The Spirituality of Father Founder

E.J. Cuskelly, MSC, 1959

Note : The following article was contributed by Father Cuskelly to an abridgement of JULES CHEVALIER, MSC by Father Henri Vermin, MSC. The abridgement of the twenty chapters of this book was made by the MSC scholastics at the Sacred Heart Monastery, Croydon, Vic., 1959. Father Cuskelly’s article has particular reference to Chapter XVIII of Vol. I, Father Vermin, of the Dutch Province, died without completing the second volume.

The last three chapters of Fr. Vermin’s book are concerned with “Orientations Spirituelles”. Chapter XX on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart has already been treated (Feast of O.L.S.H.). Chapter XIX on Fr. Founder’s teaching on devotion to the Sacred Heart has also been considered elsewhere – and regarding its doctrinal content is assumed as being sufficiently known to need no further discussion here. Its influence on the spirituality of Fr. Chevalier will, however, be brought out. Obviously, then, my main concern is with Chapter XVIII; and in order that it might serve to set forth more clearly the spirit of our Founder, I shall first of all recall some of the points made in earlier papers, indicating briefly their
importance for the forming of that spirit. For this purpose, I have utilized Fr, Vermin’s article in the Analecta of 1952, and – with apologies to Fr. Vermin, if they are needed – run in a few considerations from Spiritual Theology, in the hope that they will help in an appreciation of the genesis and genius of the Founder’s spirituality.

The importance of such an appreciation can hardly be over-stressed. For, as Pope Pius XI reminded us, the founder of a Religious Institute carries out his work under a Divine inspiration, and the members of that Institute cannot err if they endeavour to follow his way. For them also it is the way of the more perfect living of their vocation.

First of all, you cannot understand any system of spirituality, nor any spiritual way, unless you see it as the expression of the personal spiritual life and experience of the one to whom it owes its origin. A school of spirituality, or a system or way of spiritual life, is never something worked out at a desk; not something in the merely speculative order, with a nice arrangement of all things according to their value worked out according to one or other theological system. Personal experience is the decisive factor; a central intuition, a lived experience – something taking hold of your heart and soul and transforming your life.

Secondly, there is nothing essential to Christianity which is excluded from a genuine spiritual way. The essentials are common to all: the goal, union with God, and Christ, the way: sacraments, liturgy, grace, virtues, taking up the cross etc. The essential principles are always the same: the schools of spirituality result from a special accent given to one or other of the common elements; a special highlighting, or a special starting point; e.g. St. Francis and the imitation of Christ in his poverty.

Thirdly, when the personal experience, or central intuition comes to a man, it transforms, under its own special light, all things else that make up the whole of his spiritual life. Nothing is taken away that was of value; but their value is now relative to the principal personal value in his life. Similarly, the experience is usually not a completely isolated and disconnected event in his life. It builds on to all that has gone before in his own life – and whatever came before is, under God’s providence, by way of preparation. The whole thing is somewhat like lighting a fire. The spark, or the flame, is the energising and characteristic element. But it is not lit in a vacuum – it is applied to the materials already gathered and built up. Once it is lighted, you do not remove these materials; but the fire creeps back, transforming and diffusing its light and energy over the whole.

The spark in Fr. Chevalier’s spirit was devotion to the Sacred Heart – characterizing his spirituality. But you must not see it isolated, but rather built on to what went before in the way of life and doctrine, diffusing its light and colour over what was already there, giving it new direction.

With these principles in mind, let us take a quick look back over his life. Fr. Vermin’s book, and the very fine summaries we have heard, make Jules Chevalier a very living figure. We see him as a high-spirited kid stealing apples and playing practical jokes; as a youth who was man enough to hand out a good punch on the nose when it was called for; as a seminarian who floored one of his fellows when he became insufferable. Beneath all this, however, there is evidence of the stuff that saints are made of – -not in the way of pious prodigies – but in qualities of character that can be marshalled into the service of the supernatural and which, in him, were early directed towards higher things. This direction was nothing strikingly extraordinary: the salutary influence of a good, common-sensed Catholic mother, such as you would find in most good Catholic families, and the help of a parish Priest who took an interest in the boy.

