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ICSS NEWSLETTER No. 8 March-April, 2001 SALESIAN STUDIES WORLD WIDE ________________________________________________________________ PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON SALESIAN STUDIES (ICSS) OF THE OBLATES OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES. ITS PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO DISSEMINATE ON A GLOBAL SCALE INFORMATION DEALING WITH SALESIAN STUDIES (ST. FRANCIS DE SALES; ST. JANE DE CHANTAL; FR. BRISSON, THE FOUNDER OF THE OBLATES;THE OBLATES OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES,THE OBLATE SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES; THE VISITATION OF HOLY MARY AND OTHER RELIGIOUS AND LAY INSTITUTES WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE SALESIAN FAMILY.) ________________________________________________________________ Editor: Alexander Pocetto, OSFS E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (610) 282-2059 _______________________________________ St. Frances de Sales Aviat! There will be great rejoicing in the Oblate family on Sunday, November 25th when Léonie Aviat, (1844-1914) the co-foundress with Fr. Brisson of the Oblate 1 Sisters of St. Francis de Sales, will be canonized and known as Sainte Françoise de Sales Aviat. Her feast day will be on January 10th. The founding of the Oblates Sisters came about from both a specific apostolic need and the desire to disseminate Salesian spirituality. Fr. Brisson found it difficult to find competent, reliable and dedicated women to manage the shelters that he established for young working women in Troyes and other cities where the industrial revolution was exploiting them and seriously endangering their spiritual lives. Moreover, he was very familiar with St. Francis de Sales' original vision for the Visitation, viz., of combining the contemplative life with some outreach to the poor and the sick, especially women. So his desire was to found a congregation of religious women imbued with Salesian spirituality who would, in a very real sense, be the apostolic arm of the Visitation nuns. The social justice work of the Oblate Sisters under the inspiration and leadership of Fr. Brisson anticipated Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum by almost 30 years. At the young age of 22, along with one of her classmates of the Visitation boarding school in Troyes, Léonie Aviat decided to take a big risk by dedicating her life to a religious congregation that was not yet founded. She and her companion, Lucie Canuet, the future Sr. Jeanne-Marie, did their novitiate at the Visitation of Troyes under the guidance of Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis. It's interesting to note the pivotal role that the Visitation played in the foundation of both the Oblate Sisters and the Oblates. Mother Aviat's canonization is being formally recognized by De Sales University in naming its new student residence Aviat Hall. To learn more about the saintly life of Mother Aviat , read To Forget Myself Entirely: Léonie Aviat, Mère Françoise de Sales by Marie-Aimée D'Esmauges available from the Oblate Sisters, 399 Childs Rd., Childs, MD 21916. Fax: (410)398-5801. 50th Anniversary On March 17th, the Oblate Sisters celebrated 50 years in the United States. At the special Mass held at their community in Childs, Maryland, the preacher, Fr. John Brennan, OSFS, recalled the history of their arrival and the various apostolates in which the Sisters are engaged. He noted that two of the three pioneers, Sr. Jane Stanislaus and Sr. Mary Bertha, were in attendance. In his homily, Fr. Brennan paid tribute to the Sisters: "Over these last fifty years, our Sisters have given a witness that is authentically religious and genuinely Salesian. They are straight shooters. They do not have to apologize to anyone for who they are or how they live." The ICSS joins in congratulating the Sisters and to wish them God's continued blessings on all of their endeavors. 2 Research on Collaborative Ministry Fr. Joseph Di Mauro, OSFS, Assistant Professor of Education at De Sales University, recently completed a doctoral dissertation at Temple University on "Lay Vice Principals' Enactment of the Philosophy of Education of a Religious Order of Men." He studied lay collaborators' knowledge, understanding and appropriation of the Salesian philosophy of Education in two schools administered by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. Three lay groups in these schools were surveyed on the principal themes of Salesian education: 1) Salesian spirituality, 2) Salesian principles of leadership, 3) the imitation of Christ ("Live Jesus"), and 4) the motivation of others to live the Salesian lifestyle. Lay faculty, staff and vice-principals were asked about their level of understanding of these principles, and the first two groups were asked about their perceptions of how the lay principals understood and modeled the Salesian philosophy of education. Not surprisingly, the results indicated that our lay collaborators, especially in leadership positions needed more formal, on-going education and formation in order to effectively implement and model the Salesian philosophy