Founder of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The son of a Jewish rabbi, Jacob Libermann embraced Catholicism in 1826, and became a priest. Father Libermann was an energetic missionary who had a very fruitful ministry, in particular by founding the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1841. This congregation merged in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in 1848, "Mary's Immaculate Heart" being "absorbed" into the "Holy Ghost" who already entirely filled her. Father Libermann readily transmitted his devotion to Our Lady: "Our congregation must be characterized by a strong attachment to Mary's Immaculate Heart, a homage paid with filial tenderness to the love of Mary for her Son and for mankind." His attachment was so strong that he added, "When the water of the baptism ran on my Jewish head, at that moment I loved Mary whom I had hated before." Francis Libermann helped many people to discover the Virgin Mary. "Since the day that Mary said, I am the maidservant of the Lord, she does not pray like a servant but like a mother."