Last Friday, we celebrated the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This feast has a long history and goes back many centuries but it was with the apparitions of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alouque in the 18th century that devotion to Jesus under the symbol of his heart soon became universal in the Church. Jesus appeared to this Visitation Nun in a monastery in Paray, France. Jesus directed her to spread devotion to him under the symbol of His Sacred Heart and to make reparation for the lack of love which human beings returned to God. He complained to her that despite his great love for men and women, he only received indifference. He asked that reparation be made to his Sacred Heart and recommended that a holy hour be held on the first Thursday of each month and that Holy Communion be received on the First Friday of each month. Thus began the practice of a novena of nine First Fridays. Under the directions of her confessor, Fr. Claude de la Columbiere, S.J. and with his help, she set about spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart. This devotion was to become the work of the Visitation Nuns and the Society of Jesus.

During World War II, I was quite young and my two older brothers were fighting in the Pacific. My oldest brother was a lieutenant in the 1st Marine Division that invaded Okinawa. My second oldest brother was with the Army and fought in the Philippines. Even my oldest sister was in the service stationed in Washington. At this time, a new pastor was named to my parish in Dorchester. His name was Fr. Pat Lydon and he had been an Army Chaplain in World War I. He had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart and when he arrived in the parish during the war, he began a devotion to the Sacred Heart on Sunday evening, one service at 5:00PM, the other at 7:00PM. Needless to say, these services filled the Church. As part of the service, each Sunday, twelve names were read of those who were in the armed services, and before the statue of the Sacred Heart were two candelabrums and as a name was read one of the candles was lit. I was a rookie altar boy and at each service a group of us were part of the service.

The altar boys took turns lighting the candles when a parishioner in the service’s name was read. When my two brothers’ and sister’s names were read, I proudly lit the three candles. When the war ended, attendance at the Sacred Heart services declined so much that there was only one service held each Sunday. My friends and I usually attended the movies at the local movie theatre each Sunday night but we would first attend the Sacred Heart service.

-Fr. Bill Mulligan