ENCYCLICAL LETTER
OF POPE PIUS XII ON DEVOTION TO THE
SACRED HEART
Issued on May 15,
1956
Venerable Brethren: Health and
Apostolic Benediction.
1. "You shall draw waters
with joy out of the Savior's fountain."[1]
These words by which the prophet Isaias,
using highly significant imagery, foretold
the manifold and abundant gifts of God
which the Christian era was to bring
forth, come naturally to Our mind when
We reflect on the centenary of that
year when Our predecessor of immortal
memory, Pius IX, gladly yielding to
the prayers from the whole Catholic
world, ordered the celebration of the
feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
in the Universal Church.
2. It is altogether impossible
to enumerate the heavenly gifts which
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
has poured out on the souls of the faithful,
purifying them, offering them heavenly
strength, rousing them to the attainment
of all virtues. Therefore, recalling
those wise words of the Apostle St.
James, "Every best gift and every
perfect gift is from above, coming down
from the Father of Lights,"[2]
We are perfectly justified in seeing
in this same devotion, which flourishes
with increasing fervor throughout the
world, a gift without price which our
divine Savior the Incarnate Word, as
the one Mediator of grace and truth
between the heavenly Father and the
human race imparted to the Church, His
mystical Spouse, in recent centuries
when she had to endure such trials and
surmount so many difficulties.
3. The Church, rejoicing in
this inestimable gift, can show forth
a more ardent love of her divine Founder,
and can, in a more generous and effective
manner, respond to that invitation which
St. John the Evangelist relates as having
come from Christ Himself: "And
on the last and great day of the festivity,
Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If
any man thirst, let him come to Me,
and let him drink that believeth in
Me. As the Scripture saith: Out of his
heart there shall flow rivers of living
waters.' Now this He said of the Spirit
which they should receive who believed
in Him."[3]
4. For those who were listening
to Jesus speaking, it certainly was
not difficult to relate these words
by which He promised the fountain of
"living water" destined to
spring from His own side, to the words
of sacred prophecy of Isaias, Ezechiel
and Zacharias, foretelling the Messianic
Kingdom, and likewise to the symbolic
rock from which, when struck by Moses,
water flowed forth in a miraculous manner.[4]
5. Divine Love first takes its
origin from the Holy Spirit, Who is
the Love in Person of the Father and
the Son in the bosom of the most Holy
Trinity. Most aptly then does the Apostle
of the Gentiles echo, as it were, the
words of Jesus Christ, when he ascribes
the pouring forth of love in the hearts
of believers to this Spirit of Love:
"The charity of God is poured forth
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who
is given to us."[5]
6. Holy Writ declares that between
divine charity, which must burn in the
souls of Christians, and the Holy Spirit,
Who is certainly Love Itself, there
exists the closest bond, which clearly
shows all of us, venerable brethren,
the intimate nature of that worship
which must be paid to the Most Sacred
Heart of Jesus Christ. If we consider
its special nature it is beyond question
that this devotion is an act of religion
of high order; it demands of us a complete
and unreserved determination to devote
and consecrate ourselves to the love
of the divine Redeemer, Whose wounded
Heart is its living token and symbol.
It is equally clear, but at a higher
level, that this same devotion provides
us with a most powerful means of repaying
the divine Lord by our own.
7. Indeed it follows that it
is only under the impulse of love that
the minds of men obey fully and perfectly
the rule of the Supreme Being, since
the influence of our love draws us close
to the divine Will that it becomes as
it were completely one with it, according
to the saying, "He who is joined
to the Lord, is one spirit."[6]
8. The Church has always valued,
and still does, the devotion to the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus so highly
that she provides for the spread of
it among Christian peoples everywhere
and by every means. At the same time
she uses every effort to protect it
against the charges of so-called "naturalism"
and "sentimentalism." In spite
of this it is much to be regretted that,
both in the past and in our own times,
this most noble devotion does not find
a place of honor and esteem among certain
Christians and even occasionally not
among those who profess themselves moved
by zeal for the Catholic religion and
the attainment of holiness.
9. "If you but knew the
gift of God."[7] With these words,
venerable brethren, We who in the secret
designs of God have been elected as
the guardians and stewards of the sacred
treasures of faith and piety which the
divine Redeemer has entrusted to His
Church, prompted by Our sense of duty,
admonish them all.
10. For even though the devotion
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has triumphed
so to speak, over the errors and the
neglect of men, and has penetrated entirely
His Mystical Body; still there are some
of Our children who, led astray by prejudices,
sometimes go so far as to consider this
devotion ill-adapted, not to say detrimental,
to the more pressing spiritual needs
of the Church and humanity in this present
age. There are some who, confusing and
confounding the primary nature of this
devotion with various individual forms
of piety which the Church approves and
encourages but does not command, regard
this as a kind of additional practice
which each one may take up or not according
to his own inclination.
11. There are others who reckon
this same devotion burdensome and of
little or no use to men who are fighting
in the army of the divine King and who
are inspired mainly by the thought of
laboring with their own strength, their
own resources and expenditures of their
own time, to defend Catholic truth,
to teach and spread it, to instill Christian
social teachings, to promote those acts
of religion and those undertakings which
they consider much more necessary today.
12. Again, there are those who
so far from considering this devotion
a strong support for the right ordering
and renewal of Christian morals both
in the individual's private life and
in the home circle, see it rather a
type of piety nourished not by the soul
and mind but by the senses and consequently
more suited to the use of women, since
it seems to them something not quite
suitable for educated men.
13. Moreover there are those
who consider a devotion of this kind
as primarily demanding penance, expiation
and the other virtues which they call
"passive," meaning thereby
that they produce no external results.
Hence they do not think it suitable
to re-enkindle the spirit of piety in
modern times. Rather, this should aim
at open and vigorous action, at the
triumph of the Catholic faith, at a
strong defense of Christian morals.
Christian morality today, as everyone
knows, is easily contaminated by the
sophistries of those who are indifferent
to any form of religion, and who, discarding
all distinctions between truth and falsehood,
whether in thought or in practice, accept
even the most ignoble corruptions of
materialistic atheism, or as they call
it, secularism.
14. Who does not see, venerable
brethren, that opinions of this kind
are in entire disagreement with the
teachings which Our predecessors officially
proclaimed from this seat of truth when
approving the devotion to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus.? Who would be so bold
as to call that devotion useless and
inappropriate to our age which Our predecessor
of immortal memory, Leo XIII, declared
to be "the most acceptable form
of piety?" He had no doubt that
in it there was a powerful remedy for
the healing of those very evils which
today also, and beyond question in a
wider and more serious way, bring distress
and disquiet to individuals and to the
whole human race. "This devotion,"
he said, "which We recommend to
all, will be profitable to all."
And he added this counsel and encouragement
with reference to the devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus: ". . .hence
those forces of evil which have now
for so long a time been taking root
and which so fiercely compel us to seek
help from Him by Whose strength alone
they can be driven away. Who can He
be but Jesus Christ, the only begotten
Son of God? 'For there is no other name
under heaven given to men whereby we
must be saved.'[8] We must have recourse
to Him Who is the Way, the Truth, and
the Life."[9]
15. No less to be approved,
no less suitable for the fostering of
Christian piety was this devotion declared
to be by Our predecessor of happy memory,
Pius XI. In an encyclical letter he
wrote: "Is not a summary of all
our religion and, moreover, a guide
to a more perfect life contained in
this one devotion? Indeed, it more easily
leads our minds to know Christ the Lord
intimately and more effectively turns
our hearts to love Him more ardently
and to imitate Him more perfectly."[10]
16. To Us, no less than to Our
predecessors, these capital truths are
clear and certain. When We took up Our
office of Supreme Pontiff and saw, in
full accord with Our prayers and desires,
that the devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus had increased and was actually,
so to speak, making triumphal progress
among Christian peoples, We rejoiced
that from it were flowing through the
whole Church innumerable and salutary
results. This We were pleased to point
out in Our first encyclical letter.[11]
17. Through the years of Our
pontificate--years filled not only with
bitter hardships but also with ineffable
consolations these effects have not
diminished in number or power or beauty,
but on the contrary have increased.
Indeed, happily there has begun a variety
of projects which are conducive to a
rekindling of this devotion. We refer
to the formation of cultural associations
for the advancement of religion and
of charitable works; publications setting
forth the true historical, ascetical
and mystical doctrine concerning this
entire subject; pious works of atonement;
and in particular those manifestations
of most ardent piety which the Apostleship
of Prayer has brought about, under whose
auspices and direction local gatherings
-- families, colleges, institutions
-- and sometimes nations have been consecrated
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To all
these We have offered paternal congratulations
on many occasions, whether in letters
written on the subject, in personal
addresses, or even in messages delivered
over the radio.[12]
18. Therefore when We perceive
so fruitful an abundance of healing
waters, that is, heavenly gifts of divine
love, issuing from the Sacred Heart
of our Redeemer, spreading among countless
children of the Catholic Church by the
inspiration and action of the divine
Spirit; We can only exhort you, venerable
brethren, with fatherly affection to
join Us in giving tribute of praise
and heartfelt thanks to God, the Giver
of all good gifts. We make Our own these
words of the Apostle of the Gentiles:
"Now to Him Who is able to do all
things more abundantly than we desire
or understand, according to the power
that worketh in us, to Him be glory
in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto
all generations world without end. Amen."[13]
19. But after We have paid Our
debt of thanks to the Eternal God, We
wish to urge on you and on all Our beloved
children of the Church a more earnest
consideration of those principles which
take their origin from Scripture and
the teaching of the Fathers and theologians
and on which, as on solid foundations,
the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
rests. We are absolutely convinced that
not until we have made a profound study
of the primary and loftier nature of
this devotion with the aid of the light
of the divinely revealed truth, can
we rightly and fully appreciate its
incomparable excellence and the inexhaustible
abundance of its heavenly favors. Likewise
by devout meditation and contemplation
of the innumerable benefits produced
from it, we will be able to celebrate
worthily the completion of the first
hundred years since the observance of
the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
was extended to the Universal Church.
