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167 Good health was essential in the Society of the Sacred Heart if the members were to fulfil their tasks in the schools, farms, kitchens, infirmaries and in the daily round of domestic and community services. The 1815 Constitutions discuss in some detail the ways to maintain the health of the members of the Society. Indications of how these ways were lived out are found in each of the annual community and financial accounts, in the records regarding the farm, the kitchen and the infirmary, the daily life of the community, and are especially evident in the obituaries which record the illnesses and deaths of the members. All show care and concern regarding health, an aspect of intimate life in the Society which was mostly hidden from the wider world. In her leadership role Sophie Barat regularly addressed health issues, sometimes in her general letters to all the communities of the Society, and more especially with individuals and leaders of the communities. She discussed various remedies, qualities of medical care, and often suggested seeking second opinions and travelling distances to find cures. She assisted at some of the operations which members of the community had, either at home or in hospital, and she tracked the aftercare of patients. She helped those who suffered from depression by suggesting rest, a change of house or activity; and if some had to be hospitalised for a time or permanently she searched far and wide to find an appropriate place for them. In her care of the communities and schools of the Society Sophie constantly recommended good food and a balanced diet. Her letters and records of her visits to the houses of the Society show how she paid particular attention to the farms, orchards, vineyards and vegetable gardens, as well as to crops and animals. She urged harvesting of fruit, jam-making CHAPTER 4 Medical Biography in the Society of the Sacred Heart and fruit bottling, which provided variety in diet over the winter months. Indeed, to the dismay of the inhabitants of the Faubourg St Germain in Paris, she transformed the classic gardens of the Hôtel Biron into an orchard and vegetable garden, and she bought cows from Amiens to ensure fresh milk for the infirmary of the community and for the children in the school. Any failing in health care in the communities and schools drew sharp comment from Sophie Barat. She constantly asked for preventative measures to be taken, rather than merely wait and react to an epidemic, and she was particularly concerned about the health of younger women in the Society and the children in the schools. In her collection of 14,000 letters it is possible to follow Sophie Barat’s personal medical history which shows her coming to terms with health problems, aided by her companions in community and by several generations of doctors. Through the prism of these letters, taken in conjunction with the Society’s records, it is clear that the doctors who treated Sophie Barat also treated all the members, with rare exception. While most personal letters of the members to Sophie Barat regarding health have not survived,1 details of Sophie Barat’s health are found in her letters and they shed light on attitudes to health in the communities of the Society. In keeping with her contemporaries and with the social conventions of the time, Sophie Barat comments on her own state of health in almost every letter, and on her various doctors, on their diagnoses and prescribed treatments. Her views are frankly expressed and her descriptions of illness leave little to the imagination, something which may surprise the modern reader but was typical of her time.2 This essay narrates the health history of Sophie Barat, and concludes with two essays which offer considered diagnoses. These are by a medical doctor who is also a historian; the other by a medical doctor and psychotherapist. Early health of Sophie Barat Commenting on her childhood, Sophie Barat remembered that while her: parents were not rich, they enjoyed a certain comfort. Jacques Barat cultivated vines and practised the double trade of vine-grower and cooper. Thus he was able to bring the children up adequately.3 Sophie’s early development was also helped by the climate in Joigny. The town was built along the river Yonne and surrounded by woods, the air was pure and bracing, the food wholesome; the water of the area was reputed to possess healing...

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