Peter Coudrin

Peter Coudrin or Pierre Coudrin of France was the founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church famous for its missionary work in Hawaii.

Coudrin was born on 1 March 1768, at Coussay-le-Bois, near Poitiers. His parents were farmers. Coudrin had an uncle, who was a parish priest in a neighboring village. Pierre spent his vacations with him during the years of his primary education, and his uncle prepared him for first communion. He completed his secondary studies in 1785 at Chatellerault, and at 17 years of age, entered the University of Poitiers.

He was only a deacon when the persecution, directed against the clergy, dispersed the students of the seminary of Poitiers, where he was being trained. Having learned that Mgr de Bonald, Bishop of Clermont, was in Paris and would confer Holy Orders upon him, he set out for that city, and on 4 March 1792, was ordained priest in the Irish Seminary just as France was becoming embroiled in the Revolution. The ordination took place in the library, because the revolutionaries had invaded the chapel in which they were actually holding their meetings.

After ordination he returned to Coursay, but the violence of the persecution soon compelled him to go into hiding. Coudrin hid in an attic of the granary of the Chateau d'Usseau where he remained for six months. He reported that, during this time, he awoke one evening surrounded by an apparition of priests, brothers and nuns illuminated in white albs. He took the vision to be a divine calling to establish a religious institute that would become the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Coudrin quickly left the granary and traveled to Poitiers to begin an underground ministry, waiting for the right moment to start his group. During October of the same year, he also labored disguised in the Diocese of Tours.

During his underground ministry in 1794, Coudrin met Henriette Aymer de Chevalerie, a young aristocrat. She and her mother had been imprisoned for a time, accused of hiding a priest. She told Coudrin of a heaven-sent vision she had while in prison calling her to service to 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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