Sr Lini Sheeja MSC –
He wanted to become a priest! But, the financial crisis stood in the way! He was born to an educated father who was neither very successful in trade nor in business and who held no religious beliefs. His mother could neither read nor write and had never been to school, but all that she could give to her son was her deep-rooted faith. This boy who wanted to become a priest grew up with competence in reading and writing from his father and an awareness of God in his life from his mother. Who is this boy? He is none other than the founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart! The Servant of God Jules Chevalier (15 March 1824 – 21 October 1907) was a French Catholic priest and the founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (FDNSC), the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart (MSC Sisters) and the Chevalier Lay Family, known collectively as the Chevalier Family. As we, the MSC family, gratefully celebrate the 200th birth anniversary of our founder, I’m penning down this article about this humble man with much joy and gratitude in my heart.
If you have a Dream, God has a Way!
Jules Chevalier was born on March 15, 1824, and was raised in Richelieu, a small town nestled in the French countryside to the south-west of Paris. He not only grew under the care of a mother who had a deep trust in the Lord, but grew with a passion to serve in God’s vineyard by becoming a priest. As a young boy, when he shared his desire to become a priest, it was not welcomed owing to the financial crisis at home. He had to support the family financially, for which he was apprenticed to a shoemaker. But, would ever the God who put a seed in the heart of this young boy sleep? When Jules was seventeen years old, his father was given a job as “caretaker of forests” by a wealthy landowner near Vatan. Hearing that Jules was interested in becoming a priest, this man undertook to pay Jules’ fees at the seminary. ‘Have your dreams, and God has his ways to realize them’ is what I learned from our spiritual founder, the Servant of God Jules Chevalier.
Love as Remedy for Evil
The image of God of his time in France was characterised by a strict and just God. However, Jules had also learned from his pious mother the face of a God who loves all people and who is merciful. He experienced the religious indifference and selfishness of the people of his time. At the age of 17 he bid farewell to his family and entered Saint-Gaultier’s minor seminary, and in 1846, the major seminary in Bourges. As a seminarian, Chevalier was introduced to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a revelation of God’s love for humanity.
Through the lectures of an extraordinary teacher on the Incarnation, Chevalier discovered a new image of God. He was transformed into a kind, tender, compassionate, generous, and forgiving man, who was originally serious, distant, and stern. He developed a passion for Christ. He was convinced of being loved by Jesus, and he was sure that love is the only remedy for the evils of his time, which were religious indifference and selfishness.
He was a critical student. His philosophy teacher was a great admirer of Descartes (a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science), whom the young Chevalier hated, because he found it scandalous to regard man as a machine and his feelings as mere chemical reactions!
Dream into a Reality
God had called Chevalier from a humble background and had great plans for him. That was why He revealed to him His Heart filled with compassion and love for all. From his early seminary days he dreamed of having a group of priests dedicated to the Heart of Jesus who would bring the message of love and hope to a world in which there was complete indifference to God. He was ordained a priest in 1851.
Three years later, in 1854, Chevalier, this Bourges Diocesan Priest met with one of his seminary companions, who was also a priest. These two young priests asked for a sign from God by praying a Novena to Mother Mary. God’s ways are marvellous, as we see something extraordinary happening here, that in a month Chevalier gets the permission to found a Congregation although they were merely two. Although his work was started in rural France his concern was global. Chevalier saw in Jesus’ Heart love encompassing the entire humanity, especially the poor, the sick, the unloved and those who are marginalized in our society. Burning with a missionary passion, it was on September 1, 1881, when the first missionaries left for Papua New Guinea, where the dream of the young Chevalier came to fulfilment.
Persecution as a Blessing
The religious persecutions in France with the coming of the new Republic in the late 19th century was a means for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart to spread the love of the pierced heart of Jesus throughout Europe and beyond as they were forced to flee France. God’s providence was so great, that before his death in 1907, Chevalier saw his vision being carried out by his missionary family in Central and South America, Indonesia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Today, the extended family of Fr Chevalier incorporates the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and Lay Chevalier Associates, who are present in over 50 countries in five continents.
Obstacles as Means for God
“If God wants a work, obstacles are a means for him”, says passionate Fr Jules Chevalier from his own lived experience. Dear readers of this article, when you experience obstacles in your lives, never ever give up. The only remedy that Fr Chevalier found for a world mired in bitterness, hopelessness, and despair was the love of God. He found the Sacred Heart to be the answer for everything. Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the pierced Heart of Jesus, the remedy for the evils of all times. ‘Love has all the potential to conquer any evil’ is the powerful message from this man who lived in the 19th century and who was declared a Servant of God in 2012. May the Servant of God, Jules Chevalier, intercede for the whole world! May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere!
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC, belongs to the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. She worked as the team member of Child-line, BOSCO Bangalore. She served as the Geriatric Medical Social Worker at St John’s Medical College Hospital, Bangalore. Her motto My God provides and so no child should go uneducated makes her to reach out many orphan and children in distress. She served as the National Secretary of Prison Ministry India. She also served as the Chief-Editor for Prison Voice, a national monthly magazine and is the author of five books. In her fifth book named, Holy Warriors in Prisons, she invites the readers to heed to the cries of the innocents and act on it. Contact: [email protected]