St. Francisca Salesia

  Posted on January 13, 2019  by admin  No comments

Born: 16 September 1844 at Sezanne, France as Leonia Aviat

Died: 10 January 1914 at Perugia, Italy of natural causes

Canonized: 25 November 2001 by Pope John Paul II, her canonization miracle involved the healing of the paralyzing spinal disease of a 14 year old girl from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Daughter of Theodore Aviat, a shopkeeper, and Emilie Caillot. Baptized 17 September 1844; Confirmed on 2 July 1856. Educated at the Visitation School in Troyes, France from age eleven to sixteen. With Father Louis Brisson and Mother Marie Therese de Sales Chappuis, she founded the Sister Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales in Troyes, dedicated to helping young women who poured into the cities during the Industrial Revolution.

She took the Salesian Rule for the congregation. She entered religious life on 11 April 1866, took the veil on 30 October 1868, taking the name Sister Frances de Sales, and made her final vows on 11 October 1871. Superior of the Institute in 1872. Opened homes and schools for working class girls. Exiled from France on 11 April 1904 due to religious persecution and anti-religious legislation. She rebuilt her congregation from Perugia, Italy, and the Order was approved by Pope Saint Pius X in 1911.