Origins of the Sacred Heart Devotion (1)

It is not uncommon to hear it said that the cult of the Sacred Heart was born at Paray-le-Monial, during the apparitions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at the end of the 17th century, the 350th anniversary of which we are celebrating. This is undoubtedly an excess of zeal that risks doing a disservice to the cult of the Sacred Heart itself, since the Church, which is a tradition, maintains a healthy mistrust of novelty and of anything that is not firmly rooted in Revelation.

Let us take a quick look at the history of this devotion, to see how deeply rooted it is in the tradition of the Church, and how solid a nourishment it is for souls.

In particular, we will be drawing on the invaluable wealth of documents in Jean-Claude Prieto de Acha's Le Sacré Cœur de Jésus: Deux mille ans de miséricorde (Téqui, 2019); Fr. Jean Ladame's Les faits de Paray-le-Monial (Éditions Saint-Paul, 1970); and the biography by Fr. Georges Guitton, S.J., Le Bienheureux Claude La Colombière: Son milieu et son temps (Vitte, 1943).

Sacred Scripture

Let us begin with the moving verse from the Canticle of Canticles, where God confesses his love for the soul, saying: “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse”[1]. On the other hand, there are many Old Testament prophecies announcing the Messiah as the fountain of abundant water from which souls of good will can wash and drink.

Let us only mention Isaias' famous prophecy: “All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money make haste, buy, and eat” [2]; and Zacharias’: “In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman” [3].

On several occasions, Our Lord shows that he is fulfilling these prophecies. To the Samaritan woman, he promises “living water”: “he that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever” [4]. But it is above all through a public and solemn affirmation in Jerusalem that Jesus shows us the source of this water. St. John's comparison with the Old Testament explicitly points to the Sacred Heart:

“And on the last, and great day of the festivity, Jesus stood and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believeth in me, as the scripture saith, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” [5]. Commentators tell us that the Aramaic term for womb, or belly, is an exact synonym for heart. The source of “living water” is therefore the Heart of Jesus.

Two other passages in St. John's Gospel speak of this Heart. Without naming himself directly, the Evangelist himself confesses to having had the privilege of resting on Our Lord's breast at the Last Supper [6], a grace that Christ would later grant to certain mystics, including St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Then, the next day, the centurion comes to verify Jesus' death: “But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true; that you also may believe. For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of him. And again another scripture saith: They shall look on him whom they pierced” [7].

Let us also quote the words of Our Lord as recorded by St. Matthew: “Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light” [8].

Let us end with St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians: “As it is meet for me to think this for you all, for that I have you in my heart; and that in my bands, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my joy. For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the bowels [heart] of Jesus Christ” [9].

So we see that everything that will be said later about the Sacred Heart is contained in Sacred Scripture: It is the source of grace, the seat of Our Lord's love and virtues.

The Fathers of the Church

The Fathers of the Church are the doctors whose authority derives from their knowledge of Sacred Scripture, their holiness, and above all, their ancientness. They are the precious witnesses of Tradition, linking us to the apostles and through them to Christ.

As early as the 2nd century, we see them speaking of the Sacred Heart. After the Apostles, St. Justin Martyr is the oldest reference we have on the subject. He comments on Psalm 21: “The expression ‘I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels’ [10] was also a prediction, and this is what happened to Him that night when they came against Him on the Mount of Olives to seize Him.

“For in the ‘Memoirs’ that I said His apostles and their disciples composed [11], it is written that a sweat as if made of blood clots flowed from him as he prayed, saying: ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: remove this chalice from me’ [12].

“It is that His Heart was clearly all trembling; the same of His bones; His Heart was like a melting wax flowing into his bowels, so that we may know that the Father, for our sake, wanted his Son to really suffer similar pains, and that we may not say that, as the Son of God, he did not feel what was happening to Him and what was occurring. [...]

“We Christians, we are the true Israel, born of Christ; for we have been hewn out of his heart like stones plucked from the Rock” [13].

In the centuries that followed, the greatest Fathers—St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, and St. Ambrose, to mention only the best-known—followed St. John in pointing to the wound in Our Lord’s side, pierced by the lance. “O Christian, see the depth of this wound and, by that very fact, the extent of Christ's love; through it, the true fountain is open to you, that is, the Heart of Jesus into which you can enter; penetrate it, then, for it can contain you entirely” [14].

Others dwell more on the episode of St. John resting on the Heart of Christ: “He sees higher than any creature, for he drinks from the Lord's breast. It was John, the holy Evangelist, whom Jesus preferred so much that he rested on his chest. There was hidden the secret where he was to drink what he would restore to us in his Gospel” [15].

The period of the Church Fathers came to an end around the 8th century. One of the last to bear this title, St. Bede the Venerable, in turn passed on devotion to the Sacred Heart in a sermon on St. John: “That this disciple leaned his head on the Master's breast was a sign not only of present devotion, but of future mystery.

“In this was prefigured that the Gospel to be written by this same disciple would contain the secrets of the divine Majesty with more richness and elevation than all the other pages of Sacred Scripture. Since all the treasures of wisdom and science are hidden in the Heart of Jesus, it is right that the one He fills with incomparable wisdom and science should rest on His breast” [16].

