MAROABIT
653
MARGABBT
afterwards she opened a bakery, and for years con-
tinued her rounos with the bread cart. Although she
provided for orphans, fed the poor, and gave enor-
mously in charity, her resources grew wonderfully and
Margaret's bakery (the first steam bakery in the South)
became famous. She braved General Butler during
the Civil War and readily obtained permission to carry
a cargo of flour for bread for her orphans across the
lines. The Confederate prisoners were the special ob-
ject of her solicitude.
Seated in the doorway of the bakery in the heart of the city, she became an integral part of its life, for besides the poor who came to her continually she was consulted by the people of all ranks about their business aflfairs, her wisdom having become pro- verbial. " Our Margaret" the people of New Orleans called her, and they will tell you that she was mas- culine in energy and courage but gifted with the gentlest and kindest manners. Her death was an- nounced in the newspapers with blocked columns as a public calamity. All New Orleans, headed by the archbishop, the governor, and the mayor attended her funeral. She was buried in the same grave with Sister Francis Regis Barret, the Sister of Charity who died in 1862 and with whom Margaret had co- operated in all her early work for the poor. At once the idea of erecting a public monument to Margaret in the city arose spontaneously and in two years it was unveiled, 9 July, 1884. The little park in which it is erected is officially named Margaret Place. It has often been stated that this is the first public monu- ment erected to a woman in the United States, but the monument on Dustin Island, N. H., to Mrs. Hannah Dustin who, in 1697, killed nine of her sleep- ing Indian captors and escaped (Harper's Encyclo- paedia of American History, New York, 1902) ante- dates it by ten years.
(iiiACK kiNo. iV'ir Orleans, the Place and the People (New York. Ici90'. 272-S; Notable Americans, V (Boston, 1904); Ap-
Slctons" Cyclono'Jia of American Biography, s. v.; The Ave faria, LVl. 7: The files of the iVeir Orleans Picayune and other New Orleans newspapers. RegINA RANDOLPH.
Margaret Mary Alacoque, Blessed, religious of the Visitation Order, Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, d. at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647 ; d. at Paray-le-Monial, 1 7 Oct., 1690. Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an honourable position. From early childhood Margaret showed intense love for the Blessed Sacrament, and preferred silence and prayer to childish amusements. After her first com- munion at the age of nine, she practised in secret se- vere corporal mortifications, until paralysis confined her to bed for four years. At the oi d of this period, having made a vow to the Blessed Virgin to conse- crate herself to the religious life, she was instantly restored to perfect health. The death of her father and the injustice of a relative plunged the family in poverty and humiliation, after which more than ever Margaret found her consolation in the Blessed Sacra- ment, and Christ made her sensible of His presence and protection. He usually appeared to her as the Cruci- ned or the Ecce Homo, and this did not surprise her, as she thought others had the same Divine assistance. When Margaret was sever teen, the family property was recovered, and her mother l>esought her to establish herself in the world. Her filial tenderness made her betteve that the vow of childhood was not binding, and that she could serve God at home by penance and charity to the poor. Then, still bleeding trom her self- imposed austerities, she began to take part in the pleasures of the world. One night upon her return from a ball, she had a vision of Christ as He was during the scourging, reproaching her for infidelity after He had given her so many proofs of HLs love. During her entire Hfe Margaret mourned over two faults com-
mitted at this time — the wearing of some super-
fluous ornaments and a mask at the carnival to please
her brothers.
On 25 May, 1671, she entered the Visitation Con- vent at Paray, where she was subjected to many trials to' prove her vocation, and in Nov., 1672, pro- nounced her final vows. She had a deUcate constitu- tion, but was gifted with intelligence and good judg- ment, and in the cloister she chose for herself what was most repugnant to her nature, making her life one of inconceivable sufferings, which were often relieved or instantly cured by our Lord, Who acted as her Director, appeared to her frequently and conversed with her, confiding to her the mission to establish the devotion to His Sacred Heart. These extraordinary occurrences drew upon her the adverse criticism of the community, who treated her as a visionary, and her superior commanded her to live the common life. But her obedience, her humility, and invariable char- ity towards those who persecuted her, finally pre- vailed, and her mission, accomplished in the crucible of suffering, was recognized even by those who had shown her the most bitter opposition.
Margaret Mary was inspired by Christ to establish the Holy Hour and to pray lying prostrate with her face to the ground from eleven till midnight on the eve of the first Friday of each month, to share in the mor- tal sadness He endured when abandoned by His Apostles in His Agony, and to receive holy Commun- ion on the first Friday of every month. In the first great revelation, He made known to her His ardent desire to be loved by men and His design of manifest- ing His Heart with all Its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation. He appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christ! as the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her "the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart ",and the heiress of all Its treasures. The love of the Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: " W^hat have I in heaven and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God ", and died pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus. The discus- sion of the mission and virtues of Margaret Mary continued for years. All her actions, her revela- tions, her spiritual maxims, her teachings regard- ing the devotion to the Sacred Heart, of which she was the chief exponent as well as the apostle, were subjected to the most severe and minute examination, and finally the Sacred Congregation of Rites passed a favourable vote on the heroic virtues of this servant of God. In March, 1824, Leo XII pro- nounced her \enerable, and on 18 Sept., 1864, Fius IX declared her Blessed. When her tomb was canonically opened in July, 1830, two instanta- . neous cures took place. Her body rests under the altar in the chapel at Paray, and many striking favours have been obtained by pilgrims attracted thither from all parts of the world. Her feast is cele- brated on 17 October.
The Letters, Instructions, and Autobiography of BI. Mar-^ Karet Marv are included in Vie el (Euvrea var Us Vontemporains (2 vols., Paris, 1901); Lanouet, La Vie de la Vin. Marguerite" Marie (Paris, 1729), tr. (London, 1850); Hamon, Vie de la b, M. d'aprcs les manitsc. et lea docum. orig. (Paris, 1907); BouGADD, Revelations of the Sacred Heart, tr. (New York, 1890). • 8ee also biographies by Gauthky (Paris, 1890); Boulangbr (Paris, 1847); Da.viel, tr. by a Sister or Mercy (New York); TlCKELL (New York. 19(X)); Life of the Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque in The Messenger of the Sacred Heart (1905), seriatinu
Sister Mary Bernard Doll.
Margaret of Oortona, Saint, a penitent of the Third Order of St. Francis, bom at Laviano in Tus- cany in 1247; died at Cortona, 22 February, 1297. At the age of seven years Margaret lost her mother and two years later her father married a second time. Be- tween the daughter and her .step -mother there seems to have been but little sympathy or affectioiXv «a&^
