense fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ, the
supreme object and revelation of the Father’s eternal Love. In the
Heart of Jesus is revealed, in fact, all the richness of God’s plan to lead
man to full maturity and full happiness in the vision of his glory and in
communion with the Blessed Trinity. Holiness, piety and apostolic
commitment in the Church are all essentially related to the strength of
our faith in the Redeemer and our imitation of his “compassion on the
multitudes” (cf. Mt 9:36): Entrusting you and your families to the
intercession of Saint Claude La Colombiere, I invoke upon you the gifts
of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I now affectionately impart my Apostolic Blessing to everyone.

ARTICLE ON ST. CLAUDE LA COLOMBIERE

The beatification of Blessed Claude de La Colombiere cannot be

without interest to English Catholics, more especially to Catholics in
London. Anyone passing St. James’s Palace may recall that for two
years he lived there, in the last days of Charles II; therefore at that
time he must often have been seen, passing down Pall Mall or up St.
James’s Street, a singular figure in such a gay world, tolerated because
he was a Frenchman, protected because he was the official chaplain of
Mary of Modena, the wife of James, then Duke of York. But still more
should his memory be dear to English Catholic hearts because it is to
him that we owe it that, even in those times of trouble, the first formal
petition for the establishment of the Feast of the Sacred Heart was
sent to Rome from London. We may add another reason; unless we are
mistaken Claude de La Colombiere is the last resident in England not a
martyr who has been beatified. On that account we would claim him as
one of ourselves, closely allied with our martyrs.

And yet, when we come to study his career, there is singularly little to
be said about him; indeed one may assert that he has been
remembered more because of his connection with the name of another
than on his own account. Had he never come across St. Margaret Mary
he might never have been known, any more than Bernadette would
have been known, had it not been for the apparitions at Lourdes. Nor,
when he is known, is it easy at first to discover the sanctity in its
highest degree which was his. There is little to show us that any of his
contemporaries and friends looked on him as anything more than an
excellent religious, and even that on some accounts might have
seemed to need qualification. There are saints whom no man would
discover if God did not discover them for him; one of these was La
Colombiere. There are saints who have never dreamt they were saints;
it would seem that of no one could this be more truly said than of him.

Claude de La Colombiere was one of a family of seven children, two of

whom died young, four of the rest embraced the religious life or the
priesthood; of his childhood we know practically nothing. At the age of
nine he went to a Jesuit school; almost all we know of his schooldays is
that he “showed ability”; a remark that will have been made of many
of his companions. When he was seventeen he entered the Jesuit
novitiate; we are told that he had “a horrible aversion to the life he
chose”, but he is not the only novice who has felt the same. He passed
through his course of training very much as any other scholastic; if
during his theology he was at the same time appointed tutor to the
children of Colbert this was nothing exceptional. By an indiscretion of
his own he lost that post; this threw him back into the colleges, where
he held offices suited to one of rather more than average ability, but
not of themselves suggestive of anything exceptional, whether in
nature or in grace. He then made his third year of probation; after
which, at the age of thirty-five, he was sent as superior to the
residence at Paray-le-Monial. During his college days he had taught
rhetoric, and had shown a gift for preaching; at the same time he was
delicate in physique, and incapable of excessive work. It would seem
that these two circumstances had decided his appointment to Paray,
where he could exercise his talent without undue pressure or labor.

His work in Paray was such as might have been expected of a good
religious, little more. He took a lively interest in the little Jesuit school
that was under him; he founded a sodality for men; he helped in the
founding of a hospital; he preached with apparently average success;
he was sought for as a confessor and a director of souls; to the outside
world that appears to have been all. But he was also extraordinary
confessor to the Visitation nuns of Paray, and in that convent at the
moment Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque was causing anxiety. Naturally
Father de La Colombiere soon came across her. He studied her case
and at once, against the opinion of others, he espoused her cause; he
was rewarded, perhaps not altogether at first to his liking, by being
told by the saint that he was the one appointed by Our Lord to be her
chief support in the task imposed upon her. Still he did not shrink. He
became her staunch friend and adviser; if we may judge from notes
written in his journal more than two years later, he accepted this
responsibility as a further motive compelling him to aim at the highest
sanctity.

