This Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the Solemn Act of Consecration to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, which EWTN attributes to Venerable Pope Pius XII, for families and for our country. A traditional prayer to the Heart of Mary follows.
Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to Your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world.
Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.
O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.
We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with Your rule, triumph in every heart and home. Amen.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, stained glass, St. Mary of the Cataract Church, Niagara Falls. Public domain (CC0).
O Heart of Mary, Mother of God, and our Mother; Heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the angels and of all men; Heart most like to the Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; Heart full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Savior. Amen.
Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.
Families may make the Act of Consecration together on her feast or on a First Saturday, and renew it each year. The short prayer and the invocation “Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation” may be prayed daily. The Act follows EWTN, and the second prayer is from a 1954 Chicago prayer book, as printed by Catholic Culture.
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart honors Mary’s sinless love for God, her pondering of His word in her heart and her sorrow at the foot of the Cross. It always leads to the Sacred Heart of her Son. The Vatican’s Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy explains the devotion.
Pope Pius XII extended the feast to the whole Church in 1944 and set it on August 22, where it remains in the traditional calendar. In the current calendar it is kept on the Saturday after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
No. The Immaculate Conception is Mary’s preservation from original sin from the first moment of her conception. Devotion to her Immaculate Heart honors her pure love and faithful response to God.