There were certain things about Jules that were more than ordinary; and these can all be summed up by the one word: ‘Fidelity’, fidelity in corresponding with any demands that God made on him, or that he judged God had made – and this from a very early age, Fr. Vermin writes, on page 362:

“In order to pass a judgment on a Founder, it is most important to note the unity and fidelity which characterize his life and his activity in pursuit of the goal.”

Jules Chevalier, from his earliest years, possessed this quality of fidelity to God’s demands and to his vocation in a measure that was certainly more than ordinary. This comes through, from the very first chapter: in his scraping the meat from a sandwich his mother made – aged nine years he was – for it was against the law of the Church; in his generosity in carrying out all that he considered demanded by the vocation to be a priest – a vocation which, in spite of obstacles, he never doubted. He was resolute in the practice of prayer – not from any great lights received, but because it should be done. For long years he worked as an apprentice in order to gain money to educate himself as a priest, and he studied in his spare time. He kept himself apart from his fellow commrades and their good fun, in spite of their insistences, for he judged that they might hinder the following out of his vocation. Fidelity, generosity, single-mindedness: great qualities, really, when they are put wholeheartedly in the service of God. That they were comes out in that incident when, as a seminarian, Jules told his relatives: “I am becoming a Priest to be in the service of God, and not of my family; to gain souls for Jesus Christ, and not to enrich my relatives” (page 32). It is testified to, repeatedly, by his seminary companions.

There are, from his seminary days, three incidents, which with the help of God’s grace, were to be very important in preparing him for the personal experience of contact with the Sacred Heart which was to transform his life. The first was the fall from the cliff while at the Seminary of Saint-Gaultier. The spiritual import of this accident is expressed by Fr. Vermin in these words: “In his powerless inability, not understanding why he was not already dead, he had a clear consciousness of the absolute dominion of God on whom all depends, and who held in His hands his vocation and his life – he first realized his total dependence, and the obligation of putting himself entirely at the service of God. This he promised to do.” (page 52)

The second incident which we must recall is the grace (I use Fr. Chevalier’s own words) of being able to renounce a friendship – a rather strong one – with one of his fellow students, because God made him see that this too-natural friendship was not consonant with the mission He wished to entrust to him. As Fr. Vermin writes: “It seems to have been the sacrifice of this friendship that was for him personally a condition asked by God for advancing to a higher perfection.”

The third notable event in this period of the life of Jules Chevalier is his first Retreat after he had passed from the Seminary of Saint-Gaultier to that of Bourges. He himself attaches much importance to this Retreat. He dates his ‘conversion’ from it.

Here, I think, it would be useful to run in a few brief considerations on the nature of what is commonly called a ‘second conversion’. The terminology dates from St. Clement of Alexandria – at least in its more usual acceptance; Garrigou-Lagrange demands one for the entry into each of the three ways – but conversions non sunt multiplicandae sine necessitate. It is so called from its parallel with the first conversion to the Faith: it is a renewed, complete self-giving to God and His Will; to merit the name it must be generous, decisive, firm and constant. According to the Dictionnaire de Spiritualite, there can be two types : sudden or slow. Now, here I shall give only the points which have a parallel with the incidents in the life of Fr. Founder.

The sudden conversion, says the author of this article, can come :
(a) after a more difficult victory over self – sometimes accompanied by a strong light and a movement of grace: e.g. St. Francis of Assisi. The reason is evident – this generous self-renunciation for God’s sake is a gift of self to God, and can involve the whole soul in a very deep way. (c.f. friendship)
(b) or it can come after a revelation of the nothingness of human things and the accompanying realization that God is all (e.g. St. Francis Borgia at the grave of Isabella – c.f. the fall).

When the conversion is slow – it is often due to a retreat; St. Ignatius is very insistent on this, The motives of the conversion can be many – the more disinterested are the more noble, and also, from the psychological point of view, more efficacious; for they can bring about complete forgetfulness of self and cost to self. “Qui amat non laborat”, as St. Augustine says.

Prepared by these other incidents and the graces of which they had been the occasion, Jules gave himself generously to the will of God, his soul open to receive the influence of God. Together with this, he was submitted to the influence of the French School of spirituality – the school of St. Sulpice. This spirituality was essentially Christocentric and sacerdotal – seeing Christ the High Priest as the one who, par excellence, glorified God, and practised most perfectly the virtue of religion (a virtue on which the school laid much emphasis). The work of a priest, as Jules was
called to be, was essentially to share in and continue that work of Christ – to let Christ take possession of and live on in himself; he would think only of the glory of God. In this way a priest would forget himself, die to himself; he would let Christ live in him and work through him. Thus his whole life would be directed in Christ to the glory of God. It would centre around the Eucharist and the sacrifice of the Mass, for it was there that Christ principally continues His work. It had a great devotion to the interior life of Christ which the priest tried to reproduce in himself (and thus incidentally Berulle prepared the way for devotion to the Sacred Heart). It loved to repeat two texts from St. Paul: “I live now no longer I, but Christ lives in me”, and Hebrews in regard to Christ coming into the world: “See, I am coming to do thy will, O my God,” A further insistence was on the necessity of dying to self in order that Christ might live in us, In this, as in all things, the model was Christ, emptying himself and taking the form of a slave at the Incarnation – and also in the Eucharist, hidden under the sacred species.

Centred on Christ the High Priest and Mediator, this spirituality must of necessity consider the twofold aspect of priesthood: Christ giving supreme glory and adoration to God, Christ giving life and salvation to men. Its prayer has been summarized under three heads: Christ before our eyes, Christ in our hearts, and Christ in our hands. The first two: adoration and communion express the more contemplative aspect, the third the apostolic or active: working together for the glory of God and the salvation of men with Christ. Fr. Piperon tells us that a favourite text of Fr. Chevalier in those days was Heb. 12:2:

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the origin and crown of all faith, who, to win his prize of blessedness, endured the cross and made light of its shame, Jesus who now sits on the right of God’s throne.”

All these steps in his formation were preparatory for the definitive grace given him on the occasion of the study of the doctrine of the devotion of the Sacred Heart. “This doctrine went straight to my heart,” he wrote, “and the more I went into it, the more completely captivating I found it.” Devotion to the Sacred Heart was not something altogether new to him; but now he brought to its study the newness of a soul re-made.

His own natural temperament had given him a sense of duty and constancy; and he showed generosity and fidelity in developing and directing his natural qualities in the service of God.
The fall down the cliff had given him the perspective of God’s supremacy, and the total dependence of all creatures.
The generous renunciation of a too-natural friendship had given him total detachment and set his heart free for God alone.
The retreat had given him the grace for complete supernatural dedication; for the fully-lived complete abandonment of himself to God and His demands.
Saint Sulpice had given him a Christ-centred, self-forgetful system of spiritual service and life in Christ for God and for souls.
But it was his ‘discovery’ of devotion to the Sacred Heart which was the spark which gave fire to his life, and living unity to all that comprised it. There is the animating principle. It did not substitute for all the rest (no spirit ever does), but it was the flame that gave light and warmth, and distinctive colour to all the rest. It soon permeated his whole life, and by his Ordination to sub-deaconate, we can say that his spirituality was definitely formed.

Before developing the treatment of this spirit, and showing how it worked itself out in practice and into the Constitutions and the spirit of the Society, it will be useful to indicate how, in what we have been considering, parallel to his personal formation, Divine Providence was preparing him for his vocation as a founder. In order that the vital personal experience which is at the heart of every way of spirituality should be of more than personal value and really influence others, two things (according to the article “Ecole de Spiritualite” in the Dictionnaire de Spiritualite) are
necessary:

It must be accompanied by a certitude which can leave no doubt of this mission to propagate it.
It must be accompanied by a self-mastery in the person who experiences it – so that his care henceforth is only to help others share his own vision.

