Category:Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart

Maria Droste zu Vischering, (Münster, September 8, 1863 - Porto, June 8, 1899), became Sister Mary of the Divine Heart. She received visions from Jesus Christ in which she was to contact the pope, requesting the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

On June 10, 1898, her superior wrote to Pope Leo XIII, but he took no immediate action.

On January 6, 1899 she wrote the Pope a letter, asking that in addition to the consecration, the first Fridays of the month be observed in honor of the Sacred Heart. In the letter she also referred to the recent illness of the pope and stated that Christ had assured her that Pope Leo XIII would live until he had performed the consecration to the Sacred Heart.

Pope Leo XIII decreed that the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should take place on June 11, 1899.

In 1899, the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Annum Sacrum (entering new theological territory by consecrating non-Christians) was due to the messages from Jesus reported by Sister Mary of the Divine Heart. Pope Leo XIII did this after the death of Sister Mary of the Divine Heart and called it "the greatest act of my pontificate".