Feast of the Sacred Heart

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart
Observed by	Catholic Church
Date	Friday after the second Sunday after Pentecost
2020 date	June 19
2021 date	June 11
2022 date	June 24
2023 date	June 16
Related to	Sacred Heart Sunday

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The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a feast day in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church and certain Anglo-Catholic communities that is dedicated to the Sacred Heart.^[1] According to the General Roman Calendar since 1969, it is formally known as the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Latin: Sollemnitas Sacratissimi Cordis Iesu) and falls on the Friday that follows the second Sunday after Pentecost,^[2] which is also the Friday after the Octave of Pentecost (now no longer observed in the post-1969 calendar).^{[citation needed]}

History[]

Sacred heart fire on Ifinger Mountain in South Tyrol

The first liturgical feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated, with episcopal approval, on 31 August 1670, in the major seminary of Rennes, France, through the efforts of John Eudes. ^[3] The Mass and Office composed by Eudes were adopted elsewhere also, especially in connection with the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart following on the reported revelations to Margaret Mary Alacoque and Mary of the Divine Heart Droste zu Vischering.

A Mass of the Sacred Heart won papal approval for use in Poland and Portugal in 1765, and another was approved for Venice, Austria and Spain in 1788. Finally, in 1856, Pope Pius IX established the Feast of the Sacred Heart as obligatory for the whole church of Roman Rite, to be celebrated on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi. In June 1889, Leo XIII raised the feast to the dignity of the first class.^[4] In 1928, Pope Pius XI raised the feast to the highest rank, Double of the First Class, and added an octave; the 1960 reforms of the general Roman calendar suppressed this octave, removing also most other octaves.

The Mass prayers and readings approved on that occasion were replaced with new texts in 1929, and the lectionary published to accompany the 1970 Roman Missal provides three sets of readings, one for each year of the festive three-year liturgical cycle.

Priests may use this Mass, celebrated with white vestments, as a Votive Mass on other days also, especially on the first Friday of each month (unless falling on a day of higher rank). On this first Fridays it is also common to hold an Eucharistic adoration for a few hours (see First Friday devotion).

In Austria and South Tyrol, the so-called Sacred Heart Sunday, that is the Sunday after the Feast of the Sacred Heart, is also celebrated. Numerous processions take place on this day. Sacred Heart Fires are lit in the Bozen (Bolzano) area of Italy, among others.

Since 2002, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is also a special day of prayer for the sanctification of priests.^[5] In 2009, the feast marked the beginning of a "Year for Priests".^[6]

Dates[]

The earliest possible date is May 29, as in 1818 and 2285. The latest possible date is July 2, as in 1943 and 2038.

Recent dates through to 2030:

References[]

See also[]

• Sacred Heart of Jesus
• Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart
• Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary