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The "Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary" is a phrase coined by Pope John Paul II during his Angelus Address of September 15, 1985. Discussing devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he said that "...though distinct, they are interrelated by reason of the enduring relation of love that exists between the Son and his Mother."[1] Subsequently, several symposia were held to examine the roots and implications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Since there had already been much research on Devotion to the Sacred Heart, the conferences tended to focus on the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary from the perspective of Sacred Scripture and Tradition.[2]
 | This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. (June 2023) |
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After Pope John Paul II remarked on "the admirable alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary" in 1985, several symposiums were held on the concept. "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."[3]
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Indications of a 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.[4]
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.[4] Although Eudes always associated the two Hearts, he began his devotional teachings with the Heart of Mary, and then extended it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[5]
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.[6]
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Devotion to the heart of Mary cannot be traced to the early centuries of Christian history, though the heart of Mary is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke and in commentaries upon the Scriptures by the Fathers of the Church. While devotion to the heart of Mary was practiced by some individuals such as Anselm of Canterbury,[8] for the most part it was not until the seventeenth century under the influence of Saint John Eudes that this devotion became widespread.[1]
As early as 1643, Eudes and his followers observed February 8th as the feast of the Heart of Mary.[9] Eudes was partly influenced by the writings of Francis de Sales on the perfections of the Heart of Mary as the model of love for God.[10] He wrote a Mass and Office for the feast, and composed various prayers.[11] However, 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 the first book written on the devotion to the Sacred Hearts.[12]
In 1725, Joseph de Gallifet combined the cause of the Heart of Mary with that of the Heart of Jesus in order to obtain Rome's approval of the two devotions and the institution of the two feasts. In 1729, his proposal was declined, and in 1765, the two causes were separated to assure 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.
By the beginning of the 19th century the devotion to the Immaculate Heart was sufficiently widespread in Europe for Pope Pius VII to allow a feast to honor it in 1805.[13] Pope Pius XII consecrated the human race to the Immaculate Heart on December 8, 1942. Pius XII instituted the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the Catholic Church in 1945.
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Since the 17th century, the devotions to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, individually and jointly, have been promoted and encouraged by a number of saints and the blessed. While Jean Eudes was the main force in formalizing and promoting the joint devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the efforts of others prepared 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.[14]
In the 18th century Louis Grignion de Montfort was a fervent preacher.[15] 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 thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.[16]
The three children who reported the messages of Our Lady of Fátima stated that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.[17] In 1920, shortly before her death at age 9, Jacinta Marto, one of the three children of the Our Lady of Fátima apparitions, reportedly 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.[18]
Lúcia dos Santos later became a nun called Sister Lúcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart.[19]
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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."[20]
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".[1] In the 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.[21]
At the beginning of the 21st century he encouraged all nations to "consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary".[22][23]
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Because of the close relationship of Mary and Jesus in the Catholic teachings on salvation, the Heart of Mary is associated with the Heart of Jesus.[24] The Sacred Heart is viewed as the source of God's boundless love and charity, while the devotion to the Immaculate Heart stresses the nature of Mary's love and concern for all who call upon her.[25]
A devotional element often associated with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is the Body and Blood of Christ represented in the Eucharist. The view of the sacraments as gifts to the church positions the Hearts as the primary channel of Christ's boundless love and Mary's endless compassion.[26]
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.[27]
The reverse side of the Miraculous Medal depicts the Heart of Jesus thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.[16]
The Morning offering specifically refers to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in offering reparation for sins to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:[28][29]
- O Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
- I offer You my prayers, works, joys, sufferings of this day,...[30]
The relationship between the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is also manifested in various Catholic prayers. The conclusion to the private devotion, the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Mary is an example:
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.[31]
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On Christmas Eve in 1800, amid the French Revolution, knowing they could face the guillotine for their actions, 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.
The congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was founded in 1866 by Victor Braun.[32]
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