20. Moved therefore by this
consideration, to the end that the minds
of the faithful may have from Our hands
salutary food and consequently after
such nourishment be able more easily
to arrive at a deeper understanding
of the true nature of this devotion
and possess its rich fruits, We will
undertake to explain those pages of
the Old and New Testament in which the
infinite love of God for the human race
(which we shall never be able adequately
to contemplate) is revealed and set
before us. Then, as occasion offers,
We shall touch upon the main lines of
the commentaries which the Fathers and
Doctors of the Church have handed down
to us. And finally, We shall strive
to set in its true light the very close
connection which exists between the
form of devotion paid to the Heart of
the divine Redeemer and the worship
we owe to His love and to the love of
the Most Holy Trinity for all men. For
We think if only the main elements on
which the most excellent form of devotion
rests are clarified in the light of
Sacred Scripture and the teachings of
tradition, Christians can more easily
"draw waters with joy out of the
Savior's fountains."[14] By this
We mean they can appreciate more fully
the full weight of the special importance
which devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus enjoys in the liturgy of the Church
and in its internal and external life
and action, and can also gather those
fruits of salvation by which each one
can bring about a healthy reform in
his own conduct, as the bishops of the
Christian flock desire.
21. For although Christian spouses
even if sanctified themselves cannot
transmit sanctification to their progeny,
nay, although the very natural process
of generating life has become the way
of death by which original sin is passed
on to posterity, nevertheless, they
share to some extent in the blessings
of that primeval marriage of Paradise,
since it is theirs to offer their offspring
to the Church in order that by this
most fruitful Mother of the children
of God they may be regenerated through
the laver of Baptism unto supernatural
justice and finally be made living members
of Christ, partakers of immortal life,
and heirs of that eternal glory to which
we all aspire from our inmost heart.
22. If a true Christian mother
weigh well these things, she will indeed
understand with a sense of deep consolation
that of her the words of Our Savior
were spoken: "A woman . . . when
she hath brought forth the child remembereth
no more the anguish, for joy that a
man is born into the world";[17]
and proving herself superior to all
the pains and cares and solicitudes
of her maternal office with a more just
and holy joy than that of the Roman
matron, the mother of the Gracchi, she
will rejoice in the Lord crowned as
it were with the glory of her offspring.
Both husband and wife, however, receiving
these children with joy and gratitude
from the hand of God, will regard them
as a talent committed to their charge
by God, not only to be employed for
their own advantage or for that of an
earthly commonwealth, but to be restored
to God with interest on the day of reckoning.
23. The blessing of offspring,
however, is not completed by the mere
begetting of them, but something else
must be added, namely the proper education
of the offspring. For the most wise
God would have failed to make sufficient
provision for children that had been
born, and so for the whole human race,
if He had not given to those to whom
He had entrusted the power and right
to beget them, the power also and the
right to educate them. For no one can
fail to see that children are incapable
of providing wholly for themselves,
even in matters pertaining to their
natural life, and much less in those
pertaining to the supernatural, but
require for many years to be helped,
instructed, and educated by others.
Now it is certain that both by the law
of nature and of God this right and
duty of educating their offspring belongs
in the first place to those who began
the work of nature by giving them birth,
and they are indeed forbidden to leave
unfinished this work and so expose it
to certain ruin. But in matrimony provision
has been made in the best possible way
for this education of children that
is so necessary, for, since the parents
are bound together by an indissoluble
bond, the care and mutual help of each
is always at hand.
24. Since, however, We have
spoken fully elsewhere on the Christian
education of youth,[18] let Us sum it
all up by quoting once more the words
of St. Augustine: "As regards the
offspring it is provided that they should
be begotten lovingly and educated religiously,"[19]--and
this is also expressed succinctly in
the Code of Canon Law--"The primary
end of marriage is the procreation and
the education of children."[20]
25. Nor must We omit to remark,
in fine, that since the duty entrusted
to parents for the good of their children
is of such high dignity and of such
great importance, every use of the faculty
given by God for the procreation of
new life is the right and the privilege
of the married state alone, by the law
of God and of nature, and must be confined
absolutely within the sacred limits
of that state.
26. The second blessing of matrimony
which We said was mentioned by St. Augustine,
is the blessing of conjugal honor which
consists in the mutual fidelity of the
spouses in fulfilling the marriage contract,
so that what belongs to one of the parties
by reason of this contract sanctioned
by divine law, may not be denied to
him or permitted to any third person;
nor may there be conceded to one of
the parties anything which, being contrary
to the rights and laws of God and entirely
opposed to matrimonial faith, can never
be conceded.
27. Wherefore, conjugal faith,
or honor, demands in the first place
the complete unity of matrimony which
the Creator Himself laid down in the
beginning when He wished it to be not
otherwise than between one man and one
woman. And although afterwards this
primeval law was relaxed to some extent
by God, the Supreme Legislator, there
is no doubt that the law of the Gospel
fully restored that original and perfect
unity, and abrogated all dispensations
as the words of Christ and the constant
teaching and action of the Church show
plainly. With reason, therefore, does
the Sacred Council of Trent solemnly
declare: "Christ Our Lord very
clearly taught that in this bond two
persons only are to be united and joined
together when He said: 'Therefore they
are no longer two, but one flesh'."[21]
28. Nor did Christ Our Lord
wish only to condemn any form of polygamy
or polyandry, as they are called, whether
successive or simultaneous, and every
other external dishonorable act, but,
in order that the sacred bonds of marriage
may be guarded absolutely inviolate,
He forbade also even willful thoughts
and desires of such like things: "But
I say to you, that whosoever shall look
on a woman to lust after her hath already
committed adultery with her in his heart."[22]
Which words of Christ Our Lord cannot
be annulled even by the consent of one
of the partners of marriage for they
express a law of God and of nature which
no will of man can break or bend.[23]
29. Nay, that mutual familiar
intercourse between the spouses themselves,
if the blessing of conjugal faith is
to shine with becoming splendor, must
be distinguished by chastity so that
husband and wife bear themselves in
all things with the law of God and of
nature, and endeavor always to follow
the will of their most wise and holy
Creator with the greatest reverence
toward the work of God.
30. This conjugal faith, however,
which is most aptly called by St. Augustine
the "faith of chastity" blooms
more freely, more beautifully and more
nobly, when it is rooted in that more
excellent soil, the love of husband
and wife which pervades all the duties
of married life and holds pride of place
in Christian marriage. For matrimonial
faith demands that husband and wife
be joined in an especially holy and
pure love, not as adulterers love each
other, but as Christ loved the Church.
This precept the Apostle laid down when
he said: "Husbands, love your wives
as Christ also loved the Church,"[24]
that Church which of a truth He embraced
with a boundless love not for the sake
of His own advantage, but seeking only
the good of His Spouse.[25] The love,
then, of which We are speaking is not
that based on the passing lust of the
moment nor does it consist in pleasing
words only, but in the deep attachment
of the heart which is expressed in action,
since love is proved by deeds.[26] This
outward expression of love in the home
demands not only mutual help but must
go further; must have as its primary
purpose that man and wife help each
other day by day in forming and perfecting
themselves in the interior life, so
that through their partnership in life
they may advance ever more and more
in virtue, and above all that they may
grow in true love toward God and their
neighbor, on which indeed "dependeth
the whole Law and the Prophets."[27]
For all men of every condition, in whatever
honorable walk of life they may be,
can and ought to imitate that most perfect
example of holiness placed before man
by God, namely Christ Our Lord, and
by God's grace to arrive at the summit
of perfection, as is proved by the example
set us of many saints.
31. This mutual molding of husband
and wife, this determined effort to
perfect each other, can in a very real
sense, as the Roman Catechism teaches,
be said to be the chief reason and purpose
of matrimony, provided matrimony be
looked at not in the restricted sense
as instituted for the proper conception
and education of the child, but more
widely as the blending of life as a
whole and the mutual interchange and
sharing thereof.
32. By this same love it is
necessary that all the other rights
and duties of the marriage state be
regulated as the words of the Apostle:
"Let the husband render the debt
to the wife, and the wife also in like
manner to the husband,"[28] express
not only a law of justice but of charity.
33. Domestic society being confirmed,
therefore, by this bond of love, there
should flourish in it that "order
of love," as St. Augustine calls
it. This order includes both the primacy
of the husband with regard to the wife
and children, the ready subjection of
the wife and her willing obedience,
which the Apostle commends in these
words: "Let women be subject to
their husbands as to the Lord, because
the husband is the head of the wife,
and Christ is the head of the Church."[29]
34. This subjection, however,
does not deny or take away the liberty
which fully belongs to the woman both
in view of her dignity as a human person,
and in view of her most noble office
as wife and mother and companion; nor
does it bid her obey her husband's every
request if not in harmony with right
reason or with the dignity due to wife;
nor, in fine, does it imply that the
wife should be put on a level with those
persons who in law are called minors,
to whom it is customary to allow free
exercise of their rights on account
of their lack of mature judgment, or
of their ignorance of human affairs.
But it forbids that exaggerated liberty
which cares not for the good of the
family; it forbids that in this body
which is the family, the heart be separated
from the head to the great detriment
of the whole body and the proximate
danger of ruin. For if the man is the
head, the woman is the heart, and as
he occupies the chief place in ruling,
so she may and ought to claim for herself
the chief place in love.
35. Again, this subjection of
wife to husband in its degree and manner
may vary according to the different
conditions of persons, place and time.
In fact, if the husband neglect his
duty, it falls to the wife to take his
place in directing the family. But the
structure of the family and its fundamental
law, established and confirmed by God,
must always and everywhere be maintained
intact .
36. With great wisdom Our predecessor
Leo XIII, of happy memory, in the Encyclical
on Christian marriage which We have
already mentioned, speaking of this
order to be maintained between man and
wife, teaches: "The man is the
ruler of the family, and the head of
the woman; but because she is flesh
of his flesh and bone of his bone, let
her be subject and obedient to the man,
not as a servant but as a companion,
so that nothing be lacking of honor
or of dignity in the obedience which
she pays. Let divine charity be the
constant guide of their mutual relations,
both in him who rules and in her who
obeys, since each bears the image, the
one of Christ, the other of the Church."[30]
37. These, then, are the elements
which compose the blessing of conjugal
faith: unity, chastity, charity, honorable
noble obedience, which are at the same
time an enumeration of the benefits
which are bestowed on husband and wife
in their married state, benefits by
which the peace, the dignity and the
happiness of matrimony are securely
preserved and fostered. Wherefore it
is not surprising that this conjugal
faith has always been counted amongst
the most priceless and special blessings
of matrimony.
38. But this accumulation of
benefits is completed and, as it were,
crowned by that blessing of Christian
marriage which in the words of St. Augustine
we have called the sacrament, by which
is denoted both the indissolubility
of the bond and the raising and hallowing
of the contract by Christ Himself, whereby
He made it an efficacious sign of grace.
39. In the first place Christ
Himself lays stress on the indissolubility
and firmness of the marriage bond when
He says: "What God hath joined
together let no man put asunder,"[31]
and: "Everyone that putteth away
his wife and marrieth another committeth
adultery, and he that marrieth her that
is put away from her husband committeth
adultery."[32]
40. And St. Augustine clearly
places what he calls the blessing of
matrimony in this indissolubility when
he says: "In the sacrament it is
provided that the marriage bond should
not be broken, and that a husband or
wife, if separated, should not be joined
to another even for the sake of offspring."[33]
41. And this inviolable stability,
although not in the same perfect measure
in every case, belongs to every true
marriage, for the word of the Lord:
"What God hath joined together
let no man put asunder," must of
necessity include all true marriages
without exception, since it was spoken
of the marriage of our first parents,
the prototype of every future marriage.
Therefore although before Christ the
sublimeness and the severity of the
primeval law was so tempered that Moses
permitted to the chosen people of God
on account of the hardness of their
hearts that a bill of divorce might
be given in certain circumstances, nevertheless,
Christ, by virtue of His supreme legislative
power, recalled this concession of greater
liberty and restored the primeval law
in its integrity by those words which
must never be forgotten, "What
God hath joined together let no man
put asunder." Wherefore, Our predecessor
Pius VI of happy memory, writing to
the Bishop of Agria, most wisely said:
"Hence it is clear that marriage
even in the state of nature, and certainly
long before it was raised to the dignity
of a sacrament, was divinely instituted
in such a way that it should carry with
it a perpetual and indissoluble bond
which cannot therefore be dissolved
by any civil law. Therefore although
the sacramental element may be absent
from a marriage as is the case among
unbelievers, still in such a marriage,
inasmuch as it is a true marriage there
must remain and indeed there does remain
that perpetual bond which by divine
right is so bound up with matrimony
from its first institution that it is
not subject to any civil power. And
so, whatever marriage is said to be
contracted, either it is so contracted
that it is really a true marriage, in
which case it carries with it that enduring
bond which by divine right is inherent
in every true marriage; or it is thought
to be contracted without that perpetual
bond, and in that case there is no marriage,
but an illicit union opposed of its
very nature to the divine law, which
therefore cannot be entered into or
maintained."[34]
42. Nothing, then, was wanting
to the human nature which the Word of
God united to Himself. Consequently
He assumed it in no diminished way,
in no different sense in what concerns
the spiritual and the corporeal: that
is, it was endowed with intellect and
will and the other internal and external
faculties of perception, and likewise
with the desires and all the natural
impulses of the senses. All this the
Catholic Church teaches as solemnly
defined and ratified by the Roman Pontiffs
and the general councils. "Whole
and entire in what is His own, whole
and entire in what is ours."[37]
"Perfect in His Godhead and likewise
perfect in His humanity."[38] "Complete
God is man, complete man is God."[39]
43. Hence, since there can be
no doubt that Jesus Christ received
a true body and had all the affections
proper to the same, among which love
surpassed all the rest, it is likewise
beyond doubt that He was endowed with
a physical heart like ours; for without
this noblest part of the body the ordinary
emotions of human life are impossible.
Therefore the Heart of Jesus Christ,
hypostatically united to the divine
Person of the Word, certainly beat with
love and with the other emotions- but
these, joined to a human will full of
divine charity and to the infinite love
itself which the Son shares with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, were in
such complete unity and agreement that
never among these three loves was there
any contradiction of or disharmony.[40]
44. However, even though the
Word of God took to Himself a true and
perfect human nature, and made and fashioned
for Himself a heart of flesh, which,
no less than ours could suffer and be
pierced, unless this fact is considered
in the light of the hypostatic and substantial
union and in the light of its complement,
the fact of man' s redemption, it can
be a stumbling block and foolishness
to some, just as Jesus Christ, nailed
to the Cross, actually was to the Jewish
race and to the Gentiles.[41]
45. The official teachings of
the Catholic faith, in complete agreement
with Scripture, assure us that the only
begotten Son of God took a human nature
capable of suffering and death especially
because He desired, as He hung from
the Cross, to offer a bloody sacrifice
in order to complete the work of man's
salvation. This the Apostle of the Gentiles
teaches in another way: "For both
He that sanctifieth, and they who are
sanctified are all of one. For which
cause He is not ashamed to call them
brethren, saying, 'I will declare thy
name to My brethren'. . .And again,
'Behold I and My children, whom God
hath given Me.' Therefore, because the
children are partakers of flesh and
blood, He also in like manner hath been
partaker of the same. . .Wherefore it
behooved Him in all things to be made
like unto His brethren that He might
become a merciful and faithful high
priest before God, that He might be
a propitiation for the sins of the people.
For in that wherein He Himself hath
suffered and been tempted He is able
to succor them who are tempted."[42]
46. The holy Fathers, true witnesses
of the divinely revealed doctrine, wonderfully
understood what St. Paul the Apostle
had quite clearly declared; namely,
that the mystery of love was, as it
were, both the foundation and the culmination
of the Incarnation and the Redemption.
For frequently and clearly we can read
in their writings that Jesus Christ
took a perfect human nature and our
weak and perishable human body with
the object of providing for our eternal
salvation, and of revealing to us in
the clearest possible manner that His
infinite love for us could express itself
in human terms.
47. St. Justin, almost echoing
the voice of the Apostle of the Gentiles,
writes: "We adore and love the
Word born of the unbegotten and ineffable
God since He became man for our sake,
so that having become a partaker of
our sufferings He might provide a remedy
for them."[43]
48. St. Basil, the first of
the three Cappadocian Fathers declares
that the feelings of the senses in Christ
were at once true and holy: "It
is clear that the Lord did indeed put
on natural affections as a proof of
His real and not imaginary Incarnation,
and that He rejected as unworthy of
the Godhead those corrupt affections
which defile the purity of our life."[44]
49. Similarly that light of
the Church of Antioch, St. John Chrysostom,
admits that the emotion of the senses
to which the divine Redeemer was subject
made obvious the fact that He assumed
a human nature complete in all respects:
"For if He had not shared our nature
He would not have repeatedly been seized
with grief."[45]
50. Among the Latin Fathers
one may cite those whom the Church today
honors as the greatest doctors. Thus
St. Ambrose bears witness that the movements
and dispositions of the senses, from
which the Incarnate Word of (God was
not exempt, flow from the hypostatic
union as from their natural source:
"And therefore He put on a soul
and the passions of the soul; for God,
precisely because He is God, could not
have been disturbed nor could He have
died."[46]
51. It was from these very emotions
that St. Jerome derived his chief proof
that Christ had really put on human
nature: "Our Lord, to prove the
truth of the manhood He had assumed,
experiences real sadness."[47]
52. But St. Augustine, in a
special manner, notices the connections
that exist between the sentiments of
the Incarnate Word and their purpose,
man's redemption. "These affections
of human infirmity, even as the human
body itself and death, the Lord Jesus
put on not out of necessity, but freely
out of compassion so that He might transform
in Himself His Body, which is the Church
of which He deigned to be the Head,
that is, His members who are among the
faithful and the saints, so that if
any of them in the trials of this life
should be saddened and afflicted they
should not therefore think that they
are deprived of His grace. Nor should
they consider this sorrow a sin, but
a sign of human weakness. Like a choir
singing in harmony with the note that
has been sounded, so should His Body
learn from its Head."[48]
53. More briefly, but no less
effectively, do the following passages
from St. John Damascene set out the
teaching of the Church: "Complete
God assumed me completely and complete
man is united to complete God so that
He might bring salvation to complete
man. For what was not assumed could
not be healed."[49] "He therefore
assumed all that He might sanctify all."[50]
54. However, it must be noted
that although these selected passages
from Scripture and the Fathers and many
similar ones that We have not cited
give clear testimony that Jesus Christ
was endowed with affections and sense
perceptions, and hence that He assumed
human nature in order to work for our
eternal salvation, yet they never refer
those affections to His physical heart
in such a way as to point to it clearly
as the symbol of His infinite love.
55. Granted that the Evangelists
and other sacred writers do not explicitly
describe the Heart of our Redeemer,
living and throbbing like our own with
the power of feeling, and ever throbbing
with the emotions and affections of
His soul and the glowing charity of
His twofold will, yet they often set
in their proper light His divine love
and the sense emotions which accompany
it; that is, desire, joy, weakness,
fear and anger, as shown by His face,
words or gesture. The face of our adorable
Savior was especially the guide, and
a kind of faithful reflection, of those
emotions which moved His soul in various
ways and like repeating waves touched
His Sacred Heart and excited its beating.
For what is true of human psychology
and its effects is valid here also.
The Angelic Doctor, relying on ordinary
experience, notes: "An emotion
caused by anger is conveyed to the external
members, and particularly to those members
in which the heart's imprint is more
obviously reflected, such as the eyes,
the face, and the tongue."[51]
56. For these reasons, the Heart
of the Incarnate Word is deservedly
and rightly considered the chief sign
and symbol of that threefold love with
which the divine Redeemer unceasingly
loves His eternal Father and all mankind.
57. It is a symbol of that divine
love which He shares with the Father
and the Holy Spirit but which He, the
Word made flesh, alone manifests through
a weak and perishable body, since "in
Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead
bodily."[52]
58. It is, besides, the symbol
of that burning love which, infused
into His soul, enriches the human will
of Christ and enlightens and governs
its acts by the most perfect knowledge
derived both from the beatific vision
and that which is directly infused.[53]
59. And finally--and this in
a more natural and direct way--it is
the symbol also of sensible love, since
the body of Jesus Christ, formed by
the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the
Virgin Mary, possesses full powers of
feelings and perception, in fact, more
so than any other human body.[54]
60. Since, therefore, Sacred
Scripture and the official teaching
of the Catholic faith instruct us that
all things find their complete harmony
and order in the most holy soul of Jesus
Christ, and that He has manifestly directed
His threefold love for the securing
of our redemption, it unquestionably
follows that we can contemplate and
honor the Heart of the divine Redeemer
as a symbolic image of His love and
a witness of our redemption and, at
the same time, as a sort of mystical
ladder by which we mount to the embrace
of "God our Savior."[55]
61. Hence His words, actions,
commands, miracles, and especially those
works which manifest more clearly His
love for us--such as the divine institution
of the Eucharist, His most bitter sufferings
and death, the loving gift of His holy
Mother to us, the founding of the Church
for us, and finally, the sending of
the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and
upon us--all these, We say, ought to
be looked upon as proofs of His threefold
love.
