SACRED HEART, SOCIETY OF

The Society of the Sacred Heart came into existence in the wake of the Reign of Terror in France. Like so many enterprises of the Kingdom of God, its origins were insignificant: Leonor de Tournely, a young priest with the dream of an order of women dedicated to the Heart of Christ, dying at the age of 29; Joseph Varin a friend to whom he confided his dream, waiting for an opportunity to make it a reality; a frail-looking girl bent over her books in the remote Burgundian town of Joigny. This child, the third of Jacques Barat and Madeleine Foufe, was born prematurely on the night of December 12^th, 1779, while a fierce fire raged through the timber buildings near her home, and was taken the following morning, so tenuous was her hold on life, to be baptised and named Madeleine Louise Sophie Barat. Her brother Louis, eleven years her senior, undertook his sister’s education while he taught in the boys’ college in Joigny.

When Joseph Varin heard of the advanced education Sophie had received, he hoped that this might be the young woman he was looking for who would dedicate herself to education. When he met her, he found that she aspired to the contemplative life of Carmel, although she had never seen a religious in her life. He pointed out that her gifts and education fitted her for the apostolic life, to which the contemplative ideal was not opposed, and that God was clearly calling her to meet the desperate needs for Christian education in France. So it was that on November 21^st, 1800, Sophie, with three companions, dedicated herself by vow to "the greater glory of the Heart of Jesus". A small school was begun in Amiens, and at the age of 21, despite her protests, Madeleine Sophie was named Superior of the group, and was to retain that responsibility until her death, 64 years later. The new Society could not adopt the title, Sacre Coeur, as it was unacceptable, even under Napoleon, and so was known at first as Religious of Christian Instruction. The Institute spread rapidly in Europe, and in 1818 was carried to the New World by St Philippine Duchesne.

In Australia in 1879, when the Parkes Government was preparing a Bill to make education "compulsory, secular and free", Archbishop Roger Bede Vaughan, resolved to maintain the Catholic system, invited several congregations to send teaching religious to Sydney. In 1880, he asked Father Bixio, S.J., on a visit to Europe, to transmit his request to the Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Paris. She in turn referred the matter to Mother Mabel Digby in England, giving her authority to treat the affair with Archbishop Vaughan, and organise the foundation. The outcome was that on April 1^st, 1882, a group of five sisters embarked on the S.S. Orient, and after a long sea voyage of 39 days, arrived in Sydney on May 9^th. The Superior of the group was Febronie Vercruysse, a Belgian, three were English, all converts of the Oxford Movement and one Irish .

The Sisters expected to start a day school, but eventually the Archbishop requested a boarding school, as there were few in Sydney at the time. For six weeks, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan made them welcome while they searched for a locality. Finally, with much urging from John Hughes (backed by some financial help) the choice fell on Claremont on the hill above Rose Bay.

From its beginning, the Society of the Sacred Heart was guided by a fourfold aim: to establish

1. Boarding schools for the higher education of young ladies;
1. Free schools for the primary education of the poorer classes;
1. Retreats for persons of the world;
1. It is this aim which gives explicit expression to their charism;

To regard all contacts with secular persons as a means of spreading the love of the Heart of Christ.

A foundation, at the request of Archbishop Pompallier, had already been made in Timaru, N.Z. in 1880, with personnel coming from Louisina, so Mother Vercruysse began at once to work towards a foundation in Melbourne, thus enabling the three institutions to form a Vice-Vicariate. Thus by 1888 there were three boarding school and three free schools, supplied by personnel coming every few years from Europe and by some local vocations. After 1904 when the anticlerical French Government confiscated 42 Sacred Heart school and properties in France, 2,500 religious had to find homes in other countries, and the convents in Australia and New Zealand opened their doors to many of these. It was this fact, rather than its origin, that gave the Society of the Scared Heart its French ethos in the early years of this century.

In 1907 Pius X requested the Jesuits and Religious of the Scared Heart to send personnel to Japan in response to the request of the Emperor for Christian higher education, and this foundation became part of the Sydney Vicariate from 1908. From Tokyo that year the Society spread to Shanghai. This meant that many RSCJ from Australia and New Zealand became missionaries to the Orient, even after it became a Province in its own right in 1926.

References:

Barlow, Lelia Living stones: Convent of the Sacred Heart, Rose Bay, 1882-1982.

Percy-Dove, Clare Brynmawr, the high hill: the story of Sacre-Coeur Glen Iris.

Percy-Dove, Clare Mother Mary Sheldon Rose Bay NSW: RSCJ, 1962

Percy-Dovbe, Clare 1977 `A Gust of Epic: The Life of Mother Mary Sheldon’ in Women, Faith & Fetes, edited S. Willis, Melbourne, 130-160.

Anonymous Other Worlds: extended apostolate of the RSCJ in Australia etc.

New York: Manhantanville, 1951.

Goulter, Phyllis Sowers and Reapers: a short history of the RSCJ in NZ 1880-1980.

New Zealand: RSCJ, 1980.

If further information is required about individual Sisters the following address is given:

The Archivist

Provincial Office

Society of the Sacred Heart

52 Awaba St.

Mosman NSW 2088

Religious Orders or Congregations have released the details on their members. It is understood that the copyright of any material (including the listing of the names of the Sisters) relevant to a particular Order or Congregation in this publication remains with the relevant Order or Congregation.