The Scapular of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholicdevotional scapular bearing an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the front panel, and an image of the Virgin Mary as Mother of Mercy on the panel which hangs at the wearer's back. In its current form, the design and the formal church approval for its use are due to Estelle Faguette, a French domestic servant, who in 1876 claimed to have received a series of apparitions during which the Virgin Mary showed this scapular and spoke about its use.
Prior to Faguette's 1876 claims, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus had been made popular by the 17th Century mystic, Margaret Mary Alacoque who herself made and distributed 'badges' bearing images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Badge of the Sacred Heart
This is a depiction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Catholic visionary Margaret Mary Alacoque
Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation Sister in Paray-le-Monial, France, claimed to have experienced visions of Jesus Christ during which he showed her his Sacred Heart. On 2 March 1686, she wrote to her Superior, Mother Saumaise, that the Jesus wished 'for her to order a picture of the image of that Sacred Heart for people specifically to venerate and have in their homes and also small pictures to carry with them'.[1]
During the 18th Century, a Visitation sister, Ana Magdalena Rémuzat (1696-1730) worked hard to spread these badges. They were popular as a protection during the plague of Marseilles and also during the persecutions of the Catholics during the French Revolution.[1][2]
Marie Leszczyńska, wife of King Louis XV also enthusiastically promoted this badge. Pope Benedict XIV sent a gift of numerous red taffeta Badges of the Sacred Heart with gold embroidery, for her wedding in 1748.[1] In 1872 Pope Pius IX granted an indulgence for the wearing this badge.[2]
On the night of 14 February 1876, as she lay in Pellevoisin dying of pulmonary tuberculosis, Estelle Faguette, a domestic servant, reportedly saw the Virgin Mary. Four days later, during the fifth apparition, Faguette seemed to be healed instantaneously. Altogether she experienced fifteen apparitions in the course of 1876. On 9 September, the apparition drew attention to a small piece of white cloth, a scapular, resting over her chest. Faguette had seen it there before, as plain white cloth, but on this day it bore the red image of a heart. The following day the lady appeared again, saying she had come to encourage people to pray.[3]
The final and culminating vision took place on Friday 8 December 1876, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.[3]
You will go yourself to the prelate and will present to him this copy that you have made. Tell him to do everything within his power to help you, and that nothing would be more pleasing to me than to see this livery on each of my children. They should all strive to make reparation for the outrages my Son is subjected to in the sacrament of His love. See the graces that will be poured forth on those who will wear it with confidence and help you to spread this devotion.[3]
Faguette asked the lady what design should appear on the other panel of the scapular. The answer came: 'I reserve it for myself. You will submit your idea and the Church will decide.'[3]
Immediately following this last apparition, Faguette sought and was granted an audience with the then Archbishop of Bourges, Charles-Amable de la Tour d’Auvergne. By 12 December 1876 she had received his permission to make and distribute copies of the Scapular of the Sacred Heart.[4]:109
In 1877, the Archbishop set up an enquiry into the reliability of Faguette as a witness, visited Rome to seek advice from Pope Pius IX, erected a local confraternity dedicated to the All-Merciful Mother, directed his Vicar General to lead a pilgrimage at Pellevoisin, gave his permission for the first printing of a text concerning Faguette's experiences, and visited the room which had been Faguette's bedroom but which by October 1877 had already been transformed into a chapel.[4]:109–110
Pope Leo XIII received Faguette in audiences on 30 January and 17–18 February 1900, during which the Pontiff agreed that the relevant Vatican department, the Congregation of Rites, should consider authorising use of the Scapular of the Sacred Heart. This formal recognition was given on 4 April 1900.[4]:112 & 114
In July 1900 Pope Leo XIII, influenced by Mary of the Divine Heart's January 1899 letter assuring that God would preserve his own health until the world was consecrated to the Sacred Heart, granted many indulgences for the pious wearing of this scapular.[2]
On 22 November 1922, Pope Pius XI granted to the parish clergy of Pellevoisin and directors of the fraternity, the authority to bless the scapular and to pass on this authority to others.[4]:118
On 27 August 1986, an imprimatur was granted for a short English-language publication by Barbara Beaumont, Pellevoisin: Our Lady reveals the devotion of the Sacred Heart Scapular.[4]:123
While the use of the scapular is authorised by the Holy See, the Archbishops of Bourges have never officially commented on the status of Faguette's reputed visions, although her cure has been formally recognised as a miracle.[4]
The Sacred Heart, also known as the Sacred Heart of Jesus or Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is predominantly used in the Catholic Church, followed by high-church Anglicans, Lutherans and some Western Rite Orthodox. In the Latin Church, the liturgical Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated the third Friday after Pentecost. The 12 promises of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are also extremely popular.
