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June 4, 2016The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is connected on many points with that to the Heart of Jesus; nevertheless, it has its own history. The attention of Christians was early attracted by the love and virtues of the Heart of Mary, symbolized by her heart.
Simeon's prophecy in Luke 2:33-34 paved the way and furnished devotion with one of its favorite formula and most popular representations: the heart pierced with a sword. Saint Luke's Gospel says that Mary kept all the sayings and doings of Jesus in her heart, that she might ponder them and live by them.
In 1799 Pius VI, then in captivity at Florence, granted the Bishop of Palermo the feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary for some of the churches in his diocese. In 1805 Pius VII made a new concession, thanks to which the feast was soon widely observed. In 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
O God, who prepared a fit dwelling place for the Holy Spirit
in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
graciously grant that through her intercession
we may be a worthy temple of your glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.
(Principal source - Catholic Encyclopedia - 1913 edition)
