Virgo Potens

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 29th Certainly after the hypostatic union there is no other union closer than that of the Heart of Jesus with the Heart of His Mother, but this close association and the full import of the "Divine Heart of Mary" is best seen and understood by saints and theologians such as St. John Eudes. Without perfectly understanding the full content of the "Divine Heart, however, we can safely include some of the ideas associated with it in the immediate object of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart, always realizing that they belong properly to the person of Mary. Insofar, however, as St. John Eudes by the "Divine Heart" meant the Heart of Jesus living in Mary, it cannot be included in the immediate object of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart. Regardless of a limitation in the complete acceptance of St. John's ideas on the Divine Heart and much of his purely devotional writings in connection with the Heart of Mary, we still recognize in his efforts the major single influence in the theological history of the devotion. It was certainly from this great saint that two other outstanding early apostles of the devotion, Fr. Gallifet, S.J., and Fr. Pinamonti, S.J., received their inspiration. As early as 1644 St. John Eudes wished to observe the Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary as the patronal feast of his congregations of priests and nuns; he celebrated it on the twentieth of October. The first public feast in honor of the Heart of Mary was celebrated in Autun in 1648, the result of the saint's efforts and with episcopal approval. The Holy See, when petitioned in 1669, refused approbation of this Office and Mass. However, by this time many French bishops, according to custom and what was then considered within episcopal rights, were allowing the feast to be celebrated in their dioceses on February 8. By 1672 the feast was celebrated more or less throughout all France. In 1729 the Holy See when petitioned again refused official approbation of the proposed Office and Mass, although the Papal Legate to France had approved an office as early as 1668. Somewhat later, in 1773, a proper office for the first time received papal approval; this by Pope Clement XIV. The feast received further papal approbation when Pope Pius VI, in 1787, permitted the nuns of Notre Dame de Corbeil to celebrate the Feast of the "Most Holy Heart of Mary" as a double of the first class on the twenty-second of August. In 1799 the same Pontiff conceded the feast to some churches of the diocese of Palermo. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 29th Beyond the ordinary saint who might say, "It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20), from the very inception of Mary's existence she lived always in the unitive way, most intimately associated with the Godhead. The nature of this transforming union could very well prompt St. John Eudes to say, “Jesus lives in her (Mary’s) soul and body. . . . His Heart abides in her Heart, His soul in her soul. . . . His virtues, mysteries and divine attributes are living in her Heart. . . .” (continued)

3 of 3 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 28th With all deference to the received opinion, we note in passing that prior to St. John Eudes we have evidences of public cult being offered to a certain extent to the Heart of Mary by the Dominican Fathers Ignatius de Nente (1642) and Anthony Barbieux (1661) and by Father Vincent Guinigi of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God. Their work, however, was limited in scope and St. John Eudes has always been considered, even prior to the statement of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, the precursor of the devotion, making this apostolate a goal of his entire life. He labored to give the devotion real stability, worked for ecclesiastical approbation, and instilled in his followers the desire to see the devotion come into its own. He based his theological opinions in this matter on Sacred Scripture and began to clarify terms by distinguishing between what he called the corporeal, the spiritual, and the Divine Heart of Mary. In the saint's mind, the corporeal heart was the physical heart of Mary's body; the spiritual heart, her soul; sanctified not as Christ's Heart through the hypostatic union, but through her eminent participation in the divine perfections; and the Divine Heart was the term he used to express the union between Mother and Son, a union of such intimate nature that the Mother and Son might be spoken of as having but one Heart. This last concept was a favorite idea of the saint's, and rightly understood can indeed be included on the immediate object of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart, albeit the devotion concerns Mary herself, and cannot have as its object anything other than what belongs properly to her person. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

