JULES CHEVALIER: TALKS TO MSC AND FDNSC NOVICES

Sister M. Venard, FDNSC
Hartzer Park, 1972

I. JULES CHEVALIER: A MAN SENT BY GOD

To date, no complete and authoritative life of Father Chevalier has yet been written. Such a work demands much painstaking research over a long period and the certainty that, as far as possible, no sources of original documentation have been overlooked. Nevertheless, thanks to praiseworthy efforts which have been made in many directions, I think I am right in saying that, in general, the outline facts of his life and achievements are well known to every Missionary of the Sacred Heart and Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart who has spent some time in our respective societies.

This, of course, cannot be so true of relative newcomers. Our first talk will, therefore, be aimed at giving a clear outline presentation of the sequence of events of his life – lived, as it was, in a certain century and in a certain geographical setting. For some, maybe, this will be no more than a refresher, which will also be useful. For whilst outlining events. I hope to provoke some constructive thinking as to the significance of these events for Jules himself; for his two Societies: and for each of us individually whose particular grace it is to have been called to carry on his mission in the Church.

We shall, therefore, be treating history from more than a merely chronological angle. For history is something more than mere events. To quote C. H. Dodd. a non-Catholic Scripture scholar, “History is occurrences plus meaning.” We have a good illustration of this in the study of the Gospels. Mark, Matthew. Luke and John certainly give the main events in the earthly life of the historical Jesus. However, they interpret these events in the light of their faith in God’s design of salvation.

So, too. with the life of our Founder. Its events and circumstances must be seen as having meaning for us who have been given the grace to perpetuate his mission in the Church. We must be able to interpret the facts and make use of the insights thus received in our own Sacred Heart-centred mission and spirit. A dis covery of the activity of God in the life of Jules Chevalier can develop in us a spirit of faith sharpened to discern His directing Presence in apparently chance, or even humanly-designed circumstances in our own lives as Missionaries of the Sacred Heart or as Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Now to get down to the actual life story of Jules Chevalier. The sources of what is being given here are the main facts already known; available documen tation with which many may not be perhaps so familiar; and lastly a few interesting oral traditions, now in writing, which have come down to us from those personally acquainted with Father Chevalier.

As regards historical documentation relative to our two Societies, I must point out that no one document – and this is particularly true of letters – taken by itself. can be considered as telling the whole story in regard to one or other society. To explain: We have the same Founder. The history of our institutes is very closely linked. A certain piece of MSC or FDNSC documentation, say a letter, may be useful to the historian of either society. But what it records will have to be inter preted within the context of the general situation of the particular society in question. To clarify what I am trying to say. Three people – a geologist, a botanist and a painter – would perceive a particular spot, say in the Dandenongs or the Blue Mountains, each from a completely different angle. The geologist would examine it from the view of say rock strata; the botanist from that of the relationship of soil composition to vegetation type; whilst the painter would have an eye to natural beauty and its artistic expression. So it is with the historian handling a document. We pass on now to the actual details of the life of Jules Chevalier. Founder of both the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Jules Chevalier was born at Richelieu in France on March 15, 1824. Richelieu, together with all the other places where in the main he lived his life, is situated roughly in the centre of France. Very briefly, he was the third and last child of a rather low-income family, the father being a baker. The mother did her best to supplement resources by selling vegetables in the local market. The father, who had come down in the world, was not a good business man and was not in the best of health. He was a non-practising Catholic and had his moments of depression when times were hard. But, all in all, he was a decent-enough man. His wife was a fervent Catholic and the family was well respected.

If we are looking for significances in the life of Jules Chevalier, they are there, but are to be found in the ordinary circumstances of his very ordinary life. In the past, over much has been made of an incident whereby he was allegedly abandoned, under rather dramatic circumstances, by his mother to the care of Our Lady. Briefly, the circumstances are supposed to be these.

One day, as she was selling vegetables, the father, in a disgruntled mood, turned up in the market place. He publicly upbraided her for being late home to prepare the dinner. He also got his eye on baby Jules in his basket, and made no secret of the fact that he was finding a third child to be fed a bit of a burden. The mother, naturally upset, grabbed up little Jules. ran impetuously to the church opposite, and deposited him basket and all at the feet of Our Lady. Since he was the cause of all the trouble, Mary could have him. A few minutes later the parish priest came into the church, saw and recognized him and went out to the market place to see what had happened. There he found the mother in tears being comforted by other women. One of them went back to fetch the baby.

Much was made of that story, especially after Father Chevalier himself became somewhat of a public figure, in order to demonstrate the power of Our Lady of Miracles whose image is venerated in the Richelieu church. Near the back of the church there is a large plaque to the effect that Madame Chevalier, in a fit of despair due to the blackest misery, abandoned the baby, Jules Chevalier, to Mary; that he grew up in Richelieu; and that later he founded the Society of the Mis sionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The story inscribed on the plaque then finishes up with the lesson to be drawn: “Those who are confided to Our Lady are never abandoned.”

The story did, perhaps, have some basis in fact – maybe a momentary emotional outburst on the part of both father and mother. But the later history of the united and respected Chevalier family would make one suspect that a lot of legendary details have grown up around the reputed incident.

Something far more significant for our purpose is what Father Chevalier himself wrote in a document which he entitled “Personal Notes not Intended for Publication”. This document is dated April 8, 1902, that is, five years before he died. Here he makes the following statement:

“Shortly after my baptism, my mother carried me to the church and there con secrated me to Our Lady and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

In other words, after he Had been consecrated once and for all by the liturgical rite of baptism, his mother formally confided him in a particular way to the Heart of Our Lord and to the care of Mary. As we look back over his long and full career, one is struck by the degree to which his whole life was a lived special consecration to the upbuilding of the Church through his apostolate for the Heart of Christ through Mary. In this retrospect, his mother’s simple act of realistic faith can take on a far richer significance than any which an unverifiable incident of his babyhood might suggest.

As Jules grew through his boyhood – a high-spirited, in fact, often an annoyingly mischievous one around the town – he developed a vocation to the priesthood. To himself and to all who knew him, this was an unrealisablc dream. For it was common knowledge in Richelieu that the Chevalier family would never be able to finance his seminary education. By the time he was fourteen, however, this manly, thoroughly likeable boy with the frustrated vocation had so aroused the interest and sympathy of some in a position to help that steps were taken to do something for him. It was arranged that he be received gratuitously into the Junior Seminary of Tours, the diocese in which Richelieu was situated. Imagine his happi ness at the prospect. But it was to be a short-lived happiness. For the bishop dis covered that the seminary finances were in a bad way, and forbade any further intake of students unable to pay fees. A significant frustration, surely. For it happened that the priesthood in that particular diocese was not pan of God’s plan for Jules.

Nothing daunted, he stuck to what he recognized as his priestly vocation. He would earn enough money to pay his own way. So he got himself apprenticed to a bootmaker. Furthermore, he took up the private study of Latin.

This state of affairs continued for three years. Each morning saw him serving the Mass of Father Bourbon, the parish priest. After this the two took coffee together in the old presbytery which had been part of a Vincentian monastery when the Vincentians had charge of the parish. Coffee finished. Jules went off to his bootmaking, tenaciously clinging to the idea that he was to be a priest, and doing all he could to prepare himself.

At long last, God himself intervened – quite unexpectedly, in a positive way. A stranger passing through Richelieu put up at a local inn. His name was Juste, of the Forestry Department. He had been returning home after some trip and, for no particular reason, had taken the alternative route through Richelieu. During a meal, a waitress-friend of the Chevalier family overheard him say that he was looking for a trustworthy forestranger for some forests in his charge at Vatan about twelve miles from Issoudun. She speedily informed him that she herself knew just the person he was looking for. The result was an interview with Jutes’ father who was accepted for the position. Straight away, arrangements were made for the family to move to Vatan. Better still, when M. Juste heard that his new ranger’s son wanted to be a priest, he took the initiative, himself offering to pay for his edu cation in the Junior Seminary of St. Gaultier in the family’s new diocese of Bourges.

Now it happened that the town of Issoudun where Jules was destined to be an instrument in God’s divine design was also in the same diocese of Bourges – a mere few miles from Vatan. God had thwarted his efforts to get into a seminary in his former home diocese of Tours, but very significantly helped him into this one. More striking still. No sooner had the Lord installed him exactly where he wanted him than M. Juste moved off elsewhere. This meant that the latter had no further need of his forest-ranger. So Jules’ Dad, out of a job, returned to Richelieu with his family, and there, luckily enough, got a good position as a rural constable. As for Jules, he stayed behind in the seminary. Awkwardly enough, with the departure of his benefactor, his fees were no longer paid. Even so he was kept on, for by this time he had become so much appreciated by his seminary superiors that they decided to put him through his studies gratuitously.

All the same he was finding the going hard. It was difficult to adapt himself to the ways of boys much younger and less mature than himself. He became homesick and depressed. He wanted only one thing – to get back to Richelieu where he was known, understood and looked up to. As for the priesthood, he argued to himself, once he could provide for his fees, there was always the possibility that he would still get into the seminary of his own diocese of Tours. In this same seminary, also, he had a cousin and friends.

But that is just where God didn’t want him. As a matter of fact, his superiors understood and appreciated him more than he knew. He was persuaded to defer his decision to quit until the end of a retreat. He did so. By that time, all his misgivings had vanished.

Four years passed. In 1846, at the age of twenty-two, he was promoted to the Major Seminary in the city of Bourges itself He wasn’t among the most intellectual of the seminarians, but he was very earnest – a bit too earnest, in fact, for some of his fellow students who were put off by his somewhat rigorous piety.