The Doctors of the Middle Ages

At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, two great Doctors spoke to us of the Heart of Jesus. The first was St. Anselm. Meditating on the Passion of Christ, he marveled at the tenderness of the Heart of Jesus, full of gentleness toward weary souls and mercy toward sinners: “Jesus was gentle when He bowed His head and breathed His last; gentle when He stretched out His arms; gentle when His side was opened by the lance; gentle when His two feet were pierced with a nail. [...]

“Gentle, when He stretched out His arms. By stretching out His arms, He shows us that He yearns to hold us close to His Heart, and I think I hear Him say to us: ‘O you! who are tired and who bear the weight of the day, come and rest your weary strength on My breast and in My embrace. Look, I am ready: My arms can hold you all. Come, then, without exception, and let no one fear rejection.

“’I do not want the sinner to die, but rather to be converted and live; My dearest delight is to dwell with the children of men.’ Gentle, when His side was cut open by the lance. Did not this wound reveal to us the infinite treasures of His goodness, that is, all the charity of His Heart for us?” [17].

Elsewhere, in line with the Fathers of the Church, he returns to St. John resting on the Lord's Heart: “Examine, I pray you, who is the disciple who rests on His Heart and bows his head on His glorious breast. Ah! whoever he is, how enviable is his fate! But now I have recognized him. John is his name.

O John! what sweetness, what grace, what light and what devotion you draw from this ineffable source! There, surely, are all the treasures of divine wisdom and science hidden. There flows the fountain of infinite mercy; there is the tabernacle of boundless tenderness; there is the ray of eternal sweetness” [18].

A few years later, the holy Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Bernard, the Cantor of the Blessed Virgin, lent his lyrical voice to praise the Sacred Heart. We cannot omit quoting this long passage, which is one of the milestones of devotion to the Heart of Jesus: “Since we have once reached the Most Sweet Heart of Jesus, and it is good for us to be there, let us not be easily separated from Him of whom it is written: Those who depart from You will be written on the earth.

“And those who draw near, what will be their fate? You yourself teach us, saying to those who draw near to You: Your names are written in heaven. Then let us draw near to Him, and we will tremble and rejoice in Him, at the remembrance of His Heart. Oh, how good and how sweet it is to dwell in that Heart! What a precious treasure Your Heart is, O most merciful Jesus! An incomparable pearl found while searching the field of Your body! Who would reject this pearl?

“I would rather give everything, I would exchange all the thoughts and affections of my soul to buy it; I would fix all my desires in the Heart of my Lord Jesus; and without a doubt He will nourish me with His love. In this Temple, in this Holy of Holies, in this Ark of the Testament, I will adore, I will praise the Name of the Lord, saying with David: I have found my heart to pray to my God. And I too have found the Heart of my King, my Brother, my tender Friend Jesus: therefore shall I not pray?

Yes, sweetest Jesus, having found Your Heart and my heart, I will pray to You, my God. Only open to my prayer the sanctuary of your intimate audiences; or rather, draw me entirely into Your Heart. O Jesus! the most beautiful of man's children, cleanse me more and more of my iniquity, blot out my sin even more, so that, purified by You, I may deserve to approach You, infinite Purity, to dwell in Your Heart all the days of my life, and so be given to see and do Your holy will.

“If, indeed, Your side was pierced, was it not so that the entrance might remain open to us? Yes, Your Heart was wounded, so that, shielding us from external turmoil, we could dwell in It, in Yourself. It was wounded again, so that this visible wound might reveal to us the invisible wound of Your love.

“Could You better reveal Your ardent charity than by allowing not only Your body, but Your Heart Itself to be wounded by the lance? A bodily wound that reveals a spiritual wound! Who would not love a Heart wounded in this way? Who would not return love for love? Who would refuse its chaste embraces?

“We then, still enclosed in this perishable body, love with all our strength, pay with some return, embrace with tenderness our divine Wounded One, whose hands, feet, side, Heart unholy executioners have pierced; and ask with entreaty that He deign to embrace with the bond and wound with the stroke of His love our still hard and unrepentant hearts” [19].

Did the great Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, ever speak of the Sacred Heart? Not explicitly, as far as we know, but in his treatise on the Incarnate Word in the Summa Theologica, he set out the main principles for understanding this devotion. We will come back to that later.

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[1] Cant. 4:9.                                                                                                                                             [2] Is. 55:1.
[3] Zach. 13:1.                                                                                                                                           [4] Jn. 4:9-13.
[5] Jn. 7:37-38. The interpretation of this sentence is debatable, depending on the punctuation used.
[6] Jn. 13:23.                                                                                                                                             [7] Jn. 19:34-37.                                                                                                                                      [8] Mt. 11:28-30.                                                                                                                                     [9] Phil. 1:7-8.                                                                                                                                          [10] Ps. 21:15.
[11] These are the Gospels.                                                                                                              [12] Mk. 14:36.
[13] Dialogue with Trypho (CIII, commentary on Psalm 21).
[14] St. Cyprian, Homily on the Passion of Christ.
[15] St. Augustine, On the Trinity (IX, 10, 15).
[16] Homily 8 on the Apostle John.
[17] Meditation 10 on the Passion of Christ.
[18] Meditation 15.
[19] Treatise on the Passion of the Lord, ch. III, 18. A very similar text (almost word for word), albeit a little shorter, can be found in the writings of St. Bonaventure, whose text has been retained for the Office of Matins for the Feast of the Sacred Heart.