Cardiac Cults

Beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries religious cults devoted to the heart of Jesus and the Virgin Mary began to gain popularity among the clerical class. Cults to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and The Immaculate Heart of Mary are two of the largest of these devotions, who main focuesed on the heart as a symbol of Christ's love and devotion. French monarchs began a form of this heart veneration that similarily worshiped the regal heart as a symbol of the king's courage and the self-sacrafice of noble class. 

The processess of removing the royal heart occured at St. Denis before his corpse was to be buried. The heart would be removed and placed on a black velvet cushion and then placed in a reliquary which was then presented to the king's confessor. The reliquary and confessor would then depart from from St. Denis accompanied by a specific entourage of six horses pulling a all black carridge, flanked by twelve torch bear riders.

This element of Catholic Mysticism came under question during the Enlightenment and by the time the Republic was established these cardiac cults were deemed a tool of monarchal diefication and opposed to Revolutionary ideals. During the partial dismantling of the Basilica of St. Denis and the other uprisings and riots across the nation, many of the perserved hearts of the kings were destroyed or pawned off to private citizens for various purposes.