Again God intervenes in this life – this time to indicate to Jules that he is calling him to a special vocation within the priestly vocation. The professor of dog matic theology, when treating of the Incarnation, added a treatment of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For Jules this was a decisive moment in his life. He records his own impression:

“This doctrine went right to my heart. The more I became penetrated with it, the more I found in it.”

He spoke to his director of his new spiritual understanding. The director then gave him to read the first published life of the then Blessed Margaret Mary, apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This reading led Jules to a new con viction. “The reading of Mgr. Languet’s book,” he wrote, “aroused in me a lively desire to make myself the apostle of this devotion.” (Ms. 1859)

Here, then, was a new moment of grace. Captivated by the dogmatic and spiritual riches of devotion to the Sacred Heart, he had received a new under standing of something with which he had been familiar from childhood. Remember that his mother had consecrated him to the Sacred Heart. Furthermore, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, he grew from understanding to deeper understanding of the devotion. As a result, from being a somewhat taciturn and rigorous student, h’e became affable, outgoing and smiling. This gave him an ascendancy of leadership over the other seminarians. In other words, he was growing in virtue in a more human way. Incidentally, the word Virtue’ is a fine, strong word which comes from a Latin word meaning ‘strength’. To grow in virtue means to grow from strength to new strength. But Jules’ virtue had a particular orientation – the reproduction in himself of the love of the Heart of Christ. This ideal he would later express in the Constitutions of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (1877 edition):

“Those who take the glorious name of Missionaries of (he Sacred Heart will find in it a stimulus to practise the virtues of this divine Heart, and to propa gate with an ever greater ardour the knowledge and the love of him. They will consider themselves worthy of such a beautiful title only insofar as they attain to living the very life of the Heart of Jesus.” (Text, page 18) Something further now took place. His mission as apostle of the Heart of Christ began to manifest itself. Within the seminary he asked and received per mission to form a Guard of Honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. During their free time, the members of this group undertook to succeed one another before the Blessed Sacrament, there to adore the Heart of Our Lord in the Eucharist and to pray for the needs of the Church. Here we have an indication of the future Founder. Our own Congregation was still far in the future, but when it did come, he gave it this special feature of a daily half-hour of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and for exactly the same intentions. This is still a feature of our daily prayer life.

Once more, God intervenes, this time in frustration of Jules’ desire. He wanted to volunteer for the foreign missions. His seminary superior told him to put the idea out of his head. It was, he was told, in dechristianised France that his mission lay. Jules obeyed, not blindly in the sense so often given to the word, but with the full awareness of faith that all he had to do was to cooperate fully in God’s plan by doing his will as it became manifest. It certainly was God’s plan that his own persona! mission lay in France. That mission, however, was to found in France two institutes which would send missionaries to all peoples to the ends of the earth, in particular to pagan peoples who had never heard of the love of Christ.

Next step. Jules now begins to dream of founding, after his ordination, a society of priests consecrated to the Heart of Christ – priests who would dedicate themselves to making him known and loved everywhere. Again a setback. Father Chevalier will be his own spokesman here:

“Ten years ago, when I was still in the Major Seminary, I was preoccupied with the thought of the moral disease eating into our century. I conceived the idea, or rather (note his assurance here) God inspired me with the thought, of founding a community of priest-missionaries who would work for its eradi cation. I told my director about this. He regarded it as an illusion, a figment of my imagination. Feeling very humiliated, I resolved to forget the idea. But it persisted. Something kept saying to me: ‘One day you will succeed. God wants this work.’ Obsessed with this thought, I timidly cast my eyes upon one of the seminarists whom I thought would be just the one to second me in this enter prise. But I never mentioned the matter to him. Where would this community be established? . . . Suddenly there presented itself to my mind Issoudun with its three priests to serve 14,000people.” (Ms. 1859)

Two years later, on June 14, 1851, in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Bourges, Jules Chevalier was ordained priest. For the next three years, he served in three different parishes. But he never relinquished the idea that he was destined to found a society of priests consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and that the place of foundation would be Issoudun. Nevertheless he left the realization of the idea to God who, he was sure, had prompted it.

Towards the end of these three years, he was expecting still another transfer. It came – in mid October, 1854. He was still preoccupied with the idea of the society of priests consecrated to the Sacred Heart. Nevertheless, before he slit the envelope, he acted in accordance with his characteristic spirit of faith. He made an act of union with the Will of God whatever the letter would make this will known to be. He himself tells what happened:

“Before opening the letter, I went on my knees and said to God: ‘Lord, I want your will alone. I accept gladly in advance the next post assigned to me.’ Hardly had I read the first lines when I saw to my great astonishment that f was appointed curate at Issoudun. Then I opened the Ordo. There f found that my fellow-curate was the very one (Sebastien Maugenest) on whom I had cast my eyes for association in the projected work.” (Personal Notes, pp. 30-3 1)

It took but a few days for Father Chevalier to get himself installed in Issoudun – reputed as the town most hostile to religion in all that region of France.

How did the people of Issoudun see him – this new curate who had come among them? Well, a photograph taken in 1854, together with the memoirs of an old MSC (Father L. Sadouet) whose parish priest he was during the latter’s child hood and early manhood, makes us picture him as a straight, well-proportioned young man. He is thirty-three and of rather pleasing appearance. He is of medium build with a fine head of hair. Unpretentious and zealous, he immediately wins the appreciation of his parish priest and the two curates. Some of the ladies of the parish, however, were not so happy with him. They wanted someone more social than pastoral. To his great amusement, they made a spiteful insinuation that he was negligent in his personal appearance. One day, he says, when he went into his con fessional, he found a parcel addressed to himself. In it there was a hair brush and comb and a tin of shoe polish. These individuals, too, were eventually won by his genuineness and his priestly concern for everyone in the parish. More importantly, he was not long before beginning to leave his mark upon the spiritual life of those for whom he was responsible.

Here at Issoudun, except for brief trips to Rome and other places, he is going to remain until his death as its parish priest fifty-three years later. For Issoudun is to be the focal point of his mission still however to be initiated – the mission to con vince men that God loves them with a human heart.

To sum up this talk on JULES CHEVALIER : A MAN SENT BY GOD. In following the life story of Jules Chevalier until he is appointed to the parish of Issoudun in 1854, one thing stands out in striking relief. In him God has manifestly been preparing a man for a mission. Thus we see Jules as –

• Confided as a baby to the Heart of Christ and His Mother;

• Directed by God to the priesthood;

• Guided by Him towards ordination in a diocese other than his own;

• Orientated by the Holy Spirit towards a special realization of the scriptural, theological and spiritual riches of devotion to the Heart of Christ:

• Initiated by God into a gradual awareness of his mission to make this Divine Heart loved everywhere to the ends of the earth;

• Appointed to a parish in a town destined to be the birthplace of a new apostolic impetus in the Church.

We can conclude, then, by saying that in Jules Chevalier we see a man unmistakably sent by God.

II. JULES CHEVALIER: FIRST MISSIONARY OF THE SACRED HEART

When I speak of Jules Chevalier as the first Missionary of the Sacred Heart. I do so in a double sense. He can be called the first in the order of time as I shall try to prove in this second talk. He can also be called first in the sense that no one can have a deeper understanding of the mission and spirit of a society than its founder. Perhaps in this latter connection, it would be more to the point to call him first among the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. For the moment, however, we shall confine ourselves to the first aspect, the chronological one.

When Jules Chevalier found himself, at the age of thirty-three, appointed curate at Issoudun; when he found, too, that his fellow curate was none other than Sebastien Maugenest whom, in thought, back in their seminary days, he had asso ciated with himself in the foundation of a society of priests consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was more confirmed than ever in the conviction that his idea was in the designs of God. More significantly still, he found that Father Maugenest shared the same ideal, and was more than eager to throw in his lot with him.

The two young priests possessed neither prestige, nor possessions – only a strong conviction. But a conviction is not enough. Father Chevalier wanted a sure sign. For this they turned to Mary. They asked her that, as the first fruit of the dogma of her Immaculate Conception to be defined on December 8 of that year, 1854, she would obtain for them from the Heart of her Son an indication that He approved the projected Society. They asked also the means to implement it. So they began a novena to end on the very day of the definition. If their intention was granted, they would take the name Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. We know the end of the story. On the very morning the novena concluded, they found themselves presented anonymously with the offer of a sum of money to be used for the foun dation of a society of priests who would undertake missionary work in the diocese.

Could any sign have been clearer?

But it goes without saying that the anonymous gift of 20,000 francs had not just dropped miraculously from heaven. Nor, for that matter, had there been anything miraculous about the appointment of Father Chevalier and his com panion to Issoudun. What did happen was that Our Lady took in hand a set of cir cumstances already in project, and guided it to the conclusion prayed for in the novena. The fact was that the religious indifference of Issoudun was a great worry to Father Gasnier, the superior of the seminary where Jules had finished his studies. As a Diocesan Consultor to the Cardinal of Bourges. it was this Father Gasnier who in actual fact had been responsible for the appointment of the two ardent and energetic young priests to Issoudun where the parish priest could not cope because he was old and in failing health. Furthermore, this same Father Gasnier knew a certain Father Champgrand who was also interested in remedying the religious indifference of Issoudun. It is probable, too, that he knew of Jules’ dream of founding a society of missionaries and for this reason he asked Father Champ-grand, who had wealthy connections, to finance the project. Of course, neither curate had any inkling of this. All they saw was that Mary had heard their prayer, which she certainly had, but by using human means.

