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bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers
spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus^
Alvarez de Paz, Luis de la Puente, Samt-Jure, and
Nouet, and there still exist special treatises upon it
such as Father Druzbicki's (d. 1662) small work, ' Meta
Cordium, Cor Jesu". Amongst the mystics and pious
souls who practised the devotion were St. Francis
Borgia, Blessed Peter Canisius, St. Aloysius Gonzaga,
and St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, of the Society of Jesus;
also Venerable Marina de Escobar (d. 1633), in Spain;
the Venerable Madeleine of St. Joseph and the \ ener-
able Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament, Carmelites,
in France; Jeanne de S. Mathieu Deleloe (d. 1660),
a Benedictine, in Belgium; the worthy Armelle ot
Vannes (d. 1671); and even in Jansenistic or woridly
centres, Marie de Valernod (d. 1654) and Ang^lique
Arnauld; M. Boudon, the great archdeacon of tv-
reux Father Huby, the apostle of retreats in Brittany,
and.'above all, the Venerable Marie de I'Incarnation
who died at Quebec in 1672. The \ isitation seemed
to be awaiting Blessed Margaret Mary; its spiritual-
ity, certain intuitions of St. Francis de Sales, the
meditations of Mere I'Huillier (d. 165.5), the visions of
Mother Anne-Marguerite Clement (d. 1661), and ot
Sister Jeanne-Benigne Gojos (d. 1692), all paved the
way The image of the Heart of Jesus was every-
where in evidence, which fact was largely due to the
Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the
habit formed by the Jesuits of placing the image on
the title-page of their books and the walls ot their
churcnGS.
(6) Nevertheless, the devotion remained an individ- ual or at least a private devotion. It was reserved to Blessed Jean Eudes (1601-16S0) to make it public, to honour it with an Office, and to establish a feast for it. Pere Eudes was above all the apostle of the Heart of Mary; but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little the devotion to the Sacred Heart became a separate one, and on 31 August, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated with great solem- nity in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutanci^s followed suit on 20 October, a day with which the Eudist feast was thenceforth to be connected. The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communi- ties. Here and there it came into contact with the devotion begun at Paray, and a fusion of the two naturally resulted. ,,^,^^ann^
(7) It was to Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a humble Visitandine of the monastery at Paray-le- Monial, that Clu-ist chose to reveal the desires of His Heart and to confide the task of imparting new life to the devotion. There is nothing to indicate that this pious religious had known the devotion prior to the revelations, or at least that she had paid any attention to it. These revelations were numerous, and tlie following apparitions are especially remark- able: that which occurred on the feast of St. John when Jesus permitted Margaret Mary, as He had formerly allowed St. Gertrude, to rest her head upon His Heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of His love telling her that He desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of His goodness, and that He had chosen her for this work (27 Dec, probably 1673); that, probably dis- tinct from the preceding, in which He requested to be honoured under the figure of His Heart of flesh; that, when He appeared radiant with love and asked for a devotion of expiatory love— frequent Communion, Communion on the first Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour (probably June or .July 1674)- that known as the "great appantion which took place during the octave of Corpus Christi 16<.5, probably on 16 June, when He said, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men . . . instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only in-
gratitude . . . ", and asked her for a feast of repara-
tion on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi,
bidding her consult Father de la Colombiere, then
superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray; and,
finally, those in which solemn homage was asked on
the part of the king, and the mission of propagating
the new devotion was especially confided to the re-
ligious of the Visitation and the priests of the Society
of Jesus. A few days after the "great apparition"
of June, 1675, Margaret Mary made all known to
Father de la Colombiere, and the latter, recognizing the
action of the spirit of God, consecrated himself to thfc
Sacred Heart, directed the holy Visitandine to write
an account of the apparition, and made use of every
available opportunity <liscreetly to circulate this ac-
count through France and England. At his death
15 February, 1682, there was found in his journal
of spiritual retreats a copy in his own handwriting of
the account that he had requested of Margaret Jhiry.
together with a few reflections on the usefulness of the
devotion. This journal, including the account and a
beautiful "offering" to the Sacred Heart, in which
the devotion was well explained, was pubUshed at
Lyons in 16S4. The little book was widely read, even
at Paray, although not witliout being the cause of
"dreadful confusion" to Margaret Mary, who, never-
theless, resolved to make the liest of it and profited by
the book for the spreading of her cherished devotion.
Moulins, with Mother de Soudeilles, Dijon, with
Mother de Saumaise and Sister Joly, Semur, with
Mother Cireyfie, and even Paray, which had at first
resisted, joined the movement. Outside of the Visi-
tandines, priests, religious, and lajTuen espoused the
cause, particularly a Capuchin, Margaret Mary's two
brothers, and some Jesuits, among the latter being
Fathers Croiset and Gallifet, who were destined to do
so much for the devotion.
(8) The death of Margaret Mary, 17 October, 1690, did not dampen the ardour of those interested ; on the contrary, a short account of her life published by Father Croiset in 1691, as an appendix to his book "De la Devotion au Sacre Cceur", served only to in- crease it. In spite of all sorts of obstacles, and of the slowness of the Holv See, which in 1693 imparted in- dulgences to Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and, in 1697 granted the feast to the Visitandines with the Mass of the Five Wounds, but refused a feast common to all, with special Mass and Office, the devotion spread, particularlv in religious communities. The Marseilles plague, 1720, furnished perhaps the first occasion for a solemn consecration and public worship outside of religious communities. Other cities of the South followed the example of Marseilles, and thus the devotion became a popular one. In 1726 it was deemed advi.sable once more to importune Rome for a feast with a Mass and Office of its own, but, m 1"20. Rome again refused. However, in 1765, it finally yielded and that same year, at the Tpquef of the queen the feast was received quasi officially hy the epi'^copate of France. On all sides it was asked for and obtained, and finally, in 18.56, at the urgent en- treaties of the French bishops. Pope Pius IX extendeil the fea.st to the universal Church under the rite of double major. In 1889 it was raised by the Church to tlic double rite of first class. The acts of consecra- tion and of reparation were everywhere introduced together with the devotion. Oftentimes, especially since about 18.50, groups, congregations and States have consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart, and, in 1875— this consecration was made throughout the Catholic world. Still the pope did not wish to take the initiative or to intervene. Finally, on 11 June, 1899 by order of Leo XIII, and with the formula pre- scrib'ed'bv him, all mankind was solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart. Tlie idea of this act. which Leo XIII called "the great act" of his pontificate, had ix-en proposed to him by a religious of the Good Shep-
