Overview
During the conflict and violence of the French Revolution, Madeleine Sophie Barat founded the Society of the Sacred Heart, now an international religious institution. This biography draws on accounts by Barat's contemporaries and the many letters she wrote, some of which have not been translated before, to tell the story of a woman confronting division with personal integrity and love.
Endorsements
"Tiny in stature but mighty in impact, Madeleine Sophie Barat offers a model for today's leaders who can also feel small before the problems of the world. Mousseau's honest portrayal of her community's founder will give courage to anyone wondering, 'Can I make a difference?'" —Ann M. Garrido, associate professor of homiletics, Aquinas Institute of Theology
"The more our polarized world can learn about St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, the better. Sr. Juliet has provided a fresh perspective on a remarkable historical figure who continues to inspire." —Kathleen Sprows Cummings, John A. O'Brien Professor of History and American Studies, University of Notre Dame
"Sr. Mousseau's presentation is more than a religious story of a saint; it is a story of how leading others to an experience of love can become a movement that changes the world." —Nat Wilburn, head of the Conference of Sacred Heart Education
Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ, PhD, serves as the vice president for academic affairs and professor of historical theology at the Franciscan School of Theology. Dr. Mousseau's research has focused on medieval Christianity and contemporary theology and experiences of religious life. †
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11-year-old Emily Webster’s parents have decided to take a year off from their busy suburban life and move to an old farmhouse in Kansas. Emily is miserable in their new home, plopped down in the middle of nothing but wheat fields, far away from her former city life and friends. There’s no internet and they don’t even have a television or a phone! But one night Emily’s world changes when a star zooms out of the sky and into her room, appearing as a Star Lady. She tells Emily that even though she’s unhappy, a magical world lives inside her — she just doesn’t know how to find it. The Star Lady says she can help and gives Emily a Dream Pillow to use so they can stay in touch through dreams. When Emily decides to take a chance and use the Dream Pillow, her world opens up. Magical characters appear and guide her on an adventure of self- discovery. After Emily discovers a Swan Feather pen, she’s transformed from Emily Webster, a normal girl, into Emily Swan, a super-hero of words.
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Contact info
maryloupeers@comcast.net
Sophie's Fire Paperback – August 28, 2012
by Constance Solari (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (23)
3.8 on Goodreads
In the midst of a raging fire on a winter night in 1779, a Burgundian woman went into early labor and delivered a child who never should have survived. Instead, the tiny infant—Madeleine Sophie Barat—went on to thrive in a France wracked and torn by revolution, terror, Napoleonic domination, and all that followed in their wake. Possessed of a vision of a world dedicated to generosity and love, she founded a religious order and an international network of schools that still flourish today: the schools of the Sacred Heart. In 1925 she was declared a saint. Passionate, brilliant, politically savvy, and aware of the powerful potential of women to reshape society, Sophie is a role model for our own times. This is a book for lovers of European history, gender politics, and Roman Catholic Church history and spirituality. The nineteenth century saw the birth of modern Europe as absolute monarchies and small principalities gave way to nation states, and as the power of the Catholic Church was seriously tested. Sophie Barat was threatened, directly or indirectly, by figures as disparate as Napoleon Bonaparte, the Archbishop of Paris, the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi, and key members of the Vatican hierarchy. All of these colorful figures find a place in the novel, which sweeps the reader from the politically charged years just before the French Revolution up to the year 1852. Journalist and writer Cokie Roberts, a Sacred Heart alumna, writes, “Though this is a work of fiction, there’s nothing imaginary about the attempts to sabotage the young woman and her mission that Solari so perfectly portrays.” Professor Robert Pogue Harrison of Stanford University adds that the book is “an exquisite tapestry that brings alive . . . Barat’s inner spirituality, her formidable intellect, her institutional activism, and the geopolitics of her historical age.” Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, a past Superior of the U.S. Province, assures readers that “those who know Sophie’s life will delight in fresh insight; those encountering her for the first time will be amazed that such a thoroughly contemporary woman began her life’s work two hundred years ago and continues to influence hundreds of thousands today.” For more information on the book, Sophie herself, and the historical and intellectual world in which she lived, visit sophiesfire.com.
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