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The image of the Sacred Heart, pierced for our sins, beautifully illustrates Jesus’ profound love for us. Many holy men and women looked to the Sacred Heart for the grace to respond to this great Love wholeheartedly and without reserve.
Here are seven saints with a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus who can help you do the same.
1) Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as we know it today actually originated with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Christ appeared to the French Visitation nun as the image of the Sacred Heart.
In these visions, Christ revealed to St. Margaret Mary the acts of devotion to His Sacred Heart which includes the reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, a Eucharistic Holy Hour on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
The Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is attributed to St. Margaret Mary who dedicated the rest of her life to spreading this devotion
Before St. Margaret Mary however was St. Gertrude the Great, a German Bendictine nun and mystic, who also experienced visions of Christ. In one particular vision, St. John the Evangelist appeared with Jesus and brought Gertrude to the wounded side of Christ where she could hear His Sacred Heart beating.
She went on to write extensively on the Heart of Jesus and encouraged others to pray to Him for graces. Jesus promised her that all who do will “…draw forth all they need from My Divine Heart.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemportists and Doctor of the Church, worked to further promote the Sacred Heart devotion. He wrote a novena to the Sacred Heart seven years before the Holy See even approved this devotion.
St. John Bosco, an Italian priest, founded the Salesian Order and is known for his love for and devotion to Mary Help of Christians; however, he also helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart. Despite his old age, he accepted the request of Pope Leo XIII to build the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome.
5) Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
St Frances Xavier Cabrini founded the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the purpose of being “bearers of the love of Christ to the world.”
Frances and her sisters did this by first dedicating themselves to helping Italian immigrants and orphans in New York City. Today, her order continues to reflect Christ’s immense love by serving the poor and vulnerable around the world.
St. Padre Pio was an Italian Capuchin priest who had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart. In fact, he recited St. Margaret Mary’s Novena to the Sacred Heart every day. Pio offered it for anyone who asked for his prayers and his many of these intentions were miraculously answered.
7) St. Faustina
Polish nun and mystic, St. Faustina had a deep love for the Heart of Jesus and wrote often about it in her Diary.
When Jesus appeared to her as the image of Divine Mercy, He gave her a simple but efficacious prayer inviting us to trust in His Sacred Heart: “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You.”
Devotion to the Sacred Heart plays a large role in the devotion to Divine Mercy.
Dear Jesus and Mary, please heal and protect my family, friends and I. Please Bless us 🙏 Spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally.
Please heal us of fibromyalgia, hyperparathyroid, kidney and heart disease, arthritis, anxiety, depression, asthma, allergies, COPD, connective tissue disease, COVID, cancer and diabetes.
Please help my doctor’s find a way to effectively treat my hyperparathyroidism, ckd and bone mineral deficiency.
Thank you Jesus and Mary.