DELUIL-MARTINY, MARIE OF JÉSUS, BL.

Baptized Marie Caroline Philomène; founder of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; b. May 28, 1841, Marseilles, France; d. Feb. 27, 1884, La Servianne Convent, Marseilles. Educated by the Visitation nuns in Lyons, Marie became a member of the Guard of Honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Under the guidance of Jean Colage, S.J., in 1873 she founded in Belgium a contemplative congregation of women to make reparation to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and to pray for priests. She took the name Marie de Jésus. The Institute's constitutions were definitively approved by the Holy See in 1902. As a model for the institute the founder chose the Blessed Virgin under the aspect of victim and associate of Christ in the Passion. She adopted from Msgr. O. Van den Berghe the devotion to Mary as "virgin and priest."

In 1916, the Holy Office published a decree forbidding representations of Mary in priestly vestments; and in 1927 it prohibited the spread of this devotion among the faithful, but permitted the daughters to practice the devotion within the confines of the congregation. During the lifetime of the founder, the congregation spread in France and into Belgium. It has since established houses in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Marie Deluil-Martiny was shot to death by an anarchist employed at the motherhouse. Her remains rest in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Berschem (near Antwerp), Belgium. Her cause was introduced in 1921 and completed with her beatification by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 27, 1998.

Feast: Oct. 27.

Bibliography: Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1989): 1079. l. laplace, Immolation: Life of Mother Mary of Jesus, tr. j. f. newcomb (New York 1926). r. garrigou–lagrange, La Vita interióre della Madre Maria di Gesù (Milan 1939). On the cult of the "Virgin and priest," see: r. laurentin, Marie, l'église et le sacerdoce, 2 v. (Paris 1952–53). a. de bonhome, "Dévotions prohibées," Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Ascétique et Mystique, ed. m. villier et al. (Paris 1932) 3:786–788.

[m. h. quinlan]