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Good Morning,
Feast Day --- Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
(Together with Saint Francis de Sales she founded the Congregation of the Visitation in 1610)
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It just so happens that I subscribe to a magazine titled: Religious Life --- and this month they are featuring a couple of articles on the Visitation Order.
Since I have a deep to Devotion to St. Francis de Sales and I happened to graduate from Visitation Grade School --- south side of Minneapolis--- exactly 60 years ago--- I would like to hack away one letter at a time and put these articles and a couple of photos in my Blog today.
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"The Order of the Visitation was founded in 1610 in Annecy, France, by Sts. Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantel. It is a cloistered Order of religious women committed to an apostolic of prayer, a life 'hidden with Christ in God' and quite ordinary in the eyes of the world, characterized by a spirit of humility and gentleness. In a Visitation Monastery, purity of intention, charity, patience, and self-control take precedence over much of the corporal penances common in the more austere Orders of the day. There are no severe corporal penances such as fasts, long periods of prayer at night, sleeping on boards, and si forth.
St. Francis de Sales dreamed of establishing an Order of women who would 'withdraw from the world chiefly to be drawn, joined and United more closely and more powerfully to their Savior and Creator.' The nuns observe papal enclosure, wear the traditional Visitandine habit, attend daily Mass and keep a full monastic horarium with hours dedicated to the Divine Office and to mental prayer as well as work, recreation
and meals taken together.
Although each community in the Order is autonomous, Visitation Monasteries in the U.S. today are gathered into two Federations, those of the Secindvhaving schools while those of the First Federation, as in Mobile, live the purely contemplative life. Although the primary apostolate is prayer, Visitation monasteries may engage in various firms of work harmonious with monastic life. In addition to ordinary tasks that are part of community life (cleaning, cooking, assisting the sick, managing accounts, gardening, etc), the Sisters in Mobile gave a retreat house through which they offer hospitality to various groups for days of recollection, workshops, and meetings.
Embracing the vision of their Founders, the Sisters do not stipulate an age limit for the entrance into their community but consider each applicant individually.
St. Francis de Sales once wrote to St. Jane Frances de Chantal, 'Our little congregation is the work of the hearts of Jesus and Mary.' Faithful to this charism, the Sisters continue to promote this devotion as a vital spiritual resource in the heart of Mobile.
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As long as I'm plugging away, I'd like to share the following article about the Mobile nuns.
It's a story that is told about hundreds of Orders, Mother Houses, Convents, Monasteries etc. starting up across this great country.
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In the Spirit of the founder....
Dedicated to Serve the Church as Needed:
"The convent of the Visitation was founded by Most Rev. Michael Portier, the first Budhop of Mobile.
Aware of the lack of schools in hud diocese, the Bishop remembered the fine work of the Visitation nuns throughout his native France. He obtained permission from Pope Gregory XVI to found a convent in his diocese. Five nuns from the convent in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., boarded a sailing a sailing ship in November, 1832, and arrived a month later.
Bishop Portier rented a small five-room house adjoining the property which he had bought as a site for the convent. The nuns lived in this house until a more suitable building was erected. By January. 1833, the Sisters were well established and forty pupils were enrolled in school the first year.
In March, 1840, a tornado leveled the buildings. The convent was rebuilt and a hundred students enrolled, indicating that the institution's reputation had continued to grow.
Tragedy struck again in May, 1854, when fire reduced the Monastery and Chapel to smoldering ruins. Contributions poured in from friends far and near. Rebuilding began a month later and the convent was completed for use in 1855. Additions were made in the 1870's and 1880's. A chapel to the Sacred Heart was dedicated in 1896.
In the early 1900s, the school flourished and attracted many pupils but only from Mobile, but also the surrounding states and South America. By the 1940s,
however, the increasing demands of operating the school presented a difficult challenge to the Sisters.
They decided to close in 1848 and began working in converting the facilities into a retreat house which, which after 60 years, remains in operation today, offering the people of Mobile a valued venue for retreats and a resource for spiritual renewal.
The Sisters' work today also includes the distribution of altar breads throughout the Mobile Archdiocese and to parishes in surrounding states. In their candy kitchen, established in 1957, the Sisters continue to produce their famous Heavenly Hash and other tasty confections popular in the local community."
Peace,
Grandpazach
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