Sophie believed in the transforming power of women...
So what does she have to say to us in the 21^st century?
 - an address given by Sr Mary Shanahan, rscj, to students in 2002

Madeleine Sophie Barat, known simply as Sophie to family and friends, lived at the end of the 18^th century and well into the 19^th.  So we can well ask ourselves what does she have to say to us today in the 21^st.  What did she look like?  Portrait painters of old seemed to think they had to portray saints as out of this world.  That is the impression given by the portrait of Sophie which hangs outside the chapel and which I think does her a disservice as she was very involved in the world.  In fact in her lifetime some asked how someone so in touch with her world, who handled finances with facility and skill and who negotiated agreements with church and state could be a woman of God?  The painting that does appeal to me hangs in the Performing Arts Centre and the next time you are there have a good look at it and see what it says to you. However, while we have no painting we do have something of a picture in words given by her contemporaries.  She was just 150 cm in height.  She had a mobile, expressive face and a lively manner, a brisk walk and impetuous movements. Indeed for some she had a brusque and impatient manner. I would like to add to that picture from what I have learnt of her from her life and share with you what she says to me.

A woman of 150cm, hardly presents an imposing presence. So what was it that gave her the strength to achieve what she did achieve?  At 22 she was named the superior of the small group that was the foundation of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She did not want the position, especially as there was an older, stronger woman who thought she was better suited for the job.  However, she was never one to shirk a responsibility once it was given to her nor let her weaknesses become a stumbling block. 

And this was what she faced –

The founding of a religious community when there were no models for her in France as all had been disbanded at the time of the Revolution.

The establishment of an educational system at a time of great change and without any previous experience.

Dealing with women, many of them from the aristocratic class and she, though better educated in terms of acquired knowledge, came from a village with no experience of what might be described as life in the fashionable suburbs.

Heading a group of women within a Church when the power rested in the hands of men, some of whom felt they were better qualified to hold positions of responsibility and saw these as real power bases and some, including archbishops, who wanted no interference from the Pope in the life of the French church

How did this tiny woman cope with all this?  Firstly, through her relationship with Jesus.  But even there she had a struggle. She was brought up in an environment influenced by what is known as Jansenism which presented a very dark, bleak picture of God and of human nature.  Sophie was drawn to a Lord who is compassionate and loving but for years had to battle against her early upbringing to hold to that. She held to the name Society of the Sacred Heart, symbol of that love  though politically it was not possible in the beginning to bear that name.

Sophie knew how to wait.  Though she has been described as impetuous this was not how she acted when big decisions were to be made. In fact, she allowed situations to go on for a long time, so long that some doubted her leadership qualities but she was a woman of intuition and she knew the moment to act, the moment she felt was God’s moment and not hers.  She was strongly criticised and judged as weak by some but she held out for what she believed.

She had a respect for each person and believed in the possible growth and development of each one Again she knew how to wait to allow each one time to grow though she had no hesitation in telling the sisters where they needed to improve.  The expression of her love was not always in an easy ‘yes’ but often in the difficult ‘no’.  She believed so much in the power of each person that she said she would have founded the Society and gone through all the difficulties she encountered for the sake of one student.  (Perhaps you are that one!)

She believed in friendship and was faithful to her friends even when her reputation suffered because of one friend in particular some of whose values seemed at odds with Sophie’s and who had in earlier days tried to undermine Sophie’s position, being under the influence of a priest who thought he should be considered the superior of the group and tried to build up a power base in the community.  Sophie not only forgave her but established a friendship that enabled this woman to do something positive with her life. Someone said that the Society was founded on and through relationships and I believe that is true and that that is one of Sophie’s legacies to us – the value and the power of true friendship. This underlies the Cor Unum and the strong internationality of the Society.

Above all, Sophie believed in the transforming power of women. Her educational vision was centred on this and it was this that made the schools she founded more than places that taught reading, writing, sewing, housekeeping which developed character and virtues of family life. Sophie was more innovative. For her there would be thousands of students to form to know Jesus Christ and his love.  As a result of this formation she envisioned the reinvigoration of the task usually assigned to men in society, the task of renewal in depth of the social order. Her goal was to educate girls so that they could have a transforming influence in society. She wrote that ‘salvation will come about through women.’  In other words women must make themselves capable of doing what men do; act on society so as to transform it. That was the bold vision of Madeleine Sophie. To achieve this meant an emphasis on strong studies as well as the growth of the whole person.

So what does she have to say to us in the 21^st century?

I see in that portrait of Sophie in the Performing Arts Centre, a woman who is tender yet firm, weak in bodily health but strong in her convictions; a woman who could mix with everyone, the great ones of the world and the humble; who showed consideration to all. One of the gardeners burnt his hands so badly he could no longer work as a gardener.  Sophie set him up in a shop where he could sell flowers. She was faithful to him as she was to all her friends, showing a great readiness to forgive. She had a lot to contend with. Fire raged in Joigny the night she was born and as someone has said, fire followed her all her life, in the form of political revolutions and inner revolutions in her own life. She did not have it easy but she never gave up, either on herself or on others. The inspiration for her life was to discover and to reveal the love of the Heart of Jesus. That is the Sophie whose vision has inspired me and which I am privileged to share.                   

Mary Shanahan, RSCJ