Memorial

Immaculate Heart of The Blessed Virgin Mary

Entrance Antiphon, Ps 13(12):6

My heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, who has been bountiful with me.

Communion Antiphon, Lk 2:19

Mary treasured all these words, reflecting on them in her heart.

COLLECT PRAYER

Lord our God, you made the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary the home of your eternal Word and the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. Give us a heart that is free from sin and attentive to your will, that, faithful to your commandments, we may love you above all things and seek to help others in their need. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary signifies the purity and love for God present in Mary’s Heart. Her “Yes” to God’s salvific plan, love and support during her Son’s redemptive mission, and submissiveness to the Holy Spirit manifest this purity – enabling her to remain free of sin throughout her life. Mary’s Immaculate Heart, therefore, points us to her profound interior, where she experienced joys and sorrows yet remained faithful, as we, too are, called to do. (Archdiocese of Bombay)

Background of the celebration

In the midst of the second world war Pope Pius XII put the whole world under the special protection of our Savior’s Mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart, and in 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is not a new devotion. In the seventeenth century, St. John Eudes preached it together with that of the Sacred Heart; in the nineteenth century, Pius VII and Pius IX allowed several churches to celebrate a feast of the Pure Heart of Mary. Pius XII instituted today’s feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the whole Church, so as to obtain by her intercession “peace among nations, freedom for the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtue” (Decree of May 4, 1944). In 1942 during the ravages of World War II, Pope Pius XII dedicated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and set the feast for August 22nd. In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the day, Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Things to Do:

A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (EWTN)
View Devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary (EWTN)
Read the entire article from the Catholic Encyclopedia about the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Read this article about Saturdays and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Immaculate Heart of Mary
The attention of Christians was early attracted by the love and virtues of the Heart of Mary. The Gospel itself invited this attention with exquisite discretion and delicacy. What was first excited was compassion for the Virgin Mother. It was, so to speak, at the foot of the Cross that the Christian heart first made the acquaintance of the Heart of Mary. Simeon’s prophecy paved the way and furnished the devotion with one of its favourite formulae and most popular representations: the heart pierced with a sword. But Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the Cross; “she cooperated through charity”, as St. Augustine says, “in the work of our redemption”.

It is only in the twelfth, or towards the end of the eleventh century, that slight indications of a regular devotion are perceived in a sermon by St. Bernard (De duodecim stellis).

Stronger evidences are discernible in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to St. Anselm of Lucca (d. 1080) or St. Bernard; and also in the large book De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis (Douai, 1625) by Richard de Saint-Laurent.

In St. Mechtilde (d. 1298) and St. Gertrude (d. 1302) the devotion had two earnest adherents. A little earlier it had been included by St. Thomas Becket in the devotion to the joys and sorrows of Mary, by Blessed Hermann (d.1245), one of the first spiritual children of St. Dominic, in his other devotions to Mary, and somewhat later it appeared in St. Bridget’s Book of Revelations.

St. Ambrose perceived in her the model of a virginal soul. St. Bernardine of Siena (d.1444) was more absorbed in the contemplation of the virginal heart, and it is from him that the Church has borrowed the lessons of the Second Nocturn for the feast of the Heart of Mary. St. Francis de Sales speaks of the perfections of this heart, the model of love for God, and dedicated to it his Theotimus.

In the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth, ascetic authors dwelt upon this devotion at greater length. It was, however, reserved to St. Jean Eudes (d. 1681) to propagate the devotion, to make it public, and to have a feast celebrated in honor of the Heart of Mary, first at Autun in 1648 and afterwards in a number of French dioceses.

In 1799 Pius VI, then in captivity at Florence, granted the Bishop of Palermo the feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary for some of the churches in his diocese. In 1805 Pius VII made a new concession, thanks to which the feast was soon widely observed. Such was the existing condition when a twofold movement, started in Paris, gave fresh impetus to the devotion. The two factors of this movement were first of all the revelation of the “miraculous medal” in 1830 and all the prodigies that followed, and then the establishment at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires of the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, which spread rapidly throughout the world and was the source of numberless graces. On 21 July 1855, the Congregation of Rites finally approved the Office and Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary without, however, imposing them upon the Universal Church.

Excerpted from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 edition.

FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Excerpts From The Memoirs of Sor Lucía

OUTLINE

As we prepare ourselves for the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturday, below are excerpts taken from Sor Lucia’s book, “Fatima in Lucia’s own words”, one of the witnesses of the various apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima (Portugal) in 1913 and was responsible for spreading the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

God, out of His Love and Divine Providence, wanting His children to return to the paths towards holiness, sent us Our Lady to bring us back to His fold asking for:

permanent CONVERSION of sinners,
REPARATION and sacrifices for our sins and that of others,
life of PRAYER, including the HOLY ROSARY,
and the devotion to THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY (which consists in going to Mass and receiving communion during the First Saturdays for 5 consecutive months as reparation for sins)

Below are few excerpts, with their corresponding page numbers, taken from the Memoirs..

