Among the decisions taken during the 40th General Chapter of the Brothers of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus) two of them had to do with the approval of two new Causes of Beatification. The General Chapter which concluded in Rome on September 21, 2024, authorised the Postulator General of the Congregation to take formal steps to begin the beatification processes of Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey SSCC (1875-1960)
Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey, founder and zealous promoter of the Work of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Night Adoration in the Family, is the second most famous religious belonging to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in the world, after St. Damien de Veuster, Apostle to the Lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Pope Pius XI called Fr. Mateo the "worldwide Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" because the scope of his apostolic activity covered dozens of countries around the world. His personal charisma and apostolic zeal, deep faith and ardent love for Jesus, the King of Love, to whom he wanted to bring as many people as possible, brought wonderful fruits in the form of numerous conversions and a deepening of faith among many Christians around the world.
Father Mateo was born on November 18, 1875 in Tingo (Arequipa), Peru. At baptism he received the names Edward Maximus. His father Charles Octave Crawley-Boevey was an Englishman and a Protestant, who later converted to Catholicism. His mother Maria, née Murga, was a Peruvian and a devout Catholic.
In 1884, the Crawley-Boevey family moved to Valparaiso, Chile. There, at the age of 15, most likely drawn by the example of Father Damien of Molokai, Edward joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and took the names Joseph Stanislaus, which he later changed to Mateo.
On August 11, 1892, he made his perpetual vows, and on December 17, 1898, he was ordained a priest.
After ordination he was appointed director of the Social Center in Santiago, and then collaborated in the creation of the Catholic University in Valparaiso. In 1905, he was appointed rector of the Faculty of Law in Valparaiso.
On August 16, 1906, a key event took place that would mark the rest of Fr. Mateo's life. A strong earthquake reduced Valparaiso to rubble, including the building of the Faculty of Law, of which he was rector. Hurrying to help the victims of the cataclysm, working day and night, Fr. Mateo brought his body to complete physical exhaustion. In this situation, his superiors, following the doctors' suggestion, decided to send him for treatment to Europe, not realizing that this trip would begin a completely new stage in Fr. Mateo's life and work.
On August 24, 1907, while praying in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Paray-le Monial, France, the young priest regained full health and clearly saw his new mission: to gain the entire world for the Sacred Heart through enthronement in individual families and social groups. Having previously received the blessing of Pope St. Pius X and strengthened by his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Fr. Mateo returned to Chile to begin the crusade for the enthronement of the Sacred Heart. The work spread very quickly in Chile, and then in other countries of the Americas.
From 1914-1935, Fr. Mateo propagated enthronement in European countries. From there he went to Asia (1935-1940) and finally in the years 1940-1956 to Hawaii, the United States and Canada. By this time, Fr. Mateo was already seriously ill.
In 1956, he returned to Valparaiso and in 1959, he underwent an operation to amputate a leg infected with gangrene, which was the result of his diabetes and leukaemia. Fr. Mateo died with a reputation of holiness on May 4, 1960, at the age of 84. His body was buried in the Church of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Valparaiso, a church most dear to him after the Chapel of Apparitions in Paray-le-Monial. Informed of the death of the Founder of the Work of Enthronement, the Holy Father John XXIII sent his condolences to Fr. Henry Systermans, the Superior General of the Congregation, expressing the hope that the loss suffered by the Congregation "will be compensated by the presence in heaven of a new and effective protector."
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