The foundation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and the Laity of the Chevalier Family.
As a priest, Chevalier first served as curate in three different parishes in quick succession. Then, at the age of thirty he was sent to Issoudun, which was regarded as the most de-christianised town in the whole region. The other curate in the parish was Fr Emile Maugenest, one of a small group of his companions in the seminary.
Photo: Issoudun township – Philip Fitzgerald
(used with permission)
Fr Maugenest shared Chevalier’s vision about the evils that they believed were destroying society: indifference and egoism. The remedy of these evils they found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ‘which is all love and charity’.
Image: Fr Chevalier and Fr Maugenest
(used with permission, MSC General Administration)
At Issoudun, the two priests became determined to found a religious congregation to be named Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. However, aware that they could be deluding themselves Chevalier and Maugenest sought a clear sign that this was what God wanted. Over a period of nine days, before 8th December 1854; the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, they prayed asking Our Lady to intercede for them in having God provide this sign. On the last day of the Novena a gentleman approached Fr Chevalier at the presbytery with a letter announcing a gift of 20,000 francs from an anonymous donor. The donor's preference was for a house of missionaries to be established in the area with the approval of the Archbishop. The Archbishop agreed as long as they had some means of financial independence and support. Another period of prayer resulted in another anonymous benefactor promising to give an annual gift of 1,000 francs, which was enough for them both to live on. They now had the sign and the means to begin the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Fr Chevalier considered 8th December 1854 to be the official beginning of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Image: Fr Jules Chevalier
(used with permission, MSC General Administration)
With the original 20,000 francs Chevalier and Maugenest purchased a rundown vineyard with a sound house and tumble-down barn in Issoudun. The house became their first community house and the barn was renovated as the first chapel, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This was in 1855.
In 1859, construction began on the site of the old barn of the church of the Sacred Heart, which became the Basilica of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in 1874.
View of the courtyard and Basilica of the building constructed by Fr Chevalier in Issoudun. Photo: Alishya Summers (used with permission)
From these simple beginnings has come a whole family of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart - priests, brothers, sisters and laity. Jules Chevalier also founded the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as the sister congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The Daughters were founded in Issoudun on 30th August 1874 and Chevalier personally guided the congregation in its first years of existence. In 1882, the first Superior General, Mother Marie Louise Hartzer, FDNSC joined the young congregation and she continued to faithfully pass on to the early sisters the charism and spirituality of the founder.
Photo: Mother Marie Louise Hartzer FDNSC (used with permission, FDNSC General Administration)
Later, because of national tensions in colonial regions where missionaries worked, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart were co-founded by Fr Hubert Linckens MSC with the approval of Jules Chevalier, whom they also regard as their spiritual founder. The formal foundation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart was 25th March 1900.
Photo: Fr Hubert Linckens MSC
(used with permission, MSC Sisters General Administration)
After some difficult years of persecution in France and being forced to move to other parts of Europe, the new congregations began to grow and, at a very early stage, accepted responsibility for the Missions of Oceania. It was as a direct result of this decision that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart came to Australia at the end of the 19th century. Within twenty-five years of their small beginnings, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart had spread in Europe and to North America. Before his death, Fr Jules Chevalier was to see his 'family' working in Europe, North America, Australia, the Pacific Islands and Indonesia.
Icon depicting the early expansion of the Chevalier Family to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands
(used with permission, Australian MSC Provincial)
The Basilica and accompanying buildings have been used as a place of pilgrimage and formation (Cor Novum) for many years and still have a very important place in the hearts of the entire Chevalier Family.
Inside the Basilica Photo: Alishya Summers (used with permission)
Outside the Basilica Photo: Alishya Summers
(used with permission)