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Visitation
Monastery 3020 N. Ballas Rd.
Saint Louis, MO 63131 314-625-9235
www.facebook.com/visitationmonastery
www.visitationmonastery.blogspot.com
livejesus@visitationmonastery.org
Stay in touch . . . we enjoy hearing from you. Let
us know if you have a special intention so we may pray for you.
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 ARCHCONFRATERNITY OF REPARATION
to the
MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I Place My Trust in You!
NOVENA OF CONFIDENCE TO THE SACRED
HEART
Lord Jesus, to your Sacred Heart I entrust (mention
intention)
Look upon me, then do as your Heart thinks best.
I trust
You. I count on your mercy.
Lord Jesus, You will not fail me.
I believe in your love
for me.
May your kingdom come!
Lord Jesus, I have asked for many favors, but I earnestly beg
for this one.
Take it, place it in your Sacred Heart.
Then it will be no longer my prayer but yours, O Jesus.
Amen.
 When Our Lord appeared to Saint Margaret
Mary, He showed her His Sacred Heart on fire with love for all
mankind, surmounted by a cross and circled by a crown of thorns.
He said to her, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men."
He then complained that of all the souls for whom He had been
born, suffered, and died, there were so very few who ever
thought of Him, loved Him, or thanked Him.
The act of making up to Our Lord by our love
for all the wrongs committed against Him by those who do not
think of Him, love Him, or thank Him, is called REPARATION.
A wonderful way to show our love for Our Lord is to offer at
least one act of REPARATION every day. When we want to
pray for someone, or to make a novena for some special
intention, what more beautiful novena prayer can we offer than
an act of REPARATION to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for someone
who is in sin or forgets Him?
How can we offer REPARATION? Any one of the
following acts will draw us very close to the Sacred Heart, for it
will be giving Him love for love.
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Go to Mass for someone who is unable to
attend Mass.
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Receive Holy Communion for someone who may
not receive Our Lord in Holy Communion.
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Visit the Blessed Sacrament in place of
someone for whom Our Lord waits patiently.
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Say the rosary and ask the help of our
Blessed Mother for someone who does not say it.
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Give a little time to help with work at home
or assist someone who is tired, discouraged or overburdened.
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Do something for those in need.
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Say something kind and encouraging to someone
we seldom speak to, doing this for someone who speaks in anger
and impatience.
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Make aspirations of love to Our Lord and our
Blessed Mother, for those who do not pray.
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Make acts of hope and faith for those who are
tempted and in great trial.
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Do an unpleasant task cheerfully, for someone
who cannot bear his or her cross.
The
Archconfraternity of Reparation
was established in the Monastery of the Visitation,
Saint Louis, Missouri with the approval of
His Holiness Pope Leo XIII by rescript of August 4, 1899.
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 Christ
is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Our beautiful chapel on Easter morning.
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 Founders
Week Cupcakes
Can a cupcake taste any better?!
Yes, with a LIVE JESUS banner!
As our Founders' Week celebration continues, we
enjoy delicious cupcakes decorated in colors from the coats-of-arm
of Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal. Yellow, orange,
green, blue and red with a banner proclaiming "LIVE JESUS in each.
M-m-m-m-m . . . yummy!
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Founders Week - January 23-29
 January 23 - St. Jane de Chantal birthday
January 24 - Feast of St. Francis de Sales
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 Sister
Mary Aimee Dilschneider, R.I.P.
A funeral Mass was celebrated August 3, 2010
for Sister Mary Aimee at the Visitation Monastery Chapel.
Sister Mary Aimee died July 30 at age 93.
She attended Visitation Academy beginning in
sixth grade and entered the monastery in June of 1935 - the very
afternoon of her high school graduation.
Sister Mary Aimee received her bachelor of
science degree over many years from Saint Louis University.
She accumulated 170 credits for her first degree in mathematics,
which she received Magna Cum Laude. When cloister rules
were changed, she attended classes on campus and accumulated 225
credit hours after completing graduate school.
She was a woman of prayer who spent many hours
before the Blessed Sacrament. Her deepest joy was the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. With true appreciation and devotion,
she attended as many Masses as were offered in our chapel on any
given day.
Sister Mary Aimee's great enthusiasms were
keeping in touch with alumnae and being a faithful fan of the
Vivette basketball team, whose games she attended until her 90's.
Please pray for her and for us.
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 65
Years Of Professed Life
On July 16, 2010, our dear Sister Aloysia
celebrated 65 years of professed life as a Visitation sister.
She is pictured at left in the monastery courtyard holding the
beautiful vase of flowers sent by her nieces, June and Nancy and
their brother, Joe.
