In a painting for his beatification ceremony in 1909, St. John Eudes is seen with fathers and sisters of congregations he founded. (Wikimedia image)
St. John Eudes (1601-1680) was a forerunner of devotion to both to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was born at Ri, Normandy, France, on Nov. 14, 1601.
John studied at the Jesuit College in Caen. He joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri and was ordained a priest in 1625. The governing theme of his meditation, his preaching, and his writings was the importance of the redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God, through the intermediary of his Immaculate Mother.
Father Eudes volunteered to care for the victims of the plagues that struck Normandy in 1625 and 1631. He then spent the next decade giving missions and became most effective in the pulpit and the confessional. He would say, “The preacher beats the bushes, but the confessor catches the birds.”
From 1638 to 1642, Father Eudes preached missions in the dioceses of Bayeux and Lisieux. The fruits of these missions were rich and long-lived. Father Eudes was a follower of Saint Vincent de Paul in his ardent desire to evangelize the poor. The missions lasted for several weeks. Otherwise, said Father Eudes, we put a bandage on the wound, but do not heal it.
Processions, hymns, little religious plays, special conferences for specific groups, organization of leagues against duels and blasphemy, and visits to the sick occupied the missionary's very full days. It is estimated that during his lifetime Father Eudes preached more than 100 missions.
The missions obtained the conversion of many women of ill repute. A woman of Caen, Madeleine Lamy, urged Father Eudes to provide these women with the support and direction they lacked. On Nov. 25, 1641, he gathered them in a house in which was first installed a little statue of the Blessed Virgin to ensure these women the maternal protection of the Mother of God.
In 1644, Father Eudes arranged for Sisters of the Visitation to take charge of the house, called Our Lady of Charity. The Order of Our Lady of Charity would be erected by Pope Alexander VII on Jan. 2, 1666.
Keeping the flame being lit by the missions required holy and zealous priests. Father Eudes saw the great need to form priests through seminaries. In 1643, Father Eudes left the Oratory and established a group of priests destined to occupy posts in the new seminaries of France. The Congregation of Jesus and Mary was founded on March 25, 1643. By 1658, Father Eudes had founded four seminaries in Normandy – at Caen, Coutances, Lisieux and Rouen.
Father Eudes had great devotion to the Heart of Jesus. The first celebration of the feast of the Heart of Jesus took place under Father Eudes' direction in the seminary chapel at Rennes. He composed the office and Mass texts for the feast. In 1673, one year after the first public solemn celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart by John Eudes, Saint Margaret Mary would be favoured by her first revelation of the Heart of Jesus, in her cloister in Paray-le-Monial.
Father Eudes celebrated the feast of the Heart of Mary in 1643. He also established the Society of the Heart of the Mother Most Admirable for both priests and lay faithful.
In his last days, Father Eudes was often heard saying or murmuring, “My Jesus and my all! My Beloved is mine! Come, o my lovable Jesus!” He died on Aug. 19, 1680, at about 3 p.m. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
歐德神父慶祝耶穌聖心節
聖若望.歐德 (1601-1680) 是推動敬禮耶穌聖心及聖母無玷聖心的先驅。1601年11月14日，他出生於法國諾曼第的列城。
若望赴康城耶穌會學校讀書，畢業後棄俗到聖斐理經堂會修道；1625年晉鐸。他的默想、講道和寫作，主體是環繞著「天主子藉祂的無玷母親，救贖性的降生成人的重要性」。
1625年，諾曼第發生瘟疫，歐德神父請櫻照顧病人。他往後十年的宣道，在講道台和告解亭非常成功。他嘗言：「講道者打木叢，但聽告解者捕鳥。」
由1638年至1642年，歐德神父在貝葉及立斯教區講道，神果豐碩深廣。他效發聖味增爵向貧苦的人傳福音。通常每處宣道用上數週的時間，否則就好像只把傷口包紮，而沒有真正療傷。歐德神父以敬禮出遊、聖詠、宗教短劇、給不同教友的講座、組織反決鬥和褻瀆的活動、探訪貧病者，來充實每天的傳道使命。統計他一生所作的大規模公開講道，達一百十次。
歐德神父的公開講道感化了很多罪婦。康城的一位婦女，名叫瑪達肋.納雷米向他進言，遊說他為需要的婦女們，提供支援及人生路向。1641年11月25日，他安頓了那些婦女在一房子裡，擺放了一尊小小的聖母像，祈求天主之母對她們施以母佑。1644年，歐德神父把這房子取名「仁愛之母收容所」，請往見修會的修女管理。1666年1月2日，教宗歷山七世批准仁愛聖母女修會的成立。
傳教的熱火需要熱心聖善的司鐸薪火相傳。歐德神父有見及此，於1643年離開經堂修會，從事創設新修會的工作，專為培育和訓練有才德的神職人員，開辦修院。1643年3月25日，耶穌聖母男修會在康城正式成立。1658年的諾曼第地區的康城、古當斯、立斯和呂銳，均有歐德神父開辦的修院。
歐德神父特敬耶穌聖心；他指引下在萊納修院的小堂內第一次慶祝耶穌聖心的瞻禮；他編寫了耶穌聖心瞻禮的日課經和彌撒經文。歐德神父第一次公開隆重敬禮耶穌聖心節的翌年，1673年，聖女瑪加利大在巴萊慕尼亞得到關於耶穌聖心的私人啟示。
歐德神父於1643 年慶祝聖母聖心的瞻禮。他也為司鐸和平信徒創立「可奇之母聖心善會」。
在歐德神父最後的歲月中旁人常聽到他喃喃祈禱說：「我的耶穌，我的所有！我所愛是我的！來吧，我可愛的耶穌！」他於1680年8月19日約在下午三時去世。1925年教宗庇約十一世把若望.歐德神父宣聖。