Jan 22, 2026
Congratulations and blessings to the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Pacific Islands! The OLSH Sisters have officially marked the beginning of the Kiribati Province Mission in Tonga, an island located in the South Pacific Ocean.
In a Facebook post by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the OLSH Sisters wrote:
“With the support of the Australian Province, on Monday 12 January we joyfully celebrated and commemorated the beginning of the Kiribati Province Mission in Tonga.”
“We give thanks for this exciting new chapter in the life of our Congregation,” they continued, “and pray that Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will continue to guide and inspire this mission in Tonga, so that all may come to know the love of the Heart of God through the charism and mission of the Daughters.”
They finished with a fitting quote from MSC founder Fr Jules Chevalier: “With faith and love, nothing is impossible.”
Our extended Sacred Heart family have long been present in the Pacific Islands, with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart ministering in the region since 1888, while the official erection of the MSC Province of the Pacific Islands was celebrated in May 2021.
We send our heartfelt good wishes to the OLSH Sisters at the beginning of this new mission, with every blessing to them as they start this exciting new chapter.
Images via the Facebook page for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Australia.
Oct 24, 2024
October 21st marked the 117th anniversary of the death of our founder, Fr Jules Chevalier MSC. Each year on this day, we pray especially for the man who planted the roots of our foundation from humble beginnings, sparking a charism and a mission that we still share over a century later, as our extended Sacred Heart family continues to minister in over 50 countries across the world.
Representatives from several of the Chevalier communities gathered in Rome to pray for Fr Chevalier in the run up to his anniversary, the Chevalier Family in the Philippines also commemorated the day “celebrating the life and mission Jules Chevalier bequeathed to us”, MSCs in the Province of the Pacific Islands “gathered with our Sisters of the OLSH, former Chevalier students, families, friends, and benefactors to mark this special day”, and our MSC and OLSH communities in Vietnam came together for a beautiful service that celebrated the love of the Holy Spirit, and our shared mission to spread that love to every nation throughout the world.
Philippines:
Province of the Pacific Islands:
Vietnam:
The Australian website for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have shared an account of the Death of Fr Jules Chevalier, from the writings of Fr Charles Piperon, quoted from October 21st in the Jules Chevalier Daily Readings (selected by Jan Bovenmars MSC).
“Father Chevalier’s sickness was rapidly bringing his life to an end. Monday, October 21, was the day on which God, in the plans of his infinite mercy, chose to call to himself his faithful servant. Our Superior General, Father Mayer, had set out in haste from Rome and arrived at Issoudun during the night. Immediately on his arrival, he hurried to Father Chevalier who recognised him and still had the strength to bless him. Father Mayer did not leave him again.
Towards midday a crisis seem to indicate the end. Father Mayer then had the community assembled and with them recited the prayers for the dying. From this moment on prayers were said continually at the deathbed of our Father. At three o’clock, there was a fresh crisis, no less painful than what had preceded; but the infirmarian’s intervention helped him surmount it. This was the last of his sufferings. After that he remained for more than two hours in great calm, almost motionless, as if in a peaceful sleep. Then, like the flickering out of a flame, he fell peacefully asleep in the Lord. The clock struck five and the evening Angelus was ringing in the parish.
Thus died our beloved Father, surrounded by his intimates and by some of his religious who had come from various parts to assist at his last hour and to render him their final respects. He had lived eighty-three years, six months and six days, the greater part of which – fifty-three years – had, by a special design of divine Providence, been spent in the town of Issoudun.”
Together, we pray for Fr Chevalier in his eternal rest in the Lord’s love, and we continue, encouraged in our shared missionary journey “to be on Earth the heart of God”.
Sources:
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia
Facebook – Ametur MSC
Facebook – MSC Scholasticate Community-Philippines
Facebook – Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – Province of the Pacific Islands
Facebook – MSC Vietnam
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Sep 19, 2024
The end of August marked a very special day for our extended Sacred Heart family, as the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart marked their 150th anniversary on August 30th.
Established in 1874, this year marked a jubilee celebration for our OLSH Sisters, and we are delighted to share photos of just some of the wonderful celebrations that took place around the globe to mark the occasion.