He lived at Paray-le-Monial only eighteen months, after which he was

appointed chaplain to the Duchess of York, daughter of the Duke of
Modena, in London. There he lived, in St. James’s Palace, for two years,
a lonely and cramped life, but, if we may judge from his letters, not
without the fruit which an earnest priest in such a situation might have
been expected to reap. At the end of that time he was betrayed by a
Frenchman whom he thought he had converted. He was accused of
reconciling heretics, and of speaking against the king; it was the year
of the Titus Oates “Plot,” and La Colombiere, a Jesuit, and living in the
household of the Duke of York, must have seemed a likely source of
information. He was thrown into prison, cross-examined many times,
but clearly knew nothing of what was said to be going on; at length,
being a Frenchman, he was banished from the country. But before he
could leave his health broke down; the hardships of his prison, added
to the rigor of the English climate, had affected his lungs, and he
suffered a serious hemorrhage. As soon as he was able he returned to
France; there he was given light work as spiritual father in the college
of Lyons. But he never recovered. He was removed to Paray in the
hope that the climate might suit him better; and there he died, on
February 15th, 1682, having just completed his forty-first year.

A good man, so his brethren thought, but not exactly what was usually
ranked as a saint. He had worked no miracles; he had written no
books; he had done nothing in particular. His health had prevented
him from using his talents as they might have been used; he had lived
only six years from his probation, and two of those had been spent in
London, hidden away, unknown to his fellow religious, bearing no fruit
that could be seen. He was buried as a good man might have been
expected to be buried, with the usual becoming ceremony; perhaps
there were those among the mourners who regretted that here was
another good life thrown away.

But when he was gone two precious documents were found among his
papers. It was true Sister Margaret Mary had always spoken of him as
something exceptional, and after his death revered him as a saint, but
this was put down to her natural enthusiasm, perhaps a little to her
biased judgment, a matter of fidelity to the memory of one who had
been her staunch support and champion. But these two documents
proved that she was right. None but a man with the highest ideals
could have written them; if he had lived up to the standard they laid
down, then without a doubt he had lived a life of heroic sanctity. And
when his brethren came to reflect upon it, gradually they saw that he
had. Gradually his name was dissociated from that of St. Margaret
Mary, and the devotion of which she constituted him the first apostle;
it was found that it represented one who on his own account deserved
a place in the ranks of the Church’s saints.
Beneath these great ideals, is it possible to trace the natural man on
which they are built? We think it is. Colombiere has written his double
self-analysis, one during his third year of probation, the other during a
retreat he made in England, with such simplicity and accurate
attention to detail that we are able to infer the things he has omitted
without much fear of mistake. And the picture we would draw is
something of this kind.

By nature Colombiere was a man given to despondency, to self-

mistrust leading almost to despair, even as at one time was his
immediate predecessor, to whom he had so great a devotion, St.
Francis de Sales. He had a keen appreciation of art and literature, with
which there usually goes great sensitiveness of soul, he felt things
keenly, above all his own apparent failures, even in the little things of
life. Though once or twice he breaks out in expressions of devotion,
yet as a rule his prayer was dry and arid; with all his aspirations after
sanctity, he can only resign himself to the commonest planes of the
spiritual life and look for perfection in that resignation. Behind all this,
the placid exterior,interpreted by his contemporaries, and even by
modern biographers, as a sign of placidity within, in matter of fact
concealed a soul unceasingly troubled by a whirl of temptation, and of
passions which he had need of every grace to resist.

It is in this light that we would read and interpret the three or four
characteristics of his sanctity; they were the outcome of the battle he
found he had to fight, and of experience of himself, more than of any
illumination from without. Margaret Mary had visions and ecstasies,
Colombiere had none. She was told what she had to do, even in the
matter of her own perfection, Colombiere had to discover all this by
the painful sifting of himself. In the third year of probation he took a
vow always to do the thing that was most perfect; we can see that the
vow was taken, less because of any great light from above, more
because of the trouble he found in battling with his own nature. Later
he took another vow, to choose by preference, when the choice was
allowed him, the thing that he most disliked; again we see in it the
determined conquest of his sensitive nature, more than straining after
sanctity. Throughout his life his ideal of prayer was, as it were, to have
no ideal; to be content with what was given him, and not even to
aspire to more; this was nothing else but the recognition of his
common experience, and the determination to turn it into what profit
he could. Lastly, in regard to sanctity itself he has language almost
peculiarly his own. Much as his soul longed for it, he seemed to think
that a nature like his could never attain to sublime perfection; he
meets the apparently hopeless prospect by accepting as his goal just
that standard which is appointed for him and no more. Of all the saints
in the calendar of the Church few can have been less aware of their
sanctity than was Colombiere.

To illustrate these characteristics of our saint we have only to compare

certain passages in which he expresses his own mind; from first to last
there is a certain consistency which enables us to read what is going
on beneath. Thus, on the seventh day of his Long Retreat he writes:

“On the seventh day, during the morning, I found myself attacked with
thoughts of mistrust in regard to the aim in life which I am making for
the future; I see in it hopeless difficulties. Any other life would seem to
me easy to spend in the manner of a saint, so it appears to me, and
the more austere, solitary, obscure, separated from all communication,
so much the sweeter would it seem to me to be. Much as I dread the
ordinary things of nature, such as imprisonment, continued sickness,
death itself, all these appear to me pleasant in comparison with an
everlasting fight against the surprises of worldliness and self- love, and
of that death in life in the midst of the world. When I think on it all, it
seems to me that life is going to be intolerably long, and that death
will not come soon enough; I understand the words of St. Augustine:
“Patienter vivit, et delectabiliter moritur.”

