Relics of St Margaret Mary Alacoque, St Claude La Colombière in London

Fr Benoit carries reliquary

A moving ceremony took place at Farm Street on Wednesday evening as the relics of St Margaret Mary Alacoque and St Claude La Colombière SJ were brought into the church for the start of a Sacred Heart of Mercy Mission London by the Emmanuel Community.

Westminster auxiliary Bishop John Wilson celebrated the welcoming Mass. While many hundreds venerated the relics in the church, and stayed for Adoration, there were also short talks in the hall by Jan Graffius, archivist at Stonyhurst College, and Fr Benoit from the Emmanual Community.

Fr Claude was a Jesuit priest who served in London during Penal times. He was also the spiritual director of St Margaret Mary Alacoque a nun and mystic whose revelations led to the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

In her talk Jan Graffius spoke about the meaning of relics and the historical context of the visit. Although these days relics may be slightly out of fashion, she said: "we all keep and venerate relics of people we love."

Described St Claude's mission to England, during penal times, when it was illegal to practice the Catholic faith, she said the life expectancy of a Jesuit missionary to England has been compared to that of an RAF pilot during World War Two. Most were captured, tortured and killed for serving as priests.

The chapels in London owned by foreign embassies were the only places where Catholics could practice their faith freely.

As a young priest Fr Claude had served as the spiritual director to St Margaret Mary. In 1676, he was sent to England to become the private spiritual guide of Mary of Modena, the Duchess of York, soon to be Queen of England. He also preached very actively in England and kept guiding St Margaret Mary by letter. In November 1678, he was accused of being part of a bogus plot devised by Titus Oates. He was thrown into prison where he remained for over a year in atrocious conditions, and hiis fragile health took a turn for the worse. Thanks to his position at the Royal Court and the protection of Louis XIV, King of France, he escaped death and was expelled from England in 1679 and died in Paray-le-Monial in February 1682 aged only 41. Claude was beatified in 1929 and canonized in 1992.

Fr Benoit from the Emmanuel Commnity spoke about St Margaret Mary and the revelations she experienced. Initially she was rebuffed when she spoke of her visions but St Claude supported her. The devotion to the Sacred Heart was officially recognized 75 years after her death. In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI stated that Jesus Christ had "manifested Himself" to Saint Margaret and referred to the conversation between Jesus and Saint Margaret several times.

Fr Benoit said, in her first first apparition, Margaret Mary rested her head on the heart of Jesus and had the revelation that Jesus loved her, and each one of us, in particular. In her second apparition she saw herself at the foot of the Cross and understood that Jesus wants us to receive his love. In her third apparition she realised that Jesus want us to love 'every single person' as He dies.

She wrote: "May the Heart of Jesus Christ be our school! Let us make our abode there . . . Let us study its movements and attempt to conform ours to them. Yes, O Divine Jesus, I want to live there and pour all my gall into Your Heart, which will rapidly consume it. I am not afraid that impatience will come to attack me in that retreat. There I will practice silence, resignation to Your Divine will, and invincible constancy. There I will go daily to pray to You and thank You for my crosses, and to ask Your forgiveness for those who persecute me. "

A Candlelight Prayer Vigil with the Relics took place last night at Our Lady of Victories, in Kensington. There will be visits of the relics to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, to Tyburn Convent, to the hospice of St John and St Elizabeth and to the London Oratory School in Fulham.

Tonight, (Friday 11h November) there will be Street Evangelisation and Night Vigil/Healing Service at St Patrick's in Soho. On Sunday, 13th November, there will be a Closing Mass at Our Lady of Victories, Kensington.

See also: ICN 11 November 2016 - Text: Bishop John Wilson at Mass welcoming relics to start of Sacred Heart of Mercy Mission www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=31325

For more information see: www.emmanuelcommunity.co.uk/missiontolondon

The visit is the initiative of the Emmanuel Community - an international Catholic community founded at Paray-le-Monial in France in 1972, by Pierre Goursat (1914-1991) and Martine Laffitte and recognized by the Holy See as a 'Public Association of the Faithful'. Today, the community has more than 10,000 members in 59 countries, including 250 priests and four bishops. Their London chapter is based at Our Lady of Victories Kensington.