History of the sacred devotion

Early devotion

Historically the devotion to the Sacred Heart is an outgrowth of devotion to what is believed to be Christ's sacred humanity.[3] There is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries of Christianity, any worship was rendered to the wounded Heart of Jesus.[4]

The revival of religious life and the zealous activity of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and Saint Francis of Assisi in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, together with the enthusiasm of the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land, gave a rise to devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ and particularly to practices in honour of the Sacred Wounds.[5]

Devotion to the Sacred Heart developed out of the devotion to the Holy Wounds, in particular to the Sacred Wound in the side of Jesus. The first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The devotion arose in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries, in the world of Bernardine thought, although it is impossible to say with certainty what were its first texts or who were its first devotees.

Saint Bernard (d.1153) said that the piercing of Christ's side revealed his goodness and the charity of his heart for us. The earliest known hymn to the Sacred Heart, "Summi Regis Cor Aveto" is believed to have been written by the Norbertine, Blessed Herman Joseph (d.1241) of Cologne, Germany. This hymn begins: "I hail Thee kingly Heart most high."

From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have developed in itself. It was everywhere practised by individuals and by different religious congregations, such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carthusians. Among the Franciscans the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has its champions in Saint Bonaventure (d. 1274) in his Vitis Mystica ("Mystic Vine"), B. John de la Verna and the Franciscan Tertiary Saint Jean Eudes (1602–1680).[6] Bonaventure wrote: "Who is there who would not love this wounded heart? Who would not love in return Him, who loves so much?”[7] It was, nevertheless, a private, individual devotion of the mystical order. Nothing of a general movement had been inaugurated, except for similarities found in the devotion to the Five Holy Wounds by the Franciscans, in which the wound in Jesus's heart figured most prominently.

In the sixteenth century, the devotion passed from the domain of mysticism into that of Christian asceticism. It was established as a devotion with prayers already formulated and special exercises, found in the writings of Lanspergius (d. 1539) of the Carthusians of Cologne; the Benedictine Louis de Blois (d. 1566), Abbot of Liessies in Hainaut, John of Avila (d. 1569) and Francis de Sales (d. 1622).

The historical record from that time shows an early bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was everywhere in evidence, largely due to the Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the Jesuits placing the image on the title-page of their books and the walls of their churches.
The first to establish the theological basis for the devotion was Polish Jesuit Kasper Drużbicki (1590-1662) in his book Meta cordium - Cor Jesu (The goal of hearts - Heart of Jesus). Not much later Jean Eudes wrote an Office, and promoted a feast for it. Père Eudes was the apostle of the Heart of Mary, but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little, the devotion to the two Hearts became distinct, and on August 31, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutances followed suit on October 20, a day with which the Eudist feast was from then on to be connected. The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities. It gradually came into contact with the devotion begun by Margaret Mary Alacoque at Paray-le-Monial, and the two merged.

Saint Lutgarde

According to Thomas Merton, Saint Lutgarde (d.1246), a Cistercian mystic of Aywieres, Belgium was one of the great precursors of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A contemporary of St. Francis, she "... entered upon the mystical life with a vision of the pierced Heart of the Saviour, and had concluded her mystical espousals with the Incarnate Word by an exchange of hearts with Him."[8] Sources say that Christ came in a visitation to Lutgarde, offering her whatever gift of grace she should desire; she asked for a better grasp of Latin, that she might better understand the word of God and sing his praise. Christ granted her request and Lutgarde’s mind was flooded with the riches of psalms, antiphons, readings and responsories. However, a painful emptiness persisted. She returned to Christ, asking to return His gift, and wondering if she might, just possibly, exchange it for another. “And for what would you exchange it?” Christ asked. “Lord, said Lutgarde, I would exchange it for your Heart.” Christ then reached into Lutgarde and, removing her heart, replaced it with His own, at the same time hiding her heart within His breast.[9]

Saint Mechtilde

Saint Mechtilde of Helfta (d.1298) became an ardent devotee and promoter of Jesus’ heart after it was the subject of many of her visions. The idea of hearing the heartbeat of God was very important to medieval saints who nurtured devotion to the Sacred Heart.[10] Mechtilde reported that Jesus appeared to her in a vision and commanded her to love Him ardently, and to honor his sacred heart in the Blessed Sacrament as much as possible. He gave her his heart as a pledge of his love, as a place of refuge during her life and as her consolation at the hour of her death. From this time Mechtilde had an extraordinary devotion for the Sacred Heart, and said that if she had to write down all the favors and all the blessings which she had received by means of this devotion, a large book would not contain them.

Saint Gertrude

Saint Gertrude the Great was an early devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[12] Book 2 of the Herald of Divine Love vividly describes Gertrude's visions, which show a considerable elaboration on the hitherto ill-defined veneration of Christ's heart. St Bernard articulated this in his commentary on the Song of Songs. The women of Helfta—Gertrude foremost, who surely knew Bernard's commentary, and to a somewhat lesser extent the two Mechthilds—experienced this devotion centrally in their mystical visions.[13]

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form it is known today was Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), a nun of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, who claimed to have received apparitions of Jesus Christ, the first on 27 December 1673, the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, and the final one 18 months later, revealing the form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, Eucharistic adoration during a "Holy hour" on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. She said that in her vision she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night to meditate on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In probably June or July, 1674, Sister Margaret Mary claimed that Jesus requested to be honored under the figure of his heart, also saying that, when he appeared radiant with love, he asked for a devotion of expiatory love: frequent reception of Communion, especially on the first Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy hour.
During the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on June 16, the vision known as the "great apparition" reportedly took place, where Jesus said, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men ... instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude ...", and asked Margaret Mary for a feast of reparation of the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, bidding her consult her confessor Father Claude de la Colombière, then superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray.
Father de la Colombière directed Sister Margaret Mary to write an account of the apparition, which he discreetly circulated France and England. After his death on February 15, 1682, his journal of spiritual retreats was found to contain a copy in his handwriting of the account that he had requested of Margaret Mary, together with a few reflections on the usefulness of the devotion. This journal, including the account; an "offering" to the Sacred Heart, in which the devotion was explained, was published at Lyons in 1684. The little book was widely read, especially at Paray. Margaret Mary reported feeling "dreadful confusion" over the book's contents, but resolved to make the best of it, approving of the book for the spreading of her cherished devotion. Besides the Visitandines, priests, religious, and laymen espoused the devotion, particularly the Capuchins. The reported apparitions served as a catalyst for the promotion of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.[14] Jesuit Father Croiset wrote a book called The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Fr. Joseph de Gallifet, also a Jesuit, promoted the devotion. The mission of propagating the new devotion was especially confided to the religious of the Visitation and to the priests of the Society of Jesus.

Estelle Faguette

On the night of 14 February 1876, as she lay in Pellevoisin dying of pulmonary tuberculosis, Estelle Faguette, a domestic servant, reportedly saw the Virgin Mary. Four days later, during the fifth apparition, Estelle seemed to be healed instantaneously. Altogether she said she experienced fifteen apparitions in the course of 1876. On 9 September the apparition drew attention to a small piece of white cloth, a scapular, resting over her chest. Estelle had seen it there before, as plain white cloth, but on this day it bore the red image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The following day the lady appeared again, saying she had come to encourage people to pray.[15]

The final and culminating vision took place on Friday 8 December 1876, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.[15]

You will go yourself to the prelate and will present to him this copy that you have made. Tell him to do everything within his power to help you, and that nothing would be more pleasing to me than to see this livery on each of my children. They should all strive to make reparation for the outrages my Son is subjected to in the sacrament of His love. See the graces that will be poured forth on those who will wear it with confidence and help you to spread this devotion.[15]
Immediately following this last apparition, Estelle sought and was granted an audience with the Archbishop of Bourges, Monsignor de La Tour d'Auvergne. By 12 December 1876 she had received his permission to make and distribute copies of the Scapular of the Sacred Heart.

Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart

Another source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was Sister Mary of the Divine Heart (1863–1899), the countess of Droste zu Vischering and nun from the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, who reported to have received several interior locutions and visions of Jesus Christ. The first interior locution Maria Droste zu Vischering reported was during her youth spent with the family in the Castle of Darfeld, near Munster, Germany, and the last vision and private revelation was reported during her presence as Mother Superior in the Convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Porto, Portugal.

