Coudrin, Pierre Marie Joseph
COUDRIN, PIERRE MARIE JOSEPH
Founder of the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus Fathers) and Picpus Sisters; b. Coussay-les-Bois (Vienne), France, March 1, 1768; d. Paris, March 27, 1837. He was one of eight children of pious parents. After studies in the seminary and at the University of Poitiers he was ordained secretly during the french revolution (1792). Because of his refusal to subscribe to the civil constitution of the clergy, he had to exercise his ministry in secret to escape arrest. While in hiding (September 1792) he received an inspiration to found a missionary society for men and another for women. Together with Henriette aymer de la chevalerie, he founded a religious congregation for men (1792) and another for women (1797). Papal approval for both institutes came in 1817. Coudrin also established several colleges in France and served as vicar-general for the Dioceses of Rouen, Mende, Séez, and Troyes. His cause for beatification has been introduced in Rome.
Bibliography: s. perron, Vie du Très Révérend Père M.-J. Coudrin (Paris 1900). a. lestra, Le Père Coudrin (Lyons 1952). w. h. hÜnermann, Le Marquisard de Dieu, tr. from German by g. d'almys (Paris 1954). p. piriou, Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique. Doctrine et histoire, ed., m. viller et al. (Paris 1932) 2:2433–43.
[p. heran]