View source for Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

{{Short description|Catholic clerical religious congregation}}
{{Distinguish|Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus}}
{{Infobox organization
| name         = Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
| native name  = {{Langx|la|Congregatio Sacrorum Cordium Iesu et Mariae}}
| image        = Le bon pere Coudrin.jpg
| image_size   = 200px
| caption      = Founder Pierre Coudrin<br> depicted on a stained glass window in the [[Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace]] in [[Honolulu]]
| abbreviation = SS.CC.
| nickname     = Picpus Fathers
| formation    = {{start date and age|1800}}
| founder      = Fr. [[Pierre Coudrin|Marie-Joseph Coudrin, SS.CC.]]
| type         = Clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men
| headquarters = Via Rivarone 85, Rome, Italy
| membership   = 653 members (includes 502 priests) as of 2020
| leader_title = [[Superior General]]
| leader_name  = Fr. Alberto Manuel Toutin Cataldo, SS.CC.
| website      = {{url|ssccpicpus.com}}
}}
The '''Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary''' ({{Langx|la|Congregatio Sacrorum Cordium Iesu et Mariae}}) abbreviated '''SS.CC.''', is a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] clerical religious [[Religious congregation|congregation]] of [[Pontifical Right]] for [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priests]] and [[Brother (Catholic)|brothers]]. The congregation is also known as the Picpus because their first house was on the Rue de Picpus in [[Paris]], [[France]].
== History ==
===French Revolution beginnings===
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary arose amid the religious upheaval caused by the [[French Revolution]].  In March 1792, the Frenchman [[Peter Coudrin|Pierre Coudrin]] was secretly ordained to the priesthood.  The following May, Father Coudrin went into hiding in an attic of the granary of the Chateau d'Usseau and stayed confined there for six months to escape the government's persecution of the Catholic non-juring priests who refused to accept the [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy]].  One evening during his time in hiding, Coudrin had a vision of himself surrounded by a heavenly illuminated group of priests, brothers and sisters dressed in white robes, which he took as his calling to establish a religious institute that would be the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  Coudrin left the granary and began his underground ministry in [[Poitiers]], waiting for the opportunity to start his group.<ref name= ssccus>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sscc.org/wp/main/?page_id=22179 |title="A Brief History of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (SSCC)", ss.cc - United States province |access-date=2016-01-06 |archive-date=2017-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517212231/http://www.sscc.org/wp/main/?page_id=22179 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie.jpg|thumb|[[Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie|Servant of God Henriette Aymer de La Chevalerie]]]]
During his underground ministry in 1794, Coudrin met [[Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie]].  She had been imprisoned for hiding a priest.  Upon her release, she told Coudrin of a vision she had while in prison calling her to the service of God. Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie shared with each other their visions of creating a religious institute in the midst of danger for Roman Catholics in France.<ref name=ssccus/>
===Establishing the Congregation===
On [[Christmas Eve]] in 1800, despite knowing they could face the [[guillotine]] for their actions, Father Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie officially established the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.<ref name=ssccus/>
In 1817, the Congregation was formally approved by the Pope as a single institute composed of a male and a female branch of [[Religious (Catholicism)|religious]] and a lay branch.<ref name=ssccir>[http://www.sacred-hearts.net/history "History", ss.cc - Ireland-England province]</ref>
The original members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary founded new schools for poor children, seminaries to help grow the priesthood of their institute and parish missions throughout [[Europe]]. In 1825 the evangelization of the [[Hawaiian Islands|Sandwich Islands]] in the Pacific was entrusted by the Holy See to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, and the following year the first band of missionaries of the Sacred Hearts left France. At the time of Father Coudrin's death in 1837, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary had 276 priests and brothers and 1125 sisters.
In 1840 the Brothers founded a house in Louvain, Belgium. The Brothers settled in Spain (1880), the Netherlands (1892), England (1894) and the United States (1905).<ref name=ssccro/>
The sisters, who concentrated their energies on education, went to Chile in 1838 and to Perú in 1848. They also started foundations in Honolulu in 1859 and Ecuador in 1862. Additional houses were founded in Spain (1881), Belgium (1894), England (1895), the Netherlands (1803) and the United States (1908).<ref name=ssccro/>
The Congregation has been present in Ireland since 1948 and in the UK since 1956.<ref name=ssccir/>
===The Mission in the Pacific Islands===
[[File:Cathédrale.Saint-Michel.de.Rikitea.2006.jpg|right|thumb|upright|250px|[[St. Michael's Cathedral, Rikitea|St. Michael's Cathedral]] in [[Rikitea]] before renovation in 2006]]
[[File:Paterdamiaan graf.JPG|right|thumb|200px|upright|The grave of [[Father Damien|Saint Damien de Veuster]] in the crypt of the church of the Congregation of Sacred Hearts in [[Leuven]]]]
The religious institute set off on a new mission that would become their hallmark accomplishment.<ref name=deboeck>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13308a.htm De Boeck, William. "Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 5 January 2016</ref> Teams of missionaries settled in the several [[Pacific Ocean]] islands to spread the Gospel, build churches, and evangelize new faithful.
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was particularly successful in the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]].  They established what is now the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu]] and built the [[Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace]], the oldest Roman Catholic [[cathedral]] in continuous use in the [[United States]].  Hawaii's first six bishops, from 1833 to 1940, were members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Other churches founded by the institute include [[Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Hilo]] and [[Maria Lanakila Catholic Church]] on [[Maui]]. [[Sacred Hearts Academy]] (K-12, girls) and St. Patrick's School (elementary, co-ed) in the Honolulu neighborhood of [[Kaimuki]] were both founded by the order.
===Mission in the United States===
In 1833 Reverends Edmundo Demellier, S.S.C.C. and Petithomme, S.S.C.C. began to minister to the [[Passamaquoddy]] people in Maine. The Congregation's first province in the United
States was established 1846. In 1850 they established the Santa Inés Mission (Chumash), in Solvang, California.<ref>[https://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/NativeGuide/MA/E-28.pdf "Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Eastern Province Archives", Marquette University]</ref>
==Notable members==
* [[Peter Coudrin]]
* [[Father Damien of Molokai|Saint Damien de Veuster]]
* [[Eustáquio van Lieshout|Blessed Eustaquio van Lieshout]]
* [[John M. Systermans|Henri Systermans]]
* Joseph Hendricks<ref name=ssccro>[http://www.ssccpicpus.com/news.aspx?ln=en&id=4463 "Brief history of the Congregation", ss.cc - Rome]</ref>
* [[Honoré Laval]]
* [[François Caret]]
* [[Étienne Jérôme Rouchouze]]
* [[Louis Désiré Maigret]]
* [[Alexis Bachelot]]
* Mateo Crawley-Boevey
* [[Florentin-Étienne Jaussen]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.ssccpicpus.com/ Official website]
{{Christianity in Hawaii}}
{{Catholic religious orders}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Congregation Of The Sacred Hearts Of Jesus And Mary}}
[[Category:Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary| ]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1800]]
[[Category:Catholic organizations established in the 18th century]]
[[Category:1800 establishments in France]]