This Monday, October 21, the Vatican announced the date and title of a new encyclical from Pope Francis: He loved us (“He loved us”) : encyclical letter on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ which will be published on Thursday October 24. Francis himself announced it on June 5, the day before a major pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial on the occasion of 350 years of this devotion in France.
The Pope places himself in a long line of predecessors who have worked on this spirituality. This form of piety dates back to the beginning of the Middle Ages, but it was especially in the 17th century after the visions of Marguerite Marie Alacoque on December 27, 1673 and in June 1675 that this devotion developed. With her companion Claude la Colombière, the nun dedicated all her efforts to promoting it.
A three-century-old devotion
During the overlap between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Sacred Heart was the subject of violent theological debates between Jesuits and Jansenists, particularly on the spiritual role of images and the incarnation. Rome intervened for the first time in 1765, when Clement XIII established the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
The object is mentioned for the first time in a bull on August 28, 1794, Authors of Faith published by Pius VI. At that time, the symbol also took on a political connotation, because it was taken up by the royalist factions during the Vendée War.
In 1856, Pius IX universalized the feast of the Sacred Heart on the third Friday after Pentecost. The same pope beatified Marguerite-Marie Alacoque on August 18, 1864. On May 25, 1899, Leo XIII published The Sacred Yearan encyclical entirely dedicated to devotion to the Sacred Heart, consecrating every human being to it. He also developed prayers to be recited after each mass, nicknamed « léonines »which will be ratified by his successor Pius Most Sacred Heart of Jesus a prayer to the Sacred Heart.
On May 8, 1928, Pius XI published the encyclical Most Merciful Redeemer in order to revive enthusiasm for the same object of piety as well as to clarify its theological issues. On January 29, 1929, he formalized a new liturgical office specifically dedicated to this spirituality, and elevated the feast of the Sacred Heart to the rank of solemnity.
On May 15, 1956, Pius XII published You will draw the waters in order to refute new objections to devotion to the Sacred Heart as well as to harmonize it with the idea that the Church would be the mystical body of Christ. However, there was a decline in practice from the post-war period onwards.
