08 August 2025

The Inseparability of the Three Hearts

Each day, I consecrate myself to the Three Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. As Mr Coulombe states, "the intentions of the Three Hearts are inseparable".


From Catholicism

By Charles Coulombe, STM, KCSS

Heart of Jesus I adore thee;
Heart of Mary, I implore thee;
Heart of Joseph, pure and just;
In these three hearts I put my trust.

August 22 in the traditional calendar is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to which devotion the entire Month of August is dedicated. June is the Month of the Sacred Heart; the movable feast of the same name is the Friday following the Octave of Corpus Christi — the Thursday of the accompanying Octave of the Sacred Heart itself is the feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. The day before is the Feast of the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph — although his main feast and accompanying month are in March. These Three Hearts of the Holy Family, while of course distinct, are nevertheless closely united by bonds of Love of an intensity we are hard put to understand. When we honour one, we honour the other two — nor can reverence to any of them diminish the honour given the others.

While the modern devotion ot the Sacred Heart was given by Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, it was prefigured by revelations to Ss. Gertrude and Mechtilde centuries earlier. It was propagated by St. John Eudes alongside the Immaculate Heart — which itself would be a great part of Our Lady’s own revelations at Fatima. There are a number of parallels in the two devotions — First Fridays and Saturdays, for example, and the Consecrations to each; this latter comparison was in fact made by Our Lady herself to the children at Fatima. Where Our Lord’s Sacred Heart overflows with love for all Mankind, His Mother’s Immaculate Heart is filled with love for Him and all humanity. The Heart of Joseph is likewise filled with love for both Mankind and his Foster Son; but also his chaste love for his legal spouse. According to BlessedJoseph.com, explicit devotion to his chaste heart began in the 17th century, but, “In 1744, a brotherhood was formed in Seville, Spain, under the banner: ‘Slaves of the Heart of St. Joseph.’ Their emblem featured the Heart of Joseph with flames issuing from its top and encircled with lilies. The heart is crossed with his flowering staff and a sword, while the monogram of St. Joseph is seen in the center. The brotherhood was permitted to privately celebrate the feast of the Heart of Joseph on September 18.” From there on the devotion grew.

Their familial relationship is of course the basis of their mutual love, naturally speaking. But it is Supernaturalised, given that it is primarily based upon the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. The entire work of the Holy Family revolved around Christ’s Salvific mission, and the essential Redemption of the Human Race — essential, that is, if any of us are to escape eternal damnation.

But the human unity of the Holy Family went beyond the expected charity and mutual support expected of all families. They were also the heirs of a human dynasty — albeit one that had made a specific covenant with God — the House of David. Pius XI wrote at length in Quas Primas about the Divine elements of Christ’s Kingship, as a result of His art in Creation and His sacrificial rescue of humanity. But he also touched upon the human side of His Royalty, which stemmed from his heirship to David. His Mother’s Queenship, which is connected to the Divine side of His due to her cooperation with His work, is the source of His actual descent from David — His DNA, as it were. But the role of Queen Mother in ancient Israel was an important one in and of itself, as successive holders of the title were official advisors to and intercessors with their sons. St. Joseph, her cousin, was also legal heir to David, for all that the throne had been usurped by others. He was thus able to pass on to his foster son that those rights his spouse could not through her blood.

At the Last Supper, as symbolised by His washing the feet of the Apostles, Christ merged His Davidic Kingship with the Communio of the Church. This remained purely in potentia while the Church remained an illegal organization; Christ was certainly King of Catholics, His Mother their Queen Mother, and His foster father renowned as having been, so to speak, regent for a time, this was an internal affair, purely for the Baptised. But when, in the 4th century, whole countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Ethiopia, and latterly the Roman Empire were enfolded within the boundaries of the Church, it became a vastly more important issue.

Now that there were Catholic Monarchs, they sought to make their own Kingship a participation in that of Christ. But this in turn, thanks to Our Lady, elevated Queenship to a much more important role than it previously had, in emulation of that of the Blessed Virgin. The efforts of any number of founder Kings of the various Catholic countries — Clovis, Ethelbert, Erik, Stephen, etc. — were echoed by their evangelizing spouses.

In later times, various Emperors and Kings were especially prominent in spreading devotion to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, and to the Immaculate Conception, upon which doctrine the Immaculacy of Our Lady’s Heart rests. As Dom Guéranger observes:

The three great Catholic Nations of Europe, — Germany, France, and Spain, — vied with each other in their devotion to this mystery of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. France, by her King Louis XIV, obtained from Clement IX that this feast should be kept with an Octave throughout the kingdom; which favour was afterwards extended to the universal Church by Innocent XII. For centuries previous to this, the Theological Faculty of Paris had always exacted from its Professors the oath that they would defend this privilege of Mary; a pious practice which continued as long as the University itself.

As regards Germany, the Emperor Ferdinand III., in 1647, ordered a splendid monument to be erected in the great square of Vienna. It is covered with emblems and figures symbolical of Mary’s victory over sin, and on the top is the statue of the Immaculate Queen, with this solemn and truly Catholic inscription:

TO GOD, INFINITE IN GOODNESS AND POWER,
KING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH,
BY WHOM KINGS REIGN;
TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN,
BY WHOM PRINCES COMMAND,
WHOM AUSTRIA, DEVOUTLY LOVING, HOLDS AS HER QUEEN AND PATRON;
FERDINAND III, EMPEROR,
CONFIDES, GIVES, CONSECRATES. HIMSELF,
[HIS] CHILDREN, PEOPLE, ARMIES, PROVINCES,
AND ALL THAT IS HIS,
AND ERECTS IN ACCOMPLISHMENT OF A VOW
THIS STATUE, AS A PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.

But the zeal of Spain for the privilege of the holy Mother of God surpassed that of all other nations. In the year 1398, John I King of Aragon, issued a Chart, in which he solemnly places his person and kingdom under the protection of Mary Immaculate. Later on, Kings Philip III and Philip IV sent ambassadors to Rome, soliciting, in their names, the solemn definition, which heaven reserved, in its mercy, for our days. King Charles III in the last century, obtained permission from Clement XIII, that the Immaculate Conception should be the patronal feast of Spain. The people of Spain, so justly called the Catholic Kingdom, put over the door, or on the front of their houses, a tablet with the words of Mary’s privilege written on it; and when they meet, they greet each other with an expression in honour of the same dear mystery. It was a Spanish Nun, Mary of Jesus, Abbess of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception of Agreda, who wrote God’s Mystic City, which inspired Murillo with his Immaculate Conception, the master-piece of the Spanish School.

Not surprisingly, it was also France’s Louis XIV who took an important part in spreading devotion to St. Joseph. Even as his father had consecrated France to the Assumption in 1638, so acted Louis XIV: “Three days after assuming power, on March 12th, Louis XIV decided to establish a solemn feast of Saint Joseph (in those days no one worked on important feasts) for the whole Kingdom. The few bishops who could be contacted in time gave their support. The next day, March 13th, during the meeting of the High Council, the King prohibited all trade and work every March 19th, effective in 1661.” Unlike the Assumption celebrations, which were renewed ater the French Revolution, this was not; neither did Louis XIV consecrate his Kingdom to the Sacred Heart, as requested by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

It fell to his unhappy descendant Louis XVI to privately consecrate his realm to the Sacred Heart while in prison, as Bl. Karl did with his realms in 1918. During and since those days, many countries have been consecrated to one of the Three Hearts, or to the Kingship of Christ or the Queenship of Mary; but most have been done by the bishops alone. It is a fairly decided practise that such a consecration is not complete unless the Head of State also takes part, as has happened a number of times.

In any case, it is certain that one cannot really separate the role of each member of the Holy Family in the Salvific work of that Family’s Son; that the intentions of the Three Hearts are inseparable; and that acceptance of the supremacy of one requires accepting the dominion of the other two.

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