62. Likewise we ought to meditate
most lovingly on the beating of His
Sacred Heart by which He seemed, as
it were, to measure the time of His
sojourn on earth until that final moment
when, as the Evangelists testify, "crying
out with a loud voice 'It is finished.',
and bowing His Head, He yielded up the
ghost."[56] Then it was that His
heart ceased to beat and His sensible
love was interrupted until the time
when, triumphing over death, He rose
from the tomb.
63. But after His glorified
body had been re-united to the soul
of the divine Redeemer, conqueror of
death, His most Sacred Heart never ceased,
and never will cease, to beat with calm
and imperturbable pulsations. Likewise,
it will never cease to symbolize the
threefold love with which He is bound
to His heavenly Father and the entire
human race, of which He has every claim
to be the mystical Head.
64. And now, venerable brethren,
in order that we may be able to gather
from these holy considerations abundant
and salutary fruits, We desire to reflect
on and briefly contemplate the manifold
affections, human and divine, of our
Savior Jesus Christ which His Heart
made known to us during the course of
His mortal life and which It still does
and will continue to do for all eternity.
From the pages of the Gospel particularly
there shines forth for us the light,
by the brightness and strength of which
we can enter into the secret places
of this divine Heart and, with the Apostle
of the Gentiles, gaze at "the abundant
riches of (God's) grace, in his bounty
towards us in Christ Jesus."[57]
65. The adorable Heart of Jesus
Christ began to beat with a love at
once human and divine after the Virgin
Mary generously pronounced Her "Fiat";
and the Word of God, as the Apostle
remarks: "coming into the world,
saith, 'Sacrifice and oblation thou
wouldst not; but a body thou hast fitted
to Me; holocausts for sin did not please
thee. Then said I, "Behold I come";
in the head of the book it is written
of Me, "that I should do thy will,
O God!"'. . .In which will we are
sanctified by the oblation of the body
of Jesus Christ once."[58]
66. Likewise was He moved by
love, completely in harmony with the
affections of His human will and the
divine Love, when in the house of Nazareth
He conversed with His most sweet Mother
and His foster father, St. Joseph, in
obedience to whom He performed laborious
tasks in the trade of a carpenter.
67. Again, He was influenced
by that threefold love, of which We
spoke, during His public life: in long
apostolic journeys; in the working of
innumerable miracles, by which He summoned
back the dead from the grave or granted
health to all manner of sick persons;
in enduring labors; in bearing fatigue,
hunger and thirst; in the nightly watchings
during which He prayed most lovingly
to His Father; and finally, in His preaching
and in setting forth and explaining
His parables, in those particularly
which deal with mercy--the lost drachma,
the lost sheep, the prodigal son. By
these indeed both by act and by word,
as St. Gregory the Great notes, the
Heart of God Itself is revealed: "Learn
the Heart of God in the words of God,
that you may long more ardently for
things eternal."[59]
68. But the Heart of Jesus Christ
was moved by a more urgent charity when
from His lips were drawn words breathing
the most ardent love. Thus, to give
examples: when He was gazing at the
crowds weary and hungry, He exclaimed:
"I have compassion upon the crowd";[60]
and when He looked down on His beloved
city of Jerusalem, blinded by its sins,
and so destined for final ruin, He uttered
this sentence: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that slayest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered together
thy children, as the hen doth gather
her chickens under her wings, and thou
wouldst not!"[61] And His Heart
beat with love for His Father and with
a holy anger when seeing the sacrilegious
buying and selling taking place in the
Temple, He rebuked the violators with
these words: "It is written: My
house shall be called a house of prayer;
but you have made it a den of thieves."[62]
69. But His Heart was moved
by a particularly intense love mingled
with fear as He perceived the hour of
His bitter torments drawing near and,
expressing a natural repugnance for
the approaching pains and death, He
cried out: "Father, if it be possible,
let this chalice pass from Me."[63]
And when He was greeted by the traitor
with a kiss, in love triumphant united
to deepest grief, He addressed to him
those words which seem to be the final
invitation of His most merciful Heart
to the friend who, obdurate in his wicked
treachery, was about to hand Him over
to His executioners: "Friend, whereto
art thou come? Dost thou betray the
Son of Man with a kiss?"[64] It
was out of pity and the depths of His
love that He spoke to the devout women
as they wept for Him on His way to the
unmerited penalty of the Cross: "Daughters
of Jerusalem, weep not over Me, but
weep for yourselves and for your children.
. .For if in the green wood they do
these things, what shall be done in
the dry?"[65]
70. And when the divine Redeemer
was hanging on the Cross, He showed
that His Heart was strongly moved by
different emotions -- burning love,
desolation, pity, longing desire, unruffled
peace. The words spoken plainly indicate
these emotions: "Father, forgive
them; they know not what they do!"[66]
"My God, My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?"[67] "Amen, I
say to thee, this day thou shalt be
with Me in paradise."[68] "I
thirst."[69] "Father, into
Thy hands I commend My spirit."[70]
71. But who can worthily depict
those beatings of the divine Heart,
the signs of His infinite love, of those
moments when He granted men His greatest
gifts: Himself in the Sacrament of the
Eucharist, His most holy Mother, and
the office of the priesthood shared
with us?
72. Even before He ate the Last
Supper with His disciples Christ Our
Lord, since He knew He was about to
institute the sacrament of His body
and blood by the shedding of which the
new covenant was to be consecrated,
felt His heart roused by strong emotions,
which He revealed to the Apostles in
these words: "With desire have
I desired to eat this Pasch with you
before I suffer."[71] And these
emotions were doubtless even stronger
when "taking bread, He gave thanks,
and broke, and gave to them, saying,
'This is My body which is given for
you, this do in commemoration of Me.'
Likewise the chalice also, after He
had supped, saying, 'This chalice is
the new testament in My blood, which
shall be shed for you.'"[72]
73. It can therefore be declared
that the divine Eucharist, both the
sacrament which He gives to men and
the sacrifice in which He unceasingly
offers Himself from the rising of the
sun till the going down thereof,"[73]
and likewise the priesthood, are indeed
gifts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
74. Another most precious gift
of His Sacred Heart is, as We have said,
Mary the beloved Mother of God and the
most loving Mother of us all. She who
gave birth to our Savior according to
the flesh and was associated with Him
in recalling the children of Eve to
the life of divine grace has deservedly
been hailed as the spiritual Mother
of the whole human race. And so St.
Augustine writes of her: "Clearly
She is Mother of the members of the
Savior (which is what we are), because
She labored with Him in love that the
faithful who are members of the Head
might be born in the Church."[74]
75. To the unbloody gift of
Himself under the appearance of bread
and wine our Savior Jesus Christ wished
to join, as the chief proof of His deep
and infinite love, the bloody sacrifice
of the Cross. By this manner of acting
He gave an example of His supreme charity,
which He had proposed to His disciples
as the highest point of love in these
words: "Greater love than this
no man hath, that a man lay down his
life for his friends."[75]
76. Thus the love of Jesus Christ
the Son of God, by the sacrifice of
Golgotha, cast a flood of light on the
meaning of the love of God Himself:
"In this we know the charity of
God, because He hath laid down His life
for us, and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren."[76] And
in truth it was more by love than by
the violence of the executioners that
our divine Redeemer was fixed to the
Cross; and His voluntary total offering
is the supreme gift which He gave to
each man, according to that terse saying
of the Apostles, "He loved me,
and delivered Himself for me."[77]
77. The Sacred Heart of Jesus
shares in a most intimate way in the
life of the Incarnate Word, and has
been thus assumed as a kind of instrument
of the Divinity. It is therefore beyond
all doubt that, in the carrying out
of works of grace and divine omnipotence,
His Heart, no less than the other members
of His human nature is also a legitimate
symbol of that unbounded love.[78]
78. Under the influence of this
love, our Savior, by the outpouring
of His blood, became wedded to His Church:
"By love, He allowed Himself to
be espoused to His Church."[79]
Hence, from the wounded Heart of the
Redeemer was born the Church, the dispenser
of the Blood of the Redemption--whence
flows that plentiful stream of Sacramental
grace from which the children of the
Church drink of eternal life, as we
read in the sacred liturgy: "From
the pierced Heart, the Church, the Bride
of Christ, is born....And He pours forth
grace from His Heart."[80]
79. Concerning the meaning of
this symbol, which was known even to
the earliest Fathers and ecclesiastical
writers, St. Thomas Aquinas, echoing
something of their words, writes as
follows: "From the side of Christ,
there flowed water for cleansing, blood
for redeeming. Hence blood is associated
with the sacrament of the Eucharist,
water with the sacrament of Baptism,
which has its cleansing power by virtue
of the blood of Christ."[81]
80. What is here written of
the side of Christ, opened by the wound
from the soldier, should also be said
of the Heart which was certainly reached
by the stab of the lance, since the
soldier pierced it precisely to make
certain that Jesus Christ crucified
was really dead. Hence the wound of
the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, now
that He has completed His mortal life,
remains through the course of the ages
a striking image of that spontaneous
charity by which God gave His only begotten
Son for the redemption of men and by
which Christ expressed such passionate
love for us that He offered Himself
as a bleeding victim on Calvary for
our sake: "Christ loved us and
delivered Himself for us, an oblation
and a sacrifice to God for an odor of
sweetness."[82]
81. After our Lord had ascended
into heaven with His body adorned with
the splendors of eternal glory and took
His place by the right hand of the Father,
He did not cease to remain with His
Spouse, the Church, by means of the
burning love with which His Heart beats.
For He bears in His hands, feet and
side the glorious marks of the wounds
which manifest the threefold victory
won over the devil, sin, and death.
