Saint Claude was a 17 century French Jesuit, who had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - a devotion he promoted along with his friend and spiritual companion, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Born in the south of France during 1641, Claude de la Colombiere belonged to a family of seven children, four of whom entered the priesthood or religious life. He attended a Jesuit school in his youth and entered the order himself at age 17.
After completing his order's traditional periods of study and teaching, Claude became a priest in 1669. Claude showed remarkable preaching skills long before his ordination. Two months after the ordination, he was made superior of a small Jesuit residence in Burgundy. It was there he first encountered Margaret Mary Alacoque. For many years, he served as her confessor.
Claude la Colombiere's writings and his testimony to the reality of St. Margaret Mary's experiences helped to establish the Sacred Heart as a feature of Western Catholic devotion. This, in turn, helped to combat the heresy of Jansenism, which claimed that God did not desire the salvation of some people.
He was sent to England to serve as confessor to the Duchess of York. There he preached by both words and by the example of his holy life, converting a number of Protestants. Slowly, tensions arose against Catholics and Claude. In 1678, a false rumour spread about an alleged Catholic “plot” against the English monarchy. The lie led to the execution of 35 innocent people, including eight Jesuits. La Colombiere was not put to death, but was accused, arrested, and locked in a dungeon for several weeks.
In 1681, Claude de la Colombiere returned to Paray-le-Monial, the site of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's revelations. It was there, during 1682, that the 41-year-old priest died from internal bleeding on the year's first Sunday of Lent, Feb. 15.
St. Claude de la Colombiere was beatified in 1929 – nine years after the canonization of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque – and canonized 63 years later by Pope John Paul II.
Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Walfrid
2. Saint Agape
3. Saint Craton
4. Saint Eusebius
5. Saint Farannan
-catholic.org