[Note: Fr Jan Bovenmars
In this article I do not intend to describe all aspects of the
spirituality of our founder, Father Jules Chevalier, but I intend to
concentrate on what is most original and characteristic in his spirituality, on
what is most closely connected with his charism. Before I refer to some
particular aspects I would like to point out his central intuition which
eventually revealed him many things.
Sources:
1. Already as a
seminarian in
"The
first two priests of 'that congregation, Father Maugenest
and Father Chevalier, spent some years together in the major seminary of
2. Consequently, a
month after his arrival as assistant in Issoudun, where he found Fr. Maugenest as his companion, he told him:
"Two
evils are destroying our unhappy world - indifference
and egoism - an effective remedy
is needed and such a remedy lies in the
Sacred Heart of Jesus which is all love and charity. Besides, this adorable
Heart of Jesus which is so faithful to us, is not loved enough in return; the
world is unaware of its treasures, and priests are needed to work at making it
known; they will be called Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!" (quoted from Manuscript 1856, published by Fr. J. Bertolini in Jules Chevalier, Personal Notes, p. 101. This is the oldest document about the
foundation of the
3. The audience with
Pope Plus IX on
First Fr. Chevalier explained
the purpose of the society he had founded in 1854:
"Its purpose is the glorification of the
Heart of Jesus by all possible means, the sanctification of souls and of the
secular clergy by this divine Heart; it is the application to a sick society of
the sovereign remedy which he offers for its healing; it is the reparation of
the outrages he receives, it is the sanctification of its Missionaries by the
exercises of religious life by the means of help which it offers. " (quoted from Chevalier's book
Le Sacré
Coeur de Jésus, 4th ed.,
The Holy Father answered:
"This
work seems to respond to the needs of our time; so I pray it may prosper. I
bless it with all my heart. I wish that all priests would join it. Be fruitful
and multiply. The Church and society
have no other hope than in the Heart of Jesus; he will heal all our evils.
Preach the devotion to the Sacred Heart everywhere; he must be the salvation of
the world. " (ibid. p. 2-13)
These words sounded like music
in Fr. Chevalier's ears. He kept quoting them during all his life. The Pope
affirms here exactly Father Founder's basic conviction.
4. Formula Instituti
I.
The Appropriateness of the Institute
1. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was
revealed by Our Lord himself as an efficacious remedy for healing the ills of a
world grown cold and afflicted with serious maladies.
2. Indeed, not only do pride and rationalism
incite men's minds, with ever-increasing force, to cast off the yoke of divine
faith and law, but sensualism carries their hearts
along in the sole pursuit of bodily gratification; so that there would be no
hope for the salvation of society, did we not look forward to a richer
outpouring of the heavenly graces of which the Heart of Jesus is the
inexhaustible reservoir, and were we not safeguarded against this twofold
stream of pride and sensuality by the protection and imitation of this loving
and humble Heart.
On
the contrary, there is nothing we might not hope for, if only this great
boldness of the enemies of Christ and the Church were to cause true friends of
Christ and genuine sons of the Church to probe more diligently the depths of
the Heart of Christ, to recall more affectionately His love and bounty, to
embrace more completely His sentiments, to strengthen more firmly between them
the bond of His love - in a word, to venerate more perfectly this divine Heart
in spirit and in truth.
This text is found also in the
first printed
5. Lately I put
several manuscripts of Fr. Chevalier in the computer: instructions he gave to
men in Issoudun in the 1860's about the devotion to the Sacred Heart. In these
instructions he often speaks about these two themes: the ills of our time, and
the remedy. These Instructions have not yet been translated into English, but I
will mention the following details:
a. In a notebook with
six conferences, called in our archives "Manuscrits
Père Chevalier restaurés,
b. In a notebook with
nine conferences, called "Neuvaine d'Instructions sur le Sacré Coeur de Jésus" (in
our archives "
c. In the Manuscript
"
On the Devotion to the Sacred Heart
Are
the individuals and the societies ill? Asking the question is solving it! Where
is the remedy? Pius IX has pointed it out to us:
1.
"The Church
and society", Pius IX said, "have no other hope than the Heart of Jesus.
He will heal all our ills. " This is a serious
affirmation made by this infallible Pontiff.
2.
Blessed Margaret
Mary likewise told us that the Heart of Our Lord is our supreme hope - that
from him all must come to us etc. And the writings of this Saint were
scrupulously examined and approved by
3.