82. He likewise keeps in His
Heart, locked as it were in a most precious
shrine, the unlimited treasures of His
merits, the fruits of that same threefold
triumph, which He generously bestows
on the redeemed human race. This is
a truth full of consolation, which the
Apostle of the Gentiles expresses in
these words: "Ascending on high,
He led captivity captive; He gave gifts
to men. . .He that descended, is the
same also that ascended above all the
heavens that He might fill all things."[83]
83. The gift of the Holy Spirit,
sent upon His disciples, is the first
notable sign of His abounding charity
after His triumphant ascent to the right
hand of His Father. For after ten days
the Holy Spirit, given by the heavenly
Father, came down upon them gathered
in the Upper Room in accordance with
the promise made at the Last Supper:
"I will ask the Father and He will
give you another Paraclete so that He
may abide with you forever."[84]
And this Paraclete, who is the mutual
personal love between the Father and
the Son, is sent by both and, under
the adopted appearance of tongues of
fire, poured into their souls an abundance
of divine charity and the other heavenly
gifts.
84. The infusion of this divine
charity also has its origin in the Heart
of the Savior, "in which are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."[85]
For this charity is the gift of Jesus
Christ and of His Spirit; for He is
indeed the spirit of the Father and
the Son from whom the origin of the
Church and its marvelous extension is
revealed to all the pagan races which
had been defiled by idolatry, family
hatred, corrupt morals, and violence.
85. This divine charity is the
most precious gift of the Heart of Christ
and of His Spirit: It is this which
imparted to the Apostles and martyrs
that fortitude, by the strength of which
they fought their battles like heroes
till death in order to preach the truth
of the Gospel and bear witness to it
by the shedding of their blood; it is
this which implanted in the Doctors
of the Church their intense zeal for
explaining and defending the Catholic
faith; this nourished the virtues of
the confessors, and roused them to those
marvelous works useful for their own
salvation and beneficial to the salvation
of others both in this life and in the
next; this, finally, moved the virgins
to a free and joyful withdrawal from
the pleasures of the senses and to the
complete dedication of themselves to
the love of their heavenly Spouse.
86. It was to pay honor to this
divine charity which, overflowing from
the Heart of the Incarnate Word, is
poured out by the aid of the Holy Spirit
into the souls of all believers that
the Apostle of the Gentiles uttered
this hymn of triumph which proclaims
the victory of Christ the Head, and
of the members of His Mystical Body,
over all which might in any way impede
the establishment of the kingdom of
love among men: "Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation
or distress? or famine? or nakedness?
or danger? or persecution? or the sword?.
. .But in all these things we overcome
because of Him that hath loved us. For
I am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor might, nor height nor depth, nor
any other creature shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord."[86]
87. Nothing therefore prevents
our adoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Christ as having a part in and being
the natural and expressive symbol of
the abiding love with which the divine
Redeemer is still on fire for mankind.
Though it is no longer subject to the
varying emotions of this mortal life,
yet it lives and beats and is united
inseparably with the Person of the divine
Word and, in Him and through Him, with
the divine Will. Since then the Heart
of Christ is overflowing with love both
human and divine and rich with the treasure
of all graces which our Redeemer acquired
by His life, sufferings and death, it
is therefore the enduring source of
that charity which His Spirit pours
forth on all the members of His Mystical
Body.
88. And so the Heart of our
Savior reflects in some way the image
of the divine Person of the Word and,
at the same time, of His twofold nature,
the human and the divine; in it we can
consider not only the symbol but, in
a sense, the summary of the whole mystery
of our redemption. When we adore the
Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, we adore
in it and through it both the uncreated
love of the divine Word and also its
human love and its other emotions and
virtues, since both loves moved our
Redeemer to sacrifice Himself for us
and for His Spouse, the Universal Church,
as the Apostle declares: "Christ
loved the Church, and delivered Himself
up for it, that He might sanctify it,
cleansing it by the laver of water in
the word of life, that He might present
it to Himself a glorious Church, not
having spot or wrinkle, or any such
thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish."[87]
89. Just as Christ loved the
Church, so He still loves it most intensely
with that threefold love of which We
spoke, which moved Him as our Advocate[88]
"always living to make intercession
for us"[89] to win grace and mercy
for us from His Father. The prayers
which are drawn from that unfailing
love, and are directed to the Father,
never cease. As "in the days of
His flesh,"[90] so now victorious
in heaven, He makes His petition to
His heavenly Father with equal efficacy,
to Him "Who so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him may
not perish, but may have life everlasting,"[91]
He shows His living Heart, wounded as
it were, and throbbing with a love yet
more intense than when it was wounded
in death by the Roman soldier's lance:
"(Thy Heart) has been wounded so
that through the visible wound we may
behold the invisible wound of love."[92]
90. It is beyond doubt, then,
that His heavenly Father "Who spared
not even His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all,"[93] when appealed
to with such loving urgency by so powerful
an Advocate, will, through Him, send
down on all men an abundance of divine
graces.
91. It was Our wish, venerable
brethren, by this general outline, to
set before you and the faithful the
inner nature of the devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ and the
endless riches which spring from it
as they are made clear by the primary
source of doctrine, divine revelation.
We think that Our comments, which are
guided by the light of the Gospel, have
proved that this devotion, summarily
expressed, is nothing else than devotion
to the divine and human love of the
Incarnate Word and to the love by which
the heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit
exercise their care over sinful men.
For, as the Angelic Doctor teaches,
the love of the most Holy Trinity is
the origin of man's redemption; it overflowed
into the human will of Jesus Christ
and into His adorable Heart with full
efficacy and led Him, under the impulse
of that love, to pour forth His blood
to redeem us from the captivity of sin[94]:
"I have a baptism wherewith I am
to be baptized, and how am I straitened
until it be accomplished?"[95]
92. We are convinced, then,
that the devotion which We are fostering
to the love of God and Jesus Christ
for the human race by means of the revered
symbol of the pierced Heart of the crucified
Redeemer has never been altogether unknown
to the piety of the faithful, although
it has become more clearly known and
has spread in a remarkable manner throughout
the Church in quite recent times. Particularly
was this so after our Lord Himself had
privately revealed this divine secret
to some of His children to whom He had
granted an abundance of heavenly gifts,
and whom He had chosen as His special
messengers and heralds of this devotion.
93. But, in fact, there have
always been men specially dedicated
to God who, following the example of
the beloved Mother of God, of the Apostles
and the great Fathers of the Church,
have practiced the devotion of thanksgiving,
adoration and love towards the most
sacred human nature of Christ, and especially
towards the wounds by which His body
was torn when He was enduring suffering
for our salvation.
94. Moreover, is there not contained
in those words "My Lord and My
God"[96] which St. Thomas the Apostle
uttered, and which showed he had been
changed from an unbeliever into a faithful
follower, a profession of faith, adoration
and love, mounting up from the wounded
human nature of his Lord to the majesty
of the divine Person?
95. But if men have always been
deeply moved by the pierced Heart of
the Savior to a worship of that infinite
love with which He embraces mankind
-- since the words of the prophet Zacharias,
"They shall look on Him Whom they
have pierced,"[97] referred by
St. John the Evangelist to Jesus nailed
to the Cross, have been spoken to Christians
in all ages -- it must yet be admitted
that it was only by a very gradual advance
that the honors of a special devotion
were offered to that Heart as depicting
the love, human and divine, which exists
in the Incarnate Word.
96. But for those who wish to
touch on the more significant stages
of this devotion through the centuries,
if we consider outward practice, there
immediately occur the names of certain
individuals who have won particular
renown in this matter as being the advance
guard of a form of piety which, privately
and very gradually, has gained more
and more strength in religious congregations.
To cite some examples in establishing
this devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus and continuously promoting it,
great service was rendered by St. Bonaventure,
St. Albert the Great, St. Gertrude,
St. Catherine of Siena, Blessed Henry
Suso, St. Peter Canisius, St. Francis
de Sales. St. John Eudes was responsible
for the first liturgical office celebrated
in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
whose solemn feast, with the approval
of many Bishops in France, was observed
for the first time on October 20th,
1672.
97. But surely the most distinguished
place among those who have fostered
this most excellent type of devotion
is held by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
who, under the spiritual direction of
Blessed Claude de la Colombiere who
assisted her work, was on fire with
an unusual zeal to see to it that the
real meaning of the devotion which had
had such extensive developments to the
great edification of the faithful should
be established and be distinguished
from other forms of Christian piety
by the special qualities of love and
reparation.[98]
98. It is enough to recall the
record of that age in which the devotion
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began to
develop to understand clearly that its
marvelous progress has stemmed from
the fact that it entirely agreed with
the nature of Christian piety since
it was a devotion of love. It must not
be said that this devotion has taken
its origin from some private revelation
of God and has suddenly appeared in
the Church; rather, it has blossomed
forth of its own accord as a result
of that lively faith and burning devotion
of men who were endowed with heavenly
gifts, and who were drawn towards the
adorable Redeemer and His glorious wounds
which they saw as irresistible proofs
of that unbounded love.
99. Consequently, it is clear
that the revelations made to St. Margaret
Mary brought nothing new into Catholic
doctrine. Their importance lay in this
that Christ Our Lord, exposing His Sacred
Heart, wished in a quite extraordinary
way to invite the minds of men to a
contemplation of, and a devotion to,
the mystery of God's merciful love for
the human race. In this special manifestation
Christ pointed to His Heart, with definite
and repeated words, as the symbol by
which men should be attracted to a knowledge
and recognition of His love; and at
the same time He established it as a
sign or pledge of mercy and grace for
the needs of the Church of our times.
100. In addition, that this
devotion flows from the very foundations
of Christian teaching is clearly shown
by the fact that the Apostolic See approved
the liturgical feast before it approved
the writings of St. Margaret Mary; for
without exactly taking account of any
private revelation from God, but rather
graciously acceeding to the petitions
of the faithful, the Sacred Congregation
of Rites -- by a decree of the 25th
of January 1765, which was approved
by Our predecessor, Clement XIII, on
the 6th of February of the same year--granted
the liturgical celebration of the feast
to the Polish Bishops and to what was
called the Archconfraternity of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus at Rome. The Apostolic
See acted in this way so that the devotion
then existing and flourishing might
be extended, since its purpose was "by
this symbol to renew the memory of that
divine love"[99] by which Our Savior
was moved to offer Himself as a victim
atoning for the sins of men.
101. This first approval, granted
as a privilege and restricted within
limits, was followed about a century
later by another of far greater importance
and couched in more solemn terms. We
mean the decree, which We referred to
above, of the Sacred Congregation of
Rites of the 23rd of August 1856 by
which Our predecessor of immortal memory,
Pius IX, in answer to the prayer of
the French Bishops and of almost the
whole Catholic world, extended the feast
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the
Universal Church and ordered it to be
fittingly observed.[100] This act richly
deserved to be commended to the lasting
memory of the faithful, for as we read
in the liturgy of the same feast: "From
that time the devotion to the Sacred
Heart, like a stream in flood sweeping
aside all obstacles, spread out over
the whole world."
102. From what We have so far
explained, venerable brethren, it is
clear that the faithful must seek from
Scripture, tradition and the sacred
liturgy as from a deep untainted source,
the devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus if they desire to penetrate its
inner nature and by piously meditating
on it, receive the nourishment for the
fostering and development of their religious
fervor. If this devotion is constantly
practiced with this knowledge and understanding,
the souls of the faithful cannot but
attain to the sweet knowledge of the
love of Christ which is the perfection
of Christian life as the Apostle, who
knew this from personal experience,
teaches: "For this cause I bow
my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. . . that He may grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
by His Spirit with might unto the inward
man; that Christ may dwell by faith
in your hearts; that, being rooted and
founded in charity. . .you may be able
to know also the charity of Christ which
surpasseth all knowledge, that you may
be filled unto all the fullness of God."[101]
The clearest image of this all-embracing
fullness of God is the Heart of Christ
Jesus Itself. We mean the fullness of
mercy which is proper to the New Testament,
in which "the goodness and kindness
of God our Savior appeared,"[102]
for "God sent not His Son into
the world to judge the world, but that
the world might be saved by Him."[103]
103. The Church, the teacher
of men, has therefore always been convinced
from the time she first published official
documents concerning the devotion to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus that its essential
elements, namely, acts of love and reparation
by which God's infinite love for the
human race is honored, are in no sense
tinged with so-called "materialism"
or tainted with the poison of superstition.
Rather, this devotion is a form of piety
that fully corresponds to the true spiritual
worship which the Savior Himself foretold
when speaking to the woman of Samaria:
"The hour cometh, and now is, when
the true adorers shall adore the Father
in spirit and in truth. For the Father
also seeketh such to adore Him. God
is a spirit; and they that adore Him
must adore Him in spirit and in truth."[104]
104. It is wrong, therefore,
to assert that the contemplation of
the physical Heart of Jesus prevents
an approach to a close love of God and
holds back the soul on the way to the
attainment of the highest virtues. This
false mystical doctrine the Church emphatically
rejects as, speaking through Our predecessor
of happy memory, Innocent XI, she rejected
the errors of those who foolishly declared:
"(Souls of this interior way) ought
not to make acts of love for the Blessed
Virgin, the Saints or the humanity of
Christ; for love directed towards those
is of the senses, since its objects
are also of that kind. No creature,
neither the Blessed Virgin nor the Saints,
ought to have a place in our heart,
because God alone wishes to occupy it
and possess it."[105] It is obvious
that those who think in this way imagine
that the image of the Heart of Jesus
represents His human love alone and
that there is nothing in it on which,
as on a new foundation, the worship
of adoration which is exclusively reserved
to the divine nature can be based. But
everyone realizes that this interpretation
of sacred images is entirely false,
since it obviously restricts their meaning
much too narrowly.
105. Quite the contrary is the
thought and teaching of Catholic theologians,
among whom St. Thomas writes as follows:
"Religious worship is not paid
to images, considered in themselves,
as things; but according as they are
representations leading to God Incarnate.
The approach which is made to the image
as such does not stop there, but continues
towards that which is represented. Hence,
because a religious honor is paid to
the images of Christ, it does not therefore
mean that there are different degrees
of supreme worship or of the virtue
of religion."[106] It is, then,
to the Person of the divine Word as
to its final object that that devotion
is directed which, in a relative sense,
is observed towards the images whether
those images are relics of the bitter
sufferings which our Savior endured
for our sake or that particular image
which surpasses all the rest in efficacy
and meaning, namely, the pierced Heart
of the crucified Christ.
106. Thus, from something corporeal
such as the Heart of Jesus Christ with
its natural meaning, it is both lawful
and fitting for us, supported by Christian
faith, to mount not only to its love
as perceived by the senses but also
higher, to a consideration and adoration
of the infused heavenly love; and finally,
by a movement of the soul at once sweet
and sublime, to reflection on, and adoration
of, the divine love of the Word Incarnate.
We do so since, in accordance with the
faith by which we believe that both
natures--the human and the divine--are
united in the Person of Christ, we can
grasp in our minds those most intimate
ties which unite the love of feeling
of the physical Heart of Jesus with
that twofold spiritual love, namely,
the human and the divine love. For these
loves must be spoken of not only as
existing side by side in the adorable
Person of the divine Redeemer but also
as being linked together by a natural
bond insofar as the human love, including
that of the feelings, is subject to
the divine and, in due proportion, provides
us with an image of the latter. We do
not pretend, however, that we must contemplate
and adore in the Heart of Jesus what
is called the formal image, that is
to say, the perfect and absolute symbol
of His divine love, for no created image
is capable of adequately expressing
the essence of this love. But a Christian
in paying honor along with the Church
to the Heart of Jesus is adoring the
symbol and, as it were, the visible
sign of the divine charity which went
so far as to love intensely, through
the Heart of the Word made Flesh, the
human race stained with so many sins.
107. It is therefore essential,
at this point, in a doctrine of such
importance and requiring such prudence
that each one constantly hold that the
truth of the natural symbol by which
the physical Heart of Jesus is related
to the Person of the Word, entirely
depends upon the fundamental truth of
the hypostatic union. Should anyone
declare this to be untrue he would be
reviving false opinions, more than once
condemned by the Church, for they are
opposed to the oneness of the Person
of Christ even though the two natures
are each complete and distinct.
108. Once this essential truth
has been established we understand that
the Heart of Jesus is the heart of a
divine Person, the Word Incarnate, and
by it is represented and, as it were,
placed before our gaze all the love
with which He has embraced and even
now embraces us. Consequently, the honor
to be paid to the Sacred Heart is such
as to raise it to the rank--so far as
external practice is concerned--of the
highest expression of Christian piety.
For this is the religion of Jesus which
is centered on the Mediator who is man
and God, and in such a way that we cannot
reach the Heart of God save through
the Heart of Christ, as He Himself says:
"I am the Way, the Truth and the
Life. No one cometh to the Father save
by Me."[107]
109. And so we can easily understand
that the devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus, of its very nature, is a worship
of the love with which God, through
Jesus, loved us, and at the same time,
an exercise of our own love by which
we are related to God and to other men.
Or to express it in another way, devotion
of this kind is directed towards the
love of God for us in order to adore
it, give thanks for it, and live so
as to imitate it; it has this in view,
as the end to be attained, that we bring
that love by which we are bound to God
to the rest of men to perfect fulfillment
by carrying out daily more eagerly the
new commandment which the divine Master
gave to His Apostles as a sacred legacy
when He said: "A new commandment
I give to you, that you love one another
as I have loved you. . .This is My commandment
that you love one another as I have
loved you."[108] And this commandment
is really new and Christ's own, for
as Aquinas says, "It is, in brief,
the difference between the New and the
Old Testament, for as Jeremias says,
'I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel.'[109] But that commandment
which in the Old Testament was based
on fear and reverential love was referring
to the New Testament; hence, this commandment
was in the old Law not really belonging
to it, but as a preparation for the
new Law."[110]
110. Before We conclude Our
treatment of the concept of this type
of devotion and its excellence in Christian
life, which We have offered for your
consideration--a subject at once attractive
and full of consolation--by virtue of
the Apostolic office which was first
entrusted to Blessed Peter after he
had made his threefold profession of
love, We think it opportune to exhort
you once again venerable brethren, and
through you all those dear children
of Ours in Christ, to continue to exercise
an ever more vigorous zeal in promoting
this most attractive form of piety;
for from it in our times also We trust
that very many benefits will arise.
111. In truth, if the arguments
brought forward which form the foundation
for the devotion to the pierced Heart
of Jesus are duly pondered, it is surely
clear that there is no question here
of some ordinary form of piety which
anyone at his own whim may treat as
of little consequence or set aside as
inferior to others, but of a religious
practice which helps very much towards
the attaining of Christian perfection.
For if "devotion"--according
to the accepted theological notion which
the Angelic Doctor gives us--"appears
to be nothing else save a willingness
to give oneself readily to what concerns
the service of God,"[111] is it
possible that there is any service of
God more obligatory and necessary, and
at the same time more excellent and
attractive, than the one which is dedicated
to love? For what is more pleasing and
acceptable to God than service which
pays homage to the divine love and is
offered for the sake of that love--since
any service freely offered is a gift
in some sense and love "has the
position of the first gift, through
which all other free gifts are made?"[112]
112. That form of piety, then,
should be held in highest esteem by
means of which man honors and loves
God more and dedicates himself with
greater ease and promptness to the divine
charity; a form which our Redeemer Himself
deigned to propose and commend to Christians
and which the Supreme Pontiffs in their
turn defended and highly praised in
memorable published documents. Consequently,
to consider of little worth this signal
benefit conferred on the Church by Jesus
Christ would be to do something both
rash and harmful and also deserving
of God's displeasure.
113. This being so, there is
no doubt that Christians in paying homage
to the Sacred Heart of the Redeemer
are fulfilling a serious part of their
obligations in their service of God
and, at the same time, they are surrendering
themselves to their Creator and Redeemer
with regard to both the affections of
the heart and the external activities
of their life; in this way, they are
obeying that divine commandment: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with thy
whole heart, and with thy whole soul,
and with thy whole mind, and with thy
whole Strength."[113]
114. Besides, they have the
firm conviction that they are moved
to honor God not primarily for their
own advantage in what concerns soul
and body in this life and in the next,
but for the sake of God's goodness they
strive to render Him their homage, to
give Him back love for love, to adore
Him and offer Him due thanks. Were it
not so, the devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus Christ would be out of harmony
with the whole spirit of the Christian
religion, since man would not direct
his homage, in the first instance, to
the divine love. And, not unreasonably
as sometimes happens, accusations of
excessive self-love and self-interest
are made against those who either misunderstand
this excellent form of piety or practice
it in the wrong way. Hence, let all
be completely convinced that in showing
devotion to the most Sacred Heart of
Jesus the external acts of piety have
not the first or most important place;
nor is its essence to be found primarily
in the benefits to be obtained. For
if Christ has solemnly promised them
in private revelations it was for the
purpose of encouraging men to perform
with greater fervor the chief duties
of the Catholic religion, namely, love
and expiation, and thus take all possible
measures for their own spiritual advantage.
115. We therefore urge all Our
children in Christ, both those who are
already accustomed to drink the saving
waters flowing from the Heart of the
Redeemer and, more especially those
who look on from a distance like hesitant
spectators, to eagerly embrace this
devotion. Let them carefully consider,
as We have said, that it is a question
of a devotion which has long been powerful
in the Church and is solidly founded
on the Gospel narrative. It received
clear support from tradition and the
sacred liturgy and has been frequently
and generously praised by the Roman
Pontiffs themselves. These were not
satisfied with establishing a feast
in honor of the most Sacred Heart of
the Redeemer and extending it to the
Universal Church; they were also responsible
for the solemn acts of dedication which
consecrated the whole human race to
the same Sacred Heart.[114]
116. Moreover, there are to
be reckoned the abundant and joyous
fruits which have flowed therefrom to
the Church: countless souls returned
to the Christian religion, the faith
of many roused to greater activity,
a closer tie between the faithful and
our most loving Redeemer. All these
benefits particularly in the most recent
decades, have passed before Our eyes
in greater numbers and more dazzling
significance.
117. While We gaze round at
such a marvelous sight, namely, a devotion
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus both warm
and widespread among all ranks of the
faithful, We are filled with a sense
of gratitude and joy and consolation.
And after We have offered thanks, as
We ought, to our Redeemer Who is the
infinite treasury of goodness, We cannot
help offering Our paternal congratulations
to all those, whether of the clergy
or of the laity, who have made active
contribution to the extending of this
devotion.
118. But although, venerable
brethren, devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus has everywhere brought forth
fruits of salvation for the Christian
life, all are aware that the Church
militant on earth--and especially civil
society--has not yet attained in a real
sense to its essential perfection which
would correspond to the prayers and
desires of Jesus Christ, the Mystical
Spouse of the Church and Redeemer of
the human race. Not a few children of
the Church mar, by their too many sins
and imperfections, the beauty of this
Mother's features which they reflect
in themselves. Not all Christians are
distinguished by that holiness of behavior
to which God calls them ; not all sinners
have returned to the Father ' s house,
which they unfortunately abandoned,
that they may be clothed once again
with the "first robe"[115]
and worthily receive on their finger
the ring, the pledge of loyalty to the
spouse of their soul; not all the heathen
peoples have yet been gathered into
the membership of the Mystical Body
of Christ.
119. And there is more. For
if We experience bitter sorrow at the
feeble loyalty of the good in whose
souls, tricked by a deceptive desire
for earthly possessions, the fire of
divine charity grows cool and gradually
dies out, much more is Our heart deeply
grieved by the machinations of evil
men who, as if instigated by Satan himself,
are now more than ever zealous in their
open and implacable hatred against God,
against the Church and above all against
him who on earth represents the Person
of the divine Redeemer and exhibits
His love towards men, in accordance
with that well-known saying of the Doctor
of Milan: "For (Peter) is being
questioned about that which is uncertain,
though the Lord is not uncertain; He
is questioning not that He may learn,
but that He may teach the one whom,
at His ascent into Heaven, He was leaving
to us as 'the representative of His
love.'"[116]
120. But, in truth, hatred of
God and of those who lawfully act in
His place is the greatest kind of sin
that can be committed by man created
in the image and likeness of God and
destined to enjoy His perfect and enduring
friendship for ever in heaven. Man,
by hatred of God more than by anything
else, is cut off from the Highest Good
and is driven to cast aside from himself
and from those near to him whatever
has its origin in God, whatever is united
with God, whatever leads to the enjoyment
of God, that is, truth, virtue, peace
and justice.[117]
121. Since then, alas, one can
see that the number of those whose boast
is that they are God's enemies is in
some places increasing, that the false
slogans of materialism are being spread
by act and argument, and unbridled license
for unlawful desires is everywhere being
praised, is it remarkable that love,
which is the supreme law of the Christian
religion, the surest foundation of true
and perfect justice and the chief source
of peace and innocent pleasures, loses
its warmth in the souls of many? For
as our Savior warned us: "Because
iniquity hath abounded, the charity
of many shall grow cold."[118]
122. When so many evils meet
Our gaze--such as cause sharp conflict
among individuals, families, nations
and the whole world, particularly today
more than at any other time--where are
We to seek a remedy, venerable brethren?
Can a form of devotion surpassing that
to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus be
found, which corresponds better to the
essential character of the Catholic
faith, which is more capable of assisting
the present-day needs of the Church
and the human race? What religious practice
is more excellent, more attractive,
more salutary than this, since the devotion
in question is entirely directed towards
the love of God itself?[119]
Finally, what more effectively than
the love of Christ--which devotion to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus daily increases
and fosters more and more--can move
the faithful to bring into the activities
of life the Law of the Gospel, the setting
aside of which, as the words of the
Holy Spirit plainly warn, "the
work of justice shall be peace,"[120]
makes peace worthy of the name completely
impossible among men?
123. And so, following in the
footsteps of Our immediate predecessor,
We are pleased to address once again
to all Our dear sons in Christ those
words of exhortation which Leo XIII,
of immortal memory, towards the close
of last century addressed to all the
faithful and to all who were genuinely
anxious about their own salvation and
that of civil society: "Behold,
today, another true sign of God's favor
is presented to our gaze, namely, the
Sacred Heart of Jesus. . .shining forth
with a wondrous splendor from amidst
flames. In it must all our hopes be
placed; from it salvation is to be sought
and hoped for."[121]
124. It is likewise Our most
fervent desire that all who profess
themselves Christians and are seriously
engaged in the effort to establish the
kingdom of Christ on earth will consider
the practice of devotion to the Heart
of Jesus as the source and symbol of
unity, salvation and peace. Let no one
think, however, that by such a practice
anything is taken from the other forms
of piety with which Christian people,
under the guidance of the Church, have
honored the divine Redeemer. Quite the
opposite. Fervent devotional practice
towards the Heart of Jesus will beyond
all doubt foster and advance devotion
to the Holy Cross in particular, and
love for the Most Holy Sacrament of
the Altar. We can even assert--as the
revelations made by Jesus Christ to
St. Gertrude and to St. Margaret Mary
clearly show--that no one really ever
has a proper understanding of Christ
crucified to whom the inner mysteries
of His Heart have not been made known.
Nor will it be easy to understand the
strength of the love which moved Christ
to give Himself to us as our spiritual
food save by fostering in a special
way the devotion to the Eucharistic
Heart of Jesus, the purpose of which
is--to use the words of Our predecessor
of happy memory, Leo XIII--"to
call to mind the act of supreme love
whereby our Redeemer, pouring forth
all the treasures of His Heart in order
to remain with us till the end of time,
instituted the adorable Sacrament of
the Eucharist."[122] For "not
the least part of the revelation of
that Heart is the Eucharist, which He
gave to us out of the great charity
of His own Heart."[123]
125. Finally, moved by an earnest
desire to set strong bulwarks against
the wicked designs of those who hate
God and the Church and, at the same
time, to lead men back again, in their
private and public life, to a love of
God and their neighbor, We do not hesitate
to declare that devotion to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus is the most effective
school of the love of God; the love
of God, We say, which must be the foundation
on which to build the kingdom of God
in the hearts of individuals, families,
and nations, as that same predecessor
of pious memory wisely reminds us: "The
reign of Jesus Christ takes its strength
and form from divine love: to love with
holiness and order is its foundation
and its perfection. From it these must
flow: to perform duties without blame;
to take away nothing of another's right;
to guide the lower human affairs by
heavenly principles; to give the love
of God precedence over all other creatures."[124]
126. In order that favors in
greater abundance may flow on all Christians,
nay, on the whole human race, from the
devotion to the most Sacred Heart of
Jesus, let the faithful see to it that
to this devotion the Immaculate Heart
of the Mother of God is closely joined.
For, by God's Will, in carrying out
the work of human Redemption the Blessed
Virgin Mary was inseparably linked with
Christ in such a manner that our salvation
sprang from the love and the sufferings
of Jesus Christ to which the love and
sorrows of His Mother were intimately
united. It is, then, entirely fitting
that the Christian people--who received
the divine life from Christ through
Mary--after they have paid their debt
of honor to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
should also offer to the most loving
Heart of their heavenly Mother the corresponding
acts of piety affection, gratitude and
expiation. Entirely in keeping with
this most sweet and wise disposition
of divine Providence is the memorable
act of consecration by which We Ourselves
solemnly dedicated Holy Church and the
whole world to the spotless Heart of
the Blessed Virgin Mary.[125]
127. Since in the course of
this year there is completed, as We
mentioned above, the first hundred years
since the Universal Church, by order
of Our predecessor of happy memory,
Pius IX, celebrated the feast of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, We earnestly
desire, venerable brethren, that the
memory of this centenary be everywhere
observed by the faithful in the making
of public acts of adoration, thanksgiving
and expiation to the divine Heart of
Jesus. And though all Christian peoples
will be linked by the bonds of charity
and prayer in common, ceremonies of
Christian joy and piety will assuredly
be carried out with a special religious
fervor in that nation in which, according
to the dispensation of the divine Will,
a holy virgin pointed the way and was
the untiring herald of that devotion.
128. Meanwhile, refreshed by
sweet hope and foreseeing already those
spiritual fruits which We are confident
will spring up in abundance in the Church
from the devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus--provided it is correctly understood
according to Our explanation and actively
put into practice--We make Our prayer
to God that He may graciously deign
to assist these ardent desires of Ours
by the strong help of His grace. May
it come about, by the divine inspiration
as a token of His favor, that out of
the celebration established for this
year the love of the faithful may grow
daily more and more towards the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and its sweet and sovereign
kingdom be extended more widely to all
in every part of the world: the kingdom
"of truth and life; the kingdom
of grace and holiness; the kingdom of
justice, love and peace."[126]
129. As a pledge of these favors
with a full heart We impart to each
one of you, venerable brethren, together
with the clergy and faithful committed
to your charge, to those in particular
who by their devoted labors foster and
promote the devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus, Our apostolic benediction.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, the
15th of May, 1956, the eighteenth year
of Our Pontificate.
