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. That all may understand more exactly the teachings
which the selected texts of the
Old and New Testament furnish concerning this devotion,
they must clearly
understand the reasons why the Church gives the
highest form of worship to the Heart
of the divine Redeemer. As you well know, venerable
brethren, the reasons are two in
number. The first, which applies also to the other
sacred members of the Body of
Jesus Christ, rests on that principle whereby we
recognize that His Heart, the noblest
part of human nature, is hypostatically united to
the Person of the divine Word.
Consequently, there must be paid to it that worship
of adoration with which the
Church honors the Person of the Incarnate Son of
God Himself. We are dealing here
with an article of faith, for it has been solemnly
defined in the general Council of
Ephesus and the second Council of Constantinople.15
22. The other reason which refers in a particular
manner to the Heart of the divine
Redeemer, and likewise demands in a special way
that the highest form of worship be
paid to it, arises from the fact that His Heart,
more than all the other members of His
body, is the natural sign and symbol of His boundless
love for the human race. "There
is in the Sacred Heart," as Our predecessor of immortal
memory, Leo XIII, pointed
out, "the symbol and express image of the infinite
love of Jesus Christ which moves us
to love in return."16
23. It is of course beyond doubt that the Sacred
Books never make express mention of
a special worship of veneration and love made to
the physical Heart of the Incarnate
Word as the symbol of His burning love. But if this
must certainly be admitted, it
cannot cause us surprise nor in any way lead us
to doubt the divine love for us which
is the principal object of this devotion; since
that love is proclaimed and insisted
upon in the Old and in the New Testament by the
kind of images which strongly arouse
our emotions. Since these images were presented
in the Sacred Writings foretelling
the coming of the Son of God made man, they can
be considered as a token of the
noblest symbol and witness of that divine love,
that is, of the most Sacred and
Adorable Heart of the divine Redeemer.
24. We do not think it essential to Our subject to
cite at length passages from the Old
Testament books which contain truths divinely revealed
in ancient times. We consider
it sufficient to call to mind that the covenant
made between God and the people and
sanctified by peace offerings--the first Law of
which was written on two tablets and
made known by Moses17 and explained by the prophets--was
an agreement
established not only on the strong foundation of
God's supreme dominion and of man's
duty of obedience but was also based and nourished
on more noble considerations of
love. The ultimate reason for obeying God, for the
people of Israel, was not the fear
of divine vengeance which the rumble of thunder
and the lightning flashing from the
top of Mount Sinai struck into their souls, but
was rather the love they owed to God.
"Hear, O Israel ! The Lord our God is one Lord.
Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God,
with thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and thy
whole strength. And these words
which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart."18
25. We do not wonder then, that Moses and the prophets,
whom the Angelic Doctor
rightly names the "elders" of the chosen people,19
perceived clearly that the
foundation of the whole Law lay on this commandment
of love, and described all the
circumstances and relationships which should exist
between God and His people by
metaphors drawn from the natural love of a father
and his children, or a man and his
wife, rather than from the harsh imagery derived
from the supreme dominion of God
or the obligation of subjecting ourselves in fear.
And so, to take an example, when
Moses himself was singing his famous hymn in honor
of the people restored to
freedom from the slavery of Egypt, and wished to
indicate it had come about by the
power of God; he used these symbolic and touching
expressions: "As the eagle
enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them,
(God) spread his wings, and hath
taken him (Israel) and carried him on his shoulders."20
26. But perhaps none of the holy prophets has expressed
and revealed as clearly and
vividly as Osee the love with which God always watches
over His people. In
writings of this prophet, who is outstanding among
the minor prophets for the
sublimity of his concise language, God declares
that His love for the chosen people,
combining justice and a holy anxiety, is like the
love of a merciful and loving father or
of a husband whose honor is offended. This love
is not diminished or withdrawn in
the face of the perfidy or the horrible crimes of
those who betray it. If it inflicts just
chastisements on the guilty, it is not for the purpose
of rejecting them or of abandoning
them to themselves; but rather to bring about the
repentance and the purification of the
unfaithful spouse and ungrateful children, and to
bind them once more to itself with
renewed and yet stronger bonds of love. "Because
Israel was a child, and I loved him;
and I called my son out of Egypt … And I was like
a foster father to Ephraim, and I
carried them in my arms, and they knew not that
I healed them. I will draw them with
the cords of Adam, with the bonds of love … I will
heal their wounds, I will love
them; for My wrath is turned away from them. I will
be as a dew, Israel shall spring
up as a lily, and his root shall shoot forth as
that of Libanus."21
27. Similar sentiments are uttered by the prophet
Isaias when he introduces a
conversation in the form of question and answer,
as it were, between God and the
chosen people: "And Sion said, 'the Lord hath forsaken
me; the Lord hath forgotten
me.' Can a woman forget her infant so as not to
have pity on the son of her womb?
