Margaret Mary Alacoque - The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary

The Autobiography of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

This edition first published in 1930 by the Sisters of the Visitation, Roselands, Walmer, Kent, England. Reprinted in 1952 (as part of the Visitation Library series).

All rights reserved to the Sisters of the Visitation, Partridge Green, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 8EG, England.

Reprinted by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. by permission of the Sisters of the Visitation, Partridge Green.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 86-50148

ISBN: 978-0-89555-295-2

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

2012

... thou shalt possess the treasures of My Heart... and I will permit thee to distribute them as thou wilt, in favor of souls that are ready to receive them.

Words of Our Lord
to St. Margaret Mary

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
Nun of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary
1647-1690

I constitute thee heiress of My Heart and of all Its treasures, for time and for eternity, allowing thee to dispose of them according to thy desire; and I promise thee that My assistance will not fail thee as long as My Heart fails not in power. Thou shalt be forever Its beloved disciple.

Words of Our Lord
to St. Margaret Mary

(From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power.)

V J!

PREFACE
TO THE ENGLISH EDITION OF 1930

No more eloquent testimony has been or could be given to the saint whose complete Autobiography is here published for the first time in English, than the words of His Holiness Pope Benedict XV on March 17th, 1918, in the decree proclaiming that the Holy See might safely proceed to canonization. After stating how the pious daughter of St. Francis of Sales received from Jesus Himself the mission of making known the riches of His Divine Heart that men might come to it as a fount of grace and model of virtue, the Holy Father adds these striking words, the historian may say today her story is completed; the theologian and canonist have carried their researches and examinations to the full length; from the hands of even the most critical the arms have fallen... there can be no room for delay in recognizing the universal character of her apostolate. Then referring to the former decree of January 6th, 1918, approving the miracles, Pope Benedict says, the previous decree enlightened you as to the sanctity of the devotion to the Sacred Heart; todays decree should fill you with love for it. The first decree might counsel virtue, the last should persuade you even to heroism in the practice of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At the conclusion of the decree, His Holiness repeats again with an emphasis truly remarkable, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus supposes also triumph over human respect.

These passages are noteworthy because consciously or unconsciously they are in perfect harmony with the conclusions at which a prayerful reader of the Autobiography will arrive, viz., that the Saint is appealing to every heart and to answer the appeal will often be a call to heroism. Read in this spirit these pages, touching in their simple obedience and humility, will not only enlighten and convince the mind but their wonderful unction will inspire the peace and confidence Our Lord Himself promises. We are in communion with a saint; we are privileged to share her fears, her ecstasies of love, even the very weaknesses that are her true strength. All this is a great means of grace offered to whosoever will take it in the spirit of living faith. The Autobiography is not merely a book for spiritual reading, it is a treasure house of spiritual strength and encouragement to be read kneeling at ones prie-dieu or, better still, in the presence of that Divine Master Who deigned Himself to write its most glowing pages first on her heart as she bowed prostrate in adoration before His Eucharistic throne.

A word as to the book itself is necessary. The best history of the Autobiography is gathered from the depositions of Sister Claude de Farges, who was infirmarian at the Convent of Paray-le-Monial during the last illness of the saint, given in the process of 1715. Apparently, as the sister states, the dying religious in the midst of the consolations she experienced became alarmed at the very thought of any honor being paid to herself or her writings after death and so she said write, I beseech you, dear Sister, to Father Rolin and ask him to burn my letters and to keep inviolably the secret which I have so often asked of him. Not content with this, a little later she more earnestly implored the same sister to burn the copybook which you will find in the cupboard and which was written by order of my confessor, Father Rolin of the Society of Jesus, who forbade me to destroy it myself before he had examined it. This copybook is the Autobiography which is still treasured at Paray-le-Monial as a precious relic. It measures about seven inches by nine inches and contains sixty-four pages, clearly and closely written by the saints own hand. Father Francis Rolin, S. J., had ordered her to write this account of Our Lords relations with her soul. She obeyed with great repugnance, encouraged even by her Divine Spouse Himself it would seem, and the work was completed in 1685. Fortunately the Father had forbidden her to destroy the writing and happily also the veneration of Sister de Farges for her patient caused her to disobey the request. Indeed the good sister persuaded St. Margaret Mary that it was a more perfect act to give the key of the cupboard to the Reverend Mother and to make a sacrifice of everything else into the hands of God. This was promptly done although it cost her not a little and the sacred manuscript was saved.

Father Gallifet, S. J., was the first to publish it in a treatise on the Sacred Heart which appeared in Rome in 1726 and afterwards in 1733 in French. However, certain liberties of style and diction were taken in these and subsequent versions altering the authentic text. In the translation before us the original has been most exactly followed and praiseworthy effort has been made to preserve the simple charm of the Vie par elle-mme published at Parayle-Monial in 1918 and which has already passed well beyond ten thousand copies.

The Sisters of The Visitation, Walmer, have indeed merited our gratitude for making this great spiritual heirloom of their Institute accessible to all in English-speaking countries.

W. Peers Smith, S.J.

Feast of St. Margaret Mary 1929.

V J!

PREFACE
TO THE FRENCH EDITION OF 1924

In publishing the Life of St. Margaret Mary written by herself in a separate volume we knew well that we were complying with the wishes of a limited few, but we did not think that these few would so quickly be transformed into an ever-increasing multitude. How ever, such is the charm which the very humble pages of the great Saint of Paray work in souls that thousands of copies of her Autobiography have been circulated in a very short time. It is for us to make provision that they can always be procured, and for this reason we are now publishing a new edition, smaller in size than the precedingto meet the demands expressed on this subject. Henceforth the authentic text may be more easily meditated.