The Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Latin: Congregatio Sacerdotum a Sacro Corde Iesu), also called the Dehonians, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men.

History

The congregation was founded in Saint-Quentin, Aisne, Picardy, France, by Léon Dehon in 1878. It is present in over 42 countries on five continents (Europe, Africa, North and South America and Asia). It is headquartered in Rome.

Our community’s mission is to make known the profound love that Jesus has for all people through prayer, service, social action and outreach among the poor and neglected. We are “prophets of love and servants of reconciliation,” offering ourselves with Christ to a world which hungers for justice and peace.

We dedicate our life and our energy to the Lord to proclaim the Gospel of Love and to serve our brothers and sisters particularly in those situations and areas that are the most troubled and needy.

Our religious experience is at one and the same time a mission and an offering, perhaps an invitation, to anyone who is moved by the Holy Spirit and senses a call to give themselves totally to affirm the Reign of Love that exists among peoples and nations and to bring about the Reign of the Heart of Christ.

The beginning of the Congregation of the Priests of the Heart of Jesus goes back to July 13th, 1877, a date in which Fr. Dehon, involved in a deep spiritual life, started his novitiate with permission of his bishop. After one year, on June 28th 1878, he professed his religious vows. In this way, in the shadow of St. John’s College the institute of the Oblates of the Heart of Jesus was born. Both college and institute are fruits of the spiritual and apostolic zeal of Fr. Dehon. Although the beginning was filled with prosperity and hope difficulties were also present: a fire destroyed the college and at the same time misinterpretations and misunderstandings provoked the intervention of the Holy See, resulting in the suppression of the newly founded institute. This difficult test made the founder humble and ready to manifest clearly his spirit of faith and abandonment to the designs of providence. Thanks to this attitude, Fr. Dehon was authorized to restart the institute, raising the same structure yet now on a more solid, evangelical basis. That moment was like a spring after the dark night of “Consumatum est”. It was during this difficult time when the name of the institute had to be changed. Although the first name – Oblates of the Heart of Jesus – was much more preferred by the founder, expressing more perfectly his spirituality, from 1884 the Priests of the Heart of Jesus became the official title of the Congregation.

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OUR SPIRITUALITY

Considering the evangelical vision of our founder, Fr. Dehon, we can discover and experience in the open side and of the wounded heart of Christ, our Saviour, the unique and grateful love of God who saves.
Welcoming the Spirit, who makes us new creatures, we want to return this love by following the life of Jesus and living the evangelical counsels. We want to join in his perfect oblation to the Father along with our brothers, imitating the total donation of his life on the cross. And we want also to be ready to imitate Mary in her complete availability to the project of God, offering all that we do, especially our selves and our lives, for the service of the Kingdom.
In this way we offer our humble collaboration to the reparatory work of Christ, serving in the mission of the Church in constant attention to the most lowly and bringing the love and reconciliation of God, especially to those who are in most need of love.
We try to live in our fraternal communities the new communion possible in Christ, uniting our strengths and making of our persons a mutual gift. We nourish and strength our vocation of love and reparation in the Eucharist and in Eucharistic Adoration, contemplating his supreme gift for the salvation of humanity and for the glory of the Trinity.

Fr. Dehon says:

“Announce so ardently the love of God manifested in the Heart of Christ as a sign and centre of this divine reality. Show to all the broken man with many tribulations and questions, the crucified and risen Christ, the supreme certainty of God’s love. I am sure that for your part, you will be always renewed in the promise of fidelity and watchfulness to contribute at any time for the good of souls and for the building up of the Church”.
“But be fully faithful to the teaching of the Apostolic See. Be witnesses to the love of Christ in adoration and the Eucharist, in a penitential life and in the reparation of the evil that weights over the world. God doesn’t know what to do with our wisdom or our works, if we don’t give to him our heart”.

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At the Heart of the World

Wherever our work takes us, we continuously discover a world troubled with evil yet ever seeking the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations: truth, justice, love, freedom (See Rule of Life, n. 36).

We recognize that our vocation is, as Pope John Paul II reminds us, “always compelling because more than ever, today’s society needs to be prodded into contact with the Heart of Christ where peace, serenity, comfort and pardon can be found” (06-14-1989).

In living out our vocation, it is our desire to give witness to the primacy of love in the world and to bind ourselves without reserve to achieving a new humanity in the Heart of Christ (see Rule of Life, n. 3). We, the Priests of the Sacred Heart, often introduce ourselves as “Dehonians” in affectionate reference to our Founder, the Venerable, Fr. Leo Dehon, a genuine apostle of love and reparation to the Heart of Christ. We are committed to living out and sharing Fr. Dehon’s charism, spirituality, and works in the church and in the world.

