Dear Friends,
For many years you learned little by little of the beauty and diversity of the artistic heritage of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary by visiting our thematic exhibitions or browsing the volumes of the collection began in 2007.
Today, we are pleased to invite you to come see our new exhibition in Moulins, on the Sacred Heart(Opening May 7, 2013 in Moulins, France)
But we are also very proud to offer you a sneak preview of the latest installment in our series of literature. “A tout Coeur” “ highlights the great influence of the Sacred Heart on the Visitation creations worldwide.
The phrase the Sacred Heart evokes statues and paintings stereotypical of the nineteenth and twentieth century, so common in French churches, whose worship sometimes seems obsolete.
Our goal is clearly to “dust” off these prejudices, recalling how in the late seventeenth century, Christ revealed his love for a young Visitandine, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. This book demonstrates the crucial role played by the Visitation in spreading devotion to the “divine heart.” The birth and influence of the cult of the Sacred Heart at the Visitation accompanied with a rich artistic expressionmust be discovered and deepened.
“A tout Coeur”” is not intended to explain the many religious movements, sometimes political, under the patronage of the Sacred Heart. This book “merely” presents the most representative works of the Visitation. For the artistic heritage of this order is a rich corpus of unpublished art from around the world, to be offered to the Sacred Heart, especially at Paray-le Monial.
Throughout the pages, you can travel the world, driven by this vast movement through surprising works published for the first time. They come from Europe, America, Asia and even Oceania. Each artist in his own way, under the influence of decorative arts of his country, has his fervor transformed into creative energy.
The Museum of the Visitation invites you to discover the Chinese lacquer boxes, Mexican embroidery bindings, mosaic banners and silver hearts reflecting the faithful love of the Heart of Jesus
There are representations of Chinese dignitaries in full dress, alongside the New Zealand population represented by a Maori warrior and an English princess. The French altar frontals are filled with flowers.
Also, if your heart tells you, help us by buying this book. Pleasure is guaranteed!
Size: 24 x 28 cm – 280 pages – 310 color illustrations – Price: 39 €. – $ 52
At any Heart: Order or reservation
The shipping costs are € 10 – $ 13 per catalog.
I enclose a check for € 49 / $ 65 payable to the Association Regard sur la Visitation.
Send check to: Association Regard sur la Visitation 4, place de l’Ancien Palais 03000 Moulins, France.
Book is written in French.
Chapter titles:
Summary
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Part I-Marylin Masse -Vaudable, Gerard Picaud
Dissemination of the Sacred Heart in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Visitation. . . . . . . 25
A renewed devotion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Translation:
It would be inexact to reduce the devotion to the Sacred Heart and the enthusiasm that it raised in the faithful between the 17th and 18th centuries to the sole mystical experiences of Sr. Alacocoque, who within the monastery of Paray le Monial was favored en 1673,1674 and 1675 with 3 visions. Jesus asked her to be an apostle of the spread of the cult. A number of historians have the tendency to limit the devotion to the Sacred Heart to the sole person of St Margaret Mary. Its legitimacy is not based solely on these revelations.
There exists a “before” and “after” Paray –le Monial.
The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ found its roots in the meditation of the open side of Christ on the Cross, where rthe Fathers of the Church saw spring the sacraments that are the foundation of the Church: baptism and the Eucharist. This devotion, unknown in the Old Testament and the first 10 centuries of the church has long been private. It did not enter nor was truly affirmed in France until the 17th century.
The elements that constitute it are those with a long spiritual tradition which goes back to the theological reflections of St Anselm and St Bernard and the ardent contemplation of the humanity of Christ .In these reflections, a mystical elan has been added by pious religious as the Benedictines of Helfta in Saxony, St Gertrude and Mechtilde, in the 13rth century and finally the meditations and ascetical treatises of the spiritual Rhineland Flemish of the 14th and 15th centuries.
These components passed through Germany and the Netherlands to France to form a new devotion.
The term “Sacred Heart” designates first “the Heart of flesh of Jesus that beats in the divine chest, which is the center and the principal agent of the circulation of the blood, the heart shining like the sun on the whole human organism “ It is hardly surprising that the heart, seat of divine love, occupies a particular and unique place within the Order of the Visitation. The sentimental and emotional piety of the daughters of St Francis de Sales found in this devotion a very great and very perfect realization and most particularly St Margaret Mary Alacoque, with the spread of the devotion within the Order.