Based on the messages she said she received in her revelations of Christ, on June 10, 1898, her confessor at the Good Shepherd monastery wrote to Pope Leo XIII stating that Sister Mary of the Divine Heart had received a message from Christ, requesting the pope to consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart. The pope initially attached no credence to it and took no action. However, on January 6, 1899 she sent another letter, asking that in addition to the consecration, the first Fridays of the month be observed in honor of the Sacred Heart.

Her second letter included:

One might find it strange that Our Lord should ask for this consecration of the entire world and not content Himself with [that of] the Catholic Church. But His desire to reign, to be loved and glorified, and to set ablaze all hearts with His love and His mercy is so ardent that He wants Your Holiness to offer Him the hearts of all those who belong to Him by Baptism to facilitate their return to the true Church, and the hearts of those who have not yet received spiritual life by Holy Baptism, but for whom He has given His life and His Blood, and who are equally called to be one day children of the Holy Church, to hasten by this means their spiritual birth.

In the letter she also referred to the recent illness of the pope and stated that Christ had assured her that Pope Leo XIII would live until he had performed the consecration to the Sacred Heart. Theologian Laurent Volken states that this had an emotional impact on Leo XIII, despite the theological issues concerning the consecration of non-Christians.[17][18]

Sister Mary of the Divine Heart died in her monastery in Portugal when the Church was singing the first vespers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 8, 1899. The following day, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Papal approval

In 1353 Pope Innocent VI instituted a Mass honoring the mystery of the Sacred Heart.[14]

After the death of Margaret Mary Alacoque on October 17, 1690, a short account of her life was published by Father Croiset in 1691, as an appendix to his book "De la Dévotion au Sacré Cœur". In 1693 the Holy See imparted indulgences to the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and, in 1697, granted the feast to the Visitandines with the Mass of the Five Wounds, but refused a feast common to all, with special Mass and Office. The devotion spread, particularly in religious communities. The Marseilles plague in 1720 furnished perhaps the first occasion for a solemn consecration and public worship outside of religious communities. Other cities of southern Europe followed the example of Marseilles. In 1726 Rome was again asked for a feast with a Mass and Office of its own; this was refused in 1729, but granted in 1765. In that year, at the request of the queen, the feast was received quasi-officially by the episcopate of France. In 1856, at the urgent entreaties of the French bishops, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the Roman Catholic Church under the rite of double major. In 1889 it was raised by the Roman Catholic Church to the double rite of first class.

After Pope Leo XIII received several letters from Sister Mary of the Divine Heart asking him to consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he commissioned a group of theologians to examine the petition on the basis of revelation and sacred tradition. The outcome of this investigation was positive, and so in the encyclical letter Annum sacrum (on May 25, 1899) he decreed that the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should take place on June 11, 1899. The encyclical letter also encouraged the entire Roman Catholic episcopate to promote the First Friday Devotions, established June as the Month of the Sacred Heart, and included the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart.[19]

Pope Pius X decreed that the consecration of the human race performed by Leo XIII be renewed each year. Pius XI in his encyclical letter Miserentissimus Redemptor (on May 8, 1928) affirmed the Church's position with respect to Saint Margaret Mary's visions of Jesus Christ by stating that Jesus had "manifested Himself" to Saint Margaret and had "promised her that all those who rendered this honor to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces." The encyclical refers to the conversation between Jesus and Saint Margaret Mary several times[20] and reaffirmed the importance of consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Pope Pius XII, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Pius IX's institution of the Feast, instructed the entire Roman Catholic Church at length on the devotion to the Sacred Heart in his encyclical letter Haurietis aquas (on May 15, 1956). On May 15, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter to Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on the 50th Anniversary of the encyclical Haurietis aquas. In his letter to Father Kolvenbach, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the importance of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Worship and devotion

The Roman Catholic acts of consecration, reparation and devotion were introduced when the feast of the Sacred Heart was declared. In his papal bull Auctorem fidei, Pope Pius VI praised devotion to the Sacred Heart. Finally, by order of Leo XIII, in his encyclical Annum sacrum (May 25, 1899), as well as on June 11, he consecrated every human to the Sacred Heart. The idea of this act, which Leo XIII called "the great act" of his pontificate, had been proposed to him by a nun of the Good Shepherd from Oporto (Portugal) who said that she had supernaturally received it from Jesus. Since c. 1850, groups, congregations, and States have consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart. In 1873, by petition of president Gabriel García Moreno, Ecuador was the first country in the world to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart.

Peter Coudrin of France founded the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on December 24, 1800. A religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, the order carried out missionary work in Hawaii.

Mother Clelia Merloni from Forlì (Italy) founded the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Viareggio, Italy, May 30, 1894.

Worship of the Sacred Heart mainly consists of several hymns, the Salutation of the Sacred Heart, and the Litany of the Sacred Heart. It is common in Roman Catholic services and occasionally is to be found in Anglican services.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a solemnity in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost always a Friday.

The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic ceremony in which a priest or head of a household consecrates the members of the household to the Sacred Heart. An image of the Sacred Heart that has been blessed, either a statue or a picture, is then placed in the home as a reminder. The practice of the Enthronement is based upon Pius XII's declaration that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is "the foundation on which to build the kingdom of God in the hearts of individuals, families, and nations..."[21]

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Sacred Heart has been closely associated with Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ. In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI stated: "the spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus".[20] The Golden Arrow Prayer directly refers to the Sacred Heart.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar since 1856, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost, always a Friday.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is sometimes seen in the Eastern Catholic Churches, where it remains a point of controversy and is seen as an example of liturgical Latinisation.

Alliance with the Immaculate Heart

Saint John Eudes was the great defender of the mystical unity of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is based on the historical, theological and spiritual links in Catholic devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.[22][23][24] The joint devotion to the hearts was first formalized in the seventeenth century by Saint John Eudes who organized the scriptural, theological and liturgical sources relating to the devotions and obtained the approbation of the Church, prior to the visions of Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque.[25][26][27]

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the devotions grew, both jointly and individually through the efforts of figures such as Saint Louis de Montfort who promoted Catholic Mariology and Saint Catherine Labouré's Miraculous Medal depicting the Heart of Jesus thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.[28][29][30] The devotions, and the associated prayers, continued into the twentieth century, e.g. in the Immaculata prayer of Saint Maximillian Kolbe and in the reported messages of Our Lady of Fatima saying that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.[31][32]

Popes supported the individual and joint devotions to the hearts through the centuries. In the 1956 encyclical Haurietis aquas, Pope Pius XII encouraged the joint devotion to the hearts. In the 1979 encyclical Redemptor hominis Pope John Paul II explained the theme of unity of Mary's Immaculate Heart with the Sacred Heart.[33] In his Angelus address on September 15, 1985 John Paul II coined the term The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1986 addressed the international conference on that topic held at Fátima, Portugal.[34][35][36][37]

Consecration to the Two Hearts in Papal Teaching

Consecration to the Two Hearts in Papal Teaching

     In 1864 A. D. Cardinal Gousset of Rhiems, supported by Archbishop
     de la Tour-d'Auvergen of Bourges, Bishop Mermillod and other
     bishops of France and Spain petitioned Venerable Pope Pius IX to
     consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The
     Archbishop of Bourges renewed this petition at Vatican I. During
     the council Father Pere Henri Ramiere, S.J., the great promoter
     of the Apostleship of Prayer, presented a request to consecrate
     the whole Church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This petition was
     supported by 272 Bishops, but was not acted upon due to the
     outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war. In 1874 A. D. Cardinal
     Desprez, the archbishop of Toulouse, France, wrote to all the
     bishops of the world to promote once again the petition of Father
     Ramiere. By April of 1875 A. D., Father Ramiere was able to
     present this petition to Venerable Pope Pius IX along with the
     names of 534 Bishops and 23 superiors general of Religious
     institutes. In response to this petition, the pope had the Sacred
     Congregation of Rites compose and publish an "Act of Consecration
     to the Sacred Heart of Jesus" and he himself invited all the
     faithful to consecrate themselves on the 200th anniversary of Our
     Lord's apparition to St. Margaret, June 16, 1875 A. D..

     In 1891 A. D. the archbishops of Milan and Turin led a movement
     to consecrate the dioceses of Italy to the Most Holy Heart of
     Mary. In September, 1898 A. D., the Marian Congress of Turin, at
     the promptings of Pope Leo XIII, unanimously approved to petition
     Pope Leo XIII to this effect. On December 12, 1989 the Sacred
     Congregation of Rites approved a formula for diocesan
     consecration to the Heart of Mary.

