Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

After Pope John Paul II remarked on "the admirable alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary" in 1985, symposia were held on the concept. According to the Marian Library, "Some Mariologists saw the alliance as a renewal of the older forms of devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart ... However, other Mariologists dismissed the entire concept of the Two Hearts as mere 'devotionalism', having no real value for scientific Marian theology because of its association with private revelation."[https://ecommons.udayton.edu/marian_studies/vol67/iss1/7/ Scrivani, Lawrence (2016) "Emergence and Development of the Two Hearts Alliance," Marian Studies: Vol. 67, Article 7, Pages 159-192]

{{Main|Sacred Heart}}

Indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart appear in the Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, having developed from the earlier devotion to the Holy Wounds.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07163a.htm Bainvel, Jean. "Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 June 2023 {{PD-notice}}

{{The Sacred Heart}}

The devotion was practiced by Bernard of Clairvaux, Hermann Joseph von Steinfeld, Lutgardis, the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carthusians. The feast of the Sacred Heart was first celebrated, with episcopal approval through the influence of John Eudes, on 31 August 1670 at the major seminary of Rennes. Eudes consistently associated the two Hearts, beginning his devotional teachings with the Heart of Mary and then extending them to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.Life Of The Venerable John Eudes by Charles De Montzey, Cousens Press 2008, {{ISBN|1-4097-0537-4}} page 215

In 1765, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was formally approved. Pope Pius IX extended the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the entire Catholic Church in 1858.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/dev2hear.txt |title=EWTN on the Hearts of Jesus and Mary |access-date=2010-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100512165153/http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/dev2hear.txt |archive-date=2010-05-12 |url-status=dead }}

{{Main|Immaculate Heart of Mary}}

File:StJeanEudes.jpg (1601-1680) was called the "father, teacher and first apostle" of devotions to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary by two popes.Peter Stravinskas, 2002, Catholic Dictionary, OSV Press {{ISBN|978-0-87973-390-2}} page 485]]

While devotion to the heart of Mary cannot be traced to the early centuries of Christian history, it is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke and in commentaries by the Fathers of the Church. Though devotion to the heart of Mary was practiced by some individuals such as Anselm of Canterbury,[https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/h/heart-of-mary.php Roten, Johan G. "The Heart of Mary", Marian Library, University of Dayton] it did not become widespread until the seventeenth century under the influence of Saint John Eudes.

As early as 1643, Eudes and his followers observed February 8 as the feast of the Heart of Mary.[https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/i/immaculate-heart-of-mary-devotion.php Mauriello, Matthew R., "Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary", University of Dayton] Eudes was partly influenced by the writings of Francis de Sales on perfections of the Heart of Mary as the model of love for God.Mary's Immaculate Heart by John F. Murphy 2007 {{ISBN|1-4067-3409-8}} page 24 He wrote a Mass and Office for the feast and composed various prayers.Praying with the saints by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker 2001 {{ISBN|0-8294-1755-9}} page 134 His efforts to secure official approval for an office and feast were unsuccessful. His book "Le Cœur Admirable de la Très Sainte Mère de Dieu" ("The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God") is considered a significant early work on devotion to the Sacred Hearts.From Trent to Vatican II: historical and theological investigations by Raymond F. Bulman, Frederick J. Parrella 2006 {{ISBN|0-19-517807-6}} page 182

In 1725, Joseph de Gallifet combined the cause of the Heart of Mary with that of the Heart of Jesus to obtain Rome's approval of the two devotions and the institution of the two feasts. His proposal was declined in 1729, and in 1765, the two causes were separated to help ensure the success of the principal one. In 1799, Pope Pius VI permitted a Feast of the Heart of Mary in Palermo, Sicily, and in 1805, Pope Pius VII extended it throughout the world. In 1855, an Office and Mass in honor of the Most Pure Heart of Mary was permitted for the Catholic Church.{{Citation Needed|date=February 2025}}

By the beginning of the 19th century, devotion to the Immaculate Heart was sufficiently widespread in Europe for Pope Pius VII to allow a feast to honor it in 1805.Saints and feasts of the liturgical year by Joseph N. Tylenda 2003 {{ISBN|0-87840-399-X}} page 118 Pope Pius XII consecrated the human race to the Immaculate Heart on December 8, 1942, and instituted the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the Catholic Church in 1945.

Since the 17th century, devotions to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, individually and jointly, have been promoted. While Jean Eudes played a significant role in formalizing and promoting the joint devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the efforts of others also contributed to the environment in which the devotion could flourish. Pope Leo XIII gave Eudes the title of "Author of the Liturgical Worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Holy Heart of Mary", and both Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X called him the "father, teacher and first apostle" of devotions to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.James F. White, Roman Catholic worship: Trent to today, 2003 {{ISBN|0-8146-6194-7}} page 34

In the 18th century, Louis Grignion de Montfort was a fervent preacher.In Prayer With Mary the Mother of Jesus by Jean Lafrance 1988 {{ISBN|2-89039-183-3}} page 310 In 1830 in Paris, Catherine Labouré reported a vision in which she saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.

