Litany of the Sacred Heart

Devotions

A sequence of thirty-three invocations honoring the Heart of Christ under various scriptural and theological titles, compiled from seventeenth-century sources and approved for public use by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

The Litany of the Sacred Heart is a call-and-response prayer of thirty-three invocations — one for each year of Christ’s earthly life — that honor the Heart of Jesus under a series of scriptural and theological titles. Assembled from invocations composed by the Jesuit Jean Croiset and the Visitandine nun Anne-Madeleine Remuzat in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, it was approved for public use throughout the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1899, the same year he consecrated the human race to the Sacred Heart.

Quick Facts

  • Category: Jesus Christ — Sacred Heart
  • Origin: Compiled from invocations by Jean Croiset, S.J. and Anne-Madeleine Remuzat in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, France
  • Observance: Prayed at any time, especially on Fridays, during June, and around the Feast of the Sacred Heart
  • Church status: one of a small number of litanies formally approved by the Holy See for public use, granted by Pope Leo XIII in 1899
  • Private revelation: the litany’s text is a devotional composition, not itself the reported content of a vision

What Is This Devotion?

The Litany of the Sacred Heart is a structured prayer of praise and petition, following the pattern common to Catholic litanies: a series of short invocations, each naming Christ’s Heart under a different title, followed by a brief response, and closing with a set of petitions. Its thirty-three invocations are traditionally said to correspond to the thirty-three years of Christ’s earthly life, though the litany’s real purpose is contemplative — walking through, one title at a time, the many facets of Christ’s love symbolized by his Heart.

Origin and History

The litany was assembled gradually rather than composed at a single sitting. Many of its invocations come from the Jesuit priest Jean Croiset, whose 1691 book on devotion to the Sacred Heart did much to spread the practice in the decades after St. Margaret Mary Alacoque’s reported visions. Ten further invocations are attributed to Anne-Madeleine Remuzat, a Visitandine nun of Marseille who promoted the devotion vigorously during the plague that struck that city in 1720, along with additional invocations added later to complete the sequence of thirty-three.

The finished litany received the Holy See’s formal approval for public use from Pope Leo XIII in 1899 — the same year, by the encyclical Annum Sacrum, that he consecrated the whole human race to the Sacred Heart. That approval placed it among a small number of litanies that the Church permits for public, liturgical-style recitation, as distinct from the far larger number of privately composed litanies that circulate in Catholic devotional life without that formal status.

Catholic Theology

Litanies work by repetition and accumulation: no single title exhausts what the Heart of Christ means, so the prayer moves through many — merciful, patient, the source of all consolation, pierced for our sins — building a picture no single sentence could hold. Praying it is an exercise in contemplating the many dimensions of Christ’s love rather than a request formula whose wording must be recited precisely to work; the Church’s approval concerns its suitability for public prayer, not any claim that the words themselves carry automatic power.

How to Practice It

  • Pray the litany slowly, ideally aloud or with a group in call-and-response form, since it was written for that use.
  • Use it on Fridays, throughout June (the Month of the Sacred Heart), or around the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
  • Pair it with a Holy Hour or Eucharistic adoration, since many parishes traditionally include it in devotions before the Blessed Sacrament.
  • Let the repeated titles serve as points for brief meditation rather than rushing to the end.

Associated Prayers

When It’s Observed

The litany carries no feast of its own; it is prayed at any time, with a natural home on Fridays, throughout June, and around the moveable Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, kept on the Friday nineteen days after Pentecost.

Church Status

The Litany of the Sacred Heart holds the relatively rare status, among Catholic litanies, of formal approval by the Holy See for public use, granted by Pope Leo XIII in 1899. A partial indulgence is attached to its devout recitation under the Church’s Manual of Indulgences, though as with any indulgence, current conditions should be confirmed against that Manual rather than an older prayer card. Its public-use approval does not place it on the same level as the liturgy itself; like every litany, it remains a devotion that supports the Mass and the sacraments rather than standing alongside them.

Common Misconceptions

“Any litany a Catholic prays has the same official standing as this one.”

Only a small number of litanies — including this one, the Litany of the Saints, and the Litany of Loreto among a few others — have been formally approved by the Holy See for public, liturgical-style use. Many other popular litanies circulate as private devotions without that specific approval, which does not make them illegitimate, only different in status.

“The thirty-three invocations are a strict historical count with no flexibility.”

The number reflects a traditional association with the years of Christ’s life rather than a fixed theological rule; the point of praying it is contemplation of Christ’s Heart, not arithmetic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Litany of the Sacred Heart?

No single author composed it. It was assembled from invocations by the Jesuit Jean Croiset, the Visitandine nun Anne-Madeleine Remuzat, and others, then given its final approved form under Pope Leo XIII in 1899.

Is there an indulgence for praying this litany?

A partial indulgence is associated with devout recitation of approved litanies including this one, under the Church’s Manual of Indulgences; exact current conditions should be checked against that Manual.

What is the difference between this litany and the Chaplet of the Sacred Heart?

A litany is a longer sequence of titles and petitions typically prayed aloud or communally; a chaplet is usually a shorter, repetitive prayer counted on beads. Both honor the Sacred Heart but take different forms.

Sources

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