Saint John Eudes was born into a peasant family in Normandy, France, in 1601. After discerning a call to the priesthood he joined the Oratorians, and studied under two of the greatest French Oratorian spiritual masters: Cardinal Pierre de Berulle and Fr. Charles de Condren. Berulle emphasized in his writings a scriptural doctrine that had been neglected too often in the past: the following of Jesus is not a mere “Imitation of Christ” – an external conformity to His example – but a complete surrender to the indwelling of Christ in the depths (le fond) of the soul. When He lives within us in our very depths, then He shares with us His grace and virtues, His interior dispositions and sentiments. He lives in and through us the mysteries of His own incarnate life. It is not surprising, therefore, that one of the earliest and most important works to come from the pen of St. John Eudes was entitled The Life and Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Christian Souls. The first section of that work bears the subtitle: “The Christian Life Must be a Continuation of the Most Holy Life Which Jesus Lived on Earth.”
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