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Leonie Aviat
Mother Frances de Sales
The Foundress
of the
Congregation of Oblate Sisters
of
Saint Francis de Sales
Leonie Aviat
was born on the 16th of September 1844, at Sezanne, in
France. She was baptized on the following day. Her parents,
Theodore Aviat and Emilie Caillot, were honest
shopkeepers.
At the age of
11, Leonie went as a boarder to the Convent School of the
Visitation at Troyes. Already God was preparing her for the
work He had in store for her. At that time, Mother Marie de
Sales Chappuis was the Superior of the Monastery and Father
Brisson, its Chaplain. Instructed and inspired by these two
great servants of God, Leonie made her First Holy Communion
and received Confirmation on the 2nd of July, 1856, at the
hands of Bishop Coeur of Troyes.
During her five
years at the Visitation, she developed her human and
intellectual qualities; under the guidance of Mother
Chappuis, she opened her heart to the splender of God's
grace.
Mother Chappuis
was remarkable in that she foresaw the social problems of
the time. Among the friends of the Convent, she found
benefactors for Fr. Brisson's undertaking in favor of
working girls. Father Brisson was a very active priest,
ready to welcome everybody, thanks to his understanding and
charity. Yet in all of his different activities, he was a
great contemplative: "I need God. It's a hunger that devours
me..." he wrote in his notebook.
In this school,
where a living faith and the love of God reigned, Leonie was
brought up to become, with Father Brisson, the Foundress of
the Congregation of the OblateSisters of St.Francis de
Sales, assisting him in his venture on behalf of young
working girls.
Before leaving
school at 16, she realized that she had a religious
vocation. She consulted with Mother Chappuis who said to
her: "What God is preparing for you is not yet ready; let
Him work in you... and always do His Holy Will."
On returning to
Sezanne, she found that her parents wished her to complete
her preparation for life, with marriage in view. She was
introduced to a wealthy young man whom her family found very
suitable. For the first time in her life, however, Leonie
was not of the same mind as her father, she wanted to become
a religious. Her father's opposition was strong:
"Leonie would
have to wait until she was 21. In the course of those
waiting years, her specific vocation was decided by an
insignificant incident. One day she entered the workshop of
young working girls at the optical factory at Sezanne. This
contact immediately awoke in her an ardent desire to give
herself entirely to the apostolate and betterment of young
working girls. God put this eager attraction in her heart as
the spark that was to make her the Foundress of the Oblate
Sisters of St. Francis de Sales."
Towards the
middle of the 19th century, there was a rapid expansion of
the textile industry in Troyes and therefore a need for
female workers. Droves of young country girls came to the
town in search of adventure. They had no money, nowhere to
live and were thus exposed to serious dangers of immorality.
With a remarkable intuition for overcoming obstacles, Father
Brisson took those girls in his care. He acquired a
building, offering board and lodging and evn work onthe
premises, to a number of young workers. He trained a group
of volunteers, but no matter how devoted they were, the
undertaking lacked stability. It was not only necessary to
feed the girls, but also to educate them in their faith and
guard the in their faith and guard the against moral danger.
God had foreseen that need and He sent someone with the same
charisma: Leonie Aviat. She was gifted with a creative
intelligence and a spirit of initiative.
When Leonie was
22 years old, she made a spiritual retreat at the
Visitation, in order to reach a definite decision.
Conversant with her interior life, her generosity, her gift
for organization and her ability to understand souls and
situations, Father Brisson sought her collaboration.
In agreement
with her two spiritual Directors, she did not return home,
but took over as her responsibility the foundation for
working girls- from then on, known as "Oeuvre, Ouvriere."
This was on the 18th April 1866.
On the 30th
October 1868, with one of her former boarding school
companions, she received the habit of the new congregation,
from the hands of Bishop Mermillod of Geneva. He also gave
her a new name: Sister Frances de Sales. By accepting her
new name, she undertook a way of life that she was to
fulfill perfectly. Father Brisson said to her, "We have a
great responsibility in this work, and on you is going to
depend the fulfillment of the hopes based on it.
On the 11th
October 1871, she made her religious profession in the
presence of 'Bishop de Segur'. Her resolution was "Forget
myself entirely." She was to confirm this resolution later
on by these words: "May my dedication be so complete and
entire, O my God, that my happiness may to sacrifice
everything for You..."
The "Oeuvre,
Ouvriere" spread out, opening numerous youth clubs and
flourishing family homes. There the girls can be educated in
their faith while receiving a practical training. The
atmosphere of work and joyful sacrifice prepared them for
their adult life.
The burning
enthusiasm of Sister Frances de Sales was sustained by her
deep faith and the urge to give herself completely to
others.
"O, yes," she
used to say, "let us work for the happiness of others."
"It's out of
love for God that I am a religious and, being a religious, I
am the smallest servant of God; in serving others and in
bearing with them, I do the work my Lord and Master
entrusted to me."
Mother Aviat
became a worker with the workers. She communicated with them
the desire to do their work well, even for a minimum pay. In
any case, at the end of the week, after sorting out their
meager pay, each girl managed to put a few pence in the
savings bank created for them by Mother Aviat.
It was
marvelous to see those girls- some less than 12 years old-
become aware of the dignity of work and receive it as coming
from the fatherly hand of God and an instrument of
love.
How easy to
give the girls a Christian education and culture in such an
atmosphere of friendly loyalty! The choices of hobbies and
pursuits for the times of leisure were far ahead of their
time and comparable to the sociological methods of nowadays.
Those girls were conscious that their human potential was to
be envied and that it called for exacting standards on their
part.
If a girl was
ill, her work was distributed among the others and her
complete pay was given to her.
One day a girl
arrived in rages; the same evening she found on her bed a
small trouseau, a gift from one of the girls who had
prepared it for herself.
In another
instance, a poor woman in the neighborhood had not opened
her door for several days. A smell of death drew the
attention of a passer-by, but nobody would go into the
house. One of the young workers courageously asked a man to
force the door open. She entered the house. Upon finding the
woman dead, she arranged the body and put in order the hovel
in which it was lying. She was asked "But tell us, where did
you find the courage to do that?" With great simplicity, she
answered, "I am a girl from Fr.Brisson's Home. I must live
up to his expectations."
A Golden Legend
in the pure spirit of the Gospel could be written from many
other acts of this kind springing from the hearts of the
poorest. Thence grew the Factory Apostolate, i.e., the
apostolate from girl to girl. Father Brisson's annual
spiritual retreat gathered between 400 to 500 girls.
Father Brisson
has been right: Leonie Aviat, under the name of Mother
Frances de Sales, was the priceless auxiliary he had been
hoping for.
As he had a
gift to awaken in the wealthy a burst of generous charity-
equaling sometimes those of apostolic times- he took the
ungrateful role of provider, always finding the money to pay
the debts, accepting weariness, humiliations and spiteful
opposition to accomplish his mission.
With one
accord, the Founders added to their apostolate elementary
schools, the boarding schools for the daughters of the
middle and upper classes.
Having well
established the houses in Troyes, Mother Aviat went to Paris
to reorganize one of the boarding schools. Father Brisson
wished all classes of society to benefit from the spirit of
St. Francis de Sales, by the practice of his Spiritual
Directory. Indeed it can be used by lay people, as well as
by those in religious life.
Mother Aviat
was to stay eight years in Paris; it was a great sacrifice
for her to leave the "Oeuvre Ouvriere", the principal aim of
her vocation. It was a break in her life... How delicate
were her feelings, however, in her compliance to the Will of
God!
"Let us be
God's little tools and allow Him to use us according to his
wishes."
"Yes, my God,
yes! Always yes to your Divine Will."
The acceptance
of the Will of God goes hand in hand with her faithfulness
to live in the 'present moment.'
"Let us live in
the present moment to receive all the graces which it
brings."
"You must not
wish to live outside the 'actual moment.' It contains the
light that you must follow and the help necessary for each
circumstance."
In Paris, she
was as successful with the high society school girls as she
had been with the young workers. When, after her time there,
she came back to Troyes, Father Brisson was going through a
difficult time with the Ecclesiastical Aurthorities. This is
the fate of all Founders. During the four years, Mother
Aviat herself had to suffer misunderstandings from her
community. She then put into practice what she taught:
"The difficult
moments, so painful to our nature, take us nearer to our
Saviour."
"Treat all
obstacles as having been permitted by God. Let us establish
charity and trust in our heart, so that we, Sisters, may
practice what delights the Heart of God and obtains
everything."
"The spirit of
charity is acquired by practicing humility."
"Mother Frances
de Sales is above all an eminent model of perfect charity.
Her love is a wonder of strength and simplicity. How and why
was she able to have so much simplicity and nevertheless be
so strong? For her, strength and simplicity were the way of
love. 'It is charity' Saint Paul says, 'that we become tied
to perfection.' We have to look at the love alone before
considering in turn these two virtues, so apparent and
eminent in her, and so paradoxically interwoven." Card.
Garrone
In 1893, Mother
Aviat was re-elected Superior General, which she was to
remain until her death.