1. God wishes to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart Of Mary (p. 133)

A little while before going to hospital, Jacinta said to me:

“lt will not be long now before I go to Heaven. YOU WILL REMAIN HERE TO MAKE KNOWN THAT GOD WISHES TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY. 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 HAS ENTRUSTED IT TO HER. If I could only put into the hearts of all, the fire that is burning within my own heart, and that makes me love the Hearts of Jesus and Mary so very much!”

2. The three intentions to pray for: conversion of sinners, the Pope, in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary (pp. 54; p. 80)

As the Blessed Virgin had told us to offer our prayers and sacrifices also in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we agreed that each of us would choose one of these intentions. One would offer for sinners, another for the Holy Father and yet another in reparation for the sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Having decided on this, I told Jacinta to choose whichever intention she preferred. “I’m making the offering for all the intentions, because I love them all.” p.54

Leaving the chalice suspended in the air, the Angel knelt down beside us and made us repeat three times:

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer you the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of his Most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.”

3. The Immaculate Heart of Mary is our refuge and the way which will lead us to God. To prevent a future war, Our Lady asked the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and for the communion of reparation on the first Saturdays (p. 128)

As I have already written in the second account, Our Lady told me on June 13th, 1917, that she would never forsake me, and that her Immaculate Heart would be my refuge and the way that would lead me to God. As she spoke these words, she opened her hands, and from them streamed a light that penetrated to our inmost hearts. I think that, on that day, the main purpose of this light was to infuse within us a special knowledge and love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, just as on the other two occasions it was intended to do, as it seems to me, with regard to God and the mystery of the most Holy Trinity.

From that day onwards, our hearts were filled with a more ardent love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. From time to time, Jacinta said to me: “THE LADY SAID THAT HER IMMACULATE HEART WILL BE YOUR REFUGE AND THE WAY THAT WILL LEAD YOU TO GOD. DON’T YOU LOVE THAT? HER HEART IS SO GOOD! HOW I LOVE IT!”

As I explained earlier, Our Lady told us, in the July secret, that GOD WISHED TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION TO HER IMMACULATE HEART; AND THAT TO PREVENT A FUTURE WAR, SHE WOULD COME TO ASK FOR THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA TO HER IMMACULATE HEART, AND FOR THE COMMUNION OF REPARATION ON THE FIRST SATURDAYS.

4. The necessity of offering sacrifices for the conversion of sinners (p. 179.)

“I would like to ask you to tell us who you are, and to work a miracle so that everybody will believe that you are appearing to us.”

“CONTINUE TO COME HERE EVERY MONTH. IN OCTOBER, I WILL TELL YOU WHO I AM AND WHAT I WANT, AND I WILL PERFORM A MIRACLE FOR ALL TO SEE AND BELIEVE.”

I then made some requests, but I cannot recall now just what they were. What I do remember is that Our Lady said it was necessary for such people to pray the Rosary in order to obtain these graces during the year. And she continued:

Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice:

“O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

5. Apparition of Our Lady and the Holy Child Jesus to Sor Lucia explaining the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (pp. 194-195)

On December 10th, 1925, the most holy Virgin appeared to her, and by her side, elevated on a luminous cloud, was a child. The most holy Virgin rested her hand on her shoulder, and as she did so, she showed her a heart encircled by thorns, which she was holding in her other hand. At the same time, the Child said:

“HAVE COMPASSION ON THE HEART OF YOUR MOST HOLY MOTHER, COVERED WITH THORNS, WITH WHICH UNGRATEFUL MEN PIERCE IT AT EVERY MOMENT, AND THERE IS NO ONE TO MAKE AN ACT OF REPARATION TO REMOVE THEM.”

Then the most holy Virgin said:

“Look, my daughter, at my heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say (announce) that i promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive holy communion, recite five decades of the rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

On February 15th, 1926, the Infant Jesus appeared to her again. He asked her if she had already spread the devotion to His most holy Mother. She told Him of the confessor’s difficulties, and said that Mother Superior was prepared to propagate it, but that the confessor had said that she, alone, could do nothing. Jesus replied:

“IT IS TRUE THAT YOUR SUPERIOR ALONE CAN DO NOTHING, BUT WITH MY GRACE, SHE CAN DO ALL.”

She placed before Jesus the difficulty that some people had about confessing on Saturday, and asked that it might be valid to go to confession within eight days. Jesus answered:

“YES, AND IT COULD BE LONGER STILL, PROVIDED THAT, WHEN THEY RECEIVE ME, THEY ARE IN THE STATE OF GRACE AND HAVE THE INTENTION OF MAKING REPARATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.”

She then asked: “My Jesus, what about those who forget to make this intention?” Jesus replied:

“THEY CAN DO SO AT THEIR NEXT CONFESSION, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO CONFESSION.”

Sources: Catholic Culture
Catholics Striving for Holiness
National Catholic Register