OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Day 196: November 24

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Bologna, Italy



The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is the oldest church dedicated to Our Lady in the Diocese of Bologna and tradition traces its origins to the sixth century and it is here that the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is located.

It is located along Via Galliera (cardo maximus of the city) and the course of the western branch of the Àposa stream, making it coeval with the great Byzantine basilicas of Ravenna. In the middle of the Romanesque age it was restored and partly rebuilt, with the addition of the bell tower, so much so that it deserved a new solemn consecration in 1187. Of great interest is the recent discovery of a stone cross dated 1143, the oldest known Bolognese road cross, found under the portico of the church in 2013 during consolidation works.

The Basilica was run by Benedictine nuns until 31 July 1243 in their place, with a papal bull, a Chapter of canons was installed by the famous Ottaviano Ubaldini, administrator of the Diocese and cardinal, mentioned by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the church was the headquarters of the Compagnia della Branca, one of the arms companies of the medieval municipality at the head of the Porta Stiera district.

Members of the city's most important noble families expanded and renovated it. Here we also find the valuable altarpiece by Orazio Samacchini (c. 1564), which depicts Our Lady and Child, St James the Younger and St Anthony the Abbot, commissioned by the Tanari for their chapel in the right aisle, an early masterpiece of the Mannerist painter.

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore managed to preserve its remarkable artistic heritage almost intact. Currently, structural restoration and general restoration work is underway on the Basilica, which was still closed by the 2012 earthquake.

To testify to the past splendor of the Basilica remain the valuable sacred furnishings, in particular the rich series of wooden reliquaries, and the numerous works of art preserved inside. It is worth mentioning, for the widespread popular devotion, the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart adorned with valuable polychrome marbles in the second half of the nineteenth century, with the painting by the Roman painter Enrico Bottoni (1876).

The title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is clearly of French origin and emphasizes the special relationship between Mary and Jesus, symbolized by the Heart of her Son. This title is widely used in the naming of churches and chapels, but there are also sanctuaries, imagery, statues, religious orders, confraternities such as the one in Bologna.

The iconography of this title usually shows Mary highlighting the heart of the baby Jesus in her arms. In Bologna, the feast is celebrated on November 14 with an octave in 2011 dedicated to priestly vocations.

To find its origin, we must start with the ancient medieval veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, promoted by John Eudes (+1680), who then initiated the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Mary approved in 1668 for France and became for everyone after 1765, when the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was approved. But to see the titles united in a new one, we have to wait until 1854, when two priests: Abbé Chevalier and Abbé Maugenest founded the house of the Missionaries of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Issoudun in France and established the feast on November 14 with the approval of Pius IX.

In just ten years there were more than a thousand sanctuaries and chapels consecrated to Our Lady with this title all over the world. The Congregations of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus arose in France.

But its spread was also thanks to the French nun St Margaret Mary Alacoque (+1690), who used to address Mary with the title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and had great visions in 1673 that made her famous. The first took place on December 27, 1673, the feast of St John the Evangelist, when Jesus appeared to her inviting her to take John's place at the Last Supper: "My divine Heart is so passionate with love for men, that since it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its ardent charity, it must spread them. I have chosen you to fulfill this great plan, so that everything may be done by me."

Jesus asked that the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi be dedicated to the feast of his Heart, the first of which were held on July 20, 1685 and then on June 21, 1686. She was 37 years old when she went to Turin and at the suggestion of Don Bosco, she founded a kindergarten, a school and an oratory with the title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which she entrusted to her Congregation. Then a parish was also erected with this title. She was proclaimed a saint in 1920.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Glory to the Most Holy Trinity in you, O Mary! Glory to you, O Mary, in the Blessed Trinity! Queen of the Pope, Queen of bishops, Queen of priests, Queen of deacons, Queen of levites, Queen of clergy, Queen of religious orders, congregations and institure, Queen of Christian families."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Father, New Jersey, 1997, pp. 407-408)

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