Under the Banner of the Sacred Heart: 125 Years of Croatian Consecration

“Mladež roda hrvatskoga… svečano obeća, da će se pod barjakom Presvetog Srca Isusova hrabro i neustrašivo boriti za vjeru i za dom.”
(“The youth of the Croatian people… solemnly promise to bravely and fearlessly fight for faith and for homeland under the banner of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.”)

This line from the 1900 Consecration Prayer of Croatian Youth deserves to be proclaimed from every rooftop and echoed in every Croatian heart. It is a history worth repeating.

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A Call to Consecration Today

The bishops of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference decided to consecrate the Croatian people and the Croatian homeland to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the jubilee year 2025, at the 69th plenary session held in Zagreb from November 12 to 14, 2024. Interestingly, on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was June 11, 1999, it was one hundred years since Pope Leo XIII consecrated the entire world to the Heart of Jesus.
The act of consecration will take place on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, on Friday, June 27, 2025, at 7 p.m. (Croatia time), in churches (and chapels) throughout Croatia, and will begin with the ringing of bells for five minutes. After the ringing, the solemn Eucharistic celebration will begin. After the Communion Prayer, the Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will follow. Therefore, the bishops of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference have prepared an appropriate prayer of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for this occasion. source

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Exactly 125 years ago, in the jubilee year of 1900, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a spiritual army rose from the Croatian people. In Zagreb alone, 160,000 young Croatians—an astonishing number for the time—consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This was not merely a devotional gesture; it was a national pledge of faith and fidelity.

This event remains one of the most profound moments in Croatian Catholic history. These young men and women, conscious of their identity as ‘predziđe kršćanstva’ (the bulwark of Christianity), offered themselves not only as believers, but as spiritual soldiers under Christ’s banner—pledging to defend both faith and homeland.

The Original Consecration Prayer (Croatian)
Mladež roda hrvatskoga, tog predziđa kršćanstva, u svetoj ovoj godini, na svršetku staroga i na osvitu novoga vijeka, Svetosti Tvojoj, Kristovu na zemlji Namjesniku nepogrešivomu, prostrta ponizno pred Tvojim nogama, svečano obećaje, da će se pod barjakom Presvetog Srca Isusova hrabro i neustrašivo boriti za vjeru i za dom. U znak ove žrtve srca našega, evo Ti, Sveti Oce, zlatno srce predragoga Spasitelja našega, puno svakovrsnih duhovnih djela, koje na Tvoju nakanu i prema velikome srcu Svetosti Tvoje žrtvovasmo Presvetom Srcu Isusovu. I potpisi ruku naših neka podaju vječnoj spomeni sve što obećasmo i učinismo. A da to izvesti uzmognemo, smjerno molimo očinski Tvoj blagoslov, zalog milosti nebeske za sebe, za svoje roditelje i odgojitelje, te za sav narod hrvatski. U Zagrebu, glavnom gradu Hrvata, na blagdan Presvetog Srca Isusova 1900.

English Translation of the Consecration
The youth of the Croatian people, that bastion of Christianity, in this holy year, at the end of the old and the dawn of the new age, prostrate themselves humbly at Your feet, Your Holiness, Christ’s infallible representative on Earth, and solemnly promise to bravely and fearlessly fight for faith and for homeland under the banner of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. As a token of this sacrifice of our heart, we offer You, Holy Father, the golden heart of our most precious Saviour, filled with an array of spiritual deeds, which we have, for Your intention and in honour of the great heart of Your Holiness, sacrificed to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. And let the signatures of our hands serve as eternal remembrance of what we have promised and done. But in order to fulfil our vow, we humbly beseech Your fatherly blessing, as a pledge of heavenly grace for ourselves, for our parents and educators, and for all the Croatian people. In Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1900.

The Sacred Heart Is Not Sentimental – The most popular devotion
Speaking of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (no. 166) recalls that;

The Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Friday following the second Sunday after Pentecost. In addition to the liturgical celebration, many devotional exercises are connected with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of all devotions, devotion to the Sacred Heart was, and remains, one of the most widespread and popular in the Church.