Nevertheless, in this answer to prayer, lay the source of future suffering for Father Chevalier. Those responsible for the gift of the money had in mind a group of priests living in community and restricted to giving missions in the region. Jules. however, dreamed of something much wider – a religious institute with a universal mission to propagate the devotion to the Sacred Heart as a sure means of curing the moral ills of society. To further complicate matters. Father Champgrand, the donor of the money, was completely opposed to the foundation of a new religious institute, and was even more opposed to devotion to the Sacred Heart. So here was a very awkward situation. The priest had promised the money without realising the real purpose of the project. Father Chevalier, quite unaware of his attitude, had in all good faith accepted the gift.

But the resultant troubles had not yet manifested themselves and, for the moment. Jules could not see beyond the happiness of 8th December.

“O Mary,” he wrote, “what a happy dtty for us. The anniversary of the definition of your Immaculate Conception will henceforth be form that of the conception of our new Society of the Sacred Hear! of Jesus. For it is today that (here has commenced for it the mystery of life. ” (Vermin. 114)

This is why, by an unbroken tradition, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart regard December 8 as the date of the Society’s foundation.

This day of the Immaculate Conception was, then, for the two curates a day of unspeakable happiness. All the more so because in everything they had the support of their parish priest, Father Crozat. He told them that he would do all in his power to help them establish in his parish of Issoudun a house of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

So, with his consent, Father Chevalier went off happily to the Cardinal Arch bishop of Bourges to get his consent. The Cardinal, however, was a prudent and experienced man. He said that a sign wasn’t enough. The two curates must first assure themselves of some means of support. That didn’t worry them. Mary Immaculate had already proved that she was on their side and had an interest in the project. So, encouraged by the success of the first novena, they decided upon a second. Furthermore, this time they made a formal contract with her. If she found them the means to maintain the new foundation, they would take the name of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart already promised; would regard her as their foundress: associate her in all their works: and cause her to be honoured in some special manner. Each day during this novena the document of contract was placed on the altar during Mass.

While this was going on, their parish priest worked so well on their behalf that, on the very day the novena finished, he was able to inform them that another anonymous donor had assured them an annual sum for their livelihood. This was in January, 1855.

But even during the course of the novena the latest trouble brewing had blown up. It came to the knowledge of Father Champgrand that the two Issoudun curates were contemplating something quite different from what he had in mind when offering the money. As already stated, he wanted the new work confined to the region of Berry of which Issoudun was a part; he was violently against devotion to the Sacred Heart; and he strongly opposed the inauguration of a new religious institute. For Father Chevalier, on the other hand, devotion to the Sacred Heart was to be the very reason for the existence of the proposed society and, whatever the works undertaken, they would be means to that end, As for the objection to a religious institute, from the very beginning Father Chevalier had been convinced that the consecration of one’s entire person and his activity through the public vows of religion would ensure the most radical form of commitment to the mission of spreading the love of the Heart of Christ.

Our Lady had certainly indicated that the proposed foundation was the will of God. But the very fact of the gratuitous financial aid promised by Father Champgand was to bring with it eight years of painful difficulty. Whether or not at this stage Father Chevalier had got wind of the situation, he started off a second time for Bourges to see the Cardinal and tell him he had the promise of an annual sum of money for the support of the community. As for Father Champgrand’s promised donation to start the work, perhaps he felt sure that if the Cardinal gave permission the donor would most certainly keep his promise.

The Cardinal was impressed and. after some difficulties with his council as we shall see later, freed the two curates to go off and commence the new community. Reluctantly Father Champgrand gave in, but made himself difficult for a long time to come.

By September, a ramshackle house had been acquired where today the great pilgrimages in honour of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart take place. Here, on the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary in this year of 1855, the Vicar General of the diocese, in the name of the Cardinal who was ill, officially gave to the tiny com munity of two the name of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. To quote Father Chevalier’s Personal Notes:

“It was on the very day when the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Name of Mary that the Vicar General baptised us with the name of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. This new and mysterious birth happened just nine months after our conception on December 8 of the previous year.”

He also calls attention to the fact that on this same day there was not just one change of name, but two:

“On that same day on which they received the NAME of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, desirous of manifesting to Mary their love and their gratitude. they gave her in their thought the NAME Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The title seemed to come from Heaven.”

This quotation is from the Preface to one of the first editions of Father Chevalier’s book on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Ed. 1886, p. 34). In the actual text Father Chevalier, in both cases, printed the word NAME in capitals. He wanted to bring out the point that on the day they became officially called Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Mary became in their thought (his own, of course) Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. On this day, therefore, there were two changes of name. Significantly enough, right from its inception, Mary was associating herself in the life of the Society, for the title, he declared, ”seemed to come from Heaven”.

Father Chevalier was, however, very prudent. Not for two years, during which time he studied carefully from the point of view of scripture and theology this new title which had come to his mind, did he make it known.

In the poor little house in which they were now officially installed, the two Missionaries began on their own account a period of novitiate, at the end of which they planned to make private vows, “In order to give ourselves without reserve to the Heart of Jesus, we chose the day when he gave himself to us.” (Personal Notes) In the silence of midnight, after midnight Mass on December 25, 1856, Father Chevalier and Father Maugenest made perpetual private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, to which they added one of stability.

Then more trouble began. “Hardly a year went by,” wrote Father Chevalier, “when we experienced a new and cruel trial. The Cardinal decided that he would have to take Father Maugenest to fulfil an important post on the Cathedral staff.” Father Chevalier in great distress went to see him. He implored him not to take Father Maugenest, otherwise the new Society would face ruin even before it got underway. The Cardinal was not unsympathetic, but his reply was a new challenge to Father Chevalier’s faith;

“Either your work is from God, and I believe this after all the graces you have received, or else it is the work of man. ffit is of God, then the taking away of Father Maugenest will not, in the long run, affect it. If it is the work of man, then his presence won’t save it.” (Piperon )

Words of spiritual wisdom uttered by one who must himself have been a man with a deep spirit of faith, and which were strikingly verified in the subsequent history of the Society.

Father Chevalier was now left well and truly alone – strictly speaking the first and, for a long time, the only Missionary of the Sacred Heart. He certainly did have another associate, Father Charles Piperon, who later became his most faithful and ardent admirer. But at that particular time. Charles Piperon was very hesitant and did not see eye to eye with him concerning the apostolic mission of the Society. He was afraid of the parish ministry and. as late as 1872, was still thinking of with drawing and becoming a contemplative. This meant that Father Chevalier had to stand alone in defending and maintaining the plan for the new Society as he had conceived it right from the beginning. (Vermin 214) It is in this sense, then, that I think we are justified in calling Father Chevalier the first Missionary of the Sacred Heart.

It was some time in the middle of 1857, before the departure of Father Maugenest to take up his post at the Cathedral, that Father Chevalier made known the inspiration which had come to him to give Mary the title Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The story is too well known to be repeated here. In actual fact, however, though Father Chevalier was quite unaware of this, he himself was not using the title for the first time. Research has proved that a contemporary Belgian Trappist had been known to speak of Our Lady under that name for very many years. Furthermore, a certain Father Angel, S.J. had made unsuccessful attempts to popularize it at Paray le-Monial in 1846. As for Father Chevalier, however, he knew nothing of this. “The title,’1 he said, ”seemed to come from Heaven.” In any case he can, with absolute certainty, be said to have initiated its doctrinal and liturgical cult in the Church, this of course still in the future. All research seems to indicate that the inspiration came to him independently. He himself was convinced of this.

By mid-1857 Mary had manifestly constituted herself Foundress of the new Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. It now remained for Father Chevalier to make her known far and wide under the new name which was to bring her so much honour and love in the Church, and to associate her so powerfully in the mission of the Society to make the Sacred Heart of Jesus loved everywhere.

In 1864, he established a very effective means of doing this – more effective in fact than he foresaw. He established an association of prayer and good works under what later came to be called by the rather cumbersome name of the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. This had a truly marvelous expansion and spread to the most unlikely places in the world. It can be said that wherever a new field of apostolate opened up for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart or the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, she herself had been there beforehand preparing the way. Either her statue had preceded them and was venerated and loved, or she had been active through the Archconfratcrnity or its magazine, the Annals, commenced in 1866 and soon being published in all the main European languages.

It is simply amazing how Issoudun. before the arrival there in 1854 of Father Chevalier the most dechristianized town in France, rapidly became the centre of vast pilgrimages in honour of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Through the propa gation of little pictures of the Sacred Heart, he had rapidly got together enough money to begin the building of a Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Its first stone was laid in 1K59. and the church itself consecrated in 1864.

Then on 3 1st May, 1865, a first public feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the new church. Next Father Founder constructed a large and beautiful chapel of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart behind the high altar. Here, in 1869, a white marble statue was crowned in the name of Pius IX. Issoudun, now the town of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, rapidly became and still is the focal point of enormous pilgrimages.

As a further manifestation of the honour promised in the Pact which he made with Mary back in 1 855. Father Chevalier founded, in 1874, the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. He himself acknowledges that this idea of a feminine institute to work in collaboration with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and for the same end. goes right back to the time when Mary was first given this glorious and significant title.

It can be said that devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart has become the characteristic which distinguishes the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart from other institutes dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Strangely enough, so closely was the devotion identified with the Society, that in a first approbation given to the Society by the Holy See in 1 869. we find these surprising words:

“In 1854, on December 8, the day of the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception . . . a pious Congregation of Missionaries, who take their name from Our Lady of the Sacred Hear! of Jesus . . . was founded at Issoudun in the diocese of Bourges by the priest. Jules Chevalier. “

I don’t know what was the reaction of Father Founder to that mistake of the Holy See, but it does show the extent to which Our Lady of the Sacred Heart had become associated with the Society. So great has been the part which she has played in the history of both our Societies that, if ever it came to pass that she were not accorded her rightful place in them, they would automatically collapse.

