The Order of the Visitation : its spirit and its growth in England

The Order of the
Visitation

ITS SPIRIT AND ITS
GROWTH IN ENGLAND

By the

Right Rev. Abbot Gasquet, O.S.B.

LONDON: BURNS & GATES, LIMITED

NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO : BENZIGER BROTHERS

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
ITS ORIGIN AND GROWTH 7

CHAPTER II.

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION IN

ENGLAND 23

ILLUSTRATIONS.
SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES.
SAINT JEANNE FRA^OISE DE CHANTAL.
BLESSED MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE.
SALES HOUSE, SHEPTON MALLET, 1810-1831.
"THE CLOISTERS," SHEPTON MALLET.
MOTHER MARY SALES WELD.

SALES HOUSE, WESTBURY-ON -TRYM,
1831-1896.

CONVENT OF THE VISITATION, HARROVV-

ON-THE-HlLL.

The
Order of the Visitation.

1 . — Its origin and growth.

I

N the summer of 1610, three centuries ago,
the Order of the Visitation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary was founded in Savoy. It may be
considered justly as the joint creation of two
great saints, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane
Frances de Chantal, although according to the
depositions made by the latter during the process
of canonisation of the former and many times
repeated, the holy Bishop of Geneva alone was
always regarded as the true founder by the first
religious of the Order.

As might be expected, the work thus begun
by these two heroic souls under God's inspiration
was from the first blessed by Him in a remark-
able way. Like the grain of mustard seed in
the Gospel parable, which from being the least
of all seeds grew to a tree in whose branches
the birds of the air found shelter, the humble

8 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

beginnings made in the little house of La Galerie
at Annecy, in Savoy, prospered and spread till
its branches now flourishing in all parts of the
world afford shelter to those who seek to serve
God according to the wise and broad-minded
legislation which so admirably reflects the spirit
of the two saintly founders.

To understand the secret attraction which the
houses of the Visitation Order exercise over
the minds of those who have received God's call
to serve Him according to this special form of
religious life, it is necessary to know something
of the origin of the Order, and to appreciate the
supernatural principles which animated St.
Francis de Sales and his spiritual daughter, St.
Jane Frances, and which are reflected in it.

St. Jane Frances was born at Dijon in 1572.
Her father was M. Be"nigne Fremyot, a man of
good family, who subsequently became the
second President of the Parliament of his city of
Dijon. At the age of twenty she married the
young Baron de Chantal, an upright and religious
man of the world, as well as a distinguished
soldier. The few years of their married life
were passed most happily as true Christiana and
devout Catholics. In fact their household is
described by one who knew it well as a model
Christian family. One of the witnesses, exam-

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 9

ined for the canonisation of St. Jane Frances,
declared that she and her husband showed at
their home at Bourbilly "an example of the
most saintly marriage it was possible to con-
ceive." During- the frequent absences of M. de
Chantel, the entire management of the house-
hold and estates was placed by him in the hands
of his young wife, and it was thus early in life
she acquired those business habits which
subsequently proved so useful in the successful
administration and direction of the Order which
she was destined by God's providence to rule.
In the regulations for the government of her
household and of her husband's property, which
she drew up in her early married life, we see
reflected the true spirit of the " valiant woman"
of the Holy Scripture, which subsequently St.
Francis de Sales declared to be in so pre-eminent
a manner the virtuous characteristic of his
spiritual daughter.

Madame de Chantal's happy and saintly
married life was of brief duration. Her husband,
killed accidentally during a hunting excursion in
1601, left her after eight years of happy inter-
course with the charge of the four children who
survived out of the six with which the union
was blessed. From this time the soul of the
young widow sought consolation for her loss in

io THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

more assiduous religious exercises, and she
sustained herself by the thought that she might
some day devote herself wholly to God in religion.
Though the charge of her family was obviously
her first care, from the date of her husband's
death the possibility of her ultimately embrac-
ing some form of religious life seems to have
been, in fact, present constantly to her mind ;
and although the fulfilment of her desire was to
be delayed for some years, she was in reality
preparing all the time, in the best possible way,
for the call which God had destined to give her.
Meantime, whilst waiting for a definite in-
dication of God's will in her regard, she devoted
herself to the care and education of her young
family. At the same time, convinced that it
was her duty to do so, she took upon herself
the charge of her father-in-law's household under
difficult and trying circumstances. All the
business and constant worry entailed by these
duties, which could hardly have failed to distract
the souls of most people from the things of God,
and to have proved a distinct hindrance to the
cultivation of the supernatural ideals of the true
Christian life, only tended to draw her r.oul
nearer to God. Such duties performed in her
spirit made her realise more truly her dependence
on His fatherly providence, and enabled her to

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION n
practise more perfectly those virtues of self-
Abnegation and devotion to others, which at this
ime and ever after, characterised her life. All
this time of waiting-, moreover, only served to
Convince her of her vocation to the supernatural
fe, and that the call would come in God's good
time. This conviction constrained her to prepare
herself for the future, as far as was possible
whilst in the world, by the exercise of the
essential virtues of the cloistered life.

In 1603 Madame de Chantal took a step of
reat importance towards the fulfilment of her
ardently desired wish to give herself to God.
the i7th century, many persons of all states
I conditions in the world, widows, young-
en and maidens, and even married people
mutating the example of the middle ages, linked
fiemselves to some religious Order as extern
members. Though kept by duty or circumstances
e world, engaged in the care of a family or
a business, they yet in great numbers
practised the penances and good works of the
Franciscans or Dominicans, and in their third
>ders they led, as far as was possible in their
family circles, the lives of religious. Madame
de Chantal was specially attracted to the Order
St. Francis, and she was received into it on
oth April, 1603.

12 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

In the following1 year the saintly widow came
under the influence of one of the most sympathetic
and clear-sighted directors the grace of God
has ever produced for the good of those souls
He has called to the higher paths. This was
the gentle, the broad-minded and yet at the
same time the strong and firm Bishop of Geneva,
Saint Francis de Sales, who was already known
as the spiritual adviser of many devout souls,
and as a preacher who drew all hearts to him-
self and God. The authorities of Dijon invited
the Bishop to preach the Lent in that city, and
Madame de Chantal's father asked her to come
to her native city to have the opportunity of
following the spiritual conferences to be given
by him. From the first the two Saints felt their
souls attracted to one another, and St. Jane
Frances in a very short time placed herself un-
reservedly in the hands of the Bishop, telling
him of the desire she had long felt of renouncing
the world and consecrating herself to God in
religion. The more intimately the Saint as
director came to know the soul of his penitent,
the more was he struck with the work of grace
manifested by her humility and modesty, and by
her earnestness in all that regarded the spiritual
life. At the same time the extraordinary
measure of common sense which Madame de

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 13

Chantal possessed and the strength of her
character astonished him in no small degree,
and gave him assured hope that she was called
by God to do some great work for Him in the
Church. "It is impossible," he said after
knowing her for a short time, "to unite together
a greater breadth of mind with more profound
humility. She is as simple and straight as a
child, and possesses a judgment both solid and
weighty— solide et eleve : her soul is truly great
and she possesses the courage to undertake holy
works beyond the powers of her sex." The
Saint likewise frequently repeated the judgment
he formed on first making her acquaintance :
I have found in Madame de Chantal at Dijon
what Solomon could scarcely find in Jerusalem,
a valiant woman."

Time went on thus for another three years,
till, at the feast of Pentecost, 1607, Madame de
Chantal found herself at Annecy, whither St.
Francis de Sales had called her in order to satisfy
her and himself as to her vocation to the religious
life. After testing her obedience the Bishop
described to her the general lines of the Order
of the Visitation, which in the lights he had
gained in prayer he had conceived as the mode
of life to which God called his saintly penitent.
But it was still not for some time that the

i4 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

project of this new foundation which satisfied
Madame de Chantal so well could be commenced.
She was yet occupied in the charge of her young-
family and in other secular affairs from which
she could not free herself. For some time also
she was severely tried by her relations and
friends, who urged her to make a second
marriage, and left her no peace or consolation
save in the fatherly and tender sympathy of St.
Francis de Sales.

At length these difficulties began to resolve
themselves, and the relations of Madame de
Chantal came to see that continued opposition
to the fulfilment of her desires was impolitic
and unreasonable. The marriage of one of her
daughters, in 1609, was made the occasion of a
final settlement. St. Francis de Sales was present
to perform the ceremony, and in concert with
others he ultimately persuaded the father of
Madame de Chantal, M. Fremyot, to consent to
her departure to some religious house. After
some further delays caused by family troubles
and sickness, the Saint finally left Dijon on 2gth
March, 1610, and reached Annecy, where St.
Francis of Sales was awaiting her, some Hays
later.

The saintly Bishop had fixed upon the feast of
Pentecost, 1610, as the most appropriate day for

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 15

beginning the new Institute, but the house in
which to begin, upon which he had counted, at
the last moment was not to be procured, and a
delay till Trinity Sunday became necessary.
According to Madame de Chantal's depositions
at the canonisation of her saintly Confessor, the
Bishop's first intention was to give to the Order
he was founding the title and scope of a Con-
gregation, but on this point he surrendered his
judgment to that of the Archbishop of Lyons,
Cardinal de Marquemont.* Moreover, speaking
of the Order in another place, she says that St.
Francis placed the Order under the special
protection of Our Blessed Lady, "and named it
after the sacred mystery of the Visitation, pro-
curing for us the privilege of saying the Little
Office of the Blessed Virgin only, a favour which
has since been confirmed to us in perpetuity by
our present Holy Father, Pope Urban VIII.
The intention of our Blessed Founder in doing

n V'?elSt .Francis> hac* a great wish to restrict our
r to the simple title of a Congregation, and on this
subject the illustnous Cardinal Bellarmin was of his
opinion ; but the late Archbishop of Lyons (Cardinal de
Marquemont) urged him so strongly in' the matter that
our Blessed Founder consented, in deference to him, to
place us under the rule of St. Augustine, writing to his
Eminence m these words: 'I repress my desirls, sub-
mitting to the decrees of God's providence. I am silent
and acquiesce m your judgment and counsel.' " From
Depositions of St. Chantal.

16 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

this was that there should be an Order in the
Church of God specially consecrated and
dedicated to sing- day and night the praises of
that Sovereign Queen, of whom he speaks so
worthily and in such high terms in his books,
and to whom he has even dedicated his Treatise
on the Love of God"

In his first conception of the Order, the Bishop
had included the active works of visiting1 the
sick, instructing children and others in their
religion, and the like acts of Christian charity.
It is said to have been as a record of this scope,
which had subsequently to be partially aban-
doned, that the title of Visitation was given to
the Order. There were, however, other reasons
for the name, the main one being the devotion
of the Bishop to the incident of the Visitation in
Our Lady's life. St. Jane Frances in her
depositions declares that it was his purpose to
revive ''the devotion to the Blessed Virgin
under the title of the Visitation, which devotion
had, before the ravages of heresy, been practised
in the mountain district of Voiron, about nine
miles from Geneva."

In speaking of the beginnings of the Visitation
Order, it is well to bear in mind the high ideals
of religious life which the saintly Bishop had,
and his ardent zeal for the souls of those who

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 17

had been led to serve God in the cloister. St.
Jane Frances, after his death, deposed that one
day she heard him say : « If a person living- in
the world were to ask me what she must do in
order to save her soul, I should answer : Keep
the commandments of God and you -will infallibly
do so. But to a Nun I should say: By giving
yourself absolutely and entirely to God. The
King of kings will have all or nothing, He will
reign alone or not at all. It will not be God
who will judge Monks and Nuns, but the Saints,
who will say to them : 'We had the same flesh
and bones as you have, and yet we walked along
the road marked out for us by our Master.' He
used also to say that it was better to be cold
than lukewarm, because coldness was at least
recognisable, but that the lukewarm were
intolerable to our Divine Lord : that He would
cast them away from Him.''

These high ideals the Bishop set before those
who were destined to begin the new Order of
the Visitation at Annecy. On the 6th of June,
1610, Madame de Chantal and her two com-
panions, Mademoiselle Marie Jacqueline Favre
and Mademoiselle Charlotte de BnSchard, after
having received communion from the Bishop,
spent the day in visiting the various churches of
the city, and giving consolation to the sick poor.

i8 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

In the evening they took possession of the little
house of La Galerie, which had been prepared
for them, and on their knees listened to the
reading of the rule of life which St. Francis de
Sales had put into writing for their guidance.
The Community consisted of the three above
named, and an out-sister named Anne-Jacqueline
Coste.

The following days were partly occupied in
consultation with the Bishop to determine the
most convenient order of the day, the special
manner of life, the best method of reading and
singing, which the Saint desired should always
be correctly and reverently done in the church.
It was upon July 2nd, 1610, the feast of the
Visitation itself, that at Vespers the little band
of sisters sang their Office for the first time, St.
Francis of Sales assisting at it on his knees,
leaning upon the rail at the entry of the choir
absorbed in prayer.

The trust of the young Community in God
was early in its existence tried severely. About
five weeks after the commencement of the young
Institute, Mother de Chantal fell so seriously ill
of a fever that her life was in grave peril. It
was under these circumstances that St. Francis
de Sales gave the sorrowing sisters a lesson in
the trust they should always have in God's

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 19

Providence. He said to Mother de Chantal in
the presence of the sisters, who all knew how
he had set his heart upon the foundation :
' ' Perhaps God intends to be satisfied with our
attempt and with the goodwill with which we
set to work to prepare this little society for
Him, just as He was satisfied with the readiness
which Abraham showed to sacrifice his son. If
then it is His good pleasure that, having reached
the middle of our journey, we should turn back,
His Will be done." And this, says St. Jane
Frances in relating the incident, « was a heroic
act of resignation on account of the great bene-
fits which he expected that souls would derive
from this manner of life."

