Important figures in our history (2023)

Saint Magdalene Sophia Barat (1779-1865)

Madeleine-Sophie Barat was born in 1779, the daughter of a cooper in the small Burgundian town of Joigny, France. After an extraordinary education from her brother's priest, she went with him to Paris in 1795 to complete her training. There, on November 21, 1800, Magdalena Sofía and three other young women consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1806 she was elected superior general and became the cornerstone of the Society of the Sacred Heart, whose aim was to make known the love of God revealed in the Heart of Christ and to participate in the restoration of Christian life in France through The education. Of the youngs

The Society of the Sacred Heart expanded rapidly within Europe and beyond. At the same time, Sophie Barat learned to balance her academic view of God as a stern judge with her own experience of God's love revealed in the Heart of Christ. Her natural capacity for friendship made a wide network of relationships possible. Her knowledge of world events and her impact on education ensured the Society's contribution to the advancement of women in her time and in the future. Her leadership style tended to consult rather than enact, and to accept the realistic option rather than the impossible ideal. This consultative approach is evident in her letters to Society members in the United States who wrote to her in the 1820s and 1830s requesting, and unfortunately receiving from her, her permission and support to become property owners. of slaves. Her pattern of leadership through relationships was put to the test again and again, especially from 1806 to 1815 and from 1839 to 1851.

His habit of a deep life of prayer and reflection, found consistently in his 14,000 extant letters, was emphasized in the original 1815 Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart and reaffirmed in the 1982 revised Constitutions. The Christian community at large.

At the time of her death on May 25, 1865, Sophie Barat led an international community of more than 3,000 women, which now spans 41 countries.

No authentic portrait of Sophie Barat exists during her lifetime, as she refused to allow her photograph to be taken. A deathbed photograph of her became the source for several later portraits of her.

Madeleine Sophie Barat was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on May 25, 1925. Her feast day is May 25.

Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852)

Rose Philippine Duchesne was born in Grenoble, France, on August 29, 1769, into a family actively involved in political and commercial life. Educated by the Visitation nuns at the Sainte Marie d'en Haut monastery, she was drawn to her life of contemplation. She joined the congregation when she was 19 years old, against her family's wishes.

The French Revolution soon forced the nuns to leave the monastery and Filipina returned to her family. For 11 years, she risked her freedom and her life caring for prisoners, bringing priests to the faithful, and teaching and feeding poor children. At the end of the war, she obtained the title of Sainte Marie d'en Haut and opened a boarding school. In December 1804 she met Madeleine Sophie Barat, who in 1800 founded the Society of the Sacred Heart. Philippine immediately surrendered Sainte Marie d'en Haut and entered the Society.

A deep friendship was formed between these two remarkable women of very different temperaments. Over 12 years, Sophie's patient wisdom molded the fervent and steadfast Filipino into a religious man called to glorify the Heart of Jesus. Filipina, whose greatest joy was spending entire nights in prayer, soon felt called to serve a mission. Philippine often shared Sophie's dream of taking the Gospel to the native peoples of America with Sophie, but her skills were needed at home, first at the Sainte Marie school and, from 1815, as the Society's general secretary.

Her dream came true when Sophie accepted Bishop William Du Bourg's invitation to establish schools for Native American and French children in the Diocese of Louisiana. Philippine Duchesne, Eugénie Audé, Octavia Berthold, Marguerite Manteau, and Catherine Lamarre sailed for North America on the Rebecca on March 21, 1818, landing near New Orleans on the Feast of the Sacred Heart on May 29, 1818, and from there he traveled to St. Louis, Missouri.

Under the direction of Bishop Dubourg, Philippine and his companions went to St. Charles, Missouri, across the Missouri River, where on September 14, 1818, the first Sacred Heart school outside Europe opened. It was also the first free school west of the Mississippi and the first Catholic school in what would become the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. The following year they moved to Florissant, Missouri, where in 1820 Mother Duchesne opened the first novitiate. Other schools soon followed in Missouri and Louisiana. Eventually there were six schools.