     After the letters of Mother Mary of the Divine Heart (1863-1899)
     requesting, in the name of Christ Himself, that Pope Leo XIII to
     consecrate the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy
     Father commissions a group of theologians to examine the petition
     on the basis of revelation and sacred tradition. This
     investigation was positive. And so in the encyclical letter Annum
     Sacrum (May 25, 1899 A. D.) this same pope decreed that the
     consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of
     Jesus should take place on June 11, 1899 A. D.. In this
     encyclical letter the Pope attached Later Pope Leo XIII
     encouraged the entire Roman Catholic episcopate to promote the
     devotion of the Nine First Fridays and he established June as the
     Month of the Sacred Heart. Pope St. Pius X decreed that the
     consecration of the human race, performed by Pope Leo XIII be
     renewed each year. Pope Pius XI in his encyclical letter
     Miserentissimus (May 8, 1928 A. D.) reaffirmed the importance of
     consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Finally
     Venerable Pope Pius XII, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary
     of Pope Pius IX's institution of the Feast, instructed the entire
     Catholic Church at length on the devotion to the Sacred Heart in
     his encyclical letter Haurietis aquas (May 15, 1956 A. D.)

     It was Venerable Pope Pius XII who first consecrated the Church
     and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 31 and
     again, solemnly on December 8, 1942 A. D.. In recent times, moved
     by millions of petitions and by the occasion of the attempted
     assassination of his own person on the Feast of Our Lady of
     Fatima, May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II consecrated the world and
     every nation to the Immaculate Heart in 1982, and repeated this
     act in union with all the Catholic Bishops again in 1983 A.D.

Sacred heart In the Liturgy

In the Liturgy

     Even before the beginning of private revelations of the Sacred
     Hearts of Jesus and Mary in modern times, St. John Eudes had
     obtained permission from the ecclesiastical authorities to
     celebrate the Feast of the Heart of Mary liturgically. This was
     done for the first time at Autun, France, on May 8, 1648 A. D..
     In 1799 Pope Pius VI permitted religious societies in the
     archdiocese of Palermo, Sicily, to celebrate a similar feast. In
     1805 Pope Pius VII extended this permission to all religious
     societies and dioceses throughout the world. On July 21, 1855,
     the Sacred Congregation of Rites approved for the universal Roman
     Catholic Church an Office and Mass in honor of the Most Pure
     Heart of Mary. It was Venerable Pope Pius XII who had the joy to
     institute the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the
     universal Church in 1945 A.D..

     St. John Eudes also obtained permission to honor the Sacred
     Heart of Jesus in the liturgy. This was done for the first time
     at the Grand Seminary of Rennes, France, on August 31, 1670 A.
     D.. This liturgical commemoration of the love of the Redeemer
     began just two years or so before Our Lord appeared to St.
     Margaret Mary Alaqoque, asking her to reveal His Heart to the
     world. These celebrations thus served Divine Providence, for they
     drew down upon the world a new era of Mercy and Grace. Spurred on
     the Revelations to St. Margaret the liturgical celebration of the
     Sacred Heart gradually grew in popularity throughout Europe. At
     the request of innumerable petitions, in particular that of the
     entire Polish hierarchy, Pope Clement XIII requested the Sacred
     Congregation of Rites to examine the devotion. On January 25,
     1765 A. D., devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was formally
     approved. Venerable Pope Pius IX extended the Feast of the Sacred
     Heart of Jesus to the entire Catholic Church in 1858 A. D.. And
     Pope Leo XIII approved the litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Sacred heart In the Writings of the Saints

In the Writings of the Saints

     Chief among the saints of the Catholic Church who fostered
     devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary are St.
     Bonaventure and St. John Eudes.

     St. Bonaventure, a Cardinal and Doctor of the Roman Catholic
     Church, was a learned theologian and bishop of the Franciscan
     Order in the 13th Century. He wrote extensive theological works and
     is considered by the Papal Magisterium to be one of the two
     primary Doctors of the Catholic Church since the patristic era.
     St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest and contemporary of St.
     Bonaventure, is the other.

     St. Bonaventure's writings on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the
     Immaculate Heart of Mary are scatter throughout all his works,
     but a passage on the Sacred Heart that is particularly poignant
     is found in his devotional work The Mystical Vine, a description
     of the Passion of Jesus Christ. This passage is found in the
     Liturgy of the Hours for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart in
     June.

     St. John Eudes (1601-1680), however, is the founder of the modern
     public devotion to the Two Hearts. It was his mission to organize
     the scriptural, theological, patristic, and liturgical sources
     relating to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and to popularize
     them with the approbation of the Church. His chief writings on
     this topic were: The Admirable Childhood of the Most Holy Mother
     of God, The Admirable Heart of the Mother of God, the Life and
     Kingdom of Jesus, The Sacred Heart of Jesus, The Admirable Heart
     of Mary. Included among his works was a mass and office for the
     Sacred Heart of Jesus, and one for the Admirable Heart of Mary.
     He was the first to dedicate churches in the world to the Sacred
     Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

     St. Albert the Great, St. Gertrude, St. Catherine of Siena, Bl.
     Henry of Suso, St. Peter Canisius, and St. Francis of Sales also
     did much to propagate and promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of
     Jesus; and Eckbert of Schonau, who wrote the first extant prayer
     to the Heart of Mary, St. Mechtild of Hackeborn, St. Gertrude the
     Great, St. Bernard, St. Herman Joseph, St. Bridget of Sweden, St.
     Bernadine of Siena and St. Francis de Sales also did much to
     promote devotion to the Heart of Mary.

     In the Nineteenth Century the Abbe Desgenettes consecrated his
     parish church, the Notre Dame des Victoires, in Paris, to the
     Immaculate Heart of Mary and founded the Archconfraternity in Her
     honor. Later Father William Chaminade, founder of the Society of
     Mary, as well as St. Anthony Mary Claret, the founder of the
     Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, did much to promote
     devotion to Mary's Heart.

Sacred heart In the Fathers of the Church

In the Fathers of the Church

     "The holy Fathers, true witnesses of the divinely revealed
     doctrine, wonderfully understood what St. Paul the Apostle had
     quite clearly declared; namely; that the mystery of love was, as
     it were, both the foundation and the culmination of the
     Incarnation and Redemption. For frequently and clearly we can
     read in their writings that Jesus Christ took a perfect human
     nature and our weak and perishable human body with the object of
     providing for our eternal salvation, and of revealing to us in
     the clearest possible manner that His infinite love for us could
     express itself in human terms. (from Hauretis Aquas by Venerable
     Pope Pius XII, n. 44)

     Likewise these same Fathers of the Church often meditated and
     praised the singular love and faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
     who so generously offered Herself to God to fulfill His plans for
     our redemption, and who so steadfastly persevered with Her Son
     Jesus Christ in His ignominious crucifixion and death.

     In both these approaches the Fathers of the Church laid the
     foundation for true devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and
     Mary by clearly indicating the union of charity which bound Them
     both in the work of redemption.

Sacred heart In Sacred Scripture

In Sacred Scripture

     The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are mentioned explicitly only briefly
     in the text of the New Testament. Nevertheless the many
     references to the love and compassion of Jesus and Mary, as well
     as implied references to their Hearts, provide a vivid revelation
     of the Two Hearts. It is remarkable that the few explicit
     references all bear upon the work of redemption. Some of the more
     important references are:

                               Matthew 11:25

             "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart."

          This passage refers to Our Lord's invitation to imitate
          the dispositions and virtues of His own human Heart,
          reflecting upon His ineffable humility in becoming man
          and being born in a stable; His remarkable patience in
          living a hidden, obscure life for 30 years; His
          unsurpassed charity in preaching, teaching, working
          miracles, healing the bodies and souls of believers and
          unbelievers; His perfect obedience to the Father in
          enduring without complaint the bitter agony and infamy
          of death on the Cross.

                                 Luke 2:19

           "Mary kept in mind all these things, pondering them in
                                Her Heart."

          This passage refers to the visit of the shepherds to
          the Child Jesus in His crib at Bethlehem. It refers
          directly to what they reported regarding the heavenly
          host of angels that came to announce the birth of the
          Messiah, and how all marveled at what the shepherds had
          reported.

                                Luke 2:51b:

             "His Mother kept all these things carefully in Her
                                  Heart."

