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Catholic Chaplet

Chaplet of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Beads: 33 beads (years of Christ's life): 1 large + 5 groups of 6 small; crucifix

When to pray: First Friday of each month (per St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's revelations); June (Month of the Sacred Heart); at any time as reparation for sin.

Devotion approved by Pope Clement X, 1674; chaplet form developed within the Jesuit tradition

About this Devotion

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun in Paray-le-Monial, France, between 1673 and 1675. Jesus asked her, she wrote in her autobiography, that the first Friday of each month and a special Feast on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set aside for honoring his Heart. Pope Clement X gave initial approval to the devotion in 1674; Pope Pius VI formally approved the Feast of the Sacred Heart for Poland in 1765, and Pope Pius IX extended it to the universal Church in 1856. The Feast is now a Solemnity on the liturgical calendar, celebrated on the Friday after the second Sunday after Pentecost.

The chaplet form draws its structure from the Jesuit tradition of devotion to the Sacred Heart and from the thirty-three years of Christ's life. The prayers ask for reparation — making amends to God for the offences committed against his Heart by sinners — which is the distinctive note of the devotion as expressed in the First Friday practice.

How to Pray Chaplet of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

You will need: 33 beads (years of Christ's life): 1 large + 5 groups of 6 small; crucifix

1
Begin with the Sign of the Cross and a brief act of faith, asking to unite your intention with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
2
On the crucifix, pray: 'O my Jesus, You have said: Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of...'
3
On the 1 large bead, pray the Our Father. Then on each of the first group of 6 small beads, pray the Hail Mary.
4
Before each new group of 6 small beads, pray on the large bead: 'Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.' This is a short aspiratory prayer approved by Pope Pius IX with an indulgence of 300 days in its original form.
5
On each small bead within the 5 remaining groups, pray: 'Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You.'
6
After the 33 beads, close with the Litany of the Sacred Heart or the Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart as approved by Pope Leo XIII in his 1899 encyclical Annum Sacrum.

Prayers Used in This Chaplet

The full texts of the prayers prayed on each bead:

On each small bead

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You.

Source: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/sacred-heart-chaplet-357

Large bead aspiratory prayer

Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.

Source: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/sacred-heart-chaplet-357

Promises & Indulgences

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque recorded twelve promises Jesus made to those who are devoted to his Sacred Heart, as cited in the approved Visitation Order publications and EWTN's summary: among them, peace in families, consolation in troubles, blessing on all undertakings, the grace of final perseverance, and the grace of conversion at the hour of death for those who receive Communion on the first Friday of nine consecutive months.

Prayers used in this chaplet: Our Father · Hail Mary

Other Catholic Chaplets

Primary Sources