L&M Publications
Merrick Life • Bellmore Life • Freeport-Baldwin Leader • Wantagh-Seaford Citizen

by Kimberly Short
Diocese of Rockville Centre

A first class relic of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque will be venerated from August 16-23 at eight locations throughout Long Island.  In addition, the Vatican exhibit on 40 of the 121 Miracles of the Eucharist will be on display at each of the sites.

Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque is most known for her revelations with the Lord inviting her to take the place St. John occupied at the Last Supper.  

In 1674, Sr. Margaret Mary had a vision of the Sacred Heart and the Lord instructed her to spread the love of His heart and that he would reveal his graces through her.  The Lord also told her to receive Jesus in Holy Communion on the first Friday of every month and to make a Holy Hour, lying prostrate from 11 p.m. to midnight each Friday.  

Sr. Margaret Mary believed she had been chosen as the transmitter of a new devotion to the Sacred Heart.  After a few priests deemed her to be delusional, Father Claude de la Columbiere, a Jesuit priest, was convinced she was speaking the truth and wrote of the nun.  

Sr. Margaret Mary was appointed assistant and novice-mistress.  It is said that before Sr. Margaret passed away at 43 years old she exclaimed, “I need nothing but God and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus.”   Although the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was present before, it now was widely known.

The Sacred Heart is regarded as “the symbol of that boundless love which moved the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take our sins upon Himself, and dying on the Cross, to offer Himself as a victim and sacrifice to the eternal Father.”  

The relic will be in Merrick on Saturday, August 21, at Curé of Ars Parish, from 2-8 p.m.  Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will be 2-4:45 p.m.;  Evening Mass at 5 p.m.; Benediction at 8 p.m. For additional information contact Brenda Pistani  BPistani@drvc.org or by calling 678-5800 x519.