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The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary...

[Congregatie van de Heilige Harten van Jezus & Maria...!!]

arose amid the religious upheaval... 

caused by the French Revolution. 

In March 1792...

the Frenchman Pierre Coudrin... 

was secretly ordained to the priesthood. 

The following May, Father Coudrin went into hiding in an attic of the granary of the Chateau d'Usseau  [ten N. van Poitiers], and stayed confined there for six months, to escape the government's persecution of the Catholic non-juring priests who refused to accept the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. 

One evening during his time in hiding... 

Coudrin had a vision of himself surrounded by a heavenly illuminated group of priests, brothers and sisters dressed in white robes... 

which he took as his calling to establish a religious institute that would be the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Coudrin left the granary and began his underground ministry in Poitiers, waiting for the opportunity to start his group.

During his underground ministry in 1794... 

Coudrin met Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie. 

She had been imprisoned for hiding a priest. 

Upon her release, she told Coudrin of a vision she had while in prison, calling her to service of God. Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie shared with each other their visions of creating a religious institute in the midst of danger for Roman Catholics in France.

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