HISTORY
1785
Peter Joseph de Clorivière was rector of the ecclesiastical College in Dinán. It is there, in Dinán, where, by God's design, the meeting took place between this holy and audacious priest and Marie Adelaide de Cicé, a Breton woman, destined by the Lord for great work.
1791
The Society, "Daughters of the Heart of Mary", is a Religious Society of Pontifical right, founded in France, in 1791 during the French Revolution.
FOUNDERS
Maríe Adelaide de Cicé
a lady of the French nobility
Adélade was born into the Champion Cicé family, which had been residing in Brittany since the fifteenth century, in Rennes, France, on November 5, 1749. Like her grandpa and great-grandfather before her, her father served as a counselor in the Brittany Parliament.
Adélade was baptized in the parish of St. Aubin on the same day that she was born. Her father was 69, and her mother was 47. Her father passed away a year after she was born, leaving Mrs. de Cicé to shoulder the entire family's responsibilities. Since practically all of her elder brothers were away from the home, Adélade grew up in a somewhat austere environment with minimal interaction with them. She took her first communion at the Visitation of Rennes when she was 10 years old. This action had a significant spiritual impact on her.
Peter Joseph de Clorivière
a French Jesuit Priest
The Breton aristocracy and Malouin gentry (more specifically, seafarers) are Father de Clorivière's ancestors on both the paternal and maternal sides, whose ancestry stretches back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In local history, their names are connected to a variety of occupations, particularly in the elite navy services, and to the fame of St. Malo.
The second of eight children born into a family with ties to the maritime industry, Pierre Joseph de Clorivière was born in Saint Malo on June 29, 1735.
When Pierre Joseph was six years old, his father abandoned him, and three years later, he also lost his mother, it left a deep impact on his spirit, shattering his sensitive senses and giving him a sense of loneliness that led him to cling to God.
FOUNDATION IN INDIA, 1951
Maria Paiva Couceiro from Lisbon, Portugal,
offered herself for the mission of India.
MOTTO
One Heart and
One Soul
The Daughters of the Heart of Mary are called to "Form one heart and one soul", with a deep union with Christ, an authentic fraternal life and a generous dedication to the service of those most in need, with the vigour and energy of the early church.
PURPOSE
To seek always the Glory of God, the service of humanity in the work for the Kingdom and in communion with the Church.
PONTIFICAL APPROVAL
January 19, 1801
The Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary received verbal approval from Pope Pius VII.
April 24, 1857
Pope Pius IX approved and definitively confirmed, by decree, the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary.
June 18, 1890
Pope Leo XIII definitively approved the Constitutions of the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary.