Our History, Grounds, and Purpose
Sacred Heart Novitiate stands as a testament to deep spiritual history and ongoing renewal. Since its establishment in 1932 as a formation center, this space has been the training ground for generations of Jesuit priests, scholars, and missionaries.
Today, its core purpose is twofold: it continues to be the home for Jesuit novices undergoing their initial formation, and it functions as a retreat house that is open to everyone.
A Sacred space
A retreat venue in Quezon City
The Novitiate offers a necessary space for spiritual renewal, prayer, and silent retreat. We provide individualized direction rooted in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, welcoming individuals and groups.
The SHN Cemetery
"The Womb and the Tomb of a Jesuit"
In this sprawling quiet space also hold a special significance— the SHN Cemetery. It is often said that this cemetery is both the “womb and the tomb” of a Jesuit. It is here where a man is first welcomed into the Society and begins his formation, and it is also here, in the Jesuit Cemetery, where he is laid to rest after a life of service, welcomed once again into the Heart of Jesus to be with Him forever. The presence of this cemetery grounds our work in a legacy of complete dedication.
And so much more.
“Wherever in the Church,
even in the most difficult and extreme fields,
at the crossroads of ideologies,
in the social trenches,
there has been and there is confrontation
between the burning exigencies of man
and the perennial message of the Gospel,
here also there have been,
and there are, Jesuits.”
