Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
or, where indicated, from
Abbot Guéranger's “The Liturgical Year”.
Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Friday after The Octave of Corpus Christi.
Double of The First Class
with Privileged Octave of The Third Order.
White Vestments.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
with Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Louis Gonzaga (circa 1770).
Artist: José de Páez, Mexico, 1727-1790.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Annum Sacrum.“Annum Sacrum” (meaning “Holy Year”) is an
Encyclical by
Pope Leo XIII on The Consecration of the entire World to The
Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in
Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on 25 May 1899, the twenty-second year of his Pontificate.
The Consecration in the Encyclical entered new Theological territory by Consecrating non-Christians. The Encyclical, and the Consecration, were influenced by two Letters written to the Pope by Sister
Mary of The Divine Heart, who stated that, in
visions of Jesus Christ, she had been told to request the Consecration.
The Encyclical includes the
Prayer of Consecration to The Sacred Heart, composed by Leo XIII.
English: Coat-of-Arms of Pope Leo XIII.
Français: Armoiries du pape Léon XIII : D'azur au cyprès de sinople planté sur une plaine de même accompagné au francs quartier d'une comête d'or et en pointe de deux flaurs de lys d'argent, à la fasce d'argent brochant sur le tout.
Date: 11 August 2008.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Protestantism, in the 16th-Century, and Jansenism, in the 17th-Century, had attempted to spoil one of the essential Dogmas of Christianity, namely, the love of God for all men.
It became necessary that the Spirit of Love, which directs The Church, should, by some new means, counteract the spreading heresy, in order that The Spouse of Christ, far from seeing her love for Jesus diminish, should feel it always increasing.
This was made manifest in Catholic Worship, which is the sure rule of our Faith, by the institution of The Feast of The Sacred Heart.
Yet, in Early-Middle-Ages, The Doctors of The Church, and The Saints, used to see, in The Wound of Jesus's Side, The Source of All Graces. Saint Bonaventure invites us "to enter this Wound and to dwell in the quiet of this Heart" (Third Nocturn).
English: Saint John Eudes, 1673.
Nederlands: Portret Jean Eudes ca. 1673 - publiek domein, ouderdom.
Source: Transferred from nl.wikipedia
Author: Original uploader was Besednjak at nl.wikipedia
(Wikimedia Commons)
Jean Eudes (14 November 1601 - 19 August 1680) was a French Missionary, Founder of The Congregation of Jesus and Mary and of The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of The Refuge, and author of The Propers for Mass and The Divine Office of The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
The two Benedictine Virgins, Saint Gertrude and Saint Mechtilde, in the 13th-Century, had a clear vision of the grandeur of the devotion to The Sacred Heart. Saint John the Evangelist, appearing to Saint Gertrude, announced to her that "the meaning of the blessed beating of The Heart of Jesus, which he had heard whilst his head rested on His breast, was reserved for the latter times, when the World, grown old and cold in Divine Love, would require to have its fervour renewed by means of this Mystery of Burning Love".
English: Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
contemplating The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Italiano: Santa Margherita Maria Alacoque Contempla il Sacro Cuore di Gesù.
Polski: Św. Małgorzata Maria Alacoque adoruje Najświętsze Serce Jezusa.
Artist: Giaquito Corrado.
Date: 1765.
(Wikimedia Commons)
This Heart, say these two Saints, is an Altar on which Christ offers Himself to The Father as a perfect and most acceptable victim. It is a golden censer from which rise, towards The Father, as many clouds of incense as there are kinds of men for whom Christ suffered.
In this Heart, the praise and thanks we give to God and all our good works are ennobled and become acceptable to The Father.
But, in order to make this Worship public and recognised, Providence first raised up Saint John Eudes, who, in 1670, composed an Office and a Mass of The Sacred Heart for the so-called Congregation of The Eudists.
Providence then chose one of the spiritual daughters of Saint Francis of Sales, Saint Margaret-Mary Alacoque, to whom Jesus showed His Heart at Paray-le-Monial, on 16 June 1675, The Sunday after Corpus Christi, and asked her to institute a Feast of The Sacred Heart on The Friday following The Octave of Corpus Christi.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus, (Sacro cuore di Jesu), painting on the Altar in the Northern Side Chapel of Il Gesu, in Rome, circa 1767, by Pompeo Batoni.
Source: http://www.enid.uib.no/texts/achen_l.htm
(Wikimedia Commons)
Lastly, God employed, for the propagation of this Devotion, Blessed Claude de la Colombiere. He belonged to The Company of Jesus, "the whole of which inherited his zeal in the propagation of the Devotion to The Sacred Heart" [the quoted portion is from Dom Guéranger's "The Liturgical Year, Volume 10, Book 1: The Feast of The Sacred Heart"].
[Dom Guéranger writes, in the above tome, on The Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus: "A new ray of light shines today in the Heaven of Holy Church, and its light brings warmth. The Divine Master given to us by our Redeemer, that is, the Paraclete Spirit, who has come down into this world, continues His teachings to us in the Sacred Liturgy. The earliest of these, His Divine Teachings, was the Mystery of the Trinity; and we have worshipped the Blessed Three: We have been taught Whom God is, we know Him in His own nature, we have been admitted, by faith, into the sanctuary of the infinite Essence.
