Blessed Louis Brisson was born in Plancy, France in 1817. Early in his youth, he felt a call to the priesthood and entered the seminary to pursue this dream. After his Ordination to the Priesthood in 1840, Fr. Brisson taught in the Seminary and became the chaplain of the Visitation Sisters. Saint Leonie Aviat was born in Sezanne, in the region of Champagne, France.
She attended the Visitation School in Troyes, where Mother Marie de Sales Chappuis and Father Louis Brisson exerted a profound influence on her. Having thus been formed at the school of St. Francis de Sales, she prepared herself for the mission with which she was to be entrusted: the foundation of a congregation committed to Salesian spirituality and to the evangelization of young workers.
Father Brisson, a zealous apostle, had opened, in 1858, a center where he would welcome young girls working in the mills. He decided, under God's inspiration, to establish a religious congregation to direct this important work. He found in Leonie Aviat an incomparable co-worker and a zealous apostle, like himself. The Congregation of the Oblate Sisters was started by Father Brisson along with Saint Léonie Aviat in 1866.
Léonie, who had earlier felt an attraction toward the contemplative life of the Visitation Order, was affected by the plight of young factory workers and felt herself called to the active apostolate. Thus the new congregation of the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales came to be founded. The congregation placed itself under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales, and identified completely with the spirituality and the educational principles of the holy Bishop of Geneva.
In 1868, the young foundress received, together with the religious habit, the significant name of Sister Frances de Sales. She made profession of vows on October 11, 1871. In 1872, she became the first Superior General of the Institute.
Under their guidance, the community grew in numbers, the social apostolate unfolded and girls' schools were opened. In Paris, the first residence for young ladies was started. Thus, the apostolate of the Oblate Sisters extended to the different classes of society and to diverse forms of education.
Like all founders, Fr. Brisson and Mother Aviat experienced suffering and privation. In the early 1900s, France passed laws of secularization which caused the community to be stripped of all its properties and to leave France. Fr. Brisson was able to remain in Plancy at his family home where he died on February 2 1908. Louis Brisson was beatified on
Mother Aviat and many of our Sisters had to leave France. Our Motherhouse was reestablished in Perugia, Italy. Although the French government worked to suppress religious orders, our works flourished in France and elsewhere thanks to the dedication of our Sisters and many generous benefactors.
On January 10, 1914 Saint Léonie Aviat died in Perugia after entrusting herself totally to God. To her last breath, she remained faithful to the resolution she had taken at the time of her profession: "To forget myself entirely." To her daughters she left, for all time, the very Salesian precept: "Let us work for the happiness of others." She was beatified in 1992 and canonized on November 25, 2001.