2 of 3 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 28th Hence, since the seventeenth century there can be added, beyond the authority of the Fathers and theologians of the Church, the arguments of the liturgy proving the place in Marian veneration of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart for "legem credendi supplicandi lex statuat." With the intimate connection between sacred liturgy and dogma it is to be expected that, as the devotion to Mary's Heart grew, so too do we find a clarification of the nature and dogmatic foundations of the devotion. The liturgy does not become a proving ground for the devotion in the sense that the Church is later obligated to declare a devotion acceptable and with true dogmatic basis when it is adjudged to have produced evidences of sanctity among the faithful through its liturgical aspects. Rather the liturgy of the Church has the Catholic faith for its content and bears public witness to the faith of the Church. It is in this sense that the Sovereign Pontiff and Councils of the Church have called upon the sacred liturgy along with other theological sources to clarify divine revelation. In the case of the Immaculate Heart then, the liturgy does not determine independently and in its own right the status and foundations for this devotion; but inasmuch as it is a profession of eternal truths and always subject to the teaching authority of the Church it can contribute, and de facto has contributed, toward determining the precise scope and nature of this particular phase of Marian veneration; and it has greatly enriched an already humanly appealing devotion. LITURGICAL CULT It is most appropriate to note that the Church in the course of the process of beatification and canonization of St. John Eudes has emphasized his role in establishing the liturgical devotion to Mary's Heart. In the brief of beatification we read that he, not without divine guidance, rendered Mary's Heart liturgical veneration, and should be regarded as the Father, Doctor, and Apostle of this devotion. In considering especially the growth of the devotion, St. John Eudes is without question the outstanding personality in its history and the great precursor of public veneration. It was he who as a theologian first explained the reasons for the devotion, and later had the feast established both in his own Congregations and with episcopal approval in certain French dioceses. In 1641 he composed his special Office and Mass. In the year 1680 he completed his famous work, Le Coeur Admirable, consisting of 12 books, characterized by sound theology and deep piety, the first complete work to be published on the devotion. (continued)

1 of 3 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 28th THE HEART OF MARY IN PUBLIC CULT We have considered the vestiges, early traces, and later real evidences of private devotion to the Immaculate Heart. We now turn to the later era of public veneration, first in a restricted manner, and then in the full universally approved worship of the Church. Indeed, with St. John Eudes (1601-1680) the devotion was made public and received ecclesiastical approbation, but it was for a time limited to specific locales and was only in later decades to be accepted and popularized throughout the universal Church. With St. John's efforts came the liturgical veneration of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, and since his day the science of the liturgy has played an outstanding role in connection with the devotion. (continued)

New Channel, posts daily: Glory to God Lives of the Saints +AMDG+ ”And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us.” Hebrews 12,1

