Monastery of The Visitation at Voiron

Monastery of The Visitation at Troyes

Posted in Diocese of Grenoble-Vienne, Ecclesiastical province of Lyon, Visitation

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The History of our monastery

The Visitation convent of Notre Dame du May, part of the Order of the Visitation nuns, was planted in Dauphiné soil on June 15th 1834 at Voiron, on the hillock of May and became the 194th monastery of our Order. It may be said that Notre Dame du May is part of a long history of hope and bloodshed, of fidelity and love: as a result of the French Revolution, the Order went from 128 to 0 houses in France. But nothing can stop the living sap of the love of God.

The monastery today

Our Monastery of the Visitation of Voiron is the result of the determination of a former “guillotine chaplain” Mgr de Bruillart who became Bishop of Grenoble. He had risked his life many times carrying out this underground ministry in Paris in 1794. Wishing to found his diocese on the prayers of the Visitation Sisters, following the closure of the two Visitation convents of Grenoble at the time of the Revolution, with the help of Mademoiselle de Jussieu he acquired a property in Voiron, a 16th century residence which had belonged to the Lord of May. Who was to be Mother Superior? He entrusted the foundation of Voiron to Mother Marie-Laurence who was Superior of the young community of La Côte St André.

Special features of our monastery

Notre Dame du May has always taken an active part in the life of Voiron and the surrounding neighbourhood, sharing the sorrows and joys of the local people. Page after page of the of the Community Records bear witness during the first and second World Wars. The local people gave their support to the community during their exile in Spain in 1904 and upon their return in 1908. Since that time, the laity, the local church and our community all interact. Living God’s Visitation of our world, in the image of the Virgin Mary, gives meaning to our life of prayer and communal life. It is a page of the Gospel that the Sisters of May can live with everybody.

Yes, “we bear witness to the fact that God never stops visiting His people”.

6 propositions de retraites spirituelles accompagnées selon la spiritualité de Saint François de Sales, en France, Belgique et Suisse. Deux monastères accueillent en France cette retraite cet été – Voir les News.