WEB-WORK Nº 1 ANSWERS
At the Good Shepherd, did Mary Euphrasia use the John Eudes texts to celebrate the feast of the
Sacred Heart: Yes? No? Why?
[Answer: During the Apostolic Process Fr. Ange le Doré, Superior General of the Eudists,
explained why Mary Euphrasia was unable, despite her desire, to celebrate the feast of the Sacred
Heart using the Office composed by St. John Eudes.
“I have spoken about the attachment of the Servant of God to the institutions of the Venerable
Father Eudes. She would have liked to conserve the patronal feast of the Sacred Heart that she
had celebrated in the Refuge in Tours on 20th October, the day she entered the convent, in her
new Institute. She would have liked to use for this solemnity the office composed by our
Venerable Institutor. But the feast and the Office were only authorised by the Holy See, for the
Order of Our Lady of Charity and for our Congregation of Jesus and Mary, at a time when she
no longer had any relationship with these two Institutes. She had died by the time the Sacred
Congregation of Rites had to pronounce no the doctrine and writings of the Venerable Father
Eudes, in the Process for his Beatification. Also, some advice she received persuaded her that it
would be more in conformity with the spirit of the Church to turn towards the common feast and
Office. She resigned herself to it but with regret.” (Apostolic Process, p. 277)
<b>DO YOU KNOW THE LETTER SENT ON 6TH JUNE 1899 BY MARIA DROSTE TO
POPE LEO XIII ABOUT THE CONSECRATION OF THE WORLD TO THE SACRED
HEART? CAN YOU FIND ANY ELEMENTS IN IT THAT WOULD BE RELEVANT IN
TODAY’S WORLD?</b>
Document to facilitate your reply:
Letter from Sr. Mary of the Divine Heart to Pope Leo XIII
“Most Holy Father,
…By the express command of Our Lord and with the consent of my confessor, I come, with the
most profound respect and perfect submission, to pass on to Your Holiness some new
communications that Our Lord has deigned to give me. When, last summer Your Holiness was
suffering from an indisposition which, due to your advanced age, filled the hearts of your
children with anxiety, Our Lord gave me the sweet consolation that he would prolong Your
Holiness’ days so that the consecration of the whole world to his Heart could be realised. Later,
on the first Friday in the month of December, He told me that he had prolonged Your Holiness’
days so as to give you this grace (to make the consecration) … He left me to understand that
after having made the consecration Your Holiness would soon finish your pilgrimage here below.
On the eve of the Immaculate Conception, …I seemed to see (interiorly) this light, the Heart of
Jesus, this adorable sun, whose rays descended on the earth, first narrowly, then more widely, and
finally, lighting up the whole world. I recognized the ardent desire He has to see his adorable
Heart more and more glorified and known and to spread his gifts and blessings over the whole
world. And He has chosen Your Holiness, prolonging your days, so that you might render Him
this honour, console his outraged Heart and draw on your soul the choice graces that come from
this Divine Heart, this source of all graces, this place of peace and happiness …
You might find it strange that Our Lord would ask for this consecration of the entire world and
not be content with the consecration of the Catholic Church. But his desire to reign, to be loved
and glorified and to embrace all hearts with his love and mercy is so ardent, that he wants Your
Holiness to offer him the hearts of all those who by holy baptism belong to him so as to facilitate
their return to the true Church, and the hearts of all those who have not yet received spiritual life
through baptism, but for whom He has given his life and blood and who are likewise called to be
one day the children of holy Church, so as to hasten by this means of their spiritual birth …
I come once again to beg with the most filial submission and most lively insistence Your
Holiness to accord Our Lord the consolation he asks and to add to the cult of his Divine Heart
some new brightness as the Our Lord will inspire you. Our Lord has only spoken to me directly
about the consecration, but on different occasions he has shown me the ardent desire he has that
his Heart be more and more glorified and loved for the good of the nations. It seems to me that it
would be agreeable to him if the devotion of the first Fridays be strengthened by an exhortation
from Your Holiness to the clergy and the faithful. He has not said this to me expressly, as when
he talked about the consecration, but I believe I perceived this ardent desire of his Heart, without
however being able to affirm it.
After having, in all sincerity and simplicity, told your Holiness my story, it only remains for me
to ask you, Most Holy Father, with the most profound humility, to forgive my audacity …”
Sister Mary of the Divine Heart Droste zu Vischering, Superior of the Monastery of the Good
Shepherd in Porto (Portugal), 6th January 1899
Blanca Inés Velásquez,RBP
Angers,2004
Traduction: Anne- Josephine Carr, RBP