The period up to about 1880 can be called the era of the consolidation of the Society. In that year, however, there was in France a revival of one of those periodical anti-religious attitudes left as a legacy of the French Revolution. All teaching and preaching institutes not authorized by the State were dispersed. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart were expelled from Issoudun and from their houses of formation in France. The Basilica and the Monastery were placed under seal. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart were not, for the moment, molested but for prudence’ sake went into secular dress.

What happened? Well, to the extent that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart went into exile, the Society became internationalised. It became established in Spain, England, Australia, Belgium, Holland and U.S.A. As for Father Chevalier himself, though his religious had been expelled, his role as parish priest of Issoudun put him outside the demands of the unjust law. So he remained on to safeguard the interests of the Society in France – and particularly in Issoudun. now become inter nationally renowned as the pilgrimage centre of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Then, just when things seemed to be at their worst, and the Society’s personnel was scattered by the government persecution, the Holy See yielded to Father Chevalier’s request, made back in 1878, that foreign missionary work be entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. For it was written into the Constitutions of the Society that the evangelization of pagan peoples was also one of the apostolic ends of the Society. Remember the frustrated foreign missionary dreams of the young seminarist, Jules Chevalier. In a letter dated March 25, 1881, the Holy See proposed to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart the evangelization of the immense Pacific territory of Melanesia and Micronesia, that is the whole of Oceania except Polynesia where the Marists were working.

The prospect was so frightening to certain members of Father Chevalier’s General Council – themselves scattered in exile – that they opposed acceptance. Had it not been for Father Founder’s tenacious faith in the mission of the Society to the pagan world, and his consequent moral courage and determination, our missionaries would not probably be working where they are today. However, he had the backing of the Holy Sec, and, as a result of his acceptance in the face of enormous difficulties within and without the Society, the latter became what he had envisaged it from the very beginning – universal in its mission. After all, the inspir ation for its varied forms of apostolic enterprise is ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere’.

In 1901. the persecution of the religious institutes which had abated somewhat broke out with new fury. This time, it was not just the teaching and preaching institutes which were attacked. All religious became the butt of the unjust laws. Come what may. Father Chevalier wanted to stay on in Issoudun in order to safe guard the property and the works there of the Society. So, acting upon prudent advice, he asked the Holy See to relieve him of his office of Superior General and to give him outwardly the status of a secular priest, whilst allowing him to retain all his obligations as a religious M.S.C. – this situation to last for as long as the cir cumstances demanded. His request was granted. But imagine what it must have cost him to give up all outward semblance of being a Missionary of the Sacred Heart. Some other M.S.C’s did the same and remained on as his secular curates.

Eventually the secular, as well as the religious clergy, became the butt of government persecution. Father Chevalier, now an old man of 83 and suffering acutely from spinal arthritis, was informed that his presbytery was the property of the municipality of Issoudun. He was given notice to get out. With his usual courage, he refused. So, on January 21, 1907, the commissioner of the Issoudun police had the door axed in. Father Chevalier could not walk, so he was lifted over the threshold in his armchair and dumped on the footpath. A benefactor then had him taken to a house nearby which he had put at his disposal.

A young man named Sadouet, who with others had been inside the presbytery with Father Chevalier when he refused to come out, gave an eye-witness account of the eviction which there is no time to relate here. If you are interested, ytm will find it in “The Designs of His Heart”. But there is one thing which stands out strikingly and that is the closeness of his union with the will ot God, and the Christlikeness manifested by his spirit of forgiveness of enemies. His union with God’s will is. of course, characteristic. We have only to think back to his action of going on his knees and. in a spirit of faith, accepting the appointment which he knew would he made known in the letter which actually named him curate of Issoudun.

This union with God’s will had obviously deepened during his long life. In a chapter on the Life of Faith in the common Rules of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart appended to the 1877 edition of the MSC Constitutions, he had written that conformity to the will of God would be the most outstanding virtue of the Missionary of the Sacred Heart- He certainly was the first to put it into practice. The young man abovementioned, in his eye-witness account of the expulsion from the presbytery, says that Father Chevalier would not say one word against his persecutors, though the onlookers shouted. “Down with the thieves!” To those who expressed indignation, he merely said in a broken voice:

”Nothing happens without God’s permission.” It is obvious that he was practising to a heroic degree what in this same chapter he had said must characterise the authentic Missionary of the Sacred Heart. This is the quotation:

“The love of God, which exacts of us the life of faith, also imposes upon us [he obligation to love our enemies, to pray for them and to do them good. If ever divine Providence should permit that our Society or one of its houses, or even someone among us, should be the object of calumny, of hatred or of unmerited persecution, let us guard well against every sentiment of bitterness or revenge against its authors. In their regard, let us follow the precept of Our Lord. When this comes to pass, let us thank God and rejoice at the grace accorded us.” (p. 33)

This same young man of Issoudun who had stood by Father Chevalier in his hour of persecution, a few months later himself went away to become a Missionary of the Sacred Heart. In 1968, I wrote to him from Issoudun – he was then in the south of France – asking him to tell me something about a photo I had found which was obviously Father Founder’s funeral. He replied that he had not been at the funeral as he had left Issoudun a few months previously. In this letter – which I have here – he told me about his last visit to Father Founder in his borrowed pres bytery. As 1 said, the young man – I think his first name was Leo – was then twenty-three, and as the French MSCs of those days had no St. Paul’s Seminary for Late Vocations, he had, like Father Founder himself, to complete his secondary studies with boys much younger than himself. So he had to go to the Junior Seminary at Fribourg in Switzerland. On the point of leaving Issoudun, he went together with one of the local MSCs posing as the secular curate. Father Bertin. to say goodbye to his friend and parish priest, Father Chevalier. I have translated for you part of the letter dealing with this last interview with Father Founder.

I left Issoudun in 1907, a few days before the celebration of Sept. 8. Now, before leaving Issoudun for good, I went, as was right, in company with Father Bertin, to say goodbye to the one who had been my parish priest for my twenty-three years.

At that time, he was no longer living in his presbytery near the
church of St. Cyr. He had been thrown out of there on the preceding Jan. 21. and had since been living in a house put at his disposal by Count Fernand de Bonneval. his parishioner and long-standing benefactor.

It was there that we found him sitting at his work-table busy at his book, ‘The Apocalypse and Con temporary Times”. He received us with the customary warm smile on his aged face, framed as it was in abundant white hair protruding below the rim of his black biretta. “Sit down,” he invited us.

When he learned that the reason for our visit was my forthcoming departure for the Junior MSC Seminary at Fribourg in Switzerland, for a long time he let his heart speak. “The call to be a Missionary of the Sacred Heart.” he said, “is a grace from Heaven – a grace for which you must be very grateful. But generosity is necessary in order to be able to cope with the difficulties of each day. So, too, is perseverance, in order to be able to surmount all obstacles, that is, if you want to be worthy of the Apostolic School. Go, dear big son (I was then twenty-three), with the protection of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. I give you my blessing and will pray for you. Please do the same for me. for I have much need of prayers”. We got up to go and he resumed his writing. Father Sadouet goes on to say that, a little over a month later, he had received a letter from Father Bertin to say that Father Founder was dead.

As this audience consists of MSCs in formation, I thought that Father Founder’s recommendations to a young man about to commence his own period of formation to the life of an MSC might have some interest.

It was on 21st October, 1907, that Father Founder died in a borrowed pres bytery. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart and all the other buildings belonging to the missionaries, as well as the Convent of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, were put up for auction. Incidentally, with the permission of the Holy See, all were bought by friends of Father Founder with a view to returning them later to their rightful owners.

Thus ends this second talk on the biographical details of Father Founder, in the order of time, the first Missionary of the Sacred Heart. As given here, both talks are little more than a chronicle of events. Our next two talks will be concerned with giving meaning to these events in relation to the members of our two societies.

III. JULES CHEVALIER: FIRST AMONG THE MSC

We now come to consider Jules Chevalier as first Missionary of the Sacred Heart in another sense. It is this. As Founder of the Society, he had the deepest understanding of what it means to be a Missionary of the Sacred Heart.

The object of this talk, then, is to go back to sources and see what Father Founder considered to be the essence of our vocation. (I say our vocation because our society was founded as the feminine counterpart of the MSC one and with the same mission.)

We have already seen how, as a seminarian, Jules had been captivated by the doctrinal and spiritual richness of devotion to the Sacred Heart: how he saw in the love of the Heart of Christ the sole remedy for the moral ills of society; and how, with the strikingly manifest help of Our Lady, he founded the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (and 20 years later in 1874 the FDNSC) with a motto which expressed the very reason for the existence of both Societies: ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved forever.’

1. WHO WE ARE

Let us go back a bit to the pact made with Mary under the date of January 18, 1855. There he wrote;

“If the most holy Virgin Mary. . . triumphs over all the difficulties which hell is raising against us, and realises the proposed work this year, we. . . commit ourselves to the following engagements both for ourselves and on behalf of all who will belong to the same Society. < That includes the members of our own still-in-the-future institute.)” Then follows Article 1:

“Those who will belong to this little Congregation will take the title Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and will strive to live to the full what it signifies.”

“They will strive to live to the full what the title Missionary of the Sacred Heart signifies . . .” These are weighty words. Not only will they strive to live the pro gramme implied in the title, but to live it to the hill. When we reflect that every future member of the as-yet unfounded Society was also committed to the fulfil ment of this engagement with Our Lady, it becomes a matter of urgency to discover what is the significance of this title which has to be lived to the full. Father Founder has left us in no doubt whatever as to this significance. We find it all over the place in what he wrote or said over a period of fifty years.

