Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary

Background

The heart of the Virgin Mary has been referred to in different ways as the Christian tradition has developed. In a 1910 Catholic Encyclopaedia article Jean Bainvel article refers to the "Heart of Mary", noting that a Mass in honour of the "Most Pure Heart of Mary" was permitted in Palermo in 1799 and throughout the Catholic Church from 1855. In the same period, France saw the founding of an Archconfraternity of the "Immaculate Heart of Mary". In 1840, a French religious sister, Justine Bisqueyburu, claimed to have experienced a vision from the Virgin Mary requesting the promotion of a green scapular with an image of the heart of Mary and the inscription "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death." There is no apparent precedent for the title "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart" which was specifically promoted by Petit, in response to the revelations she believed she had received.

Berthe Petit

Berthe Petit was a gifted child who reported conversations with Jesus Christ from an early age. She suffered health problems most of her life and reported that Jesus and the Virgin Mary spoke to her.

Petit derived the title of the book from revelations she purportedly received in which Jesus told her: "Teach souls to love the Heart of My Mother pierced by the very arrows which pierced mine." Petit believed that she was entrusted with the mission to spread devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Elements of this particular devotion included the invocation "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us" and the consecration of the whole world to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

On 13 March 1911, Cardinal Mercier of Belgium granted an indulgence of 100 days to any Catholic in Belgium who prayed the formula: "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee." On 28 September 1915, in the midst of the First World War, Pope Benedict XV extended the same indulgence throughout the world, a year later enriching the indulgence by 300 days. (The source does not clarify whether 'enriching' constituted replacing 100 by 300, or adding the two to constitute a 400 days' indulgence).

Most of the messages deal with the sorrows of the Virgin Mary, warn of Divine judgment and relate to the tears of the Virgin Mary shed over a world in need of prayer and repentance.

On Good Friday 1916, Cardinal Mercier made a private prayer in which he consecrated his diocese, and "within the limits of his power", the whole of Belgium, to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary; in a letter issued 7 March that year he had urged his priests to do likewise on the same day.

On 1 May 1916, Cardinal Bourne of Westminster learned of Berthe Petit's efforts to foster a conscration of the whole world to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary; he received it favourably and promoted the devotion through pastoral letters dated 18 June 1916 and 3 September 1916. Early in 1917 he wrote a pastoral letter requesting all his clergy to make the cosecration on the first Sunday in Lent; on 30 March, the Friday before Palm Sunday, "all the churches in Britain" held a solemn act of consecration. Cardinal Bourne responded to a specific request from Berthe that he should repeat the act of consecration on Christmas Day 1917, and in the light of British losses in the battle (following unexpected gains in late 1917), he made a third such act on Good Friday 1918. A fourth act, in thanksgiving for the conclusion of the conflict, was made by the Cardinal, at Bethe's behest, on 24 May 1919.