Where did Sacred Heart Come From

In reading Annum Sacrum, I learned where the devotion to the Sacred Heart came from.  I know that St. Margaret Mary Alocoque had visions and promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart.  But many people have visions and Catholics are not required to believe them.

In the encyclical, Annum Sacrum, however, Pope Leo XIII, in paragraph 14 states:

...We ordain that on the ninth, tenth, and eleventh of the coming month of June, in the principal church of every town and village, certain prayers be said, and on each of these days, there be added to the other prayers the Litany of the Sacred Heart approved by Our authority. On the last day, the form of consecration shall be recited which, Venerable Brethren, We sent to you with these letters.

 I posted about the Litany a few days ago.

Discarding God

In these later times, especially, a policy has been followed which has resulted in a sort of wall being raised between the Church and civil society.  In the constitution and administration of States the authority of sacred and divine law is utterly disregarded, with a view to the exclusion of religion from having any constant part in public life.  This policy almost tends to the removal of the Christian faith from our midst, and, if that were possible, of the banishment of God Himself from the earth.

Take a guess as to when these words were written.

Today?

The answer is 1899  This is from paragraph 10 in the encyclical Annum Sacrum, written by Pope Leo XIII.

I don't know whether to gather some hope, thinking that this description must always fit all times.  Maybe since the beginning of time, people have worried about the decline of faith in God.

Or, maybe Pope Leo XIII saw the beginning of the decline and was warning humanity of it.

Sadly, it is sobering.

B16 and History

Father Z's posting this morning on So a Pope and an Archbishop Walk Into an Abbey... made me smile.  I love history.  Heck, I majored in it.

Father tells us that when the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams processed down the aisle of Westminister Abbey, the Pope was wearing a stole from Pope Leo XIII.

....yeah.....so?

So,  Pope Leo XIII was the Pope that declared that Anglican ordinations were invalid.

;-D

Everyone was applauding the true successor of St. Peter.  Don't you love just love history?