          This passage refers to the events surrounding the loss
          of Jesus for three days during a visit to Jerusalem,
          and how Mary and Joseph found Him teaching the doctors
          of the Mosaic Law in the Temple, to the amazement of
          all who heard Him.

                                 Luke 2:35:

           "Your own soul a sword shall pierce, that the thoughts
                      of many hearts may be revealed."

          This passage is spoken by the old man Simeon on the
          occasion of Mary bringing Jesus to the Temple in
          Jerusalem to offer Him to God according to the custom
          of the Mosaic Law. In it Simeon prophesies that Mary
          will share in the salvific sufferings of Her Son.

                                John 7:38b:

             "From His Heart will flow rivers of living water."

          This reading is based on the most reliable texts of the
          Gospel of St. John. It refers directly to the Heart of
          the Messiah, and recalls the prophesies of Isaiah
          (Isaiah 12:3) And St. John goes on to explain in verse
          39, that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, which
          He Himself will give, from His Heart, to those who
          believe in Him. The reading which is found in most
          translations-referring to the hearts of believers-is a
          variant believed to have its source in a textual
          mistake by Origen, a famous theologian who complied a
          multi-lingual edition of the Bible in the Third
          Century, A. D..

            John 19:34:

           "One of the soldiers opened His side with a lance, and
                immediately there came out blood and water."

          This passage refers to the piercing of Christ's Heart
          as He hung in death upon the Cross. The blood and water
          have always been seen by Roman Catholics to mystically
          symbolize and effect the origin and the Sacraments of
          the Catholic Church. It was at the piercing of Christ's
          Heart in death that Mary's Heart was pierced in spirit,
          thus fulfilling Luke 2:35 (cf. above), and exemplifying
          the profound mystical union of the Heart of Jesus with
          the Heart of Mary in the work of our redemption. This
          union began when by the power of the Holy Spirit Mary
          conceived the Heart of Jesus beneath Her own Heart. It
          is consummated when at one and the same time these Two
          Hearts are immolated for our salvation. And now in
          heaven it continues forever as the sole source of
          mankind's salvation and sanctification.

     Each of these passages are very significant, for they clearly
     indicate that Admirable Alliance of Hearts, which worked the
     salvation of the whole world: the Heart of Jesus, which suffered
     to the point of being pierced so as to pour forth upon all who
     believe in Him, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which makes them
     partakers of the Holy Eucharist in the communion of fellowship in
     the Catholic Church; and the Heart of Mary, always focused on Her
     Divine Son, which was predestined by God to suffer with Him for
     the salvation of mankind.

Historical ideas on the development of the devotion to the sacred heart

(1) From the time of St. John and St. Paul there has always been in the Church something like devotion to the love of God, Who so loved the world as to give it His only-begotten Son, and to the love of Jesus, Who has so loved us as to deliver Himself up for us. But, accurately speaking, this is not the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as it pays no homage to the Heart of Jesus as the symbol of His love for us. From the earliest centuries, in accordance with the example of the Evangelist, Christ's open side and the mystery of blood and water were meditated upon, and the Church was beheld issuing from the side of Jesus, as Eve came forth from the side of Adam. But there is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries, any worship was rendered the wounded Heart.
(2) It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that we find the first unmistakable indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Through the wound in the side of the wound Heart was gradually reached, and the wound in the Heart symbolized the wound of love. It was in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries, in the world of Anselmian or Bernardine thought, that the devotion arose, although it is impossible to say positively what were its first texts or were its first votaries. To St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilde, and the author of the "Vitis mystica" it was already well known. We cannot state with certainty to whom we are indebted for the "Vitis mystica". Until recent times its authorship had generally been ascribed to St. Bernard and yet, by the late publishers of the beautiful and scholarly Quaracchi edition, it has been attributed, and not without plausible reasons, to St. Bonaventure ("S. Bonaventura opera omnia", 1898, VIII, LIII sq.). But, be this as it may, it contains one of the most beautiful passages that ever inspired the devotion to the Sacred Heart, one appropriated by the Church for the lessons of the second nocturn of the feast. To St. Mechtilde (d. 1298) and St. Gertrude (d. 1302) it was a familiar devotion which was translated into many beautiful prayers and exercises. What deserves special mention is the vision of St. Gertrude on the feast of St. John the Evangelist, as it forms an epoch in the history of the devotion. Allowed to rest her head near the wound in the Saviour's she heard the beating of the Divine Heart and asked John if, on the night of the Last Supper, he too had felt these delightful pulsations, why he had never spoken of the fact. John replied that this revelation had been reserved for subsequent ages when the world, having grown cold, would have need of it to rekindle its love ("Legatus divinae pietatis", IV, 305; "Revelationes Gertrudianae", ed. Poitiers and Paris, 1877).

(3) From the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have developed in itself. It was everywhere practised by privileged souls, and the lives of the saints and annals of different religious congregations, of the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carthusians, etc., furnish many examples of it. It was nevertheless a private, individual devotion of the mystical order. Nothing of a general movement had been inaugurated, unless one would so regard the propagation of the devotion to the Five Wounds, in which the Wound in the Heart figured most prominently, and for the furtherance of which the Franciscans seem to have laboured.

(4) It appears that in the sixteenth century, the devotion took an onward step and passed from the domain of mysticism into that of Christian asceticism. It was constituted an objective devotion with prayers already formulated and special exercises of which the value was extolled and the practice commended. This we learn from the writings of those two masters of the spiritual life, the pious Lanspergius (d. 1539) of the Carthusians of Cologne, and the devout Louis of Blois (Blosius; 1566), a Benedictine and Abbot of Liessies in Hainaut. To these may be added Blessed John of Avila (d. 1569) and St. Francis de Sales, the latter belonging to the seventeenth century.

(5) From that time everything betokened an early bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus, Alvarez de Paz, Luis de la Puente, Saint-Jure, and Nouet, and there still exist special treatises upon it such as Father Druzbicki's (d. 1662) small work, "Meta Cordium, Cor Jesu". Amongst the mystics and pious souls who practised the devotion were St. Francis Borgia, Blessed Peter Canisius, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, of the Society of Jesus; also Venerable Marina de Escobar (d. 1633), in Spain; the Venerable Madeleine St. Joseph and the Venerable Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament, Carmelites, in France; Jeanne de S. Mathieu Deleloe (d. 1660), a Benedictine, in Belgium; the worthy Armelle of Vannes (d. 1671); and even in Jansenistic or worldly centres, Marie de Valernod (d. 1654) and Angélique Arnauld; M. Boudon, the great archdeacon of Evreux, Father Huby, the apostle of retreats in Brittany, and, above all, the Venerable Marie de l'Incarnation, who died at Quebec in 1672. The Visitation seemed to be awaiting St. Margaret Mary; its spirituality, certain intuitions of St. Francis de Sales, the meditations of Mère l'Huillier (d. 1655), the visions of Mother Anne-Marguerite Clément (d. 1661), and of Sister Jeanne-Bénigne Gojos (d. 1692), all paved the way. The image of the Heart of Jesus was everywhere in evidence, which fact was largely due to the Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the habit formed by the Jesuits of placing the image on their title-page of their books and the walls of their churches.

(6) Nevertheless, the devotion remained an individual or at least a private devotion. It was reserved to Blessed Jean Eudes (1602-1680) to make it public, to honour it with an Office, and to establish a feast for it. Père Eudes was above all the apostle of the Heart of Mary; but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little the devotion to the Sacred Heart became a separate one, and on 31 August, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated with great solemnity in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutances followed suit on 20 October, a day with which the Eudist feast was thenceforth to be connected. The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities. Here and there it came into contact with the devotion begun at Paray, and a fusion of the two naturally resulted.

