St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Prayer and Consecration

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690) was a humble Visitation nun in Paray-le-Monial, France, to whom Jesus revealed his Sacred Heart, “which has so loved men,” and asked for the devotion that spread through the whole Church: the First Fridays, the Holy Hour and the feast of the Sacred Heart. Below is her own act of consecration to the Sacred Heart and her favorite aspiration, in the translations of Father Lasance’s With God, a prayer to St. Margaret Mary, the story of the revelations, and her feast on October 16.

St. Margaret Mary’s act of consecration

The “little consecration” of St. Margaret Mary, from Father Lasance’s With God (1911). Many Catholics pray it daily or renew it on First Fridays:

I, N., give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ my person and my life, my actions, penances, and sufferings, that my whole being may be devoted to honoring, loving, and glorifying Him.

It is my irrevocable will to be entirely His, and to do everything for His love, renouncing with my whole heart whatever might displease Him.

I take Thee then, O most sacred Heart, as the sole object of my love, as the protector of my life, as the pledge of my salvation, as the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, as the repairer of all the defects of my life, and as my secure refuge in the hour of death.

Be then, O Heart of goodness, my justification before God the Father, and remove far from me the thunderbolts of His just wrath, O Heart of love, I place my whole confidence in Thee. While I fear all things from my malice and frailty, I hope all things from Thy goodness. Consume then in me whatever can displease or be opposed to Thee, and may thy pure love be so deeply impressed upon my heart that it may be impossible that I should ever be separated from Thee, or forget Thee.

I implore Thee, by all Thy goodness, that my name may be written in Thee, for in Thee I wish to place all my happiness and all my glory, living and dying in very bondage to Thee. Amen.

Her aspiration of trust

O Heart of love, I place all my trust in Thee: for though I fear all things from my weakness, I hope all things from Thy mercies.

A prayer to St. Margaret Mary

Written for this page:

St. Margaret Mary, beloved disciple of the Sacred Heart,
you were chosen in your humility to reveal the love of Jesus to the world.
Pray for me, that I may trust his Heart in every trial,
make reparation for the coldness of the world,
and love him in return for his great love.
Obtain for me the grace I ask: (name your intention). Amen.

The revelations of the Sacred Heart

Between 1673 and 1675, while Sister Margaret Mary prayed before the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus appeared to her several times. He showed her his Heart, burning with love and surrounded by thorns, and asked:

that people receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month in reparation for the ingratitude shown to his love;
that she keep a Holy Hour of prayer on Thursday nights, sharing his agony in Gethsemane;
that a feast of the Sacred Heart be established on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi;
that his Heart be honored with images in homes and churches.

Her superiors and fellow sisters at first doubted her, and she suffered much misunderstanding. The Jesuit St. Claude de la Colombière, sent as confessor to the convent, recognized the authenticity of her experiences and became the first apostle of the devotion. The promises Jesus made to those devoted to his Heart were later summarized as the twelve promises; see the Sacred Heart novena.

The life of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Margaret Alacoque was born on July 22, 1647, in Lhautecour, in Burgundy, France. Her father died when she was eight, and she was confined to bed with a paralyzing illness for four years until she was cured after promising to consecrate herself to Mary. After years of family hardship and resistance to her vocation, she entered the Visitation monastery at Paray-le-Monial in 1671, taking the name Margaret Mary. She served as assistant in the infirmary and later as mistress of novices. She died on October 17, 1690, at the age of forty-three, and was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

In 1856 Blessed Pius IX extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the whole Church, and in 1899 Pope Leo XIII consecrated the human race to the Sacred Heart.

Feast day and patronage

Feast day: October 16. A novena can run from October 7 to 15.
Patron of: devotees of the Sacred Heart, and those suffering from polio and the loss of parents.
Symbols: the Sacred Heart, the Visitation habit, and a flaming heart.

Frequently asked questions

When is the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque?

October 16. The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart is on the Friday after the second Sunday after Pentecost.

What did Jesus ask of St. Margaret Mary?

Devotion to his Sacred Heart: Communion on the first Fridays, a Holy Hour on Thursdays, a feast of the Sacred Heart and images of his Heart.

What are the First Fridays?

Receiving Holy Communion, in a state of grace, on the first Friday of nine consecutive months, in honor of the Sacred Heart, as Jesus asked St. Margaret Mary.

Where is St. Margaret Mary buried?

In the chapel of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial, a major place of pilgrimage.

More prayers to the Sacred Heart

Texts and sources

Act of consecration and aspiration: F. X. Lasance, With God (1911), Various Devotions, public domain (Wikisource).
The prayer to St. Margaret Mary was written for this page.