 

There is no doubt that devotion to the Heart of the Savior was and is one of the most widespread and most popular expressions of church devotion.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is not a passive or emotional piety. For Croatian men throughout history, it has symbolised strength: a heart pierced but burning, crowned with thorns yet triumphant.

One such man was Petar Perica, a 19-year-old high school student from the Travnik Seminary. To mark the 1900 consecration of Croatian youth to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he composed the lyrics to the hymn “Do nebesa nek se ori” (“To the heavens let it resound”), a powerful anthem of spiritual and national dedication. The music was composed by Milan Smolka, a young Jesuit then serving as a master at the Travnik Seminary. This hymn became emblematic of the Croatian Catholic spirit—bold, joyful, and unwavering in its fidelity to Christ.

After completing high school, Perica joined the Society of Jesus and became a devoted apostle to the youth of Dalmatia. But his mission ended in martyrdom: in 1944, he was executed without trial by Communist partisans on the island of Daksa near Dubrovnik, alongside 53 other prominent citizens, including six priests. For more than sixty-five years, his body lay in a mass grave until a proper funeral was held in June 2010. His remains were then laid to rest in the Jesuit section of Boninovo cemetery.

Perica’s blood sealed the vow of a generation. His life and death testify that devotion to the Sacred Heart is not sentimental, but sacrificial. It is a soldier’s devotion—calling men to be strong in faith, resolute in virtue, and courageous in defending the truth.

This is the legacy of Croatian men: not passivity, but prayer; not fear, but fidelity. The Sacred Heart has always been a soldier’s devotion—calling men to be leaders in faith, protectors of family, and warriors for truth.

A Prophetic Voice (Glasnik Srca Isusova, 1910)

Proslavi li se svečano ova prva desetogodišnjica, onda će se proslaviti jamačno i svaka daljnja, osobito peta, koju će neki mladi još doživjeti, i deseta tj. stota godišnjica prve posvete, godine 2000., koju ćemo, ako Bog da, gledati s neba. Na taj će se način drvce, što ga je hrvatska mladež posadila 1900., sve iz nova prolistati i cvasti i uroditi plodom života. A pod njegovom će stoljetnom krošnjom hrvatska mladež još uvijek pjevati Srcu Isusovu: ‘Dušom tijelom vijek sam tvoj, za krst časni bijuć boj.’

Translation: If this first ten-year anniversary is solemnly celebrated… the sapling planted by Croatian youth in 1900 will sprout and bloom anew. And under its century-old canopy, Croatian youth will still sing to the Heart of Jesus: ‘With my soul and body forevermore I am Yours, fighting an honourable battle for the Cross.’

As one of the many expressions of devotion to the Heart of Jesus (along with the litany, the act of reparation, the nine first Fridays, etc.), the Church particularly emphasizes personal consecration and the consecration of the family. In this regard, the aforementioned Directory emphasizes (n. 171):

Devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus are numerous. Some have been explicitly approved and frequently recommended by the Apostolic See. Among these, mention should be made of the following:

• personal consecration, described by Pius XI as “undoubtedly the principal devotional practice used in relation to the Sacred Heart”(185);
• family consecration to the Sacred Heart, in which the family, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony already participating in the mystery of the unity and love of Christ for the Church, is dedicated to Christ so that he might reign in the hearts of all its members (186);

Let this 125th anniversary be a call to reconsecrate ourselves, our families, and our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Let the Sacred Heart reign:
• In your home – Enthrone His image and pray as a family.
• In your work – Bring faith into business, service, and responsibility.
• In your manhood – Be strong, holy, and uncompromising in truth.

Let Croatia once again be a beacon of love, burning brightly from the Heart of Christ.

Za krst časni bijuć boj — Fight the Good Fight

Let this be the year when a new generation of Croatian men take up the banner—becoming guardians of the Heart of Christ, defenders of their families, and lights in a world that grows dim.

The Sacred Heart is not a relic of the past. It is the banner of our future.

Sacred Heart of Jesus – Have mercy on us!

RESOURCES

Čin posvete hrvatskoga naroda i hrvatske domovine Presvetomu Srcu Isusovu 2025 PDF

The Crusade of the Sacred Heart Consecration -125th Anniversary

Family consecration and Home Enthronement