And if she should forget, yet will not I forget
thee."22
28. No less moving are the words which the author
of the Canticle of Canticles,
employing comparisons from conjugal affection, describes
symbolically the bonds of
mutual love by which God and his chosen people are
united to each other: "As the lily
among thorns, so is My love among the daughters
… I to My beloved and My beloved
to Me, who feedeth among the lilies … Put Me as
a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon
thy arm; for love is strong as death, jealousy is
hard as hell, the lamps thereof are
lamps of fire and flames."23
29. This most tender, forgiving and patient love
of God, though it deems unworthy the
people of Israel as they add sin to sin, nevertheless
at no time casts them off entirely.
And though it seems strong and exalted indeed, yet
it was only an advance symbol of
that burning charity which mankind' s promised Redeemer,
from His most loving
Heart, was destined to open to all and which was
to be the type of His love for us and
the foundation of the new covenant.
30. Assuredly, when He who is the only begotten of
the Father and the Word made
flesh "full of grace and truth"24 had come to men
weighed down with many sins and
miseries it was He alone, from that human nature
united hypostatically to the divine
Person, Who could open to the human race the "fountain
of living water" which would
irrigate the parched land and transform it into
a fruitful and flourishing garden.
31. That this most wondrous effect would come to
pass as a result of the merciful and
everlasting love of God the prophet Jeremias seems
to foretell in a manner in these
words: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love,
therefore I have drawn thee taking
pity on thee … Behold the days shall come, saith
the Lord, and I shall make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Juda … this will be the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel,
after those days, saith the Lord; I
will give My law in their bowels, and will write
it in their heart, and I will be their
God and they shall be My people … for I will forgive
their iniquity and I will
remember their sin no more."25
32. But it is only in the Gospels that we find definitely
and clearly set out the new
covenant between God and man; for that covenant
which Moses had made between the
people of Israel and God was a mere symbol and a
sign of the covenant foretold by
the prophet Jeremias. We say that this new covenant
is that very thing which was
established and effected by the work of the Incarnate
Word Who is the source of
divine grace. This covenant is therefore to be considered
incomparably more
excellent and more solid because it was ratified,
not as in the past by the blood of
goats and calves, but by the most precious Blood
of Him Whom these same innocent
animals, devoid of reason, had already prefigured:
"The Lamb of God, who taketh
away the sins of the world."26
33. The Christian covenant, much more than that of
the old, clearly appears as an
agreement based not on slavery or on fear, but as
one ratified by that friendship which
ought to exist between a father and his children,
as one nourished and strengthened by
a more generous outpouring of divine grace and truth
according to the saying of St.
John the Evangelist: "And of his fulness we have
all received, and grace for grace.
For the Law was given by Moses; grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ."27
34. Since we have been introduced, venerable brethren,
to the innermost mystery of
the infinite charity of the Word Incarnate by these
words of the disciple "whom Jesus
loved and who also leaned on His breast at the supper,"28
it seems meet and just,
right and availing unto salvation, to pause for
a short time in sweet contemplation of
this mystery so that, enlightened by that light
which shines from the Gospel and makes
clearer the mystery itself, we also may be able
to obtain the realization of the desire
of which the Apostle of the Gentiles speaks in writing
to the Ephesians. "That Christ
may dwell by faith in your hearts, that being rooted
and founded in charity you may be
able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth, and length, and height, and
depth; to know also the charity of Christ which
surpasseth all knowledge, that you may
be filled unto all the fulness of God."29
35. The mystery of the divine redemption is primarily
and by its very nature a mystery
of love, that is, of the perfect love of Christ
for His heavenly Father to Whom the
sacrifice of the Cross, offered in a spirit of love
and obedience, presents the most
abundant and infinite satisfaction due for the sins
of the human race; "By suffering out
of love and obedience, Christ gave more to God than
was required to compensate for
the offense of the whole human race."30
36. It is also a mystery of the love of the Most
Holy Trinity and of the divine
Redeemer towards all men. Because they were entirely
unable to make adequate
satisfaction for their sins,31 Christ, through the
infinite treasure of His merits acquired
for us by the shedding of His precious Blood, was
able to restore completely that pact
of friendship between God and man which had been
broken, first by the grievous fall
of Adam in the earthly paradise and then by the
countless sins of the chosen people.
37. Since our divine Redeemer as our lawful and perfect
Mediator, out of His ardent
love for us, restored complete harmony between the
duties and obligations of the
human race and the rights of God, He is therefore
responsible for the existence of that
wonderful reconciliation of divine justice and divine
mercy which constitutes the
sublime mystery of our salvation. On this point
the Angelic Doctor wisely comments:
"That man should be delivered by Christ's Passion
was in keeping with both His
mercy and His justice. With His justice, because
by His Passion Christ made
satisfaction for the sins of the human race, and
so man was set free by Christ's justice;
and with His mercy, for since man of himself could
not satisfy for the sin of all human
nature, God gave him His Son to satisfy for him.
