24 June 2008

Foundation Day!

Two hundred and nine years ago today our monastery was founded. We share here an excerpt from the letter which Archbishop Leonard Neale wrote to our Monastery in Annecy, France on March 6, 1817, in an attempt to formally establish us as a Monastery of the Visitation and to receive information about the daily life and customs:

"The total want of such schools as were calculated to impart to the female Youth of this country, both the accomplishments suited to their respective stations in life, and also the Christian principles and sound piety . . . When behold! it pleased the Divine Providence to inspire some women who were under my direction, to unite and consecrate their abilities and time to the education of young females. . . . This work commenced on the 24th of June, 1799, and has been most faithfully carried on with great zeal and patience, and a most ardent desire of becoming members of the precious Order of the Visitation of our Lady, and a lively confidence that God in his infinite goodness would not fail to crown their ardent wishes with success!"

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