The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ), abbreviated RSCJ, is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of pontifical right for women established in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Madeleine Sophie Barat Madeleine Sophie Barat, RSCJ, (12 December 1779 – 25 May 1865), is a French saint of the Catholic Church who founded the Society of the Sacred Heart, a worldwide religious institute of educators. Early life and family Barat was born on the nig ...

in 1800.

History

Madeleine Sophie Barat founded the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the wake of the French Revolution to provide educational opportunities for girls. The manner of life was to be simple without the prescribed austerities of the older orders, which would be incompatible with the work of education. In some houses the religious conducted just one school, but in several places, especially in the larger houses in cities there were at least two schools, a boarding school and a school for poor children. The first convent was opened at Amiens in 1801. In 1820 the French Government gave a run down property now known as Hotel Biron (current Rodin Museum) to the Society. Other houses were opened in Grenoble, Niort, Poitiers and Cuigniers. In 1826 the society obtained the formal approbation of

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII (; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death in February 1829. ...

and the first cardinal protector was appointed.Stuart, Janet. "The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 22 Sept. 2015 Barat remained superior general of the Society from 1806 until her death in 1865. The Society of the Sacred Heart quickly expanded within Europe and beyond."Our heritage", Society of the Sacred Heart, United States - Canada
/ref>

United States

In 1818 Rose Philippine Duchesne first brought the Society to the Americas, establishing the first free school west of the Mississippi in

St. Charles, Missouri Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 70,493 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making St. Charles the List of cities in ...

. The Society opened institutions of higher education for women in Cincinnati; Grand Coteau, Louisiana; Lake Forest, Illinois; New York; Torresdale (a suburb of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania; San Diego; Omaha; St. Louis; San Francisco; Seattle and Newton, Massachusetts.

Reparations for slavery in the United States

Along with bishops, priests, the Jesuits and most of the families of their students, the communities of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, from the time of Philippine until the Civil War, owned, bought and sold enslaved persons in the slave states of Missouri and Louisiana. Enslaved persons built the buildings, made the bricks and sustained the foundations. They worked side by side with the sisters, taking care of the children, cooking, washing and gardening. ... It is known that the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had enslaved persons in
Grand Coteau, Louisiana Grand Coteau is a town in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 947 at the 2010 census. Grand Coteau is on Interstate 49 south of Opelousas and is part of the Opelousas– Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area. T ...
; Convent, Louisiana;
Natchitoches, Louisiana Natchitoches ( ; , ), officially the City of Natchitoches, is a small city in, and the parish seat of, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. At the 2020 United States census, the city's population was ...
; and
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
and
Florissant, Missouri Florissant () is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, within Greater St. Louis. It is a middle-class, second-ring northern suburb of St. Louis. Based on the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population ...
."

In September 2018, the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau dedicated "a monument in the parish cemetery naming the enslaved persons of the convent known to be buried there. The museum at the school will have an area dedicated to the convent’s history and acknowledgment of its role in slavery. The names of all known enslaved persons will be part of this area of the museum. A plaque will be placed at the slave quarters naming those living there in its first years." "The Society of the Sacred Heart announced the creation of the Cor Unum Scholarship to provide tuition assistance to African American students desiring a Sacred Heart education at Schools of the Sacred Heart – Grand Coteau in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, and to provide professional development for faculty and staff and/or course curriculum to students on inclusion and diversity."

England and Wales

The Society came to England in 1842, founding a girl's boarding school at Elm Grove in Roehampton. That school evolved into a teacher training school

Digby Stuart College Digby Stuart College is one of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton. Foundation The college was established in 1874 as Wandsworth College, a women's teacher training college, by the Roman Catholic Society of the Sacred ...

. The Sisters have been involved in education ever since, and founded schools around the country. Most are no longer directly run by the order but are under its trusteeship or the diocese. In 2004 Digby Stuart College federated with three other local colleges to become the

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The University traces its r ...

. The RSCJ Sisters are active members of the university governing body. The England and Wales province is largely centered in

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...

where it maintains two houses. The Barat House community consists of a group of RSCJ sisters and university students who live in the community house in the grounds of Digby Stuart College. The Duchesne House is also a registered care house for elderly sisters. Its community plays an active role in the pastoral care of pupils at the nearby Sacred Heart Primary School.

New Zealand

The first RSCJ arrived in New Zealand in 1880. In 1909 RSCJ established a Catholic girls school, Baradene College of the Sacred Heart in Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand. Sr. Philomene (Phil) Tiernan, RSCJ of the Australis/New Zealand Province was among the passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine in 2014. Between 1906 and 1909, the French government forced the closing of forty-seven houses of the Society in that country, and 2500 religious were dispersed to other countries. The motherhouse was relocated to Ixelles, Belgium. The rule of cloister was removed at the General Chapter of 1964.

Australia

In 1882, five nuns of the Sacred Heart arrived in Sydney to found a school which they did at Rose Bay. The Society of the Sacred Heart was still active in Australia in the twentieth century. For many years their management was unusual because of its methods and the accounts were all kept in French. Ann Margaret Magoffin was brought in as an advisor and she allowed each convent to keep their own double entry accounts, but in English.

Uganda

The first foundation in Uganda was established by six RSCJ in 1962. In 1984 RSCJ took over management of the St. Charles Lwanga Girls' Training Centre, in Kalungu, founded in 1967 by Fr. Emiliano La Croix of the Missionaries of Africa.

Constitution

The Society's ''Constitution'' of 1982 links the ministry undertaken by its members with their calling to be "caught up ... in the desires of the heart of Jesus" and the Gospel, the "starting point" for that ministry.

Ministry

As of 2023 more than 1,800 religious serve in 41 countries around the world. Members do many works, but focus on education, particularly

girls' education Female education is a catch-all term for a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

. There are about 75 RSCJ in the Province of England and Wales. Since 1979, members of the Llannerchwen Community have operated a retreat centre near Brecon, Wales. Some sisters are also involved in individual ministries in Fenham, Newcastle. In Uganda and Kenya, sisters are involved in teaching from primary level to University level, in counseling, pastoral work, development of village women, work in prisons, health care, AIDS education, home-based care of those with AIDS and a home for children with disabilities.Society of the Sacred Heart, Uganda/Kenya Province
/ref> The ''Association Mondiale des Anciennes et Anciens du Sacré-Coeur'' (AMASC) is a worldwide organization of alumnae and alumni of Sacred Heart schools established in 1960 to cooperate effectively with the Society of the Sacred Heart in its mission and ministries. One of its projects is providing support for the Sacred Heart School at Kyamusansala Hill, Uganda. Support included the construction of a residential school which provided education for 530 girls. The society holds NGO status at the UN as a special consultant with the Economic and Social Council.

Notable members

* Karuna Mary Braganza * Mary T. Clark * Grace Dammann * Rose Philippine Duchesne *

Yelizaveta Golitsyna Sister Yelizaveta Alexeyevna Golitsyna (also Elizabeth Gallitzin) (22 February 1797 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – 26 November 1844 in Louisiana, United States of America) was a Russian noble and Catholic nun, who converted from Russian ...

* Mary Aloysia Hardey *

Margaret MacRory Margaret MacRory became Mother MacRory (18 December 1862 – 23 May 1931) was an Irish born Australian religious sister of Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She became the headmistress of the school in Rose Bay, New South Wales, Rose Bay. She ...

(1862 – 1931) created a women's college in Sydney * Anne Montgomery * Eleanor O'Byrne * Harriet Padberg * Janet Erskine Stuart, fifth Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, author of ''The Education of Catholic Girls'' * Isa Vermehren

References

External links

RSCJ International
- International official website.
United States - Canada Province Network of Sacred Heart Schools in the United States and CanadaWorld Association of Alumnae and Alumni of the Sacred Heart (schools)
{{Authority control Catholic female orders and societies Religious organizations established in 1800 Catholic religious institutes established in the 18th century 1800 establishments in France Reparations for slavery in the United States