There is, I think, one consideration which is fundamental to an appreciation of the name given to both our societies. It is this. For all who belong to them. Father Founder – and this is evident from what he said and wrote – meant the name we bear to have definite implications. Name, as he uses it in the context of our respec tive titles, is not meant merely as a means of identifying us as belonging to a specific institute. The word retains all its profound biblical significance, expressing some times the inner essence of a person, at other times a special vocation indicated by the imposition of the new name e.g. Peter(Matt. 16:13-19). From both his writings and his attitude, it is clear that, in the mind of Father Chevalier, the name borne by the members of both our Congregations combines both these senses. It designates what we essentially are – those consecrated by a special vocation to the end for which the Holy Spirit inspired him to found these societies in the Church. I quote him:

“We are (i.e. essentially) the Missionaries, the apostles, of the Sacred Heart.” Let the members of the Congregation never forget that they are (i.e. essen tially) Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. (Spir. Test.)

In consideration of this, no MSC or FDNSC should ever go through an identity crisis!

Now as to the vocational aspect. I restrict myself, for the moment, to the title Missionary of the Sacred Heart. In its scriptural sense, the word missionary means one who is sent. Christ himself was the first Missionary, sent, as He was, by the Father to carry out His plan of redeeming love. Before His ascension. He passed this mission on to His apostles: “As the Father has sent me. I also send you.” (Jn. 20:21) His own mission had been to achieve salvation for all, but not to preach it to all. The salvation achieved by Him was to be applied by the Holy Spirit acting through the members of the Church. Thus the Church is, of its very nature, missionary.

Within this general mission of the Church, Jules Chevalier gradually became aware that he had been given a special mission. This he formulated in the first Rules of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (1857):

“‘Hie Sacred Heart of Jesus, sole source of light, of truth and of life is not sufficiently known, is not enough loved. Yet his love has saved the world, his blood has purified it, his grace has changed it, and his tenderness conserves it.”

Father Chevalier cannot remain indifferent. Therefore he continues, and it is in the words that follow that we find the first formulation of the mission of the Society: “To make known all the treasures of lave and mercy of which his Sacred Heart is the source, to spread everywhere the sacred fire of his love, to save the souls which are so dear to him, to combo! the egoism and indifference which outrage him – such is the end of our little Society.”

For each of the members of the Society, then, what he essentially is and what is his mission, to which he is committed by vocation, is summed up in the title Missionary of the Sacred Heart. And Father Chevalier himself develops the meaning of the title:

“Missionary of the Sacred Heart signifies apostle of the Sacred Heart, or propagator of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.” And again:

“God has great designs far the Church and the world through devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But in order to make this known, there must be men who will be its missionaries, ‘for how shall they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?’ “

This last quotation is proof positive that Father Chevalier had always in mind the scriptural sense of the word ‘missionary’, i.e. one sent by God on a mission relative to his loving design of salvation. As Christ was sent by the Father, so the Church sends us to make known the eternal love of the Word Incarnate, and to foster this love in the lives of others.

I think that a passage from our own revised Constitutions of 1969 could very well sum up what 1 have been trying to say:

.As Christ was sent by the Father

so they are sent by the Church

to make known

that Christ is the revelation of God’s infinite charity to men;

that He loves them with a human heart:

that He is the answer to their hopes, their questionings.

their every need.

This, their fundamental apostolate,

is summed up in their motto:

‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved’.

Insofar as our own FDNSC Congregation is concerned, all the theological and spiritual significance of the expression Missionary of the Sacred Heart is present in our own title Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. For, to quote Father Chevalier again, Mary in the mystery of the Visitation ‘was the first apostle of the grace of the Word Incarnate, the first missionary of his Love.’ (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, page 172) As her daughters, then, we share intimately in this missionary role which is still hers. This idea of Father Founder has heen incorpor ated into our revised Constitutions:

In union with Mary.

the first missionary of His love,

(the Daughter of OLSH) goes with eagerness

wherever the presence of Jesus is to be borne.

Nor would Father Founder tolerate any attempt – and a couple were made – to change the title.

2. TO OURSELVES AND OTHERS: WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE AIM TO DO

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved. “These words,” says Father Founder, “are to be for us a reminder of our sublime mission – a mission to which we dedicate utterly our strength and our life.” So that we might never forget this, he established in both our societies the custom of commencing all our spiritual exercises with this invocation, and, where relevant, of placing it at the head of correspondence etc.

He even wanted it expressed visually. “Do you know,” wrote Father Jouet, who was his most intimate collaborator, in a letter to Spain, ”that we, the Mission aries of the Sacred Heart, are wearing on the breast a large red heart with the inscription: ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved’?” (To Mother Eulalia. Superior of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, Tarragona, Spain, Sept. 12th, 1874) The reference in this letter is to the first time that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart appeared in public in the Basilica at Issoudun wearing the new badge.

Incidentally, the first habit of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart was white, with red cincture and mantle. On a visit to Rome Father Chevalier had asked Pius IX if himself and his companion could renew their vows into his hands, which the Holy Father was happy to permit. Father Chevalier then went further. He asked that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart be permitted to adopt a habit which would be the same in form as the dress ordinarily worn by the Pope, i.e. a cream cassock and cape with the addition, on occasion, of a red mantle. Again the Pope said yes. Thus the first habit of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart symbolised by their badge that they were consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and by their dress that they were the Pope’s men.

Things have been modified somewhat with the passing of time. However, until a few years ago. all the elements of the traditional habit of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, colour excepted, were the same as the dress which is still worn by the Pope. As for Father Chevalier’s original white and red habit, it is displayed in the Museum of the Society at Issoudun.

The badge as currently worn has also been modernized, as has the FDNSC medal, but the symbolism remains the same: the Cross and the Heart of Christ over the world with the letters MSC to signify that the members of the Society are, as Father Founder insisted over and over again, “the official missionaries of the Sacred Heart”.

It may come as a surprise to learn that Father Chevalier even wanted the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Issoudun to be constructed in the form of a heart. For today’s ecclesiastical architecture, this would probably constitute no great problem. But it did for the Basilica’s nineteenth century architect, and all the more so because Father Chevalier was not easily persuaded to relinquish his idea as impractical. Even then he persisted that, if only he had the finance, he would surely find an architect of genius who would be able to materialise his dream. However, he had to be satisfied to surmount the spire with a tall statue of the Sacred Heart. In recent years, this was struck by lightning and has now been replaced by a gleaming symbolic heart.

3. OUR CHARISM

At the beginning of this talk, I said that Father Chevalier can be considered the first Missionary of the Sacred Heart, not only in the chronological sense, but because, as Founder, no one could have a deeper understanding of or faith in the Society’s charism than himself.

Generally speaking, a charism is an inspiration of the Holy Spirit who makes known to a certain individual that he is to fulfil a specific mission in the Church. The grace which he receives is not so much for himself as for others. If the charism is one of foundation, as in the case of a religious institute, it implies a mission which is handed down to the members of that institute.

The special charism which our Father Founder received and handed down to both our societies is total dedication to the Heart of the Word Incarnate, and to men whom he so loved that he dwelt among them, full of grace and truth, and gave his life for them. Or, as Father Chevalier put it in Article II of the famous Pact made with Our Lady in January, 1855: “The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart will have a special love for, and a particular devotedness to, the Adorable Heart of Jesus.” Only then, when they themselves have become penetrated with this love, will they be able to “make him loved and glorified by priests and the faithful.” Only then, to quote St. John, will they be able to say convincingly: “My teaching is not from myself. It comes from the one who sent me.1′ (Jn. 7:16)

You will notice here the emphasis placed on the fact that a personal union in love with the Heart of Christ must be the starting point of apostolic action. For devotion to the Sacred Heart rightly understood is diametrically opposed to the modern heresy of activism. For, to quote:

“At the centre of Redemption stands not an action in the activist sense, but a sacrifice. No believing heart can think about (he Heart of Jesus consuming himself for others, down to the last drop of blood, without a strong urge to similar unselfish sacrifice in the service of men.”

It is a question, then, of a balanced interpenetration of contemplation and apostolic love. The balance which should exist between these two elements has been brought out admirably in par. 12 of “The Decree on Religious Life” (Vat. II.):

“The entire religious life of institutes of the active apostolate should be penetrated by the apostolic spirit, and their entire apostolic activity should be animated by the religious spirit.”

The ideas just expressed are in the purest tradition of Father Founder. In actual fact, it was one of Father Chevalier’s own sons, Father Van Kerchkoven MSC, the last Superior General of the Society who, during one of the sessions of Vatican II, proposed their inclusion in the text of the Decree. Accepted verbatim for inclusion in the text, they merely express in a more updated way what was in both the earliest MSC and FDNSC Constitutions. I quote the passage:

” Whilst devoting themselves to the apostolate in the service of the neighbour, (hey will never neglect the contemplative aspect of their life.”

Curiously enough, it was an imbalance between the contemplative and apostolic aspects on the part of individuals within our two societies which created much worry for Father Founder in the mid-1870’s. He had never hesitated in his con viction that the fundamental mission of both his institutes was the penetration of society by the mystery of the Heart of Christ, through diverse works of the active apostolate. Yet in each of our societies, he had to resist vigorously an attempt from within to change the active-apostolic end and have it made canonically contem plative.

In the case of the MSCs, a somewhat neurotic member of the Society opposed Father Founder, and sent off to Rome a document to the effect that the Society was, of its nature, contemplative, and made all kinds of accusations against Father Founder. Father Chevalier was very forthright in his own letter to the Holy See.