Our Congregation appeared in 1878 and spread quickly because its life reflected a continuous response to the social and spiritual expectations that people held. Our presence today in the world is somewhat modest when compared to the urgent needs that humanity has of faith and healing. But with the assistance of the saving love of Christ and the maternal protection of Mary, we are able to accomplish necessary and useful things wherever we are: missions, parishes, specialized movements within the church, teaching, youth work, the press and mass media, social apostolates and human welfare on behalf of the poor, the working class, and castaways.

We dedicate our life and our energy to the Lord to proclaim the Gospel of Love and to serve our brothers and sisters particularly in those situations and areas that are the most troubled and needy.

Our religious experience is at one and the same time a mission and an offering, perhaps an invitation, to anyone who is moved by the Holy Spirit and senses a call to give themselves totally to affirm the Reign of Love that exists among peoples and nations and to bring about the Reign of the Heart of Christ.

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At the Heart of God

“I leave you the most wonderful of treasures: the Heart of Jesus. He belongs to all but has special tenderness toward those consecrated to him and are given over wholly to his love” (Spiritual Testament of Fr. Dehon).

“As disciples of Father Dehon, we want to make union with Christ in His love for the Father and for people the principle and center of our life” (Rule of Life n. 17).

In all that we are and do, in all the different situations and works we find ourselves, we Dehonians are called to enter into the advancement of redeeming love in a spirit of oblation so as to join our lives and the lives of all human beings to their origin: the Heart of God.

At the Heart of the Church

The vocation of a Dehonian, which is centered on the mystery of the Heart of Christ from which the Church takes its origins, puts us at the very heart of the Church as “prophets of love and servants of reconciliation.” “By its very nature our Institute is an apostolic institute; and so we readily place ourselves at the service of the Church” (Rule of Life n. 30).

Our authentic service to the Church is based on a life of prayer and oblation. It is expressed through our ministry to workers, the lowly and the poor, our missionary activity, and our efforts in priestly and religious formation. According to the signs of the times and in communion with the life of the Church, we want to contribute to establishing the reign of justice and Christian charity in the world. We join our efforts to those of Jesus that the human family, sanctified in the Holy Spirit, might become an offering pleasing to God. (cf. Rom.15:16 and Our Rule of Life, n. 31-32)

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Where do we live and work?

There are over 2300 scj priests and brothers world wide working on five continents in 38 countries.

Albania Argentina Austria Belgium Brazil Byelorussia Cameroon Canada Chile Croatia D. R. of the Congo Ecuador England Finland France Germany India Indonesia

IrelandItaly Luxembourg Madagascar Mexico Moldavia

Mozambique Netherlands Philippines Poland Portugal Scotland South Africa Slovakia Spain Switzerland United States Ukraine

As a congregation we divide ourselves into provinces, regions and districts for purposes of government. A growing list of provinces, regions and districts maintain their own web sites with information specific to our work in that area and in local languages.

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What do we do?

By its very nature our Institute is an apostolic institute; and so we readily place ourselves at the service of the Church in its various pastoral works.

Although our Institute was not founded for a specific work, it gets from the Founder some apostolic orientations which characterize its mission in the Church.

This mission, for Father Dehon in a spirit of love and oblation, entailed eucharistic adoration, as an authentic service of the Church (cf. Notes Quotidiennes, 1.3.1893), “and ministry to the lowly and the humble, the workers and the poor” (cf. Souvenirs XV), to proclaim to them the unfathomable riches of Christ (cf. Ephesians 3:8).

With this ministry in mind, Father Dehon gave great importance to the formation of priests and religious.

For him missionary activity was a privileged form of apostolic service.

In all this his constant concern was that the human community, sanctified in the Holy Spirit, became an offering pleasing to God (cf. Romans 15:16).

This text is taken from Our Rule of Life. If you would like to read more about our spirituality and charism you can link here to a site maintained in North America by scjs in Canada and the United States, who have placed this document on their web site.

Coat of Arms of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The coat of arms of the Congregation began to spread in 1933 in black and white, first appearing on a letter from Superior General Fr. Philippe. The coat of arms first was colored when it was used as a graphic design included in the episcopal insignia of Msgr. Philippe.

The source of inspiration for the coat of arms was probably the cross of Fr. Dehon’s religious profession (which is in the Fr. Dehon Museum in Rome). In the history of many SCJ Entities, a similar model of a Latin-shaped cross was given to each religious on the day of his first religious profession. In all likelihood, the graphic design found inspiration in the official coat of arms of the College of St. John in St. Quentin, France.

Over the years, the various general governments have never explicitly formalized a coat of arms as a symbol of the congregation and, to this day, the graphic design included in the episcopal insignia of Msgr. Philippe is used – albeit revised.

