Edith Royer and the Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmartre

On 3 April 1924, French mystic Edith Royer died. Although her name is unknown to most people, she was an important apostle of the Heart of Jesus in the late 19th and early 20th century. Born into a Catholic family from the Burgundy bourgeoisie, in the diocese of Sens, Edith Royer led an intense spiritual life from childhood. Many years married to Charles Royer, she became a widow at the age of forty-two; she founded the “Association of Prayer and Penance” and from then on had a succession of mystical experiences (locutions, prophecies, transverberations, visions, levitations, etc.), which deepened her love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whom she was to serve for the rest of her life.

Unsplash, DAVID TAPIA SAN MARTIN.

Les raisons d'y croire :

Madame Royer's Association of Prayer and Penance was approved by the Holy See on 18 April 1894, and a brief issued by Pope Leo XIII established it as an international archconfraternity with its headquarters in the Basilica of Montmartre in Paris, France.

As a child, she took a vow of virginity, but a parish priest decided that she did not have a vocation to enter a convent, so her parents pushed her to marry young. Wanting to remain faithful to this vow, she later experimented with religious life at the age of 80.

Edith's humility was legendary: during her lifetime, she kept silent about her incredible mystical experiences, known only to her spiritual director, per Jesus' request. It was only after her death that her entourage and the general public discovered her unique spritual and mystical life.

It was also after her death that her essential role in the foundation of the Montmartre archconfraternity was discovered; the only press cuttings to mention her (La Croix, 27, 28 and 29 June 1916), in accordance with her wishes, do not mention her name. In fact, her name was only revealed in April 1928, thanks to Father Verdier, four years after her death.

In January 1879, François-Victor Rivet, Bishop of Dijon, issued a positive opinion of Edith Royer's private revelations from the Sacred Heart while remaining very discreet about her person, and concluded that, based on the messages from Jesus, it was urgent for the faithful to come together to make reparation for collective and individual sins.

Edith's prophecies were incredibly accurate: On 22 July 1870, Christ appeared to her during Mass and informed her of the forthcoming Prussian victory (Sedan, 1 September 1870), Napoleon III's captivity (from the following 3 September) and the siege of Paris; on 22 May 1914, and again the following month, she spoke of the First World War just one month before it broke out (28 July); at Easter, in 1917, she wrote to a priest that a revolution was brewing in Russia; speaking to her daughter, Louise, and one of her granddaughters, she spoke of a new war against Germany, whose army would invade part of France, during which civilians would be killed, lying along the roads... She predicted World War II in 1919.

The essence of all her prophecies is spiritual: as throughout the Bible, God warns mankind that a lack of love leads them away from him and that they must be converted; moreover, Jesus ordered her never to interpret the messages as announcements of political events.

Her visions were not gratuitous or extravagant: the way in which the Sacred Heart appeared to her was both real and symbolic, theologically sober and powerful, combining a simple, evangelical visual content (Jesus suffering, his wounds, a vase, a basket, a spring of water, etc.) with a spirituality of penitence and reparation for sins.

Amazingly, her intense mystical life never prevented her from fulfilling her duties as a mother: she personally and beautifully brought up her four children, and was devoted to her husband, while putting herself last. This is a clear sign of the authenticity of her union with Christ, which can be found in the greatest saints, who combine a rich interior life with a fruitful apostolic activity.

On 10 June 1872, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque appeared to Edith in the chapel of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial, to reassure her and ask her to continue her work on behalf of the Sacred Heart in the Church of her day. At the time, Edith Royer was worried about presenting the world with an image of the Sacred Heart that was different from the traditional one of Paray.

Some people accused her association of "dolorism", but this is far from the truth: on 5 June 1875, Christ appeared to her all "radiant" in his glory, proving that devotion to Christ the King is just another, modern expression of that to the Sacred Heart. What's more, this vision was not, strictly speaking, a figurative painting, but an "intellectual" vision that went beyond sensible forms, offering a doctrinal and spiritual teaching of the highest order.

The overflowing activity of this discreet woman is all the more inexplicable given that for many years she practised rigorous fasting, at times bordering on inedience.

In 1894, when the association she founded was erected by the Pope as an archconfraternity, it already had 600,000 members. In 1912, a branch of the archconfraternity was opened in New York.

On 10 March 1914, Pope Saint Pius X enrolled himself in the archconfraternity and subsequently granted indulgences to its French and foreign members.

Edith's two brothers-in-law, the famous philosopher Maurice Blondel and Adéodat Boissard, co-founder of the Semaines Sociales and a politician, never expressed the slightest reservations about her hidden life, which she devoted entirely to God.

It was on 22 July (1873) that Edith received her first messages from Jesus about the future confraternity, whose task would be to do penance to atone for sins. The date was very appropriate sign, since 22 July is the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene, the great sinner turned disciple and saint.

Two days later, on 24 July 1873, the French national assembly passed a law in favour of the "National Pledge", which was declared to be in the public interest and allowed work to begin on a large basilica dedicated to the Sacred Heart, on the Montmartre hill in Paris.

