Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Spanish: Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Corazón French: Notre Dame du Sacré Coeur Italian: Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore) is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Father Jules Chevalier in 1857. Mary is showing the Child Jesus´s heart while Jesus points to his mother.
| Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Piazza Navona (Rome) | |
| Location | Issoudun (France) |
| Date | May 31 |
| Witness | Jules Chevalier |
| Patronage | Difficult and desperate causes |
History
In 1854, in Issoudun (France), during the ninth of the Immaculate Conception, Father Jules Chevalier promises that if his dream of forming a missionary congregation in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus becomes a reality, he will teach the faithful to love Mary of a special way.[1]
Art. III.- In testimony of gratitude to Mary, they will consider her as their Founder and Sovereign, they will associate her with all her works and they will make her love in a peculiar way
— Chevalier's promise with Virgin Mary
During various ninths made to the Virgin Mary, Chevalier obtained several economic donations that allow him to build the Basilica of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Issoudun (France) and in 1857 hi consolidated him Brotherhood and gave Mary the new name:[2]
...When pronouncing this name, we thank and glorify God, because he has chosen Mary among all creatures to form in his virginal womb the adorable Heart of Jesus. We recognize through this special title, a summary in a certain way of the other titles of Mary, the ineffable power that the sweetest Savior has granted her over him adorable Heart. We beseech this compassionate Mother leads us to the heart of her Son... As the power of Mary surpasses what our weak reason can conceive, and Jesus always listens to the humble supplications and prayers of his Mother, we will entrust her with the success of difficult and desperate causes ...
— Jules Chevalier 1857
Iconography
Julio Chevalier created in 1861 a stained-glass window where Mary and Jesus of feet appear, the boy touches his heart with the left hand and with his right he points to his mother in high, sending the message that through Mary the faithful can reach the heart of Jesus. In 1868 the Pope Pius IX blesses a pair of crowns which are placed in the stained-glass window of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and the Congregation becomes an Archconfraternity.
At the end of the 19th century, this devotion spreads throughout America and Europe, so the Vatican decides to make changes in the image, and begins the representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus while still a child and in the arms of his mother, while Mary shows the heart of his son.[3]
Prayer
Remember, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, what ineffable power thy divine Son hath given thee over His own adorable Heart. Full of trust in thy merits, we come before thee and beg thy protection. O heavenly Treasurer of the Heart of Jesus, that Heart which is the inexhaustible source of all graces, which thou mayest open to us at thy good pleasure, in order that from it may flow forth upon mankind the riches of love and mercy, light and salvation, that are contained therein; grant unto us, we beseech thee, the favors which we seek. . . . We can never, never be refused by thee, and since thou art our Mother, O our Lady of the Sacred Heart, graciously hear our prayers and grant our request. Amen.
References
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