Hymns in honour of the Sacred Heart

(Vatican Radio) Hymns to the Sacred Heart make a strong appeal to our emotions as we pray to the Heart of Jesus. Listen to this musical meditation presented by music historian Monsignor Philip Whitmore and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick as part of  the series: 'Music to watch Angels by'..

Listen: 

"One reason the devotion to the Sacred Heart grew so fast was to counteract an overemphasis on rationalistic religion. We pray to the Heart of Jesus to touch our cold, ungrateful hearts and to set them aflame with love for Our Saviour. For English Catholics in the Victorian and Edwardian era, hymns were an important way of expressing solidarity in the midst of a fairly hostile environment. They often use images of a people in exile, threatened by storms and dangers, sustained by their Christian hope of a heaveny homeland. Francis Stanfield's hymn 'Sweet Sacrament divine' is a good example. The same author in his hymn 'O sacred heart' speaks of the exile's longing for home".