The Religious of Notre Dame (founded by Saint Peter Fourier), established in 1643 in Corbeil, diocese of Versailles, under the protection of Anne of Austria and Louis XIV, finding themselves threatened with dispersion, made a vow to consecrate themselves, all and each one, to the divine Heart of Jesus, and to recite every day, at nine o'clock and at four o'clock, a special prayer to the Sacred Heart.
They also promised that, every Sunday, each one, in her turn, would spend the day in absolute retreat, honoring the Sacred Heart and thanking Him for the favor they hoped to obtain. This act was written on parchment and signed by all the religious.
The divine Heart responded to the trust placed in Him. Driven from their monastery, the Religious of Notre Dame withdrew to Boissy, not far from Corbeil, where they all lived together, practicing their rule, at least as far as possible.
The recitation of the Roman Breviary was never interrupted, nor the free instruction of a few children. However, in 1794, on July 27, they were to suffer the death sentence pronounced against them by the revolutionary tribunal; they had even been forced to pay for "the carts" that were to take them to the scaffold! But, on that very day, it was Robespierre who ascended it, and his death saved the condemned women.
During the years that followed, they peacefully continued their religious life, multiplying their acts of devotion to the Sacred Heart, to whom they owed this signal grace. Since that time, each novice of the community, after the emission of her religious vows, pronounces the vow of a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and promises to maintain the recitation of the prayer at nine and four o'clock, as well as the retreat each Sunday, then she affixes her signature to the precious sheet of parchment, kept dearly in the Archives.
The Sunday retreat is truly the best day of the year for each one. The Heart of Jesus lavishes His graces on His faithful companion, as the happy retreatant of each Sunday is called.
In 1889, the religious solemnly celebrated the centenary of their vow. On June 27, 1919, the feast of the Sacred Heart, was, to the very day, the 130th anniversary of the community's consecration to this divine Heart.
"We owe such gratitude to the Sacred Heart for the countless graces with which He has filled the community since June 27, 1789, that we would like to repeat it to all those who work to make Him known and loved, so that they may insist even more on the promises that this good Master has made to His devotees.
Thus, during the terrible years of the war, we were protected, miraculously, hundreds of times, here in Arlon (Belgium), where we were transferred in 1907, following our expulsion from France—we had lived in Verdun since 1839.
At the beginning, we had placed an image of the Sacred Heart on each of our doors; yet, not a single German stayed with us; we escaped the multiple requisitions, the traps of spies, and especially the bombs that fell all around the house, within a radius of less than a hundred meters.
May the Sacred Heart be thanked forever, and may He deign to continue His protection over our community!"
The Carthusian Nuns.
Around 1692, Nuns (or religious) of the Carthusian Order wrote to their Superior General, Dom Innocent Le Masson, that "they had in their hands a little book, recently published in honor of the Heart of Jesus, in which certain new practices were indicated, among others, a daily Rendezvous in this divine Heart; then special prayers, a consecration, a reparation; it asked, on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, for a reparatory communion to honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to show Him gratitude: this communion, repairing the outrages done to the Holy Eucharist, was like a sort of feast in honor of the Sacred Heart."
The Nuns asked if the Reverend Father General would consent to them putting the advice of the little book into practice, and they sent it to him. Dom Le Masson replied:
"I do not merely consent to you putting this holy devotion into practice; but I exhort you to do so."
He granted everything and did even more. He found the time to compose a special work entitled: Exercise of Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus-Christ, for the Carthusian religious, modeled on the little book they had sent him, and indicating, for the use of these religious, three rendezvous, or Stations, each day, in the Heart of the divine Master.
The little book which divine Providence caused to fall into the hands of the Nuns and the Reverend Father General of the Carthusians, is the Divine Rendezvous, composed by Sister Jeanne-Madeleine-Joly, in Dijon. Father Le Masson had his work printed in 1694, at the Grande Chartreuse, in the buildings of the Correrie; judging later that it could be usefully placed in the hands of all, he entrusted the second edition, in 1696, to a bookseller in Lyon.
For a long time almost impossible to find, this booklet was republished in 1886, as it appeared in 1694.
The admirable destiny of these modest pages composed by a humble religious! As soon as they appear, it seems a signal is given; the public disputes over the smallest fragments, editions follow one another with a speed bordering on the miraculous and devotion to the Heart of Jesus spreads more and more "not by words or by simple affections, but by works, and by loving our souls in the manner that Jesus Christ Himself taught us, that is, by losing them to immolate them to the adorable love of the sacred Heart of Jesus-Christ." (D. Le Masson.)
From time immemorial, in many churches, even still now, thirty-three strokes of the bell are rung, around nine o'clock and around four o'clock, in memory of the thirty-three years of the mortal life of our divine Savior, to invite the faithful to gather in the Heart of Jesus living in the holy Tabernacle, to adore Him, thank Him, console Him and pray to Him.
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This is what the old manuals of devotion to the Sacred Heart call the Sacred Signal. Could we not preserve or introduce this pious custom, at least on the day when Adoration takes place in each church, and also on Friday, especially the first Friday of the month, a day specially consecrated to honoring the Heart of Jesus? It is also at these two moments that special prayers are made in the sanctuary of Montmartre, in union with the affiliated churches, and that Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament is given there.
Source: Revelations of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque – 1920