Marie de Sales Chappuis
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Marie de Sales Chappuis, VHM (16 June 1793 in
Soyhières Soyhières is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Delémont (district), Delémont in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Jura (canton), Jura in Switzerland. History Soyhières is first mentioned in 1102 as ''Souge ...
,
Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...
(now Jura),
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
– 7 October 1875 in
Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...
,
Aube Aube () is a French department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
) was a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
and a spiritual leader in the
Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary , image = Salesas-escut.gif , size = 175px , abbreviation = V.S.M. , nickname = Visitandines , motto = , formation = , founder = Saint Bishop Francis de ...
. She also co-founded the congregation of the
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales (Latin: ''Oblati Sancti Francisci Salesii'', O.S.F.S.) are a congregation of Roman Catholic priests and brothers who follow the teachings of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. The community was foun ...
along with Fr
Louis Brisson Louis Brisson, OSFS (23 June 1817 – 2 February 1908) was a French Roman Catholic priest and the founder of both the Oblate Sisters of Saint Francis de Sales and the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales. He founded the female branch alongside Lé ...
. The cause for her canonization was introduced at Rome in 1897. She has since been declared
Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...
.


Life


Childhood

Marie-Thérèse Chappuis was born in Soyhières, at that time in the Département du Mont-Terrible in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, on 16 June 1793, to innkeepers, Pierre-Joseph Chappuis (1752–1822) and Marie-Catherine Fleury (died 1837). Her father served in the Cent-Suisses, corps d'infanterie Suisse, attached to the personal guard of the king of France. Her mother was the daughter of François Fleury, Mayor of Soyhières and innkeeper of the village. She was also the niece of Joseph Fleury (1723–1812), the
curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
of Soyhières. Out of eleven children born of this union, seven entered religion life. As Marie-Thérèse appeared frail at birth, her mother wished her baptized, but due to the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
there was no priest in Soyhières. An uncle carried the newborn in a market basket two miles over the mountain to the village of Petit-Lucelle, outside the jurisdiction of Revolutionary forces. Marie-Thérèse received her sacrament of First Communion in 1802.Watrigant, Henri. "Venerable Mary de Sales Chappuis." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 May 2019
At the age of fourteen, she entered the Visitation Convent at
Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...
as an boarding student. She remained two years. Although the Visitandines were a cloistered order, the nuns provided an excellent education for girls at the schools attached to their monasteries.


Religious vows

In June 1811, she returned to the convent as a
postulant A postulant (from la, postulare, to ask) was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the p ...
, but left it again in three months after a severe bout of home sickness. Three years later she came back and received the religious habit on 3 June 1815. Marie-Thérèse took the religious name of Marie-Françoise de Sales at her profession on 9 June 1816. She steeped herself in the writings of St.
Francis de Sales Francis de Sales (french: François de Sales; it, Francesco di Sales; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to ...
and later exclaimed that she found everything she needed and wanted in his writings. From reading De Sales, Marie-Thérèse Chappuis came to see no necessary contradiction between the active and contemplative life. A year after taking her vows she was sent to
Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
, but reasons of health compelled her to return to Fribourg. At a relatively young age, she was appointed Novice Mistress at Fribourg. In 1826, she was elected superior of the monastery at
Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...
, where she initiated the practice of the "Spiritual Directory of St. Francis de Sales", which counseled living in the present moment and doing all that is pleasing to God.Pocetto O.S.F.S., Alexander T., "Mary de Sales Chappuis (1793-1875) Apostle of the Salesian Spirit", ''Salesianum'', vol. 71 (2009), pp. 321-340
/ref> In 1833, she spent six months in the second monastery in Paris, where she was superior (1838–44). Here, a Father Beaussier wished to establish clubs or meeting places for young men entering the work force, in order to provide a healthy Christian environment. Mother Chappuis assisted with material and financial resources. She set up similar places for young women in Troyes.


