The Beginnings of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

In September of 1911, Jesus told Bertha Petit, the Belgian mystic, that he wished "mankind to turn to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart" of Mary. A few years later, on May 31, 1915, Pope Benedict XV also asked the faithful to have recourse to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. On September 28, 1915, the pope amplified this request by granting a 100 days indulgence for the invocation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. On March 7, 1916, Cardinal Draper announced his intention to consecrate his diocese and all of Belgium to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. On Christmas Day 1917, Cardinal Bourne, Primate of England, solemnly consecrated his Fatherland. After the Virgin first appeared in Fatima (May 13, 1917), she declared on July 13th (showing a vision of the souls in hell to the three children): "To save souls, God wants to establish in the world the devotion to my Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart." She also promised: "In the end, my Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart will triumph." The Treaty of Versailles, putting an end to the First World War, was signed on June 28, 1919, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.