Period II - The Middle Ages

The second phase is found in the early middle ages. Here devotion to the Holy Name was fixed specifically to the Name of Jesus. Pope Gregory X (1271 - 1276) and the Council of Lyons in 1274 initiated a call of the Universal Church to this special devotion. Through the works of Blessed John of Vercelli, the sixth Master General of the Order of St. Dominic, the Dominicans began preaching on the virtues of the Holy Name and built special altars where the lay faithful could venerate the Holy Name of Jesus.