VISITAZIONE

I. History

The V. was the joint work of St. Francis de Sales (q.v.) and St. Jane Frances de Chantal (q.v.). It was founded on 6 June 1610 at Annecy. St. Francis’s design was to open a path to perfection for women too advanced in years or too frail to endure the cloister. He gave his institution a twofold purpose: on the one hand, contemplation to practice charity toward God, and on the other, the visitation of the poor and the sick to practice charity toward one’s neighbor. Hence the name V. chosen for the new Order, which was to be no more than a congregation with simple vows. So matters proceeded for five years, but in 1615, when St. Francis wished to found a second house of the Institute in Lyons, he had to consult the Archbishop of Lyons, Mgr. de Marquetmont, who was alarmed by the boldness of the undertaking, for in his view a community of religious could live only in enclosure. St. Francis yielded to this view, suppressed the care of the sick, accepted enclosure, and drew up new Constitutions for his nuns. The Visitandines retained their name, but became a cloistered Order, approved by Paul V on 6 October 1618. From that moment the vows were solemn, and, by a hitherto unheard-of privilege, the Visitandines substituted for the Divine Office the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, as more suited to their strength. The Rule adopted was that of St. Augustine.

II. Expansion

The new Order spread rapidly. During the lifetime of St. Francis de Sales (d. 1622), monasteries were founded at Annecy, Lyons, Grenoble, Paris, Montferrand, Nevers, Orléans, Valence, Dijon, Belley, and Saint-Étienne. At the death of St. Jane Frances de Chantal in 1641, there were 87 houses of Visitandines. After her death the Order established itself in Poland, the Netherlands, Bavaria, Germany, Austria, and Lebanon. It already existed, before 1641, in Switzerland and Italy. In the course of the 18th century the V. reached its apogee with 200 monasteries spread throughout Christendom. After the French Revolution it recovered its momentum. By the end of the 19th century it had about 190 monasteries, with some 7,000 religious. From that time the recruitment of nuns began to decline. In 1925 there were 169 houses, of which 63 were in France, 29 in Italy, 17 in Spain, 20 in Canada and the United States, 9 in Belgium and the Netherlands, 12 in South America, 7 in Germany, 3 in Austria, 2 in England, 2 in Switzerland, 3 in Poland, and 2 in Syria. At present the number of houses has further declined, and the measures taken to group the monasteries into provinces so as to support them by the rotation of personnel do not yet appear to have yielded the hoped-for results.

III. Way of Life and Spirit of the Order

The Order comprises choir sisters, lay sisters, and doorkeepers. The spirit of the Order was summed up by Pope Pius XI in a letter written for the third centenary of the death of St. Francis de Sales in 1922: “There, no long vigils nor long psalmody, no penances nor harsh expiations, but obedience to laws so gentle and so easy that even the weakest nuns can carry out all the provisions without strain. Yet these easy and small actions must be fired by the flame of charity; and thus the nuns... attain a total abnegation, the humblest obedience, and, pursuing not noisy but solid virtues, die to themselves so as to live in God.”

VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY — V. of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Painting preserved in the church “ad Scotos” (c. 1470) — Vienna.