PIUS XII, POPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENDNOTES
1. Is. 12:3.
2. Jas. 1:17.
3. Jn. 7:37-39. (Translator's
note: In this passage, Pope Pius XII
uses the punctuation favored by St.
Irenaeus and St. Cyprian and some other
ancient authorities. The translation
therefore follows this and not the Douay
version.)
4. Cfr. Is. 12:3; Ex. 47:1-12;
Zach. 13:1; Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20:7-13;
I Cor. 10:4; Apoc. 7:17, 22:1.
5. Rom. 5:15.
6. I Cor. 6:17.
7. Jn. 4:10.
8. Acts 4:12.
9. Encl. "Annum Sacrum,"
25th May, 1899; Acta Leonis, vol. XIX,
1900, pp. 71, 77-79.
10. Pius XI, Encl. "Miserentissimus
Redemptor," 8th May, 1928 A.A.S.
XX, 1928, p. 167.
11. Cfr. Encl. "Sumni Pontificatus,"
20th October, 1939: A.A.S. XXXI, 1939,
p. 415.
12. Cfr. A.A.S. XXXII, 1940,
p. 170; XXXVII, 1945, pp. 263-264; XL,
1948, p. 501; XLI, 1949, p. 331.
13. Eph. 3:20-21.
14. Is. 12:3.
15. Council Of Ephesus, can.
8; Cfr. Mansi, "Sacrorum Conciliorum
Ampliss. Collectio IV," 1083 C.;
II Council of Constantinople, can. 9;
Cfr. Ibid. IX, 382 E.
16. Cfr. Encl. "Annum Sacrum":
Acta Leonis, vol. XIX, 1900, p. 76.
17. Cfr. Ex. 34:27-28.
18. Deut. 6:4-6.
19. St. Thomas, Sum. Theol.
II-II, q. 2, a. 7: ed. Leon., vol. VIII,
1895, p. 34.
20. Deut. 32:11.
21. Os. 11:1, 3-4. 14:5-6.
22. Is. 49:14-15.
23. Cant. 2:2, 6:2, 8:6.
24. Jn. 1:14.
25. Jer. 31:3, 31, 33-34.
26. Cfr. Jn. 1:29; 9:18-28,
10:1-17.
27. Jn. 1:16-17.
28. Jn. 21:20.
29. Eph. 3:17-19.
30. Sum. Theol. III, q. 48,
a. 2: ed. Leon., vol. XI, 1903, p. 464.
31. Cfr. Encl. "Miserentissimus
Redemptor": A.A.S. XX, 1928, p.
170.
32. Eph. 2:4; Sum. Theol. III,
q. 46, a. 1 ad 3: ed. Leon., vol. XI,
p. 436.
33. Eph. 3:18.
34. Jn. 4:24.
35. 2 Jn. 7.
36. Cfr. Lk. 1:35.
37. St. Leo the Great, Epist.
dogm. 'Lectis dilectionis tuae' ad Flavianum
Const. Patr., 13 June, a. 449; Cfr.
P.L. XIV, 763.
38. Council of Chalcedon, a.
451.
39. Cfr. Mansi, Op. cit., Vlll,
115B.
40. Cfr. Sum. Theol. III, q.
15, a. 4; q. 18, a. 6: ed. Leon., vol.
X[1] ,1903, pp.189, 237.
41. Cfr. I Cor. 1:23.
42. Heb. 2:11-14, 17-18.
43. Apol. II, 13; P.G. VI, 465.
44. Epist. 261, 3: P.G. XXXII,
972.
45. "In loann.", Homil.
63, 2: P.G. LIX, 350.
46. "De fide ad Gratianum,"
II, 7, 56: P.L. XVI, 594.
47. Cfr. Super Mt. 26:27: P.L.
XXVI, 205.
48. Enarr. in Ps. LXXXVII, 3:
P. L. XXXVII, 1111.
49. "De Fide Orth.,"
III, 6 P.G. XCIV, 1006.
50. Ibid. III, 20: P.G. XCIV,
1081.
51. Sum. Theol. I-II, q. 48,
a. 4: ed. Leon., vol. VI, 1891, p. 306.
52. Col. 2:9.
53. Cfr. Sum Theol. III, q.
9 aa. 1-3: ed. Leon., vol. XI, 1903,
p. 142.
54. Cfr. Ibid. Ill, q. 33, a.
2, ad 3m; q. 46, a: ed. Leon., vol.
XI, 1903, pp. 342, 433.
55. Tit. 3:4.
56. Mt. 27:50; Jn. 19:30.
57. Eph. 2:7.
58. Heb. 10:5-7, 10.
59. Registr. epist., lib. IV,
ep. 31, ad Theodorum medicum: P.L. LXXVII,
706.
60. Mk. 8:2.
61. Mt. 23:37.
62. Mt. 21:13.
63. Mt. 26:39.
64. Mt. 26:50; Lk. 22-48.
65. Lk. 23:28, 31.
66. Lk. 23:34.
67. Mt. 27:46.
68. Lk. 23:43.
69. Jn. 19:28.
70. Lk. 23:46.
71. Lk. 22:15.
72. Lk. 22:19-20.
73. Mal. 1:11.
74. "De sancta virginitate,"
VI:P.L. XL, 399.
75. Jn. 15:13.
76. I Jn. 3:16.
77. Gal. 2:20.
78. Cfr. Sum. Theol. III, q.
19, a. 1: ed. Leon., vol. XI, 1903,
p. 329.
79. Sum. Theol., Suppl., q.
42, a. 1. ad 3m: ed. Leon., vol. XII,
1906, p. 31.
80. Hymn at Vespers, Feast of
the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
81. Sum. Theol. III, q. 66,
a. 3m: ed. Leon., vol XII, 1906, p.
65.
82. Eph. 5:2.
83. Eph. 4:8, 10.
84. Jn. 14:16.
85. Col. 2:3.
86. Rom. 8:35, 37-39.
87. Eph. 5:25-27.
88. Cfr. 1 Jn. 2:1.
89. Heb. 7:25.
90. Heb. 5:7.
91. Jn. 3:16.
92. St. Bonaventure, Opusc.
X: "Vitis mystica," c. III,
n. 5; "Opera Omnia," Ad Claras
Aquas (Quaracchi) 1898, vol. VIII, p.
164.; Cfr. Sum Theol. III, q. 54, a.
4:ed. Leon., vol. XI, 1903, p. 513.
93. Rom. 8:32.
94. Cfr. Sum. Theol. III, q.
48, a. 5: ed. Leon., vol. XI, 1903,
p. 467.
95. Lk. 12:50.
96. Jn. 20:28.
97. Jn. 19:37; Cfr. Zach. 12:10.
98. Cfr. Encl. "Miserentissimus
Redemptor": A.A.S. XX, 1928, pp.
167-168.
99. Cfr. A. Gardellini, "Decreta
authentica," 1857, n.4579. vol.
III, p. 174.
100. Cfr. Decr. S.C. Rit., apud.
N. Nilles, "De rationibus festorum
Sacratissimi Cordis Jesu et purissimi
Cordis Mariae," 5a ed., Innsbruck,
1885, vol. I, p. 167.
101. Eph. 3:14, 16-19.
102. Tit. 3:4.
103. Jn. 3:17.
104. Jn. 4:23-24.
105. Innocent XI, Apostolic
Constitution "Coelestis Pater,"
19th Nov., 1687; Bullarium Romanum,
Rome, 1734, vol. VIII, p. 443.
106. Sum. Theol. II-II, q. 81,
a. 3 ad 3m: ed. Leon., vol. IX, 1897,
p. 180.
107. Jn. 14:6.
108. Jn. 13:34, 15:12.
109. Jer. 31:31.
110. "Comment, in Evang.
S. Ioan.," c. XIII, lect. VII,
3: ed. Parmae, 1860, vol. X, p. 541.
111. Sum. Theol. II-II, q. 82,
a. 1: ed. Leon., vol. IX, 1897, p. 187.
112. Ibid. I, q. 38, a. 2: ed.
Leon., vol. IV, 1888, p. 393.
113. Mk. 12:30; Mt. 22:37.
114. Cfr. Leo XIII, Encl. "Annum
Sacrum: Acta Leonis," vol. XIX,
1900, p. 71 sq; Decree of the Sacred
Congregation of Rites, 28th June, 1899,
in Decr. Auth. III, n. 3712; Encl. Miserentissimus
Redemptor: A.A.S. 1928, p. 177 sq.;
Decr. S.C. Rit., 29 Jan. 1929: A.A.S.
XXI, 1929, p. 77.
115. Lk. 15:22.
116. Exposit. in Evang. sec.
Lucam, 1, X, n. 175: P.L. XV, 1942.
117. Cfr. Sum Theol. II-II,
q. 34, a. 2: ed. Leon., vol. VIII, 1895,
p. 274.
118. Mt. 24:12.
119. Cfr. Encl. "Miserentissimus
Redemptor": A.A.S. XX, 1928, p.
166.
120. Is. 32:17.
121. Encl. "Annum Sacrum:
Acta Leonis," vol. XIX, 1900, p.
79; Encl. "Miserentissimus Redemptor":
A.A.S. XX, 1928, p. 167.
122. "Litt. Apost. quibus
Archisodalitas a Corde Eucharistico
Jesu ad S. Ioachim de Urbe erigitur,"
17th Feb., 1903; Acta Leonis, vol. XXII,
1903, p. 116.
123. St. Albert the Great, "De
Eucharistia," dist. Vl, tr. 1.,
c. 1: Opera Omnia, ed. Borgnet, vol.
XXXVIII, Paris, 1890, p. 358.
124. Encl. "Tametsi: Acta
Leonis," vol. XX, 1900, p. 303.
125. Cfr. A.A.S. XXXIV, 1942,
p. 345 sq.
126. From the Roman Missal,
Preface of Christ the King.