So he wrote in 1674, when he was preparing for his vow of perfection.

Three years later, during a retreat in England, we find him recalling the
vow with satisfaction, saying he looks on it as “the greatest grace I
have ever received in all my life”; nevertheless the next note is this:

“I am made miserable on a matter of which I cannot speak; my

imagination is mad and extravagant. All the passions toss my heart
about; there scarcely passes a day but all, one after another, stir in me
the most unruly emotions. Sometimes they are real things that rouse
me, sometimes they are pure imaginations. It is true that by the mercy
of God I endure all this without contributing much to it of myself and
without consenting to it; still, at any moment I catch these foolish
passions stirring up this poor heart. My self-love flies from corner to
corner, and is never without a hiding-place; I feel very sorry for myself.
Still I do not lose my temper, I do not let myself feel annoyed; what
would be the use? I ask God to let me know what I ought to do to serve
Him and to purify myself; but I am resolved to wait in peace till it
pleases Him to work this miracle, for I am quite convinced that He
alone can do it: “Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum
semine, nisi tu qui solus es?” (Job xv, 4).

Passages parallel to these might be multiplied. They tell with sufficient

clearness the struggle that was always going on with an unruly nature;
their proximity to the places where he speaks of the vow makes one
suspect that the two are connected. In like manner we may judge of
his prayer. It is true that in many places he speaks of his attraction for
prayer; nevertheless no less often does he tell us of his dryness,
always he emphasizes that his prayer is of the common sort, and that
he does not wish it to be otherwise. There is no more striking summary
of his mind than the following, taken from the notes of his retreat in
674:

“Since by the mercy of God I feel myself somewhat drawn to prayer, I

have asked of God, with a large heart, through the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin, that He would give me the grace to love this holy
exercise more and more, unto the hour of my death. It is the one
means for our purification, the one way to union with God, the one
channel by which God may unite Himself with us, that He may do
anything with us for His glory. To obtain the virtues of an apostle we
must pray; to make them of use to our neighbor we must pray; to
prevent our losing them while we use them in His service we must
pray. The counsel, or rather the commandment: Pray always, seems to
me extremely sweet and by no means impossible. It secures the
practice of the presence of God; I wish, with the help of Our Lord, to
endeavor to follow it. We are always in need of God, then we need to
pray always; the more we pray the more we please Him, and the more
we receive. I do not ask for those delights in prayer which God gives to
whom He will; I am not worthy of them, I have not strength enough to
bear them. Extraordinary graces are not good for me; to give them to
me would be to build on sand, it would only be pouring precious liquor
into a leaking hogshead which can hold nothing. I ask of God only a
solid, simple manner of prayer, which may give Him glory and will not
puff me up; dryness and desolation, accompanied with His grace, are
very good for me, so it seems. Then I make acts of the best kind, and
with satisfaction; then I make efforts against my evil disposition, I try
to be faithful to God, etc.”

Shortly afterwards he concludes:

“Above all things I am resigned to be sanctified by the way that God

shall please, by the absence of all sensible delight, if He wishes it so to
be, by interior trials, by continual combat with my passions.”

There seems to be no evidence that he ever deviated from this path,

or rose beyond the prayer of simplicity. In the retreat of 1677 he
confesses that he finds little help in points for meditation, and decides
to fall back upon his favorite method of the practice of the presence of
God; that is all. But that is an experience of many souls of prayer, who
nevertheless are far from being saints; it is foreseen and prepared for
by every writer on prayer, within the Society of Jesus as well as
without.

With all this as a background we may well now ask ourselves what was
the characteristic of his sanctity. It has al ready been suggested that
the need of unceasing battle with himself led him to make first one
heroic vow and then another; the faithful fulfillment of those vows
meant the making of a saint. But as a first characteristic trait we would
notice Colombiere’s childlike simplicity; to the end he remained a
child. This is manifest enough in the spontaneous way he writes of
himself; it is manifest no less in his correspondence, in the stories he
narrates, in the simplicity of his advice, in the confidence he shows
towards his correspondents. But most of all does it appear in his
attitude towards St. Margaret Mary. It was simplicity of soul that
enabled him to understand her from the first; the same simplicity
made him think of her, and speak of her with the greatest reverence;
what she told him of himself he took as perhaps his chief source of
encouragement. For example, what can be more simply childlike than
the following? He has been speaking of his former temptation to
vainglory and human respect:

“Formerly (he says) I was so strongly obsessed with this temptation,

that it sapped all my courage, and made me almost lose all hope of
saving my own soul while thinking of the souls of others. So strong was
it that if I had been free I do not doubt that I would have passed my
days in solitude.”