In a heartfelt post, the Facebook page for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Australia wrote:
“On this day, August 30th, 1874, 150 years ago, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart were founded. Today, we celebrate this 150th Jubilee with hearts filled with thanksgiving for the last 150 years. We give thanks to those pioneer Sisters who, filled with the vision of Fr. Jules Chevalier MSC and the inspiration of Mother Marie Louise Hartzer FDNSC, went across the world, ministering and working alongside the poor and the vulnerable, establishing schools, hospitals, working on mission, and in recent years, working for justice, the rights of refugees, climate action, advocating for those whom society has placed on the margins, and much more! As we celebrate this special day, we are filled with the fire of God’s love to continue our mission with renewed vision so that we can continue to be ‘On earth the Heart of God.’
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart – Pray for us!”
The Australian OLSH community went on to highlight their continued commitment to their mission in a beautiful promise “to share God’s boundless love with everyone – no exceptions and no exclusions.”
Some marvellous photos of the celebrations were also shared from the Philippines and the Province of the Pacific Islands.
From the Facebook page for the MSC Scholasticate Community – Philippines:
From the Facebook page for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – Province of the Pacific Islands:
We join our hearts, our voices, and our prayers with our OLSH Sisters as they mark this jubilee celebration, as we give thanks for the past 150 years, and look forward to continuing on our shared journey, making the spirituality of the heart known wherever and whenever it is needed most. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved!
From the Facebook page for MSC Vocations – Australian Province:
Jun 21, 2023
Spirituality of the Heart invites us to journey into our own heart and into the heart of the human condition to be aware of God’s transforming love inviting and empowering us to be like Jesus, the gift of this love for others. This way of living opens up enormous possibilities for life and love and offers a challenge to grow ever more deeply in kindness, compassion, humility, forgiveness, understanding, simplicity and a sense of humour.
We are called to be God’s Heart on earth and to offer ourselves to be used as a source of healing for the wounds of the world. We believe, as did Jules Chevalier that this love is the remedy for the ills of the world. We are all called, religious, diocesan priests and above all laity, to share this mission to be the vehicle of love everywhere, in every culture and at every level of society.
Spirituality of the Heart is lived together with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, who formed and carried the heart of Jesus and who points to his heart.
A Spirituality of the Heart is a way of living – a way of being in the world…a journey to be travelled (with others)… an energy that sustains and moves us, a dance in which we are all participating… a way of being in the world in relationship to self, others and God; a way of coming to rest within ourselves at our deepest centre. (J. Maher MSC)
St. Augustine put Spirituality of the Heart in very practical terms:
“Once for all then, a short precept is given unto you: Love God and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare. In all things, let the root of love be within, for of this root can nothing spring but what is good.”
Statement from Laity of the Chevalier Family Newsletter
Encounter of Hearts, Edition 3, June 2021
Mar 15, 2023
March 15th, 2023 marks the 199th anniversary of the birth of Fr Jules Chevalier, founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and the beginning of the Chevalier Year. This jubilee year will come to a close on the Feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in May 2024, with a grand celebration on Fr Chevalier’s 200th birthday on March 15th.
The theme for the year is “Jules Chevalier MSC: A man with a heart on fire for mission,” which originated in the MSC provinces in Brazil. The accompanying logo was designed by Sr Helena, an MSC Sister from Korea, encapsulating the Holy Spirit and the MSC passion for the Spirituality of the Heart, the bicentennial, and the MSC charism and mission, the foundation of it all. The pierced Sacred Heart encompassed within the number 200, expressed in a continuous line, “symbolises our motto and vision originating from the time of Chevalier to our time,” explains the Chevalier Year Commission.
With the knowledge of Fr Chevalier’s unerring belief that “It is through love that God created everything,” we embark upon this special year in celebration of the great gifts that have been granted to us through God’s love, and with the continued shared aim of sharing this love “wherever and whenever it is needed most,” in keeping with our mission statement.
“As we celebrate this special jubilee for our Chevalier family, may each one of us be touched by the Spirit, and like Fr Chevalier, be gifted with a heart on fire for mission” (Chevalier Year Commission).
Images via the Ametur MSC Facebook page, from the Chevalier Year Commission.
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