Saint John Eudes was born on November 14, 1601, in Ri, Normandy, France, the son of a farmer. He attended the Jesuit college in Caen at age 14, and despite his parents’ wishes for him to marry, he joined the Congregation of the Oratory of France in 1623. After studying in Paris and Aubervilliers, he was ordained in 1625.
John volunteered to care for plague victims in Normandy in 1625 and 1631. Over the next ten years, he built a reputation as an exceptional preacher and confessor and was known for his opposition to Jansenism. He became interested in helping fallen women and, with Madeleine Lamy, founded a refuge for them in Caen in 1641 under the direction of the Visitandines.
In 1643, he left the Oratorians and founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (the Eudists) in Caen. This group consisted of secular priests who were not bound by vows but dedicated to improving the clergy by establishing seminaries and preaching missions. His foundation faced opposition from the Oratorians and Jansenists, and he could not obtain Papal approval for it. However, in 1650, the Bishop of Coutances invited him to establish a seminary in that diocese. The same year, the sisters at his refuge in Caen left the Visitandines and were recognized as a new congregation under the name of Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge by the Bishop of Bayeux.
John founded additional seminaries in Lisieux (1653) and Rouen (1659) and tried again unsuccessfully to get Papal approval for his congregation. However, in 1666, the Refuge sisters received Pope Alexander III’s approval as an institute for the care and rehabilitation of penitent wayward women. John continued to give missions and established new seminaries in Evreux (1666) and Rennes (1670).
He shared the honor of initiating devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Heart of Mary with St. Mary Margaret Alacoque. He popularized these devotions with his writings “The Devotion to the Adorable Heart of Jesus” (1670) and “The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God,” which he completed a month before his death in Caen on August 19th. He was canonized in 1925, and his feast day is celebrated on August 19th.
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