The trial, however, was not to be made in all
its fulness, and Mother de Chantal quickly
recovered and resumed the charge of her small
Community. By the end of the first year five
more devout souls had united themselves to the
three original members, and at the end of the
second year there were ten in the Community.
St. Francis de Sales devoted much of his
attention to the training of the nuns of the new
Institute, and it is in his Conferences that we
must look for the spirit of the new Order.
Most of the sisters had come from families of
wordly distinction and had no other desire, on

3

20 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

embracing the religious life in the Visitation
Convent of Annecy, than in obscurity, poverty
and self-sacrifice to draw nearer to God, and
thus to remove all that interfered with full inter-
course with Him and the supernatural world
round about them, which is the true object of
all religious life. To these souls, athirst for
spiritual teaching, St. Francis gave these familiar
Spiritual Conferences at the beginning of the
Institute, during rather more than two years,
from June 1610, to October 1612. These precious
Spiritual Conferences have been thus described :
" Providence had given them (the sisters) in the
person of St. Francis de Sales a master capable
of developing such high aspirations. They all
venerated him as an Angel of God, and had no
less confidence in his devotion than faith in his
wisdom. All were humble enough to demand
from their teacher the imparting of the most
elementary knowledge concerning the spiritual
life, and enlightened enough to receive with
delight and full appreciation the most sublime
instructions. On his part, our Saint appeared
in the midst of them less like a legislator impos-
ing laws, than like a father teaching his little
ones to walk. There was therefore on both
sides a close intimacy : a child-like freedom
whichyet lacked nothing in respect and reverence,

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 21

a fatherly tenderness which yet was never want-
ing in firmness. The holy Founder, we may
venture to say, literally fulfilled the functions of
Master of Novices."

The constant guiding hand of the saintly
Bishop was necessary during the early years of
the Institute, since his letters show us that
whilst recognising the need of some such asylum
for souls seeking God, he had not made up his
mind exactly what should be the special end
and object of the Order of the Visitation. The
only point that was from the first clear was that
there were many pious and generous souls able
to make the most heroic sacrifices for God, who
by reason of delicate health or constitutional
weakness were yet prevented from entering the
more severe Orders, like the Carmelites, Poor
Clares, Dominicans or Ursulines. Though in
every other way fitted for the life of the cloister,
such souls were forced on account of the weak
state of their health to remain in the wordly
state which they disliked. It was to meet such
cases that St. Francis first thought of the
possibility of establishing a new Order where
the austerities of the religious life, as usually
practised at that time, might be mitigated for
such as otherwise would not be able to have the
help of the cloistered life to lead them along the

22 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

path of perfection. "I hope," writes the Bishop
in one letter, " that this Congregation will be a
pleasant and fitting refuge for those who are
not strong; for without much corporal austerity,
they practise all the essential virtues of the
devout life."

" They say the Office of Our Lady and make
their mental prayer. They work, keep silence,
practise obedience, humility, and have nothing
of their own. Quite as much as in any monastery
in this world, their life is a life of love of God,
an interior life full of peace and mutual
edification."

The Saint then goes on to point out that in
the first instance he had wished the sisters to
be occupied in active works of charity towards
the sick. Most of the nuns at the beginning of
the i yth century had taken refuge from the
world behind high walls and impenetrable grilles,
where they occupied themselves in prayer and
in the sanctification of their own souls. They
never went out of their cloister to visit the sick,
to console the dying, or to perform other works
of Christian charity to others. St. Francis de
Sales saw at the moment when first the id ,a of
the Visitation Order came to him that there
was great need for some body of devout women
who might unite to their own life of prayer the

SAINT JEANNE FRANCOISE DE CHANTAL.

(Foundress of the Order of the Visitation.)

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 23
useful, necessary and specially blessed service
•f others in the various works of charity So
he writes: "After their profession the
=rs go out to wait upon the sick, which they

• God's help, in great humility."
With regard to the enclosure, this is what he
termmed as sufficient to begin with "No
nan is allowed to enter into the living parts of
house except for such matters for which
ley may go into all the strict monasteries
men also may not enter the enclosure with-
out leave of the Superior, by whom I mean the
shop or his substitute. As for the sisters
ter their year's noviciate they go out, but onl'
to serve the sick."

The active side of the Order of the Visitation
e memory of which is preserved in the name
g.ven to it, was subsequently given up, as other
sKgious Orders, and notably the Sisters of
hanty founded by St. Vincent de Paul, met
'hitherto pressing need. Saint Vincent de
Paul, on the death of St. Francis, became the
confessor of Saint Chantal, and it is very
ble, and indeed probable, that he derived the
the mission and scope of the Sisters of
tnty which he founded by learning from his
penitent the original idea of St. Francis
One matter upon which Saint Francis de Sales

24 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

insisted very strongly as necessary, especially in
a Community in which corporal austerities were
purposely much mitigated, was the necessity of
self-sacrifice and the constant and thoughtful
service of others. Early in his direction of
Madame de Chantal the Bishop had given her
his advice on this matter : telling her that her
love and devotion to God, which prompted her
to rise very early in the morning, should also
tell her not to make her maid suffer by having
to rise even earlier to attend to her. So in the
convents of the Visitation the Saint insisted
upon the sisters being united by mutual love as
well as by their vows. His common sense
rejected the notion that it was right for religious
to cultivate the supernatural virtues to the
detriment of the natural. This is why in his
Spiritual Conferences he insists again and again
upon such ordinary Christian virtues as cordiality,
generosity, simplicity and the rest. In one of
these Conferences he says : "I have always con-
sidered that (the peculiar spirit of the Visitation)
is a spirit of profound humility towards God,
and of great gentleness with our neighbour, the
more so because, treating the body with less
severity, it must all the more foster kindliness
of heart. All the ancient Fathers agree that
where rigour of corporal mortificaton is want-

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 25

ing, there ought to be more perfection of mind ;
therefore humility towards God and gentleness
towards your neighbour must in your houses
take the place of the austerity of others . . .
The spirit of gentleness is so absolutely the
spirit of the Visitation, that anyone who should
wish to introduce into it any more austerities
than there are at present would instantly destroy
the Visitation. This would the more certainly
be the case, since it would be done in opposition
to the very end and object for which the Order
was instituted— namely, to be able to receive
delicate women, maidens and widows, whose
physical powers are not great enough, and who are
not inspired and drawn to serve God and to unite
themselves to Him, by means of such austerities
as are practised by other Religious Orders."

