KNOCK, Ireland (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Eamon Martin, the archbishop of Armagh and president of the Irish Episcopal Conference, will consecrate the entire country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the first time in over 150 years this Sunday.

Martin, who also holds the title Primate of All Ireland, will consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart during a Sunday Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Knock on June 22, the Sunday of Corpus Christi, according to the archdiocese. The archbishop emphasized that the consecration is necessary in this age that presents “many challenges to our faith, to our families and indeed to the deepest core of our humanity.”

“We are living in a time of great need for God – for faith, for hope and for love. Our age presents many challenges to our faith, to our families and indeed to the deepest core of our humanity,” Martin said.

“But as a pilgrim people filled with great love and hope in this jubilee year of graces, while recalling the promises of the Sacred Heart made known 350 years ago to Saint Margaret Mary, we have chosen to renew the consecration of our country to the  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as its secure refuge from all dangers – visible and invisible,” the bishop added. “All are welcome to our Mass this Sunday in Knock.”

Delighted to receive this beautiful new image of the #SacredHeart designed by our Armagh seminarians to mark the consecration of Ireland to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during this Jubilee year.

Sacred Heart of Jesus we place all our trust in you pic.twitter.com/ZwESosG0q2

— Eamon Martin (@ArchbishopEamon) June 19, 2025

June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The origins of this devotion come from an apparition of Christ to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in Paris in the 1670s, when He revealed the love of His Sacred Heart for the world and asked for reparation for the sins of sacrilege and blasphemy.

READ: Fatima and St. Margaret Mary’s visions of the Sacred Heart providentially connected

Prior to the consecration, the basilica will host the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Claude La Colombiere – the confessor of St. Margaret Mary – and Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart, who influenced Pope Leo XIII to consecrate the world to Our Lord’s Sacred Heart- for the faithful to venerate.

Ireland was previously consecrated to the Sacred Heart on Passion Sunday in 1873, becoming the first country to consecrate itself as a nation to Our Lord’s Sacred Heart.

The consecration comes at a time when Ireland, once a devout Catholic country, has become increasingly secularized. According to the country’s 2022 census, 69 percent of the Irish identify as Catholic, a 10 percent drop from the previous census in 2016. Mass attendance has also declined dramatically, dropping from 93 percent in 1973 to just 43 percent in 2008.

In 2015, 62 percent of the Irish people voted in favor of a referendum to legalize same-sex “marriage,” becoming the first nation to legalize it by popular vote.

READ: Abortions climb to record levels in Ireland with over 10,000 in 2023

Just three years later, in 2018, abortion was legalized by another referendum in which 66 percent of the Irish people voted to repeal an amendment protecting the equal right to life of the mother and unborn child. Abortion numbers have since dramatically increased in the country, with over 10,000 unborn Irish babies being murdered in 2023, a record.

RELATED

June must be rededicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Toronto cardinal calls on Catholics to honor the Sacred Heart, not ‘ideological’ symbols in June

EXCLUSIVE: Company that flew massive Sacred Heart flag releases epic anniversary video