By Andrew Winter
1.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began as early as the second century. Saints Gregory the Great, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Anselm all supported it. Likewise, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary dates back at least to the 15th century, but St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and St. John Eudes definitively popularized these two devotions in the 17th century.
2.
From 1673 to 1675, St. Margaret Mary, a Visitation nun, received visions of Jesus, wherein He revealed to her His Sacred Heart, “Which has so loved men,” and asked her to promulgate the Nine First Fridays devotion (detailed below). St. John Eudes constantly preached the love which the Immaculate Heart of Mary has for God, and celebrated the first feast of the Holy Heart of Mary in 1648.
3.
Jesus gave his revelations about the Sacred Heart to combat the widespread heresy of Jansenism, which taught that God created some souls to go to hell, and such souls could do nothing to save themselves. The heresy of Jansenism also held that perfect contrition was necessary for confession, and advised priests to withhold absolution frequently in confession.
4.
Father Claude De La Colombiere, the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary, unintentionally illustrated God’s powerful reaction to Jansenism’s lack of mercy. To prove that St. Margaret Mary’s visions were really Jesus, Father Claude instructed her to ask Jesus what mortal sin he had most recently confessed. When she asked Jesus, He simply said “I have forgotten.”
5.
Both the devotion to the Sacred Heart and the devotion to the Immaculate Heart are founded upon the idea of reparation. Christ’s Heart, and by extension His Mother’s Heart, are grieved by the sins of men. So Christ calls Catholics to console the sorrowful hearts by praying, offering sacrifice, and practicing the First Friday and First Saturday devotions.
6.
The First Friday devotion, associated with the Sacred Heart, involves going to Mass and Communion with the intention of reparation on the first Friday of nine consecutive months, and going to confession within eight days before or after each first Friday. In return, Christ promises, “The grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.”
7.
The First Saturday devotion, associated with the Immaculate Heart, involves going to Communion, praying the Rosary, and meditating on the Rosary for 15 minutes on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, and going to Confession within eight days before or after each first Saturday. In return, Mary promises the grace of final repentance at the hour of death.
8.
The reason why Mary chooses five first Saturdays specifically was given to Sr. Lucia, the Fatima visionary. Each Saturday corresponds to one of the five blasphemies committed against the Heart of Mary: doubting her Immaculate Conception, doubting her divine and spiritual motherhood, doubting her perpetual virginity, teaching children disrespect of their Immaculate Mother, and dishonoring her images.
9.
In the 1990s, devotion to the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph sprang up. This devotion is based on apparitions in Brazil, wherein St. Joseph asked that his heart be venerated on the first Wednesday of every month.
Editor's Note: Join Bishop James Conley Friday, June 12 at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln as he consecrates the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
