Our friends the saints!
This coming Wednesday, November 14th, we remember the birthday of JOHN EUDES Patron Saint of Fallen Women and Prostitutes. He is also with the Saint Cure of Ars the intercessor for bringing holiness to the priests. They were canonized the same day! He was the fruit of an intense prayer from his parents to the Virgin Mary and was born a few years after their marriage.
St. John Eudes (1601-1680) was born the town of Ri, on a farm in Northern France. He was a parish missionary, who founded two religious communities; he also was a great promoter of the devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. At the age of 24, he was ordained a priest. Between 1627 and 1631 he offered to take care of those sickened by the several plagues of that time. At the age of 32, he became a parish missionary and was known for his gifts as a preacher and a confessor.
St. John Eudes preached over 100 parish missions, some lasting several months at a time. After much prayer, St. John Eudes decided to leave the community of the Oratory, after he realized the greatest need of the time was for formation of priests. That year, he founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (called the Eudist Fathers), which was devoted to the formation of the clergy by conducting diocesan seminaries. St. John Eudes founded several seminaries in Normandy. He also founded the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge to help abandoned women.
St. John Eudes is known for his writings especially The Ideal Confessor and The Apostolic Preacher. Above all, St.John Eudes taught that Jesus was the source of all holiness and Mary was the example of a Christian life. He died in 1680.