The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a devotional title for Our Lady. Originally called the Sacred Heart of Mary, it symbolises her inner life. It refers to Mary's virtues, sorrow, love, perfections and joy. The Immaculate Heart of Mary refers to her physical heart, the pure love of Our Lady, as her heart knows only purity. This purity is a consequence of her being conceived without original sin. Mary was, in fact, born without original sin.
The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary dates back centuries and is derived from the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The significance of the Immaculate Heart of Mary increased through the apparition of Mary to Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830, the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and her apparitions to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes in 1858. The significance of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is further enhanced by the apparitions of the Mother of God in 1917 at Fatima in Portugal. On 13 July 1917, Mary asked the three seers, Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, Jacinta Marto, and Francisco Marto, that her Immaculate Heart be specially consecrated to Russia. This consecration is a very special way to ask for Mary's protection and intercession. She said that through the consecration many souls would be saved and there would be peace. Otherwise, there would be war and famine, persecution of the Church, and the Holy Father would suffer greatly. In the years that followed, all of this came true!
On 22 August 1942, Pope Pius XII, Pope from 1939 to 1958 (Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli 1876-1958) instituted the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This was done on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the apparitions of Mary in Fátima in 1917. The feast day has been set for the Saturday after Corpus Christi.
On 25 March 2022, Pope Francis will consecrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary to Russia and Ukraine. The Pope will do this during a penitential service in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Through this consecration, the Pope is responding to the request of the Ukrainian Catholic bishops, who asked him to do so. The request from Ukrainian Catholics for the consecration was already made in 2014 to thwart the escalation of the war and the dangers from Russia. This happened when Russia annexed Crimea in that year.
It is highly remarkable that the messages from Fatima in 1917 are only being taken seriously in 2022. This is 105 years later! After all, the consecration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to Russia was never explicitly performed by successive popes until 25th March 2022.
On 5 October 2024, Hans van den Hende (*1964), Bishop of Rotterdam (2011) and previously Bishop of Breda (2007-2011), consecrated the Netherlands to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on behalf of all Dutch bishops. This took place in Eindhoven, during the 4th International Rosary Rally, where many faithful collectively prayed the rosary.
The annual feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the first Saturday after the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
For example: In 2025, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus will be on Friday, 27 June. The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will then be on Saturday, 28 June of that year.
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