On May 25, 1925, Pope Pius XI officially declared St. Madeleine Sophie Barat a saint in the Catholic Church, so this year will mark the 100th anniversary of her canonization. She was beatified in 1909. Though proof of miracles is a requirement for canonization, Sophie’s are not as well-documented as with some other saints; some digging reveals a woman cured of a paralyzed leg in St. Louis in 1867, a woman cured of curvature of the spine in Belgium in 1912, and an RSCJ cured of tuberculosis at Manhattanville in 1919. As importantly, she was known as a woman of great piety, a devotion to the Heart of Christ, and a passion for the education of young people. She lived in fraught times; she endured the French Revolution, attempts to minimize (if not eliminate) Catholic influence in France, and the prevailing doctrine of Jansenism, which was a premise that sought to reconcile the competing forces of Divine grace and the free will of humans. Simply put, Jansenism painted God as choosing who would have a tendency to sin and who would not, based on whether or not they were chosen as recipients of grace. In other words, the reception of grace, and thus the lack of tendency to sin, was not an option, but rather something Divinely willed. This stands at odds with Sophie’s view that the attitudes of the Heart of Jesus are available to all, and not to a chosen few.

Who Was the Pope at Critical Times in Sophie’s Journey?

Given the recent conclave and the selection of a new Pope, it seems appropriate to look at Popes who were critical at key points prior to Sophie’s birth, during her own religious formation, at the time she founded the Society, and at the time of her canonization. Interestingly, at least four RSCJ taught Pope Leo XIV when he attended Catholic Theological Union, including Sr. Lyn Osiek, who has presented at Regis as part of our Embracing Hearts series.

Sophie’s Early Years (and Before)

Sophie was born in Joigny, France, in 1779. Shortly prior to Sophie’s birth, Clement XIII served as Pope, specifically from 1758 to 1769. He was known as sympathetic to Protestants and opposed to Jesuits, of whom Sophie’s brother, Louis, was one. Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Clement XIV, who was Pope until 1774, decreed the suppression of the Jesuit order. His successor, Pope Pius VI, who was Pope from 1774 until 1779, seemed to represent different values, condemning the French Revolution and the suppression of the Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order in France, but unfortunately, French troops under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte were able to defeat the Papal Army and occupy the Papal States, effectively ushering in a continuance of ideology initiated during the Papacies of Clement XIII and XIV. These are the times in which Sophie was raised. Catholicism was under siege in France, and there was little that appeared possible to stop that.

Sophie’s Foundation of the Society

The Pope at the time of the Society’s foundation was Pope Pius VII, who was instrumental in brokering an albeit uneven peace with the French Republic. Working through his Cardinal, Ercole Consalvi, he was able to negotiate an agreement known as the Concordat of 1801, which recognized that Catholicism was “the religion of the great majority of France,” though not the official religion of the Republic. The Pope had the right to appoint and depose Bishops, but clergy had to swear allegiance to the state. Pope Pius VII was ultimately seeking peace and cooperation with the French, culminating in his attendance at the coronation of Bonaparte—now Emperor Napoleon I—which ushered in the French Empire. So it is safe to say that while things were opening up in France for Catholics, it still was not easy.

Sophie’s Canonization

When Sophie was canonized in 1925, Pius XI was Pope. Having lived through World War I, his life certainly saw parallels with Sophie’s. Suppression of religion in favor of nationalism, questions around the status of the Church, and intrusions of government in the areas of spirituality and education certainly echo Sophie’s own experience. Interestingly, however, as Pope, Pius XI was known to promote traditional gender roles, referring to the liberation of women as “a crime,” and the equality of women with their husbands as “a false liberty and unnatural equality.” These are, of course, hardly views that were in line with Sophie’s. That said, he was also known to promote a philosophy of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue that would have been in line with Sophie’s respect for the religious traditions of others and the inherent worth and dignity of every human person, formed in the image and likeness of God.