The Visitation Order and the Seeds of a Visitation Education

The Order of the Visitation was founded in Annecy, France in 1610 by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. Their initial vision for the Order was to gather in community women seeking a life of contemplative prayer while also ministering to the poor and the sick. At the time of the second foundation Francis was persuaded to alter his vision and to have the sisters of the Visitation become cloistered religious. 

Beginning with the daughter of Jane de Chantal, the sisters in Europe seem to have educated young girls rather informally while following their monastic routine. Their parlors were frequently filled with women and men seeking spiritual direction. The writings of these two saintly founders are replete with sound advice for dealing with human relationships and the challenges of life, situations readily adaptable for those engaged in educating the young people of the 21st century. 

History of a Visitation Education in the United States

Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal did not intend their Order to be actively involved in the education of young women, but from the Order’s inception the education of young girls became a reality and a responsibility of the Sisters. They were first engaged in the education of Jane de Chantal’s daughter, Françoise. Later, in response to parental requests, the Visitation Sisters became involved in educating young women in many venues.

The Visitation Order came to the United States in a non-traditional way. Typically in Europe, new monasteries would be founded by another monastery that would send Sisters to help with the founding. But during the French Revolution (1789-1799), Visitation monasteries in France were persecuted and closed. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, a group of pious women gathered with the desire to form a religious community. Through the Spirit’s inspiration, these women embraced the charism of the Order of the Visitation and founded a school in Georgetown in 1799, all without any communication or guidance from the monasteries in Europe. These women originally followed the rule of the Jesuits, eventually garnering a Rule for the Order of the Visitation from a book they received from a group of Poor Clare Nuns. After the political situation in France found its new balance, the United States Sisters were able to send letters to request permission and guidance to be formally brought into the Visitation family of monasteries.

As the Visitation Order grew in the United States, some sponsored schools and some were purely cloistered. After the papal decree of Sponsa Christi in 1950, two federations of the Visitation were formed, a First Federation of the cloistered monasteries and a Second Federation of the monasteries that have an apostolate of service beyond the monastery walls. In 1988, the Second Federation established a Visitation Salesian Network (VSN) on a national level for collaboration and support across the schools. 

Since 1799, the Visitation Sisters have been a part of the educational fabric of the United States. At one time, Visitation schools were in Baltimore (MD), Cardome (KY), Catonsville (MD), Elfindale (MO), Frederick (MD), Parkersburg (WV), Rock Island (IL), and Wheeling (WV). Today, three Visitation schools continue the Sisters’ tradition of educating the mind and heart: 

• 1799 – Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, Washington, D.C.

• 1833 – Visitation Academy of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri

• 1873 – Convent of the Visitation School, St. Paul, Minnesota