The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
is today. There is information on it here.

Litany of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, "
God the Holy Ghost,
Holy Trinity, one God,

Heart of Mary, Pray for us.
Heart, after God’s own Heart, "
Heart, in union with the Heart of Jesus,
Heart, the vessel of the Holy Ghost,
Heart of Mary, shrine of the Trinity,
Heart of Mary, home of the Word,
Heart of Mary, immaculate in thy creation,
Heart of Mary, flooded with grace,
Heart of Mary, blessed of all hearts,
Heart of Mary, Throne of glory,
Heart of Mary, Abyss of humbleness,
Heart of Mary, Victim of love,
Heart of Mary, nailed to the Cross,
Heart of Mary, comfort of the sad,
Heart of Mary, refuge of the sinner,
Heart of Mary, hope of the dying,
Heart of Mary, seat of mercy,

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

V. Immaculate Mary, meek and humble of heart.
R. Conform our hearts to the heart of Jesus.

Let us Pray

O most merciful God, who for the salvation of sinners and the refuge of the wretched, hast made the Immaculate Heart of Mary most like in tenderness and pity to the Heart of Jesus, grant that we, who now commemorate her most sweet and loving heart, may by her merits and intercession, ever live in the fellowship of the Hearts of both Mother and Son, through the same Christ our Lord.—Amen.<

It is also the feast of St. Petroc, Abbot

Fr.Sibley's blog...
will be missed.

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
is today. There is information on it here.
In 1875, Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., preached a sermon for this day, of which the following notes survive:

The Sacred Heart

1. INTROD.—Many devotions in Holy Church. This is one which has spread of late years, more, I may say, than any other. Today is the special feast of it; and [this] leads me to explain in what it consists.

2. Our Lord is One. He is the one God. He took on Him a manhood, a body and soul; that body from Mary. Still, He was one, not two—one, as each of us is one.

3. We too, in our way, are each of us one, though we are two—soul and body—and the body has parts; [nevertheless] each of us is one. This is what is meant by speaking of our Lord's [oneness] as we speak of our own.

4. And though each of us is thus composite, we can love each other as one, though of so many parts. And in like manner, though our Lord is God and man, with a soul [and body], we can contemplate Him as one, and worship, love Him as one.

5. Further, if I said I loved the face, or the smile, or liked to take the hand of my father or mother, it would be because I loved them. And so, when I speak of the separate portions of our Lord's human frame, I really am worshipping Him. So in the Blessed Sacrament we do not conceive of His Body and Blood as separate from Him.

6. Devotions at various times [and ages]—the Wounds, the Blood, the Face—and in like manner the Heart. We worship [each] as Him, as that One Person who is God and man; we worship [Him] by the memento, the pledge of His Heart.

7. Why? The Heart a symbol—so the Wounds and the Blood. [In contrast with these] a symbol is sometimes that which [only] expresses and reminds—thus water, oil, wine, bread.

8. What is the Heart the symbol of?—of His love, His affection for us, so that He suffered for us—the agony in the garden.

9. Moreover, of His love in the Holy Eucharist.

10. The Heart was the seat, first, of His love for us; secondly, of His many griefs and sorrows.

{The following were appended, apparently as alternatives:]

7. Of two things especially to remind us now, when the world is so strong—His power and His love. He will overcome by love.

8. The Heart is the emblem of His love—in worshipping It we worship Him.

If it were not a solemnity, today would be the feast of the Martyrs of Uganda.

The Feast of St. Marcellinus, Priest and Martyr, and St. Peter, Exorcist and Martyr
is today. There is information on them here.
It is also the feast of Pope St. Eugene I,
St. Stephen of Sweden, Bishop and Marytr,
St. Alexander, Martyr
St. Blandina, Martyr and St. Erasmus, Bishop and Martyr., who was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

In that memorable persecution, when Blandina, a slave, was seized for confessorship, her mistress and her fellow-Christians dreaded lest, from her delicate make, she should give way under the torments; but she even tired out her tormentors. It was a refreshment and relief to her to cry out amid her pains, "I am a Christian." They remanded her to prison, and then brought her out for fresh suffering a second day and a third. On the last day she saw a boy of fifteen brought into the amphitheatre for death; she feared for him, as others had feared for her; but he too went through his trial generously, and went to God before her. Her last sufferings were to be placed in the notorious red-hot chair, and then to be exposed in a net to a wild bull; they finished by cutting her throat. Sanctus, too, when the burning plates of brass were placed on his limbs, all through his torments did but say, "I am a Christian," and stood erect and firm, "bathed and strengthened," say his brethren who write the account, "in the heavenly well of living water which flows from the breast of Christ," or, as they say elsewhere of all the martyrs, "refreshed with the joy of martyrdom, the hope of blessedness, love towards Christ, and the spirit of God the Father." How clearly do we see all through this narrative what it was which nerved them for the combat! If they love their brethren, it is in the fellowship of their Lord; if they look for heaven, it is because He is the Light of it.

Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent