The Order of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

The MSC
By: Rev. Fr. Jesus V. Dumaual, MSC

Fr. Jules Chevalier (1824-1907) was a Diocesan Priest who lived most of his ministerial life as a parish priest in Issoudun, France. Early in his formation he came to a deep understanding that God, of all His attributes, is Love. And this attribute which is His very essence God revealed in the fullest way in Jesus Christ, the Son who He sent us. In the depth of His loves for us as symbolized by His pierced Heart - His Sacred Heart. But this particular charism in his sight that that this truth is going to be the remedy of all �evils of our time�. By contemplating on this limitless Love of Christ for us, will free us from the root causes of all evils in this world; egoism and indifference - and today, we may add, consumerism and hopelessness. He formed a society of Priest, Brothers, and Lay Associates whose mission would be to make known this Love - which they have come to know and believe in - to all the world. "Ametur ubique terrarum Cor Jesu Sacratissimum" (translated in English, May the most Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere) is their motto. This mission they will carry out anywhere and everywhere. No apostolate will be particularly identified with them. But their way of doing of it: with a compassionate and merciful heart, with kindness and tenderness, but also with courage, strength, constancy and fidelity of heart, and their preference for the little ones: the poor and the neglected in society, the victims of injustices and all who are dis-heartened will be their distinguishing mark.
He placed the Societies which he founded in 1854, the La Societa des Missionnaires du Sacre-Coeur (MSC) [translated into Latin, Missionarii Sacratissimi Cordis; in Spanish, La Congregacion de los Misioneros del Sagrado Corazon; and in English, The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart] and the Daughters of our Lady of the Sacred Heart (DOLSH) in 1864 under the protection of Our Lady to whom he has given the title : Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (officially approved by Pople Pius IX in 1869) to honor her in a special way. With this title, Our Lady and her Son were united under this one title. She was presented as the first disciple of her Son’s Love and the first missionary of this Love, the first missionary of the Sacred Heart. As such, the biblical scene which captures most accurately what he had in mind was the one at the foot of the cross wherein Mary was contemplating Jesus hanging on the cross and Mary being given to us as our Mother showing us the way to being true disciples, just like her, of her loving Son, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The MSC Ministries
Going back to our Founder, we see that he described the mission of his congregation with his motto: May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere! It was a call to mission: to make it known to people how much God loves all of them, to help people discover that love - so visible in how Jesus lived from the heart and make it part of their lives.
Some religious congregations were founded for building and running schools, others for caring for the sick. Some were established to preach to parish missions, others to care for orphanages or other centers of social service; some, again, to proclaim God’s message through the mass media or to provide missionaries for foreign countries.
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) was founded for all of the above, and for many other types of ministries more, provided that the work they did would be an instrument to help people experience God’s love in their lives. Jules Chevalier did not establish his congregation for any specific ministry or work, except to make God’s love known especially to people who, through circumstances of life, or because of the times they lived in, were handicapped in experiencing that love.
At present time, the MSCs are taking care of 24 parishes in the Philippines. At the same time we have people working in school ministry, in parochial schools and in our two MSC school: Chevalier School (Angeles City) and San Sebastian School (Munoz, Nueva Ecija). With our partners in the Communication Foundation for Asia, the MSCs used modern media in the service of the Gospel message. Based on the needs and possibilities of the time, we have helped establish livelihood and credit cooperatives, and put up social service centers, parish clinics and community based health programs, and based on Gospel values and social teachings of the Church we are helping people’s organizations to deepen awareness of the social realities. We are involved both in parish renewal movements and traditional church organizations, in the formation of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), in Justice and Peace advocacy and in work of ecology. We work in sectoral apostolate, focussing on the special needs of farmers and fishermen, youth and Tribal Filipinos, and in specialized ministries as hospital chaplaincies and care for the sick. Now, the work in foreign mission is becoming more and more to us.
Arrival of the MSC’s in Surigao

The first eight (8) MSC’s who came to work in Surigao arrived on December 8, 1908 in Cebu to which diocese the Surigao mission belonged. Shortly after, they were designated to four mission posts in Surigao:

a) Frs. Mattias Nijsters and Bernard Willemsen were stationed in the parish of Surigao town and at the same time they were in charge of the whole Dinagat island.
b) Frs. Henry Peeters and Anthony de Jong took care of Gigaquit parish. They also included in their pastoral ministry the parish of Taganaan-Placer.
c) Frs. Joseph Menken and Anthony van den Bogaard resided in Cantilan parish. Several months, later, Fr. Van den Bogaard transferred residence to Tandag. Included in their jurisdiction were the parishes of Numancia ( now, Del Carmen ) and Cabuntog ( now, General Luna ), both in Siargao Island.
d) Frs. Joseph Intven and Bernard van Riel. They worked in Hinatuan parish and also ministered to the people of Lianga.

As missionaries of the Sacred Heart, they brought with them their unique MSC spirit which, when seen in the light of the charism of their Founder, Jules Chevalier, is permeated with a personal devotion to the person of Christ in the aspect of his life-giving love for all that reached its culmination in the mystery of the Eucharist.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart, for Fr. Chevalier finds its expression in a commitment to the mission of Christ ( he being the first missionary of his Father’s Heart). The words of St. Paul to the Romans 10:14 meant so much to Fr. Chevalier. “ But how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? And how can they believe unless they have heard him? And how can they hear unless there is someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” Thus in the Formula Instituti that Fr. Chevaier submitted to the Holy See, he affirmed that foreign mission was among the works of the MSC Congregation.

Please click the following links . . .
MSC Mission Appeal Part 1
MSC Mission Appeal Part 2