Though the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart was duly enshrined on the new liturgical calendar of the Latin rite in 1969, anyone who lived at that time and attuned to typical parish life would have been aware that the devotion to Jesus under this title and image was not riding high! Those devoted souls who were (and are) committed to “making the First Fridays” sometimes even struggled to find a parish church offering Mass that day. Of course, there were priests who offered the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart month after month, but few were (and are?) the pastors encouraging “enthronement” of the image in homes and the accompanying consecration of families.
It may surprise some that the challenge to these and related devotions often came from within the Church and prior to Vatican II. When Pope Pius XII issued his encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart, Haurietis aquas, in May 1956, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the feast of the Sacred Heart, he was also defending the devotion against certain twentieth century critics. The Church’s emphasis on liturgical spirituality, Scriptural studies, and the writings of the Fathers of the Church in the preceding decades had led some to conclude that devotion to the Sacred Heart lacked such foundations and had led to a kind of piety that was too passive, “individualistic,” and “emotionalist” in nature. In addition to Pius XII, Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) argued convincingly that the devotion to the Sacred Heart could indeed be found to be rooted in these important sources and lead to authentic conversion, deeper union with God, and a more profound (and practical) love of neighbor.
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As pope, Benedict marked the fiftieth anniversary of Haurietis aquas with a letter to the superior general of the Jesuits [ https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20060515_50-haurietis-aquas.html ], calling for renewed appreciation of the devotion. But perhaps even more importantly, in 1981, he gave a paper entitled, “The Mystery of Easter: Substance and Foundation of Devotion to the Sacred heart,” at a conference held in Toulouse, France. This scholarly work was published, together with several other short essays, in a slender volume, Behold The Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology (Ignatius Press, 1986). For anyone interested in better understanding the Scriptural and patristic roots of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as well as much about the course of the Church’s theology and life during the twentieth century, this is a place to begin. |
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