The Feast of Mater Admirabilis

The Feast of Mater Admirabilis (‘Mother Most Admirable’) on 20th October is an important celebration for the Society of the Sacred Heart and Sacred Heart schools worldwide.

It commemorates the Mater Admirabilis fresco in the Trinità dei Monti at the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome, which was painted in 1844 by a religious sister, Pauline Perdreau. The feast day is observed with acts of service, prayer, and liturgical celebrations, often including wearing pink in honor of the fresco, which famously depicts Mary in a rose-colored dress.

A copy of this painting hangs in all Sacred Heart schools. Our copy outside the Chapel is featured in the image for this article.

Our Headteacher, Mrs O'Donovan shares a prayer by Marie-Therese de Lescure RSCJ, which invites us to ask Mater to “give us the singleness of vision so that we, too, may see the Invisible and Essential in all.”

Under the pressure of over activity which at times consumes us, disturbs us, or scatters our energies in doing what is visible and accidental, let us come to our “Mater.” She is the Mother of the Invisible, and the Mother of the Essential. 
Let us ask her to detach us, to free us from all that is not important, to lead us on, and fix our gaze upon the Invisible which her own eyes look upon: the Invisible Presence, the Invisible Life; the Invisible Action: the Invisible Love, all those things which are eternal values in us and the great realities of faith. 
May she keep us throughout our busy and over-crowded days in the radiance of things that are not seen and firm as if we beheld them Invisible. In the midst of non-essentials which invite and often distract us, we run the risk of encumbering our beings and confusing our values. May She give us the right understanding of the Essential and a hunger for it. 
One thing alone is necessary — the will of God and the work of His love. May Mater give us the singleness of vision so that we, too, may see the Invisible and Essential in all. 
 
Marie-Therese de Lescure RSCJ
Superior General,  1946-1958
Circular Letter, 16 July 1949