(7) It was to Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a humble Visitandine of the monastery at Paray-le-Monial, that Christ chose to reveal the desires of His Heart and to confide the task of imparting new life to the devotion. There is nothing to indicate that this pious religious had known the devotion prior to the revelations, or at least that she had paid any attention to it. These revelations were numerous, and the following apparitions are especially remarkable: that which occurred on the feast of St. John, when Jesus permitted Margaret Mary, as He had formerly allowed St. Gertrude, to rest her head upon His Heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of His love, telling her that He desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of His goodness, and that He had chosen her for this work (27 Dec., probably 1673); that, probably distinct from the preceding, in which He requested to be honoured under the figure of His Heart of flesh; that, when He appeared radiant with love and asked for a devotion of expiatory love — frequent Communion, Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour (probably June or July, 1674); that known as the "great apparition" which took place during the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on 16 June, when He said, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men . . . instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude . . .", and asked her for a feast of reparation of the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, bidding her consult Father de la Colombière, then superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray; and finally, those in which solemn homage was asked on the part of the king, and the mission of propagating the new devotion was especially confided to the religious of the Visitation and the priests of the Society of Jesus. A few days after the "great apparition", of June, 1675, Margaret Mary made all known to Father de la Colombière, and the latter, recognizing the action of the spirit of God, consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart, directed the holy Visitandine to write an account of the apparition, and made use of every available opportunity discreetly to circulate this account through France and England. At his death, 15 February 1682, there was found in his journal of spiritual retreats a copy in his own handwriting of the account that he had requested of Margaret Mary, together with a few reflections on the usefulness of the devotion. This journal, including the account and a beautiful "offering" to the Sacred Heart, in which the devotion was well explained, was published at Lyons in 1684. The little book was widely read, even at Paray, although not without being the cause of "dreadful confusion" to Margaret Mary, who, nevertheless, resolved to make the best of it and profited by the book for the spreading of her cherished devotion. Moulins, with Mother de Soudeilles, Dijon, with Mother de Saumaise and Sister Joly, Semur, with Mother Greyfié, and even Paray, which had at first resisted, joined the movement. Outside of the Visita
ndines, priests, religious, and laymen espoused the cause, particularly a Capuchin, Margaret Mary's two brothers, and some Jesuits, among the latter being Fathers Croiset and Gallifet, who were destined to do so much for the devotion.
(8) The death of Margaret Mary, 17 October 1690, did not dampen the ardour of those interested; on the contrary, a short account of her life published by Father Croiset in 1691, as an appendix to his book "De la Dévotion au Sacré Cœur", served only to increase it. In spite of all sorts of obstacles, and of the slowness of the Holy See, which in 1693 imparted indulgences to the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and, in 1697, granted the feast to the Visitandines with the Mass of the Five Wounds, but refused a feast common to all, with special Mass and Office, the devotion spread, particularly in religious communities. The Marseilles plague, 1720, furnished perhaps the first occasion for a solemn consecration and public worship outside of religious communities. Other cities of the South followed the example of Marseilles, and thus the devotion became a popular one. In 1726 it was deemed advisable once more to importune Rome for a feast with a Mass and Office of its own, but, in 1729, Rome again refused. However, in 1765, it finally yielded and that same year, at the request of the queen, the feast was received quasi officially by the episcopate of France. On all sides it was asked for and obtained, and finally, in 1856, at the urgent entreaties of the French bishops, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the universal Church under the rite of double major. In 1889 it was raised by the Church to the double rite of first class. The acts of consecration and of reparation were everywhere introduced together with the devotion. Oftentimes, especially since about 1850, groups, congregations, and States have consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart, and, in 1875, this consecration was made throughout the Catholic world. Still the pope did not wish to take the initiative or to intervene. Finally, on 11 June, 1899, by order of Leo XIII, and with the formula prescribed by him, all mankind was solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart. The idea of this act, which Leo XIII called "the great act" of his pontificate, had been proposed to him by a religious of the Good Shepherd from Oporto (Portugal) who said that she had received it from Christ Himself. She was a member of the Drost-zu-Vischering family, and known in religion as Sister Mary of the Divine Heart. She died on the feast of the Sacred Heart, two days before the consecration, which had been deferred to the following Sunday. Whilst alluding to these great public manifestations we must not omit referring to the intimate life of the devotion in souls, to the practices connected with it, and to the works and associations of which it was the very life. Moreover, we must not overlook the social character which it has assumed particularly of late years. The Catholics of France, especially, cling firmly to it as one of their strongest hopes of ennoblement and salvation.

The proper act of the devotion to the sacred heart of jesus

The proper act of the devotion

This act is required by the very object of the devotion, since devotion to the love of Jesus for us should be pre-eminently a devotion of love for Jesus. It is characterized by a reciprocation of love; its aim is to love Jesus who has so loved us, to return love for love. Since, moreover, the love of Jesus manifests itself to the devout soul as a love despised and outraged, especially in the Eucharist, the love expressed in the devotion naturally assumes a character of reparation, and hence the importance of acts of atonement, the Communion of reparation, and compassion for Jesus suffering. But no special act, no practice whatever, can exhaust the riches of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The love which is its soul embraces all and, the better one understands it, the more firmly is he convinced that nothing can vie with it for making Jesus live in us and for bringing him who lives by it to love God, in union with Jesus, with all his heart, all his soul, all his strength.

Foundations of the devotion to the sacred heart

(a) Historical foundations

In approving the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Church did not trust to the visions of St. Margaret Mary; she made abstraction of these and examined the worship in itself. Margaret Mary's visions could be false, but the devotion would not, on that account, be any less worthy or solid. However, the fact is that the devotion was propagated chiefly under the influence of the movement started at Paray-le-Monial; and prior to her beatification, Margaret Mary's visions were most critically examined by the Church, whose judgment in such cases does not involve her infallibility but implies only a human certainty sufficient to warrant consequent speech and action.

(b) Theological foundations

The Heart of Jesus, like all else that belongs to His Person, is worthy of adoration, but this would not be so if It were considered as isolated from this Person and as having no connection with It. But it is not thus that the Heart is considered, and, in his Bull "Auctorem fidei", 1794, Pius VI authoritatively vindicated the devotion in this respect against the calumnies of the Jansenists. The worship, although paid to the Heart of Jesus, extends further than the Heart of flesh, being directed to the love of which this Heart is the living and expressive symbol. On this point the devotion requires no justification, as it is to the Person of Jesus that it is directed; but to the Person as inseparable from His Divinity. Jesus, the living apparition of the goodness of God and of His paternal love, Jesus infinitely loving and amiable, studied in the principal manifestations of His love, is the object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as indeed He is the object of the Christian religion. The difficulty lies in the union of the heart and love, in the relation which the devotion supposes between the one and the other. Is not this an error long since discarded? If so, it remains to examine whether the devotion, considered in this respect, is well founded.

(c) Philosophical and scientific foundations

In this respect there has been some uncertainty amongst theologians, not as regards the basis of things, but in the matter of explanations. Sometimes they have spoken as if the heart were the organ of love, but this point has no bearing on the devotion, for which it suffices that the heart be the symbol of love, and that, for the basis of the symbolism, a real connection exist between the heart and the emotions. Now, the symbolism of the heart is a fact and every one feels that in the heart there is a sort of an echo of our sentiments. The physiological study of this resonance may be very interesting, but it is in no wise necessary to the devotion, as its foundation is a fact attested by daily experience, a fact which physiological study confirms and of which it determines the conditions, but which neither supposes this study nor any special acquaintance with its subject.

Special object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart

Special object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart

The nature of this question is complex and frequently becomes more complicated because of the difficulties arising from terminology. Omitting terms that are over-technical, we shall study the ideas in themselves, and, that we may the sooner find our bearings, it will be well to remember the meaning and use of the word heart in current language.

(a) The word heart awakens, first of all, the idea of a material heart, of the vital organ that throbs within our bosom, and which we vaguely realize as intimately connected not only with our own physical, but with our emotional and moral life. Now this heart of flesh is currently accepted as the emblem of the emotion and moral life with which we associate it, and hence the place assigned to the word heart in symbolic language, as also the use of the same word to designate those things symbolized by the heart. Note, for instance, the expressions "to open one's heart", "to give one's heart", etc. It may happen that the symbol becomes divested of its material meaning that the sign is overlooked in beholding only the thing signified. Thus, in current language, the word soul no longer suggests the thought of breath, and the word heart brings to mind only the idea of courage and love. But this is perhaps a figure of speech or a metaphor, rather than a symbol. A symbol is a real sign, whereas a metaphor is only a verbal sign; a symbol is a thing that signifies another thing, but a metaphor is a word used to indicate something different from its proper meaning. Finally, in current language, we are constantly passing from the part to the whole, and, by a perfectly natural figure of speech, we use the word heart to designate a person. These ideas will aid us in determining the object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

(b) The question lies between the material, the metaphorical, and the symbolic sense of the word heart; whether the object of the devotion is the Heart of flesh, as such, or the love of Jesus Christ metaphorically signified by the word heart; or the Heart of flesh, but as symbol of the emotional and moral life of Jesus, and especially His love for us. We reply that worship is rightly paid to the Heart of flesh, inasmuch as the latter symbolizes and recalls the love of Jesus, and His emotional and moral life. Thus, although directed to the material Heart, it does not stop there: it also includes love, that love which is its principal object, but which it reaches only in and through the Heart of flesh, the sign and symbol of this love. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus alone, as to a noble part of His Divine Body, would not be devotion to the Sacred Heart as understood and approved by the Church, and the same must also be said of devotion to the love of Jesus as detached from His Heart of flesh, or else connected therewith by no other tie than that of a word taken in the metaphorical sense. Hence, in the devotion, there are two elements: a sensible element, the Heart of flesh, and a spiritual element, that which this Heart of flesh recalls and represents. But these two elements do not form two distinct objects, merely co-ordinated they constitute but one, just as do the body and soul, and the sign and the thing signified. Hence it is also understood that these two elements are as essential to the devotion as body and soul are essential to man. Of the two elements constituting the whole, the principal one is love, which is as much the cause of the devotion and its reason for existence as the soul is the principal element in man. Consequently, devotion to the Sacred Heart may be defined as devotion to the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ in so far as this Heart represents and recalls His love; or, what amounts to the same thing, devotion to the love of Jesus Christ in so far as this love is recalled and symbolically represented to us by His Heart of flesh.

