- Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
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Father Pierre Coudrin, founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, from a window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu
Not to be confused with Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar is a Roman Catholic religious order of brothers, priests, and nuns. The priests of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, are also known as the Picpus Fathers, because Rue de Picpus is the street in Paris, France where they had their first house. Their post-nominal letters, SS.CC., are the Latin initials for Sacrorum Cordium, "of the Sacred Hearts". (The letters are doubled to indicate that both words are plural, a convention of Latin abbreviations).
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French Revolution beginnings
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary arose amid the religious upheaval caused by the French Revolution. In March of 1792, the Frenchman Piere Coudrin was secretly ordained to the priesthood. The following May, under the oppression of a government persecuting Catholic religious leaders, Father Coudrin went into hiding in an attic of the granary of the Chateau d'Usseau where he was confined for six months. One evening during his time in hiding, Coudrin saw a vision of being surrounded by a heavenly illuminated group of priests, brothers and sisters dressed in white robes. It was his calling to establish a religious order that would be the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Coudrin left the granary and began his underground ministry in Poitiers, waiting for the right moment to start his group.
During his underground ministry in 1794, Coudrin met Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie. She had been released from a revolutionary prison, accused of hiding a priest. She told Coudrin of a vision she had while in prison calling her to service of God. Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie shared with each other their visions of creating a religious order in the midst of danger for Roman Catholics in France.
Establishing the Congregation
Henriette Aymer de ChevalerieOn Christmas Eve in 1800, knowing they could face the guillotine for their actions, Father Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie officially established the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary with a mission to spread the message of God's unconditional love as manifested through the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and finding God's mercy through the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
The original members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary founded new schools for poor children, seminaries to help grow the priesthood of their order and parish missions throughout Europe. At the time of Father Coudrin's death in 1837, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary had 276 priests and brothers and 1125 sisters.
The Mission in the Hawaiian Islands
In 1827 the order set off on a new mission that would become their hallmark accomplishment. Teams of missionaries settled in the several Pacific Ocean islands to spread the Gospel, build churches, and evangelize new faithful.
Nowhere in the Pacific Islands did the presence of Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary more inspire its people than in the Kingdom of Hawaii. They established what is now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and built the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States. Hawaii's first six bishops, from 1833 to 1940, were members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Other churches founded by the order include Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Hilo and Maria Lanakila Catholic Church on Maui.
The grave of Saint Damien in the crypt of the church of the Congregation of Sacred Hearts in LeuvenNotable members
- Peter Coudrin
- Saint Damien de Veuster
- Blessed Eustaquio van Lieshout
- Henri Systermans
- Fr Joseph Hendricks
- Fr Francis Schellemans[1]
References
External links
- Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
- Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Picpus
- Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Congregation
- Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu
Christianity in Hawaii Christian Groups
in HawaiiChurch of Hawaii · Eastern Catholic · Episcopal · First Unitarian · Latter-day Saints · Lutheran · New Hope · Orthodox · Roman Catholic · Southern Baptist · True Jesus
Historic Chapels Imiola · Holualoa · Church of the Crossroads · Haili · Kaʻahumanu · Lāʻie · Makawao · Maria Lanakila · Mokuaikaua · Kawaiahaʻo · Star of the Sea · St. Andrew · St. Joseph · St. Michael · Waiola · Waiʻoli · Wānanalua
Missionaries W. P. Alexander · Lorrin Andrews · Alexis Bachelot · Dwight Baldwin · Hiram Bingham I · Hiram Bingham II · Elias Bond · Libert H. Boeynaems · Titus Coan · A. S. Cooke · Marianne Cope · Peter Coudrin · Samuel C. Damon · St. Damien · Sheldon Dibble · Daniel Dole · William Ellis · J. S. Green · P. J. Gulick · Merriman Harris · H. R. Hitchcock · Gerrit P. Judd · David Lyman · Lorenzo Lyons · Louis Maigret · John D. Paris · W. H. Rice · William Richards · Thomas Staley · Betsey Stockton · John M. Systermans · Asa Thurston · Abner Wilcox
Other articles French Incident · Edict of Toleration · French Invasion
Categories:- Sacred Hearts Order
- Religious organizations established in 1800
- Roman Catholic organizations established in the 18th century
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