“The Sisters belonging to this Congregation will be called Apostles of the Sacred Heart Of Jesus, called to imitate, within the limits of their strength and in a spirit of obedience to their legitimate Superiors, the example of the Apostles who were scattered all over the world to make the Divine Master better known and loved by all people.”
(Manuscript Constitutions, Article 1)
Foundation of the Institute
Mother Clelia was a woman of prayer and faith who deeply loved the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the point of putting all her hope in him. She was a woman enthusiastic for life, a humble, resourceful and consciencious woman. She founded the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (ASCJ) on May 30, 1894, in Viareggio, Province of Lucca, Italy. The Institute was canonically erected by Bishop John Baptist Scalabrini in Piacenza in 1900. It obtained definitive Vatican approval four months after her death.
Mother Clelia felt in her heart that she should found a work dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as she writes: “The Sisters belonging to this Congregation will be called Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, called to imitate, within the limits of their strength and in a spirit of obedience to their legitimate Superiors, the example of the Apostles who were scattered all over the world to make the Divine Master better known and loved by all people.” (Manuscript Constitutions, Article 1)
In choosing the title of Apostles, Mother Clelia wanted her daughters to be animated by the same ardor of the first Apostles, thus becoming Apostles not only inname but according to the spirit of the first Apostles. She wanted her daughters to bring to all people, in various social realities, the enlightening Word, the faith that saves, the witness of courage, the self sacrifice that redeems, and a love that flows from the Heart of Christ. (Ratio Institutionis, 14) For Mother Clelia, apostolic zeal and true communion were to be the primary characteristics of the life of her daughters as they endeavored to make the Heart of Jesus known and loved by all. She considered the virtue of zeal to be “a practical consequence of the great precept of charity.”
Zeal for the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus led the Apostles to commit themselves to serving the needs of all those in need of evanagelization: orphans, the poor, the elderly, children, single mothers and young people., The Congregation grew in the midst of blessings and trials, opening new horizons for the future of the Apostles in the Church.
The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus strive to internalize the Congregation’s charism and to make it alive and present in the world. The motto of the Congregation is: “The love of Christ impels us!”
In response to the needs of the Church and the signs of the times, the charism of Mother Clelia is present in 16 countries: Italy, Brazil, the United States, Switzerland, Albania, Ireland, Portugal, Mozambique, Ghana, Benin, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru and Haiti.
The missions and ministries of the Congregation are diverse and seek to respond to the needs of the local Church. The Apostles work in the field of education on all levels including those who have physical or intellectual disabilities, hospital and clinical work, parish ministry, service to priests and seminarians, social and legal services, foreign missionary work, care of the elderly, and administration in dioceses. The Apostles work with parishioners, students, those in sacramental preparation, those who are discerning consecrated life, families consecrated to the Heart of Jesus (GFASC), the homebound, sick in hospitals and other health facilitiesand, the poor, immigrants and minors, prisoners, drug addicts, and victims of human trafficking.
