Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary
On June 6, 1610, St. Jane Frances de Chantal and three other women took up a cloistered life in a small house in Annecy (Haute-Savoie, Rhône-Alpes), France. After a year's novitiate under the guidance of St. Francis de Sales, they took vows June 6, 1611. So began the Order of the Visitation, designed to attract women who wanted to devote their lives to God in communal humility, but without the harsh penances and age restrictions that prevented weaker and older women from entering other orders. This contemplative order eventually spread throughout Europe and the Americas, sometimes conducting girls' schools in their convents.
Information and image of the Visitation from the Annecy convent's former web site, visitationdannecy.free.fr, since moved to www.diocese-annecy.fr/haute-savoie/basilique-visitation.