Our Lord himself
"Behold this Heart that has loved people so much; it contains all graces
that can pull them out of the abyss of perdition. To the sick world I give my
Heart as the supreme resource. St. Gertrude and
But
what is the worm that is corroding men and society? What is the main evil that
implies and sums up all other evils? It is Egoism.
But what is Egoism? etc. What is the source of Egoism?
St. John explains it; it is threefold: pride, cupidity and concupiscence [1Jn 2,16]. Egoism is the natural fruit of these three concupiscences. It grows out of them as a flower grows out
of its stalk, as a tree from its roots. In fact: 1. What
is pride etc. As you see: Egoism is the fruit of pride.
Well, Jesus' Heart is the remedy for this terrible evil which is so widespread,
so common. "Learn from me for I am humble of heart" [Mt 11,29].
d. At the occasion of
the blessing of a statue of the Sacred Heart in La Châtre,
on November 10, 1895, Fr. Chevalier delivered a "Discourse sur le Sacré-Coeur"
(in our archives:
6. A booklet by Fr. Chevalier: "La Societé des Missionnaires du Sacré-Coeur."
Bourges, Pigelet 1872. The first two and a half pages are devoted to "I. Le mal moderne ", that is,
"The ills of our time "; this is followed by "II. The remedy for the ills of our time”. The main parts of
these two sections can be found in English in my book Jules Chevalier, Daily Readings, February 18 and 19, pages 82-83
(and 84!). Note that the ills of Society listed in this book are:
Protestantism, Jansenism and Rationalism, but note also the comment of Fr.
Cuskelly in his book "Jules
Chevalier, Man with a Mission " on p. 114-115.
7. Fr. Delaporte
This really belongs to Fr. Chevalier's view of the
Sacred Heart, remedy for the ills of society. To see that we must not primarily
quote his texts on reparation (where he speaks more along the lines of St.
Margaret Mary, though admittedly here also some basis for social involvement
can be found) but we must start rather from his central intuition.
8. The most developed text is a
beautiful chapter in his book on the Sacred Heart, Le Sacré Coeur de Jésus, Paris 1900, pages 229-276. In this chapter
we see Fr. Chevalier coming to life! He treats here:
i)
Modern Society will perish if it does not return to
Jesus Christ, pp.229-232.
ii) The remedy to all
our evils is found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pp. 233-237.
iii) The devotion to the
Sacred Heart and Liberalism: pp. 238-242.
iv) Fr. Chevalier saw
many defects in Liberalism (which had just been condemned by Pope Plus IX):
pride, disobedience, division, to which he opposes the Sacred Heart: humility,
obedience, firmness, unity).
v) Plus IX designates
Jesus' Heart as the remedy to the ills of society. In this section he also
describes his action of collecting 30 volumes with adhesions to the
consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart. pp. 242-253.
vi) This consecration
was publicly done by Pope Leo XIII in 1899, see pp. 253-259.
In the mean time the idea of
Jesus' Kingship had been stressed, and to this development too Fr. Chevalier
contributed much, for example by several articles in the Annals of Issoudun.
The social order too is subject to Jesus' reign.
It is interesting that he
treated the approval of the Congregation and its mission in this chapter, in §
IV. The main themes of this chapter were already treated in his book Le Sacré Coeur de Jésus dans ses
Rapports avec Marie, ( that is: The Sacred Heart of Jesus in his
relationship with Mary)
Since this Chapter (pp.
229-276) is Chapter 3 of Book
It is clear that this basic intuition implies two things:
1.
a vision of society
with its ills. Father Chevalier must have been aware of this already during his
theological studies in the seminary. Later he analysed
these ills in greater detail. Several ills have been mentioned in the texts I
quoted so far, especially egoism, pride, sensualism...
2.
a vision of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus with all his amazing richness which can heal the world.
This vision was Father Chevalier's special grace, his charism. When his faith
developed, he saw gradually many implications, some of which I will now
mention.
II. Some implications of this
central vision stressed by Fr. Chevalier.