(c) Hence the devotion is based entirely upon the symbolism of the heart. It is this symbolism that imparts to its meaning and its unity, and this symbolism is admirably completed by the representation of the Heart as wounded. Since the Heart of Jesus appears to us as the sensible sign of His love, the visible wound in the Heart will naturally recall the invisible wound of this love. This symbolism also explains that the devotion, although giving the Heart an essential place, is but little concerned with the anatomy of the heart or with physiology. Since, in images of the Sacred Heart, the symbolic expression must dominate all else, anatomical accuracy is not looked for; it would injure the devotion by rendering the symbolism less evident. It is eminently proper that the heart as an emblem be distinguished from the anatomical heart: the suitableness of the image is favourable to the expression of the idea. A visible heart is necessary for an image of the Sacred Heart, but this visible heart must be a symbolic heart. Similar observations are in order for physiology, in which the devotion cannot be totally disinterested, because the Heart of Flesh toward which the worship is directed in order to read therein the love of Jesus, is the Heart of Jesus, the real, living Heart that, in all truth, may be said to have loved and suffered; the Heart that, as we feel ourselves, had such a share in His emotional and moral life; the Heart that, as we know from a knowledge, however rudimentary, of the operations of our human life, had such a part in the operations of the Master's life. But the relation of the Heart to the love of Christ is not that of a purely conventional sign, as in the relation of the word to the thing, or of the flag to the idea of one's country; this Heart has been and is still inseparably connected with that life of benefactions and love. However, it is sufficient for our devotion that we know and feel this intimate connection. We have nothing to do with the physiology of the Sacred Heart nor with determining the exact functions of the heart in daily life. We know that the symbolism of the heart is a symbolism founded upon reality and that it constitutes the special object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which devotion is in no danger of falling into error.

(d) The heart is, above all, the emblem of love, and by this characteristic, the devotion to the Sacred Heart is naturally defined. However, being directed to the loving Heart of Jesus, it naturally encounters whatever in Jesus is connected with this love. Now, was not this love the motive of all that Christ did and suffered? Was not all His inner, even more than His outward, life dominated by this love? On the other hand, the devotion to the Sacred Heart, being directed to the living Heart of Jesus, thus becomes familiar with the whole inner life of the Master, with all His virtues and sentiments, finally, with Jesus infinitely loving and lovable. Hence, a first extension of the devotion is from the loving Heart to the intimate knowledge of Jesus, to His sentiments and virtues, to His whole emotional and moral life; from the loving Heart to all the manifestations of Its love. There is still another extension which, although having the same meaning, is made in another way, that is by passing from the Heart to the Person, a transition which, as we have seen, is very naturally made. When speaking of a large heart our allusion is to the person, just as when we mention the Sacred Heart we mean Jesus. This is not, however, because the two are synonymous but when the word heart is used to designate the person, it is because such a person is considered in whatsoever related to his emotional and moral life. Thus, when we designate Jesus as the Sacred Heart, we mean Jesus manifesting His Heart, Jesus all loving and amiable. Jesus entire is thus recapitulated in the Sacred Heart as all is recapitulated in Jesus.

(e) In thus devoting oneself to Jesus all loving and lovable, one cannot fail to observe that His love is rejected. God is constantly lamenting that in Holy Writ, and the saints have always heard within their hearts the plaint of unrequited love. Indeed one of the essential phases of the devotion is that it considers the love of Jesus for us as a despised, ignored love. He Himself revealed this when He complained so bitterly to St. Margaret Mary.

(f) This love is everywhere manifest in Jesus and in His life, and it alone can explain Him together with His words and His acts. Nevertheless, it shines forth more resplendently in certain mysteries from which great good accrues to us, and in which Jesus is more lavish of His loving benefactions and more complete in His gift of self, namely, in the Incarnation, in the Passion, and in the Eucharist. Moreover, these mysteries have a place apart in the devotion which, everywhere seeking Jesus and the signs of His love and favours, finds them here to an even greater extent than in particular acts.

(g) We have already seen that devotion to the Sacred Heart, being directed to the Heart of Jesus as the emblem of love, has mainly in view His love for men. This is obviously not that it excludes His love for God, for this included in His love for men, but it is above all the devotion to "the Heart that has so loved men", according to the words quoted by St. Margaret Mary.

(h) Finally, the question arises as to whether the love which we honour in this devotion is that with which Jesus loves us as Man or that with which He loves us as God; whether it is created or uncreated, His human or His Divine Love. Undoubtedly it is the love of God made Man, the love of the Incarnate Word. However, it does not seem that devout persons think of separating these two loves any more than they separate the two natures in Jesus. Besides, even though we might wish to settle this part of the question at any cost, we would find that the opinions of authors are at variance. Some, considering that the Heart of Flesh is connected with human love only, conclude that it does not symbolize Divine love which, moreover, is not proper to the Person of Jesus, and that, therefore, Divine love is not the direct object of the devotion. Others, while admitting that Divine love apart from the Incarnate Word is not the object of the devotion, believe it to be such when considered as the love of the Incarnate Word, and they do not see why this love also could not be symbolized by the Heart of flesh nor why, in this event, the devotion should be limited to created love only.

Alliance with the Immaculate Heart

Alliance with the Immaculate Heart

Saint John Eudes was the great defender of the mystical unity of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Main article: Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is based on the historical, theological and spiritual links in Catholic devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.[22][23][24] The joint devotion to the hearts was first formalized in the seventeenth century by Saint John Eudes who organized the scriptural, theological and liturgical sources relating to the devotions and obtained the approbation of the Church, prior to the visions of Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque.[25][26][27]

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the devotions grew, both jointly and individually through the efforts of figures such as Saint Louis de Montfort who promoted Catholic Mariology and Saint Catherine Labouré's Miraculous Medal depicting the Heart of Jesus thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.[28][29][30] The devotions, and the associated prayers, continued into the twentieth century, e.g. in the Immaculata prayer of Saint Maximillian Kolbe and in the reported messages of Our Lady of Fatima saying that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.[31][32]

Popes supported the individual and joint devotions to the hearts through the centuries. In the 1956 encyclical Haurietis aquas, Pope Pius XII encouraged the joint devotion to the hearts. In the 1979 encyclical Redemptor hominis Pope John Paul II explained the theme of unity of Mary's Immaculate Heart with the Sacred Heart.[33] In his Angelus address on September 15, 1985 John Paul II coined the term The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1986 addressed the international conference on that topic held at Fátima, Portugal.[34][35][36][37]

Worship and devotion to the sacred heart

Worship and devotion

Stained glass, Sacred Heart, Germany.
The Roman Catholic acts of consecration, reparation and devotion were introduced when the feast of the Sacred Heart was declared. In his papal bull Auctorem fidei, Pope Pius VI praised devotion to the Sacred Heart. Finally, by order of Leo XIII, in his encyclical Annum sacrum (May 25, 1899), as well as on June 11, he consecrated every human to the Sacred Heart. The idea of this act, which Leo XIII called "the great act" of his pontificate, had been proposed to him by a nun of the Good Shepherd from Oporto (Portugal) who said that she had supernaturally received it from Jesus. Since c. 1850, groups, congregations, and States have consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart. In 1873, by petition of president Gabriel García Moreno, Ecuador was the first country in the world to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart.

Peter Coudrin of France founded the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on December 24, 1800. A religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, the order carried out missionary work in Hawaii.

Mother Clelia Merloni from Forlì (Italy) founded the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Viareggio, Italy, May 30, 1894.

Worship of the Sacred Heart mainly consists of several hymns, the Salutation of the Sacred Heart, and the Litany of the Sacred Heart. It is common in Roman Catholic services and occasionally is to be found in Anglican services.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a solemnity in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost always a Friday.

The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic ceremony in which a priest or head of a household consecrates the members of the household to the Sacred Heart. An image of the Sacred Heart that has been blessed, either a statue or a picture, is then placed in the home as a reminder. The practice of the Enthronement is based upon Pius XII's declaration that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is "the foundation on which to build the kingdom of God in the hearts of individuals, families, and nations..."[21]

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Sacred Heart has been closely associated with Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ. In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI stated: "the spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus".[20] The Golden Arrow Prayer directly refers to the Sacred Heart.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar since 1856, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost, always a Friday.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is sometimes seen in the Eastern Catholic Churches, where it remains a point of controversy and is seen as an example of liturgical Latinisation.

Papal approval to the sacred heart devotion

Papal approval

In 1353 Pope Innocent VI instituted a Mass honoring the mystery of the Sacred Heart.[14]

After the death of Margaret Mary Alacoque on October 17, 1690, a short account of her life was published by Father Croiset in 1691, as an appendix to his book "De la Dévotion au Sacré Cœur". In 1693 the Holy See imparted indulgences to the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and, in 1697, granted the feast to the Visitandines with the Mass of the Five Wounds, but refused a feast common to all, with special Mass and Office. The devotion spread, particularly in religious communities. The Marseilles plague in 1720 furnished perhaps the first occasion for a solemn consecration and public worship outside of religious communities. Other cities of southern Europe followed the example of Marseilles. In 1726 Rome was again asked for a feast with a Mass and Office of its own; this was refused in 1729, but granted in 1765. In that year, at the request of the queen, the feast was received quasi-officially by the episcopate of France. In 1856, at the urgent entreaties of the French bishops, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the Roman Catholic Church under the rite of double major. In 1889 it was raised by the Roman Catholic Church to the double rite of first class.

After Pope Leo XIII received several letters from Sister Mary of the Divine Heart asking him to consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he commissioned a group of theologians to examine the petition on the basis of revelation and sacred tradition. The outcome of this investigation was positive, and so in the encyclical letter Annum sacrum (on May 25, 1899) he decreed that the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should take place on June 11, 1899. The encyclical letter also encouraged the entire Roman Catholic episcopate to promote the First Friday Devotions, established June as the Month of the Sacred Heart, and included the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart.[19]

Pope Pius X decreed that the consecration of the human race performed by Leo XIII be renewed each year. Pius XI in his encyclical letter Miserentissimus Redemptor (on May 8, 1928) affirmed the Church's position with respect to Saint Margaret Mary's visions of Jesus Christ by stating that Jesus had "manifested Himself" to Saint Margaret and had "promised her that all those who rendered this honor to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces." The encyclical refers to the conversation between Jesus and Saint Margaret Mary several times[20] and reaffirmed the importance of consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Pope Pius XII, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Pius IX's institution of the Feast, instructed the entire Roman Catholic Church at length on the devotion to the Sacred Heart in his encyclical letter Haurietis aquas (on May 15, 1956). On May 15, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter to Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on the 50th Anniversary of the encyclical Haurietis aquas. In his letter to Father Kolvenbach, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the importance of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart

Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart

Main article: Mary of the Divine Heart

Sister Mary of the Divine Heart Droste zu Vischering
Another source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was Sister Mary of the Divine Heart (1863–1899), the countess of Droste zu Vischering and nun from the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, who reported to have received several interior locutions and visions of Jesus Christ. The first interior locution Maria Droste zu Vischering reported was during her youth spent with the family in the Castle of Darfeld, near Munster, Germany, and the last vision and private revelation was reported during her presence as Mother Superior in the Convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Porto, Portugal.

Based on the messages she said she received in her revelations of Christ, on June 10, 1898, her confessor at the Good Shepherd monastery wrote to Pope Leo XIII stating that Sister Mary of the Divine Heart had received a message from Christ, requesting the pope to consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart. The pope initially attached no credence to it and took no action. However, on January 6, 1899 she sent another letter, asking that in addition to the consecration, the first Fridays of the month be observed in honor of the Sacred Heart.

Her second letter included:

One might find it strange that Our Lord should ask for this consecration of the entire world and not content Himself with [that of] the Catholic Church. But His desire to reign, to be loved and glorified, and to set ablaze all hearts with His love and His mercy is so ardent that He wants Your Holiness to offer Him the hearts of all those who belong to Him by Baptism to facilitate their return to the true Church, and the hearts of those who have not yet received spiritual life by Holy Baptism, but for whom He has given His life and His Blood, and who are equally called to be one day children of the Holy Church, to hasten by this means their spiritual birth.

In the letter she also referred to the recent illness of the pope and stated that Christ had assured her that Pope Leo XIII would live until he had performed the consecration to the Sacred Heart. Theologian Laurent Volken states that this had an emotional impact on Leo XIII, despite the theological issues concerning the consecration of non-Christians.[17][18]

Sister Mary of the Divine Heart died in her monastery in Portugal when the Church was singing the first vespers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 8, 1899. The following day, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Estelle Faguette

Estelle Faguette

On the night of 14 February 1876, as she lay in Pellevoisin dying of pulmonary tuberculosis, Estelle Faguette, a domestic servant, reportedly saw the Virgin Mary. Four days later, during the fifth apparition, Estelle seemed to be healed instantaneously. Altogether she said she experienced fifteen apparitions in the course of 1876. On 9 September the apparition drew attention to a small piece of white cloth, a scapular, resting over her chest. Estelle had seen it there before, as plain white cloth, but on this day it bore the red image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The following day the lady appeared again, saying she had come to encourage people to pray.[15]

The final and culminating vision took place on Friday 8 December 1876, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.[15]

You will go yourself to the prelate and will present to him this copy that you have made. Tell him to do everything within his power to help you, and that nothing would be more pleasing to me than to see this livery on each of my children. They should all strive to make reparation for the outrages my Son is subjected to in the sacrament of His love. See the graces that will be poured forth on those who will wear it with confidence and help you to spread this devotion.[15]
Immediately following this last apparition, Estelle sought and was granted an audience with the Archbishop of Bourges, Monsignor de La Tour d'Auvergne. By 12 December 1876 she had received his permission to make and distribute copies of the Scapular of the Sacred Heart.[16]:109

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Main article: Margaret Mary Alacoque

The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form it is known today was Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), a nun of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, who claimed to have received apparitions of Jesus Christ, the first on 27 December 1673, the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, and the final one 18 months later, revealing the form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, Eucharistic adoration during a "Holy hour" on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. She said that in her vision she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night to meditate on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In probably June or July, 1674, Sister Margaret Mary claimed that Jesus requested to be honored under the figure of his heart, also saying that, when he appeared radiant with love, he asked for a devotion of expiatory love: frequent reception of Communion, especially on the first Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy hour.
During the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on June 16, the vision known as the "great apparition" reportedly took place, where Jesus said, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men ... instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude ...", and asked Margaret Mary for a feast of reparation of the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, bidding her consult her confessor Father Claude de la Colombière, then superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray.
Father de la Colombière directed Sister Margaret Mary to write an account of the apparition, which he discreetly circulated France and England. After his death on February 15, 1682, his journal of spiritual retreats was found to contain a copy in his handwriting of the account that he had requested of Margaret Mary, together with a few reflections on the usefulness of the devotion. This journal, including the account; an "offering" to the Sacred Heart, in which the devotion was explained, was published at Lyons in 1684. The little book was widely read, especially at Paray. Margaret Mary reported feeling "dreadful confusion" over the book's contents, but resolved to make the best of it, approving of the book for the spreading of her cherished devotion. Besides the Visitandines, priests, religious, and laymen espoused the devotion, particularly the Capuchins. The reported apparitions served as a catalyst for the promotion of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.[14] Jesuit Father Croiset wrote a book called The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Fr. Joseph de Gallifet, also a Jesuit, promoted the devotion. The mission of propagating the new devotion was especially confided to the religious of the Visitation and to the priests of the Society of Jesus.

