Dates and Origins of Sacred Heart of Jesus

Sacred Heart of Jesus, St Thomas Cemetery, MA
Sacred Heart of Jesus, St Thomas Cemetery, MA rusty_clark / CC-by

Sacred Heart of Jesus Dates in 2024, 2025 and 2026

Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated at the following dates:

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a widely recognized observance in many Christian denominations. It is observed on the Friday nineteen days after Pentecost and celebrates the compassion, suffering and devotion of Christ to humanity.

Origin

Predecessors to this devotion can be traced back to the middle ages in Catholic mysticism. In the first ten centuries of Christianity, there is some evidence to support a devotion to the Sacred Heart, albeit indirect1. The religious zealotry of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and Saint Francis of Assisi coupled with the enthusiasm of crusaders returning from the east in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries inspired renewed devotion to the sacred wounds of Jesus and celebration of his humanity2. In 1353, a mass devoted to the Sacred Heart was instituted by Pope Innocent VI1.

Until the 1600s however, worship of the sacred heart was primarily private devotion. Modern forms of this devotion stem from a Catholic Nun in France, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, in the 17th century3. She claims to have been inspired by several apparitions of Jesus Christ that happened between 1673 and 16751. Later in the 19th century, Sister Mary of the Divine Heart requested that Pope Leo XIII make a consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus1. After a refusal in 1729, a special feast was granted in 17654. The feast was made into a double major in 1856 by Pope Pius IX and by 1899 was raised to the dignity of a double rite of the first class5.

Celebration

The image of the flaming heart of Jesus is central to this observance5. It is often depicted with a bleeding lance wound surrounded by a divine light. The celebration involves a special Mass including the sacred heart imagery5. Eastern Catholic churches may or may not pay special attention to this feast, depending on theological interpretation.

References

  1. http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/SHEART.htm

  2. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15714a.htm

  3. http://ewtn.com/Devotionals/heart/meditation.htm

  4. http://www.awakentoprayer.org/expl.devotion_sacred_heart.htm

  5. http://www.americamagazine.org/issue/100/america-and-sacred-heart