The Society of the Sacred Heart
Discovering and revealing the love of the Heart of Jesus through the service of Education
Image by Patricia Hevia RSCJ
The Society of the Sacred Heart is an international Catholic congregation of women religious, founded in France by St. Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800.
Today over sixteen hundred Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RSCJ) – Catholic sisters who have made a lifelong commitment to the Society of the Sacred Heart and its mission to discover and reveal the love of Jesus through the service of education – serve in 43 different countries around the world.
On May 24, 1925, Pope Pius XI declared Madeleine Sophie Barat a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. To commemorate the hundred-year anniversary of her canonization, RSCJ around the Society are planning conferences, celebrations, and more. Information about events as well as resources regarding centennial celebrations will be posted here as they become available.
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The faith that moves us demands that we respond to questions with courage and compassion through the power of the Holy Spirit:
What is God calling us to be?
What is God calling us to do?
The challenge of our time is to live and act as One Body, articulating and creating new ways of living out our priorities for mission across existential and geographic boundaries for the sake of our blessed and broken world. The four Apostolic Priorities are rooted in our Constitutions and in the call of our charism to discover and manifest the love of the Heart of Jesus. They call us – both RSCJ and partners in mission – to live out all our apostolic commitments in a world deeply in need of love, hope and compassion.
Education
Any process through which learnings are exchanged; experiences are shared; skills, knowledge and attitudes are developed, imparted, acquired – all within the contexts of formal education, popular education and socio-educational projects.
Spirituality
The deepening of interiority and the core encounter with Jesus that sensitizes us to His presence in ourselves, in others, in our world – through the contemplative dimension of our life as well as through accompaniment of retreats, spiritual direction, pastoral work and evangelization.
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
Our steadfast commitment to our world in need of justice, peace and the integrity of creation, beckons us towards transformative engagement and action, especially in situations of particular vulnerability.
Formation
Fostering spiritual, human growth and apostolic life at every level – in the context of initial and ongoing formation of RSCJ, formation with our lay partners for mission, for the transmission and sustainability of our charism, for leadership and processes of change and transformation.
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Prayer Resources
“For the sake of one child, I would have founded the Society” – Madeleine Sophie
“Joy comes of utter contentedness with God’s will for us now” -Janet Erskine Stuart
“Today, more than ever, people need to become interior souls, to learn to be the authors of their own lives, with a personal core that sustains and unifies them as valuable, unique, unrepeatable beings…” – Attributed to Madeleine Sophie
