The story of the Visitation Order begins with the personal stories of Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal. They shared a vision of starting a congregation for religious women that would be unlike any other. On June 6, 1610, that dream became a reality with the foundation of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (VHM). Jane de Chantal and two companions, Marie-Jacqueline Favre and Jeanne Charlotte de Brechard, moved into the Gallery House in Annecy, the first Monastery of the Visitation. The uninhabited historical Gallery House at Annecy remains to this day. Francis and Jane envisioned a religious community of Sisters who would live without the customary austerities that were part and parcel of religious orders at that time. The Visitation was intended to attract women of various ages and stations in life, including some who would have been refused admittance into other orders of the day because of age or physical condition. Francis and Jane chose the name of the Visitation to emulate the holy friendship that Mary and Elizabeth showed to one another, bringing Christ to and recognizing Him in one another, and to focus the type of sacrifice of one’s will to the known will of God, just as Mary said yes to the angel Gabriel’s invitation. Mary further demonstrated her sacrifice to God’s will when she responded to the knowledge of her cousin’s pregnancy by traveling in order to support Elizabeth.