Synthèse :

Edith Royer (née Challan-Belval) was born into a Catholic family from the Burgundy bourgeoisie. She received an excellent upbringing and education, and her parents introduced her to the Christian faith and liturgical ceremonies, which she loved to take part in. She took a vow of virginity, but she was too young and hesitant about religious orders, and somehow a priest decided that she had no vocation, so her parents found her a husband of good reputation. In 1860, she married Charles Royer, with whom she had four children. One of her sisters became a nun with the Daughters of the Heart of Mary; another married the famous philosopher Maurice Blondel.

At home, Edith had an intense spiritual and even mystical life, while carrying out her household and educational duties to perfection, to her unsuspecting family. Her children were healthy and happy under her constant care, as she raised them herself. From July 1873, Jesus appeared to her. She kept her experiences completely secret from her family for fear of being misunderstood, and carried on admirably with all her duties as a mother.

The visions continued in the months and years that followed: May and June 1875, November the following year, July 1881, June 1887, June 1889, January 1895... Jesus appeared to her mainly in two forms: either on the Cross, with his hands and feet pierced, or in his glory, radiant with light. But in both cases, Edith Royer explained that he is all love and that his mercy for mankind is infinite. He showed himself so that she could take upon herself the sadness he felt at the sins of the world. The messages multiplied, calling for prayer, penance and conversion (of humanity, of France and of all believers, whatever their state in life). They echo the Lord's suffering in the face of man's lack of love and his various betrayals. Some of them prophesied with confounding accuracy future major world events (the First and Second World Wars, etc.), but Jesus ordered Edith not to connect her messages with any French political event: he wanted to alert his brothers in humanity that it was essential for them to convert, otherwise they would not be able to have peace.

To express his mercy, he showed the mystic his Sacred Heart, following in the footsteps of the visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century. But this was by no means an exact repeat of the events at Paray-le-Monial: throughout those years, Edith had a real human and divine contact and encounters, not with an image or a pure symbol, but with a real being, even more real than what she perceived with her senses. Similarly, the messages, although centred on devotion to the Sacred Heart, differed from those of Paray in that they acknowledged the social and spiritual realities of the early 20th century.

In July 1873, in order to make her an apostle of his Sacred Heart, Jesus entrusted her with a project for an institution that would bring together all the faithful who wanted to atone for their sins and do penance. It was absolutely providential, for a few days later, without Edith's knowledge, the French assembly promulgated a law declaring the "National Pledge", i.e a public fundraising effort for the construction of a church in honour of the Sacred Heart, in Paris' Butte Montmartre, to be in the public interest. The idea of a "confraternity" was launched. It quickly took shape, despite Royer's acting alone and having no resources. Within a few months, this Association of Prayer and Penance, attracted crowds of people of all ages and from all walks of life. By 1894, it had 600,000 members across five continents!

In the meantime, Edith was now a widow at the age of 42, and was thinking of taking up the contemplative life. But she was again prevented by her children and her various family duties. At this time, her mystical experiences intensified and became regular. Christ encouraged her in her apostolic work and gave her boundless consolation when she became discouraged.

Obstacles had been standing in her way since 1873, particularly against the confraternity. But Edith possessed a rare sense of the Church, and she entrusted her sorrows and hesitations to priests, as well as the entire management and administration of her confraternity. It was officially recognised by Rome in April 1894, and Pope Leo XIII established it as an international archconfraternity. The millions of members came from all over the world: mothers, workers, peasants, nuns and religious, priests, bishops, cardinals and even a pope in the person of Saint Pius X, who granted new indulgences to its members.

Edith, who from then on wanted to continue to live hidden away and be faithful to her childhood vow of virginity, made several attempts at religious life in Burgundy, but in the end it was around her own family that she spent her last years, carrying out her human duties with remarkable efficiency and skill, while devoting more and more of her time to prayer. She gave up her soul to God in 1924, surrounded by her family, at her home in Quincy-le-Vicomte.

At that time, no one in the world, apart from the priests who had been her confessors, knew of the extraordinary mystical fruitfulness of this woman immersed in prayer, who, from her youth, had been called by Heaven to "complete in her flesh what is lacking in the Passion of Christ for his Body which is the Church" (Col 1:24).

Patrick Sbalchiero

Au-delà des raisons d'y croire :

No great shrine in the Christian world has not, at one time or another, witnessed the presence of mystics blessed with extraordinary graces, eventually authenticated by the Church and popularly approved by the millions of pilgrims who visit the sites. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre is no exception, and the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which is forever attached to it, has an exceptional spiritual model and apostle in the person of Edith Royer.

Aller plus loin :

Jacques Benoist, "Royer (Édith), 1841 - 1924", in Patrick Sbalchiero (ed.), Dictionnaire des miracles et de l'extraordinaire chrétiens, Paris, Fayard, 2002, pp. 692-693.

En savoir plus :

Charles Boissard, La Vie et le message de Madame Royer (1841 - 1924), Paris, Lethielleux, 1960.
Édouard Glotin, "Réparation", Dictionnaire de spiritualité et de mystique, t. 13, Paris, Beauchesne, 1987, col. 368-413.
Jacques Benoist, Le Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre de 1870 à nos jours, Paris, Les Éditions Ouvrières, 1992, 2 vols (indispensable).
Id, Le Sacré-Cœur des femmes. De 1870 à 1960, Paris, 2000.
Patrick Sbalchiero, La basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. Une épopée incroyable au cœur de l'histoire de France, Paris, Artège, 2020.