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History: St. Louis Visitation |
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Pictorial History of
St. Louis Visitation Monastery
To see any original picture, please click
on its thumbnail image.
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1833-1844 |
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Kaskaskia |
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On May 3rd of 1833,
eight sisters from the Georgetown Visitation founded the first
Visitation Academy in the midwest at Kaskaskia, Illinois. This
school flourished. In April of 1844, six sisters left to found a
Visitation school in St. Louis. Then the rains came and the flooding
Mississippi River threatened the lives of the remaining sixteen
sisters. On June 24th, a steamboat
bearing visitors to the monastery rescued sisters, students, and
furnishings through the second
story windows. As they sailed up the Mississippi to
St. Louis, their Menard Academy slowly sank into the waters.
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1844-1846 |
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Anne Biddle
Home |
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Since two nieces were
among the refugees, Anne Biddle offered space in her home for the
monastery/school. In 1846, Bp. Kenrick invited the two Visitation
communities to recombine and live in the Smith
mansion. In 1849 came the double tragedy of a costly fire and a
cholera epidemic which decimated St. Louis and claimed the life of Sr.
Veronica Corcoran.
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1846-1858 |
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Smith Mansion |
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| During the Civil
War the enrollment at the new Cass Avenue Visitation soared. Later
an alumna wrote,
"Relatives of
Unionists and Confederates sat side by side at table, recited at the
same desk . . .sisterly love reigned within the convent walls,
notwithstanding the lack of brotherly love outside of them."
Since 160 boarders left little room for the
sisters, the archbishop insisted they build a separate convent.
Both the convent and the War were finished in the spring of 1865. St. Louis Visitation had "come of age" with the
founding of a monastery in Dubuque IA in 1871 and of the St. Paul MN monastery
in 1873. Cass Avenue had become a commercial area, so Visitation had to move.
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1858-1892 |
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Cass Avenue |
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1892-1962 |
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Cabanne Place |
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In 1892 Visitation
moved to Cabanne Place. The school
was like a castle in a spacious fairyland. Annual processions to the
outdoor shrine on the feast of the Sacred Heart drew as many as 2500
pilgrims from all over the city. The Archconfraternity of
Reparation and the Ladies' Sodality, religious societies begun in the
1890's, still attract members. A fine auditorium and a new
gymnasium were added in 1911. Accreditation by NCA began in
1929. The school flourished in spite the depression and the trials
of WWII. But by 1960, the required costly renovation of Cabanne
convinced the Sisters that they again had to move.
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| Sixty sisters moved from
Cabanne to Ballas Road in 1962. In the aftermath of Vatican II,
fewer women became Visitation Sisters. Soon lay teachers were
needed to staff the academy, and a lay administrator was appointed
in1986. In 1989, three sisters went to found a new monastery in
Minneapolis which was to be a prayer presence among the poor. In
1992, five sisters from the Rock Island, IL Visitation merged with the
St. Louis community. In 1994, the Sisters renovated the monastery
to fit the needs of the present community. In 2003, there are 24
Sisters in the community and 693 students from pre-school through
Grade 12.
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962-2003+ |
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No. Ballas Road |
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When, where, and
why did it all begin?
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1610-2003+ |
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Annecy France |
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The order of the Visitation of Holy Mary was founded in
Annecy France in 1610 by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. At that time, religious congregations stressed austerity and self-denial to such an extent that only women who were physically strong could be admitted. The Visitation filled the need for an order whose members could focus their efforts and attention on the love of God and neighbor through interior mortification and the practice of the virtues of humility, gentleness, simplicity, and complete surrender to the will of God. |
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