This special day began with the celebration of
Mass in the Sisters' Choir with the community. Before the
consecration, Sister renewed her vows. Later, Sister Aloysia shared dinner with the rest of the community in the
monastery dining room. The room and place settings were
festively decorated and Sister's favorite dishes (Jamoca Almond
Fudge ice cream) prepared in her
honor. Sister Aloysia continues to assist daily in the Upper
School Library processing new additions to the school's collection.
Sister is also the monastery librarian maintaining an extensive
range of religious and secular selections for the community.
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Reflections from Summer Retreat
Sister Marie Therese
"As a sparrow finds a home and the swallow a
nest to settle her young, my home is by your altars . . . my king
and my God."
Psalm 84:4
Every summer in June or August, we Sisters
schedule our annual retreat, a week-long spiritual vacation with the
Lord. The monastery becomes almost perfectly still as we keep
contemplative silence in order to be more available to the Holy
Spirit's inspiration.
This year from June 13-21, we enjoyed two
conferences a day by Priory's Fr. Laurence Kriegshauser, O.S.B. on
the psalms. Fr. Laurence has recently published a book
Praying the Psalms in Christ
and spoke enthusiastically from
the background of his life experience and scholarly research.
Because we Sisters pray the psalms in the Divine Office four times
each day, Father's talks refreshed our knowledge and gave us new
insights into the beauty and power of these poem-prayers that Jesus
Himself prayed to His Father. Singing Morning Prayer and
Evening Prayer became highlights of the day as we united the Liturgy
of the Hours with the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
In between, we luxuriated in the sight of masses
of blue hydrangeas
behind bright orange day lilies blooming beyond
the patio.
We took delight in the black grackles nested in the
back of the
statue of the Sacred Heart in our courtyard.
I became an instant naturalist as I watched my new neighbors,
a pair of mourning doves, build a nest in the magnolia tree one foot
from my bedroom window. These devoted parents alternately sat
patiently on the nest night and day for two weeks in hot sun and
torrential rain. A special surprise for me was to have two
baby doves hatch and be fed before my eyes on the last day of
retreat. Only because I was concentrating on being rather than
doing did I have the leisure to see God so closely in nature as well
as in prayer and the Sacraments.
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 VISITATION
ACADEMY & MONASTERY
CELEBRATE 177th FOUNDATION DAY
On May 3, 1833, the Academy of the Visitation
and Monastery was founded in Kaskaskia, IL. In 2010 we
celebrate our 177th anniversary. This special day in our
history is traditionally observed with Upper and Lower School
Masses, Prayer Services or Assemblies. Afterwards the
Sisters pass out "gummy worms" to the students to commemorate
one of the more colorful challenges the eight founding Sisters
encountered in their journey to reach Kaskaskia.
On the final leg of their trip from Georgetown,
the Sisters had to cross the Mississippi River from Missouri
into Illinois. First person accounts tell of the Sisters
"sitting in a ferryboat that took them across the river.
They sat dangerously close to the brown water. Green
caterpillars covered its surface around the boat." The
Sisters were familiar with the Potomac because of its nearness
to their Georgetown Monastery. But the mighty Mississippi
was twice as wide and much more dangerous to cross. "Gummy
worm" candies illustrate our early history to students in an
entertaining and colorful way.
Sister Mary Grace '60, along with the other
Sisters, helps with this fun activity. She also wears the
traditional Visitation habit throughout Foundation Day.
Students not familiar with the full habit enjoy listening to
Sister. Here, she visits with a Kindergarten class on
Foundation Day.
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 Sister
Aloysia's 85th Birthday Celebration
Over the April 30th weekend, relatives of
Sister Aloysia travelled from Maryland, Michigan and
Pennsylvania to Saint Louis to help celebrate her 85th birthday.
Sister had a marvelous time visiting with everyone since it had
been several years since her last visit with them. Highlights of
the weekend included a visit to the Arch and a wonderful
birthday party planned by Sister Veronica and the Community.
Sister Aloysia commented, "It was a glorious weekend. We
had so many laughs while playing board games."
Sister Aloysia is from Washington, DC.
She attended the Academy of the Visitation in Frederick, MD from
5th grade until her graduation in 1942. Sister entered the
Frederick Monastery December 8, 1943 and was professed in 1945.
She transferred to the Saint Louis Monastery in 1968.
Sister Aloysia taught elementary level science for many years
while also serving as Monastery Infirmarian. While in this
position, she attended and was graduated from Missouri Baptist
Hospital School of Nursing as a Registered Nurse. Sister
served as Infirmarian for 34 years. She currently helps in
the Upper School Library and enjoys reading.
L-R: June, niece; Mickey, sister; Marsha,
niece; Mabel, sister; Helen, sister-law-law; Sr. Aloysia and
Lucy, sister. Not pictured: Diane, niece and Ryan,
grand-nephew
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 Visitation sisters from 6 different
U.S. monasteries travel to Annecy, France
In honor of the foundation of the
Visitation a pilgrimage to Annecy and other places of interest
occurred in July of 2009.
This cross marks the place where Castle de
Sales stood. Here Francis de Sales had his vision of a
long line of women who would serve God.
These sisters are from the Visitation
Monasteries in Saint Louis, MO; Minneapolis, MN; Mendota
Heights, MN; Washington, DC; Brooklyn, NY and Tyringham, MA
Our own Sister Mary Grace is pictured third from
left in the back row.
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 Visitation
Academy
Septa-quinta-quinque-centennial
(175th) Year
Mass and Reception
Concluding the year-long celebration in 2008, nearly 700 members of
the Visitation Community were on hand as the Most Reverend Archbishop Raymond L. Burke along with Rev. Lewis Fiorelli, OSFS, Homilist, celebrated
Mass in the Buder Gym. The Mass procession began with representative members of the Viz Community bearing items of significance in the history of
Visitation. A banner with our motto, Live Jesus, a copy of "The Treatise of
the Love of God," written by St. Francis de Sales dated 1618, the Vow Book dating back to 1833, the original seal from Kaskaskia, a school bell and
finally a Crescent pin from the class of 1910.
A reception, sponsored by the Mothers' Club,
in DeChantal Hall immediately followed Mass.
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Sister Mary Roberta Huffman V.H.M. R.I.P.
Sister Roberta went home to God on September 11, 2008 at the
age of 91. She had entered the Monastery of the Visitation
in Georgetown D.C. where she became head of school. In the
early 1970's the St Louis Visitation asked Sister to become the
principal during a difficult transition period. Later in
that same decade Sister transferred permanently to the St. Louis
Visitation where she served in many different areas. She
was a board member of the St. Jane Center our outreach among the
disadvantaged. But in time, Sister's ministry became
restricted to greeting the people who came to our chapel for the
Sunday Liturgies. She befriended everyone she met and all
who met her treasured her friendship. Just a few months
before her death, one of her former students of 30+ years in
Georgetown came to visit her. Her nephew, David, stopped to see
her whenever he was in the area. All who knew her mourn her
passing but rejoice she has attained eternal life. |
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Sister Anne Madeleine Godefroy V.H.M. R.I.P.
Sister Anne Madeleine began as a boarding school
student here at St. Louis Visitation in the mid 1930's. She entered the community after graduation and was very successful in teaching the little children. She opened the first
Montessori school in the St. Louis area in 1963. In 1971 she was elected superior of the community. Since then,
Sister had been in leadership roles until just months before her death. In 1996 she was elected president of the Second
Federation of the Visitation in the U.S.A. She served in that capacity until mid-June 2008. Meanwhile Sister
frequently was also the superior of the community and was responsible for the founding of the Association of the Christian Faithful, an organization
entrusted with continuing the Salesian charism of the Academy, and of the Associates program, a community of lay people
committed to the Visitation charism and to the spread of Salesian spirituality in our world. Sister also supervised the renovation of our monastery and
initiated a realistic long range plan for our Sisters. We miss Sister but are happy for her to be with our saints in heaven.
Fittingly her funeral Mass was on November 1st, All Saints Day.
Please pray for her and for us.
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Sister Mary Josephine Reau V.H.M. R.I.P.
Margaret Marie Reau was born March 18, 1916 in Duluth Minnesota, the youngest and only daughter in a
family of three children. During World Was II Margaret joined the WACs on August 25, 1943 and served twenty months
in Italy. Her most memorable experiences there were seeing Pope Pius XII and Padre Pio. Her connection with
her "WAC buddies" continued throughout her life. After the death of her father and older brother she attended a
commercial art school in Chicago. She then worked in advertising studios both in Chicago and in Milwaukee.
Margaret was well into her 40's when she entered our community September 8, 1958. She received the habit on April 25,
1959 with the name of Sr. Mary Josephine. A year later she was professed and three years later celebrated her final
profession. For ten years she taught art to grade school students. Her art is everywhere
adding beauty to our monastery. Then the slow loss of her sight curtailed her activities and
triggered a tendency to depression which was a real cross for her. Congestive heart failure
wore her down and she was placed on hospice care. On March 12, 2009 she went home to God, just six days short of her 93rd birthday.
We ask you to say a prayer for her and for us . . . |
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We, the Sisters of the Visitation of
Saint Louis, have come from seven different houses to live in a community whose primary focus for nearly 177 years has been prayer and the education of women in the Salesian tradition. Historically, we have responded to circumstances. Today, we seek to mold our own future by incorporating our education and experiences into the contemporary culture so as to deepen our relationship with God and to contribute to the good of our neighbor. We need courage to risk ongoing renewal as a faith community growing in trust in God, love of one another, and appreciation of our differences. As a prayerful community bonded by love and forgiveness, we search for new life in our charism by living Jesus' compassion.
Our Mission Statement
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