Sacred Heart of Jesus

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus hasbeen controversial from its beginning inthe life of the French Visitationist nunMargaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), whoestablished the devotion after a series ofmystical visions of Christ. Under theleadership of Sister Sophie Barat, founderof the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800,the devotion was taken around the worldin the course of the nineteenth century.Wherever it went, the devotion took theshape of an evolving visual culture. Evenduring Alacoque’s lifetime, imagery was a fundamental part of practicing thedevotion. The Sacred Heart of Jesus tracesthe unfolding visual biography of theSacred Heart, showing how imagery andvisual practice document the history of thedevotion and the remarkable range of itsevolution.