Foundress

As it became increasingly difficult to staff these facilities with only volunteers, Chappuis and Brisson decided to found a religious community.
Leonie Aviat Léonie Aviat (16 September 1844 – 10 January 1914), her religious name Françoise de Sales, was a Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-founder along with Louis Brisson of the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales . Aviat served o ...
, and Lucie Canuet, graduates of the Visitation School in Troyes, were the first candidates. The greater part of Chappuis' life was spent at Troyes, where she was elected superior eleven times, and where she celebrated, in 1866, the golden anniversary of her religious profession. While superior at Troyes, she encouraged the monastery chaplain, Louis Brisson to start a religious order of men to follow the spiritual legacy of
Francis de Sales Francis de Sales (french: François de Sales; it, Francesco di Sales; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to ...
. "What you are doing is, of course, very good, but what you are going to do will have much greater results.""Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis (1793-1875)", De Sales University
/ref> Chappuis became ill in September 1875 and died at the monastery of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Troyes on 7 October 1875.


Teaching

Mother Marie de Sales is celebrated chiefly for her zeal in spreading a certain kind of spirituality which she called "The Way" (La Voie). This is a reference to John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me." Her principal biographer,
Louis Brisson Louis Brisson, OSFS (23 June 1817 – 2 February 1908) was a French Roman Catholic priest and the founder of both the Oblate Sisters of Saint Francis de Sales and the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales. He founded the female branch alongside Lé ...
, who had been for thirty years confessor to the
Visitandines , image = Salesas-escut.gif , size = 175px , abbreviation = V.S.M. , nickname = Visitandines , motto = , formation = , founder = Saint Bishop Francis de ...
of Troyes, and was her spiritual director, writes that by this expression – ''La Voie'' – "she understood a state of soul which consisted in depending upon the actual will of God, relishing whatever was His good pleasure, and imitating the life of the Saviour externally".Brisson, Louis. ''Vie de la Vénérée Mère, Marie-de-Sales Chappuis'', Paris, 1886, p. 591 The English edition of her life (London, 1900), in translating this sentence, overlooks the word ''actuelle'' (actual): "What did the good Mother mean by this Word, 'The Way'? She meant a state of soul which consists in an entire dependence on the Will of God, by an interior consent to all that is according to His good pleasure, and an exterior imitation of our Saviour."Brisson, Louis. ''Life of the Venerable Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis'', London, 1900, p. 261


Veneration

The cause for her canonization was introduced at Rome in 1897.


References


Sources

* Pensées de la ven. Mère Marie de Sales (Paris, 1897); * FRAGNIÈRE, La Voie: sermon preached at Fribourg, 19 November 1897 (Paris, 1898); * WATRIGANT, Une nouvelle école de spiritualité in Etudes religieuses (Paris, June, 1899); * FRAGNIÈRE, Réponse au Rd. Watrigant et justification de la voie de charité de la vénérée Mère Marie de Sales Chappuis (Fribourg, 1900); * WATRIGANT, Les deux méthodes de spiritualité (Lille, 1900); * HAGEN, Die ehw. Mutter Marie von Sales Chappuis in Sendbote des gottlichen Herzens Jesu (Cincinnati, 1900); Méthodes de spiritualité in Ami du clergé (6 February 1902); * GORTET, Lettre sur les vies de la V. Mère Chappuis (12 January 1887), see Revue des sciences ecclésiastigues (Lille, September, 1900), 260; * CHOLLET, La cause de béatification de la Mère Marie de Sales Chappuis (on the decision concerning the Writings of the venerable mother) in the same review (July, 1902); * WATRIGANT, L'Ecole de la spiritualité simplifiée (Lille, 1903); * Il modernismo ascetico in Civiltà Cattolica (8 May 1908); * CHOLLET, L'ascétique moderniste in Questions ecclésiastiques (Lille, June, July, August, 1909). {{DEFAULTSORT:Chappuis, Marie de Sales 1793 births 1875 deaths 19th-century French nuns