By Br. Warren Perrotto, MSC
The Servant of God, Father Jules Chevalier, MSC, was the Founder of the Religious Congregations, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. He is also the Spiritual Father of the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. These three congregations and their lay members constitute the Family of Jules Chevalier.
In 1846, Jules entered the Major Seminary of St. Walter. Here at St. Walter’s, he began to sense God’s calling. He wrote, “Reading the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith” awakened in me the desire for the missions.” He explained his desire to the seminary director but was discouraged from leaving. He also read the “Thesis on the “Devotion to the Sacred Heart” Treatise on the Incarnation, and “The Life of St. Margaret Mary.” From these, he learned that Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a synthesis of all Catholic Doctrine, summed up in the love of Jesus Christ for us and our love for Jesus Christ.” He wrote, “My heart was touched, and the more deeply I penetrated this doctrine, the more attractive it became.” He thus desired to become an Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart. He envisioned a plan to bring some “holy and zealous confreres” who would accompany him from the beginning (Missionaries). He organized the “Knights of the Sacred Heart” with permission from his seminary rector. On June 14, 1851, Jules received the sacrament of Ordination to the priesthood in the Cathedral St. Etienne, Bourges, France.
Fr. Jules Chevalier founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) on December 8, 1854.
It is important to understand the times of Father Chevalier and his Mission that he gave to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. It is the key to understanding the journey of Jules Chevalier. Jules was raised in a post-French Revolution period environment. The anti-Church sentiments continued to circulate throughout France. Many government laws attempted to suppress the Catholic Faith in France.
Jules’ vocation, his Mission, was to bring “a true remedy to the evils of his times.” (mal modern) (modern evils). If you study this period, you will find that the problems then were not too far away from today’s world difficulties and complications. The difficulties of his times were part of serious crises whose roots went deep into the past and brought about lasting upheaval. In France, he experienced the intense upheavals. The French Revolution was the clear expression of this turmoil. Still, the mal modern should not be understood as temporary evils or passing difficulties which all societies experience. Reality testifies to the many problems of our society today among people and governments. Our Founder was aware that the times he lived in deeply portrayed the evils of all human history. The genius of Jules Chevalier was that he came to understand that it was useless to try to restore an older order to remedy the evils, and it would be necessary to bring people to a new heart and world. He envisioned, “The Word, coming from the Heart of His Father, made the world emerge from nothing and from the Heart of the incarnate Word, I see a new world emerging, the world of those whom he has chosen. And this creation, so fertile, full of grandeur and inspired by love and mercy, is the Church, the mystical body of Christ, which makes this new creation present on earth until the end of time.”
Fr. Davio Traveras, MSC, wrote that “Julies Chevalier fused the two great devotions of his adolescence: the Sacred Heart and the Mission. When we read what Father Julio wrote about the Heart of Jesus, we find ourselves in the presence of someone who made that devotion into such a totalizing, encompassing and charismatic spirituality that he is placed, along with Margarita Maria and other figures, as an indispensable messenger for understanding the place of the Heart of Jesus in the Church.”
Jules Chevalier had absolute trust in mercy and a burning desire to bring God’s mercy to those who do not know it. He was a man of the Church who best understood and lived the mysticism of the Heart of Jesus. His originality lies in having lived outside the monastic and traditional framework and, on the contrary, among the challenges of the Mission in the society of his time and for us today. He faced many obstacles from his Church, country, and MSC. Through his courage, he never lost hope and the strong conviction that God was calling him to a unique task within the Church. With the Holy Spirit walking with him, Jules Chevalier could press forward in his faith journey despite the barriers.
Today, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Chevalier Family are in over 50 countries. Following the Footsteps of Jules Chevalier, the Jules Chevalier Family members committed men and women to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be the Heart of God within the world and to make the Sacred Heart of Jesus known and loved everywhere.