The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 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, and her compassionate love for all people.

Traditionally, the heart is depicted pierced with seven wounds or swords, in homage to the seven dolors of Mary. Also, roses or another type of flower may be wrapped around the heart.

Background

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus having been firmly established in the Catholic world, it seemed fitting that a similar devotion should be established in honour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Accordingly Benedict XIV with a Bull of March 7, 1753, erected in the church of the Most Holy Redeemer, near Ponte Sisto in Rome, the first Confraternity which took its name from the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and Pope Pius VII whilst approving the devotion, by a decree of the S. Congr. of Rites of Aug 31, 1805, granted also an office and Mass for the feast of it, to kindle thereby the love of the faithful towards it.

The Feast Day

As early as 1643, St. John Eudes and his followers observed 8 February as the feast of the Heart of Mary. In 1799 Pius VI, then in captivity at Florence, granted the Bishop of Palermo the feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary for some of the churches in his diocese. In 1805 Pope Pius VII made a new concession, thanks to which the feast was soon widely observed. Such was the existing condition when a twofold movement, started in Paris, gave fresh impetus to the devotion. The two factors of this movement were, first of all, the revelation of the "Miraculous Medal" in 1830, and then the establishment at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires of the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, which spread rapidly. On 21 July 1855, the Congregation of Rites finally approved the Office and Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary without, however, imposing them upon the Universal Church.

Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1944 to be celebrated on 22 August, coinciding with the traditional octave day of the Assumption. In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the day, Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This means in practice that it is now held on the third Saturday after Pentecost.

At the same time as he closely associated the celebrations of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Queenship of Mary from 31 May to 22 August, bringing it into association with the feast of her Assumption. Those who use the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal or an earlier one (but not more than 17 years before 1962) observe the day established by Pius XII.

The month of August is given the special honor of being devoted to the devotion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. While we have been unable to find a definitive statement explaining this, a couple of guesses can be made.

• First, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary occurs on the 15th of August. Don't forget to go to Mass!
• Second, the Feast of St. John Eudes, considered to be the father of the devotion of the Immaculate Heart by Pope Pius X, is celebrated on August 19th.
• Third, before Vatican II the Feast of the Immaculate Heart used to be celebrated on August 22nd.

Before looking closely at the actual devotion it is good to look back at where the focus on the heart of Mary we should take a look at where Mary's heart is mentioned in Scripture. There are two mentions of Mary's heart in the Gospel of Luke. First, "But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart." (Luke 2:19) Second, "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart." (Luke 2:51)

In his Encyclical, Redemtor hominis, Blessed John Paul II says that "We can say that the mystery of the Redemption took shape beneath the heart of the Virgin of Nazareth when she pronounced her "fiat".

St. Leo said that through faith and love she conceived her son spiritually, even before receiving him into her womb. So Mary's heart is seen in these examples as the source of her original "Yes" to God and the graces for mankind that come from her Son. 

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