During this period, the Philippine also made the decision to involve the Company in the institution of slavery, with the support of Sophie and the encouragement of other religious orders and Catholic clergy, as well as their local bishops. The eventual success of the schools founded at that time is due in large part to the many slaves whose forced labor built and maintained them. (Much work is being done today in the United States-Canada Province to uncover the truth about this shameful part of our history, own up to the seriousness of the sin committed, and take steps toward a process of reparation and reconciliation.read more here.)

In 1841, Philippine and three other Sisters of the Sacred Heart went to Sugar Creek, Kansas, to establish a school for Potawatomi girls. At the age of 72, too frail to do physical labor and unable to learn the Potawatomi language, she spent much of her time in prayer, earning her the name "Woman Who Always Prays." After only a year, she was called to St. Charles, her original foundation, where she died on November 18, 1852, aged 83, having spent 34 years in America.

Subsequently, it was Filipina's admirers who began her canonization process in the Catholic Church. She was declared a saint of the Catholic Church in 1988. Her feast day is November 18.

Mary Aloysia Hardey (1809-1886)

A central figure in the expansion of the Society of the Sacred Heart in North America, Mary Ann Aloysia Hardey was born in Piscataway, Maryland, on December 8, 1809, into a family of farmers and slaves. As a child, she Mary Ann moved with her family to Opelousas, Louisiana, and in 1822 she enrolled as a student at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in nearby Grand Coteau. Upon completing her studies in 1825, she Mary Ann entered the novitiate of the Society of the Sacred Heart at Grand Coteau and took the name Aloysia. The day after receiving her novice habit, she left with Eugénie Audé to found Saint Michael's, a new school closer to New Orleans. Her first vows were brought forward seven months in 1827 so that she could take charge of the school. A multi-talented religious young woman, she made her perpetual profession in 1833, at the age of 24, and a few months later she was named superior, a position she would hold for the rest of her life.

While serving as superior at St. Michael's Convent and School, Mother Hardey joined the ranks of RSCJs who engaged in slavery. She is named as a slave owner in the Society's archival records from that time, including as a named buyer in a contract for at least one purchase of a human being: an enslaved girl, Rosalie, age 10 or older, in April from 1838 (Read more about the Society's history of slavery here.)

In 1840, Aloysia Hardey moved to New York City, where she opened the first Society of the Sacred Heart school and convent in the eastern United States. In 1844 she was put in charge of the houses in eastern North America. During her 27 years as Superior, Mother Hardey opened 16 Houses of the Sacred Heart from Canada to Cuba and throughout the eastern United States. He moved the vicariate center from Manhattanville in New York City to Kenwood, Convent of the Sacred Heart in Albany, New York, where he established a new vicariate novitiate in 1864. He traveled widely, making nineteen transatlantic voyages for Society meetings. . . and withdrawals.

In 1871, Mother Hardey was appointed assistant general of the Paris-based Society of the Sacred Heart. During her fifteen years in this position, she assisted the Superior General in the founding and rebuilding of European convents. She has also occasionally returned to the US for business involving American houses.

Aloysia Hardey died in Paris on June 17, 1886.After the Religious of the Sacred Heart left France in the early 20th century, her remains were returned to the United States; she is buried in Kenwood.

Eliza Nesbit (c. 1812-1889)

Born about 1810 in Kentucky, Eliza (/Liza) Nesbit (/Nobbet(t), Nabitt, Nibbet, Nebbet(t), Nebbit(t)) was gifted* to Rose Philippine Duchesne by Bishop Dubourg about 1822. ( At the end of her life, she says she was 12 at the time, but others say she was 7. A document from 1822 gives her age as 15. Ages in this documentation are always approximate.)

Eliza said she was "delivered*" to the Philippines, and oral tradition sometimes refers to her as an orphan. Legal documents indicate, however, that she was not an orphan, but the daughter of an enslaved couple, Henry (/Harry) Nebit/Nobit and Jenny Burch, also held by Bishop. The record of sale for 7 October 1822 to the Nebit family of a Mr. Macfuer to Bishop Dubourg names them as follows: “a negro named Henry [Harry], about 46 years of age, together with his wife, [Jenny ] their children, namely Charles 21 years old, Mary 20 years old, Eliza 15 years old, Clément 14 years old, Dory 13 years old, Sarah Ann 11 years old, William 9 years old, Peter 8 years old, Andrew 6 years old, Elizabeth 2 years and John 6 months. Soon after, Eliza was handed over* by the bishop to the RSCJ. The names of her parents and her siblings would later appear in a document in 1827 that transferred property (including enslaved persons) from Bishop Dubourg to Bishop Rosati.

In notarial documents of 1822 and 1827, Eliza is listed as being 15 years old (fifteen), but this could be one of several errors in this document. Elizabeth and John, also listed in the 1822 document, were not yet born on the date of the 1822 sale. A baptism record gives birth to two of Harry and Jenny's children in St. Louis. Mary's of the Barrens: Elizabeth, born July 12, baptized September 2, 1827; and John Mary was born January 10, baptized February 5, 1829.

Sarah Ann Nesbit was sold* in 1836 to Father Charles de la Croix, who lived in the parish of St. James. Here she probably had contact with her sister Eliza of hers. On a New Orleans bank application in 1872, Sarah indicated that her parents were Henry Nebit/Nobit and Jenny Burch and that she had a sister, Eliza, who lived in the parish of St. Louis. James, where the Convent was located, as well as two brothers, John and William.

Eliza probably accompanied Eugenie Audé and companions in founding St. Michael's in what became known as Convent, Louisiana in 1825. She would spend the rest of her life there. According to her own story, she joined the Society and her dream was to be a member. However, due to the racist structures that restrict the Society, she was never allowed to join. However, she Eliza considered herself a member of the Society since her teens. Aloysia Hardey, RSCJ, with whom Eliza later became close friends, lived in St. Louis. Michael during her initial formation and first vows. This may have influenced Eliza's desire to become a member of the Society. Years later, she said that when she expressed her disappointment at being excluded from it, her Filipina told her that she would be a nun in heaven.

Click here to read Eliza Nesbit's full biography.

Josephine Goetz (1865-1874)

On the death of Mother Barat in 1865, Mother Josephine Gœtz of Alsace-Lorraine was elected Superior General. Self-declared "arch-orthodox", her goal was to preserve and deepen the spirit of the founder through "creative fidelity". Mother Goetz encouraged the study of philosophy and consolidated teacher training. Wars and political unrest in Europe prevented the expansion of the Society. She invited the first American religious to the motherhouse as a member of her council, Mother Aloysia Hardey. Mother Gœtz died in 1874 after a relatively short period.

Mabel Digby (1895-1911)

An Englishwoman converted to Roman Catholicism, Mother Digby guided the Society through the turbulent events of French history in the first decade of the 20th century. Between 1906 and 1909, the Masonic government of France prohibited the teaching of the religious, forcing the closure of forty-seven houses of the Society in that country. Under the direction of Mother Digby, 2,500 religious dispersed to other countries. But for every house that closed, another opened, as far away as Japan. From a temporary motherhouse in Ixelles, Belgium, Mother Digby directed the growth of the Society. In 1900, the Society celebrated its centenary and, in 1908, the beatification of Madeleine Sophie Barat, recognition of the Church's holiness of the founder.

Janet Erskine Estuardo (1857-1914)

Janet Erskine Stuart was born on November 11, 1857 in Cottesmore, Rutland, England. Her father was the Anglican provost. At the age of fourteen, Ella Janet embarked on a solitary search for Truth, prompted on this adventure by an offhand remark from one of her brothers that every rational creature must have an ultimate end. The pursuit of that ultimate end, she said, took her seven years and led her to the Catholic Church at age 21. In 1882, she joined the Society of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton, on the outskirts of London, where she would spend thirty years of her religious life. Appointed novice mistress shortly after her perpetual profession, she became superior in 1894, and seventeen years later she was elected the sixth general superior of the Society of the Sacred Heart. Believing in the importance of getting to know each member of the Society personally, she vowed to travel the world visiting all of her homes. At the conclusion of her journey, the Society expected a long and fruitful period of renewal under her leadership, but disease claimed her life at the age of 57, on October 21, 1914, a few months after the outbreak of the First World War. .

