Saint of the Day Profile

August 19 Saint of the Day Profile

August 19 Saint of the Day Profile Saint John Eudes

Profile
Farmer's son who attended the Jesuit college at Caen, France at age 14. Joined the Congregation of the Oratory of France. Studied at Paris and Aubervilliers in France. Priest. Ministered to plague victims. Missionary and preacher, working well over 100 missions. Worked against Jansenism. Established seminaries. Founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary Eudists on 25 March 1643 to promote virtuous secular parochial clergy not bound by vows, but dedicated to improving the clergy through seminaries and missions; due to opposition by Oratorians and Jansenists, he never obtained papal approval. Founded the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity who worked for the welfare of penitent women. Author of the liturgical devotion of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Born:
14 November 1601 at Ri, Normandy, France
Died:
19 August 1680 at Caen, Normandy, France
Canonized:
31 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI
Patronage:
Diocese of Baie-Comeau, Québec
Representation:
Priest with or presenting the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Works:
• Devotion to the Adorable Heart of Jesus
• Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God.

Readings:
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

Let us therefore give ourselves to God with a great desire to begin to live thus, and beg Him to destroy in us the life of the world of sin, and to establish His life within us.
Saint John Eudes

The Christian life is a continuation and completion of the life of Christ in us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing His life and His works, laboring and suffering in a holy and divine manner in the spirit of Jesus.
Saint John Eudes

The air that we breathe, the bread that we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the Christian that he may live as a Christian. 

Saint John Eudes

A Christian has a union with Jesus Christ more noble, more intimate and more perfect than the members of a human body have with their head.
Saint John Eudes


Father of mercies and God of all consolation, You gave us the loving Heart of your own beloved Son, because of the boundless love by which You have loved us, which no tongue can describe. May we render You a love that is perfect with hearts made one with His. Grant, we pray, that our hearts may be brought to perfect unity: each heart with the other and all hearts with the Heart of Jesus....and may the rightful yearnings of our hearts find fulfillment through Him: Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
Collect from Saint John Eudes' Mass, Gaudeamus, 1668

Blog post courtesy:
http://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-eudes/