The following post is from Catholic Restoration. Let us entreat the Immaculate Heart of Mary for Her intercession and protection. Today is also the feast day of St. John Eudes, who was instrumental in spreading the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us ask for his intercession in drawing closer to our Blessed Mother and Her Immaculate Heart.
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
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Via Catholic Restoration:
Month of the Immaculate Heart
The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart. Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person and is the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.
This devotion has received new emphasis in this century from the visions given to Lucy Dos Santos, oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Tuy, in Spain, in 1925 and 1926. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses committed against her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. The practice parallels the devotion of the Nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart.
On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. Let us remember this devotion year-round, but particularly through the month of August
Lumen Fidei Ministries 