Faithful Servant and Perfect Friend of the Sacred Heart
Feast Day: 15th February
St Claude de la Colombière was born at Saint
Symphorien-d’Ozen, Diocese of Lyons in France.
He entered the Society of Jesus at Avignon
In 1676 he was sent to England to be chaplain to the Duchess of York, wife of the future James II. Open about his Catholicism, he ministered to those who wanted to receive the Faith at court, and amongst the ordinary Catholics of London, who were otherwise deprived of a priest. Staying in contact with Sister Margaret Mary by letter, he zealously spread the revelations given to her, making the streets around here the first place in the world to hear the message of the Sacred Heart.
Eventually his evangelisation became too bold and he was
imprisoned and sentenced to death. By
the personal intervention of Louis XIV of France this was commuted to
exile. His health never recovered and he
died two years later at Paray-le-Morial.
He was beatified in 1929 and canonised by Pope John Paul II
on 31st May 1992.
For his zeal in spreading the Gospel in the face of adversity,
for his relationship to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and for his connection with
the streets around St Patrick’s he was chosen as a patron of St Patrick’s
Evangelisation School.
