The Feast of the Sacred Heart is one of the most popular in the Catholic Church; it is celebrated on the Friday following the Feast of Corpus Christi (Or Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ). This year, we observe the Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, June 16.
The first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated on August 31, 1670, in Rennes, France, through the efforts of Fr. Jean Eudes (1602-1680). From Rennes, the devotion spread, but it took the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) for the devotion to become universal.
In all of these visions, in which Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus played a central role. The "great apparition," which took place on June 16, 1675, during the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi, is the source of the modern Feast of the Sacred Heart. In that vision, Christ asked St. Margaret Mary to request that the Feast of the Sacred Heart be celebrated on the Friday after the octave (or eighth day) of the Feast of Corpus Christi, in reparation for the ingratitude of men for the sacrifice that Christ had made for them. The Sacred Heart of Jesus represents not simply His physical heart but His love for all mankind.
The devotion became quite popular after St. Margaret Mary's death in 1690, but it wasn't until 1765 that the feast was celebrated officially in France. Almost 100 years later, in 1856, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the universal Church.
Prayer of St. Margaret Mary to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lord Jesus,
let my heart never rest until it finds You,
who are its center, its love, and its happiness.
By the wound in Your heart
pardon the sins that I have committed
whether out of malice or out of evil desires.
Place my weak heart in your own divine heart,
continually under your protection and guidance,
so that I may persevere in doing good
and in fleeing evil until my last breath.
Amen.
