Pierre Coudrin, SS.CC (1 March 1768 – 1837) was a French

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

who founded the

Picpus Fathers The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary () abbreviated SS.CC., is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men priests and brothers. The congregation is also known as the Picpus because their firs ...

, a religious institute of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

known for its missionary work in

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and the Pacific Islands.

Life

Coudrin was born on 1 March 1768, at

Coussay-les-Bois Coussay-les-Bois () is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. Demographics See also *Communes of the Vienne department The following is a list of the 266 communes of the Vienne department ...

, near Poitiers. His parents were farmers. Coudrin had an uncle, who was a parish priest in a neighboring village. Pierre spent his vacations with him during the years of his primary education, and his uncle prepared him for first communion. He completed his secondary studies in 1785 at Châtellerault, and at 17 years of age, entered the

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; french: Université de Poitiers) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest studen ...

. He was only a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

when the persecution, directed against the clergy, dispersed the students of the seminary of Poitiers, where he was being trained. Having learned that Mgr de Bonal,

Bishop of Clermont The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Puy-d ...

, was in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and would confer Holy Orders upon him, he set out for that city, and on 4 March 1792, was ordained priest in the Irish Seminary just as France was becoming embroiled in the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. The ordination took place in the library, because the revolutionaries had invaded the chapel in which they were actually holding their meetings.

Vision

After ordination he returned to Coursay, but the violence of the persecution soon compelled him to go into hiding. Coudrin hid in an attic of the granary of the Chateau d'Usseau where he remained for six months. He reported that, during this time, he awoke one evening surrounded by an apparition of

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

s and

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s illuminated in white albs. He took the vision to be a divine calling to establish a religious institute that would become the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Coudrin quickly left the granary and traveled to Poitiers to begin an underground ministry, waiting for the right moment to start his group. During October of the same year, he also labored disguised in the Diocese of Tours.De Boeck, William. "Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 26 Sept. 2014
/ref> During his underground ministry in 1794, Coudrin met

Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie Henriette Aymer de La Chevalerie (8 November 1767 – 23 November 1834) was a Roman Catholic nun, who along with Peter Coudrin founded the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Life She was born in the small castle of Aymer, to a ...

, a young aristocrat. She and her mother had been imprisoned for a time, accused of hiding a priest. She told Coudrin of a heaven-sent vision she had while in prison calling her to service to God. Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie shared with each other their visions of creating a religious institute in the midst of danger for Roman Catholics in France.

Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Coudrin gathered around him a few companions, to whom he communicated his views to promote devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and of Mary, and who were also willing to assist him in his great work. On October 20, 1800 Henriette made her first vows with four companions. On Christmas night, 1800, Pierre solemnly made his religious vows, devoting himself entirely to the "love of the Sacred Hearts". During the year 1805 Coudrin bought some dilapidated houses in the Rue Picpus in Paris, and there established himself with a few of his religious. A college for the training of youths and a seminary were soon started. "The Good Father", as his religious used to call him, governed his congregation with tact and prudence, and in spite of many difficulties, his work prospered. Several new monasteries and colleges were founded and opened in various towns. Pope Pius VII approved the Congregation in 1817 with the Bull ''Pastor Aeternus''."Founders", Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
/ref> The institute was composed of two branches of religious, one male and the other female. The original members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary founded new schools for poor children, seminaries to train the priesthood of their institute and parish missions throughout Europe. At the time of Coudrin's death in 1837, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary had 276 fathers and brothers and 1125 sisters. In 2016, there were over 1500 in the congregation made up of priests, brothers and sisters and an increasing number of lay associate members in over 30 countries.Congregation of the Sacred Hearts
/ref>

Notes

External links

Official website of the Congregation of Picpus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coudrin, Peter 1768 births 1837 deaths 19th-century French Roman Catholic priests 18th-century French Roman Catholic priests French Roman Catholic missionaries Picpus Fathers Founders of Catholic religious communities Roman Catholic missionaries in Hawaii Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary