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The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Memorial

Feast Day
June 13

The Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary follows the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, falling on the Saturday after that Solemnity. In 2026, that Saturday is June 13. By Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year no. 60 and the rubrics of the General Roman Calendar, when this date coincides with the Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua (June 13), the Immaculate Heart of Mary becomes an Optional Memorial alongside Saint Anthony and the Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart is documented from the Middle Ages, especially through Saint John Eudes (1601-1680), who composed proper Mass and Office texts for both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Pure Heart of Mary. Pope Pius VII permitted the feast on August 22 in 1805. Following the Fatima apparitions of 1917, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 31, 1942, and extended the feast to the universal Church on May 4, 1944, fixing it on August 22.

The 1969 reform of the General Roman Calendar moved the celebration to the Saturday after the Sacred Heart, in order to express the close relationship between the Heart of the Son and the Heart of his Mother. Pope Saint John Paul II raised it from optional to obligatory memorial in the year 2000.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary expresses, in the language of Marian piety, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854): Mary, by a singular grace and privilege of God Almighty, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, was preserved from all stain of original sin. Her Heart, sinless and wholly given to God, is the model of every Christian heart aspiring to be made pure (Matthew 5:8).

Catholic Churches Named After The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

9 parishes on Catholic Church Times share The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:

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