From this and similar passages which might
be cited, the object the holy Bishop of Geneva
had in founding the Visitation Order is clear ;
and no less clear was the spirit which he desired
to instil into the devout souls who, under him
and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, were the first
to give themselves to God in the Congregation.
The essential object of all religious life is, of
course, the same in all Orders — namely, the union
of the soul with God. The means by which this
object is attained, however, differs very con-

26 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

siderably, although the practise of prayer must,
of course, ever remain the chief path by which
the individual soul must seek to unite itself to
the Heavenly Spouse it has chosen on entering
into religion. No one realised this great fact
more certainly than did St. Francis of Sales and
St. Jane Frances de Chantal, and every provision
was made by the external aids furnished by the
established constitutions to assist the sisters to
mount the ladder of perfection and to attain to
that union with God in prayer which is within
the power of every professed religious. The
main obstacles which retard the spiritual journey
were removed by the vows of religion ; and in
place of great corporal austerities, which would
have defeated the main object of St. Francis,
which was to give the possibility of the true
religious life to the aged and infirm, he sub-
stituted the constant mortification of self in
serving and assisting others, and insisted that
all who desired to have the true spirit of the
Visitation Order must strive to manifest the
possession of every natural virtue and grace,
especially those which had to be exercised in
relation to others.

The Order thus begun by the two saintly
founders in 1610 quickly gained esteem, and by
the Providence of Almighty God a second

BLESSED MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE.
(Religious of the Visitation.)

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 27
convent was erected in 1615 at Lyons. At the
present day it counts 175 convents, of which 143
in Europe. France, the country of its birth,
1 has the greater number of these Visitation
invents, 69 in all, although six or seven have
been closed and the sisters exiled for the crime of
>emg religious engaged in teaching. As to
this, the Rule allows the nuns, although enclosed
educate young ladies, and a great number of
houses have availed themselves of this per
mission. In the United States the Visitation
stabhshments number 21, in Mexico there are
four, and in South America seven, and most of
iese have large and flourishing schools.
The Order of the Visitation has no* Mother
aeral, each house being separately governed
by its own Superior under the jurisdiction of the
diocesan Bishop. Although each house thus
«s a distinct family, the houses of the Institute
eep m touch with one another by yearly com-
nunicationi in the form of letters sent round to
each house. The Convent of Annecy, as the
birthplace of the Order, and according to the
wish of the Founders, although possessing no
jurisdiction, is always regarded as the centre
i which all the branches should be united
t they have recourse in any difficulty con-
ernmg the observance of the Rules.

28 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

II The Order of the Visitation in

England.

HAVING thus briefly described the foundation
of the Order, and pointed out some chief
characteristics of its spirit, we may now turn to
review the connection which the Order has with
England. Established as the Order was after
this country had fallen away from the Faith, it
was hardly to be expected that during the days
of persecution any branch of it would have been
transplanted thither. Still even in the dark
days for Catholicism of the iyth century, there
was serious talk of erecting a convent of the
Visitation in this country. The project came to
nothing ; but the mere fact of the intention is of
interest, and the idea was conceived under the
following circumstances. The great modern
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus took its
origin, as all know, in the Visitation convent of
Paray-le-Monial, where our Blessed Lord, in the
latter part of the i yth century, made choice of
a nun, Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, to
reveal His pleasure in regard to this form of

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 29

worship, and to make known His desire that
she should propagate it throughout the world.
The director of this holy soul was the celebrated
Jesuit Father, Claude de la Colombiere. Now
in the reign of King Charles II, between 1675
and 1681, Father de la Colombiere came over to
England, some say as chaplain to Mary of
Modena, the wife of the Duke of York, sub-
sequently James II, and during his stay he
preached in the Chapel Royal at St. James'
about the new devotion, and urged it upon his
hearers.

At the same time there was a serious talk of
establishing a house of the same Visitation
Order in France, specially intended for English
ladies who desired to embrace the mode of life,
but who could not do so in their own country
because of the penal laws. Writing to the
Superior of the convent at Paray-le-Monial,
Father de la Colombiere says: "On travaille
toujours pour fonder un couvent d'Anglaises
sous votre regie, ce sera a la Boulogne en
Picardie." An English version of the Con-
stitutions of the Visitation Order, which was
printed in Paris in 1678, seems also to point to
the fact that the idea was really taking a practical
form, when the serious consequences to Catholics
of Titus Oates' plot, which took place that same

3o THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

year, would seem to have put an end to the
project. From another letter it would likewise
appear that it was Mary of Modena herself who
had intended to found this English convent of
the Visitation at Boulogne, just as during her
exile from England Queen Henrietta Maria had
founded that of Chaillot, near Paris. Though
nothing came of the scheme for an English
house, Queen Mary of Modena continued to
have intimate relations with the Order ; and in
1701, on the death of her husband, James II,
she retired to the convent at Chaillot — the house
founded by the Queen of Charles I — and died
there in 1718.

Half a century later, in 1776, the project of
an English house of the Visitation was renewed
by Lady Stourton, the widow of the I4th Lord,
well known for her unbounded charities to poor
Catholics in the i8th century. Hearing that
Mary Weld, only daughter of the Squire of
Lulworth Castle, intended to become a religious,
she proposed that they should join together in
founding a house of "the daughters of St.
Francis." Mary Weld, however, after carefully
weighing the matter before God, was attracted
ultimately to the Franciscans, in a convent of
which Order at Bruges she had been educated,
and she joined the English house of Poor Clares

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 31

at "Aire in Artois." This community was
dispersed at the time of the French Revolution,
and Miss Weld, in religion Mother Euphrasia,
died at Clare House, Plymouth, on I2th March,
1823, having lived to see the nuns of the
Visitation well established in England.

Twenty years or so after the failure of Lady
Stourton's project, Almighty God inspired a
Mrs. Tunstall with the desire of assisting to
make the first English foundation of the Order.
Catherine Tunstall was the eldest daughter of
George Markham, Esq., of Clenby, Lincolnshire,
and of his wife Mary Salvin, of Croxdale, " both
persons of great virtue and firmly established in
our holy faith, notwithstanding the severity of
the penal laws." She was married to Cuthbert
Tunstall, of Wycliffe in Yorkshire, and he, dying
in 1790, left her with ample means. She had
no family, but as the annals of the English nuns
of the Visitation say, God " destined (her) to
be the mother of many spiritual daughters."
She had a great love for the Sacred Heart, a
devotion peculiarly connected with the Visitation
Order through Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque,
the instrument chosen by God to propagate it in
His Church. She was also attracted to St.
Francis of Sales, and had long been specially
earnest in placing herself under his protection.

32 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

Desiring therefore, when left alone in the world
by the death of her husband, to do something
for the glory of God, she was inspired to set
aside a considerable sum of money towards the
establishment of a house of the Visitation Order
in England.