“We certainly want the perfection of our Institute, but we don’t want any change. We entered this Society in order to be missionaries of the Sacred Heart. This word ‘missionaries’ sums up everything.” (Letter to the Holy See, 1876)

After making much trouble for Father Founder, the self-constituted reformer – much to everyone’s relief – left the Society.

The Daughters of OLSH also came in for their share of the same trouble but of a more serious nature and that over a period of five years, i.e. 1876-1881. In our case, the institute was brought to the brink of ruin. The first superior, a certain Mother Felicity, in opposition to Father Chevalier, decided that the Congregation was meant to be contemplative, and did everything she could to wreck the work as conceived by Father Founder. She even styled herself the Foundress. It was only the tremendous loyalty and resistance to pressure on the part of the only three Sisters left which saved the Congregation. This period of painful trial for Father Chevalier came to an end when, on March 25th, 1882, Mother Marie Louise Hartzer entered the Congregation, Mother Felicity withdrawing the same day. Marie Louise ultimately became the first Superior General, and, in collaboration with Father Founder, moulded the sorely-tried Congregation to the end for which he had been inspired to found it.

So much for that digression. To return to our particular charism of total dedi cation in love to the Heart of the Word Incarnate. There is one word on which we must be clear. It is this. The initial charism given to Father Founder was not some thing given once and for all, something static belonging to the past. As he con ceived it, it was merely the germ of life of the institute. Like all living things in embryo, it had to develop, and he himself saw it do so even during his own long fifty or so years as Superior General. Thus, too, for us the present members of his societies, it has become our own here-and-now charism, something to be lived according to our own epoch even as past members had to live it according to theirs,

4. SAFEKEEPING TO OUR CHARISM

Vatican II has insisted that “safekeeping be accorded to the spirit of the Founder, as also to all the particular goals and wholesome traditions which con stitute the heritage of each institute.”(P.C.)The place of safekeeping is the book of our Constitutions, or during the time of Constitution revision, our interim Docu ments of Renewal. Here is to be found the primitive inspiration of the first and foremost Missionary of the Sacred Heart. True, the charismatic spirit developed from his original grace of foundation is perpetuated and develops primarily in the lives of the members of the Society who have, in their turn, the responsibility of transmitting it in all its authenticity. This living, flexible spirit is, however, incor porated in the letter of a written text which is, nevertheless, only its servant. To retain its vitality, this text must for each epoch, be rethought, developed and lived in the light of the contemporary mentality and situations, whilst remaining faithful to the primitive inspiration of the Founder. We are lucky to live in a time when we can experience this being done.

Jules Chevalier, foremost Missionary of the Sacred Heart, laid great stress upon fidelity to the Constitutions and Rules both in his own life and in the lives of those whose spiritual father he was. Here it may be useful to indicate what he meant by the rules.

As well as the Constitutions or the basic laws of a society, religious institutes need more detailed regulations to direct the daily living of their members. Because the community is a social group, there will be directives to help the group function harmoniously and efficiently; because it is a consecrated group, it will have direc tives concerning such things as ways of being faithful to the vows, to prayer life, the apostolate and so on; because it exists in the Church as a particular form of the con secrated life, e.g. the MSCs or the Jesuits, it will have observances concerned with maintaining the institute’s identity and spirituality. For instance, we as Daughters of OLSH sing or say each day the prayer ‘Hail, admirable Heart of Jesus’, we give special honour to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the First Friday etc.

Father Chevalier laid such great stress on the observance of both Constitutions and Rules because he saw in them what they are meant to be: a means to an end. In a conference which he gave to the MSC community at Issoudun some time about 1900 on the book of rules then called the Directory, he said:

“If we wish to be holy – to work efficaciously for the salvation of souls and the extension of the Society – let us be always, in everything and everywhere, faithful observers of our Constitutions and Rules.”

In a letter to a newly-ordained priest, Father Eugene Meyer, MSC, who would one day succeed him as superior general, he wrote:

“What the Missionary of the Sacred Heart has most need of today is holiness of life. This you will achieve by observing faithfully every day, in a great spirit of faith, all that our rules require.”

Not only did Father Founder regard religious rules as a means to an end. He looked upon them as a grace. Again I quote the abovementioned conference on the Directory:

“Let us love our rules. They are for us an outpouring of the love of the Heart of Jesus.”

It is the fashion, in some quarters today, to be somewhat intolerant of rules, or, to use the in-word ‘structures1, as inhibiting personal liberty. But it is of the very-nature of religious life, as it is of the Church, to have structures. In any group, natural or supernatural, practical patterns of doing things will develop simply as a result of living together and being motivated by the same ideal. Therefore, to be opposed to all rules is as inhibiting to human and group development as to be dominated by them.

When Father Chevalier insists on fidelity to rule, he is insisting on fidelity to a freely-accepted pattern of living as a precious means to what he knew would help to make an MSC or an FDNSC true to character. That is why he saw rules as some thing positive – a gift from the love of the Heart of Christ.

It is pretty evident that Father Chevalier often uses the word ‘rules’ to cover both Constitutions – or the institute’s basic laws of life – and rules or statutes which can be called its bylaws. Now both one and the other are important insofar as they safeguard the wholesome, life-giving traditions of the institute. This does not mean that the exterior forms of such traditional rules must be conserved forever unchanged, for it is not the form of a tradition that matters, but the wholesome tradition itself. Older practices which ensured the continuity of the spirit of our two societies in their own day, but which are now no longer carriers of this spirit, have been and-are legitimately being replaced by new ones better adapted to contem porary situations and mentality.

All this means, then, that if we are true to the spirit which he has left us, we shall reverence and love our freely-accepted patterns of living – call them what you will – but as adapted to our own times, not to the mid-19th century or the early 20th. Certain ones of a past generation may seem odd according to our own late 20th century mentality, just as many of our own freely accepted and reverenced ones most certainly will to the generations to come. But it must be remembered that the Holy Spirit – and this applies to the Church in general – always works through the mentality of an epoch.

There is one thing, however, which we do reverence in regard to the past. This is the spirit of faith which prompted MSCs and FDNSCs of a bygone generation to be faithful to their own contemporary patterns of observance which for them expressed outwardly the timeless elements basic to our particular form of religious life.

Our contemporaries wish to create a better world, more united, happier for all. This is the very cause for which Our Lord gave his life. It was in the pierced Heart of Christ that Father Chevalier saw a meaningful reminder of this. “To the spirit of division,” he wrote, “the Heart of Jesus opposes his immense love – his ardent wish to see all men united.”

To penetrate the hearts of men with this divine, uniting love was his mission, and the mission which he handed down to us. It is in our current Constitutions or Documents of Renewal which, after the Gospel, are the book of life of our two societies that we shall find the authentic expression of the charism of Father Chevalier, first among the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – a charism now become our own.

IV. JULES CHEVALIER: MAN OF FAITH

In the last talk (III), we spoke of Father Chevalier as the one who had the deepest understanding of the special grace of the Society expressed in its motto: ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved’.

When we stop to think of it. this is a staggering goal. We want to dedicate a whole life and a whole life’s activity that the Person of Christ, who is divine-human love, may be loved to the ends of the earth – and forever!

Now to be whole-hearted about this mission, we must have faith in it, as Father Chevalier himself had faith in it and in everything connected with its fulfil ment.

This talk, then, is going to be on JULES CHEVALIER: MAN OF FAITH. Jules Chevalier, in his Annals of the Little Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart written in 1901, six years before he died, was able to look back over nearly fifty years as Founder with a clear vision of faith. He begins with the following words:

“When God wills a work, obstacles for him are means of achievement; he takes no account of human wisdom; disconcerts human reckoning; brings to birth what, according to its reasoning, would never have seen the light of day; develops and strengthens to fruition what it had condemned to die.”

Now, faith implies a free response to something a person says or makes known. This response involves a relationship of confidence in that person, and there must be grounds for that confidence. As regards Father Chevalier, the grounds for his faith in his mission – a faith which persisted unshaken through many trials and sufferings – are indicated in a provisional draft of Rules for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart drawn up in 1855:

“The little Society of the Sacred Heart is not the work of man. It is the work of God. It was born in the Sacred Heart of Jesus under the powerful protection of Mary. . .”

It was this unshakeable faith that his work was willed by God which carried him undaunted through the seemingly insuperable obstacles to its accomplishment. Much has been written about Jules’ tenacity of purpose, of his obstinacy in following a line of action once he was convinced that this was the thing to be done in a given set of circumstances. From the psychological point of view, one would say that this tenacity was part of his particular temperament. For he was, by nature, endowed with a strong will which was not afraid of difficulties and obstacles. Rather, in face of them, his will was stirred to greater energy, and set itself to persevere till it reached its goal.

Now, Paul VI, in his recent Apostolic Exhortation on the Renewal of Religious Life, insists on the necessity of passing from the psychological level to the level of “that which is truly spiritual”. This is where grace comes in, building as it does on nature. The sublimating factor in the case of Jules Chevalier was a highly-developed spirit of faith – faith which resides in the intellect and provides motives for the will. Then, because of the direct correlation between faith in the intellect and love in the will, the stronger the faith, the deeper the love. Love, in its turn, generates a still greater courage and confidence. Seen in this supernatural light, Jules’ tenacity of purpose, astonishing at times to his contemporaries and often judged as obstinacy, becomes understandable.

But to relate all this to Jules’ character in action. From boyhood, there had been fostered in him a solid spiritual life, characterized by a normally good habit of prayer. This left him sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He believed with his whole being that God wanted him to be a priest. We have seen his tenacity in clinging to this idea and doing all in his own power to bring it to realization. Once in the seminary, he showed equal tenacity in determining to be the kind of priest he knew God wanted him to be. On one occasion, when he was home for his holidays, a couple of his relatives hinted to the junior seminarist that, as a priest, he would possibly be able to use his influence on behalf of his family. They received a speedy disillusionment. “If you are counting on me for anything like that, you are in for a big disappointment. If I’m going to be a priest, it is in the service of God and not of my family”. This he wrote in the Personal Notes already spoken of.

