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FROM FR. OAKLAND

Fr. Marie-Joseph Coudrin was ordained in the Irish Seminary in Paris, which was located in France because of the persecution of Catholics in Ireland. He was ordained in 1792 in the library, in secret, because the chapel had been taken over by the new revolutionary government to hold their meetings. The exploits of his first years of his ministry would later become famous with his many disguises necessary to carry out his ministry and avoid arrest. 

Not long after ordination, he spent several months in a barn in prayer. During this time he had a vision of himself as a founder along with a foundress of a community of missionaries dedicated to praying before the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for the great offenses of sinners against the goodness and love of God. The Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary would give the world two great missionaries – Fr. Damien, the Apostle of Molokai, and Fr. Mateo, the Apostle of the Sacred Heart.



Fr. Mateo was ordained in Chile, but had to spend some time in France, and in the chapel of the visions of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque he felt a stirring in his own heart. Jesus had promised Sr. Margaret Mary that through devotion to His Sacred Heart, people would receive the grace they needed for their state of life. He would establish peace in homes, and comfort people in their affliction.