BL. MARIE DELUIL-MARTINY, FOUNDRESS - 27 FEBRUARY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

Saints celebrated on the 27th of February

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

BL. MARIE DELUIL-MARTINY, FOUNDRESS 

Blessed Marie Deluil-Martiny was the foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart. She was born in Mareilles, France, May 28, 1841; she died there February 27, 1884.

"GUARD OF HONOUR OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS"

She was educated at the Visitation Convent in her native city and at the convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Lyons. For several years she remained at home and devoted herself to the spread of the devotion of the “Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” 

A VOW OF PERPETUAL CHASTITY

In 1867 with the permission of her director she took a vow of perpetual chastity, and soon after set about the foundation of a congregation of women to be devoted to the reparation of the faults of the faithful and of priests. She put herself under obedience to the Archbishop of Malines, who, on December 9, 1872, approved the new institute to be known as the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

THE HOUSE AT BERCHEM

Sister Mary of Jesus built the first house of the Society at Berchem near Antwerp, and adjoining it erected the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. She then established her religious in Aix-en-Provence and at La Serviannce, near Marseilles. 

THE CONSTITUTIONS WERE APPROVED

Many houses were founded after her death, among them the mother-house in Rome. The constitutions were finally approved by the Holy See February 2, 1902. The foundress was assassinated by the gardener of La Servianne, as she walked in the grounds of her community. On the expulsion of the Congregation of France, her body was removed to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Berchem. She had ruled her institute with great prudence and charity and given an example of the highest virtue to the perfection of her life. 

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - The title "Blessed" was inserted afterwards)