Claude de la Colombiere was beatified in 1929 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1992.
Claude de la Colombiere was born on February 2nd, 1641 in a small town in the diocese of Grenoble, France. Claude's parents were very devout as is evidenced by the vocations of their children a Jesuit, a Sulpician Father, a Diocesan Priest and a Visitation Nun.
In 1650 Claude was sent to a junior college in Lyons run by the Jesuits. At the age of seventeen Claude felt the inward calling to the religious life.He entered the Jesuit novitiate house in Avignon.
In 1675, after his solemn profession as a Jesuit, he was appointed superior at Paray-le-Monial, in which the convent of St. Margaret Mary was located. Here he became her spiritual director, encouraged her in the spread of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and was described by our Lord as His "faithful and perfect friend."
Because of his remarkable gifts and judgment, he was sent to England, to be court preacher to the duchess of York, wife of the future James II, and took up residence in London. His radiant personality and splendid gifts were noted by everyone. When the alleged "Popish Plot" to assassinate King Charles II shook the country, Blessed Claude was accused of complicity in the plot and imprisoned. Through the intervention of Louis XIV of France, he was released, then banished from the country. He spent his last years at Paray-le-Monial.
He died on February 15, 1682, an apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.
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