For this reason, the various entities of the Congregation have created and produced multiple coats of arms, inspired by the one in use in the official documents of the general government.

New Coats of arms

In 2018 during the XXIV General Chapter, a new coat of arms was presented that is the result of a long process of study and analysis of the various coats of arms previously in use in the Congregation. It gathers the original elements of the coat of arms, but reworks shapes and colors, incorporating the symbols in use in most of the entities of the Congregation. Even this coat of arms is not officially recognized as the universal symbol of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The symbolism of the new coat of arms

The background of the coat of arms is blue with a silver-colored cross in the center. The cross is Latin in shape, like the cross of Fr. Dehon’s profession.

In the center of the Cross is the radiant Heart of Jesus, with the crown of thorns, surmounted by a small cross in the midst of flames. The heart with a wound, a symbol of Jesus’ oblative love, alludes to the Gospel of John 19:37: “They will turn their eyes to him whom they have pierced.”

The crown of thorns refers to the paschal mystery of passion death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the upper left corner is the Latin monogram of the Virgin Mary (AM: Auspice Maria/Ave Maria), she who with her Ecce Ancilla “incites us to availability in faith: she is the perfect image of our religious life.” (Cst. 85)

The motto “Adveniat regnum tuum” (Thy Kingdom come) found under the coat of arms is a Latin quotation from the Our Father. In the spirit of the founder, the Congregation exists to announce the Kingdom of God in souls and in society.

The colors of the coat of arms are four: blue, red, gold and silver:

• The blue background color represents human virtues and spiritual values;
• the gold of the crown of thorns and rays is a symbol of faith, mercy, charity and justice;
• the red of the heart indicates passionate love of God and neighbor.
• The silver color of the cross refers to the silver heart of the cross that belonged to Fr. Dehon and to his experience of faith (Cst. 2); the silver background to the inscription “Adveniat regnuum tuum” is meant to affirm that the Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus “is called to make Fr. Dehon’s charism bear fruit according to the needs of the Church and the world”(Cst. 1).

The Dehonian cross

History

In 1979 the German province organized a Youth Day in St. Sebastian college in Stegen on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the school. In preparation for the meeting, a competition was launched to propose a logo, the aim of which was to interpret the expression contained in the book The Little Prince byAntoine de Saint-Exupéry: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly”. The judges of the competition were art professors at Stegen college, Alfred Erhard and Benedikt Schaufelberger. The winner was the student Martin Hättich of Sankt Märgen in the Black Forest. The “Cross with a heart ” logo was further developed by Professor Alfred Erhard and in the following years became the current logo of many Dehonian provinces.

Meaning

At first glance, the cross with an open heart in the middle appears symmetrical. At a second glance the irregularity of the four arms of the cross emerges. The heart-shaped opening is also asymmetrical. The effect on the observer is not static, but dynamic: As if the heart pulses in the middle of the cross.

The gaze on the cross is oriented towards the center, the heart. In this way two priorities of Christian life are expressed:

2. The logo is an appeal in favor of the biblical interpretation that sees in the heart the seat of knowledge: a strong reminder not to neglect the ways of the heart, in order to achieve an integral understanding of the knowledge: “Follow the advice your own heart gives you, no one can be truer to you than that; since a person’s soul often gives a clearer warning than seven watchmen perched on a watchtower.” (Sir 37:13-14)
3. The second priority goes directly to the heart of the spirituality of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “There is no greater love than this: to give one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). Looking at the cross we immediately see the heart. We see Christ’s suffering and recognize his love. The logo is realistic; yes, suffering, pain, and the cross are realities in our life and in the life of Jesus. But we proclaim a faith that is not simply fixed on pain, suffering and the cross. In the midst of suffering I am not drowned by the darkness of the abyss, but I discover the ever greater love of God and his Son,“who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal 2:20).
4. Father Dehon expressed all this in these terms:“Jesus Christ is truly, in his mysteries and in his passion, the Book written internally and externally. And what are the letters that we see traced in this Book? Only these: Love. The scourges , the thorns, the nails, have written them with bloody characters on his divine flesh; but let us not be content to read and admire this divine writing from the outside; we penetrate to the heart, and we will see a much greater wonder: it is the inexhaustible and inexhaustible love that considers anything that suffers and gives itself without growing tired (Oeuvres Spirituelles II, 305)

In this logo the heart at the center of the cross is not simply drawn, but is built from a” free space “. We are invited to fill this empty space with our lives. We are called to be attentive to the experience of a loving Father whom Jesus calls ‘Abba’, attentive to any experience of love that sustains suffering.

We must be close to people, especially in situations of suffering, violence and injustice, so that charity, mercy and justice can also find space in their lives and in society.