The 25th of May is the feast day of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat! Today we remember how much she valued communication; and how she used it to shape and deepen the charism, and to build personal relationships.

This month, we have a quote about “Internationality” from the 1994 General Chapter.

Each month, from April until the General Chapter 2016 opens in July, the General Archives will post “echoes” from our past General Chapters.

This year we also celebrate the 200th anniversary of the 1815 Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart.

This portrait of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat is located in the General Archives of the Society in Rome. Its origin is unknown, though there are indications that it may have been sent to the Mother House in Paris from Italy in 1879.

“What most people do not know is that Pauline Perdrau continued to paint copies of the original Mater Admirabilis throughout her long life, though she was the first to acknowledge that she was never able to reproduce the face of the original.” (Margaret Phelan RSCJ)

Monique Luirard’s “La Société du Sacré-Cœur dans le monde de son temps 1865-2000” is now available in Spanish.