Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Daughters of
OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART, DAUGHTERS OF
(FDNSC; Official Catholic Directory #0900); a congregation of religious women founded in 1882 at Issoudun, France, by Jules Chevalier and Marie Louise hartzer (1837–1908). The institute developed from a small group that Father Chevalier united into a congregation in 1874, but that languished until the arrival of Madam Hartzer, a widow born in Wissembourg (now in the Bas-Rhin department) in northeastern France. Following the Franco-Prussian War she came to France with her father and two sons, settled in Issoudun after her sons joined the Sacred Heart Missionaries, and became associated with Chevalier's followers. Under her leadership, the Daughters grew into the present congregation. The Holy See granted its decree of praise in 1908 and approved the constitutions in 1928. In their apostolate the Daughters engage in educational and hospital work. The congregation spread first to Australia (1884), then to Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Brazil, Italy, Ireland, England, and Spain. In 1955 it entered the U.S., in the Diocese of Camden, N.J. The motherhouse is in Rome. The U.S. provincialate is in Bellmawr, N.J.
Bibliography: f. and l. hartzer, La Réverende Mère Marie-Louise Hartzer (Paris 1913).
[l. f. petit/eds.]