Saint 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 on two occasions as the Superior General for her order though in the interim period between the two terms had to grapple with the disrespect on the part of her two immediate successors. The nun's sole focus was on those seeking work while attempting to fuse work and faith as something inseparable that leads to greater living and working standards as a right and part of human dignities. Aviat was canonized on the 25th of November in 2001. Léonie Aviat was born in Sézanne on 16 September 1844 to shopkeepers Theodore Aviat and Emilie Caillot; she was baptized on 17 September in the local parish church. When she was eleven, she attended a convent school of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Troyes as a boarder. While attending the school, she was taught – and received spiritual guidance – from Marie de Sales Chappuis (the superior) and the chaplain Louis Brisson. Aviat received both her First Communion and her Confirmation from Bishop of Troyes, Pierre-Louis Coeur, on 2 July 1856. Both her parents wanted her to wed a certain rich man, and when Aviat announced her intention to become a religious, her father voiced his opposition. In 1866 she made a spiritual retreat for discernment regarding her future. She approached both Brisson and Chappuis who advised her to wait. This vocation solidified further when she visited one of the factories where glasses were made and repaired in Sézanne: the sight of the workman doing their jobs under their supervisor inspired her to be with them to counsel and guide them towards God while affirming the importance of their work. Brisson was concerned for the men and women who had moved from the rural areas to the industrialized cities to find work in factories and textile mills.