Within the framework of the Colloquium of Paray-le-Monial, held on November 15 and 16, Sister Jeanne Cadiou sscc offered a profoundly inspiring presentation entitled “Consecration to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary as the foundation of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, following the example of Mother Henriette Aymer de la Chevalerie.”
Her reflection, centered on the figure of the Good Mother, highlighted the very heart of the spirituality that has animated the family of the Sacred Hearts since its origins: a life wholly given to God through prayer, charity, and humble service.
Sister Jeanne began her talk with a quotation from Henriette Aymer herself, written in 1802 to Father Coudrin, in which she expressed her inner understanding of the mystery of the Heart of Jesus and her desire to found an institute dedicated to its adoration:
“The good God has made me understand that He appeared bodily to Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque so that she might make known the devotion to His Sacred Heart… Now He wants an Order destined to adore His Heart and to enter into the inner sorrow of that Heart.”
These words, Sister Jeanne recalled, trace the spiritual horizon that gave birth to the Congregation: a consecration that is not merely a devotion but a way of life — a total gift of oneself to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
A life transformed by charity
With calm conviction, Sister Jeanne retraced the human and spiritual journey of Henriette Aymer — from her imprisonment in Poitiers during the French Revolution to the founding of the Congregation.
“In the prison of the Hospitalières,” she explained, “Henriette lived her deepest conversion. She discovered the source of God’s love in the Eucharist and in charity toward her fellow prisoners. From that experience sprang her desire to belong entirely to God.”
After her release, Henriette joined the Association of the Sacred Heart, where she deepened her life of prayer and adoration. There she met the young priest Pierre Coudrin, who shared her same burning zeal to respond to the love of God revealed in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
From their encounter would be born, on Christmas Night of 1800, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts and of Perpetual Adoration.
“The theology of the Good Mother, if we may call it that,” Sister Jeanne remarked tenderly, “is the theology of love. It is not about great discourses, but about an incarnate life — a heart-to-Heart relationship with Jesus and Mary. Henriette knew God by heart.”
An incarnate and fruitful spirituality
Through examples drawn from Henriette’s daily life, Sister Jeanne showed how the foundress lived a deeply incarnate spirituality.
“Henriette brought into everything she did — great or small — an active, living, and concrete love,” she said. “She knew how to communicate the taste of God and the joy of living in God. Her faith was expressed in simple gestures: gratitude, hospitality, and joy in service.”
With her usual simplicity, Jeanne Cadiou linked Henriette’s experience to the current challenges of religious life, inviting members of the Congregation to keep alive the flame of consecration, and to remember that every apostolic work and every mission are born from adoration and the encounter with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
“Only a heart transformed by love can proclaim the Gospel of tenderness and mercy,” she emphasized.
Her intervention took place in a special context dedicated to Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey sscc, the great apostle of the Sacred Heart. Sister Jeanne highlighted the deep link between his evangelizing mission and the spiritual heritage of the founders: “If there was a Father Mateo, apostle of the Sacred Heart throughout the world, it is because there were first a Pierre and a Henriette — a Good Father and a Good Mother,” she recalled with emotion.
An invitation to live the “civilization of Love”
In the final part of her address, Sister Jeanne invited the audience to reread the Congregation’s history in the light of consecration.
“In the image of Jesus and Mary, Henriette was docile, generous, persevering, and filled with apostolic zeal. Her life was a continuous offering to God in love, a letting herself be transformed by that love,” she affirmed.
She also cited an expression that, though more recent, perfectly sums up the SSCC charism: the civilization of Love. “Through her consecration to the Sacred Hearts,” she said, “Henriette contributed, in her time and in her own way, to building the civilization of Love, drawing from the very source of God’s love.”
She concluded her talk by expressing her hope that today’s SSCC family continues to drink from that same source: “May the life and work of Father Mateo, and of so many brothers and sisters who went before us, remain rooted in Henriette’s founding experience. May we, in our time, be witnesses of the Love that transforms the world from the Heart.”
11/15/2025