During his whole life Fr. Chevalier looked upon the one whom they have
pierced and he discovered ever more the beauty and depth of the mystery of
Jesus' Heart. He also studied the Scriptures, tradition, and the books about
the devotion to the Sacred Heart. Especially his book on the Sacred Heart, 4th
edition, gives abundant witness to this. He wanted his followers to do the
same. In the
Missionaries
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, over and above the other sciences appropriate to
the different ministeries they exercise, shall devote
themselves to the acquisition of a knowledge of
devotion to this same Sacred Heart. They shall acquaint themselves with the
object, nature, end, advantages and practical expression of this devotion. For
it behoves us to be familiar with that which we are
required to teach.
The Sacred Heart, symbol of Jesus'
love.
Though
Fr. Chevalier sometimes uses expressions like `heart, organ of love' or `heart,
seat of love', he has a section in his book on the Sacred Heart (pp. 150-153)
about the Heart of Jesus as
symbol
of divine love. A part of this section is quoted in English in the book Jules
Chevalier, Daily Readings, p. 224; and in Murphy, Selected Passages number 35.
Fr.
Founder teaches that Jesus' Heart is the incarnation of the Heart of God, for
Jesus is the divine Word that originates in the Heart of the Father (see Daily Readings July 3, p. 218). He often
speaks about the human love of Jesus' Heart, his divine love, his love for the
Father, and his love for us. Jesus' love is an invitation to us to love him in
return and, entering into the mystery of his love, we should love our brethren
and be compassionate as he was (see Daily
Readings, September 7, p. 285).
The
great sign of Jesus' love is the Eucharist: see Daily Readings, p. 233.
The Sacred Heart is the whole Jesus.
Since
the heart is the source of our whole life, since love is the source of whatever
we do, a person is summed up by his heart (see Daily Readings p.210). The heart determines who we are.
Consequently, Fr. Chevalier has a section in his book on the Sacred Heart
"The Heart of Jesus, that is the whole Jesus" (pp. 131-133); Murphy, Selected Passages n. 25; Daily Readings p. 214.
In
the Bible the heart refers to the whole interior life of a person: thinking,
planning, deciding, love, sensitivity... So when we say "the Heart of
Jesus", we refer to the Person, but with the stress on his interiority.
The Sacred Heart is the Source of the
Church and the Sacraments.
Gazing
at Jesus' Heart pierced on the cross Fr. Founder saw a new world emerging, the
Church which makes the new creation present on earth, see his book on the
Sacred Heart pp. 144146; Murphy, Selected
Passages, number 30; Daily Readings,
p. 221. In our time we should mention here also Jesus' paschal gift: the Holy
Spirit, for Jesus' Heart is the source of living water, and this source was
opened on Calvary.
The Sacred Heart, Centre of
everything.
In
his book on the Sacred Heart Fr. Chevalier has a whole chapter to explain that
Jesus' Heart is the centre of everything (see Le Sacré-Coeur, 1900, pp. 74-85). It is the source of life, the
Heart of the Church, the source of all grace. A good summary of this doctrine
can be found in English in his letter to Fr. Ramière quoted in Daily Readings, p. 262.
Jesus'
Heart, source of the Church, source of all grace: gradually we start to
understand how the Sacred Heart can be the remedy of all ills. It is truly the
Heart of our Redeemer. He renews our hearts (Fr. Chevalier has at least two
conferences about "I shall give you a new heart", Ezech. 36); he
renews society. He will heal all our ills: see Daily Readings pp. 288-289.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
From
the beginning Fr. Chevalier was convinced that the Sacred Heart is the remedy
for the evils of our time. Our sick world has to find new life in the Heart of
Christ, and in this regeneration Our Lady of the Sacred Heart has to play an
important role. In his book on Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of 1868 he wrote:
The remedy for
our evils, therefore, is the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus... But the
Blessed Virgin Mary has taken such an important part in the redemption of the
human race; will she have no part in this second redemption? Mary's birth was
the dawn of salvation for mankind; is she not to be the dawn of the renewal of
mankind? In the mystery of the first regeneration of the world Mary was
honoured with the august title of Mother of God; must she not receive at this
stage a name that expresses her cooperation in that great work, the
resurrection of souls and of society by the Heart of Jesus? That name, we
think, is Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
Attitudes of the Sacred Heart.
Basically
it is Jesus' love that is the great remedy to heal an egoistic world. But in
the course of time Fr. Founder underlined some further healing attitudes:
a.
Compassion and Mercy: See Daily Readings p. 90.
Murphy, Selected Passages number 6.
b.
Humility and gentleness: See Daily Readings p. 50 and 76.
c.
Obedience: See Daily
Readings p. 51; 59-60; 289.