To carry out her intention, it was first necessary
for Mrs. Tunstall to secure the co-operation of
other ladies of family and fortune. Just at this
time she heard that Juliana, the eldest daughter
of Mr. Thomas Weld, of Lulworth, the niece of
the above-named Mother Mary Euphrasia, had
expressed her wish to become a religious, and
that her sister Mary was already inclined to the
same state of life. Mrs. Tunstall approached
the elder of these young ladies through her
cousin Lady Arundell of Wardour. Miss Weld
was already a fervent client of St. Francis de
Sales, and at first, after having studied the
Constitutions of the Order of the Visitation, she
certainly felt drawn to that special method of
life. After much prayer and thought, however,
she determined to return to the Franciscan
Convent at Bruges, where she had been educated,
and to seek admission into the Order of the
other St. Francis. The community at Bruges
had to leave the country on account of the
Revolution some short time after her entry, and

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 33
Miss Weld was professed in their new home at
Abbey House, Winchester, taking the name of
Sister Francis de Sales.

Before leaving- home, Miss Weld had told her
sister Mary Teresa of the projected foundation
the English house of the Visitation. Lady
Arundell, too, spoke about it and encouraged
>er to regard it as God's vocation ; and having
"waited," as the annals record, " eleven years
with surprising constancy and perseverance "
Mr. Weld's second daughter, Mary Teresa,
became the foundation stone of the holy work."
So did not, however, remain in England for any
ength of time after the departure of her elder
sister to Bruges, but went with her father and
family in ,792 to Li^e> where her ^^

were in the Jesuit College.

Meanwhile Mrs. Tunstall, anxious to procure
a s,ster of the Order of the Visitation who might
orm the nucleus of the proposed English com-
unity, opened a correspondence with the
Superior of the second convent of the Order at
Rouen, which was understood to have the best
reputation for its observance. Just at this time,
and before anything could be arranged, the great
storm of the French Revolution burst over the
country. On I9th November, I79o, the religious
both convents were forbidden, in the name of

34 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

"liberty," to renew their religious vows; and
then, as they unanimously declared that "they
preferred death to the smallest infraction of
their sacred obligations," they were imprisoned
in one of their houses. Four hundred and thirty
nuns and two hundred other ladies were detained
in this way for nine months, and would have
paid the penalty of their devotion on the guillotine
had not the death of Robespierre, on 28th July,
1794, put a stop to the wholesale massacre of
religious throughout France, which was to have
taken place that very day. After this time
more liberty was allowed to the sisters, and
three of them, despairing of ever again seeing
their religious observances in the old home at
Rouen, found means to get to Lisbon, where
they were welcomed at the Convent of the
Visitation in that city. As these three sisters
were destined by God's Providence to become
the foundation stones of the English branch of
the Visitation Order, their names should be
known. They were ; Louise Th^rese Grandin
de Mansigny, who belonged to the first convent
of the Order at Rouen ; The>ese de Chantal
Hurard and Madeleine Angelique Heugue, '>oth
being nuns of the second convent in that place.
In the house at Lisbon, newly founded from the
centre of the Order at Annecy, and in its first

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 35

fervour, these three nuns passed six years, until
indeed Providence brought them into relation
with Mrs. Tunstall, the English lady who had
been for some time hoping and working to
establish the Order in England.

Mrs. Tunstall had seen the Rouen Communities
of the Visitation, from which she had hoped to
make her foundation, dispersed by the French
Revolution of 1798. This seemed to put an end
to her cherished project, and she had applied
the money she had put aside for the establish-
ment of the English convent to relieving the
exiled French clergy who had sought refuge in
England from the persecution of the revolutionary
party. But chance, or rather Providence, gave
her new hopes of being able to carry out her
original plan. One day, late in the year 1802,
Father Charles Forrester, S.J., Mrs. Tunstall's
director, was travelling by coach from London
to Wardour Castle. In the carriage was a
French lady whom, in conversation, he found to
be a certain Madame de Mansigny, sister-in-law
of the Sister Louise, who, belonging to the first
convent of the Visitation at Rouen, had sought
refuge, as already pointed out, in the house at
Lisbon in 1797, with two sisters of the second
convent. Madame de Mansigny told Father
Forrester that she thought it quite possible that

4

36 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

these three sisters would have no objection to
help in founding- a new convent in England.
Mrs. Tunstall was informed of this, and Madame
de Mansigny was asked to sound her sister-in-law
as to her willingness to enter into the long--
cherished plan.

At once Sister de Mansigny and the other two
religious from Rouen accepted the suggestion
with pleasure, as it seemed to be a providential
means for re-uniting the scattered Communities
in a convent where religious life should be
possible. Sister Magdalen Heugue consequently
wrote saying: "We shall not be wanting in
anything, either spiritually or temporally : we
shall wear our holy habit in the house, if not on
the journey."

The negotiations took some time and were
almost completed when, in May, 1803, war
broke out between France and England. The
authorities of the Rouen convents, who were to
furnish some of the necessary subjects, at once
withdrew their permission. "Great was the
disappointment of our Sister Superior at Lisbon,"
says the annalist. "The Bishop of London (Dr.
Douglass) and Mrs. Tunstall wanted French
religious only, and three sisters did not make
up the number required for a foundation accord-
ing to the Rule." But a way out of the difficulty

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 37
*« quickly found. The sisters at Lisbon
ecoliected that two of the Rouen nuns had
<en refuge at Saragossa, and they needed
ttle PersuaS]on to join in the project. By I5th
August, I803, consequently it had been arranged
I they should proceed at once to Lisbon
png with them another nun professed in the
.tat,on Convent at Aries. The Superior at
lost no time in constituting the little
nmumty, preparatory for departure. She
appomted Sister Louise de Mansigny Sufierior,
and Slster Therese Hurard Assistant, ^
. ers Madeleine Ange,ique Heugue, Therese
Euphrasy Dura., Joseph de Guy and Marie de
Sales Clastre as the Community.
One difficulty was recognised at the outset
appointment of Sister de Mansigny as
Supenor had been made in deference to the
wshes of the foundress in Eng,and> no doub
because ,t had been through Madame de
Managny her ister.in.,aW( that Mrs ^

ad been brought into relation with the religious
L'sbon ,„ the first instance. But although

an excellent and exact religious, the mind of
ster Lou.se de Mansigny had been affected by

ce

whichTrSH 1 th£ ^^ °f Terr°r *»„&
•ch she had passed, and she was thought by

those who were to accompany her to England

38 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

unfit for the office. In fact, arrangements were
actually made by the Superior of Lisbon for the
holding of an election immediately the little
Community reached England, should the journey
prove to have a bad effect on her mind, as was
feared might be the case.

