Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/544

 VISITATION

482

VISITATION

of an hour each relax without dissipating the mind; the sisters should talk with cordiaUty and simplicity only of agreeable and piously cheerful topics.

A little book based on St. Francis de Sales and which St. Jane de Chantal added from the first to the Constitutions of the order, namely, the "Directoire spirituel pour les actions journaheres", gives the practical means of fulfilhng the Constitutions in the spirit of the holy founder, the method of performing each of the daily actions under the eye of God, in dependence on Him, and in union with the Divine Model, Jesus Christ. It may be said that the "Directoire" is the mould of the Visitandines. The sisters wear a black habit. The gown is made d sac, rather full, and is confined by a girdle. On the head they wear a veil of black taminy. A black bandeau encircles the brow; a guimpe or barbette of white linen covers the neck, from which is suspended a silver cross; a large chaplet hangs at the belt. There are three grades among the sist ers : the choir sisters who sing the Office; the associate sisters dispensed from the Office because of their health, but in other respects the same as the first grade; and finally the lay sisters who wear a white veil and are engaged in domestic tasks; they have no voice in the chapter but they make the same vows and are as much religious as the others. The communities are cloistered. The out- door sisters who make publicly only the vow of obedience are charged with the external service of the house. Each convent is governed by a superior whom all the sisters elect by secret ballot. She is chosen for three years at the end of which time she is ehgible for election for three more years. When this time is ended .she is ineligible for the subsequent term. A council of four other sisters assists her in the government of the house. An assistant replaces her when it is necessary. All the houses of the order are independent of one another. Circulars sent from time to time keep all acquainted with the events of each convent. There is no superior general, no visitor general, nor general chapter. In doubts regarding observance, recourse is had to the house of Annecy, the sainte source, which actually exercises no au- thority, but whose right to advise is recognized as that of an elder sister. The first superior of each convent is the bishop of the diocese and it is under his direct and immediate care. Two priests are charged by the bishop with the care of the convent, one with the title of superior, the other with that of confessor.

Such are the chief rules of the Visitation, their most striking characteristic being moderation and common sense. Made for generous souls, there is nothing about them which could weaken the body, while they overlook nothing which could mortify the spirit. For three centuries the Visitation has never stood in need of reform and each century has brought to the Church and the world its contingent of holy souls. The Order of the Visitation of Mary was canonically erected in 1618 by Paul V who granted it all the privi- leges enjoyed bj' the other orders. A Bull of Urban VIII solemnly approved it in 1626. At the first centenary of the institute in 1710 came renewed praise for its Constitutions "admirable for wisdom, discernment, and mildness, and which open up a certain easy and united path" to religious perfection. The Visitation developed rapidly. As early as the third year the house of "la Galcrie" was too small; it was necessary to purchase an estate and build not far from the lake the convent which kept the name of the first convent of Annecy. The church still exists; the remainder of the building was destroyed during the French Revolution. Lyons (1615) was the first foundation with Mother Favre as superior; Moulines (1616) was the second with Mother deBr(^chard. Gre- noble (1618), Bourges (1618), and Paris (1619) followed in close succession. When St. Francis de Sales died (1622) there were already 13 convents established.

At the death of St. Jane de Chantal (1641) there were 86. The Bull of Clement XI at the first centenary of the foundation mentions 147. In the seventeenth cen- tury the order was confined to France and especially to Savoy; in the eighteenth century it extended to Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, and the Low Countries. There werel67 houses in 1792 when the FrenchRevolut ion dispersed and closed all theconventa itreached. Theforeign houses retained the tradition of the founders. The storm passed and as early as 1800 the convents of the Visitation began gradually to be restored in all parts of France. That of Annecy was not restored until 1824.

The convent of Georgetown was the first house of the Visitation founded in the United States (see sub- article below). The Visitation of Georgetown founded that of Mobile 1833 and in the same year that of Kaskaskia, which was transferred to St. Louis in 1844. In 1837 it founded the Visitation of Balti- more, that of Frederick in 1846, and Philadelphia in 1848. These various convents founded others, and at present there .are in the United States 21 houses of the Visitation in relation with Annecy. England has two convents, Westbury, now transferred to Harrow, London, and that of Roseland, Walmer, Kent, which is the ancient convent of Vilna, Poland. The last Visitation convent founded in an English- speaking country is that of Ottawa, Canada, founded by sisters from Annecy in 1910. At the third cen- tenary of the order, 6 June, 1910, the Visitation numbered 170 convents: 56 in France and 12 other French houses which the religious persecution com- pelled to go into exile; 30 in Italy; 2 in Switzerland; 7 in Austria; 1 in Russian Poland; 4 in Belgium; 1 in Holland; 2 in England; 17 in Spain; 3 in Portugal (these convents were driven into exile by the Revolu- tion in 1910); 21 in the United States; 1 in Canada; 11 in Latin America; and 2 in SjTia.

The first Visitandines, emulating their foundress, had nearly all received extraordinary gifts of prayer. The process of beat ificat ion of Mot her de Brechard was even begun but was abandoned to make way for that of Mother de Chantal. It was Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque (q. v.), a Visitandine of Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, to w'hom the Sacred Heart of Jesus was manifested, in order that the devotion to the Sacred Heart might be communicated to the Church. Another Visitandine, Venerable Anne-Madeleice R^musat of the second convent of Marseilles, was the propagator of devotion to the Sacred Heart at the time of the plague of Marseilles in 1722; her cause was introduced in 1891. The cause of Venerable Marie de Sales Chappuis, superioress of the Visitation convent of Troyes (d. in 1875), was introduced in 1879 and the process of her beatification is proceeding rapidly. A religious of exalted virtue, she encouraged a number of souls both within and without the cloister in that path of confidence, generosity, obedience to the Divine Will, of fidelity to the duty of the present moment, which was inculcated by St. Francis de Sales. In the course of the process of beatification her authentic writings have been carefully examined and approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites (Decree of 21 Sept., 1892). The Visitandines are contemplatives, and in order that they might not be turned aside from the chief aim the founder often recurs in his letters to the nece.'^sity of not imposing external duties which would divert them from their first vocation. Nevertheless, even in the time of St. Francis de Sales the ^'isit:^tion several times accepted temporarily I he mission of reforming foreign communi- ties or even houses of penitent women, and God has blessed their devotion. It was likewise the need of the times which at a certain i)eriod led many convents to open within their cloisters boarding-s<-hools for young girls. These boarding-schools which still exist in certain communities have done great good to youth.