He left a legacy of commitment to intellectual excellence as well as spiritual intensity. She believed that “times of transition should keep us on our toes; the mind must remain flexible to... acquire any knowledge that can help in our mission.
Janet Stuart's influence spans the globe, primarily through her writings and biography,Life and letters of Janet Erskine Stuart. The Sisters of the Sacred Heart, as well as many other congregations and individuals committed to spiritual growth and educational excellence, have been inspired by his letters, lectures, essays, and poetry. Among Mother Stuart's best-known works are Highways and By-ways in the Spiritual Life (1909) and The Education of Catholic Girls (1912).

Maria Theresa de Lescure (1946-1957)

After World War II, the Society elected the first French woman in France since Saint Madeleine Sophia, Marie-Thérèse de Lescure, as superior general. Her motto wasincrease, an expansion in response to need. He highlighted the advanced studies for religious, extensive reading of the best modern authors and, above all, the deepening of the life of prayer. Lescure's mother visited 103 homes in eighteen countries, oversaw a complete rewrite of the Curriculum, and composed Life at the Sacred Heart, a descriptive booklet of boarding school life to replace the old-school rule. Open to contemporary thought, she was uncompromising on one point: the cloister as practiced in the Fraternity must be maintained.

Sabine de Valon (1958-1967)

In the mid-20th century, Sabine de Valon (1958-1967) confronted the Society with current realities. She was the official auditor at the sessions of the Second Vatican Council, convened by Pope John XXIII. Among her appeals was a plea for the renewal of religious life in the Church. The Fraternity of the Sacred Heart fulfilled the mandates of the Second Vatican Council by defining itself as an apostolic community and abolishing the cloister in the General Chapter of 1964. Mother of Valon gave a strong missionary impulse to the action of the Fraternity and encouraged an energetic response to the universality Clamor for social justice, calling for participation in education in areas of urban poverty and greater social diversity in schools. She started the Sacred Heart Schools Alumni Association worldwide and developed a volunteer program to serve in the Society's missions. She called a special chapter in 1967 to fulfill the Vatican II mandate that all religious orders examine their lives and customs. During that chapter, Mother of Valon, elected for life, resigned, the first Superior General to do so. In light of her action and as part of governmental reviews, superiors general are subsequently elected for a specific term.

Conceicao Camacho (1970-1982)

In the General Chapter of 1970, Concepción Camacho, a Spaniard, was elected Superior General. His task was to oversee the renewal of the Society in light of the decisions and appeals of the two chapters of 1967 and 1970. As the permanent mission of education was affirmed, the forms it was to take and the populations it served expanded. . Community life was also structured differently; it was going to be simpler and more flexible, based on close relationships, relying less on rules and schedules and more on the practice of mutual discernment. Concha Camacho and her council, the “team”, toured the Society together, living their community life in the midst of the communities they visited. This emphasis on the renewal of community life, combined with a profound spiritual renewal, characterized Concha's twelve years in office.

Gertrudis Bodkin (1875-1966)

Generations of Religious of the Sacred Heart in North America were trained as novices by Mother Bodkin, an Irish woman sent to the United States in 1909 to begin the novitiate. She was one of four sisters to enter the Society of the Sacred Heart in England. She had been a novice under the Stuart Mother and her teaching showed the effect of the Stuart Mother's training. He was strong and intellectually grounded. While she directed the novitiate, a responsibility she held for twenty-two years, she herself earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University. Then, in 1931, she was appointed senior vicar of the Society's East Coast houses, a position she held until 1953. She spent her last years at Kenwood, where she continued to be a beloved advisor to many religious.