Bishop Douglass, of the London district, who
had been interested by Mrs. Tunstall in the pro-
posed new foundation in England, wrote to the
Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal de Mendoza, to
obtain his permission and help. He arranged
also that Dr. William Fryer, the President of
the English College at Lisbon, should supply
the nuns with all the money necessary for their
journey, which had been liberally furnished by
Mrs. Tunstall. The President secured for them
places on the "Duke of York" packet, and
took infinite pains to arrange every detail of
their journey, which was not easy. There was
much to be seen to and guarded against, as
Mrs. Tunstall had written to warn them of many
possible dangers owing to the war with France
and the threatened invasion of England.

The Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon having
urged them not to delay their departure, they
received the Holy Communion, as if for Viaticum,
on i4th September, and were accompanied on
board the same morning by an English gentle-

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 39
man and two ladies, deputed by Mrs. TunstalL

' was our astonishment," writes one of
^hen ..whenthegentjema of

>th four letters of credit for IOO louis each "
wh,ch could be used at ports of Spain and
France m case of accident. The * d

rratu ated themselves on the fact that their
vesse. carried dispatches for England as th

rb

by some man-of-war. They
°on however, undeceived on this po

butj rested themselves to the guidance of
Thei, -journey was full of adyenture ^

th -ters were very il,, and on the fifth day
om L,sbon were much frightened by seeine

ole battery was directed on the side o

U-timately, however, after a In
and one summons from the French guns

-aptam of the "Duke of York," conning

40 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

that prudence was the better part of valour,
surrendered his vessel. Their captors treated
the sisters well and landed them at Vigo in
Spain, three days' sail from where they were
captured. Here, through the good offices of the
French consul at the port, they were given their
liberty and were allowed to claim their belong-
ings.

They now had reason to be thankful for the
foresight of Dr. Fryer, of Lisbon, in having
procured for them letters of credit, for they were
able, by means of them, to pay their way and
make immediate preparations for continuing
their journey. A good Catholic family of Vigo,
named St. Paul, became greatly interested in
the nuns and in their work ; but whilst arranging
for them to proceed to Oporto, the ladies of the
family tried hard to dissuade them from attempt-
ing to reach England during the duration of the
wars which were then disturbing the peace of
Europe. In part they were successful, for three
of the small band, the two nuns from Saragossa
and the one from Aries, allowed themselves to
be frightened by these well-meaning friends, and
giving up the project, as they then thought for a
time, returned to Saragossa. As they were part
of the Community, they gave the other sisters
full powers to arrange for the new foundation

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 41

as they thought best, declaring that it was their
intention of joining them later in England.
Subsequently, however, they elected to remain
at their old convent of Saragossa.

The remaining three nuns were determined to
proceed to England, according to their promise,
with as little delay as possible. On 3ist
September they set out for Oporto, helped by
a princely donation from the sisters of the Order
at Madrid. On their way they rested at the
small town of Tuy, where an English priest,
Father Green, had procured for them a lodging.
It "reminds us," writes one of the nuns, "of
Bethlehem, for there was no furniture ... but
simply rough stone walls, and a floor of boards
so wide apart that we could see the horses in
the stable beneath." The Bishop of the place
assisted them on their journey, and with the
good wishes and prayers of the Poor Clares,
who had been their consolation during their stay
at Tuy, the three sisters started off again on 4th
of October. Four days later they reached
Oporto, having once been taken for spies because
of their English bonnets, which Mrs. Tunstall
iirH provided for them.

At Oporto they were received by the Bishop
of Aire, who was living in that city in exile from
France with eight of his clergy. He insisted

42 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

upon their remaining with him whilst they were
waiting for a convoy to take them to England.
This was not to be ready for two months, as
one had sailed only a short time before their
arrival ; but at last, on 8th January, 1804, they
set out for England, and were landed at Falmouth
without further accident or adventure, eight
days after leaving Oporto.

At Falmouth, however, they were obliged by
the authorities to wait till 2gth January for
permission to enter the country, and they then
set out to visit the convent of Spetisbury, wear
Blandford, the new home of the English
Canonesses of Louvain, who had settled there in
1799, with whom Mrs. Tunstall was then stay-
ing. Sister Therese de Chantal, speaking of
their arrival, writes: "She (Mrs. Tunstall) came
to meet us, and respectfully kissing our hands,
expressed her gratitude for all we had done in
order to second her pious projects." She gave
each of the nuns copies of their Constitutions,
which had been translated the previous year, to
be ready for the new English foundation, by
Father Forrester, S.J. The three daughters of
St. Francis de Sales remained for six weeks at
Spetisbury to rest after all their journeyings with
their Augustinian sisters. Meanwhile a home
was being prepared for them at Acton, near

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 43

London, and this they took possession of on
1 6th March, 1804.

The actual foundation of this, the first English
house of the Order of the Visitation, is placed,
however, on the feast of St. Joseph, iQth of
March, because on that day the Bishop of the
London district, Dr. Douglass, came to Acton
to welcome them, and to determine the limits of
the enclosure. The little property, called "Acton
House," was situated close to the Protestant
Church, and it is said to have been the residence
of Lady Derwentwater at the time of her
husband's execution on 24th February, 1719.
The first thing that Bishop Douglass was
required to do was to accept the resignation of
Mother Louise TheVese de Mansigny, who, as
before noted, had been appointed at Lisbon
Superior. What had been thought possible on
her appointment had taken place. The hard-
ships endured during the journey, and the
" effect of living in an heretical country," had
completely unbalanced her mind, and her
resignation was necessary. She soon after
retired to her own convent at Rouen. In her
place Mother Hurard was elected by the other
two sisters, and the election was confirmed by
Bishop Douglass.

Many ladies now felt attracted to the " sweet

44 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

reasonableness " of the life of these daughters
of St. Francis. Mrs. Tunstall herselt entered
the convent at Acton as a postulant, but quickly
found out, to her great grief, that she was not
fitted for life in a Community. The first English
novice was a Miss Garnham, a native of Wis-
beach, and on 6th May, 1805, she pronounced
her vows. On i3th December in the same year
the sisters received Miss Mary Weld, to whom
reference has before been made, and about whom
something more must be said.

Mary Weld, the second daughter of Thomas
Weld, of Lulworth, had heard much about the
nuns of the Visitation from her elder sister, who,
as before related, had at one time thought of
joining them, but who had subsequently recog-
nised that God called her elsewhere, and had
taken her vows in the Franciscan Community of
Bruges. Mary had been educated partly at the
old Bar Convent at York and partly by the
English Franciscan nuns then at Bruges, but
who are now happily settled at Taunton. After
her sister had entered the convent abroad, Mr.
and Mrs. Weld took their younger daughter on
to the Continent, where they remained until the
French Revolution, making itself felt, caused
them to return in the early part of 1793 to
Lulworth Castle. Miss Weld, at the time of

MOTHER MARY SALES WELD.

(Miss MARY WELD.)
(First English Superior of the Order in England.)

