Philippine Duchesne, in her role as Secretary General of the Society, rented a property in Paris on Rue des Postes because it seemed impossible to find and buy good accommodation at an affordable price. The school, the noviciate and a community moved in as early as April 15, 1816. Sophie arrived on the 29th of the same month and saw with her own eyes that the school space was not enough for the increasing numbers of both students and novices.
Since the year 1817, Sophie was looking for a property to buy, spacious enough to accommodate a school, a noviciate and the community. Finally the Society, in the person of Sophie, was able to purchase a very large property in the Faubourg St. Germain in Paris. On September 5, 1820, the house and gardens of the Hotel Biron were sold to Sophie for 365 000 francs , funded partly by donations by the king and other nobility and partly borrowed from creditors.
The Hotel Biron, built between 1728 and 1731, was designed by the architect Jean Aubert; in 1736 the Duchesse de Maine, who was then the owner, constructed another building on the property. When she died, in 1753, the Duc de Biron bought the property and the Birons lived there until the duchess was guillotined in 1794. The heirs of the duchess never lived there again and, after a two-year period in which it was rented to the papal nuncio, the Hotel Biron remained empty until the year it was purchased by the Society.
“The neighbourhood was a wealthy one and a great deal of power and patronage was enclosed within a few streets of the city of Paris” – Kilroy, Phil, Madeleine Sophie Barat, A life, p. 137
This setting in the heart of the restoration was not exactly what Sophie was hoping for, but the Council decided that the Hotel Biron was the right space for the Society to grow in Paris. The school, especially, was successful and by 1824 there were 106 boarders and several day students, as there was not enough accommodation. In July 1830, just before the Revolution, there were 160 boarders, including a school for disabled students.
In subsequent years, the Society of the Sacred Heart grew quickly, and many communities were founded over a short time span.
Section |History|International News
Province |Belgium/France/Netherlands|Mother House
Tags |foundation|founding|fundamento|General Archives|Madeleine Sophie Barat|Paris|postcards from the past
