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It is not what you are nor what you have been that God sees with
all merciful eyes,
but what you desire to be.
The Cloud of Unknowing
There
is something wanting in education where a child has not had its share of
leisure, to be rapt in silence and alone…
Janet Stuart rscJ
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Sophie believed in the transforming power of women...
So what does she have to say to us in the 21st century?
Madeleine
Sophie Barat, known simply as Sophie to family and friends, lived at the end
of the 18th century and well into the 19th. So we can
well ask ourselves what does she have to say to us today in the 21st.
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 21st 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
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