From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   August 19th -Saint John Eudes   
      
   Founder of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (Eudists) and the Sisters of   
   Our Lady of Charity   
   (1601-1680)   
      
   Saint John Eudes, forerunner of devotion both to the Sacred Heart and the   
   Immaculate Heart of Mary, was born in 1601, some time after France had been   
   torn apart by the revolt of the Huguenots. The rebels were calmed but   
   relegated to western France by King Henry IV, after he himself returned to   
   the Catholic faith. It was in that region that this young Saint spent his   
   childhood, at Argentan in Normandy, and was educated with the Jesuits of   
   Caen. The father of this firstborn of a family of solid and profound virtue,   
   had himself desired the sacerdotal life, and he did not long oppose John's   
   desire to consecrate himself to God as a priest. At eighteen years of age   
   Saint John had already composed a treatise on voluntary abnegation, which   
   his confessor obliged him to publish. He was ordained in Paris as a member   
   of the recently founded French Oratory of Saint Philip Neri; his teachers   
   there were Fathers de Berulle and de Condren, two unsurpassed spiritual   
   directors. 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. Controversy was not   
   lacking in those days, when the Mother of God had been relegated to a very   
   secondary if not insignificant role by the reformers, and Saint John did not   
   fear controversy. He chose to study both theology and what we would call   
   debate, as essential preparations for his calling. In those days seminaries   
   were scarce; aspiring future priests themselves sought out the instruction   
   they needed.   
      
   At Caen a pestilence declared itself and soon decimated the populace, often   
   deprived of spiritual assistance. John Eudes offered to care for them in   
   person, and while the scourge lasted slept outdoors in a field, in an old   
   barrel, to protect his brothers in religion from contagion. In 1639 he was   
   named Superior of the Oratory of Caen by Father de Condren, although the   
   Superior General feared that office could interfere with his missions, from   
   which they hoped for great renovation in western France. Nonetheless, from   
   1638 until 1642, Saint John, with his brethren in religion, was engaged in   
   preaching missions in the dioceses of Bayeux and Lisieux, where the bishops   
   encouraged him and soon were praising him highly. 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 folk, so long   
   neglected, and it was to the people that the preaching of the Oratorian   
   missionaries was addressed. Their missions lasted for several weeks.   
   "Otherwise," said Saint John, "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 missionaries' very full days.   
      
   Saint John Eudes left the Oratory, a Society of priests which he loved   
   sincerely, like other founders who have been in a similar position, because   
   he was called by God to break new ground in establishing a group of priests   
   without religious vows, destined to occupy posts in the new seminaries of   
   France. The Council of Trent had commanded these establishments everywhere,   
   ordaining that priests be formed to head parishes and to establish in each   
   of them a school. Already in 1658 Saint John himself had founded four   
   seminaries in Normandy - at Caen, Coutances, Lisieux and Rouen. Before the   
   Revolution in France, the Eudists had accepted the responsibility for   
   sixteen seminaries or minor seminaries. This required a foundation in depth   
   in theology and all pastoral duties. Some of his former brethren turned   
   against him when he left them, and he met obstacles also when founding in   
   Caen a Congregation of women to raise up poor girls led astray by ignorance   
   or need. The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity founded by Saint John, parent   
   body of the Good Shepherd nuns, have done an immense good in many countries.   
   The Congregation of Jesus and Mary has sent missionary priests to several   
   countries, all over the world. Saint John Eudes, who died in 1680, was   
   beatified in 1909 by Saint Pius X, and canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925.   
      
   Sources: Le Vénérable Père Eudes, by Henri Joly (V. Lecoffre: Paris, 1907);   
   "Saint Jean Eudes," by Paul Milcent, in Vie Eudiste, quarterly review, No.   
   8, 1973.   
      
      
   Quote:   
   Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in   
   ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires,   
   and his disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should   
   be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do   
   unceasingly.   
   -Saint John Eudes   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For now we see through a glass, darkly;   
   but then face to face:   
   now I know in part;   
   but then shall I know even as also I am known.   
   -1 Cor 13:12.   
      
      
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   O MOTHER OF MERCY   
      
   O MOTHER of mercy, help of Christians, most faithful   
   minister of Divine Providence, treasurer of all graces,   
   remember that never in the world has it been heard that thou   
   hast left him without comfort who has come to thee with true   
   devotion. Wherefore I, trusting in thy tender pity and in thy   
   most generous providence, bend low before thee, praying   
   that thou wouldst hear my prayer.  Obtain for me a holy   
   provision for the future, namely graces for all my spiritual and   
   temporal needs.  I fervently recommend to thy loving motherly   
   Heart our Holy Church, the Sovereign Pontiff, the conversion   
   of sinners, the spread of the Catholic Faith, and those Souls   
   chosen by our Lord, who are suffering the tormenting flames   
   of Purgatory, that they may soon be comforted with eternal   
   refreshment. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)