Annum sacrum

Pope Leo XIII Coat of arms

Annum sacrum (meaning Holy Year) is an encyclical by Pope Leo XIII on the consecration of the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on the 25th day of May, 1899, the twenty-second year of his pontificate.

History

Annum sacrum was published on 25 May 1899, in anticipation of the Holy Year declared for 1900 to usher in the twentieth century.[1]

When the Church, in the days immediately succeeding her institution, was oppressed beneath the yoke of the Caesars, a young Emperor saw in the heavens across, which became at once the happy omen and cause of the glorious victory that soon followed. And now, to-day, behold another blessed and heavenly tokenis offered to our sight-the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a cross rising from it and shining forth with dazzling splendor amidst flames of love.[2]

According to Russell Hittinger, more subsequent encyclicals were written in reference to Annum sacrum than the better known Rerum novarum".[3]

Leo XIII unites the Kingship of Christ with devotion to the Sacred Heart.[1]

The consecration in the encyclical entered new theological territory by consecrating non-Christians. The encyclical, and the consecration, were influenced by two letters written to the pope by Sister Mary of the Divine Heart Droste zu Vischering who stated that in visions of Jesus Christ she had been told to request the consecration.[4][5][6]

The encyclical includes the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart composed by Leo XIII.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 O'Donnell, Timothy Terrance. Heart of the Redeemer, Ignatius Press, 1992, ISBN 9780898703962
  2. ↑ Annum sacrum, §12.
  3. ↑ Hittinger, Russell. "Social Pluralism and Subsididiarity in Catholic Social Doctrine", Annales Theologici, 16, 2002
  4. ↑ Bainvel, Jean. "Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 Feb. 2015
  5. ↑ Laurent Volken, 1963, Visions, Revelations and the Church P.J. Kenedy Publishers
  6. ↑ Niels Christian Hvidt, 2007, Christian Prophecy: The Post-Biblical Tradition, OUP Press ISBN 0-19-531447-6 page 242

Sources

External links

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