St. Madeline Sophie Barat

Madeline Sophie Barat was born December 12, 1779 in Burgundy, France. Her father was a cooper and she was taught by her older brother Louis who was a strict disciplinarian. Louis later became a priest and he recommended his sister as a candidate to be a religious to Father Varin who wanted to begin a women’s order to teach girls. With three other women Madeline became a religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1800; they founded their first school the next year and Madeline was elected their superior in 1802, although she was the youngest of the group. The new order spread rapidly throughout France and into other parts of Europe. Madeline Sophie Barat opened over a hundred schools in twelve countries. She governed the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for sixty-three years until her death on May 21, 1865. She was canonized in 1925 and her feast is May 25.