Stop, bullet!

We’ll start this blog with something small, but very important: the Detente bala – meaning: Stop, bullet, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is with me!

How good it would be if we were invincible in law enforcement. Well, maybe our best chance is this little Patch:

It is made of cloth, with the spanish phrase around the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and it is worn on the chest as a protection under the name/rank badge (usually as close to the heart as possible).

The devotion is derived by the badges of the Sacred Heart promoted by 17th-century saint Margaret Mary Alacoque against epidemics. They are still used by the Spanish soldiers in the 21st century – a good friend of mine serves in the Fuerzas Armadas Españolas – the spanish Army – as a 2nd lieutenant.

The history of the use of the Detente bala dates back to 1686. Popular belief explains that Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque started the custom of wearing a small cloth emblem with the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a symbol of devotion. This symbol soon began to spread as a protection-amulet against the epidemics that devastated Europe.

In the eighteenth century its use became popular among Spanish soldiers. Tradition has it that the Detente bala were embroidered by hand by the wives, mothers or sisters of the combatants before they left for the war, in the hope that they would stop the bullets that threatened their lives and return them safe and sound to their homes.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!