"At her time
when she took charge of her Congregation -once and for
all-it seemed to her she heard these words: 'You will be
Superior because I want to govern everything.' It was God
speaking. It is not possible to say in a more exact way
where she found the source of her simplicity. She depended
entirely on God in whom she found the source of her
strength. God used her as an instrument without resistance."
Card. Garrone
She gave a
solid base to the foundations in existence or those being
developed. There were already Missions established in South
Africa and others starting in Ecuador, (South America). In
Europe, her daughters were welcomed in Switzerland, Austria,
England, and Italy.
This was God's
permission in view of the terrible storm that was to hit
France when Religious Congregations would be scattered by
the spoilation of their possessions. These laws came into
force in 1903, In France, twenty-one well established
houses, four in the process of being organized, and six
where the Sisters worked in conjunction with the Oblate
Fathers were closed on the same day, to be handed over to
the liquidator. For the girls and for their families as
well, it was more than grief, it was a deep affliction.
Father Brisson, aged 87, could not go to live abroad; so he
returned to his family home at Plancy, whereas Mother Aviat
had to deal with the distressing situation. Thanks to the
example of her generosity, all her daughters trusted her
entirely. To save what they could from among the houses and
schools in France, she asked some of the Sisters the
sacrifice of wearing lay dress to continue their teaching
and thus avoid for the families the sorrow of being cruelly
forsaken. Others accepted to go to foreign countries. She
herself went into exile with her assistants. The Mother
House was transferred to Perugia. From now on, Italy was to
become her second homeland. From there she perfected the new
organization of her Institute, supporting the Sisters'
courage by her visits and her letters.
Her last and
greatest trial was the death of Father Brisson. On the 2nd
of February 1908, he died as the 'Nunc dimittis' was being
sung in his church at Plancy. By a moving coincidence, on
the same day the liquidator was putting up for the auction
the very bed on which was dying the kind priest who had
harboured so many unfortunate people.
A fortnight
before, as she was in her room at Perugia, Mother Aviat had
a supernatural foreboding that the Servant of God was near
his end, she wept. At that moment two of her assistants
entered the room. When she told them what she felt, they
tried to reassure her. "No" she insisted, "something is
happening to Father Brisson." At that very hour he was
receiving Extreme Unction. A short while later, a telegram
confirmed her painful premonition. Mother Frances de Sales
went immediately to receive his supreme blessing and his
last sigh. At his funeral, she had the sorrow of being lost
among the crowd without her religious habit, so as not to
draw attention to the apostolate she was trying to
save.
In this trial
she remained, the comforter for others: "Say 'yes' to the
divine Will, following Father Brisson's example."
"The cross
unites us to our Saviour; let us summon up all our courage
to bear it with confidence and trusting willingness."
She still had
six years of life in which to complete the Constitutions of
her Institute, with a view to their definite approbation.
His Holiness Pope Leo XIII had granted his approval for ten
years in 1890. It had been extended because of the events in
France. In her exile, Mother Aviat valued being near to Rome
and getting direct advice from the Sacred Congregation for
Religious. Father Brisson had communicated to her filial
love for the Pope; she complied with Holy Church's
teachings, for herself and for her Institute. In 1911, His
Holiness Pope Pius X gave their Constitutions the final
approbation.
The task of the
Foundress was fulfilled, God was going to call her, "to
reward her with the abundance of His love", as Saint Francis
de Sales promised in his Spiritual Directory, "to the souls
who have done all their actions in the name of God and for
His sole Pleasure."
After a short
illness (bronchial pneumonia), she died, comforted by the
blessing of Saint Pius X, on Saturday, 10th of January 1914.
An Oblate Father was there to administer Extreme Unction and
give her the last blessing. With fervor and peaceful
serenity, she said: "He is going to give me the last
Sacraments; I deeply desire to receive Holy Communion, and I
want to receive it now." After the anointing she again
expressed this burning wish.
Once she
received Our Lord, she began a long thanksgiving, probably
doing what she had often recommended to her daughters,
"Abandon yourself in total confidence to the divine Will."
Serene and peaceful was her agony. The priest suggested that
she unite her heart to the litany of the Blessed Virgin he
was going to recite. She then gave a beautiful smile, her
last... It was for Mary whom she had loved so much.
Very soon the
news of her death spread through the town of Perugia. People
flocked to the Mother House wishing to gaze for the last
time on her whom they called 'the Saint...'
Testimony was
given by the two Reverend Mothers who assisted Mother Aviat
during her long years at the head of the Congregation.
Mother
Pupey-Girard: "She was heroic, but with simplicity."
Mother de
Cissey: "Her love for our Lord was so ardent and her thirst
for perfection so great, that she was urged to spread it and
communicate it to those around her."
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