We shall consider these in inverse order. In the accounts of his life as a seminarist, what appears most clearly is his long and constant striving for self-mastery: fidelity to rule and duties, assiduity at studies, application to prayer, poverty, mortification, penance, humility, readiness to take every occasion to practise charity. These things are mentioned again and again, and many examples given. Fr. Piperon has to excuse him from the charge of severity with himself and with others. Others were (many of them) repelled by his obvious efforts at recollection and devotion. The plain fact of the matter is that for many of his fellow students, his obvious, very serious efforts not to be merely natural made him appear unnatural, and a pious ‘pain in the neck’. He himself was aware of this, and tho’ not holding seriousness and severity were the same thing as sanctity for all, he judged necessary in his own case – to quote Fr. Piperon – “strong constraint, violent effort to conquer and dominate his strong nature, and to make it supple,” Fr. Piperon, the Founder’s champion, goes so far as to admit that there could have been exaggeration in a lot of this. The reason was that he wanted to be a saint in a hurry.

These efforts because they were inspired by the right intention paid off, and the balancing effect of devotion to the Sacred Heart gave him serenity. A year’s meditation on it brought him at subdeaconate the peaceful, untroubled possession of himself. His self-mastery was achieved, and henceforth he radiated something of the courteous charm of the Heart of Christ which helped him much more effectively to influence others.

His care henceforth was to help others share the vision, and let it influence their lives. Hence the group of seminarians “Chevaliers du Sacre Coeur”. There came to him too, in his Seminary days, in the various steps that have been traced for you, the certitude that he was called by God to establish a society of priests – missionaries, to combat the evil of the day – irreligion, incredulity, indifference, and immorality. The inspiration came to him in prayer, and he never doubted that it was of God. Then, when he “found” the appeal of devotion to the Sacred Heart, “it stirred up within me”, he wrote, “an ardent desire to become the apostle of this devotion, which Our Lord Himself had given to the world as a powerful means of sanctification, and which He desired to see spread everywhere.”

From now on, he is the Founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. All he needs is the practical means of implementing his vocation. The steps in that implementation you have heard, and there is no need to repeat them.

What is his vision of life as he now conceives it, for himself and for the members of his Society? As we consider the answer to this question, you can see how his devotion to the Sacred Heart, as it were, takes hold of the past and puts it into practice with a newness that came from the force of his vision. I do not think there is any exaggeration in speaking of Fr. Chevalier’s personal experience of the meaning of devotion to the Sacred Heart, and its consequent domination of his whole life as a sort of vision, Fr. Vermin, and before him Fr. Delaporte, remark on the ‘quasi-visionary’ tone with which he writes of the Sacred Heart (page 385). As I have said, I shall not delay on his exposition of the doctrine of the
Sacred Heart. There is nothing extraordinary about it – or rather there is this which is out of the ordinary: his sureness in selecting from the various opinions then current on various aspects – the soundest one always. But even this is what we should have expected. For if a Founder, as Pope Pius X says, is inspired by the spirit of God; and if Fr. Chevalier’s special inspiration was to work himself and through his Society for the spread of the devotion to the Heart of Christ, that work would, on all essential points, be along the right lines.

You could work out, from what we have already considered, just what Fr. Chevalier’s vision must have been. A genuine spirituality does not, when the personal experience comes to it, neglect everything that has led up to that experience. It utilizes what it already possesses. Now Fr. Chevalier’s devotion had been centred on Christ the High Priest. Devotion to the Sacred Heart does not replace this: it becomes now, Devotion to the Heart of Christ the High Priest (page 377). It is important to remember this. Now, as we have said, a priest cannot be thought of except as a Mediator – as combining worship of God with sanctification of men: for a priest is, in the very essence of the priesthood, the bridge between God
and man. Obviously, then, Fr. Chevalier’s devotion to the Sacred Heart could not have been a consideration of the Heart of Christ considered without any connexion with the souls whom His Priesthood had saved.