Our Lady of Fátima ; formally known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fátima) is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal. The three children were Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. José Alves Correia da Silva, Bishop of Leiria, declared the events worthy of belief on 13 October 1930.
Catherine Labouré was a French nun who was a member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and is a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the famous Miraculous Medal of Our Lady of Graces worn by millions of people around the world. Labouré spent forty years caring for the aged and infirm. For this, she is called the patroness of seniors.
Margaret Mary Alacoque, VHM, was a French Catholic Visitation nun and mystic who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form.
The Pontevedra apparitions are the Marian apparitions that Sister Lúcia, the Portuguese seer of Our Lady of Fátima, reported receiving while living in a Dorothean convent in Pontevedra, Spain.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a Roman Catholic devotional name used to refer to the Catholic view of the interior life of Mary, mother of Jesus, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus Christ, and her motherly and compassionate love for all mankind. Traditionally, the Immaculate Heart is depicted pierced with seven swords or wounds, in homage to the seven dolors of Mary and roses, usually red or white, wrapped around the heart.
The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima, now mostly known as the World Apostolate of Fátima, is a public international association of the Christian faithful that has as its general purpose "the promotion of the authentic teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and the strict adherence to the tenets of the Gospel; the personal sanctification of adherents through faithful adherence to the Message of Our Lady of Fátima and the promotion of the common good by the spreading of that Message of Fátima".
Our Lady of Lourdes is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus. The Virgin Mary is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, of which Bernadette Soubirous told her mother that a "Lady" spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar apparitions of the "Lady" were reported on 18 occasions that year, until the climax revelation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception took place. On 18 January 1862, the local Bishop of Tarbes Bertrand-Sévère Laurence endorsed the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes.
Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes devotions as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
Pellevoisin is a commune in the Indre department in central France.
The Mariology of the popes is the theological study of the influence that the popes have had on the development, formulation and transformation of the Roman Catholic Church's doctrines and devotions relating to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The veneration of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Catholic Church encompasses various devotions which include prayer, pious acts, visual arts, poetry, and music devoted to the her. Popes have encouraged it, while also taking steps to reform some manifestations of it. The Holy See has insisted on the importance of distinguishing "true from false devotion, and authentic doctrine from its deformations by excess or defect". There are significantly more titles, feasts, and venerative Marian practices among Roman Catholics than in other Western Christian traditions. The term hyperdulia indicates the special veneration due to Mary, greater than the ordinary dulia for other saints, but utterly unlike the latria due only to God.
The Red Scapular of the Passion of Our Lord and the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary is a Roman Catholic sacramental scapular associated with the Vincentians. It is often just called the Scapular of the Passion or simply the Red Scapular but it should not be confused with other similarly-termed scapulars described below.
The Green Scapular is a Roman Catholic devotional article approved by Pope Pius IX in 1870. It is called a scapular due to its appearance, but is not descended from the scapulars that form part of the habit worn by religious orders. It can be more accurately described as a "cloth medal". It is unique among Catholic scapulars, as it the only scapular which has only one badge of cloth, while all others have at least two.
The exact origins of both the rosary and scapular are subject to debate among scholars. Pious tradition maintains that both the rosary and the brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel were given by the Virgin Mary to Dominic and Simon Stock respectively during the 13th century. Historical records document their growth during the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. By the early 20th century, they had gained such a strong following among Catholics worldwide that Josef Hilgers, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, stated: "Like the Rosary, the Brown scapular has become the badge of the devout Catholic."
The First Fridays Devotion, also called the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a Catholic devotion to offer reparations for sins and which had its origin in the apparitions of Christ at Paray-le-Monial, France, reported by Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century. This devotion to the Sacred Heart was fully approved by the Roman Catholic Church and several promises were made to those who practice the First Fridays Devotion, one of which included final perseverance.
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Our Lady of Šiluva is Roman Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary in Šiluva, Lithuania. A shrine of the same name has been built and is dedicated to her. The icon is highly venerated in Lithuania and is often called "Lithuania's greatest treasure".
Our Lady of Pellevoisin is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary which refers to a series of Marian apparitions in Pellevoisin, in the province of Berry, in the department of Indre, France. Pellevoisin is west of Châteauroux in the Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges.
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