Saint John Eudes

Today the Church celebrates the memory of Saint John Eudes.

In his comments for today's observance, Martin Kochanski wrote: "He was born and died in Normandy. He was ordained priest and spent many years preaching parish missions. . . . He was active in
encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart, and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

"In his time the Church in France was corrupt and in many ways a source of evil rather than grace. The higher clergy were rich and privileged, and enjoyed and guarded their privileges. . . . The lower clergy were ignorant and the common people were poor, superstitious, and oppressed as much spiritually as materially. . . .

"In such circumstances, setting up seminaries to ensure the proper education of priests becomes itself a revolutionary act, and the encouragement of devotion to the Sacred Heart - to the emotional core of Jesus - becomes not a sweet pious platitude but a defiant proclamation that the centre of God's essence is his love, not condemnation.

"Over and over again in the lives of the saints we find the Church sick and corrupt. Perhaps it must always be so, journeying in a fallen world and staffed by sinners who are as fallen as the rest of us and
subject to worse temptations. And over and over again we find God's grace acting through people like St. John Eudes. They do not stand outside and complain or run campaigns, they go in and do things, removing the mould of worldly corruption and putting back, bit by bit, the leaven of grace. They will always be needed, until the world ends."

To view Mr. Kochanski's complete commentary, please visit:

Universalis: Saint John Eudes (1601 - 1680)

For more information about Saint John Eudes, please visit:

Catholic Online: St. John Eudes

American Catholic: St. John Eudes