Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat was born in Joigny, France, a small town in Burgundy, on December 12, 1779.
Even while she was a child, Sophie’s brother, Louis Barat, recognized the intelligence and giftedness of his younger sister, and gave her the same education as that at the time was reserved for boys. When Fr Varin met Sophie in Paris he was impressed by her giftedness and encouraged her to join a group of women who wished to be religious. This was the beginning of a lifetime journey which included the founding of the Society of the Sacred Heart and the establishment of over 80 institutions in Europe and America.
Sophia Education Ministries is fortunate that our foundress, Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, instilled a rich heritage in our philosophy of education. Sophie, as she was known, was born in France in 1779 in the little Burgundian town of Joigny. Having completed studies for the priesthood, her older brother Louis, who was her godfather, recognising Sophie’s intelligence, decided to take her education in hand.
In 1795, Louis took Sophie to Paris to continue her studies. Her meeting with Fr Varin then led to her founding of the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800. Sophie had lived through the violence of the Revolution and her vision was to make known the love of God revealed in the Heart of Christ, through the education of young women as a way to restore Christian life.
Over the years of her long life, Sophie Barat grew, transformed by her experience as leader and friend to so many women who joined her. Though she faced many crises and difficulties, Sophie’s style of leadership tended towards moderation, seeking the middle ground, accepting the possible, more realistic option, rather than the impossible ideal; and she tended by instinct to consult rather than decree.[1]
As Founder and Superior throughout her life, Sophie’s spiritual leadership of the Society was centred on the love of God revealed in the Heart of Christ. In the way she lived, and in the Constitutions of the Society, Sophie stressed the need for a deep life of prayer and reflection.
Under her guidance, the Society of the Sacred Heart expanded throughout Europe and even into the New World under the leadership of her companion, Saint Philippine Duchesne. At the time of her death in 1865, Sophie had an international community of 3,359 women in more than eighty institutions in Europe, and North Africa, North and South America.
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat was canonised a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 25 May 1925.
A short life of St Madeleine Sophie Barat can be found here.
[1] Phil Kilroy rscJ http://madeleinesophiebarat.org/index.html