SALESIAN LITERATURE

INTRODUCING SALESIAN SPIRITUALITY

A Formation Guide for Administrators, Faculty, and Staff in Visitation Schools

Compiled by the Visitation Salesian Network National Committee, In gratitude to the Visitation Sisters of Holy Mary and other Salesian colleagues

The National Visitation Salesian Network (VSN) created this guide to provide a tool for those who join our Visitation school community. Its purpose is to offer background information about Salesian Spirituality and the historical roots of the Visitation Order in France and in America so that faculty and staff may come to understand and to give life to the spirit of the school. It is our prayer that you find the contents of this manual spiritually beneficial both personally and professionally.

Original Document published 2007 Fsirst Revision, November 2010 Second Revision, April 2014 Adapted by Georgetown Visitation St. Jane de Chantal Salesian Center, September 2017


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Table of Contents


  1. The Formation Guide - Purpose and Use

  2. Spirituality and the Visitation Charism.

  • Spirituality

  • Salesian Spirituality: An Overview . . .

  • The Visitation Charism

o Live Jesus

o Prayer

o The Visitation

o Humility and Gentleness

o A Community of Faith

o Liberty of Spirit

o Ministry of Education: Sharing the Charism

o Love

  • Summary: The Visitation Charism Illustrated as the Spokes of a Wheel

  • Characteristics of Catholic Salesian Education

  • The Visitation Philosophy of Education

  • Practicing Ways to Live Jesus in Daily Life

  1. Six Major Themes in Salesian Spirituality

  2. The Inspiration of Jane de Chantal and Francis de Sales

  3. Biographical Information of Jane Francis Fremyot de Chantal and Francis de Sales

  4. Foundation of the Visitation Order in Annecy, France, 1610

  5. The Visitation Order in the United States

  6. Visitation Monasteries

  7. The Broader Salesian Family - Establishment and Expansion of the Order of the Visitation

  8. Portrait of a Salesian Leader

  9. Visitation Schools’ Mission Statements, Logos, and Graduate Portraits

  10. Prayers

  11. Visitation and Other Salesian Feast Days

  12. The Visitation Salesian Network (VSN)

  13. Assessment - A Process for Visitation Schools in the United States