Nor did he swerve from this line of action when he passed into the Major Seminary. He came out from the entrance retreat determined to make a sound spiritual life the basis of his future priestly life. “The retreat master,” he wrote, “recommended to us three virtues: fidelity to the rule, mortification and humility. During the five years of my Major Seminary training, 1 made every effort to put them into practice.”

It is to his friend, Father Piperon. that we are indebted for a rather close look at the seminarian, Jules. Steeped as he was in the spirit of faith, this faith was far from being a mere intellectual knowledge. It penetrated his whole being and drew from him the continued response of loving acts of the will. This explains the whole hearted way in which he cooperated with the grace of his priestly formation.

The ideal of the priesthood put before the students at the seminary captivated him. In himself, the seminarist was taught, the priest is nothing. By his union with Christ who is God he becomes everything – mediator, servant of all in order to redeem them. He becomes Christ, the Sovereign Priest who lives in him. Jules himself synthesises these ideas as follows:

“O Priest, who are you? You are not from yourself, because you are nothing. You do not exist for yourself, since you are a mediator with God. You do not belong to yourself, since you are the servant of all. You are not yourself since you are God. Who are you, then, O priest? You are all and nothing.” As a logical consequence of this ideal, Jules saw that, as a priest, he must be trans formed into Christ who will live in him and thus through him give life to his Church. Who will declare that, even as far back as his seminary days, Jules Chevalier was not ecclesial in outlook?

In this matter of transformation into Christ, he really got down to detail in matters insisted upon by Vatican II in its decrees on Religious Life, Priests and Priestly Formation – that is penance, poverty and charity. Concerning penance, not only would he refuse himself a fire in his room in the depth of a French winter, but he was known to practise other kinds of penance the exact nature of which his inquisitive fellow-students failed to discover. In his practice of poverty, he would have won the approval of those who are calling most loudly for its witness in the Church today, particularly by priests and religious. Not only did he practise charity in manner and act among his confreres, but this also took the form of a practical concern for those outside the seminary.

Incidentally, it is strange how we talk in all the in words about what our concern must be for our fellow-men. It is as though in this matter of concern we are about to turn over a new leaf – and things will be changed as never before. Yet, if we confine ourselves merely to the history of our own two societies, what riches we have in our own past, riches which are relevant to us today; what inspiration in the witness of our own Founder, and of those pioneers who have handed down to us his spirit. Rewrite the life of Jules Chevalier in contemporary terms of commitment, involvement, concern, confrontation (I am thinking of his courageous stand as a seminarian when a certain professor was departing from orthodoxy), and we would have a biography that might have a chance of getting over. My point is that the basic ideas covered by these contemporary terms are timeless no matter what names we give them. And they will always have a drawing power.

But to get back to Jules1 concern for others. As an example I would like to pause on an incident with which you will be familiar, but which may perhaps take on a new freshness when related to ideals which are supposed to be specially char acteristic of today’s dissatisfied young people. They are yearning, we are told, to pour themselves out on others – the poor and underprivileged. And many do. But have not many of them always wanted to do so? Think of the poor man in bad health, who, nevertheless, had a large family to support and who came to the seminary each morning to clean the toilets: how Jules sized up the situation that the work was too strenuous for him; how for a long time he took it upon himself to share the lowly task, instead of taking the view that the man was paid to do the work: and how it was only through the indiscretion of a fellow-student who caught him at his work of compassion that the rest of the students came to know of the affair. Only an isolated instance we may be tempted to say. Agreed! But it shows a disposition, and that is something which cannot be improvised. Hence the telling power of this particular incident.

Father Piperon closes his testimony of Jules as a seminarian as follows:

“Such was Jules Chevalier as I knew him during the few years passed with him at the seminary. Until the last, he was the model for all by his regularity, his zeal for the glory of God and the good of souls, his poverty, simplicity and affability. His lively faith led him to enter wholeheartedly into all spiritual practices compatible with seminary life.”

This concluding remark is very relevant in the context of this talk on Jules Chevalier: Man of Faith. His lively feith led him to enter wholeheartedly into all spiritual practices compatible with seminary life. There comes immediately to mind another well-known fact – his initiative in establishing in the seminary the group called the Knights of the Sacred Heart. Its object was that the members help one another to the priestly virtues. To this end it was agreed that, in a spirit of mutual trust and openness, they point out one another’s defects, and suggest remedies. Incidentally this is not far removed from some of today’s group techniques at least in principle. Note also the group’s Eucharistic orientation. In their free time they were to succeed one another before the Blessed Sacrament – there to adore the Eucharistic Heart of Christ, make reparation for sin, and through the intercession of Mary ask grace for the Church, the Pope, bishops and their priests, and for the just and sinners. He also established this Eucharistic adoration in one of his first parishes, and has even made it a feature of the prayer life of our own institute.

It is also obvious from this how easily Jules’ simple faith led him to prayer. Looking back over his life, we see how he always turned to prayer in difficult cir cumstances. It is interesting to note how often this prayer took the form of a novena. Generally speaking, novenas seem to be out of fashion today. At least they are reputed to be, but one wonders! It is important to remember, however, that it is not the form prayer takes which matters – this will vary according to mentality. What counts with God is the timeless element of persevering faith, no matter how expressed. And this is exactly what Father Chevalier’s well-known novenas expressed – a tenacious, persevering faith which invariably brought the grace asked, because he was disposed to receive it. After all, the Gospels have enough of Our Lord’s reactions to unshakeable faith. “Great is your faith. Be it done as you have asked.” In any case how momentous for us, his sons and daughters, were those faith-novenas of Father Chevalier.

Think of the one in preparation for the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The faith that it expressed drew from the Heart of Christ through Mary an unmistakeable sign that the Society was in the designs of God.

There was the second novena. asking Mary to obtain the financial aid necessary to assure the maintainance of the foundation.

“I can authorize you to commence this foundation,” said the Archbishop of Bourges, “only if you have a sufficient and assured revenue. If God wills your work, He can send you the wherewithal to maintain it. Ask Our Lady to com plete what she has so well begun.”

We know the result of this second novena. The money was forthcoming. Good! But then the Cardinal’s Council voted unanimously against the project, so the Cardinal adjourned the decision. One of those who had been present at the Council meeting counselled Jules to drop the project. He told him that, during the Council meeting, his idea had been under fire for a full half hour. There was nothing left to do but bury it.

”Not so fast,” retorted Jules. “Our Lady had yet to say the last word. We’re going to pray.”

But when the Cardinal’s Council came together again, there was the same unanimous opposition. Then the Cardinal completely dumbfounded everyone.

“I have reflected,” he said. “I have prayed. It is not my habit to act contrary to your advice. But for this once, I feel that I must do so. Otherwise I believe that I would be acting contrary to the designs of God. I promised these two priests that if they brought me a fresh sign of the will of God by finding resources, I’d approve their project. They’ve again produced this sign. There fore I’m committed. I authorize the two curates to commence their work. This very day we’ll appoint men to replace them.”

In the archives of the Archdiocese of Bourges, there is to be seen this entry under date of I0 th June, 1855: “Jules Chevalier has been authorized to take the title Missionary of the Sacred Heart and, consequently, to cease his function as curate at Issoudun.” There is a similar entry for Father Maugenest.

There is still another momentous novena in the life of Father Chevalier. Troubles upon troubles, largely consequent upon the government persecution of religious institutes, seemed to be threatening the very existence of the Society. For one thing, in the 1890’s, Archbishop Boyer of Bourges was unfriendly to the Society. He wanted to take the parish of Issoudun from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart as being religious, and transfer it to the secular clergy. Just to show how closely the destinies of our two societies were linked, it is interesting to note that the Archbishop’s displeasure was extended to the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, too, as being one of his works established in the parish. I quote Father Founder’s reference to this:

“The little community of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart which we founded at Issoudun, though so good, devoted and fervent, has like ourselves (the MSCs) had the privilege of receiving absolutely no mark of sympathy on the part of Monsignor. They asked him for two favours and both have been refused. The first was to open a little school in their house, the second to apply to Rome for a Decree of Praise for their institute.” (1895) In the second place, as is evident from his Spiritual Testament to the Mission aries of the Sacred Heart, Father Chevalier was experiencing painful difficulties within the Society, even as there had been within our own. That, however, is a matter for the MSC historian rather than for me.

All these combined troubles occasioned for Father Chevalier what was perhaps the sharpest testing of his faith during the whole course of his long life. In his anguish, feeling sure that his beloved Society was facing impending ruin, yet with faith unshaken, he turned to prayer. Here is what he writes:

“The heart filled with anguish, and eyes filled with tears, we could foresee the proximate ruin of our beloved Society. Deprived of all human support, and unable to count upon that of him who had the mission to sustain us and all the powers to defend us (he is here referring to the Archbishop), we turned to the Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Our prayer consisted only of these few words: ‘Save us. We are perishing.’ “

As had happened twice before, and on the very last day of the novena, the crisis came to an end and the difficulties began to resolve themselves.

One could say that the whole life of Father Chevalier was at times almost a blind act of faith. Yet there was one occasion on which he seemed to have a fore sight of the future. This was when the walls of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in construction at Issoudun were barely above ground level. It is Father Piperon who tells the story.

One day Father Founder was talking intimately to us about the future of his work. “A time will come,” he said, “when you will see crowds flocking here from different parts of France and elsewhere.” “When I see that,” replied one of his hearers, “I’ll declare you a prophet!” But with calm assurance, Father Chevalier merely replied, “You will see it yourselves with your own eyes, and you will bless the Sacred Heart of Jesus for it.”

His presentiment came true. Every year, since about 1869, the pilgrims have come in their tens of thousands, not only from all parts of France but from all parts of the world – to pray at the feet of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart enshrined in her beauti ful chapel stretching far back behind the sanctuary.

Apart from this one of an almost supernatural intuition. Father Chevalier, unlike the founders of many religious institutes, was not guided by any extra ordinary light. He had to grope his way to solutions through the most painful of problems. Perhaps one of the greatest was back in 1869. It took the form of a summons to come to Rome and bring with him everything written on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which title had fallen under suspicion. This letter arrived on the very day on which Issoudun was preparing to crown the statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the name of Pope Pius IX. It was when the bells were ringing for the solemn Mass when the Archbishop of Bourges – this one a great friend of the Society – handed Father Chevalier the letter in question. The first impulse of Father Chevalier was to call off the ceremonies, But the wise Archbishop told him to go ahead, that he himself would take the responsibility with the Holy See. Even so the day of triumph for Our Lady of the Sacred Heart became one of-bitterness for her apostle. Ultimately everything was sent to Rome and the denunciation of the title rejected. Here as in all his enterprises, one fact stands out strikingly, and it is this which puts the seal of authenticity on Father Chevalier’s conduct. In deep faith he always submitted everything to the discerning judgment of the Spirit-directed Church.

His faith was tested, too, amid the darkness of human frustration. From the very beginning of the Society, he had intended it for the foreign missions. Since 1878 he had been making formal requests to the Holy See for a mission field to be entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. In January I 879 the offer came. The Society was offered the diocese of Auckland in New Zealand, which had been without a bishop for nearly four years, also the appended missions. But the offer came to nothing on account of opposition from Father Chevalier’s Council. This was most certainly in the designs of God for, in 1881, came a new offer – the immense Pacific territory of Melanesia and Micronesia. Again, there was strong opposition, especially on the part of Father Guyot, one of his councillors. But this time Father Chevalier stuck to his guns, convinced that the acceptance of the Pacific mission was the will of God for the Society. He knew, furthermore, that the Holy See was behind him, and also the MSC communities who had been consulted.

Even so, with a holy diplomacy, he took steps to ease matters. He got Father Jouet. the Society’s representative in Rome with the Holy See, to persuade the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith to write him a letter saying that it was the wish of the Pope that the Society take on these missions. It certainly was the wish of the Pope but. reasoned Father Founder. a formal expression in writing of the Pope’s will would help vastly when it was a question of securing the agreement of the opposition on the MSC General Council.

He asked that the letter be addressed to himself and that, if the Cardinal thought good, he himself be asked to take the decision personally, especially since he knew that the rest of the Society was just rearing to have this mission field. He even suggested to Father Jouet that he get the Cardinal to date the letter the 25th March, the Feast of the mystery of the Incarnation. And what is there to criticize in this, or be shocked at? The time was within a few days. To me the time element is irrelevant. For Father Chevalier the date is a meaningful symbol. I quote his reply: The official letter, which Your Eminence did me the honour of addressing to me, bears the dale of March 25th. This date is significant. It is the day which Heaven chose to announce the news of salvation through the Incarnation of the Word. It is likewise the day which Leo XIII chose to propose to us that we accept the mission of Melanesia.

After the example of Mary, we have made known with simplicity the insufficient numbers we have and our understandable misgivings (only 29 priests, 3 lay brothers and 26 scholastics). But since, Your Eminence, like the angel you say, ‘Have no fear; accept the offer made you; the Spirit of God will be with you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,’ with the Virgin of Nazareth, our humble Congregation responds: ‘Behold the hand maid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.’ It would be a very undiscerning mind which would see in Father Chevalier’s implementation of the date anything other than a manifestation of his spirit of faith. Even a cursory glance at his writings will prove his love for the mystery of the Incarnation, e.g. the number of times he speaks of the Word Incarnate. In the extract quoted he himself says that the date is significant and he meant it to be. For he wanted it to manifest a relationship between the announcement made through Mary of the news of salvation, and the announcement made by the Church that the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart would evangelize the pagans. It might be of interest to know. too. that he suggested to Father Jouet who was doing the business in Rome that he give to the above reply another symbolic date, for example Good Friday, as being the May of salvation’. Again a manifestation of Father Chevalier’s spirit of faith.

As for the members of Father Chevalier’s Council who had opposed the acceptance of the mission, we cannot pass an unfavourable judgment on them. They were probably acting in accordance with their conscience in what they considered the best interests of the Society, which was certainly in no position to embark on what seemed to them a very imprudent venture. Nor will this be the last time that Father Guyot in particular will oppose the missionary audacity of Father Chevalier. Four years later, it was question of a new mission field – this time of New Guinea. He threatened to write to Rome and have it stopped on the grounds of imprudence. This time the first five missionary Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart were involved and the departure was scheduled for October 17, 1884. Yet two weeks before sailing date, so strong was his opposition that no one could be sure that the departure would take place. It did, however, and we know the rest of the heroic story.

But never, throughout this time of trial, did Father Chevalier waver in his extraordinary spirit of faith. “If the Sacred Heart of Jesus wants this land of New Guinea for his missionaries, all obstacles will resolve themselves,” he wrote to the faithful Father Jouet. Had it not been for his unshakeable courage and determin ation, the MSCs and FDNSCs may not today be carrying on their extensive aposto-late in the Pacific missions.

Yet what suffering of mind and heart this had cost Father Founder. For conflict in personal relationships can hurt deeply, and that it did hurt one has only to read his Spiritual Testament to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. As always, however, he pardons those who consciously or unconsciously have been the cause of pain to him. Furthermore, he acknowledges that he himself may have made mistakes and so may have given rise to criticism of himself and his administration.

In all this, we must remember that no man is perfect, and that the charism to be a Founder does not carry with it immunity from mistakes of the practical judg ment. In situations like these, we must try to be very objective in our conclusions and remember that whatever happens in history is because of people. Where one person feels that he has perfectly justifiable reasons for doing something, he runs into opposition from someone else who, in his turn, feels quite justified in his own position. All we need do, then, as we ourselves look back, is to try in all fairness to understand motives on both sides. In this, too, we who come a long time after, are greatly helped by being able to evaluate subsequent events. If Father Founder had not taken the stand he did, may be Issoudun would not have been the great Marian centre which it is today with an influence and works throughout the world to the glory of the Heart of Christ through Our Lady of the Sacred Heart; the field of apostolate of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart may have been more restricted; and the Daughters of OLSH could have been a diocesan rather than a pontifical institute, their activities limited to one French diocese.

There is a further point. Historical characters must always he shown in the round. By that I mean with all their strengths and weaknesses. This you will agree makes them more credible and arouses sympathy for them. In 1872 the parish of Issoudun was entrusted to the MSCs by an archbishop who had a great affection for the Society, Mgr. de la Tour d’Auvergne. His two successors. Archbishops Marchal and Boyer, who found themselves with the government persecution of the religious institutes on their hands, were not so enthusiastic about the MSCs having the parish administration. So we have tension, with Father Chevalier wanting at all costs to retain the parish and thus save the MSC works of which Issoudun was the centre. It is encouraging to leaf through his correspondence and note how, when exasperated, he could express himself with a certain vivacity. But so could St. Paul. I am thinking of two letters in particular – both in connection with our own society. At the time. Father Founder had resigned as Superior General of the Society so as to hold his position as parish priest of Issoudun. But he still kept his eye on MSC affairs. In his effort to save MSC property, the General Bursar was prepared to let FDNSC property fall into government hands. Did Father Founder write a forthright letter to the Superior General, Father Meyer in Rome! The FDNSCs had stood by the MSCs in everything, he said. It was unthinkable not to save the FDNSC property!

Again, Mother Marie Louise, our own Superior General, was in Belgium, and, while leaving a small community in Issoudun, wanted to transfer the general administration there even as the general administration of the MSCs had been transferred to Rome. She, too got a forthright letter from him reproaching her with her lack of courage. Eventually, however, he saw she was right, that it could not function in France, and so he humbly gave his blessing. After all, it was the development of the works which he wanted, not mere attachment to retaining the headquarters at its place of origin.

No one was more humbly aware of his own human weaknesses than Father Founder himself. Again we can refer to his Spiritual Testament to each of our Societies. Here I quote the MSC one: “God, despite my unworthiness, has used me, a lowly instrument, to found the little Society MSC. I have received an abundance of most precious graces, but have not profited by them as I should have. In order to punish me, he has therefore permitted that I become the butt of the most painful of trials.”

Note how in this, it is again his spirit of faith which speaks. His mind does not dwell on human agents; he sees just the presence of God punishing him for his infidelity. And he humbly asks pardon of the members of the Society for any hurts he may himself have caused them. Yet as he looks back over his long life, he can make a statement which is simply staggering in its utter assurance. Just listen to it: “I think I can here claim that, in all things, I have sought only the glory of the Sacred Heart, the good of our little Society, and of its members.”

Jules Chevalier, man of faith during his long career as founder and spiritual father of our two societies, is here at the end of his life able to make a final humble, yet daring act of faith in his own fidelity to the mission given him by the Holy Spirit over fifty years previously.

May he, first among the missionaries of the Heart of Christ which the Church relies on us all to be, be our inspiration to a like spirit of faith in, and fidelity to, everywhere and our common mission of making the Sacred Heart of Jesus loved – forever.