The Vatican has proclaimed a Jubilee Year to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the canonization of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

The Jubilee Year, which was granted by the Apostolic Penitentiary in Rome, opens Oct. 16, 2019 and closes on Oct. 17, 2020. The year encompasses the anniversary of the canonization of St. Margaret Mary, which is May 13, 2020. On that day a reliquary of the Visitation nun will be displayed in St. Peter’s Square.

“We are excited that Pope Francis has proclaimed this Jubilee Year. It will make available an abundance of graces throughout the world,” said Sr. Susan Marie, of the Visitation Sisters’ Brooklyn NY monastery. “The message of the Sacred Heart is one that is truly needed today.”

The Visitation Sisters, who requested the celebration, said,

“[W]e have thought that the grace of a Jubilee Year, with the possibility of a plenary indulgence, could also allow the numerous faithful who frequent the chapels of our monasteries to intimately experience the love of the Heart of Jesus, and to render him ‘love for love’ according to the desire that he himself had expressed to Saint Margaret Mary.”

New Video on the Sacred Heart

To honor this special year, the Visitation Sisters have produced a six-minute video, Jubilee Celebrating Saint Margaret Mary that recalls the history of devotion to the Sacred Heart and the revelations of Jesus Christ to St. Margaret Mary. The video, produced by VocationPromotion.com, also encourages viewers to make a pilgrimage to a Visitation monastery during the Jubilee Year.

The video recalls the revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation Nun in Paray-le-Monial, France, that emphasized Jesus’ love for mankind with his human heart, and asked for reparations for the indifference and insults against him. The visions occurred between 1673 and 1675 against a background of Jansenism, an unfortunate movement in France which maintained the total depravity of human nature, essentially eliminating the effectiveness of human free will to accomplish anything good. 

Flames of Love

In these visions, Christ informed Sr. Margaret Mary that she was His chosen instrument to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart. In her writings, St. Margaret Mary described what she saw in one of the visions:

“Flames issued on all sides from His Sacred Humanity, but especially from His adorable Breast, which resembled a furnace. In this He showed me His most adorable Heart, the living Source of these flames.

“Then He disclosed to me the ineffable wonders of His love, and to what an excess He had carried it in His love for men, from whom He received only ingratitude.” 

“He assured me that He took special pleasure in being honored under the representation of the Heart of flesh, and that He desired such representations to become public, so that the hard hearts of men might thereby be touched.”

Jesus instructed her in a devotion that was to become known as the Nine Fridays and the Holy Hour, and asked that the feast of the Sacred Heart be established.

Promises of the Sacred Heart

In the visions, Jesus promised twelve specific graces to those who carry out the Nine Fridays. There are many other devotions to the Sacred Heart, including a scapular, badges, the Litany of the Sacred Heart, and the Guard of Honor. 

People are encouraged to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart. For example, the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is a specific way that families can consecrate their lives and their home.

During the Jubilee Year, the grace of a plenary indulgence will be granted to all those who pass through the doors of a Visitation monastery chapel on any day of the Jubilee Year.

This will allow the numerous faithful who frequent the chapels of the Visitation monasteries to intimately experience the love of the Heart of Jesus.

Requirements of Plenary Indulgence

To receive the plenary indulgence, you must: 

1) Be in a state of grace; 

2) Go to Confession and receive Holy Communion within twenty days preceding or following the visit; and

3) Pray for the intentions of the Holy Father.

Special Pilgrimage Dates

  • Feast of St. Margaret Mary, Oct. 16, 2019 and 2020
  • Solemnity of Saint Francis de Sales, January 24, 2020
  • 100th anniversary of the canonization of  St. Margaret Mary, May 13, 2020
  • Solemnity of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, May 31, 2020
  • Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, June 19, 2020
  • Solemnity of Saint Jane de Chantal, August 12, 2020 
  • First Friday of each month.

The faithful may gain the indulgence upon making a visit on any day during the Jubilee Year. But an invitation is extended to visit a Visitation Monastery on these special dates.

Guard of Honor Meeting

On the occasion of the Jubilee Year, the Guard of Honor, an association of the faithful, will hold an international meeting in Paray le Monial, France on May 8 – 9, 2020. 

This will be done to reimmerse members in the spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the spiritual source of the association, by profiting from the grace of this Jubilee Year. Another reason is to reinforce the bonds of communion and unity by reuniting all those, sisters and laity, who love and seek to make the association known, by sharing their experiences.

Visitation Sisters’ Meeting

Also, the Visitation Sisters worldwide will organize a gathering in the same city on May 11 – 14, 2020 to enhance their formation, and to stimulate their fidelity to their Visitandine mission to love and make known the Heart of Jesus.

The meeting’s purpose is also to rediscover and follow more deeply the path of holiness of Saint Margaret Mary, and her theology for their own Visitandine life, and in or order to present them to the world today.

There are 11 Visitation Sisters’ monasteries in the United States, and many more throughout the world.

For the video, and more information on making the pilgrimage, go to “New Video Explains the Jubilee Year of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.”