Baroque France (17th century)
Feast: August 19
Before Margaret Mary's visions, this Norman priest was already writing the first liturgical offices for the Sacred Hearts — and nearly everyone told him to stop.
John Eudes was ordained during a plague. Literally — he left the seminary in 1625 and immediately volunteered to minister to plague victims in Normandy, sleeping in a barrel in a field so he wouldn't infect his community. He did this again during later outbreaks. Between epidemics, he became one of the most effective parish mission preachers in France, crisscrossing the country to revive dead parishes. But his real passion was the hearts of Jesus and Mary. He composed the first liturgical offices honoring the Sacred Heart — years before Margaret Mary Alacoque had her visions — and fought for decades to get them approved. Bishops liked them; Rome was cautious; the Jansenists despised him. He also founded two religious congregations: the Eudists (for training parish priests) and Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge (for women escaping prostitution). That second foundation was especially unpopular — polite society didn't want to think about those women, let alone fund a house for them. John spent his last years in semi-disgrace, his liturgical proposals stalled, his energy spent. He died in 1680. The devotion he championed wouldn't be officially recognized until long after his death.