Some Significant February Days for the Chevalier Family
Paul Mea MSC, See February 10th
NOTE:
this is an amplified version of Significant Days, combining the list made originally by Cor Novum, Issoudun, now with the addition of dates from Father Jan Bovenmars MSC’s book, Jules Chevalier, Daily Readings. His book was published in 1993 – so, more recent just from all around the congregation and the Chevalier family would be most welcome.
48 new Significant Days have been added for February.
A post-script for January 31st
An OLSH Day
2 February, 1934
The Apostolic Prefecture of the Celebes becomes the Prefecture of the Celebes, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
2 February, 1866
Riedenburg, near Bregentz in Austria, blessing of the first statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
2 February, 1866
Father Jean-Marie Vandel enters the MSC community at Issoudun.
2 February, 1892
The title of Saint Joseph "Friend of the Sacred Heart" is changed to "Saint Joseph, patron and model of those of love the Sacred Heart".
2 February, 1905
Father Chevalier writes his Spiritual Testament for the of FDNSC.
2 February, 1950
Final Papal Approbation of the Congregation and the Constitutions of the MSC Sisters.
2 February, 1962
Erection of the Irish FDNSC Province.
2 February, 1978
The Foundation stone for the first house of the MSC Sisters in India was laid.
3 February, 1891
Since Father Guyot has sent a letter of resignation as General Assistant, Father Maillard is elected to replace him.
3 February, 1891
The MSC General Council protests against the removal of the Acts of the General Chapter, taken away without authorisation, by the Secretary of the Chapter, Father Klotz.
5 February, 1900
Canonical Erection of the Congregation of MSC Sisters and approbation of the Statutes for five years.
6 February, 1855
Chevalier and Maugenest finish their second novena to the Blessed Virgin. Their prayer is answered. They are promised 1000 francs, per year, from a generous benefactor, for their living expenses.
6 February, 1897
The Holy See authorises the MSC to hold a General Chapter.
7 February, 1895
“From a letter of Father Carriere we learn that Rome will gladly grant us the proper of an office of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, but a translation of the title OLSH would not be included but would be replaced by “Virgin of the Sacred Heart”. This condition, if insisted upon, is unacceptable.” (Acts of the MSC General Chapter).
8 February, 1894
Fathers Theophile Rein and Jules Vandel and two scholastics leave the Congregation and ask Father Chevalier for his blessing to start a new Institute in Belgium. (Father Vanndel will rejoin the MSC later and will go to Sydney in October, 1894).
8 February, 1925
Erection of the North and the South German Province by the division of the “German” Province, erected in 1897.
8 February, 1927
Erection of the USA District of the MSC, entrusted to the North German Province.
9 February, 1900
Colombo: “by rickshaw to the Cathedral of the Oblate Fathers. I hear that Msgr Couppe is aboard the Caledonia. I pay him a visit.” (de Boismenu, Notebook)
10 February, 1885
Fr. Verjus and three Italian Brothers leave Sydney for Thursday Island.
10 February, 1979
Father Paul Mea MSC appointed Bishop of Tarawa-Nauru and for 30, ordained Bishop at Tarawa, Pacific Union. He is the first local Bishop of this diocese.
11 February, 1893
Father Jouet ceases as Procurator General.
11 February, 1924
Direction of Tshuapa, Zaire, as Apostolic Prefecture, entrusted to the Belgian MSC Province.
11 February, 1979
The MSC Sisters open a Novitiate in Pusan, Korea.
12 February, 1879
Cardinal Simioni, Prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda, offers to the MSC the mission of Auckland, New Zealand.
13 February, 1869
Third audience of Father Chevalier with Pope Pius IX. He asks the Pope to have the Issoudun statue crowned in his name; the Pope delegates the Archbishop of Bourges for the ceremony. The request to elevate the confraternity of OLSH to an archconfraternity is granted, but for the Archdiocese of Bourges only.
13 February, 1886
The foundation of the Mission seminary at Antwerp, Belgium, approved.
13 February, 1903
Father M Niejens MSC appointed as the first Apostolic Prefect of Dutch New Guinea, Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
14 February, 1877
Henri Verjus starts his novitiate by taking the habit at Saint-Gerand-le Puy France,.
14 February, 1952
The tower of the Basilica at Issoudun has a new spire, with an iron cross on top.
15 February, 1927
The “American District” of the German province is established with Father Joseph Stettner as official representative of the German province.
15 February, 1931
The Australian MSC Province opened its first Boarding School for Boys at Downlands, Toowoomba.
15 February, 1963
Father John Durkin MSC, Ireland, becomes the first Prefect of the Prefecture of Louis Trichardt, South Africa.
15 February, 1981
Fr. Juan Alonso Fernandez, MSC, of the Spanish Province, is violently assassinated in Guatemala.
Juan Alonso Fernandez.
