What is a devotion?
Devotions are popular prayers that have been practised throughout centuries in the Catholic tradition. One thing we have to bear in mind is that devotion is not a Sacrament; it is a prayer that can be said individually or in groups, with great love and dedication to God, Our Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Saints. The purpose of devotion is to praise God and venerate Our Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints. There is no devotion without love; devotion has no meaning if it is only uttered by words but not with a whole heart. Besides the devotion to God, Holy Mother Church has a great devotion to Our Blessed Virgin Mary.
Why is devotion to Our Blessed Virgin important?
If we take a look at the Scriptures, we will understand why the Church has great love for Our Blessed Virgin Mary. We are familiar with the passage from the book of Genesis 3:15, traditionally known as the Protoevangelium or the first Good News. It is considered a prophecy about the future coming of the Redeemer from the Woman descended from Eve, that salvation is going to come from a woman and her offspring. St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, tells us that Jesus is the New Adam who came to establish the new creation. If Jesus is the New Adam, then Mary is the New Eve who participates in Christ’s salvific plan of redemption.
In Mary’s Magnificat, she foretold that all generations would honour her and call her blessed, “From now on all generations will call me blessed”(Lk. 1:48) and the Church has fulfilled this through deep devotion, hymns, prayers, especially the Rosary. Christians venerate Mary as the Mother of God and Queen, recognising her unique role in salvation history. On the Cross, Jesus entrusted Mary to the beloved disciple with the words “Behold your Mother” (Jn. 19:27), which the Church understands as Jesus giving His Mother to all disciples. Our Blessed Virgin Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the Cross. St. Augustine says, "She cooperated through charity, in the work of our redemption". When believers turn to Mary, she always leads them back to her Son. Our Blessed Virgin Mary’s mission is not only to be the Mother of Jesus but also the Mother of the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body. Jesus has entrusted His Church to the special protection of His Mother. The Blessed Virgin Mary took her role seriously; she never failed to come to the aid of those who called upon her.
Among the many devotions the Church offers to Our Blessed Lady, we are going to focus in this article on the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The devotion to the Pure Heart of Mary was practised in the early seventeenth century. Before then, this devotion was practised only by a small number of people and spread slowly. During this period, some theologians and spiritual writers helped promote it more widely. Ultimately, St. John Eudes became the leading figure who organised and championed devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In the Divine Liturgy, Mass and Divine Office, the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is celebrated right after the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The core of this memorial is to show how these two Hearts, of Jesus and Mary, were ever inseparable. Jesus’ heart is called Sacred because it reveals God’s love, while Mary’s heart is called Immaculate because of her purity and her deep love for her son. As in the divine plan, Mary prepares the way for Jesus, so also in the Church of God, devotion to the Heart of Mary prepared the way for devotion to the Sacred Heart. Mary’s heart represents the virtues needed to love God and others. She is one with her Son. Before she conceived the Word (Jesus) in her womb, she conceived him in her Immaculate Heart; therefore, these two Hearts are united. St. Louis the Monfort says, “It is easier to remove light and fire from the sun than to remove the Blessed Virgin Mary from Christ”.
Scripture shows her reflective, faithful heart: she treasured the shepherds’ message about Jesus’ birth, and later, when she and Joseph found the twelve‑year‑old Jesus in the Temple, she kept his mysterious words in her heart even without fully understanding them. When Christ weeps, His Mother also weeps. When Christ suffers, His Mother also suffers. When Christ rejoices, she also rejoices with her Son because she imitates him more than anyone else. Mary’s heart is deeply united with Jesus’ heart, symbolising her compassion, love, and total dedication to him. Because she loved him so completely, she shared in his suffering, from losing him in the temple to standing by him at the Cross. Devotion to her Immaculate Heart encourages believers to imitate her virtues and her willingness to love even when it leads to pain. Although Mary did not always fully understand Jesus’ mission, she accepted it out of love, and that makes her a model of authentic human love and respects the purpose of her Son’s mission. Her example inspires believers to remain faithful to God even when it involves sacrifice or hardship.
Her love and trust in God are greater than anything else. She is a creature that the Holy Trinity is very well pleased with and makes her a true temple where the Most High finds His dwelling place. It causes her great grief when humanity continues to offend God. Therefore, the core of her message to those she appeared to, throughout the centuries, has always been about repentance and turning back to God. She said to the little Shepherds of Fatima, “People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord anymore, for he is already too much offended!”
Why does the Holy Mother Church recommend devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?
Our Lady urged the three shepherd children to promote devotion to her Immaculate Heart. This devotion is presented as something Our Lord desires for two main reasons: to make reparation for blasphemies committed against Our Lady and her Immaculate Heart, and to correct the widespread indifference and ingratitude towards her by humankind. Devotion to her Immaculate Heart is a way a soul may come to know the love of God. She is the way to her Son; these two hearts are one. To offend the Son is to offend the Mother, and to offend the Mother is to offend the Son. She has an Immaculate Heart, and that Immaculate Heart needs to be consoled and needs to be repaired with love.
Our Lady said to Sr. Lucia, “Have compassion on the heart of your most holy mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them. Look, my daughter, at my heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierced me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me and say that I promised to assist at the end of death with the graces necessary for salvation all who on the first Saturday of the five consecutive months shall confess their sins to the priest in confession, receive Holy Communion, of course, in the state of grace, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to me.”
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is meant to remove the “thorns” that wound her heart—thorns representing sins and blasphemies committed against her. In Christian art, Mary’s heart is shown burning with love, pierced by the sword of sorrow foretold by Simeon, and crowned with thorns in likeness to Christ’s crown of thorns. Because she loved her Son perfectly, her suffering mirrors his. Through this devotion, believers are invited to help remove those thorns by making reparation for offences committed against her.
The blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Mother are when humankind denies her Immaculate Conception, rejecting her perpetual virginity, denying her role as the Mother of God, refusing to acknowledge her spiritual motherhood of humanity, and showing disrespect toward her sacred images or statues, including destroying them.
In December 1929, Our Blessed Mother appeared with the Infant Child to Sr. Lucia, the surviving seer of Fatima. The Christ Child and the Blessed Mother asked for the first five Saturdays of the month devotion. The purpose of the devotion is to console her Immaculate Heart and to accompany her in prayer for the conversion of humankind.
Let us ask Our Blessed Mother to help us grow in union with God and love our neighbours as she makes us walk the path of love.
PRAYER TO THE IMMACULAE HEART OF MARY
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
full of love for God and mankind,
and of compassion for sinners,
I consecrate myself to you.
I entrust to you the salvation of my soul.
May my heart be ever united with yours,
so that I may hate sin,
love God and my neighbour,
and reach eternal life with those whom I love.
May I experience the kindness of your motherly heart
and the power of your intercession with Jesus
during my life and at the hour of my death.
Amen.
(Available at 5 Powerful Prayers to the Immaculate Heart of Mary - Catholic Gallery. Access, 30th April 2026)
Written by Sr. Mary Gonçalves F.D.C.
Daughters of Divine Charity (Filae Divinae Caritatis F.D.C)
(An international Congregation, active in the Diocese of East Anglia since missionaries from their Congregation arrived in England from Vienna, Austria, in 1914)
Sr. Mary joined the Order in 2014 and made her final vows in August 2023. The Charism of the Congregation is to make God’s Love visible through education, social work, and pastoral care, focusing on fulfilling the needs of the present day.
