The Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion - why and how it all began
- Tate M
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 23 hours ago
Originated from the Scripture - and St John the Evangelist
"When they (the soldiers) came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe." – John 19: 34-35.
This was regarded as a miraculous event. Emphasising that Jesus was already dead, the blood and water were not expected to flow out forcefully as if from a living person with a pumping heart. It was to testify to the divinity of Jesus with his Precious blood right pulsating out despite his having been dead and crucified.
In the Catholic Church, the blood and water flowing out symbolised the start of the sacramental life in the Church. While Christ completes his work on the Cross, the Sacraments will receive their full power. The early Devotion focused primarily on the wound in Jesus and the flow of blood and water.
The Benedictine Sisters
In the 13th Century in Europe, the Benedictine cloistered nuns, notably St Gertrude, St Mechtilde of Hackeborn, and St Lutgarde of Aywieres, grew passionate about the wounded heart of Jesus. St Gertrude described an intimate vision of resting her head near the wound in Christ's side and hearing his heartbeat. St Lutgarde also receives a vision of Jesus and his pierced heart. They were considered the forerunners who promoted Devotion to the wounded heart of Jesus well before St Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th Century.
St Margaret Mary Alacoque – the well-beloved disciple of the Sacred Heart
Margaret was born in 1647 in a French Catholic family, the fifth of seven children. She had a devotion to Christ from early childhood, especially to the Blessed Sacrament. She experienced a severe illness when she was 15, and upon praying to the Blessed Mother, promising to take religious vows upon recovery, she was instantly cured. At age 23, she entered the Order of Visitation at Paray-le-Monial, where she received apparitions of Jesus over a period over 18 months.
The first one was on the Feast of St John the Evangelist in 1673. Margaret, while before the Blessed Sacrament, she felt "wholly filled with the Divine Presence. She described how she was made to rest for a long time on the divine breast of Jesus, where Jesus discovered to her the wonders of His love and the secrets of His Sacred Heart. Jesus showed her his flaming heart and wanted her to spread his message that he would like to pour out his burning love to all humanity.
In the second apparition, Jesus asked Margaret to devote the first Friday of every month to his Sacred Heart and to pray for an hour between 11 pm and midnight every Thursday. This has since become widely popular among Catholics -the First Friday Devotion and the Holy Hour.
The third apparition happened in the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1675. Jesus asked her to establish a Feast to honour his Sacred Heart on the first Friday after the octave: "And I promise that My Heart shall dilate to pour out abundantly the influences of its love on all that will render it this honour."
Spreading the Sacred Heart of Jesus Devotion throughout France
The Feast was not established right away due to scepticism about the revelation. Margaret's superiors were initially sceptical but later supported her as she recovered from another mysterious illness after praying to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Margaret and her fellow sisters helped spread the news and were given permission by the Bishop to start the Feast locally. It spread all over France very soon. While Margaret died in 1690, the spread of the Devotion outside France accelerated with books about her life being published and miracles attributed to her intercession.
The Great Plague of Marseille (1720-1722), the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Western Europe, further accelerated the spread of the Devotion. When it took an estimated 100,000 lives, the Bishop of the city publicly consecrated the city to the Sacred Heart, which was considered to result in the resolution of the plague.
Becoming Official in the Church
The Devotion to the Sacred Heart was officially approved by Rome under Pope Clement XIII in 1765 following a rigorous investigation. In 1856, the Feast of the Sacred Heart was made a universal solemnity by Pope Pius IX. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII dedicated the entire human race to the Sacred Heart in his encyclical letter "Act of Consecration. Pope Pius XII wrote in 1956 in his encyclical Haurietis Aquas about the effects of the consecration. St John Paul II, in 1999, also wrote on the 100th anniversary of the Consecration of the human race to the divine heart of Jesus.
Annum Sacrum (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_25051899_annum-sacrum.html)
Haurietis Aquas (https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_15051956_haurietis-aquas.html)
Letter of John Paul II on the 100th Anniversary of the Consecration of the Human Race to the Divine Heart of Jesus