Marie Martha Chambon was a lay Roman Catholic nun known for introducing the Rosary of the Holy Wounds.

Biography

She was a member of the Monastery of the Visitation Order

Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary

The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary or the Visitation Order is a Roman Catholic religious order for women. Members of the order are also known as Filles de Sainte-Marie, Visitandines, Salesian Sisters and, more commonly, Visitationists.- History of the order :The Order was founded in 1610 by...

who lived in Chambéry

Chambéry

Chambéry is a city in the department of Savoie, located in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It is the capital of the department and has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V of Savoy made the city his seat of power.-Geography:Chambéry...

, France. She is in the process of canonization

Canonization

Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...

 by the Roman Catholic Church.

She died on March 21, 1907, and the cause for her beatification

Beatification

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...

 was introduced in 1937.

Private revelations

She began to report visions of Jesus in 1866, telling her to contemplate the Holy Wounds

Holy Wounds

The Five Holy Wounds or Five Sacred Wounds refer to what are believed to be the five piercing wounds that was suffered during the crucifixion of Jesus....

, although it is said that she had received her first vision when only five years old. These were visions of Jesus Christ

Visions of Jesus and Mary

Since the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary until today, a number of people have claimed to have had visions of Christ and personal conversations with him. Some people make similar claims regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary. Discussions about the authenticity of these visions have often invited...

 appearing to her and teaching her specific prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

s and meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

s on His wounds. She reported that she was told to pray to and invoke the Holy Wounds unceasingly.

Her mother superior kept a chronicle of her life which was published in 1923 and sold widely. The next year the Vatican

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 granted an indulgence

Indulgence

In Catholic theology, an indulgence is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the Catholic Church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution...

 to those who said the following prayer, based on her reported visions: "Eternal Father I offer the wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls".

She reported that Jesus asked her to unite her sufferings with His in the Rosary of the Holy Wounds as an Act of Reparation for the sins of the world. She reported that Jesus told her that "[w]hen you offer My Holy Wounds for sinners, you must not forget to do so for the souls in Purgatory, as there are but few who think of their relief... The Holy Wounds are the treasure of treasures for the souls in Purgatory

Purgatory

Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...

."

Holy Wounds devotion

According to Ann Ball, Chambon was told to revive the Holy Wounds devotion. Part of this devotion can be a Chaplet of Mercy of the Holy Wounds of Jesus, which was based on Chambon's private revelations. This chaplet was approved for the Institute of Visitation

Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary

The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary or the Visitation Order is a Roman Catholic religious order for women. Members of the order are also known as Filles de Sainte-Marie, Visitandines, Salesian Sisters and, more commonly, Visitationists.- History of the order :The Order was founded in 1610 by...

 in 1912, and was extended to all the faithful at large by the Sacred Penitentiary in 1924. According to Liz Kelly, the Rosary of the Holy Wounds was revealed to Chambon and is prayed on a standard five decade rosary

Rosary

The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...

.

Format of the Chaplet

The chaplet consists of three prayers that are said on specific portions of the rosary beads as follows:

• The following prayers are said on the crucifix
  Crucifix
  A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
  
  and first three beads:

O JESUS, Divine Redeemer, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen.

Strong God, Holy God, Immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen

Grace and Mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Your Precious Blood. Amen.

ETERNAL Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Your only Son; grant us mercy we beseech You. Amen, Amen, Amen.

• The following prayer is said on the large beads of the rosary chain:

Eternal Father, I offer You the Wounds of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to heal the wounds of our souls.

• The following prayer is said on the small beads of the rosary chain:

My Jesus, pardon and mercy, through the merits of Your Holy Wounds.