Maria Luisa Schroen (1909-1991)

Marie Louise Schroen was born in Italy to a Cuban mother and a German father, but was brought to the United States by her mother at the start of World War I. She was educated partly in the United States and partly in Italy after the war. She finished her studies at Sacred Heart College in Manhattanville in New York and then joined the Society, under the direction of Mother Bodkin. After taking her first vows, Mother Schroen began teaching college and at the same time studying for her doctorate; but her academic career was cut short when she, in 1945, was appointed novice master at Kenwood, a position she held until 1959. She was happy, in 1948, to have welcomed the first African-American woman to join the Society.

Mother Schroen always maintained a great interest in theology and history of the Church and, above all, in the Scriptures, in which she was largely self-taught. She passed this interest and enthusiasm on to her novices and then to the young religious who were preparing for her perpetual vows at the motherhouse in Rome. She was in charge of this program, the test, precisely at the time of the Second Vatican Council, 1963-1965. She knew some of the Council's theologians, whom she invited to speak at the trial. Some of her teachings, and hers, were quite advanced and upset some of her superiors. Mother Schroen soon found herself in Korea. She then began an itinerant life teaching and giving workshops on Sacred Scripture and the theology of the Second Vatican Council. When she returned to the United States in 1969, she established a lay Bible teaching ministry in the parishes of Greenwich, Connecticut, where she lived. She continued to teach and give retreats to religious communities, RSCJs, and others. Throughout her life, regardless of which group she worked with, she shared her love for God's Word.

He died in Kenwood after a short illness on January 13, 1991.

Maria Cecilia Wheeler (1908-1999)

The archives of the Society of the Sacred Heart at the central level and in the United States-Canada Province owe their existence to Mary Cecelia Wheeler, who single-handedly created a central collection of archives that preserves the legacy of the Society and its founders. Born into a large family in Pittsburgh in 1908, Mary Cecelia Wheeler was sent to Kenwood to study. Her upbringing there by the Religious of the Sacred Heart led her to join the Society, although four of her sisters joined the Daughters of Charity. Her early years were spent teaching and conducting studies at various Sacred Heart colleges.

After earning his doctorate, he taught philosophy at Newton College of the Sacred Heart for several years. In 1973, when the merger of the five US provinces was planned, he was asked to organize and centralize his records, in effect to create an archive. He performed the same service for the International Society in Rome, creating a system and implementing it. Returning home, he helped with the provincial archives for many years; during her later years, she was a school archivist at the Doane Stuart School in Albany. Her love of history and her enthusiasm for the life of the Society made her an ideal archivist. She died at Kenwood in 1999.

Catalina (Kit) Collins (1937-2010)

The Sacred Heart Network of Schools that exists today in the United States and Canada is the product of the genius of Catherine Collins. Originally from Boston, she was educated at Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart and Manhattanville College. She entered the Society of the Sacred Heart after college and, after her novitiate, she quickly found herself directing academics at one of the Philadelphia schools. It was the 1960s, a troubled time in the country, in the Church and in the Society of the Sacred Heart. Young Sister Collins, now Kit, had some innovative ideas about education, and she surrounded herself with people who shared them. She was briefly principal of the Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland, after which she was named coordinator of schools in the Province of Washington, after those of the entire United States. In this capacity, he developed the Network, a consortium of schools with a common philosophy of education, the philosophy inherited from Santa Magdalena Sofía, producing a statement of that philosophy, a means of training educators in that philosophy, and a system of accountability. of accounts for its practical implementation was the work of many years and is in progress.

A second major project was the creation of the Center for Educational Design and Communication. Providing communications and media services for the province, for other religious orders, and for nonprofit groups committed to justice work, the Center connected Kit with a variety of people and groups whose concerns she shared and with whom she and her team they worked. The Center continues as part of the Stuart Center of the Province of the United States and Canada in Washington, D.C..

Kit struggled with health throughout his life, but he was in full swing at the Center, so no one expected his sudden death on March 14, 2010. He left behind a legacy of energetic dedication to Sacred Heart education in his multiple forms and commitment to work. for justice. A biography of Kit Collins is in the works.