Related organizations

Le Petit Musée and the Shrine of Saint John Berchmans

Le Petit Musée is a museum dedicated to the history of the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. In 1821, Saint Philippine Duchesne sent Sisters Eugenie Audé and Mary Layton to Grand Coteau to establish a school for young girls. Beginning in an unfurnished house on land donated to the religious order by Mary Sentee Smith, the school opened in October with just five students. Through hardships, natural disasters, disease and civil war, the school has persevered, grown and flourished. The museum tells the story of the pioneering spirit of the founders and explores the early life at the Academy for the students, the religious and the enslaved persons without whom it would have been impossible for the school to exist.

The Shrine of Saint John Berchmans sits on the site of the 1866 miraculous cure of a Religious of the Sacred Heart. As novice Mary Wilson lay dying in an infirmary bed, the sisters offered a novena to Blessed John Berchmans.  Mary Wilson’s testimony describes an apparition of Berchmans, followed by immediate relief from her pain and her subsequent recovery. Her miraculous cure led to the canonization of Saint John Berchmans in 1888. The infirmary, where this miracle occurred, is now the Shrine of Saint John Berchmans, a peaceful place of devotion and pilgrimage. 

Both Le Petit Musée and the Shrine are located on the campus of the Academy in Grand Coteau.   

Sacred Heart at the U.N.

The international Society of the Sacred Heart has been present at the United Nations as a non-governmental organization (NGO) since 2003, when we became associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). In 2014, we were also granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Sheila Smith, RSCJ, serves as the Society’s NGO representative.