Jean Eudes (November 14, 1601 - August 19, 1680) was a French missionary, founder of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, and author of the Propers for Mass and Divine Office of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Biography
John Eudes, born in 1601, on a farm near the village of Ri, in Normandy, France,[1] the brother of the French historian François Eudes de Nézeray. At the age of fourteen he took a vow of chastity.
After studying with the Jesuits at Caen he joined the Oratorians on 25 March 1623. His masters and models in the spiritual life were Pierre de Bérulle and the mystic Charles de Condren. As a student of de Bérulle, Eudes is a member of the French School of Spirituality. The French School was not a system or philosophy, but a highly Christocentric approach to spirituality, characterized by a sense of adoration, a personal relationship with Jesus, and a rediscovery of the Holy Spirit.[2]
He was ordained a priest on 20 December 1625[1]. During severe plagues in 1627 and 1631, he volunteered to care for the stricken in his own diocese. To avoid infecting his colleagues, he lived in a huge cask in the middle of a field during the plague. [3]
At age 32, John became a parish missionary, preached over 100 parish missions, throughout Normandy, Ile-de-France, Burgundy and Brittany.[1] He was called by Jean-Jacques Olier "the prodigy of his age". MLA citation.[4]
In his parish mission work, John was disturbed by the sad condition of prostitutes who sought to escape their miserable life. Temporary shelters were found but arrangements were not satisfactory. A certain Madeleine Lamy, who had cared for several of the women, one day challenged Eudes to address the problem.[3] In 1641 he founded the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, to provide a refuge for prostitutes who wished to do penance. The society was approved by Pope Alexander VII on 2 January 1666.[4] It later also included a convent which in 1829 influenced Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier who established the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (also called Good Shepherd Sisters) after Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge.[5]
With the support of Cardinal Richelieu and a number of individual bishops, Father Eudes severed his connection with the Oratory to establish the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (Eudists) for the education of priests[3] and for missionary work. This congregation was founded at Caen on 25 March 1643. Normandy was the principal theatre of his apostolic labours. In 1674 he obtained from Pope Clement X six bulls of indulgences for the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart already erected or to be erected in the seminaries.
Father Eudes dedicated the seminary chapels of Caen and Coutances to the Sacred Hearts. The feast of the Holy Heart of Mary was celebrated for the first time in 1648, and that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1672, each as a double of the first class with an octave.
The Mass and Office proper to these feasts were composed by Father Eudes.For this reason, Pope Leo XIII, in proclaiming his virtues heroic in 1903, gave him the title of "Author of the Liturgical Worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Holy Heart of Mary".
Saint John Eudes taught the mystical unity of the hearts of Jesus and Mary and wrote:[6]
"You must never separate what God has so perfectly united. So closely are Jesus and Mary bound up with each other that whoever beholds Jesus sees Mary; whoever loves Jesus, loves Mary; whoever has devotion to Jesus, has devotion to Mary."
"The most striking characteristic of the teaching of St. John Eudes on Devotion to the Sacred
Heart-as indeed of his whole teaching on the spiritual life--is that Christ is always its centre.
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ-per Ipsum, cum Ipso et in Ipso--all devotion and all piety
achieves its end.
Since the Sacred Heart of Jesus is God's Love symbolically (though by no means merely
metaphorically, figuratively or arbitrarily) expressed, all those acts which belong to strictly divine
worship (Cultus latriae) have first place in this devotion. For, God Himself is its object."*
He also established the Society of the Heart of the Mother Most Admirable.[4]
Father Eudes wrote a number of books remarkable for elevation of doctrine and simplicity of style. His principal works are:
- "Le Royaume de Jésus"
- "Le contrat de l'homme avec Dieu par le Saint Baptême"
- "Le Mémorial de la vie Ecclésiastique"; "Le Bon Confesseur"
- "Le Prédicateur Apostolique"
- "Le Cœur Admirable de la Très Sainte Mère de Dieu". This last is the first book ever written on the devotion to the Sacred Hearts.
He died at Caen on 19 August 1680.
Veneration
His virtues were declared heroic by Pope Leo XIII on 6 January 1903. The miracles proposed for his beatification were approved by Pope Pius X on 3 May 1908, and he was beatified on 25 April 1909. St. John Eudes was canonized in 1925. His feast day is August 19, the day of his death.
