At this juncture, there appears the figure of Madeleine-Sophie Barat, the foundress of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, a title chosen at that time not to indicate any social distinction; indeed Madame Barat was from people in very ordinary circumstances, but the name "religious" was in disfavor at that turbulent period, and it was thought advisable not to obtrude unnecessarily the fact that she and her associates formed a community of nuns. They were merely des dames pieuses, who lived together for charitable and educational work. The name "dames" is an old title for nuns in England.
She was the sister of Father Louis Barat, who was one of the Fathers of the Faith, and when Varin was looking around for some capable woman to give the girls of Paris and elsewhere a Christian education, Barat suggested her as a possibility. He had taught her Latin, Greek, Spanish, Italian, and natural philosophy, besides subjecting her to a very rigid and somewhat harsh training in asceticism. She was then twenty years of age, and with her usual habit of submission, she and her three companions addressed themselves to the task. This was in 1801. Before 1857, she had succeeded in establishing more than eighty foundations in various parts of the world and she is now ranked among the Beatified.
To Varin must also be accorded the credit of forming in the religious life another woman who is among the Blessed; the Foundress of the Sisters of Notre-Dame de Namur, Julie Billiart. Perhaps his prayers had something to do with the restoration to health of this remarkable woman, who had been a paralytic and almost speechless for thirty-one years. She recovered her youthful vigor in 1804, at the end of a novena to the Sacred Heart, which had been suggested by her confessor. She was then at Amiens, and Varin united her and her companions into a teaching community, and drew up the rules and constitutions which they have undeviatingly adhered to ever since. Indeed it was this very fidelity that gave them the name of Notre Dame de Namur. For in the absence of Varin a prominent ecclesiastic attempted to modify their rule, whereupon the indignant women left Amiens and emigrated in a body to Namur. That city has ever since been regarded as their spiritual birthplace. In the space of twelve years, namely between 1804 and 1812, this quondam paralytic founded fifteen convents, and made as many as one hundred and twenty journeys, some of them very long and toilsome, in the prosecution of her great work for the Church. Like the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have establishments all over the world.
Meantime, a very marked difference had displayed itself in the tone of the various members of the Fathers of the Faith. Those who had been followers of Paccanari had no idea whatever of the real nature of religious life, whereas the disciples of Varin for the most part were spiritual men and eager in the work of perfection. How noticeable this was, is revealed in a letter from Bishop Carroll in America. He had asked for help from the new organization, and four priests had been promised him, but only one arrived — an Italian named Zucchi. Whether he lost his way or not, or fancied he could follow his own guidance, he went first to Quebec, but was promptly informed by the government officials there that his presence was undesirable. He finally reached Maryland, and Carroll describes him in a letter to Father Plowden in England as follows: "There is a priest here named Zucchi, a Romano di nascità, a man of narrow understanding, who does nothing but pine for the arrival of his companions. Meantime he will undertake no work. From this sample of the new order, I am led to believe that they are very little instructed in the maxims of the Institute of our venerable mother, the Society. Though they profess to have no other rule than ours, Zucchi seems to know nothing of the structure of our Society, nor even to have read the Regulæ Communes which our very novices know almost by heart."
The bishop had also heard of the establishment of one of the communities of women by Father Varin, and that made him still more suspicious about the genuineness of the Fathers of the Faith. "In one point," he writes to Plowden, "they seem to have departed from St. Ignatius, by engrafting on their Institution a new order of nuns, which is to be under their government."
The rupture in the ranks of the Fathers of the Faith took place in 1803. In the preceding year, Rozaven and Varin had gone to Rome and were there confirmed in their suspicions that Paccanari was not sincere in his protestations about his desire to join the Jesuits in Russia. They were also shocked at the lack of religious spirit in the Paccanarist house in Rome. In the following year, Rozaven again returned to Rome, and besides being confirmed in his conviction that Paccanari was working for the development of an independent society, he was informed of certain charges against the personal character of the man. Paccanari's explanation of the accusations, far from convincing Rozaven, only confirmed him in his opinion. The result was that he obtained a private audience with the Pope, and was authorized to sever his connection with the Fathers of the Faith.
To his amazement, he found on his return to London, that his associates had already taken the matter in hand for themselves and had applied to Father Gruber in Russia, for admission to the Society. The petition was granted, not, however to enter corporately but individually, namely after each one's vocation had been carefully examined. The application was to be made to Father Strickland in England, who had been a member of the old Society. With other candidates from Holland and Germany, twenty-five new members passed over to Russia.
It is very distressing to note that Father Charles de Broglie, who with de Tournély had initiated the whole movement, was not in this group. He and three others remained in London as secular priests, and unfortunately, his relations with a certain number of refractory Frenchmen led him into the schism known as La Petite Eglise. He persisted in his rebellion as late as 1842, when he at last made his submission to the Church.
Rozaven wrote from Polotsk to Varin, giving him an account of what had happened to him in Rome, insisting on the justifiableness of the act, and reminding him that they had joined the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, and subsequently the Fathers of the Faith, solely for the sake of uniting with the Jesuits in Russia. As Paccanari had not only no intention of carrying out that purpose, but was doing everything in his power to prevent it, the duty of allegiance ceased, and so the Pope had decided. Forthwith, Varin, with the approval of all his subjects in France, notified Paccanari that they had severed all connection with his Society. Meantime however, they retained the name of Fathers of the Faith.
But this independence was not satisfactory to Varin. What was he to do? Should he disband his communities which were performing very effective work in France or wait for developments? The Apostolic nuncio at Paris, della Genga, decided that he should continue as he was till more favorable circumstances presented themselves. They had not long to wait. The emperor's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, had thus far protected them, but in 1807 Napoleon publicly and angrily reproached him for this patronage, and on November 1st ordered all the Fathers to report to their respective dioceses within fifteen days, under penalty of being sent to the deadly convict colony of Guiana. Fouché offered several positions of honor to Varin and on his refusal to accept them, drove him out of Paris. By this time, however, Varin was a Jesuit and was following the directions of the venerable Father Clorivière who had been empowered to receive him.