And, of course, over and over again in what Fr. Chevalier wrote we see that his vision is one of the Sacred Heart and the world in need. As a matter of fact, in point of time, the world in need of God in the evils of the day entered first into his vision. This also fits into the general process of his spiritual formation. Saint Sulpice and the French school placed much stress on the virtue of religion. Acknowledging God’s excellence and adoring Him was man’s first duty and highest privilege. In recognizing his dependence on God, man found his true peace, and his real happiness was founded on his service of God.

The fall, which has been mentioned, with its spiritual consequences, would have prepared Jules’ soul for a deep appreciation of this doctrine. In consequence of this and of his own sense of duty and loyalty, he would have been very deeply affected by the knowledge that in the world there was so much indifference, so many men who failed to recognize God and give Him thanks. This Godlessness was, to him, a great evil that must be remedied – for God’s honour and man’s good. As he studied the thesis on the Sacred Heart and read the life of St. Margaret Mary, he saw that Christ Himself had revealed the most effective remedy – Devotion to His Heart. He wrote that the formal object of the devotion is: “The love with which this Heart is animated for men, or, in other words, Our Lord in His Love for men.”

Once you have that vision, you have everything or the whole explanation of Fr. Founder’s subsequent life and activity – of our motto: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved”: for this was Christ’s own Heart’s desire – this was the world’s greatest need, and greatest remedy. It explains why, as Fr. Vermin insists, our vocation is at once contemplative and active: in actione contemplativus. Just recall the method of prayer of Saint Sulpice that he had learned: three steps: adoration and communion – contemplating the Heart of Christ in His adorable Person, in His
relations with the Father, reproducing His virtues; co-operation – zeal and apostolic activity.

This vision explains why, for him, and in his Constitutions, there is so much insistence on the necessity of prayer. First you must contemplate and adore the Heart of Christ, set yourself on fire with Its love before you go out to cast this fire upon the earth. That is why he always opposed any suggestions (those of M. Cham-grand for instance) that his society be one of missionaries without vows and community life. Community life was necessary, for it was the means of prayer, of steeping themselves in the divine love of the Heart of Christ, without which they would be nothing. His old favourite text from Hebrews 12:7 was not forgotten. In one form or another it recurs in the Constitutions he drew up:

“Ever keeping before their eyes the divine pattern of perfection, Jesus Christ Our Lord” etc. (N. 7)

The vision explains, too, those notes which are regarded as characterizing our spirit: ever-burning love of the Heart of Christ, and zeal for souls. Fraternal charity is another important characteristic note – in it, says Fr. Chevalier, the M S.C. will be second to none. For we are all men who have shared the same vision, whose life is dominated by this same thought of the Sacred Heart and the world in need of His love. Our thoughts are not centred on ourselves, but on the spread of the devotion to the Sacred Heart – “Ametur ubique. . .” We are all brothers working for a common cause, caught up and working shoulder to shoulder in a great enterprise in which there is a certain urgency, for “caritas Christi urget nos”. No matter what we do, teaching, preaching, cooking, gardening – these are all directed to the one end. If it helps to this end – that the Sacred Heart be known and loved – it does not matter what we do, provided it be done.

“May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved!” That is what mattered for Father Founder. To that end, he was ready to encourage and work for any means that were proposed: Association of Secular Priests and third Order, Association of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Apostolic Schools. A similar readiness for any work that contributes to the spread of the knowledge and love of the Sacred Heart – in any way – Fr. Founder expected of his disciples (Constitutions N. 7). This single-mindedness in conspiring towards a common end must, according to St. Thomas’
teaching on friendship, contribute much towards that spirit of fraternal charity which is regarded as being characteristic of our Society. This charity will exist in the same measure as we share in the vision of our Founder. What are we? Students, brothers, teachers, preachers? No – we are M.S.C., men who work “ut ametur ubique Cor Jesu” – by any means, at any task. It is not the means that specify our work, but the purpose: the love of the Heart of Christ.

Imitation of Christ, and obedience, pass over from their Sulpician setting to the new perspective of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Devotion to the Heart of Christ the High Priest demands imitation – imitation first and foremost in His priestly activity: giving honour and glory and adoration to God, and being filled with zeal for the salvation of men. Imitating His virtues will not be merely external but “I live, now no longer I, but Christ lives in me” – the love of His Heart will transform our way of living to His likeness. “They will be second to none in obedience”, wrote Fr. Chevalier, seeing now the “Behold I come to do Thy Will, O my God” as being inspired by the love in the Heart of Christ who, out of love and obedience, humbled Himself even to the death of the Cross. Priest – especially in the Eucharist.

And anything else that Fr. Chevalier did, or wrote, or asked of his followers, can all be seen as inspired and coloured by his vision of the Sacred Heart and the world in need. It would be unnecessary to run through any more details. However, one thing must be mentioned here (and now I really must apologize to Fr. Vermin, for we part company). Keeping in mind what we have just considered, there can be no possible doubt about what Fr. Founder meant by devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. For Fr. Chevalier the object of every devotion was a person. Now when you think of the vision which dominated Fr. Founder’s life, the Sacred Heart and the world in need, and when you ask, “Where does Mary fit in?”, the answer can only be: between the Heart of Christ and the world in need. That was where he saw her. Now remember that he considered his own vocation and ours as contemplative-active. You could contemplate Mary in her union with Christ – and when you spoke of her, or wrote of her you must speak or write of Divine Maternity, Immaculate Conception and all the rest. Or you could think of your apostolate to the world in need,
and you would draw confidence from the thought of the power of love that the Divine Maternity gave her. And when you spoke to those who had need of grace and love, you spoke in terms of the Memorare and the hope of the hopeless. To me, this explains everything; it explains why you have two opinions – both claiming the authority of Fr. Founder. They, as it were, come from the other side, seeing Our Lady first, and not, as Fr. Founder saw, first the Sacred Heart, and then Our Lady (which, incidentally, by way of confirmation was the approach of the Sulpician School; c.f. further, Fr. Chevalier’s book which is entitled “The Sacred Heart in its Relations with Mary”. This explains, too, why some distinguished between the “popular” devotion to be preached to the people – and the fuller devotion for more religious souls: they divided what Fr. Chevalier had combined: “in actione contemplativus”. It further explains why some, approaching from the wrong perspective, found some seeming opposition between some of the early documents and they maintained that someone had been tampering with them.

But approach it from Fr. Chevalier’s viewpoint – see his vision (and their early portrayal in the illustrations at the back of Fr. Vermin’s book), and without entering into later discussions about the formal object, there can be no possible doubt about the way that Fr. Chevalier saw devotion to Our Lady of the Sacret Heart.

Furthermore, I should like to note that tracing through the genesis of Fr. Chevalier’s devotion is not enough unless at the end you see it transformed by his dominating experience and vision. This central principle of schools or ways of the spiritual life must apply to his devotion to Our Lady as it applies to all things else. If you make an exception here, you make a mistake. If you apply the principle as you must, everything falls into place.

“In forming an opinion of a Founder, it is very necessary to take note of the unity and the fidelity which characterize his life and his activity in pursuit of his goal.”

So far we have been considering the unity in the life of Fr. Chevalier. Before passing onto the fidelity, I should like to sum up schematically that unity in the formation of his spirit and ideal, its confirmation, and its expression. Its formation and expression I have treated of in these pages. By its confirmation, I mean all those indications, under Providence, that this was the work of God – they were varied, and some of them, as has been pointed out in previous papers, were extraordinary. All together, they removed all possible doubt about the genuine nature of Fr. Chevalier’s own inner convictions.

FIDELITY

If, as has been said, you judge a founder by his fidelity, Fr. Chevalier must rate extremely high. And if you wish to transpose this into terms of charity, there is the sentence of Dom Marmion: “Fidelity in all things is the most delicate flower of love.”

