Visitation Order celebrates 400th anniversary

April 08, 2010 - 2:05 PDT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY

BROOKLYN, NY (April 8, 2010) - Visitation Sisters of Holy Mary across the globe are celebrating the 400th anniversary of their Order, founded in Annecy, France, by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal.

The French saints were inspired by Luke's Gospel account of the Visitation, when Mary and her older cousin Elizabeth, both pregnant, joyfully embrace. St. Francis and St. Jane radically redrew the path to holiness, introducing the devout life to all people, religious and lay alike. They invited widows to join their order and quashed the conventional 17th-century monastic practices that precluded older or frail women: sleeping on boards, keeping late vigils, extensive fasting and perpetual abstinence from meat. Instead, they emphasized interior discipline that "must make up for all that."

Today the Visitation Order continues to offer an accessible and relevant spirituality based on the "little virtues" of cheerfulness, humility and gentle strength, encouraging each person to "be who you are and be that perfectly well. It is a guide for the 21st multi-tasker to never lose sight of God - even as you wade through mundane daily tasks.

Anniversary celebrations are taking place at the Order's 11 U.S. monasteries and four thriving schools, where students are performing 400 acts of kindness, composing theater productions and music compositions. In January 700 students, alumni and parents gathered at a Founders Mass at the Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights, Minn. Meanwhile, the Sisters in Brooklyn New York hosted a more intimate gathering with diocesan priests and their bishop. International celebrations include several June celebrations in Annecy, France, and a May program in Moulins, France, called "The heart of the Visitation: treasures of monastic life in Europe." There the Sisters will be joined by a local bishop, civil government officials and a delegate from the Vatican.

In honor of the 400th Anniversary, the Visitation Sisters commissioned a keepsake book, The Visitation: A monastic way of life in the Church. It crystallizes the order's four-century growth with rich historical details and vibrant pictures.

"It was one of those very wonderful community enterprises," said Sister Mada-Anne Gell, who worked with Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan on the Georgetown portion. "We were all checking back and forth. It's a beautiful book."

"Our friends who have purchased the book feel they now have a clear understanding of the origins of the Visitation Order and of its presence in the United States," said Sister Mary Berchmans, the Georgetown Mother Superior.

In addition, the Sisters have employed modern media to celebrate their anniversary and share their beloved spirituality. They are maintaining the blog www.TheVisitationOrder.blogspot.com, which provides seasonal wisdom from St. Jane and St. Francis. And Sr. Susan Marie Kasprzak, who serves as the President of the Second Federation of Visitation in the U.S., participated in a podcast about her pilgrimage to Annecy, France.

Contact

http://www.TheVisitationOrder.blogspot.com
MN, 55076 US
Christina Ries - ,

Keywords

Visitation Order, St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane de Chantal, Salesian Spirituality, anniversary

Category

OTHER

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