The Sacred Heart

The Sacred Heart is a devotional name used by some Roman Catholics to refer to the physical heart of Jesus Christ as a symbol of Divine love. Devotion to the Sacred Heart in focusing on Christ's heart metaphorically focuses on the emotional and moral life of Jesus and especially His love for humanity. It also stresses the central Christian concept of loving and adoring Jesus. In most depictions, Christ's heart is shown containing wounds to which Christ points, as well as a crown of thorns. This wounded heart is meant to symbolize Christ's pain at the rejection of God's Gospel message of salvation and righteousness by humanity. In including the crown of thorns, it alludes to the manner of Christ's death, which is further highlighted by the inclusion of crucifixion wounds on Christ's hands, in most images. Thus the Christ of the image is of a post-resurrection Jesus speaking to humanity, not the pre-crucifixion Jesus of the Gospels.

The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form it is known today was Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (July 22, 1647 - October 17, 1690), of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, who claimed to have received visions of Jesus Christ. In these visions she was told that those who prayerfully looked to the Sacred Heart would be given specific graces. In his Papal Bull Auctorem Fidei, Pope Pius VI praised devotion to the Sacred Heart, which had its own critics within Roman Catholicism. However, devotion to the Sacred Heart has been traced back as early as Saint Mechtilde (d. 1298) and Saint Gertrude (d. 1301).

Following a theological review, Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Annum Sacrum (May 25, 1899) decreed that the entire human race should be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, declaring this consecration on June 11 of the same year. In the mid-20th century, the revered Italian cleric Saint Padre Pio promoted and revived the concept of prayer directly to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Sacred Heart is still a widely used name for many Catholic institutions, including universities in Connecticut, USA, Tokyo and Luxembourg, and many Catholic parishes, hospitals, schools, religious orders and stores selling Catholic goods. It also gives its name to a holy day in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

Religious imagery depicting the Sacred Heart is frequently featured in Catholic homes. Sometimes images display beneath them a list of family members, indicating that the entire family is entrusted to the protection of Jesus in the Sacred Heart, from whom blessings on the home and the family members are sought. The prayer "O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee" is often used. One particular image has been used as part of a set, along with an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In that image, Mary too was shown pointing to her Immaculate Heart, expressing her love for the human race and for her son, Jesus Christ. The mirror images reflect an eternal binding of the two hearts

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