Ecuador On 25 March 1874, Ecuador became the first country to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a joint action of the president
Gabriel García Moreno and
Archbishop José Ignacio Checa y Barba. The national consecration took place in the
cathedral of Quito, located next to the government palace. Prior to the consecration, in 1873, an assembly of 700 religious, including bishops and priests gathered to make an ecclesiastical decree. This was approved by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies that same year. On 24 October 1874, the official registry of this legislative decree was published. As a remembrance of Ecuador's consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the construction of the
Basilica del Voto Nacional began in
Quito in 1887. On 25 March 2024, Ecuador renewed its Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the 150th anniversary of the national consecration presided over by the Archbishop of Quito and
Primate of Ecuador
Alfredo José Espinosa Mateus. The liturgical act was held in the Basilica del Voto Nacional. In 1964, the parish was elevated by
Pope Paul VI to a
Minor Basilica and was declared a
national monument 1975. On 24 June 2022, the Consecration of families, communities and the whole nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was renewed in the
Primate Cathedral of Bogota by the Archbishop of Bogota and President of the
Episcopal Conference of Colombia Luis José Rueda Aparicio.
Mexico On 11 January 1914, Mexico was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in
Mexico City. At the time, the country was in the midst of a
Revolutionary War and Mexico had less than 20 million inhabitants, 98 percent of whom declared themselves Catholics. Ten years later, on 11 October 1924, Mexican bishops renewed the consecration in the
Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City during a time of religious persecution against Catholics and during the first Mexican
Eucharistic Congress. On 23 June 2023, on the occasion of the visit of the
relics of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, Mexico's consecration was renewed during a ceremony presided over by the Bishop of
León Monsignor José Guadalupe Martín Rábago. A special message sent by
Pope Benedict XVI through
Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano was also read during the ceremony.
Spain In 1733, during
Eucharistic adoration, the Jesuit Blessed
Bernardo de Hoyos reportedly received revelations of the Sacred Heart, telling him: "I will reign in Spain and with more veneration than elsewhere". This is the phrase known in Spain as the 'Great Prayer'. After the revelations of Hoyos in
Valladolid, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus started spreading throughout Spain. The year 1911 is sometimes referred to as the earliest date of when the idea of consecrating Spain to the Sacred Heart emerged among Spanish people. Later with the development of
World War I and the arrival of
Benedict XV to the
pontificate, that idea gained popularity, with the aim that it could bring peace to the world and having in mind the recommendation made by Pope Leo XIII in 1900. Spain was officially consecrated to the Sacred Heart on 30 May 1919, a solemn act that was attended by the priest Mateo Crawley-Boevey, the
Nuncio to Spain
Francesco Ragonesi, the bishops,
King Alfonso XIII and the government. The idea of consecrating Spain to the Heart of Jesus, as other countries had already done, emerged through an "initiative of lay people". Before the final blessing, a telegram from
Pope Benedict XV was read. The Nuncio imparted the
Papal Blessing and then the
Blessed Sacrament was solemnly exposed. Then, King Alfonso XIII read the prayer of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus written by Mateo Crawley-Boevey in remembrance of the promise made by Jesus Christ to Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos : "I will reign in Spain". In conjunction with the consecration, a whole movement linked to the Social Reign of Christ and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was born in Spain. The consecration took place at the
Cerro de los Angeles in front of the monument built a few years before, which would later be destroyed by the Republican militias during the
Civil War. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began, during which the monument was destroyed. Five young men were killed for defending the monument from attacks of the Republican militiamen. Five days later, the militiamen shot the image and made several other attacks, but due to the hardness of the material, they had to destroy it using dynamite, leaving only a few remains that are still there to this day. After the war, the
Franco regime built the monument back in imitation of the previous one though a little bigger. It was inaugurated in 1965. In 1975, a sanctuary was built at the foot of the monument. In Spain, at least 326 monuments to the Sacred Heart have been erected in public and open places. We also find images of the Sacred Heart in thousands of churches and on many tiles displayed in various municipalities. The consecration of Poland was since then renewed in 1951, 1976, 2011 and 2021. The last renewal act was performed on 11 June 2021 for the 100th anniversary of the first act by Archbishop
Stanislaw Gądecki and Polish bishops in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Kraków.
Costa Rica On November 4, 1921, the Archbishop Rafael Otón Castro Jiménez, then Archbishop of
San José, consecrated the Archdiocese of San José, which covered almost the entire country at that time.
Bolivia Bolivia was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on 7 August 1925. On 15 April 2018, in the Cathedral of
Cochabamba, Bolivian bishops renewed the consecration to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, as part of a celebration of the upcoming canonization of Saint
Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa, as well as other important milestones for the Church in the country. The request of the renewal was made to the bishops by presidents of Councils of the Laity and at the initiative of lay people, as stated the president of the National Council of the Laity of Bolivia Richard Romero.
Honduras Honduras was consecrated to both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary on 16 August 1959. On this occasion,
Pope John XXIII transmitted a radio message to the Honduran Catholics present at the ceremony.
Argentina On 28 October 1945, Argentina was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during a ceremony held in
Buenos Aires, during which
Pope Pius XII addressed a radio message. For the 202nd anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence of Argentina, on 9 July 2018, the
Chief of Government of the city of Buenos Aires,
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, consecrated his life, his administration and the city of Buenos Aires to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the
Metropolitan Cathedral.
Peru The President of Peru
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski attended a
National Prayer Breakfast on 16 October 2016, accompanied by the first lady and other politicians such as the
President of Congress Luz Salgado, where he consecrated Peru and his family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through a formal prayer and a religious ceremony.
Syria On 29 September 2017, several
Eastern Catholic Churches including
Maronite,
Melkite,
Syriac and
Armenian Catholics have jointly consecrated Syria to the hearts of Jesus and
Mary in a joint effort to "bring lasting peace to the war-torn land". Bishop Elias Sleman led the celebrations in Damascus with Maronite Bishop Samir Nassar of Damascus. The formal act of consecration was followed with prayer ceremonies which were held across the country, including in
Damascus,
Aleppo,
Homs,
Latakia,
Tartous and Haba. Orthodox Christians also joined in the prayer ceremonies.
Turkey The Catholic Church in Turkey was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ on 7 June 2024 in the
Cathedral of Saint John in
Izmir, with the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey Monsignor
Marek Solczynski and his Advisor Alessandro Ambrino. Archbishops of the 4 Catholic denominations in Turkey were present during the consecration, along with Father James Paxton of the
Anglican Church.
Fátima's 24 countries consecration on March 25, 2020, in
Fátima. On 25 March 2020, during the global pandemic of
COVID-19, Cardinal
Antonio Marto renewed the consecration of Portugal and Spain to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and added the names of 22 other countries, some of which were consecrated for the first time. The act of consecration took place in the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima in
Fátima. The Portuguese bishops invited the heads of other national bishops' conferences to request that their nations be added to the list. In addition to Spain and Portugal, the other 22 countries consecrated at the request of their respective episcopal conferences were: Albania, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Slovakia, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Mexico, Moldova, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Romania, Tanzania, East Timor and Zimbabwe. == References ==