Sacred Heart lamp

A Sacred Heart lamp is a Catholic devotional object, traditionally found in Irish homes.

Irish sacred heart lamp

History

Ireland was consecrated to the Sacred Heart on Passion Sunday 1873 by the country's bishops. Fr James Cullen was appointed director to the Apostleship of Prayer for Ireland in November 1887, and later founded the Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart in January 1888. Following this, the placement of an oil lamp with a picture of Jesus with the Sacred Heart iconography became common in Irish homes[1] to signify the household being consecrated to the Sacred Heart.[2] Originally an oil lamp with a red glass holder on a bracket, it was kept lit as a perpetual flame.[3] By 1937 the Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart reported that approximately 1 million people in Ireland had been consecrated to the Sacred Heart.[1]

Following the electrification of rural Ireland from the 1950s, these lamps were replaced with electric bulbs.[3] The Sacred Heart become indicative of a particular time period with Irish homes in the mid to late 20th century, being characterised by their ubiquity alongside portraits of John F. Kennedy, statues of the Child of Prague, and a portrait of the pope.[4] After Vatican II, the prevalence of these objects and devotion to the Sacred Heart in Ireland went into decline.[1][4]

See also

References
  1. AMDG (2008-05-21). "Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Irish experience". Jesuits Ireland. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  2. Delaney, Fr Martin (2017-05-18). "The power of the Sacred Heart to lead us home". The Irish Catholic. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  3. "Sacred Heart lamp, 1960s". National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  4. Brit, Geraldine de. "Where have all the religious pictures gone? You don't want to know". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
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