The International Community in Issoudun
Birthplace of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
Each year, MSC Education leads a visit to Issoudun, MSC spirit. The 2026 pilgrimage is coming soon. This is where they are going to.
The Mother House, a place of remembrance and mission for the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, is located in Issoudun (Archdiocese of Bourges) in the department of Indre in the heart of France. This is where the Congregation began. Since its foundation on 8 December 1854, Issoudun has been a point of reference for all the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart worldwide. At the Mother House, each community member can follow in the footsteps of Father Jules Chevalier (Founder) and his first companions and draw on the essence of his charism. The Mother House is a place of silence, a haven of peace that nourishes the quest for God of the faithful, pilgrims and tourists, with its magnificent basilica and luminous chapel, its crypt and its beautiful pilgrimage park... it is here that some confreres from the province like to come for a break or a rest to ‘recharge their batteries’. In addition to the provincial superior, six confreres live here daily, forming what is known as the ‘Motherhouse Interna- tional Community’.
2017 with a Community Project adapted to the new situation. This latest mission community was born out of a request from the France/Switzerland Province to the General Chapter (Madrid): ‘We need you so that Issoudun lives at the heart of the Congregation’. The 2011 Chapter accepted this request. Under the direction of the General Administration, the entire MSC Congregation now assumes responsibility for the mission carried out in Issoudun. After a period of reflection on the scope of the project by the General Administration and the Province, the General Conference of September 2014 (Guatemala) established that there would be a single missionary community that would take charge of the entire pastoral reality in Issoudun.
