Dates

• Existence: 1779 December 12 - 1865 May 25

Biographical note

Madeleine-Sophie Barat was born on 12 December 1779, in Joigny, France. She was educated by her older brother Louis, a Cathloic priest, who taught her Latin, Greek, history, mathematics, natural science, Spanish, and Italian. On 21 November 1800, at the age of 20, along with three other women living in a Catholic safe-house in Paris, she took her vows as a founding member of the Society of the Sacred Heart, initially known as Dames de la Foi ("Ladies of the Faith") or de l’Instruction chrétienne (" ...of Christian instruction"). The first school was opened in Amiens in northern France in September 1801 and Sophie traveled to the provincial city in order to teach. She made her vows, 7 June 1802 and in December 1802, at the age of twenty-three, Sophie became Superior of the Society of the Sacred Heart. Two more schools were established in France, and in January 1806, Barat was elected Superior General of the Society. In 1818 she founded Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart in Paris. She established another chapter of the same group in 1832 Lyons, with the alternate name "Congregation of the Children of Mary." During her 65-year leadership, the Society of the Sacred Heart grew to include more than 3,500 members educating women in Europe, North Africa, North and South America. Barat died at the general motherhouse in Paris on May 25, 1865. She was beatified on May 24, 1908, and on May 24, 1925, she was canonized by Pope Pius XI.

Alternate names

Magdalena Sophia Barat

Found in 1 Collection or Record: