About us

The Sacred Heart Congregation for women is a community of love, which took shape in the Syro-Malbar Church in Kerala by the infinite Providence of God. Never ending adoration, praise, thanksgiving and reparation are offered to the Heavenly Father through the Sacred Heart of Jesus from our Congregation that was formed to reciprocate the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The aim of the Congregation is that the members should live radically the discipleship of Christ, experiencing deeply the compassionate love of God, the Father, manifested through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and sharing it with others especially the poor and afflicted. The congregation was founded on 1st January 1911 by the Venerable Fr. Mathew Kadalikattil.


Our Founder
God made Fr. Mathew Kadalikkattil, an ordinary, zealous and saintly priest in Kerala, an instrument to plant the simple seed of the Congregation and to bring it up with a farsighted vision. He was a man, identified himself as the servant of the Sacred Heart and gave first place to the same Hearts mission in his life. He earnestly wished that, all people should experience the fruit of this devotion. Despite the hardship of all sorts, he used to go, house to house and consecrated the families to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Also he made them understand the love and compassion of the Sacred Heart in such a way that, they listened to him with great enthusiasm and zeal. With his spirit filled Eucharistic Celebration and attractive homilies he touched the hearts of the people. He was so compassionate in the confessional that even the great sinners were converted and returned to the experience of the love of Jesus. As he visited families he came to know about the miserable conditions of the abandoned children and the aged destitute around. He also perceived the sad plight of the young women, who were eager to lead a dedicated life and yet denied admission to the existing religious communities in Kerala, because of the lack of sufficient education and inability to provide the required patrimony. He felt like a love enthusiast, burdened in conscience with a heavy responsibility towards these.


CHARISM


Charism in the life of Fr.Mathew Kadalikkattil:- Fr.Mathew  who was attracted to the compassionate love of God the father , manifested through the Sacred Heart of Jesus was deeply moved by the following words of Jesus.


Mt 26:38 "My soul is sorrowful unto death". It aroused a burning zeal in his heart to glorify the S.H. of Jesus and to make reparation for the sins of mankind.


Mk 8:2 "I have compassion on the crowd" These words of Christ had a profound influence on the Founder and he was therefore inspired to share Christs compassionate love with all, especially with the poor, the destitute and the forlorn. So, the Charism of the Founder has two aspects- God orientation and people orientation.


Charism of the Sacred Heart Congregation
The special charisms of our Founder Father were a burning zeal to glorify the Sacred Heart of Jesus and an insatiable thirst to transmit to others the compassionate love of that Heart. This special gift which our saintly Father received became, in the divine Providence, the charism of our Congregation. 

 

Our Motto


Snehaya Danaya Cha Rakshanaya - call to the S.H.Congregation for love, self-giving and service, we respond through prayer, suffering and service.
  The Emblem of the Sacred Heart Congregation consists of the Heart with the salvific cross at the top and the Holy Spirit hovering on it and the Hamsa-Swan- inside the heart. The motto is inscribed within the Heart.


AIM AND SPIRIT


Never ending adoration, praise,thanksgiving and reparation are offered to the Heavenly Father through the Sacred Heart of Jesus from our Congregation that was formed to reciprocate the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and for our self giving to mankind. The life, love and compassion we experience through the Sacred Heart should flow to all especially to the poor, the orphaned, the destitute, the distressed, the ignorant and non-Christian brethren, for our sanctification as well as theirs.


Adapted Charism


We understand that the Congregation should become a spiritual force to give new contribution to the world especially to the poor.  In order to actualize the heroic vision of Our Founder Father in the modern world, the Sisters today follow the footsteps of the Founder in leading a spiritual and apostolic life. We try to recognize the modern destitute experience of the people and to respond to it. We concentrate our attention to the service of the poor & needy wherever we are.

At Present:


The Congregation is presently spread far and wide with the Generalate at Kottayam in Kerala. It has got more than 3714 Sisters in 488 houses, in 11Provinces and 1 Region, serving under 43 dioceses in India and abroad (Africa, Italy, Germany, America, Switzerland).


Missionary endeavors of Sacred Heart Congregation


At the break of 20th Century, before world wars and first and second Vatican Councils, the idea of missionary was very narrow in the Kerala Church itself. Yet while founding a new Congregation our founder father had a broad goal about mission. The very charism was open to all, ie  "..experiencing deeply the compassionate love of God, the Father, manifested through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and sharing it with others"2 (Const 1997 Art. 1). It shows universal application of our charism. Our founder had a vision of spreading compassionate love to all. This very dream of him was explicated clearly in two ejaculations he taught, (a) Sacred Heart of Jesus, the ocean of goodness, may all people know and love you more and more", (b) Sacred Heart of Jesus, thy kingdom come"3 (Dire. 2008, Art.2) In these he poised a world of hope and love. When Sacred Heart Congregation  had celebrated the  glorious year of centenary, she has a clear orientation of mission with many mission provinces4 (History Chapt. 9). The missionary orientation brings forth various dimensions of mission in the Congregation.


Christu    Jyoti Province Ujjain


Christu Jyoti, one of the missionary daughters of the Sacred Heart Congregation is cherishing her privileged status and is staining hard to follow the path her mother tread, with the mission inherited from the scripture and the teaching of the Church. She holds on to it amidst various oppositions imbibing inspirations from different models.


                                     Christu Jyoti at a Glance


Total Number of houses

27

Total Number of Sisters

145

Perpetually Professed Sisters

116

Temporary Professed

29