of education. Fr. Di Mauro recommends in his study a weekend retreat away from the school having as its theme the Salesian philosophy of education. It is his belief that many other religious orders experience the same problem of transmitting their charism to their lay collaborators. His study is particularly valuable because it can provide "a model for the construction of an instrument of assessment and evaluation of key personnel's knowledge and understanding of the mission and philosophy of an organization." The ICSS was happy to be able to give some small financial assistance for the completion of this research project and congratulates Fr. Di Mauro on obtaining his doctorate. For further information, contact Fr. Di Mauro at: [email protected]. ICSS Website This site has been recently reorganized and given a face lift, thanks to the resources generously provided by De Sales University. Some of the newer items include the latest Generalate Newsletter in which Fr. Lewis Fiorelli, OSFS, presents the first installment of an insightful article on "Spiritual Direction: A Salesian Perspective." You will also find an article by Sr. Mary Patricia, VHM, Archivist of the Visitation monastery of Annecy, on "Trois Lettres Inédites de Saint François de Sales à Antoine Favre, Premier Président du Souverain Sénat du Savoie" ("Three Unpublished Letters of St. Francis de Sales to Antoine Favre, First President of the Sovereign Senate of Savoy"). There is also an English translation of this article done by Fr. Pocetto, OSFS. You might find the third letter of particular interest because it shows an unusual sterner side of Francis' personality. Through the very fine work of Fr. Larry van der Raadt, 3 OSFS, we now have nos. 6 and 7 of the ICSS Newsletter translated into Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. The easiest way to access the site is to go to : www.desales.edu. For the ICSS site, click on "Salesian Studies World Wide" and then on "Salesian Resources." Argentina A young priest, Fr. Marcelo Falcón, of the diocese of Buenos Aires, became interested in St. Francis de Sales when he read the Introduction to a Devout Life in the seminary. After a few years of very active pastoral work, he realized that a profound study of a spiritual author would make his pastoral work all the more effective. He convinced his Archbishop to assign him to a smaller parish where he could work on a Master's degree and decided to delve into some aspect of Salesian spirituality. He is currently thinking of doing something in the area of the saint's Christocentricism. The ICSS has been able to offer him some assistance by sending him articles in various languages on this topic and Fr. James Finnegan's doctoral thesis. Fr. Falcòn came into contact with the ICSS through its website. This is just another indication of how far reaching the Internet is. We wish Fr. Falcòn every success in his studies and pastoral ministry. His email address is: [email protected]. OSFS Europe Frs. Michel Tournade, OSFS, Provincial of the French Province and Ennio DiGiampasquale, OSFS, of the ItaIian Province, have extended an invitation to all European Oblates to come together at Villa Altieri in Albano, Italy for several days of prayer and reflection from June 3-7. Among the discussion leaders will be Fr. Lewis Fiorelli, OSFS, Superior General, and confrères of the French and Italian Provinces. Those interested in attending should contact Fr. Tournade by email: [email protected]. France With the editorial and scholarly assistance of Fr. Roger Balducelli, OSFS, Fr. Jean Gayet, OSFS, is continuing the important work of putting the writings of Fr. Brisson on a CD-ROM. This should make research on Fr. Brisson's writings much easier. Fr. Balducelli has just completed writing a monogram on the spirituality of Fr. Brisson. The ICSS would like to make this work readily available in both the original French as well as in English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. The archivist of the Annecy Visitation, Sr. Mary Pat, VHM, is putting the finishing touches on a biography of Mother Françoise-Madeleine de Chaugy, the first biographer of St. Jane de Chantal. The publishing house of Tèqui is reprinting the life of St. Jane by the Vicomte du Jeu. The Proceedings of the 4 Conference on the Visitation ("Actes du colloque sur la Visitation"), held in Annecy in 1999 and will be published by CERCOR at the University of St. Etienne. Les échanges salésiens will be held again this year at Annecy-le-Vieux from July 16 - 20. The theme will be "Holy Indifference" with an in-depth study of Book IX of the Treatise. For further information, contact: M. Marc Boutantin. 28 rue de la Gare, 67118 Geispolsheim, France. One of the active participants of Les échanges salésiens is M. Phillipe LeGros, who sucessfully defended his doctoral thesis in January, 2000 on "François de Sales - l'imaginaire de l'écriture: Études des représentations visuelles dans l'Introduction à la vie dévote et le Traité de l'amour de Dieu" (Francis de Sales - - Imaginative Writing: A Study of the Visual Imagery in the Introduction to a Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God) at l'Université de Haute-Alsace Mulhouse.