Madeleine-Sophie Barat was born December 13, 1779 in Joigny - France. Thanks to her mother she received an exceptional education for a young girl of her period. She learned ancient and modern languages, in addition to mathematics, astronomy, physics and geography. Pious, Sophie decided to dedicate her life to God. In 1800 Father Joseph Vain proposed to her to organize a school where children could be happy and learn. The following year, the first school of the "Sacred Heart" (Sacré-Coeur) was founded in Amiens (France). (www.ursers.swing.be/sacre-coeur.lindthout/indexright_project_msb.htm)
In 1830 she set up the noviciate first in Middes, Montet, and following the Sonderbund war, the
congregation moved to Kientzheim (Alsace). Madeleine-Sophie died in Paris in 1865 at the Mother House of the congregation of the Sacred Heart. She was beatified in 1908 and
canonized in 1925 (www.snl.ch/dhs/externe/protect/textes/F9719.html).
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