First Family – The sole survivor of a family wiped out by the plague, Isaac Eudes was not able to realize his desires to become a priest. Instead he became a surgeon in Normandy in the little village of Ri. There he and his equally pious wife Martha Corbin raised seven children. He cultivated the soil and recited his breviary every day. Two of the children became famous in different ways: Francis, surnamed Seigneur de Mezeray, wrote the monumental “History of France”; John was canonized.
Worldly Environment – Born November 14, 1601 John was the oldest child of five boys and two girls. He was a contemporary of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal and Saint Francis de Sales. His life spanned the greater part of the 17th century which Kings Henry IV and Louis XIV, as well as Richelieu and Marzarin with whom John Eudes was personally in touch. The century began with suffering. The Wars of Religion were not altogether a thing of the past, and the newly established law and order did not necessarily bring peace and justice. Profoundly shaken by the Protestant Reformation. the Council of Trent acted to purify and protect the Church –– but its efforts were not universally accepted or practiced. Against this background Saint John Eudes began his life’s work of reviving the spiritual life of the Catholic faithful.
Formation Years – John was an exemplary child and a brilliant student of the Jesuit College of Caen. However, he had need of “heroism” to resist his parents who pressed upon him an advantageous marriage. Instead, in 1615 he began studies in the Jesuit College in Caen. He took minor orders in 1620 and was ordained on December 20, 1625. He had entered the Oratory of Paris in 1624 having as his masters Fathers de Berulle and de Condren, whose spirituality impressed him deeply. John was a prominent humanitarian, spiritual writer, and organizational leader.
Early Priestly Works – After ordination John remained at the Oratorian for twenty years. He began his long career as a parish missionary in 1633. He gave and preached missions in the towns and villages of Normandy. He taught throughout Brittany, Berche, Beauce, the Ile-de-France, Picardy, Brie, Champange, and Burgundy. He taught the faiths great truths, denounced sin and made a multitude of converts. In the pulpit he was an incomparable orator and in the confessional a compassionate father. He spoke not of an abstract God but of a living Christ in who is the sealed covenant between God and man. He spoke of Christ’s heart as a given sign of the love God gives us and through which we can love one another and the Church which, through its members, furthers the life of God’s Son on earth. He proved this truth in himself when he shared the lives of Bubonic Plague victims and cared for mistreated and abandoned women and girls living a life of sin.
Priestly Formation and Parish Missions – In 1643 Saint John left the Oratory to found an institute combining the work of parochial mission with that of dedication to improving priestly formation for the training of candidates to the priesthood and the preaching of missions to the faithful. He strove to provide the Church with priests capable of passing on this “Life of the Son of God” to others.
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.
Founder of Religious Orders – To train priests he founded the Society of the Priests of Jesus and Mary, now called the “Eudists Fathers”. To secure conversion in souls he founded the congregation of the “Order of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Charity of the Refuge” to help abandoned women lead Christian lives. For persons aspiring to perfection in the world he established the “Society of the Admirable Heart of Mary”. Through these institutions, as well as the spoken and written word, he fostered devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and established special feasts in their honor. Drawing inspiration from spiritual text and medieval piety, John composed one Office: “The Liturgical Worship of the Sacred Hearts of Mary and Jesus”, and an office and Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He wrote twelve books, the last being devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He has been called the “author, father, doctor, apostle, liturgical, cultist and propagator of the liturgical devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary”.
Papal Testimonials – On January 6, 1903, Pope Leo XIII declared his virtues heroic and on April 20, 1909, Pope Pius XI claimed him “the father, the Doctor, and the Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Hearts”, in his decree of Beatification. On May 31, 1936, Pope Pius XI confirmed these titles in the decree of the Canonization.
His Family Today – Indifference to spiritual things, greed for wealth and success at any price still threaten us today. The divide between the :haves” and the “have nots” widens, and injustice is intensified by terror and violence. Mankind needs to hear again that it is destined to receive God’s love and to share it with others – for his is man’s true greatness.
This is the spirit of Saint John Eudes Church – To succeed in finding the words and deeds needed to enrich and strengthen the Christians of our time, discovering that we are the apostles required in our day.
Saint John Eudes, who died in 1680, was beatified in 1909 by Pope Saint Pius X, and canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925.