St. Claude de la Colombière

Who they were

Claude was a polished Jesuit, a preacher of real literary gift, tutor to Colbert's sons and on a Paris career track, who at thirty three was sent instead to be superior of the small house at Paray-le-Monial.

There he met a Visitation nun whose own community thought her deluded, listened to her account of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart with a discernment both rigorous and humble, and rendered the judgment that changed devotional history: she was telling the truth. His steady public support carried St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's credibility when nothing else could. Sent next to England as chaplain to the Duchess of York, he was swept up in the fabricated Titus Oates plot, imprisoned in conditions that destroyed his lungs, and expelled. He returned to Paray broken in health and died there at forty one, within sight of the convent where he had listened well.

Why people turn to St. Claude de la Colombière

Spiritual directors, confessors, therapists, and mentors: the professionals of listening. And everyone who has ever been the one person who believed someone the room had dismissed, which in him was a vocation rather than a favour.

How to ask their intercession

For a good confessor or director. Several pages here send readers to find one, and this is where to ask for the grace of actually finding him.