15 Mar 2023
March 15th, 2023 marks the 199th anniversary of the birth of Fr Jules Chevalier, founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and the beginning of the Chevalier Year. This jubilee year will come to a close on the Feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in May 2024, with a grand celebration on Fr Chevalier’s 200th birthday on March 15th.
The theme for the year is “Jules Chevalier MSC: A man with a heart on fire for mission,” which originated in the MSC provinces in Brazil. The accompanying logo was designed by Sr Helena, an MSC Sister from Korea, encapsulating the Holy Spirit and the MSC passion for the Spirituality of the Heart, the bicentennial, and the MSC charism and mission, the foundation of it all. The pierced Sacred Heart encompassed within the number 200, expressed in a continuous line, “symbolises our motto and vision originating from the time of Chevalier to our time,” explains the Chevalier Year Commission.
Welcome to the Chevalier Year! (Image via the Chevalier Year Commission/@ameturmsc on Facebook.)
Welcome to the Chevalier Year! (Image via the Chevalier Year Commission/@ameturmsc on Facebook.)
With the knowledge of Fr Chevalier’s unerring belief that “It is through love that God created everything,” we embark upon this special year in celebration of the great gifts that have been granted to us through God’s love, and with the continued shared aim of sharing this love “wherever and whenever it is needed most,” in keeping with our mission statement.
“As we celebrate this special jubilee for our Chevalier family, may each one of us be touched by the Spirit, and like Fr Chevalier, be gifted with a heart on fire for mission” (Chevalier Year Commission).
Images via the Ametur MSC Facebook page, from the Chevalier Year Commission.
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