The three children who reported the messages of Our Lady of Fátima stated that the Heart of Jesus wished to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.Youngest Prophet by Christopher Rengers 1998 {{ISBN|0-85342-815-8}} page 38 In 1920, shortly before her death at age 9, Jacinta Marto, one of the three children of the Our Lady of Fátima apparitions, discussed the Hearts of Jesus and Mary with her 12-year-old cousin Lúcia dos Santos, another one of the three children, and said:

When you are to say this, don't go and hide. Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; that people are to ask Her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at His side. Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God entrusted it to Her.The children of Fatima: Blessed Francisco & Blessed Jacinta Marto by Leo Madigan 2003 OSV Press {{ISBN|1-931709-57-2}} page 248

Lúcia dos Santos later became a nun called Sister Lúcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart.Saint Companions for Each Day by A. J. M. & J. K. Mousolfe 2002 {{ISBN|81-7109-092-3}} pages 74-75

File:Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Roman Catholic Church (Southampton, New York) 001.jpg]]

In the 1956 encyclical Haurietis aquas, Pope Pius XII stated, "In order that favors in great abundance may flow on all Christians, nay, on the whole human race, from the devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, let the faithful see to it that to this devotion the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God is closely joined."[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_15051956_haurietis-aquas_en.html Haurietis aquas on the Vatican web site]

Pope John Paul II stated that "devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary has been an important part of the sensus fidei of the People of God". In his 1979 encyclical Redemptor hominis (item 22), Pope John Paul II said,

"We can say that the mystery of the Redemption took shape beneath the heart of the Virgin of Nazareth when she pronounced her "fiat". From then on, under the special influence of the Holy Spirit, this heart, the heart of both a virgin and a mother, has always followed the work of her Son and has gone out to all those whom Christ has embraced and continues to embrace with inexhaustible love."[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_04031979_redemptor-hominis_en.html Redemptor hominis at the Vatican web site]

File:Miraculous medal.jpg (1830) depicts the two Hearts together below a cross.]]

Due to the close relationship of Mary and Jesus in Catholic teachings on salvation, the Heart of Mary is associated with the Heart of Jesus.{{sfn|Baker|1983|pp=382-383}} The Sacred Heart is viewed as the source of God's love and charity, while devotion to the Immaculate Heart stresses the nature of Mary's love and concern.An introductory dictionary of theology and religious studies by Orlando O. Espín, James B. Nickoloff {{ISBN|0-8146-5856-3}} page 610

{{Roman Catholic Mariology}}

In the context of the sacraments, which are seen as gifts to the church, the Hearts are sometimes viewed as primary channels of Christ's love and Mary's compassion.Heart of the Redeemer by Timothy Terrance O'Donnell, 1992 {{ISBN|0-89870-396-4}} page 275

The "Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary" is celebrated directly after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which always falls on a Friday, 19 days after Pentecost.Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), pp. 94, 135

The reverse side of the Miraculous Medal depicts the Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.Butler's lives of the saints, Volume 12 by Alban Butler, Kathleen Jones, 2000 {{ISBN|0-86012-261-1}} page 245

The Morning Offering specifically refers to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in offering Acts of reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:Hearts on fire: praying with Jesuits by Michael Harter 2005 {{ISBN|0-8294-2120-3}} page 13Handbook of Prayers 2006 by James Socías {{ISBN|0-87973-579-1}} page 42

:O Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

:I offer You my prayers, works, joys, sufferings of this day,...{{Cite web|url=http://www.popesprayerusa.net/daily-offering-prayers/|title=Daily Offering Prayers|website=Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network|language=en-US|access-date=2017-07-17}}

The relationship between the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is also reflected in various Catholic prayers, such as the conclusion to the private devotion, the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Mary.:

O most merciful God, Who, for the salvation of sinners and the refuge of the miserable, wast pleased that the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary should be most like in charity and pity to the Divine Heart of Thy Son Jesus Christ; grant that we, who commemorate this most sweet and loving Heart, may by the merits and intercession of the same Blessed Virgin merit to be found according to the Heart of Jesus. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.The Catholic's vade-mecum: a select manual of prayers for daily use, Burns and Lambert, London 1851, ASIN B002JPK7N4 page 337

File:Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie.jpg co-founded the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary with Peter Coudrin in 1800.]]

On Christmas Eve in 1800, amid the French Revolution, Peter Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie established the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary with a mission to spread the message of God's love manifested through the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and through the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Future members of the congregation included Damien de Veuster of Molokai.{{Citation Needed|date=February 2025}}

The congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was founded in 1866 by Victor Braun.[http://www.sacredheartsjm.org/who-we-are/our-history "Our History", Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary]

{{Portal|Catholic Church}}

• Marguerite Marie Alacoque
• Consecration and entrustment to Mary
• Immaculata prayer

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Baker |first= Kenneth |title=Fundamentals of Catholicism: God, Trinity, Creation, Christ, Mary |year= 1983 |isbn=0-89870-019-1 | page=382|publisher= Ignatius Press }}
• The Theology of the Alliance of the Two Hearts: Documents of the 1997 International Theological Pastoral Symposium on the Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, edited by Édouard Gagnon, René Laurentin Published by Two Hearts Media Org., 1997 {{ISBN|971-602-047-3}}

{{Virgin Mary|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Catholic devotions

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