Before opening a novitiate for Lydia, Josephine, and a third interested woman, Sophie had to go to Bordeaux where many young ladies had discovered their desire for religious life after listening to Father Enfantin preach. Six had left their families and taken shelter in a vineyard belonging to one of them. Mother Barat wrote in her journal: "I could not take all back with me, for they were over thirty in number, so the six who had been living under a rule, and whose case was most urgent, with two others, were received at once." Mother Barat sent them off in two groups, but kept Therese Maillucheau with her to visit the parents in order to reassure them about their daughters' welfare before leaving for Poitiers.
The official opening of the novitiate at Poitiers took place on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1806. Father Gloriot celebrated the Mass and Mother Barat carefully recorded the substance of his homily in her Journal as well as in her heart: "The Heart of Mary, having the experience of intimate union with the Divine Heart of Jesus, is on fire with a burning love for God and all of us; Mary, loving us ardently and having become the Mother of God for the salvation of souls, has, therefore, a very real concern for us and we can throw ourselves into her Heart with confidence. Jesus, who never refuses Mary, has given us this access to His Heart. True devotion to these hearts unites us to the Heart of Jesus through the Heart of Mary. Through her Heart we can please Jesus; by uniting ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we can please the Father and glorify Him worthily."
Sophie believed this; the Religious of the Sacred Heart are consecrated to the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary.
Let us stop and reflect in this month of Mary on how we are going through Mary to Jesus.
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