Early devotion Historically, the devotion to the Sacred Heart is an outgrowth of devotion to what is believed to be Christ's sacred humanity. During the first ten centuries of Christianity, there is nothing to indicate that any worship was rendered to the wounded Heart of Jesus. The revival of religious life and the zealous activity of
Bernard of Clairvaux and
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. 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 in the fervent atmosphere of the
Benedictine or
Cistercian monasteries. It is impossible to say with certainty what were its first texts or who were its first devotees. Bernard of Clairvaux ( 1153) said that the piercing of Christ's side revealed his goodness and the charity of his heart for humanity. The earliest known hymn to the Sacred Heart, , is believed to have been written by the Norbertine Herman Joseph (d. 1241) of Cologne, Germany. The hymn begins: "I hail Thee kingly Heart most high." From the 13th to the 16th centuries, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have been embellished. 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
Bonaventure (d. 1274) in his ("Mystic Vine") and John de la Verna. Bonaventure wrote: "Who is there who would not love this wounded heart? Who would not love in return Him, who loves so much?" 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. Bonaventure's (a part from which is the reading for the
Divine Office on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart) refers to the heart as the fountain from which God's love poured into one's life:
Lutgarde According to
Thomas Merton,
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 Francis of Assisi, 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." 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 God's 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, 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.
Mechtilde 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. 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.
Gertrude of
St. Gertrude the Great'' – worshipper of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ (picture by
Pietro Liberi, at the
Abbey of Santa Giustina, Padua, Italy)
Gertrude the Great was an early devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 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. 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 Mechthildes – experienced this devotion centrally in their mystical visions. In the 16th 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 on 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 (
The goal of hearts – Heart of Jesus). Not much later
John Eudes wrote an office, and promoted a feast for it. John Eudes is regarded as "tireless apostle of the devotion of the Sacred Hearts", entitling him as 'Father', doctor and apostle of the liturgical cult of the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Little by little, the devotion to the Sacred Hearts became distinct, and on 31 August 1670 the first feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 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.
Margaret Mary Alacoque and
Mary of the Divine Heart The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form it is known today was Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), a nun of the
Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, who claimed to have received Sacred Heart revelations from
Jesus Christ between 1673 and 1675 in the Burgundian French village of
Paray-le-Monial. The first apparition took place on 27 December 1673, the day of the feast of Saint
John the Evangelist, during which Jesus allowed Margaret Mary to rest her head upon his heart, telling her that he wanted to make his love known to all mankind and that he had chosen her to spread the devotion to his Sacred Heart. Right after this, she had a vision of his heart with a crown of thorns, surrounded by flames and above which a cross was planted. This representation will become the popular image of the Sacred Heart which Margaret Mary used to propagate the devotion. Between 1674 and 1675, other apparitions followed in which
Jesus Christ revealed to Alacoque different forms of devotion to the Sacred Heart. The
First Fridays Devotion, which is the reception of
Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of each month, was revealed to her through a "Great Promise" of final penance granted to those who practice this act of
reparation. Margaret Mary also said that she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night, from eleven to midnight, to pray and meditate on Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Her prayers intended to ask mercy for sinners as well as to make reparation for the abandonment Jesus felt from his apostles in the garden. This practice is now known as the "
Holy Hour" and is also frequently performed during an hour of
Eucharistic adoration. During the
octave of
Corpus Christi in 1675, probably on June 16, the vision known as the "great revelation" reportedly took place, where Jesus said: "Behold the heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for me in this sacrament of love." He then asked Margaret Mary for a feast of reparation of the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, bidding her consult her confessor
Claude de la Colombière, then superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray-le-Monial. This request was transmitted and the
feast of the Sacred Heart was progressively instituted throughout the Church. The feast later became a
solemnity in the
liturgical calendar, a feast of the highest rank, celebrated eight days after the Feast of Corpus Christi just as Jesus requested. On 21 June 1675, following that apparition, Claude consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart, making him the first person to be
consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus after Margaret Mary, and began spreading the devotion. De la Colombière directed her to write an account of the apparitions, which he discreetly circulated in France and England. After his death on 15 February 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 Lyon in 1684. The little book was widely read, especially at Paray-le-Monial. 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. Along with 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. She did not live to see this come to fruition. The imposing
Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (also referred as Church of the Good Shepherd or Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) was built between 14 July 1957 and 21 April 1966, in the civil parish of
Ermesinde in north
Portugal, and consecrated to the Heart of Christ in fulfillment of the vow made by the nun. She is buried in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in
Ermesinde. ==Papal approval==