Then naively he goes on:

“This temptation began to weaken from a word which N.N. [meaning

St. Margaret Mary] spoke to me one day. For once when she told me
that while praying to God for me, Our Lord had given her to
understand that my soul was dear to Him, and that He would take
particular care of it, I answered her: ‘Alas! N.N., how can this agree
with what I feel within myself? Could Our Lord love anyone as vain as I
am, one whose only object is to please men, and to win consideration
from them, one who is steeped in human respect?’--’O my Father,’ she
replied, ‘all this does not really belong to you.’ It is true that this single
word of assurance gave me peace; from that time I troubled myself
less about these temptations, and they grew weaker and less
frequent.”

In other places Colombiere falls back for his own encouragement on

the words of St. Margaret Mary. Evidently, if he was her main support,
she in her turn did no less for him. So simple, and childlike, and
dependent was this guide of other souls.

Nevertheless we have not yet touched

upon the quality which seems to us most
characteristic of Colombiere. With a
nature given to mistrust of itself and
consequent despondency, with a
physique which would never permit him
to labor to the extent of his desires,
placed in situations which invariably
seemed to go wrong, or to give him little
scope for his zeal, lastly with a spiritual
experience in his soul which was more
often desolate than consoling, it is no
wonder that there grew within him an
unbounded confidence in God, as the
one mainstay on which he could rely. He
speaks of trust in superiors, of openness
with his spiritual fathers, of simplicity in
dealing with others, of his love of friendship; but all these are treated
more as external signs of self- conquest and charity, they are less
considered as supports to himself. When he speaks of confidence in
God it is quite different. He sees his sins, but the mercy of God is
infinite, and he will not despair. He looks up to God in His majesty, to
his Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, to the indwelling of God in the
human soul, to the union of the heart of man with the heart of Our
Lord by complete surrender; and he flings himself blindly into the arms
of God to find there perfect peace. Nowhere does he write with more
self-revelation than on the last day of his retreat in England. The
passage is a summary of his life; we have but to read between the
lines, giving each phrase its full value, and we seem to know
Colombiere well.

“On this eighth day (he writes) I seem to have found a great treasure,
if only I can profit by it. It is a firm confidence in God, founded on His
infinite goodness, and on the experience I have had that He never fails
us in our needs. More than that, I find in the memoir which was given
to me when I left France, that He promises to be my strength in
proportion to the trust which I place in Him. Therefore I am resolved to
put no limit to my trust, and to spread it out to everything. It seems to
me that I ought to make use of Our Lord as an armor which covers me
all about, by means of which I shall resist every device of my enemies.
You shall then be my strength, O my God! You shall be my guide, my
director, my counselor, my patience, my knowledge, my peace, my
justice, and my prudence. I will have recourse to you in my
temptations, in my dryness, in my repugnances, in my weariness, in
my fears; or rather I will no longer fear either the illusions or the tricks
of the demon, nor my own weakness, my indiscretions, not even my
mistrust of myself. For you must be my strength in all my crosses; you
promise me that this you will be in proportion to my confidence. And
wonderful indeed it is, O my God, that at the same time that you
impose this condition, it seems to me that you give me the confidence
wherewith to fulfill it. May you be eternally loved and praised by all
creatures, O my very loving Lord! If you were not my strength, alas!
what would I do? But since you are, you assure me that you are, what
shall I not do for your glory? “Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat.”
You are everywhere in me, and I in you; then in whatever situation I
may find myself, in whatever peril whatever enemy may rise up
against me, I have my support always with me. This thought alone can
in a moment scatter all my trials, above all those uprisings of nature
which at times I find so strong, and which in spite of myself, make me
fear for my perseverance, and tremble at the sight of the perfect
emptiness in which it has pleased God to place me.”

Could St. Augustine be more transparent? When in his sermons we

hear Colombiere crying out that even were he in mortal sin he would
still never doubt that God would save him, we understand the source
of his unbounded hope. He was a very human being indeed; perhaps
this was the reason why he was chosen before others to be the apostle
of the human Heart of Jesus Christ. “Come to me all you that labor and
are burdened, and I will refresh you. . . . Learn of me, because I am
meek and humble of heart. . . . You shall find rest for your souls.” It
would be hard to find a more perfect fulfillment of this prophecy than
is found in the soul of Claude de La Colombiere.

This excerpt is taken from the book SAINTS FOR SINNERS by Alban Goodier, S.J., IMAGE BOOKS
EDITION 1959