On August 19, 2025, on the liturgical memorial of St. John Eudes, one of the patrons of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the canonical year of the European novitiate began for the new novices: Karlo Cicvarica from Croatia, Serhij Barnych from Ukraine and Luiz Santos from Portugal.
The ceremony of admission to the novitiate took place at the Sagrado Coração House in Aveiro (Portugal) during the Liturgy of the Hours and was presided over by the Portuguese Provincial, Fr. João Nélio Simões Pereira, SCJ. Fr. João called on the new novices to gaze upon the open Heart of Christ on the cross and to experience a more intense life of prayer throughout the novitiate year, listening to God’s call.
The central point of the celebration was the official admission to the novitiate and the presentation of the Rule of Life of the Congregation. After the official acts, a lunch followed to celebrate what is, so to speak, the first day of a Dehonian novitiate at the European level.
We congratulate them and ask you to support the novices with your prayers.