COMMENTARY: The history of devotion to the Sacred Heart reveals the deeper conflict between Catholic France and the secular ideals of the Revolution.
Can politics be kept separate from religion? Should we pledge allegiance to one nation under God, or is allegiance to God irrelevant to the allegiance we pledge to our country? And, if God is irrelevant, what does it say about what we’re pledging?
These questions, as relevant as they are to natives of the United States, are especially relevant to the natives of France, a nation which still lives under the shadow of the anti-Christian revolution which ripped that nation apart in 1789. This became evident in the reaction to the surprise success of a recent film inspired by France’s Catholic heritage, Sacré Coeur: Son règne n’a pas de fin (Sacred Heart: His Reign Has No End), which was released in cinemas last September. Within the first few weeks of its release, almost 300,000 people had flocked to see it.
Produced by Steven Gunnell, a convert to the Faith, and his wife Sabrina, Sacré Coeur is a docu-drama focusing on the mystical visions of St. Margaret-Mary Alacoque and the widespread devotion to the Sacred Heart of