The commander of the post, told him that "it was disgusting for him to have a priest in front of him, that's why he spat on him, because it made him nauseous to see a priest." The Asturian Juan Alonso Fernandez endured a cruel torture that night. He said that "what they wanted was to kill me and I don't know how, they refrained from doing it, because I feel that they would have better killed me and not done what they did to me. In spite of everything, Juan did not give up. He celebrated the Eucharist in the village and went out to celebrate it in a neighboring village. There they waited for him, kidnapped him, tortured him again and shot him three times in the head. Days before, he had said, taking the crucifix that he always carried in his chest: "I became a priest because of this one, and if I have to die because of this one, here I am". It was February 15, 1981. He was 47 years old.
16 February, 1915
Fr. Charles Piperon dies in Thuin, Belgium. He was longtime companion and confidant of Jules Chevalier.
17 February, 1863
Father Chevalier writes: “Abbe de Champgrand stays with us already since last Sunday. I cannot describe his satisfaction. He is enchanted.” The Abbe was the significant donor to the new congregation.
17 February, 1912
Erection of the Quasi-Province of the USA and Canada. Father Pierre L’Esperance was its Quasi-Provincial from 1912-1939.
17 February, 1985
Arrival of the first MSC in South Korea, Father Pedro Arguillas from the Philippines.
18 February, 1936
Official installation of the first MSC from the Canadian Province at Sanchez, Dominican Republic.
18 February, 1986
Erection of the MSC Province of the Dominican Republic.
19 February, 1953
The first at the MSC Sisters take up residence in Messina, South Africa.
20 February, 1953
The day after arrival in Messina, South Africa, two Irish FDNSC nurses begin work in the mining hospital for Africans.
21 February, 1951
The statue of the Sacred Heart that stood on top of the spire of the Basilica at Issoudun since 1862 is destroyed by lightning.
22 February, 1908
Marie Louise Hartzer, first Superior General of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, dies in Thuin, Belgium. She is buried four days later. Marie Louise had left France due to the expulsions of religious by the French Government.
22 February, 1931
Opening of the FDNSC Novitiate in Alfenas, Brazil, transferred later to Campanas, on August 7, 1949, to San Paolo.
23 February, 1924
Departure of first Belgian MSC to Tshuapa, Belgian Congo, Zaire.
23 February, 1945
29 Dutch MSC are freed form the concentration camp at Los Baños, Philippines. 20 of them leave for Australia to recuperate. (See below)
24 February, 1869
Father Chevalier is in Naples from February 24-26 and stays with (Blessed) Caterina Volpicelli.
24 February, 1985
Fr. Henri Verjus arrives at Thursday Island after having left Sydney earlier in the month.
25 February, 1875
The Holy Office rights to the Bishop of Przemysl in Poland that the Pope has ordered that in the future all new images and statues of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart must represent the Child Jesus on the arms of his mother, and not standing before her.
25 February, 1876
Father Victor Jouet is appointed first General Procurator of the MSC Congregation.
25 February, 1952
MSC sisters, expelled from China, returned to Hiltrup, Germany.
25 February, 1957
Father John Doyle MSC, Australia, appointed Vicar Apostolic of Sideia/Samarai, PNG, is ordained Bishop in Randwick church.
26 February, 1877
Rome, starting on February 26, Fathers Chevalier and Jouet translate the MSC Constitutions into French.
26 February, 1895
The Vicariate of New Pomerania, PNG, is entrusted to the Northern MSC German Province.
26 February, 1908
Burial of Mother Marie Louise Hartzer at Thuin, Belgium.
26 February, 1961
Brother James Uratirip, first MSC of the Rabaul diocese, takes his first vows.
28 February, 1962
Erection of the Italian province of the FDNSC.
29 February, 1920
Msgr de Boismenu leaves Yule Island aboard the Tambar for his third holiday in Europe, February 29 1920-November 20, 1921).
Los Banos
From the bestselling author of Hero Found comes the incredible true story of one of the greatest military rescues of all time, the 1945 World War II prison camp raid at Los Baños in the Philippines—a tale of daring, courage, and heroism that joins the ranks of Ghost Soldiers, Unbroken , and The Boys of Pointe du Hoc . In February 1945, as the U.S. victory in the Pacific drew nearer, the Japanese army grew desperate, and its soldiers guarding U.S. and Allied POWs more sadistic. Starved, shot and beaten, many of the 2,146 prisoners of the Los Baños prison camp in the Philippines—most of them American men, women and children—would not survive much longer unless rescued soon. Deeply concerned about the half-starved and ill-treated prisoners, General Douglas MacArthur assigned to the 11th Airborne Division a dangerous rescue mission deep behind enemy lines that became a deadly race against the clock. The Los Baños raid would become one of the greatest triumphs of that war or any war; hailed years later by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell: “I doubt that any airborne unit in the world will ever be able to rival the Los Baños prison raid. It is the textbook operation for all ages and all armies.” Combining personal interviews, diaries, correspondence, memoirs, and archival research, Rescue at Los Baños tells the story of a remarkable group of prisoners—whose courage and fortitude helped them overcome hardship, deprivation, and cruelty—and of the young American soldiers and Filipino guerrillas who risked their lives to save them.
