The Raccolta (1857)/Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
81.
PRAYER TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.
The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus having been firmly established in the Catholic world, it seemed fitting that a similar devotion should he estahlished in honour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Accordingly Benedict XIV., with a Bull of March 7, 1753, erected in the church of the Most Holy Redeemer, near Ponte Sisto in Home, the first Confraternity which took its name from the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and Pope Pius VII., whilst approving the devotion, by a decree of the S. Congr. of Rites of Aug. 31, 1805, granted also an office and Mass for its feast, thereby awakening the love of the faithful towards it.
In the year 1807, in order the more still to advance this devotion, he erected in Rome, in the deaconry of St. Eustachius, a "Primary Congregation (Congregazione Primaria) of the Sacred Heart of Mary," granting to its members many Indulgences, with power to aggregate other confraternities out of Rome, participating also in the Indulgences. Then, in order that not only the members of both sexes of the said confraternities and congregations in Rome and elsewhere, but all the faithful everywhere, might be moved to honour the Sacred Heart of Mary, the same Pope Pius VII., at the prayer of many bishops and priests, by Rescripts given from the Segretaria of the Memorials, Aug. 18, 1807, Feb. 1, 1816, and Sept. 26, 1817 (all of which are preserved in the Archivium of the Pious Union of the Sacred Heart of Jesus before named), granted—
i. The Indulgence of sixty days, once a day, to all who say devoutly the following prayer to the Sacred Heart of Mary, with the act of praise to the SS. Hearts of Jesus and Mary; and—
ii. The Plenary Indulgence to those who say it every day for a year, on each of the following three feasts of our Lady, viz. the Nativity, Assumption, and her Sacred Heart; provided that, after Confession and Communion, they visit a church or altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and pray there according to the Pope's intention.
Lastly he granted—
iii. The Plenary Indulgence at the hour of death to all who in life are careful to say this prayer.
THE PRAYER.
Heart of Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, Heart most amiable, Delight of the ever Adorable Trinity, worthy of all the veneration and tenderness of angels and of man; Heart most like the Heart of Jesus, whose most perfect image thou art; Heart full of goodness, ever compassionate towards our miseries,—vouchsafe to thaw our icy hearts, and change them to the likeness of the Heart of Jesus. Infuse into them the love of thy virtues, inflame them with that blessed fire with which thou dost ever burn. In thee let the Holy Church find safe shelter; be thou its guardian, and its ever-sweet asylum, its tower of strength, impregnable against the inroads of its enemies. Be thou the road leading to Jesus; be thou the channel whereby we receive all graces needful for our salvation. Be thou our help in need, our comfort in trouble, our strength in temptation, our refuge in persecution, our aid in dangers; but most in the last struggle of our life, at the moment of our death, when all hell shall be unchained against us to snatch away our souls,—in that dread moment, that hour so terrible, whereon hangs our endless doom, ah, then, most tender Virgin, do thou make us sensible how great is the sweetness of thy Mother's Heart, and the power of thy might with Jesu's Heart, opening to us in the very fount of mercy itself a safe refuge, that so one day we too may join with thee in paradise in praising Jesu's Heart for ever and for ever. Amen.
ACT OF PRAISE TO THE SS. HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY.
May the Divine Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary be known, praised, blessed, loved, worshipped, and glorified always and in all places. Amen.