A City saved! It was 1720, and again in 1722, in Marseilles, France, that the bubonic plague devastated the city.But prayer and penance to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the mystical understandings of the cloistered Visitation nun Anne Madeleine and the cooperation of the Diocesan Bishop Belsunce, resulted in the cessation of this horrific trial.
While in Adoration, Christ revealed to Anne-Madeleine that the Plague would lead to the Institution of the Feast in honor of His Sacred Heart. Just a few days later, He made known to her the conditions. The message was immediately transmitted to Bishop de Belsunce who published an order establishing the Feast of the Sacred Heart in his Diocese and on the 1st November, for the first time in the world, he solemnly consecrated the city and the Diocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In times of danger the chief pastor of a diocese was expected to share the risks of his flock, and Bishop Belsunce rose amply to the challenge. At the end of July, when the well-to-do had long since fled to their country retreats and the city gates were closed, the bishop refused steadfastly to abandon Marseilles. Churches were closed but Bishop Belsunce held improvised services in the open air. He went out daily among the dead and dying with three confessors and his household staff, giving alms and organizing the administration of the last rites. Almost every day, the bishop lost one of his confessors; when forty had died, he feared that he himself might perish without the sacraments.
In emulation of St. Charles Borromeo,Bishop Belsunce sought to embody the collective penance of the city in his own person, On All Saint’s Day, 1st November, the bishop walked barefoot – in garb of a penitent – to the church of Saint-Férriol and preached; on 31st December he processed round the ramparts overlooking the desolate city. On 20th June 1721, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, he presided over a huge open-air service of thanks before a massive open-air reposoir on the quayside where Marseilles meets the sea. Finally in 1722, the recurrence of plague afforded the opportunity for Bishop Belsunce’s culminating gesture, committing the city officials to annual public affirmation of the city’s perpetual dedication to the Sacred Heart – a tradition interrupted by the Revolution but reinstated in modified form by the municipality in 1877.
Pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during this current world wide health crisis! Consecrate yourself and your family to Him. May our Clergy and Hierarchy do likewise, and for all of us.