The theology of the Sacred Heart : an inspiration to Maria Teresa Nuzzo

Abstract

After exposing the meaning, the interpretation and the development of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with all that it entails, I will then be analyzing the tradition of its spirituality within the history of the Catholic Tradition as it is an integral part of the growth of the Mystical Body. This will be analysed in the light of quite a good number of individuals who were pioneers of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, who promoted devotion and who acknowledged devotees of the Sacred Heart. It is of cmcial importance to analyse the significance that this devotion must be trnly interior and personal if it is to be practiced at all while being promoted as the most perfect way of professing the Christian religion. This will be followed by a thorough analysis of all the writings of Maria Teresa Nuzzo the woman who under the Divine inspiration founded the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart in response to the need of the Church and of the society at that time in the Island of Malta. However, to understand the life and writings of Maria Teresa in relation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I will then give a short account of the historical background of our Island at the time between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. All this will lead me to analyse the contribution that Maria Teresa gives to the devotion of the Heart of Jesus in the third millennium through her spiritual daughters.