Leonie Aviat

Leonie Aviat (1844-1914)

The holy Leonie (Frances de Sales) Aviat (* 16th September 1844 in Sézanne ; † 10. January 1914 in Perugia ), nun, founded with Louis Brisson , the Oblate Sisters of St.. Francis de Sales .

Life

Leonie Aviat was born on September 16, 1844 in Sézanne. As a 11-year-old she came to the school of the Holy Francis founded the Sisters of the Visitation of Troyes . There she met Maria Salesia Chappuis , the superior of the monastery, and Louis Brisson , the monastery spiritual and teacher of science, literature and religion. These three personalities - Francis de Sales, Maria Salesia Chappuis and Louis Brisson - were to have a decisive influence on their future lives.

In 1864, Leonie Aviat picked up glasses for her mother in a glasses factory in her hometown of Sézanne. This inconspicuous event was the hour of birth of her religious life. In the 19th century, industrialization gave rise to factories all over France , in which young women worked under very poor conditions. After visiting the eyewear factory, she felt that she had to help these women. So she went to Louis Brisson and told him about her wish. He was enthusiastic because he had similar ideas, namely to offer the young women workers who came from the country to the city decent accommodation and religious education so that they would not get lost.

On April 11, 1866, Leonie Aviat came to the house for young workers, called "Les Terrasses", to take over the management of the house. Two years later, together with Louis Brisson, she founded the Order of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and began the novitiate on October 30, 1886. Her teacher, who introduced her to the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, was Maria Salesia Chappuis. Indeed, Salesian spirituality should form the basis of the new religious community. Then, on October 11, 1871, she promised to lead a life of poverty, celibacy and obedience as the Oblate of St. Francis de Sales. In adoration of St. Francis de Sales, she adopted the new order name "Franziska Salesia". Their motto was: “M'oublier entièrement” (“To completely forget myself”) in order to become “a little instrument of God”. On September 20, 1872, she was unanimously elected as the Congregation's first general superior. She held this office until 1879. In 1880 she moved to a monastery in Paris to put the finances in order. In 1884 she returned to Troyes and was re-elected Superior General in 1893.

At the end of the 19th century, the new religious community had spread beyond France to Switzerland, Italy, Austria and England. The mission was pursued in South Africa and Latin America .

In the course of the complete secularization of France at the beginning of the 20th century, the secularization of the religious houses and the expulsion of the inmates began. In 1904 the Oblates had to leave France. They went into exile in Perugia in Italy . Leonie Franziska Salesia Aviat died there on January 10, 1914 of pneumonia.

On April 9, 1961, her body was moved from Perugia to Troyes in the St. Gille crypt of the Convent of the Oblates of St. Francis of Sales surrenders. On April 11, 1961, in the course of her beatification process, the coffin is opened and the integrity of her body is determined. Her body still rests in the St. Gille crypt today.

Remembrance day

Painting by Leonie Aviat as a religious

Remembrance day: January 10th

On September 27, 1992, Leonie Frances de Sales Aviat by Pope John Paul II. Blessed and on 25 November 2001 canonized .

Picture gallery

• Picture gallery about Léonie Franziska Salesia Aviat

literature

• Marie-Aimée d'Esmauges: Leonie Aviat, blessed Franziska-Salesia, 1844–1914: The founder of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales . Franz-Sales-Verlag, Eichstätt 1993. ISBN 3-7721-0149-6 .

Web links

• Leonie Aviat in the Franz von Sales Lexicon of the Oblates of St. Franz von Sales (German-speaking province)
• Leonie Aviat on the pages of the Oblates of St. Franz von Sales in Linz
• Pedigree of the Salesian Family