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 45

their return, was eighteen years of age, and she
is described as being "brilliant and beautiful,"
and "likely to attain everything this world can
give." She, however, had very distinctly heard
God's call to the religious life, and from what
she had learnt about the Order of the Visitation
from her elder sister, and from conversations
with Mrs. Tunstall and Lady Arundell, she had
set her heart upon joining the daughters of St.
Francis de Sales.

God's providence assisted her to accomplish
her, or rather His, design in a truly wonderful
way. Amongst the French clergy who had
escaped from the horrors of the Revolution was
Pere Grou, a Jesuit and a celebrated writer on
ascetical subjects. He found his way in his
exile to Lulworth, where Mr. Weld's hospitality
to the emigres priests was well known. Mary
Weld, on her return home with her mother in
i793> found Pere Grou already settled in her
home, and in him she quickly discovered that
she was provided with a spiritual director of
undoubted piety, and one who had been prepared
by long experience to direct her soul in the paths
of perfection. Placing herself unreservedly in
his hands, he soon recognised the call she had
received to the religious life. She, on her side,
possessed great capacities and a generous spirit

46 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

which responded very quickly to the calls of
grace and the training of so experienced a
director. It is impossible in these fortunate
circumstances not to recognise the providential
preparation of a soul for the work God was to
demand of it, which in this case was that she
might become the " pillar and foundation stone"
of the English convent of the sisters of the
Visitation Order.

Pere Grou spent most of his time at Lulworth
in writing the spiritual works which have made
his name so well known. Amongst others he
composed the books called LInterieur de Jesus
et de Marie. The latter, as he says in the
preface of the original manuscript, which he
presented to Miss Weld and which was written
expressly for her, is preserved in the archives of
the convent at Harrow. In this are the follow-
ing words : "I am writing for you, my daughter,
as I consider that you are specially called upon
to imitate the interior dispositions of our Blessed
Lady. Our Lord has sent me this inspiration,
therefore it is right that I should do all in my
power to help you in such a holy vocation." In
the preface to Lllnterieur de Jesus he wrrites: "1
have already addressed my previous work to you,
my daughter. . . You cannot doubt that our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself calls you in an

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 47
especial manner to the knowledge of His most
Sacred Heart. He has prevented you by the
blessings of His sweetness, and all His dealings
with you testify that He wills you to be a spouse
worthy of Himself. . . How ungrateful you will
be if you fall short in any way of the measure
' of holiness which he demands."

By the advice of this spiritual director Mary
Weld made a formal offering of herself to God
on the feast of the Purification, 1795. Ten years,
lowever, were destined to pass by before she
was able to take her religious vows in the Order
) which God's voice called her so clearly For
many years her father was reluctant to allow
to leave home, but finally she obtained his
onsent under curious circumstances, which have
deed often been related, but which may fitly
md a place in this brief account of the establish-
ment of the Order in England.

King George III, with Queen Charlotte and
ome other members of the Royal Family, some-
times visited Lulworth Castle. On one occasion
and Mrs. Weld received the King and
een at the chief entrance, surrounded with
children, all singing the National Anthem
e old King was greatly touched by this, and
taking Mr. Weld aside, asked him: -Are all
our children good? Are there none that give

48 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

you trouble?" "No, sir," was the reply; and
the King with a sigh said, "Ah, then how
happy you must be ! "

In the end it was through this friendship of
King George III with her father that Mary
Weld obtained his consent to take the step she
had long sighed for. The way this came about
may be told in the words of the annals : "It
happened towards the end of the year 1804 that
Mr. and Mrs. Weld were invited to meet King
George III at a house in the neighbourhood of
Lulworth. During his former visits to the
castle the aged King had been particularly
pleased with Mr. Weld's family, and he was quite
unable to comprehend how a beautiful girl like
Miss Weld, to whom the world offered so many
attractions, could renounce everything to become
a nun. As soon as he arrived at this gentleman's
house he enquired for his daughter Mary, and
Mr. Weld had to order his carnage and go in
great haste to fetch his daughter, who had
remained at Lulworth. On their way she said
to her father that she felt uncomfortable at the
thought that the King would be certain to ask
her when she was going to the convent ; and
'you know,' she said, ' I do not know what to
answer him.' The father . . . touched by the
same grace which raised her above the world,

THE CLOISTERS," SHEPTON MALLET.

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 49
assured her that he would no longer oppose her
retirement from the world, which he saw had no
charms for her."

In this way it came to pass that, accompanied
by her father, Mary Weld arrived at Acton on
1 3th December, 1804. She was no stranger to
the small band of sisters gathered together in
this their first house, for she had visited the
three French nuns on their first arrival at
Spetisbury, and had called at Acton the previous
year. Still she had to face many difficulties and
interior trials, and it required much confidence in
God for her to believe that the small beginnings
in a tiny house, where the two old French nuns
and a few novices formed the Community, could
be destined to grow into a flourishing convent.
She, however, was accustomed to place all her
trust in God, and so she received the religious
habit on 29th January, 1805, taking the name
Sister Mary Sales. The following year
she was professed, and on 7th June, 1810, was
cted the Superior of the community, which
m these few first years had greatly increased.

It was soon obvious that the house at Acton

was altogether too small for the needs of the

Community, and shortly before the election of

ster Mary de Sales as Superior various friends

f the nuns had been looking out for a more

:

50 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

suitable home for them. Lady Arundell recom-
mended a house at Shepton Mallet, in Somerset,
as suitable for a convent, and it was decided to
move thither. The house at Acton was taken
back by Mr. Selby, who had sold it to them, for
the price they had given for it, and Mr. Thomas
Weld arranged all the details of the new pur-
chase at Shepton, and saw to the alterations of
the house, to which they removed on August
2ist and 22nd, 1810.

The annals of the Convent record the fact
that the house required a good deal in the way
of repairs and changes to adapt it to the needs of
the sisters. Part of it had been a woollen manu-
factory and part was still shops with dwelling
rooms above. It was situated also in a very low
position, which quickly proved to be most incon-
venient, and indeed hurtful to the health of the
inmates. The Bishop of the Western district at
this time was Dr. Collingridge, O.S.F., who had
succeeded Bishop Sharrock, iyth October, 1809.
He appointed the Very Rev. William Coombes
the spiritual father of the Community, and his
nephew, Dr. William Henry Coombes, as their
Chaplain.