And this came of a more copious
mercy than if he had forgiven sins without satisfaction:
Hence St. Paul says: 'God,
who is rich in mercy, by reason of His very great
love wherewith He has loved us
even when we were dead by reason of our sins, brought
us to life together with
Christ.'"32
38. But in order that we really may be able, so far
as it is permitted to mortal men, "to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth,
and length, and height, and
depth"33 of the hidden love of the Incarnate Word
for His heavenly Father and for
men infected by the taint of sins, we must note
well that His love was not entirely the
spiritual love proper to God inasmuch as "God is
a spirit."34 Undoubtedly the love
with which God loved our forefathers and the Hebrew
people was of this nature. For
this reason the expressions of human, intimate,
and paternal love which we find in the
Psalms, the writings of the prophets, and in the
Canticle of Canticles are tokens and
symbols of the true but entirely spiritual love
with which God continued to sustain the
human race. On the other hand, the love which breathes
from the Gospel, from the
letters of the Apostles and the pages of the Apocalypse,
all of which portray the love
of the Heart of Jesus Christ, expresses not only
divine love but also human sentiments
of love. All who profess themselves Catholics accept
this without question.
39. For the Word of God did not assume a feigned
and unsubstantial body, as already
in the first century of Christianity some heretics
declared and who were condemned in
these solemn words of St. John the Apostle: "For
many seducers are gone out into the
world, who do confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh. Here is a seducer
and the antichrist,"35 but He united to His divine
Person a truly human nature,
individual, whole and perfect, which was conceived
in the most pure womb of the
Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost.36
40. 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
41. 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
42. 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
43. 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
44. 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.
45. Saint 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
46. Saint 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
47. 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
48. 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
49. 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
50. But Saint 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
51. 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
52. 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.
53. 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
54. 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.
55. 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
56. 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
57. 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
58. 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
59. 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.
60. 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.
61. 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.
62. 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
63. 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
64. 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.
65. 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
66. 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
67. 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
68. 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
69. 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?
70. 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
71. 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.
72. 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
73. 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
74. 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
75. 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
76. 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
77. 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
78. 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
79. 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.
80. 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
81. 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.
82. 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.
83. 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.
84. 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
85. 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.
86. 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
87. 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 Advocate88 "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
88. 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.
89. 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 sin94: "I have a baptism wherewith
I am to be baptized, and how am I straitened until
it be accomplished?"95
90. 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.
91. 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.
92. 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?
93. 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.
94. 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.
95. 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
96. 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.
97. 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.
98. 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 Arch-confraternity
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.
99. 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."
100. 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
101. 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
102. 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.
103. 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.
104. 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.
105. 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.
106. 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
107. 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
108. 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.
109. 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
110. 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.
111. 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
112. 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.
113. 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
114. 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.
115. 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.
116. 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.
117. 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
118. 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
119. 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
120. 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?
121. 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
122. 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
123. 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
124. 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
125. 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.
126. 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
127. 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 Saint Peter's, the 15th of May,
1956, the eighteenth year of Our
Pontificate.
NOTES
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 AAS XX, 1928, p.
167.
11.Cfr. Encl. "Sumni Pontificatus," 20th October,
1939: AAS XXXI, 1939, p. 415.
12.Cfr. AAS XXXII, 1940, p. 170; XXXVII, 1945,
pp. 263-264; XL, 1948, p. 501;
XLI, 1949, p. 331.
13.Eph. 3:20-21.
14.Isaiah 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. Exodus 34:27-28.
18.Deuteronomy 6:4-6.
19.Saint 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":
AAS XX, 1928, p. 170.
32.Ephesians 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.Saint 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., VIII, 115B.
40.Cfr. Sum. Theol. III, q. 15, a. 4; q. 18,
a. 6: ed. Leon., vol. X, 1903, pp.189, 237.
41.Cfr. I Cor. 1:23.
42.Hebrews 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.Colossians 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.Saint 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":
AAS 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.Ephesians 3:14, 16-19.
102.Tit. 3:4.
103.John 3:17.
104.John 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.John 14:6.
108.John 13:34, 15:12.
109.Jeremiah 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.Mark 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: AAS 1928, p. 177 sq.; Decr. S.C.
Rit., 29 Jan. 1929: AAS
XXI, 1929, p. 77.
115.Luke 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.Matthew 24:12.
119.Cfr. Encl. "Miserentissimus Redemptor": AAS
XX, 1928, p. 166.
120.Isaiah 32:17.
121.Encl. "Annum Sacrum: Acta Leonis," vol. XIX,
1900, p. 79; Encl.
"Miserentissimus Redemptor":
AAS 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.Saint 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. AAS XXXIV, 1942, p. 345 sq.
126.From the Roman Missal, Preface of Christ the
King.