A blessed Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a feast which has its origins in the early Middle Ages, when a renewed emphasis upon Christ’s humanity dawned upon the world, led by saints such as Bernard of Clairvaux and Francis of Assisi, on into the visions devotio moderna of Saint Mechtilde (+1298), Saint Gertrude (+1302) and, most of all, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (+1690). A Mass for the feast was instituted by Pope Innocent VI in 1353, and, prompted by the visionary nun Sister Mary of the Divine Heart, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart
