Reformed Branch of the Religious of the Sacred Heart

  • Thread starter Thread starter HCC
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

HCC

Guest
View attachment 9096

The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Florence
*The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Florence are a monastic community dedicated to education. We are a reformed branch of the religious order founded by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat in Paris on November 21, 1800. In 1992, the Church recognized the community of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Florence as an independent House, “sui iuris” of Pontifical Right confided to the special care of the Archbishop of Florence as provided in can. 615.

Our charism is to glorify the Heart of Jesus, the Love of God made visible in the Incarnate Word, by means of the sanctification of ourselves and others. Through prayer and the development of the interior life, we strive to conform ourselves to Christ and then, through the instruction of the youth, to radiate that love to others.*

***Please pray for an increase in vocations to this wonderful order! *** They currently have several young American vocations.

Their website: Sacrocuore.com/comunita/index-en.html
Devotions include: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mater_Admirabilis
flickr.com/photos/23885771@N03/4122289880/
newadvent.org/cathen/14111b.htm
**Their Saints: ** newadvent.org/cathen/02283a.htm
and newadvent.org/cathen/05182a.htm
**Causes for Sainthood: ** Sacrocuore.com/comunita/causes.html

View attachment 9097View attachment 9098View attachment 9099View attachment 9100View attachment 9101
 
This is wonderful, seeing the Sisters in habit and veil!

I looked on their website under ‘Saint Causes’. I wonder why Mother Mabel Digby, the predecessor of Mother Janet Erskine Stuart (and a fellow convert) doesn’t have a Cause?
I have biographies of both. Mother Digby was just as holy as Mother Stuart.

May these ‘Reformed Sisters’ increase!
 
barb_finnegan said:
This is wonderful, seeing the Sisters in habit and veil!

I looked on their website under ‘Saint Causes’. I wonder why Mother Mabel Digby, the predecessor of Mother Janet Erskine Stuart (and a fellow convert) doesn’t have a Cause?
I have biographies of both. Mother Digby was just as holy as Mother Stuart.

May these ‘Reformed Sisters’ increase!
Click to expand...
Dear Barb,

I don’t know why Mother Digby isn’t up for canonization. I can only imagine that so many of the good old nuns were worthy of canonization, but perhaps Mother Stuart had that little extra umph…I don’t know. I have been praying for her cause since the summer of 1997.

Isn’t this wonderful news about these reformed sisters? I thought the order was lost and gone forever. Please keep them in your prayers.
 
HCC said:
Dear Barb,

I don’t know why Mother Digby isn’t up for canonization. I can only imagine that so many of the good old nuns were worthy of canonization, but perhaps Mother Stuart had that little extra umph…I don’t know. I have been praying for her cause since the summer of 1997.

Isn’t this wonderful news about these reformed sisters? I thought the order was lost and gone forever. Please keep them in your prayers.
Click to expand...
Thanks, HCC-just sent you a PM.

Maybe Mother Stuart got her ‘umph’ due to her writings on Catholic education. She was quite a ‘brain’, besides being a holy woman.

In the biography of Mother Stuart which I have, there is a photo of the chapel in Roehampton, England where both Mother Digby and Mother Stuart are buried. The third tomb is that of Father Varin, SJ, who helped St. Madeleine Sophie Barat in founding the Society. Wonder how he got into England?
 
barb_finnegan said:
Thanks, HCC-just sent you a PM.

Maybe Mother Stuart got her ‘umph’ due to her writings on Catholic education. She was quite a ‘brain’, besides being a holy woman.

In the biography of Mother Stuart which I have, there is a photo of the chapel in Roehampton, England where both Mother Digby and Mother Stuart are buried. The third tomb is that of Father Varin, SJ, who helped St. Madeleine Sophie Barat in founding the Society. ** Wonder how he got into England?**
Click to expand...
Weren’t the Jesuits suppressed under Napoleon at some point? Perhaps he had to flee to England. That is interesting though, I didn’t know he was buried there.
 
The Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773 and not restored until 1814. However, it continued to exist in Russia and Prussia during that period. So, I do not know whether or not Napoleon had anything to do with them.
 
I’m having a little trouble with the website (i cant seem to keep it in english). Do these sisters actually teach? This community looks wonderful.
 
aliciaswain said:
I’m having a little trouble with the website (i cant seem to keep it in english). Do these sisters actually teach? This community looks wonderful.
Click to expand...
Here are the pages in English:

Home page: sacrocuore.com/comunita/index-en.html
Community Life: sacrocuore.com/comunita/community.html
Apostolate: sacrocuore.com/comunita/apostolate.html
Vocations: sacrocuore.com/comunita/vocations.html
Formation: sacrocuore.com/comunita/formation.html
Causes For Sainthood: sacrocuore.com/comunita/causes.html

For more information feel free to contact them at:

Viale Michelangelo, 27
50125 - Firenze - Italy
Tel. 055 681 18 72
055 681 19 60
Fax 055 681 13 88
Email: info@SacroCuore.com
They are very friendly and there are a number of American sisters, actually they are ALL called “Mother” followed by their last name.

St Madeleine Sophie Barat founded the Society of the Sacred Heart for 2 reasons: To glorify the Sacred Heart in everything and to educate. It is an order steeped in great traditions, unfortunately the original order took a different turn, but this congregation maintains St Madeleine’s original vision. They are often referred to as Female Jesuits because Jesuits gave them their initial formation and formed their outlook. Remember this was in 1800, not today’s Jesuits.

For more on St Madeleine’s views on education: dayofwrathdiesirae.blogspot.com/2009/05/quotes-st-madeleine-sophie-barat.html
 
HCC-I sent you a couple of lengthy PMs in response to the PM you sent me.

