Rome, 21 November 2007

To the Society

Dear Sisters,

I write to you today to tell you of a decision affecting the châsse of Saint Madeleine Sophie. We are well aware that she made many journeys during her lifetime, but since her death she has also traveled. Now she is about to move again.

We are familiar with her “itinerary”. Along with over 2,500 of her sisters she too left France at the time of the expulsions. In 1904 her body came to Brussels and, in 1909, after her beatification, a reliquary or “châsse” was made to hold her incorrupt body and was placed in a small chapel at Jette-Saint-Pierre. But this was not a final resting place. When, in 1994 the community left the adjacent building, the châsse was transferred temporarily to the “Petit Chateau”, a smaller building on the property of Jette, where some of the community had moved. It remained there until 1998 when it was moved to the community chapel of Rue de l’Abondance, situated in an immigrant neighborhood in another part of Brussels.

Even in death the earthly body of Madeleine Sophie has been present to her sisters as they responded to a changing social reality: first, journeying with them as a “political refugee”, then, during the past nine years, present among immigrants, who, in large part are Muslim.

This “most recent stop” was, however, from the beginning, seen to be temporary -- at most 10 years -- and so a question has been asked with increasing urgency: Are we going to continue to move the chasse from place to place as houses open and close, or can we offer it a more stable setting? What would be a permanent and suitable resting place for the body of our foundress?

After much consultation and research, Françoise Belpaire, provincial of Belgium-Netherlands and Françoise Greffe, provincial of France, made a presentation to the Assembly of Provincials in Uganda (November 2006) proposing that the châsse be placed definitively in the church of Saint François-Xavier, Boulevard des Invalides, Paris. This church is across the street from where Madeleine Sophie lived and died, and is close to our community and provincial offices at Avenue de Lowendal.

Saint François-Xavier is a public place: a parish church which is open every day, making the chasse accessible not only to RSCJs from all over the world, but also to alumnae, those who work with us, and the many who frequent the church. It is a very alive parish with many young people, and it is responsible for the chaplaincy of the Lycée Victor- Duruy (located in our old Mother House, where Madeleine Sophie died). There are additional reasons (geographic, historical, cultural and pastoral) for the choice of this particular church. You will find more details in the attached appendix and on the parish’s website www.paroisse-sfx-paris.org.

In September 2007, the General Council accepted this proposal, as well as the date of the transfer: the 19th of June, 2009, Feast of the Sacred Heart. The decision was announced to the bi-provincial Chapter (BNL-FRA) in November, 2007. In the letter to their provinces following the Chapter, Françoise Belpaire and Florence de la Villéon wrote: “The sisters of the province of BNL are conscious of the detachment that this represents for them, but are happy with the return of our foundress to her country of origin.” Our sisters of Rue de l’Abondance have cared for the châsse with great love, making themselves available to welcome a steady flow of pilgrims who come to confide to Madeleine Sophie a difficult situation or to thank her for a favor received. I want to take this opportunity to thank particularly all those in the provinces of France and Belgium-Netherlands whose careful research, carried out with sensitivity and love, has brought us to this new moment.

We are all well aware of the feelings that this decision may stir up in many hearts. It is difficult to think that Sophie will no longer be “chez nous”. In the course of the study regarding the most suitable place, Joigny came to mind immediately, and some of you may be asking “why not Joigny”? This question was taken up by the province of France, and an investigation was done of the church of Saint Thibaut where Sophie was baptized. Unfortunately, the cold, humidity, lack of security from frequent vandalism, and very limited hours when the church is open would not make it a suitable or accessible place. Even if this were not the case, as precious as Joigny is to RSCJs, Sophie left it at the age of seventeen. It is associated with her youth, not with her religious life or her death. It is less accessible to visitors than is Paris.

From time to time the question has been raised about burying her body. A châsse has the status of a relic and it is difficult to change that status after a century of veneration. Cemeteries do not provide the prayerful setting for more than a short visit. Our experience has been that people visiting the châsse are used to being able to stay for awhile and pray. In addition, her visible presence in an open parish church where saints are honored, gives many more people access to her than if she were buried in Joigny or in Paris.

Let us look upon this move as an invitation to us to reflect on some points that may not have occurred to us before:

• Are we willing to acknowledge that Madeleine Sophie belongs not only to us? The cause of beatification was introduced by the Diocese of Paris, and she is a saint of the universal Church.
• Is it not significant that she, whose missionary desires were never able to be satisfied, would have a final resting place in a parish entrusted to the Pères des Missions Étrangères and dedicated to St. Francis Xavier?
• Finally, like the Resurrected Jesus in the garden with Mary Magdalene, her patron, would Sophie not be the first to urge us to “let go”?

It remains to follow up some practical details and, in the months to come before the transfer of the châsse, to find ways to prepare the parishioners for Sophie’s coming. Some know her already, but there is ample time to share with others the message of her life as well as the current life of the international Society.

2009 is a significant year since it marks 100 years since the end of the expulsions from France, the last Religious of the Sacred Heart having left Conflans in 1909. May the sanctity of Madeleine Sophie and her presence among the People of God continue to inspire young and old for many years to come!

With much love as we gratefully celebrate the birthday of the Society,

Clare Pratt, rscj
Superior General