We owe this development of the cult of the Sacred Heart essentially to two French figures, Saint John Eudes (1601-1680) and Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), each of whom laid the foundations for the liturgical cult (John Eudes) and the public cult (Margaret Mary) of the Sacred Heart.
Saint Jean Eudes, was a French Catholic priest and the founder of both the Order of Our Lady of Charity in 1641 and the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, also known as The Eudists, in 1643. He was an ardent proponent of the two devotions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He dedicated himself to their promotion and celebration. He composed the first Office of the Sacred Heart, and in 1672 established the feast of the Sacred Heart in the houses of his Institute.
The revelations made to Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, a French nun of the Visitation order, during apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus between 1673 and 1675 in the chapel of her convent at Paray-le-Monial, were to be the starting point for the tremendous expansion of this devotion, despite some difficult initial opposition. Indeed, the efforts of Marguerite-Marie and those who spread her message, in particular the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, including Father Claude de la Colombière (1641-1682), could then be directed towards the recognition of a cult open to broad participation by the faithful.
The revelations made to the saint emphasised the importance of expiatory Reparation and Consecration. In the course of the 18th century, this devotion, which until then had remained a private matter, gradually became the devotion of the universal Church.
However, it was not until almost a hundred years later that the message of Paray-le-Monial achieved its first success with the official recognition of this cult by the Church (in 1765). In 1856 the Church of Rome, through the intermediary of Pius IX, extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the universal Church. In 1899, Leo XIII solemnly consecrated the whole of humanity to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Marguerite-Marie’s message spread throughout the world through books, images and confraternities of the Sacred Heart.
In Ireland, devotion to the Sacred Heart spread rapidly during the first quarter of the 19th century, through the Archconfraternity of the Sacred Heart and by the League of the Sacred Heart.
The first known Confraternity of the Sacred Heart in Ireland was established by Dr Murray at Maynooth College in 1812-13. Several superiors and hundreds of students were members. This organisation was greatly supported by the Jesuits.
Numerous other Confraternities of the Sacred Heart were subsequently established, one of the earliest of which we have records being founded at the Ursuline Convent in Waterford in 1820.
On Passion Sunday, 30th March 1873, an event of decisive importance marked the religious history of Ireland: the bishops of Ireland solemnly consecrated the Irish nation to the Sacred Heart. Other countries had already consecrated themselves diocese by diocese, but Ireland was the first to do so as a nation.
The undisputed apostle of the Sacred Heart in Catholic Ireland was Father James Cullen S.J. (1841-1921). Best known for his role in the fight against Irish alcoholism, with the creation of the Pioneers’ Association for Total Abstinence in (1898) which also aimed to spread devotion and make reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Father James Cullen was appointed in 1887, Director of the League of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Apostleship of Prayer, for Ireland. He founded the magazine Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart in 1888. His work would significantly spread devotion to the Sacred Heart in Ireland for generations.
The Vincentian Fathers, encouraged by the then Archbishop of Dublin, established a Confraternity of the Sacred Heart in St Peter’s Church, Phibsboro, Dublin. Pope Leo XIII raised the confraternity to the dignity of an archconfraternity and conferred on it all the indulgences enjoyed by the archconfraternity of S. Maria della Pace in Rome. The Vincentian Fathers promoted devotion through their missions, endeavouring to establish a confraternity wherever they went and encouraging people to enrol.
Confraternities of the Sacred Heart spread throughout the country until the 1960s, when the devotion declined. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was also promoted by many priests and nuns in parishes and schools.
One of the most striking and beautiful expressions of this devotion in Ireland was, not so long ago, the practice of consecrating the family to the Sacred Heart. Families would place an image of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in the house, a lamp permanently lit in front of it. This was the centre of the family’s spiritual life.