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 27th In the same convent with St. Mechtilde, and doubtlessly inspired by her in many ways, another saint given special graces by God and the extraordinary privilege of private revelations was St. Gertrude the Great (ob. 1302 ). Throughout her writings we find indications of her great devotion to Mary's most holy Heart, for like St. Mechtilde, she speaks of it with some frequency. In the following century God again raised up a saint similar to SS. Mechtilde and Gertrude: St. Brigid of Sweden (ob. 1373). She too was destined to receive private revelations concerning the virginal Heart of the Mother of God and to play a role in furthering the devotion. We read in her Revelations the words of Mary: "When He suffered, I felt as though my Heart endured the sufferings also . . . when my Son was scourged and torn with whips, my Heart was scourged and whipped with him . . . His Heart was my Heart . . . so that my beloved Son and myself redeemed the world as with one Heart." The above are the most celebrated instances of early private revelation in connection with the Heart of Mary and are those which have been an influence in the early spread of the devotion. However, we read of other similar incidents in the middle ages and in modern times, some of which are not without great significance. If for no other reason, the early private revelations noted above merit mention because of their influence on St. John Eudes, who in the seventeenth century initiated the devotion to Mary's Heart as a public one and figured strongly in bringing liturgical worship to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. By our observations to this point concerning the scriptural texts mentioned, the writings of the Fathers and later Ecclesiastics, and private revelations, we have seen that recourse to Mary under the symbol of her Heart was not an exceptional thing before St. John Eudes, but it was always an isolated and private manifestation of devotion. There was as yet in regard to the devotion no authoritative voice, no pontifical declaration, no liturgical celebration; and although the devotion already knew certain developments, it was not until the seventeenth century with St. John Eudes that the first clarifications of the object of the devotion and a discussion of its foundations were brought to light. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 27th Among the earliest and most famous private revelations are those granted the Benedictine nun, St. Mechtilde (ob. 1298). It is especially in the first two parts of her Book of Special Grace that we find, more than in any saint or writer before her, tangible and evident expressions of a devotion to the Heart of Mary. Our Lord is understood to have revealed to her several reasons why it was granted that she honor the Heart of the Blessed Virgin in a special way: on account of the desire of the Heart of Mary for the coming of Christ; on account of her Heart's humility and its love for the Infant Jesus; on account of the care with which it treasured the words of Christ, the prayers it offered and the zeal and interest it had for the Church; and because of its role in heaven, that of a Heart replete with heavenly grace, inflamed with love for God and man. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 26th Private revelations, as extraordinary mystical phenomena, belong to the intellectual order of extraordinary divine phenomena, and are made to private individuals for their own welfare or that of others. Indirectly, under certain circumstances, they can, like public revelations, pertain to the welfare of the whole Church. Under no circumstances, however, can these revelations form a part of Catholic faith, and hence the faithful are not obliged to accept them on divine faith. Even when the Church approves them they do not become part of the object of Catholic faith, but are promulgated simply for the instruction and edification of the faithful. The assent they are accorded, therefore, is not an act of Catholic faith, but of human faith only, based on the fact that the revelations are credible and published with ecclesiastical approval. Even in these cases the faithful are cautioned to be prudent, for it is quite possible that a private revelation true in the main part may contain incidental errors, such as historical and scientific inaccuracies. The Church approves private revelations only after long and careful investigation and even then the faithful are not commanded to accept them. The matter itself, with its ramifications in dogma and matters liturgical, is thoroughly investigated long before any ecclesiastical pronouncement is made. Ecclesiastical approbation in its turn guarantees only that the revelations are plausible and not to be condemned, and the Church declares simply that approved revelations contain nothing against faith and morals and can prudently, piously, and without superstition be believed on human faith. Thus, without overemphasizing the importance of private revelation, we look briefly at the revelations granted certain saints. True, these revelations cannot be considered to have played any role in the clarification of the dogmatic implications connected with the Immaculate Heart, but inasmuch as they have helped further the devotion to the Heart of the Mother of God, we will consider the more important of them briefly. St. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (ob. 1170), had a special devotion to the joys of the Heart of Mary, and our Lady is said to have appeared to him and revealed her desire to help others who practiced this devotion, especially at the hour of death. We note also in passing the apparition of the Blessed Virgin (August 15, 1233) to the seven founders of the Servite Order, which led to the veneration of our Blessed Lady as the Mother of Sorrows. In connection with this devotion and stemming from the image naturally conveyed by the words of Simeon recorded in Holy Scripture, an impetus was given to the veneration of the Blessed Mother with a special view to her charity as symbolized by her Heart. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

L’Amour de Marie Les bénédictions du divin Enfant Jésus sont pour ceux qui aiment sa Mère. P. Faber The Love of Mary The blessings of the Divine Child Jesus are for those who love His Mother.  ~ Fr. Faber 1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 26th THE HEART OF MARY IN PRIVATE REVELATION The entire Christian world is cognizant of the role played by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in promoting the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and although the Feast of the Sacred Heart was approved for reasons quite apart from the saint's private revelations, yet without a doubt her great influence in this matter was largely due to the revelations our Lord deigned to grant her. There is not a perfect parallel in regard to the development of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but in the earliest centuries of the devotion, and even in our own day, we learn of private revelations concerning the most pure Heart of Mary given to certain chosen souls. (continued)