Saint Mechtilde & Saint Gertrude

Saint Mechtilde

Saint Mechtilde of Helfta (d.1298) became an ardent devotee and promoter of Jesus’ heart after it was the subject of many of her visions. The idea of hearing the heartbeat of God was very important to medieval saints who nurtured devotion to the Sacred Heart.[10] Mechtilde reported that Jesus appeared to her in a vision and commanded her to love Him ardently, and to honor his sacred heart in the Blessed Sacrament as much as possible. He gave her his heart as a pledge of his love, as a place of refuge during her life and as her consolation at the hour of her death. From this time Mechtilde had an extraordinary devotion for the Sacred Heart, and said that if she had to write down all the favors and all the blessings which she had received by means of this devotion, a large book would not contain them.[11]

Saint Gertrude

Saint Gertrude the Great was an early devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[12] Book 2 of the Herald of Divine Love vividly describes Gertrude's visions, which show a considerable elaboration on the hitherto ill-defined veneration of Christ's heart. St Bernard articulated this in his commentary on the Song of Songs. The women of Helfta—Gertrude foremost, who surely knew Bernard's commentary, and to a somewhat lesser extent the two Mechthilds—experienced this devotion centrally in their mystical visions.[13]

St.lutgarde

Saint Lutgarde

According to Thomas Merton, Saint Lutgarde (d.1246), a Cistercian mystic of Aywieres, Belgium was one of the great precursors of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A contemporary of St. Francis, she "... entered upon the mystical life with a vision of the pierced Heart of the Saviour, and had concluded her mystical espousals with the Incarnate Word by an exchange of hearts with Him."[8] Sources say that Christ came in a visitation to Lutgarde, offering her whatever gift of grace she should desire; she asked for a better grasp of Latin, that she might better understand the word of God and sing his praise. Christ granted her request and Lutgarde’s mind was flooded with the riches of psalms, antiphons, readings and responsories. However, a painful emptiness persisted. She returned to Christ, asking to return His gift, and wondering if she might, just possibly, exchange it for another. “And for what would you exchange it?” Christ asked. “Lord, said Lutgarde, I would exchange it for your Heart.” Christ then reached into Lutgarde and, removing her heart, replaced it with His own, at the same time hiding her heart within His breast.[9]

St.bernard

Saint Bernard (d.1153) said that the piercing of Christ's side revealed his goodness and the charity of his heart for us. The earliest known hymn to the Sacred Heart, "Summi Regis Cor Aveto" is believed to have been written by the Norbertine, Blessed Herman Joseph (d.1241) of Cologne, Germany. This hymn begins: "I hail Thee kingly Heart most high."

From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have developed in itself. It was everywhere practised by individuals and by different religious congregations, such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carthusians. Among the Franciscans the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has its champions in Saint Bonaventure (d. 1274) in his Vitis Mystica ("Mystic Vine"), B. John de la Verna and the Franciscan Tertiary Saint Jean Eudes (1602–1680).[6] Bonaventure wrote: "Who is there who would not love this wounded heart? Who would not love in return Him, who loves so much?”[7] It was, nevertheless, a private, individual devotion of the mystical order. Nothing of a general movement had been inaugurated, except for similarities found in the devotion to the Five Holy Wounds by the Franciscans, in which the wound in Jesus's heart figured most prominently.

In the sixteenth century, the devotion passed from the domain of mysticism into that of Christian asceticism. It was established as a devotion with prayers already formulated and special exercises, found in the writings of Lanspergius (d. 1539) of the Carthusians of Cologne; the Benedictine Louis de Blois (d. 1566), Abbot of Liessies in Hainaut, John of Avila (d. 1569) and Francis de Sales (d. 1622).

The historical record from that time shows an early bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was everywhere in evidence, largely due to the Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the Jesuits placing the image on the title-page of their books and the walls of their churches.

The first to establish the theological basis for the devotion was Polish Jesuit Kasper Drużbicki (1590-1662) in his book Meta cordium - Cor Jesu (The goal of hearts - Heart of Jesus). Not much later Jean Eudes wrote an Office, and promoted a feast for it. Père Eudes was the apostle of the Heart of Mary, but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little, the devotion to the two Hearts became distinct, and on August 31, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutances followed suit on October 20, a day with which the Eudist feast was from then on to be connected. The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities. It gradually came into contact with the devotion begun by Margaret Mary Alacoque at Paray-le-Monial, and the two merged.

Early devotion of the sacred heart

Early devotion

Historically the devotion to the Sacred Heart is an outgrowth of devotion to what is believed to be Christ's sacred humanity.[3] There is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries of Christianity, any worship was rendered to the wounded Heart of Jesus.[4]

The revival of religious life and the zealous activity of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and Saint Francis of Assisi in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, together with the enthusiasm of the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land, gave a rise to devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ and particularly to practices in honour of the Sacred Wounds.[5]

Devotion to the Sacred Heart developed out of the devotion to the Holy Wounds, in particular to the Sacred Wound in the side of Jesus. The first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The devotion arose in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries, in the world of Bernardine thought, although it is impossible to say with certainty what were its first texts or who were its first devotees.

Sacred heart description

Description

The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light, pierced by the lance-wound, encircled by the crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross, and bleeding. Sometimes the image is shown shining within the bosom of Christ with his wounded hands pointing at the heart. The wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Jesus' death, while the fire represents the transformative power of divine love.

Sacred heart of jesus

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

An embroidery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Saint Nicholas' Church, Ghent, Belgium.
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Lutheran Church
Feast 19 days after Pentecost (Friday)
Attributes Burning bloodied heart, surmounted with cross and thorns
Patronage Apostleship of Prayer
The devotion to the Sacred Heart (also known as the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sacratissimi Cordis Iesu in Latin) is one of the most widely practiced and well-known Roman Catholic devotions, taking Jesus Christ's physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity.

This devotion is predominantly used in the Catholic Church and among some high-church Anglicans and Lutherans. The devotion is especially concerned with what the Church deems to be the love and compassion of the heart of Christ towards humanity, and its long suffering. The origin of this devotion in its modern form is derived from a Roman Catholic nun from France, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, who said she learned the devotion from Jesus during a series of apparitions to her between 1673 and 1675,[1] and later, in the 19th century, from the mystical revelations of another Roman Catholic nun in Portugal, Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart Droste zu Vischering, a religious of the Good Shepherd, who requested, in the name of Christ that Pope Leo XIII consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Predecessors to the modern devotion arose unmistakably in the Middle Ages in various facets of Catholic mysticism.[2]

St.John eudes

John Eudes was born at Ri, Normandy, France, on November 14, 1601, the son of a farmer. He went to the Jesuit college at Caen when he was 14, and despite his parents' wish that he marry, joined the Congregation of the Oratory of France in 1623. He studied at Paris and at Aubervilliers, was ordained in 1625, and worked as a volunteer, caring for the victims of the plagues that struck
Normandy in 1625 and 1631, and spent the next decade giving Missions, building a reputation as an outstanding preacher and confessor and for his opposition to Jansenism. He became interested in helping fallen women, and in 1641, with Madeleine Lamy, founded a refuge for them in Caen under the direction of the Visitandines. He resigned from the Oratorians in 1643 and founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (the Eudists) at Caen, composed of secular priests not bound by vows but dedicated to upgrading the clergy by establishing effective seminaries and to preaching missions. His foundation was opposed by the Oratorians and the Jansenists, and he was unable to obtain Papal approval for it, but in 1650, the Bishop of
Coutances invited him to establish a seminary in that diocese. The same year the sisters at his refuge in Caen left the Visitandines and were recognized by the
Bishop of Bayeux as a new congregation under the name of Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge.
John founded seminaries at Lisieux in 1653 and Rouen in 1659 and was unsuccessful in another attempt to secure Papal approval of his congregation, but in 1666 the Refuge sisters received Pope Alexander III's approval as an institute to reclaim and care for penitent wayward women. John continued giving missions and established new seminaries at Evreux in 1666 and
Rennes in 1670. He shared with St. Mary Margaret Alacoque the honor of initiating devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus (he composed the Mass for the Sacred Heart in 1668) and the Holy Heart of Mary, popularizing the devotions with his "The Devotion to the Adorable Heart of Jesus" (1670) and "The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God", which he finished a month before his death at Caen on August 19th. He was canonized in 1925. His feast day is August 19th.