The Institute of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was founded at the end of the nineteenth century, in Spain.
The intention of the foundresses, Saint Raphaela Mary and her sister, Mother Pilar, was to create a family with a specific mission in the Church: to repair the Heart of Jesus, through a life centred on the Eucharistic celebration and Adoration.
The mission is mostly centred on education in the service of the gospel in schools, parishes, university residences, spirituality centres and areas where there is deprivation.
The Institute was founded in Spain, in Pedro Abad, the home of the foundresses, a village near Cordoba. From the beginning, Saint Raphaela wanted it to be as universal as the Church, i.e., available to serve wherever needed. The wish to place Christ at the adoration of all peoples leads the sisters everywhere and to situations and places, where His Heart needs to be repaired.
Nowadays, there are approximately 1000 Handmaids, in 130 communities, in 23 countries. From Saint Raphaela the sisters received an inheritance: a way of looking at the world with hope and mercy, finding in it a lack of life, the need for reparation, and the wounds that cry out for the love of the Heart of Christ, meek and humble.
