Our United States – Canada Province is one of 28 provinces that make up the global Society of the Sacred Heart. Religious of the Sacred Heart consider themselves members of one international community, and this unity is important. The words cor unum et anima una in Corde Jesu (one heart and one soul in the Heart of Jesus) appear on each of our profession crosses.
Edited by Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, 1769-1852
The theme of our report is, “Let love be your life for all eternity," a saying of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, who founded the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800. Here, you will find a selection of stories, articles and photos that celebrate the transformative love of God today in the lives of alumnae/i, RSCJ, Associates, Children of Mary, Network school educators, friends and colleagues.
Hace doscientos años, Rosa Filipinia Duchesne se embarcó para cruzar el Atlántico y establecer la Sociedad del Sagrado Corazón y educar a los niños del Nuevo Mundo. Al abrir la primera escuela católica al oeste del Misisipi, la Madre Duchesne, conocida como "la mujer que siempre reza", atravesó fronteras para poner fe, amor y educación en el mundo.
A Life Given In Love: Reflections on Philippine Duchesne, edited by Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ, is now available to order online. This book was original printed in a limited supply and distributed to Sacred Heart communities and schools.
Carol Bialock, RSCJ, is not a traditional nun. She is a poet, an activist and a student of Sufism, and she has spent her life deeply devoted to those in need. And now she is a published author as well, seeing her vivid book of poems, Coral Castles, released by Fernwood Press on her 90th birthday.
Education is at the heart of everything we do as Religious of the Sacred Heart. Untold numbers of people have come to know and experience God’s love through their Sacred Heart education or through relationships with Religious of the Sacred Heart. This issue explores a variety of stories about Sacred Heart schools ministries, RSCJ ministries and the breadth of Sacred Heart education today.
In 1818, Mother Rose Philippine Duchesne, of the newly-founded Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, left France to participate in the missionary expansion of the Catholic Church in the New World, at the request of Bishop Louis William Dubourg, named bishop of “Louisiana.” This vast area, acquired by the United States from France in 1803, extended over a territory of 530,000,000 acres (828,000 square miles), from New Orleans to Canada, including all the lands drained by the vast river system of the Mississippi and the Missouri, the future Midwest of the United States.
During our bicentennial celebrations in 2017 and 2018, our goal was to make Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne better known and to highlight the Society’s internationality.
In this issue of Heart magazine, you will read about our bicentennial events in 2018. Global Service Day and the Frontiers Conference offered international context, and the closing Mass provided joy and glorious music. We also spoke the names of those enslaved by the Society in the 1800s and walked with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation as they remembered a heartbreaking time in their history.