Let me know when you get them or if you have any other questions, OK?
 
Mother Therese, RSCJ has filled me in on a little more about their vocation requirements:

We no longer have a distinction between chior religious and coadjutrix sisters since that was abolished after Vatican II. The division, I believe was also tied to the times and was a convention that was necessary given the diversity of classes. Today, it does not appear necessary and was not approved by Rome. Now we are all choir religious and we all take part in the various duties of the house (what the coadjutrix sisters used to do).

Young women do not have to speak Italian. There are 6 American here now and none of us knew Italian before coming. Most of the Religious speak English and Italian so there is no difficulty in the formation process.

Candidates for the order must be at least 17 years old and unmarried. There are no age limits, however, to make a radical life changing decision becomes more difficult in later years. Every person is considered as an individual and we try to know the candidates as well as possible before accepting them. The only other true requirement is that the young woman must be “truly seeking God alone.” All else follows from that.
 
How pleasantly surprised we were to find that our community is of interest to the Catholic Social Network! While doing some researching we found your questions. We are only sorry that we are discovering them now. If the rule “better late than never” applies, we would be pleased to answer some of the questions we found on the blog.
First there was the question about how the remains of Fr. Varin ended up in England. In 1904 the Combes Law was passed in France, expelling all religious communities. The Society of the Sacred Heart transferred the holy remains of Mother Barat to Jette and those of Fr. Varin to England. For the admirers of M. Digby who was the Superior General at the time, it is important to know that for every house that was closed in France during this period another house opened elsewhere, thus never diminishing the number of houses of the Sacred Heart. Religious of the Sacred Heart and many holy objects were exported from France and relocated to the new homes. At this time Hotel Biron was also closed.
Someone also asked if the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Florence teach. Religious of the Sacred Heart make a fourth vow at the moment of their Final Profession. We vow poverty, chastity, obedience, and, as asked by obedience, to consecrate ourselves to the education of youth. Here in Florence, we teach religion and English. We are also responsible for the administration and the academic planning of the school. The boarding school girls are also lovingly guided by the Mothers. We also offer all of our hidden works within our home and school for the souls entrusted to us. Nothing is wasted!
We are also happy to say that our Middle School, for many years now, prays every day for all the children of the Sacred Heart, past, present and future, throughout the world!
Are we female Jesuits? No. St. Ignatius did not intend to found an order of female Jesuits. The Sisters of Loreto founded by Mary Ward made an effort that seems not to have had much success. We have a beautiful history that links us to the Jesuits. Fr. Léonor de Tournely was a young French Jesuit who at the moment of the Jesuit suppression went to Austria and began the Fathers of the Sacred Heart with some of his fellow “ex Jesuits”. Fr. Varin was in this group. Fr. de Tournely, in his prayer, felt called to form a female community which would complement the work of the Fathers. They were to be women consecrated to the Sacred Heart and dedicated to the formation of the youth. Fr. de Tournely died before he was able to form such a community yet he entrusted the mission to Fr. Varin. After many trials he finally met the young Sophie Barat, masterfully educated by her brother Louis. Fr. Varin had found his foundress! When the Jesuits were no longer suppressed Fr. Varin and Fr. Louis Barat both were admitted. Their close guidance definitely left their impression on the young Mother Barat. It is important to know that she wrote the Constitutions. They are written for the Society of the Sacred Heart. The Jesuit Constitutions gave some structure: the steps of formation and the juniorate, eight day retreats and examination of conscience, the Religious consecration made before the Blessed Sacrament, etc. A thorough study and comparison of the two Constitutions is done by Mother de Charry.
The best question was on contemplation and prayer! Do we live this? Mother Barat assured us in the structure of our lives time for prayer. An hour of meditation in the morning and a half hour of Eucharistic adoration in the afternoon (Eucharistic Adoration is particularly important, in the novitiates in the past there was perpetual adoration), the rosary, the Mass, the Divine Office (we do the Office of Readings, Lauds, Midday, Vespers and Compline in community). We have two examinations of conscience. We are called to contemplate the Sacred Heart, to learn from Him, to gain our strength in Him, to act by means of Him. If we do not go to Him as the source of strength for all our labors we will not be able to bring Him glory, we will not be able to properly proclaim His love. He must be our constant guide or else we will not be capable of living the vocation He has entrusted to us. This is why silence is so important, even when work is never lacking we can remain constantly united to Him if we are able to maintain interior (and exterior) silence. Thus, our cloistered life is essential. (The cloister desired by Mother Barat was innovative in that she did not want the grill used in the papal cloisters. She felt it was an inhibition to our role as educators. She stressed however the importance of an interior cloister, interior life.) Our cloister continues to maintain the reality of the cloister as wanted by Mother Barat. We do not return to our families and we leave the convent only for academic and medical reasons. Unity and Conformity to the Heart of Jesus: this is our vocation.
We are also pleased to know that Sister Josefa Menendez is on your minds. Pray that we can reprint the Italian edition of The Way of Divine Love. Such a printing project requires funds we do not currently have. We feel it is our serious obligation to reprint this book, to continue to spread the message the Lord entrusted to Sr. Josefa. We are fortunate because the Lord knows that in the Communities of the Sacred Heart, He may find His rest.
Thanks for your interest! Please tell us if you have any other questions!
RSCJ, Florence
(We are a community “sui iuris” of Pontifical Right confided to the special care of the Archbishop of Florence as provided in can. 615., the papal decree in on our website,www.sacrocuore.com)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top