Overview

In the wake of the Counter Reformation and more intensely after the French Revolution, religious communities of women sprang up with astonishing rapidity in France. Today this form of life is coming to an end, at least in Europe; throughout more than three hundred years this form of religious life provided companionship for women and enabled them contribute effectively to society. Such a phenomenon invites analysis, both of the origins and the motivations for such an upsurge of women's communities.The book brings together aspects of the private and public life of members of the Society of the Sacred Heart in 19th century France by using the extensive community and personal archives of the Society, as well as the collection of 14,000 letters of Madeleine Sophie Barat. By combining rigorous research and writing within the perspective of women's history, the lives and achievements, successes and failures of these French women are shifted out of hagiography into history. Breaking with the tradition of religious hagiography so prevalent when writing the history of religious women in the Catholic Church, this volume uniquely addresses the complexity of their personal / community lives along with their public contributions to society.