L’Amour de Marie Les bénédictions du divin Enfant Jésus sont pour ceux qui aiment sa Mère. P. Faber The Love of Mary The benedictions of the Divine Child Jesus are for those who love His Mother.  ~ Fr. Faber 1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 26th THE HEART OF MARY IN PRIVATE REVELATION The entire Christian world is cognizant of the role played by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in promoting the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and although the Feast of the Sacred Heart was approved for reasons quite apart from the saint's private revelations, yet without a doubt her great influence in this matter was largely due to the revelations our Lord deigned to grant her. There is not a perfect parallel in regard to the development of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but in the earliest centuries of the devotion, and even in our own day, we learn of private revelations concerning the most pure Heart of Mary given to certain chosen souls. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 25th Special mention must be made of St. Francis de Sales who was a connecting link between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and one of the greater lights, the immediate predecessor of St. John Eudes. In his writings we find a synthesis of what had developed up to his day. He speaks of the perfections of the Heart of Mary, the model of love for God, and dedicated to it his Theotimus. In the crest of the Visitation order which he founded, he placed the Hearts of Jesus and Mary together. And it was he who played a principal role in influencing the work of St. John Elides an acknowledgment which the great Apostle of the Immaculate Heart makes often in his writings. Others, just prior to St. John Eudes, who ought to be mentioned for their writings or devotion to the Immaculate Heart, are: Suarez; St. Robert Bellarmine; P. Poire; Cardinal De Berulle; J. De La Cerda; Bartholomew de Los Rios; J. Olier, the founder of the Sulpicians; P. Barry; and V. Contenson. St. John Eudes mentions, as other apostles of Mary's incomparable Heart, Orsius, Sebastian, Baradius, John Eusebius of Nieremberg, John Baptist St. Jure, Stephen Binet, Christopher de Vega, and Honorat Nicquet. However, neither in the writings of the afore-mentioned authors nor in other Mariological literature prior to St. John Eudes, do we find any treatise directly and expressly dealing with the devotion to the Immaculate Heart. We do see, however, a constant growth of associated references and an awareness of the distinctive role the virginal Heart of Mary had been predestined to play in the salvation of souls and in the whole divine economy. The fixed terms in regard to the devotion were still to be determined, and the devotion was still private in nature; but an increase in references and testimony concerning Mary's Immaculate Heart is definitely observed. Before we investigate the writings of the great St. John Eudes in whom the devotion to the Immaculate Heart found its most ardent advocate, and who was the first to institute and propagate the liturgical worship of the Heart of Mary, we shall note briefly, as we indicated earlier, some of the private revelations to various saints concerning the Immaculate Heart, revelations with which St. John Eudes was himself acquainted. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 25th Special mention must be made of St. Francis de Sales who was a connecting link between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and one of the greater lights, the immediate predecessor of St. John Eudes. In his writings we find a synthesis of what had developed up to his day. He speaks of the perfections of the Heart of Mary, the model of love for God, and dedicated to it his Theotimus. In the crest of the Visitation order which he founded, he placed the Hearts of Jesus and Mary together. And it was he who played a principal role in influencing the work of St. John Elides an acknowledgment which the great Apostle of the Immaculate Heart makes often in his writings. Others, just prior to St. John Eudes, who ought to be mentioned for their writings or devotion to the Immaculate Heart, are: Suarez; St. Robert Bellarmine; P. Poire; Cardinal De Berulle; J. De La Cerda; Bartholomew de Los Rios; J. Olier, the founder of the Sulpicians; P. Barry; and V. Contenson. St. John Eudes mentions, as other apostles of Mary's incomparable Heart, Orsius, Sebastian, Baradius, John Eusebius of Nieremberg, John Baptist St. Jure, Stephen Binet, Christopher de Vega, and Honorat Nicquet. However, neither in the writings of the afore-mentioned authors nor in other Mariological literature prior to St. John Eudes, do we find any treatise directly and expressly dealing with the devotion to the Immaculate Heart. We do see, however, a constant growth of associated references and an awareness of the distinctive role the virginal Heart of Mary had been predestined to play in the salvation of souls and in the whole divine economy. The fixed terms in regard to the devotion were still to be determined, and the devotion was still private in nature; but an increase in references and testimony concerning Mary's Immaculate Heart is definitely observed. Before we investigate the writings of the great St. John Eudes in whom the devotion to the Immaculate Heart found its most ardent advocate, and who was the first to institute and propagate the liturgical worship of the Heart of Mary, we shall note briefly, as we indicated earlier, some of the private revelations to various saints concerning the Immaculate Heart, revelations with which St. John Eudes was himself acquainted. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 20th At the beginning of the sixteenth century we have evidence of further devotional practices in regard to the Immaculate Heart. Julius II, the great Renaissance Pope promulgated certain invocations to the Immaculate Heart to be recited at the sound of the Angelus. In the same century mention ought to be made of the Carthusian, Lanspergus, in whose Pharetra one also finds traces of a devotion to the Heart of Mary. Other writers of this period worthy of note are Cornelius a Lapide, St. Peter Canisius, Louis de Blois, St. Philip Neri, and the Spanish Dominican Luis de Granada. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 24th In the following ages we must note St. Antoninus, St. Lawrence Justinian, John Gerson, Ernest Pragensis, and Nicholas of Salicetus, in whose Antidotarium one finds evidences of devotional practices to the Heart of Mary. In these years also it was St. Bernardine of Siena who in an exceptional manner discovered and understood the significance and nature of Mary's Immaculate Heart. Because of his writings he has often been called the "Doctor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” and it is from him that we receive the three lessons of the second nocturn of the Office for the Feast of the Immaculate Heart. Especially in his sermons do we find traces of the great saint's devotion to Mary's virginal Heart. In them he exalts the perfection of the corporeal heart of Mary as the symbol of her love for God and mankind, but further as the symbol of her purity, humility, and sanctity. He writes that the dignity of becoming the Mother of God was the greatest destiny possible for any creature, and "therefore, in a most sublime fashion, the foreordaining love of God penetrated and moved the Heart of the Virgin to this work"—this work which "participated most deeply in the perfection, influence, and divine-likeness of the foreordaining love of God from which it sprang.”. And again: “Who among pure creatures can be imagined better than she who merited to become the Mother of God, and who carried God Himself as her guest in her Heart and in her womb? . . . What better treasure is there than that of Divine love itself of which the Heart of the Virgin was the fiery furnace?" And further: "Therefore, from this heart as from a furnace of Divine Love the Blessed Virgin brought forth good words, that is, words of burning charity. Thus St. Bernardine associates the Heart of the Blessed Mother with her deep charity and great love for God and man. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 24th Contemporaneous with St. Bonaventure in the middle and late thirteenth century, another who figures in the history of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart is Conrad of Saxony, whose work, Speculum beatae Mariae Virginis, was for many centuries attributed to St. Bonaventure. At this time there lived also the great women, SS. Mechtilde and Gertrude, followed later by St. Brigid of Sweden, whose private revelations concerning the Immaculate Heart we will mention shortly under a separate heading. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 23rd In the years following these men, through the first decades of the thirteenth century, mention must be made of other early apostles who did much to promulgate the growing devotion. One of the earliest devotees of the veneration of our Blessed Mother's Heart was the Blessed Herman of Friesach, one of St. Dominic's early followers who daily saluted the Heart of Mary; another was the Venerable Herman Joseph of the Praemonstratensian Order, who had formulated a kind of consecration to Mary's Heart. A special mention must also be made of St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, whose influence and spirituality confirmed and gave impetus in later years to the growing devotion. It is he who carries on and develops St. Bernard's early and correct notion of associating Mary's Heart with her sanctity and her extraordinary charity. In the work Stimulus Amoris, for many centuries attributed to St. Bonaventure, we find reference to the sorrowful Heart of Mary and scattered indications of a devotion to her virginal Heart. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

Süsses Herz Maria sei meine Rettung! Sweet Heart of Mary be my salvation! 1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 23rd We have a clear indication, following St. Bernard, of a special devotion to the Heart of Mary in Richard of St. Lawrence, penitentiary of Rouen, in the beautiful tribute to our Lady, De Laudibus B. Mariae Virg., if this tract can be attributed to him. In this work the Heart of Mary is depicted as the source of salvation, the first of all hearts united with Christ in His sufferings, and the abode of the Holy Trinity. The author particularly associates Mary's love of God with her virginal Heart. (continued)

August 22nd ~ Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Traditional (1944 - 1969) Cœur Immaculé de Marie, soyez mon refuge. Immaculate Heart of Mary, be my refuge.

August 22nd ~ Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Traditional (1944 - 1969) Le coeur de Marie nous aime comme elle aima Jésus. Aimons-la comme Jésus l’aimait. The Heart of Mary loves us as she loved Jesus. Let us love her as Jesus loved her.