of Mary Composed by Berthe Petit:
'Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, dwelling pure and holy, cover my soul with your maternal protection so that being ever faithful to the voice of Jesus, it responds to His love and obeys His Divine Will.
I wish, O, my Mother, to keep unceasingly before me your co-redemption in order to live intimately with your Heart that is totally united to the Heart of your Divine Son.
Fasten me to this Heart by your own virtues and sorrows. Protect me always. Amen.'
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SORROWFUL AND IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, PRAY FOR US
Berthe Petit (January 23, 1870 – March 26, 1943) was a Franciscan Tertiary known for her devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She had reported visions of Jesus and Mary since an early age, and claimed to experience conversations with Jesus Christ for many years thereafter
Berthe was born Francoise Marie Ghislaine Berthe Petit, in Enghien, Belgium and her father was a lawyer. She was a gifted child from an early age and reportedly had her first vision of theVirgin Mary at age 4. During her youth she reported a vision of the Infant Jesus coming towards her and saying "You will always suffer, but I will be with you.".[4]
She expressed her desire for a religious life on the day of her First Holy Communion. She said to her teacher, a nun, "I must suffer a great deal, I must be like Jesus." "Who told you that?" asked the nun. "The little Host which is Jesus," was Berthe's reply.[5] Following a serious episode of typhoid in 1884, aged 14, she enjoyed poor health for the rest of her life..[6]
On hearing her confession on September 8, 1888, Father Godefroid O.F.M. Cap told her that she would become a "crucified spouse" of Christ, and a victim soul for many sinners. At Christmas Midnight Mass in 1893, Berthe made a vow offering her life and health to God in exchange for the gift of a soul being called to the priesthood, and immediately received a mystical experience in which she believed Jesus accepted her vow, confirmed that she would experience great suffering, and that she would one day know the priest who would be the fruit of her prayers..[7] This priest turned out to be Louis Decorsant, whom she would not meet until 1908.
After becoming a Franciscan Tertiary, taking the religious name 'Mary Magdalene of the Cross', Berthe suffered from many illnesses. At one point doctors had given up all hope for her, but she mysteriously recovered.[8]
The following revelations were made by Our Lord to his spiritual daughter, Berthe Petit:
"The worst calamities which I had predicted are unleashed. The time is now ripe and I wish mankind to turn to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother. Let this prayer be uttered by every soul: ‘Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.’ Let this prayer dictated by My Love as a supreme succor be approved and indulgenced, no longer partially and for a small portion of My flock, but for the whole universe, so that it may spread as a refreshing and purifying balm of reparation that will appease My anger. This Devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother will restore faith and hope to broken hearts and to ruined families: it will help to repair the destruction: it will sweeten sorrow. It will be a new strength for My Church, bringing souls, not only to confidence in My Heart, but also to abandonment to the Sorrowful Heart of My Mother."
Cardinal Bourne granted, to all those who will devoutly say: ‘Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us’ an indulgence of 200 days each time.
"The title Immaculate belongs to the whole being of My Mother, and not specifically to her Heart . . this title flows from My . . . gift to the Virgin who has given Me birth. However, My Mother has acquired for her Heart the title, Sorrowful by sharing . . . all the sufferings of My Heart and My Body, from the crib to the Cross . . .The title of Sorrowful is most dear of all to Me . . "