The reparation of the buildings, etc., took
nearly two years to accomplish, and it was not
until 1812 that the chapel and the enclosure walls

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 51

were completed, the works then having cost the
nuns nearly ^10,000. In the summer of this
same year the Sisters began to experience great
inconvenience from the low-lying position of the
house. A small stream, which took its rise at
Saint Aldhelm's Well, in the neighbouring
village of Doulting, and which was used to turn
the water wheels of the adjacent factories, sud-
denly overflowed. " It ran through the garden
and under the choir, refectory and other parts of
the house," and as the annals relate, " the tables
in the refectory floated about like boats in the
water." Much injury was done to the walls and
the furniture, and after the flood had gone down
the lower part of the house remained so damp
that the health of the Community was greatly
affected by it. " To avert so serious a calamity
for the future, our very honoured Mother had
prayers offered to St. Aldhelm, and promised to
make a commemoration of the Saint on his
feast." Their prayers were heard, and as the
annals testify, there were no more of these inun-
dations until about the year 1825, when the then
Superior stopped the commemoration, apparently
from some scruples as to ecclesiastical law. The
flood immediately returned, and in the end be-
came so serious that they were obliged to move
to a more healthy situation.

5

52 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

In 1814 the Visitation nuns opened a free
school at Shepton for the children of the poor,
which at that time was the only one in the
town. It was managed at first by a Sister
Mary Lucy Hart, who had been born in the
neighbourhood of Shepton, and who was the
second sister to become professed in the convent
after its establishment there. Between 1805 and
1831 thirty-three religious in all, many of them
of well known English Catholic families, were
received into the Order. In 1812 Mother Mary
Sales Weld received her youngest sister Clare as
a postulant. She was brought to Shepton by
her brother, Mr. Thomas Weld, of Lulworth,
who afterwards became a priest, and is known
in Catholic history as Cardinal Weld. Eleven
years later Mr. Weld brought to the convent
his neice, Fanny Vaughan, who was professed
as Sister Frances Angela.

In 1814 the lay-foundress of the convent,
Mrs. Tunstall, came to end her last days with
the sisters and be cared for by them. She was
then advanced in years, in a very feeble state,
and had lost the use of her eyes. She continued
her charities, however, to the end, dividing her
income into three parts, one to be spent on the
Church, one upon the poor, and the other for
her own needs and private charities. She had a

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 53

great devotion to the Poor Souls in Purgatory,
and she never heard of the death of any friends
without having a mass said for them. When
she came to die herself it was discovered that,
although she had founded many perpetual masses
for the souls of the faithful departed, she had
made no provision for herself, trusting, no
doubt, that as she had ever remembered to have
prayers and masses offered for others, her friends
would do the same by her. Mrs. Tunstall, a
Christian and a valiant woman, died October
28th, 1825. She was buried in the centre of the
sisters' own cemetery.

The name of Mrs. Tunstall, the lay-foundress
of the Visitation Order in England, recalls the
memory of the two religious who first established
the convent at Acton. Sister Magdalen Angela
Heugue died nth February, 1812, and the
other, Sister Th^rese de Chantal Hurard, seeing
that the English house was well established,
returned to France in 1816.

In one way especially the Community proved
themselves true daughters of the Visitation
Order. Soon after the arrival of the Sisters at
Shepton Mallet they determined to establish
there a centre of devotion to the Most Sacred
Heart of Jesus, which, as before noted, had
commenced at their Convent at Paray-le-Monial

54 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

through God's inspiration to their sister in
religion, Blessed Margaret Mary. The Society
or Confraternity of this devotion was formally
inaugurated in their convent chapel on i6th
August, 1816. At this time also the sisters
obtained permission from Rome to have the
votive mass of the Sacred Heart on the first
Friday of every month and on the Friday fol-
lowing the octave of Corpus Christi. In this
way the nuns of the Visitation at Shepton were
really the first to propagate in England the
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which has
since spread in so marvellous a way throughout
the world.

The register containing the names of the Con-
fraternity from i6th August, 1816, to 2Oth June,
1847, is still at Shepton Mallet, and the first
name is that of Dr. Coombes, the Chaplain of
the Convent, then follow those of the sisters in
their order and entered in their own handwriting.
Other Communities are enrolled en bloc, and
many well-known Catholic names appear in the
pages of the volume, such as Stourton, Clifford,
Bodenham, Berington, Tunstall, Gillow, Weld.
The names of many of the Benedictine monks,
first established at Downside, a few miles away
on the Mendip Hills, appear in 1818.

After the year 1825 the continual recurrence of

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 55
the floods seemed to call for the removal of the
Community to some more healthy quarters. The
damp state of the house undermined the consti-
tution of many of the Sisters, and the reports
spread about of the condition of things, makino-
it even worse than the reality, had deterred some
t the last from joining them. There were no
icvices forthcoming, and it began to be said
to join the Community at Shepton Mallet
' was to seek an early grave." Mother Mary
les Weld, who was elected Superior for the
third time in 1828, was convinced of the neces-
sity for removing the Convent. The fact how
ever, that the Sisters had spent so large a sum
>f money on their house was a grave objection
and moreover the Bishop, Dr. Baines, did not
encourage the idea.

Another serious flood in 1829, and the re-
fusal of the town authorities to turn the stream
nally determined Mother Mary Sales to lookoui
for another home for her nuns. The friends and
itions of the nuns urged a speedy removal
and a suitable house, with twenty-six acres of
land, was found at Westbury-on-Trym, near
Bristol. The bodies of twelve nuns who had
Shepton, together with the remains of
rs. Tunstall, were removed from the little con-
vent cemetery and placed in the vault under the

56 THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION

chapel. This was the last act of the Community
at Shepton, and on i7th May, 1831, the first
detachment of nuns took possession of their new
home at Westbury. During the removal the
Choir office was continued at Shepton until
there were sufficient numbers at the new Convent
to carry on the perpetual round of prayer and
praise which is so essential a feature in their
life. The building of the chapel and cloister was
not completed until 1834, and they were blessed
by Bishop Baines on 8th December of that
year.

The house thus happily settled at Westbury
continued there amid the difficulties and conso-
lations which are the lot of every observant
Community till 1896. In 1846 Mother Mary
Sales was released from the office of Superior
for the last time, but lived for another twenty
years, dying only in 1866. She was succeeded by
Mother Frances Angela Vaughan, her neice.

In 1896, at the earnest request of Cardinal
Vaughan, it was determined to move the con-
vent once more to some place near London, and
in the June of that year the property at Sudbury
Grove, at Harrow-on-the-Hill, was purchased.
Here a large portion of their convent and a
convent chapel has already been built, and God
has blessed them visibly by an increase of mem-

THE ORDER OF THE VISITATION 57

bers, whilst He has not neglected to manifest
His love by sending them some trials.

It may be useful to add that besides the con-
vent of the Visitation at Harrow, which is really
the only English House of the Order, there is a
convent of sisters, exiles from Germany, settled
at Walmer. They came over in 1875, and were
received and housed by their sisters at West-
bury whilst negotiations were being carried on
for their settlement in England. They have
succeeded well in this country, have a flourishing
boarding school, and they have done much to
spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart in this
country. They have in England the charge of
the Archconfraternity of the Guard of Honour of
the Sacred Heart.

THE END.