Image of Prosper Guéranger by Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard (1874).
Date: 2007-05-07 (original upload date).
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia
(Wikimedia Commons)
"Then, this Spirit, the mighty wind of Pentecost, opened to our Souls new aspects of the truth, which it is His mission to make the World remember; and His revelation left us prostrate before The Sacred Host, The Memorial which God, Himself, has left us of all His wonderful works.
"Today, It is The Sacred Heart of The Word Made Flesh that this Holy Spirit puts before us, that we may know and love and adore It."]
In 1765, Pope Clement XIII, gave his approbation to The Feast and The Office of The Sacred Heart, and, in 1856, Blessed Pope Pius IX (Pio Nono), extended it to The Universal Church. In 1929, Pope Pius XI composed a new Mass and Office for this Feast and gave it a Privileged Octave of The Third Order.
The Solemnity of The Sacred Heart sums up all the phases of The Life of Jesus, recalled in The Liturgy from Advent to The Feast of Corpus Christi.
It constitutes an admirable Triptych, giving us, in abridgement, all The Mysteries (Joyous, Sorrowful and Glorious) of The Saviour's Life devoted to The Love of God and Men. This Feast is, indeed, placed on a height from which may be contemplated the redeeming labours of The Saviour on Earth and The Glorious Victories He will, by the working of The Holy Ghost, achieve in Souls until the end of the World.
Pope Leo XIII in 1880.
Source: 1880 book on Pope Leo XIII.
Author: Karl Benzinger.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Pope Leo XIII wrote the Encyclical, "Annum Sacrum", on the Consecration of the entire World to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on 25 May 1899.
Coming after The Feasts of Christ, this Feast completes them, concentrating them in one object, which is materially Jesus's Heart of Flesh, and formally the unbounded charity symbolised by this Heart. This Solemnity, therefore, does not relate to a particular Mystery of The Saviour's Life, but embraces them all; indeed, the Devotion to The Sacred Heart Celebrates all the favours we have received from Divine Charity during the year (Collect), and all the marvellous things that Jesus has done for us (Introit, Tract, Alleluia).
It is The Feast of The Love of God for Men, a love which has made Jesus come down on Earth for all by His Incarnation (Epistle), which has raised Him on The Cross for the Redemption of all and which brings Him down every day on our Altars by Transubstantiation, in order to make us benefit by the merits of His Death on Calvary.
English: Mary of The Divine Heart.
Deutsch: Schwester Maria Droste zu Vischering.
Español: Beata María del Divino Corazón.
Date: Circa 1890.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Blessed Mary of The Divine Heart (1863 - 1899).
Born Maria Droste zu Vischering, she was a German Roman Catholic Nun, who was best known for influencing Pope Leo XIII's Consecration of the World to The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Pope Leo XII called this Consecration "the greatest act of my Pontificate".
These three Mysteries, which manifest to us The Divine Charity in a more special way, sum up the spirit of The Feast of The Sacred Heart. It is "His love which forced Him to put on a mortal body" (Hymn at Matins). It is "His love which forced Him to put on a mortal body" [Hymn at Matins].
It is His love which willed that The Sacred Heart should be pierced on The Cross (Gospel and Communion), in order that, from the wound, should flow a spring (Preface) we might draw from, joyfully (Versicle at Second Vespers), whose Water cleanses us from our sins in Baptism and whose Blood nourishes our Souls in The Eucharist.
And, as The Eucharist is the continuation of The Incarnation and The Sacrifice of Calvary, Jesus asked that The Feast should be placed immediately after The Octave of Corpus Christi.
As these manifestations of Christ's Love only show the more the ingratitude of men, who only answer by coldness and indifference (Offertory), this Solemnity has a character of reparation (Collect) demanded of us by The Wounded Heart of Jesus and by His Immolation in The Crib, on The Cross and on The Altar.
Let us learn from The Heart of Jesus, Whose gentle and humble Love turns no-one away, and in it we shall find rest for our Souls (Alleluia).
The King Of Love Made Himself The Victim of His Own Sacrifice.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is arrayed in Sacerdotal Vestments because, in The Mystery of The Incarnation, He was anointed Priest by the anointing of The Divinity, Itself. He is, therefore, The Pontiff, The Mediator, between God and man, The King of All Hearts.
Of this, the Centurion bears witness, who exclaims: "He is really The Son of God." The Sacred Heart of Jesus is represented on His Cross, for it is out of love for us that He made Himself The Victim of His Sacrifice.
He is, thereby, our Deliverer, our King of Love by right of conquest. Of this, Mary Magdalen and Longinus bear witness, holding in their hands The Nails, which attached Christ to The Cross, The Chalice of The Blood, which He shed, and The Spear, with which His Heart was pierced.
Therefore, raised as on a Throne, covered with The Purple of His Blood, He is Crowned as Pontiff, as well as Victim, with a Diadem of The Royalty of Love, by which He reigns over all men and He holds out His Arms to draw them to Him, and to offer them to God in union with His Sacrifice.
