Pilgrimage series: Basilica du Sacre Coeur in Paris

Editor's note: Nineteenth in a series on the sacred places and tombs of saints included in The Compass pilgrimage to Rome and Paris that retired Green Bay Bishop Robert Banks will lead May 3-13. (More information on pilgrimage)

By Tony Staley

	Basilica du Sacre Coeur What: Basilica of the Sacred Heart When: Built 1884-1914 Where: Montmartre, Paris Other: Perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament since 1885

On the fourth day back in France, pilgrims will visit the Basilica du Sacre Coeur in Paris, which, since 1885, has had uninterrupted perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Roman-Byzantine style basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a popular landmark on Montmartre (Mount of Martyrs).

Tradition says St. Denis, the first bishop of Paris and patron saint of France, was martyred on Montmartre. Two battles in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) were fought in all or part there. In one, 20,000 to 30,000 people died, many on Montmarte.

The first proposal for a basilica came after the French Revolution. Interest increased in 1872 as atonement for the war. The National Assembly and Paris city council approved it in 1873.

Construction began in 1884 after Paul Abadie won a design competition over 77 other architects. Work was completed in 1914, but the consecration had to wait until 1919 and the end of World War I. During construction, an attempt by the city council to end the project failed as did proposals to turn it into a hotel or community center. Money for the basilica was donated or raised by selling columns and individual bricks listing the donor's name.

The basilica includes two statues of French saints, Joan of Arc and King Saint Louis IX, on horseback; a 19-ton bell; a four-manual, 90-stop organ; and one of the world's largest mosaics, "Christ in Majesty," above the main altar.

The Blessed Sacrament has been reserved in a monstrance above the high altar for perpetual adoration since the year after work began. Perpetual adoration apparently was not practiced in the church until the late ninth century in Spain and the early 13th century in France. The devotion slowly began spreading in the 15th century. Forty hours adoration started in the 16th century.

Adoration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus began with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a French nun and mystic.

As a child she had an intense love of the Blessed Sacrament, silence and prayer. After receiving her first Communion at age 9, she gave herself physical penances until she was bedridden with rheumatic fever from ages 10 to 15. It was then that she developed a devotion to the Sacred Heart.

She entered the Visitation convent at Paray-le-Monial in 1672 and had visions of Christ when she turned 20, including an 18-month series of revelations. Christ, she said, told her to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart by starting a feast, receiving Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays and a holy hour.

The well-known illustration of the Sacred Heart depicts her vision: The wounded divine heart surrounded by a crown of thorns, below a cross and above a throne of flames.

Margaret Mary's superior and community, as well as a specially appointed panel of theologians, refused to believe her. Finally, Blessed Claud La Colombière, the community's confessor, supported her. Community opposition ended when Mother Melin was elected superior in 1683 and she made Margaret Mary the novice mistress.

In her new position, Margaret Mary began an observance of the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the convent in 1686. Two years later, a Sacred Heart chapel was built in the convent and soon the order's other convents began observing the feast.

Pope Clement XIII in 1765 approved the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The French bishops wanted it to be a world-wide feast, which Pope Pius IX approved on Sept. 23, 1856, then consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart on June 16, 1875.

(Staley is a retired editor of The Compass.)

Next: Cathedral of Notre Dame