Today (Friday after 2nd Sunday after Pentectost) is the feast of the Sacred
Heart.
This devotion received its theological formulation in the 18th century and
has been
popular ever since. Nevertheless it has its roots in the Middle Ages,
particularly
in two treatises of St Bonaventure, 'Vitis mystica' (formerly attributed to
St Bernard) and 'De ligno vitae' - The tree of life.
An extract from the latter is included in the Office of Readings in the
Breviary, for today. It can also be found in the Classics of Western
spirituality Volume of Bonaventure (trans. Ewert Cousins, Paulist Press, New
York/Ramsey/Toronto 1978).
See especially the section "Jesus Pierced with a Lance" beginning on p.154.
>From "The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church":
". . . the devotion appears richly developed in the visions of St Mechtilde
(d. 1298) and St Gertrude (d. 1303). But the devotion was long confined to
a relatively small number of mystics and saints, e.g. Julian of Norwich and
St Frances of Rome. A new departure was made in the 16th century, when the
devotion extended from the visions of the mystics to the regular practice of
many given to the ascetic life, and it was fostered esp. by the Carthusians."
Oriens.
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