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St. Jane de Chantal Salesian Center

Simple, yet powerful and life affirming, Salesian Spirituality is the foundation for all that is Visitation; it is our legacy from the Sisters. To safeguard and continue this incomparable way of life, Georgetown Visitation founded the St. Jane de Chantal Salesian Center in May 2016. The Center offers us the assurance of a permanent home for the tangible and intangible treasures of our school history and of the Sisters’ spiritual endowment for generations to come.

 

The Mission: To ensure that the Sisters’ gentle, inspired common sense approach to living a faith-filled life continues to endure, flourish, and guide all aspects of a Visitation education into our third century and beyond. The Center is built on four guiding pillars:

  • Faith Formation: The creation of a diverse portfolio of Salesian faith formation offerings to support our community’s understanding and embrace of Salesian Spirituality.
  • Leadership and Living Our Faith Through Service: Cultivating and energizing our students and alumnae to be leaders in the Church, the community, and the world through voice, witness, and deed—"Living Jesus" in all that they do.
  • Engagement Beyond the Green Gate: Developing a variety of communication platforms for sharing the inspired writings and teachings of St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane de Chantal, and the Sisters of the Visitation within and beyond our campus.
  • Preserving Our Past: Carefully preserving our archival documents, photographs, and objects that celebrate our 218-year history, and making our rich story and traditions accessible through multimedia.

To carry out this important work, our Director works collaboratively with the Sisters of the Visitation, Salesian Ministry, Campus Ministry, Christian Service, and Religion Departments to create meaningful ways for our lay community to be the hands and voice of our Salesian charism as we witness the Sisters’ beautiful way of Living Jesus.

The School Archivist & Historian leads the Center’s efforts to collect, conserve, display, and interpret a vast store of documents, photographs, art, and artifacts that chronicle the school’s and Sisters’ histories.

To be stewards of our school’s mission and leaders of our Salesian charism is a communal gift, a communal privilege, and a communal responsibility.

By the Numbers

Learn More
heart

2

religious co-founders:
St. Francis de Sales &
St. Jane de Chantal

lamp

221

years of history

pencil

4

Visitation schools
in the U.S.

give

2

Salesian camps:
VISTORY &
Salesian Leadership Camp

tree

23

acres of history

cross

1610

founding of the
Visitation Order

book

2

archives:
School & Monastery

gv

14

campus buildings
on National Register
of Historic Places

girls

3

"pious ladies"
founded Visi

4

Salesian Programming

Salesian Events

  • Founders' Day
  • Salesian Soup for the Soul
  • Pilgrimages to Annecy, France
  • VISTORY
  • Salesian Leadership Camp

Salesian Resources

An ever-expanding library of classic and contemporary Salesian Spirituality resources is available in the Salesian Center and St. Bernard Library to support our community's Salesian education and formation.

Additionally, the Sisters of the Visitation and DeSales Resource & Ministries, Inc. each sponsor a web presence for their charism and ministries.

  • "Visitation Spirit" - A online ministry of the Second Federation of the Visitation in the United States that promotes the spirituality of Sts. Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal.
  • Embraced by God - Resources for joyful living inspired by Sts. Francis and Jane.

St. Jane de Chantal Salesian Center Staff

Olivia Wills Kane '85
Director
olivia.kane@visi.org, ext. 2732

Susan Nalezyty, Ph.D.
School Archivist & Historian
susan.nalezyty@visi.org, ext. 2135

Salesian Spirituality 101

Salesian Spirituality is a universal, practical spirituality, appropriate for any person at any time. Fundamentally, it encourages us to trust in God’s loving providence as we walk through our days—and it provides common sense guidance on how best to do this.

Salesian Spirituality is the summation of the teachings of our spiritual co-founders, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal, who founded the Visitation Order more than 400 years ago in France. They recognized the importance of spiritual direction for lay people; this is the spirituality that Visitation teaches and models today.

Though Salesian Spirituality is centuries old, it is still highly relevant in the 21st century because it is based on knowledge of human nature. In addition to our relationship with God, it offers direction on how to navigate life’s relationships and challenges through simple ideas and small actions.

The Sisters have always lived Salesian Spirituality. Previously, students absorbed it through the presence of the Sisters in the classroom and around the school. Recently, the school and Monastery started discussing and teaching Salesian Spirituality in a very intentional way. Today, as lay leaders, our faculty and staff have assumed this responsibility and continue to nurture this spirituality that serves as our community’s foundation.

Read the full article (published Spring 2017) below.

Walking in the Footsteps of St. Jane and St. Francis - Salesian Pilgrimage



Our mission speaks to the importance of educating the mind and heart. We must plant the seeds as the lay community accepts the call to carry the spirit to those who have yet to encounter the Salesian Way. The St. Jane de Chantal Salesian Center makes this possible.

-Laurie Collins Quirk '74, English Department Chair & former Salesian Ministry Team Member