Mary of the Divine Heart (Münster, 8 September 1863 – Porto, 8 June 1899), born Maria Droste zu Vischering, was a German noblewoman and religious sister of the Catholic Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.

Maria Anna Johanna Franziska Theresia Antonia Huberta Droste zu Vischering was born with her twin brother Max (Maximilian Droste zu Vischering) on 8 September 1863, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Erbdrostenhof Palace, in Münster, the capital city of Westphalia, Germany.

Maria Droste zu Vischering spent her childhood with her family in the Castle of Darfeld, in Rosendahl near Münster, and was a child full of life.

[citation needed] On 5 August of that same year, on the Silver Jubilee of her parents' marriage, Maria told them of her desire to become a religious.

[2] In the parish church, a short time later, she heard again the voice of Jesus, who told her: "You must enter in the convent of the Good Shepherd".

From February to May 1894, Sister Mary remained in the Portuguese capital but then was appointed to the office of the Mother Superior of the convent in Porto.

However, on 6 January 1899, she wrote another letter asking that in addition to the consecration, the first Fridays of the month be observed in honour of the Sacred Heart.

The theologian Laurent Volken states that this had an emotional impact on Leo XIII, despite the theological issues concerning the consecration of non-Christians.

In his 1899 encyclical letter Annum sacrum, he decreed that the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should take place on 11 June 1899.

In the encyclical, he referred to the illness about which Vischering had written: "There is one further reason that urges us to realize our design: We do not want it to pass by unnoticed.

She died on Thursday 8 June 1899, the eve of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus), three days before the world consecration that Pope Leo XIII had scheduled for the following Sunday.

[9] Vischering's spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 16 July 1941, and her cause was formally opened on 28 November 1941, granting her the title of Servant of God.

Vischering's incorrupt body is exposed for public veneration in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Ermesinde, in northern Portugal.