Born at Ry (Orne) in France, St. John Eudes founded a society of priests known as the Eudists and a congregation of nuns, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. He rendered immense services to the Church by the seminaries that he founded and by the missions that he preached in almost all the provinces of France with such success that it appeared to be miraculous. He was the great apostle of devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. St. John Eudes died at Caen on August 19, 1680; he was canonized by Pius XI in 1925.