Page:StJosephsManual1877.pdf/538



object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to honor the ardent charity with which that divine heart has always been inflamed for mankind. The faithful servants of God have in all ages practised this devotion ; but since the last century it has been much more extensively diffused, in consequence of a revelation made to a fervent religious, in a convent of the Visitation, in France. In 1803, his holiness Pius VII. approved an association of the Sacred Heart, established in Rome, granting it special indulgences, with the privilege of aggregating to itself other associations of the Sacred Heart throughout the Church. To be received into a confraternity of the Sacred Heart, it is necessary to apply for admission to the clergyman, who is empowered to this effect, and who records the names of applicants in a. register kept for this purpose.

The particular intention of this devotion is, to make reparation for the outrages committed against the Heart of Jesus during his mortal life ; outrages which continue to be committed against him in the adorable Eucharist, which is the sacrament of his love.

It was for this end that our Lord revealed to venerable Sister Mary Alacogne, that he wished the festival and devotion of the Sacred Heart to he instituted in the Church.

It is related in the life of this holy nun, that, being one day in prayer before the blessed sacrament, Jesus showed her his Heart surrounded with thorns, surmounted by a cross, and placed upon a throne of fire ; and that he said to her : "Behold the Heart that has so loved men, and has spared nothing to testity its love for them, even to the consuming of itself for their sake ; but, iMpturn, receives from the generality of mankind nothing but dishonor and ingratitude. What afflicts