Faithful to the Child I Once Was

1. Faithful to the Child I Once Was Centre SophieBarat World Association of Alumnae and Alumni of the Sacred Heart (AMASC)

2. Saint Madeleine Sophie died at 11 in the evening on May 25, 1865, on the Feast of the Ascension. • During her lifetime, she never sat for a portrait or had her photograph taken because she was firmly opposed to such things and knew well how to flee from cameras. While on her deathbed, however, a photographer was summoned who took the first—and last—photo of Madeleine Sophie.

3. Afterwards, paintings, drawings, and statues of her began to proliferate. Among them is the painting in Joigny, in what used to be Sophie’s bedroom, which has since been converted into an oratory. It portrays her not at the end of her life but in her adolescence.

4. This is the image I propose for contemplation this 25th of May, even though it may spontaneously evoke for us thoughts of Saint Madeleine Sophie as a religious of the Sacred Heart, as the foundress of a religious order, as its superior general. But it is through the face of the child, the adolescent, that we can anticipate the adult that child will become. To Saint Madeleine Sophie could be attributed the words of the French writer Georges Bernanos: • “Of what import is my life? All I want is that it remain faithful, to the end, to the child I once was.”

5. The work I’m referring to was realized by M. Ponte, rscj in 1928. In it, she reconstructs part of Sophie’s bedroom, located in the attic of the Barat home in Joigny. In it, Sophie is about 14 years old.

6. The light illuminating her face emanates from an image of the Sacred Heart, which was very popular at the time. That image inspired Sophie and gave a name to the One to whom she wished to consecrate her life: the Sacred Heart.

7. In 1807, in the novitiate of Poitiers, she expounded on what constituted the passion of her life: • “… the heart is the center where all the faculties of the soul are united; it is in this sense that the Divine Heart of Jesus is worthy of our adoration and our love. All of our merits and our security consist in uniting ourselves to this Divine Heart, because in him we can truly glorify God, love him as he deserves to be loved, and think of him as the wellspring of all virtues—above all, humility—because our Lord said to us: ‘Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.’” • Is there a word in this passage that speaks to you or with which you identify? How so?

8. Ponte depicts Sophie sitting at her desk, with her books, a goose-quill pen, sheaves of paper, a notebook...the décor is sufficient to convey a life where one’s studies occupied a very important place: My Latin books, the great classical authors, the works of Vergil in French, those of the century of Louis XIV, the orators Bossuet, Massillon, and others—all ignite a passion in me, elevate my ideas to the point where I forget about everything else. • And they led her to discover that a solid intellectual and cultural foundation can be the privileged means to gain footing in a country, in a milieu, in society. As a result, the education of children and adolescents would prove, for Sophie, the way to create a lasting work of reformation and liberation.

9. True to her inspiration…we make ours her desire: • that each person open herself to the truth, to love, to liberty, • that she discover the purpose of her life and give of herself to others, • that she work creatively to change the world, • that she experience the love of Jesus, • that she commit to an active faith. Two centuries later, the religious of the Sacred Heart would write in the Constitutions: • In 1852, Saint Madeleine Sophie told alumnae: • “an important mission has been reserved for you: to continue and complete ours.” Today, in contemporary contexts, how do we interpret these words? How do we see them? How would we like to act on them?

10. The painting of Saint Madeleine Sophie would be incomplete had the painter failed to represent a third dimension of Sophie’s personality. In one area of his work, not relegated to the side but within arm’s reach, is her sewing basket.

11. Sophie sewed and embroidered admirably. With this gift she made her living in Paris, where her brother took her to complete her spiritual and intellectual formation. Her education and the example of her parents taught her the importance of and the attention that must be given to “the things of life”: • Maintaining a household demands a higher and more far-reaching ingenuity than we can imagine because it involves the education of a family, which is, in essence, a small republic. …It is necessary to learn proper business terminology and the principal rules of justice and the law.

12. Here we have evidence of Sophie as the practical, organized woman. As the superior general of her order, she took great care that the administration of the Society’s property and assets be realized with justice, charity, and prudence and in service of its mission. Knowing that a property of the Society of the Sacred Heart had incurred debt was enough to keep her up at night. Lavish expenses vexed her greatly: the very costly purchase of the organ for Trinitàdei Monti made her succumb to great emotion: I’m sick. What a night I’ve passed! When faced with imprudent paternalism, she preferred intelligent solidarity. • Instead of free tuition (for students), it would be better, without a doubt, to offer reduced tuition, that way more children could benefit. What influences our relation to goods and money?

13. Illuminated by the love of God, the Sacred Heart, already open to history and to the world, rooted in the realism of life—this is how Sophie appears to us in the first years of her existence. This May 25, 2016, we issue a call to revisit our childhood and adolescence to find there the seeds of life, the dreams and grand desires that God, our all-loving Creator, has planted in us, and to ask ourselves: • What can we do today? Maryvonne Keraly, rscj.

14. Text: Maryvonne Keraly, rscj Transaltion: MariaAsteinza Design: Mariana Garza Centre Sophie Barat 11 Rue Davier 89300 Joigny, France Tel. 03 86 92 16 40 www.centre-sophie-barat.com centre-sophie-barat@rscj.com World Association of Alumnae and Alumni of the Sacred Heart (AMASC) www.amasc-sacrecoeur.org 11 RUE DAVIER      89300  JOIGNY  89300  JOIGNY