Much of what was entailed in his fidelity to the inspiration and vocation God had given him is evident from the consideration of how all his work was the expression of the spirit of his devotion to the Heart of Christ. As Fr. Mandonnet had written of St. Dominic: The history of a creative spirit is especially manifested in the work that he accomplishes. That work is the term to which all his efforts are directed.

A goal eminently and clearly perceived, which must be attained; 1
practical sense in the choice of the means to be used; 2
an indefectible will to put into action the means at his disposal; 3
that is the permanent and common plan of the life of men who have built well on the road of the centuries,

The facts of his life show that in the choice of means and in carrying them through Fr. Chevalier manifested wonderful fidelity to his mission. Fidelity explains why he gave this particular form to his institute, why he did not try to retain nor adapt certain religious practices which however he admired. For him there was never any question of solemn vows, office in choir, strict cloister as e.g. with the Trappists with whom he made his retreats. On the other hand, nothing could move him from his determination to retain for his Institute the common life and the vows. Fr. Piperon wrote of him: “He was endowed with clear, practical judgment and a firm will which no difficulty could disconcert. When, after serious reflection he had taken a decision, he carried it out generously with no worry about obstacles which he either overcame or turned aside. If the obstacle appeared insurmountable he waited for more favourable circumstances. Then, when the right time had come, he took up again, with renewed energy, the project which had been temporarily suspended.”

Like all founders, Fr. Chevalier was not concerned with which of the categories his institute would be classified into. The Will of God alone mattered for him, and not whether theoretically his institute was the most perfect possible form of Religious life. What concerned him was that he had been faithful to the call of God, and let others classify his response if they cared to. However, his ideal had been realized and so it is possible to classify it – as we have already done, summarizing Fr. Vermin’s longer exposition of the contemplative-apostolic category.

With regard to the classification of the particular type of soul that Fr. Chevalier was, Fr. Vermin has recourse to Saudreau’s distinction between seraphic, cherubic and angelic. The distinction is according as, in the soul’s spiritual life, light predominates (cherubic), or love (seraphic), or action (angelic). St. Ignatius, with his insistence on the service of God, is classed by Fr. de Guibert as being among the angelic.

Fr. Chevalier, says Fr. Vermin, would be classed among the seraphic: ‘for love is the centre and motive force of his life”, and “service is a consequence of love”, and certainly the following words of Fr. de Guibert apply well to Fr. Founder:
The faculty which grace reaches more directly is the will. Taken hold of by the grace of love, they are moved to do good with ardour and firmness. They feel themselves urged to prove their love to God; they seek the means to please Him. What shall I do for God? What work shall I under take for His Glory? That is their first preoccupation. It is only secondarily, and in consequence of their love that they will set about trying to know Him better. They are more notable for the power of love which makes them do great things than by abundance of light. Fr. Piperon wrote;

The whole life of our founder can be summed up in this motto which he has left us: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved!” …all for the love of the Heart of Jesus. A sublime ideal which inspired all his works, which even to his last hour renewed and sustained that early ardour to respond to the desires of Our Lord revealing devotion to his adorable Heart to the world. May his disciples after the example of their venerated father have only one desire, only one motive in all their works: to immolate themselves so that the Heart of Jesus may be always and everywhere loved and glorified.

These souls do not enjoy as many lights as others, but once they have received them, they concentrate all their efforts in the direction indicated. Having been shown the end, they don’t care very much about the means – provided they be means to that end. They can seem to be dissatisfied, always seeking new ways of obtaining the goal. This tendency in Fr. Chevalier – the tendency to take on anything for the glory of the Sacred Heart, without calculating exactly the possibility and the resources – struck fear into the hearts of the cautious Jesuits of Vaugirard.

