Remuzat, ANNE-MADELEINE, VENERABLE, b. at Marseilles, November 29, 1696; d. February 15, 1730. At nine years of age she asked her parents to be allowed to enter the convent of the Visitation; the request was granted. From 1708 she began to experience severe sufferings which, during her whole life, she bore patiently for the salvation of souls. In 1709 her parents withdrew her, but in 1711 she reentered the convent and on January 23, 1713, made her profession. At this time she applied herself to prayer, and the “Spiritual Retreat” written then is a proof of her progress in the contemplative life. She experienced on October 17, 1713, a “particular and extraordinary” revelation of Jesus “concerning the glory of his Sacred Heart”. As the repute of her sanctity became known, Anne-Madeleine was consulted by many, and was thus the means of spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart. Her influence actuated Msgr. de Belsunce to establish at Marseilles the Association of Perpetual Adoration of the Sacred Heart, of which she wrote the statutes. As Jansenism and a spirit of moral laxity had then invaded the town Anne-Madeleine suffered keenly, and in reparation inflicted on her body continual mortifications; when her superiors interdicted these austerities, she begged Our Lord to mortify her himself; and from that day she went into a painful decline, while her soul was abandoned to temptations. In 1720, during the plague at Marseilles, Our Lord enjoined her to institute a feast in honor of the Sacred Heart, which Msgr. de Belsunce established on October 22, 1720. From 1722 the veneration of the Sacred Heart spread throughout Provence, Lyons, Rouen, Constantinople, Cairo, Spain, Louisiana, Persia, Syria, and the Indies by her endeavors. In 1888 her cause was submitted to the Sacred Congregation, whose favorable vote was given on December 18, 1890. Leo XIII signed on December 24, 1891, the introduction of the cause of the Venerable servant of God.
JOSEPH DEDIEU