Sacred Heart Mission and History

SACRED HEART HISTORY 

Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, Foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart
Over 220 years ago, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Madeleine Sophie Barat started the Society of the Sacred Heart believing that the education of women would be a key means for rebuilding, renewing, and transforming society— a radical vision for the late 1700s. Between 1802 and 1865, she formed and nurtured a community of religious people that would, by the time of her death, number over 3,000 and would be educating students across four continents.

Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, Foundress of the first Sacred Heart school in North America 
Rose Philippine Duchesne was born in Grenoble, France, was educated by the Visitation nuns, and joined Mother Barat and the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1804. In 1818 Philippine Duchesne headed for America to open the first house of the Society of the Sacred Heart outside of France. After an eight-week voyage across the Atlantic, followed by a four-week trek up the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis, she opened the first house in St. Charles, Missouri. Philippine and other members of her Society faced many struggles, but by 1828, six houses had been added in America. She enjoyed her work but truly desired to work with Native Americans. Years later she opened a school in Kansas for the Potawatomi Tribe children but became ill and returned to St. Charles for the last ten years of her life. Today there are 25 Schools in the Network of Sacred Heart Schools in the United States and Canada.

Reverend Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, Namesake of Stuart Country Day School
Janet Erskine Stuart lived from 1857 to 1914. She was born on November 11, 1857, in Cottesmore, Rutland, England. As a child of thirteen, she set out on a solitary search for Truth, having been urged to this venture by a casual remark of one of her brothers, “that every rational creature must have a last end.” The search for this last end took, she said, seven years and brought her to the Catholic Church at the age of twenty-one. In 1882, she entered the Society of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton, outside of London, where she was to spend thirty years of her religious life. Named Mistress of Novices soon after her profession, she became Superior in 1894, and seventeen years later was elected the sixth Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart. While Superior General, Janet Stuart set as a goal to know all the religious personally and visited every community in the Society throughout the world. Janet Stuart’s influence extends throughout the world primarily through her writings. Religious of the Sacred Heart as well as many other congregations and individuals committed to spiritual growth and educational excellence have been inspired by her conferences, essays, and poetry. Among Stuart’s best known works are Highways and Byways of the Spiritual Life (1909) and The Education of Catholic Girls (1912).
 

FEAST OF MATER ADMIRABILIS

Every year on October 20, the Stuart Community celebrates her feast day along with all Sacred Heart schools around the world.

In 1828, Pope Leo XII invited the Society of the Sacred Heart to found a community and school at the Trinità dei Monti, a monastery at the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome. For 300 years, the monastery had housed a community of Minims, an order founded by St. Francis of Paola in the 15th century. The Order of Minims had abandoned the property during the French Revolution, and by 1828 the buildings were in need of repair. A contingent of RSCJ went to Rome to put the property in order under an agreement with the French government, which owned the property and specified that only French nuns would occupy the site.

Sixteen years after Religious of the Sacred Heart came to live at the Trinità, a young French woman, Pauline Perdrau, was admitted as a postulant to the Society. A talented artist, she asked permission of the superior of the house, Mother Josephine de Coriolis, to paint a portrait of Our Lady on a wall of a corridor that led to the sisters’ cloister. However, Mother Coriolis was hesitant, because she knew the artist was unfamiliar with fresco painting techniques.

Pauline Perdrau persisted, praying to Mary for strength. She prevailed, and for months after receiving permission to begin, she devoted several hours a day to preparing the surface of the wall and painting her image of Mary.

When the painting was complete, the colors were thought to be too vivid. The fresco was covered with a protective cloth to give the paint time to dry. Days later, when the cloth was removed, the colors had softened to the shades of pink and blue and ivory that are so well known to visitors to Mater’s shrine today. To Pauline Perdrau, who became a Religious of the Sacred Heart, the change was nothing less than a miracle.

Among the many stories associated with Pauline Perdrau’s painting of Our Lady is this one:  In the fall of 1846, Pope Pius IX paid a visit to Trinità dei Monti and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the fresco of Mary. The pope blessed the painting of Mary under the title “Mater Admirabilis,” thus giving it the title it bears to this day.

Today, a statue or painting of Mater Admirabilis can be found in every Sacred Heart school around the world. Her feast is marked with liturgical celebrations, alumnae gatherings and pink goûter on (or around) October 20. Stuart's Mater is the only depiction of Mary on glass.