As far as we can judge from his writings, the lights which Fr. Founder received concerning the character of his congregation, were: an apostolic union of priests, living in community with vows, totally dedicated to the Sacred Heart. But the concrete realization of this ideal was left to his own judgment. His Rules were an adaptation, first of the Seminary rule, then of the Jesuits, under the guidance of the Fathers of Vaugirard, then of Fr. Ramiere. But none of them fitted in with his idea of his mission, and he finally decided that it was God’s Will that he himself should draft the
Formula Instituti. The whole process shows a soul drawn on by the force of its love – but not knowing precisely where to go. Often such souls, concentrating on the goal and neglecting a preliminary study of the means to attain it, can fail to give sufficient consideration to details and circumstances – as also to the desires and character of their collaborators. Their force of will can become hardness and obstinacy. Accordingly the conduct of God with such persons can be ‘to break the will and make it supple’ (Saudreau). This explains all the trials and opposition which Fr.Chevalier encountered and which he is to meet in fuller measure after 1870. He himself expresses it thus: “As soon as I wished to set off in one
direction, God imposed another and all that I attempted failed; all the success comes from the Sacred Heart and from the Blessed Virgin.” It is this fidelity in trials, the determination to keep trying to do God’s will, which constitutes the sanctity of these souls, and which wins God’s blessing for the work they are always struggling to attain and towards which He has inspired them.

So, in spite of his idea of copying the Jesuits, his real inspiration – that of the Sacred Heart – led him finally to modify his plan and to express it more in accord with his own divinely inspired ideal. Even the military spirit of the first Formula Instituti (borrowed from the Ignatian ideal) – ‘military standards, an army ranged in battle and well disciplined’ – gives way in the later Constitutions of 1897 to a formulation more apt to express a service inspired by love. It is equally strong and exacting, but the spirit is his own now and not an imitation of the Jesuits. That spirit has, I think, for the purpose of this summary already been treated sufficiently when discussing how it brought unity to his own life and activity; how his
Society is to be imbued by it in all its fullness.

We know that Fr. Chevalier’s whole life was, as it were, sealed with his love for the Sacred Heart, and fidelity, its finest flower. According to St. Thomas, constancy in well-doing, and in supporting trials, is one of the most difficult things of human nature. According to the teaching of Spiritual Theology – teaching which has been given special stress in this century – sanctity is to be judged by fidelity to the will of God, or by the constant, generous and faithful carrying out of the duties that God asks of us.

From his earliest years it is uncompromising fidelity to what he judges to be the will of God which characterizes Jules Chevalier. An early example, as I have said, is his refusing to have a meat sandwich on Friday. His mother and moral theologians judged that when there is nothing else to eat you may eat meat on Friday. Jules thought that if there was nothing else, you went without.

Two great lights were given him in life – to both of them he was determinedly faithful. The first was that God wanted him to be a priest and a worthy one. To achieve that goal he worked and studied doggedly for years knowing that somehow God would provide the means for the realization of the goal he had inspired. Through the years at the Seminary he made violent and determined efforts to acquire the virtue he believed necessary to be a good priest. He may have been mistaken in some of his efforts, but the devotion to the Sacred Heart that had come to him finally made him find the right way.

The second light was that he was to found the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There was much uncertainty at times about the means. Certain things made it seem that somehow all the steps he had taken were wrong. So he went to pray at Paray and to reflect on his mission. Again, from this sanctuary of the Sacred Heart, peace came into his life; and the extra confirmation which came from the Cure d’Ars and the approval of the Holy Father sent him forward with a confidence that nothing could ever shake. Trying now one thing, now another, never daunted by difficulty or seeming lack of success, or opposition, or scepticism, he was always faithful to the call of God, generous in living and working according to the vision he had seen. The Sacred Heart must be loved, adored and honoured by the world – men must come to this Heart in love, to learn to live by Its love and grace.

That is all. But it is much. With the end of this first volume of Fr. Vermin’s work we have come to the year 1869, and Fr. Chevalier 45 years old. His second volume will teach us more about the history of the Society. I doubt if it will teach us more about Fr. Chevalier. We shall see him facing what were for him really heart rending difficulties. But he will face them with the same courage and fidelity to his call that we have already seen so remarkable in him. We shall see him still as a man possessed of a vision: the Sacred Heart with its value for the world; a man convinced of his mission: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved!”; as a man who will work for that mission with the heroic fidelity that marked him all his life.