We Oblates of St. Francis de Sales were founded by a holy and zealous French priest, Father Louis Brisson, who was recently declared “Venerable” by Pope Benedict XVI. This means that the Church recognizes in Father Brisson someone who practiced “heroic virtue” during his lifetime In order to be beatified and given the title “Blessed,” he needs a miracle from God through his intercession. Please consider praying to God for a miracle through the prayerful intercession of Venerable Louis Brisson.

Prayer for the Beatification of Venerable Father Louis Brisson, OSFS

Lord Jesus who has told us, “Ask and you shall receive.” We address our prayer to You through the intercession of Your priest, Louis Brisson. Attentive to the signs of the times and in Obedience to Your will, he founded the double family of the Oblate Sisters and of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. Confident in Your providence and joyful in hope, he knew as a good father how to make himself all things to all people. Grant us, through his intercession, the favors which we ask of You. Especially… May Holy Church rejoice in glorifying this priest after Your own heart who gave himself totally to Your love.

Amen

The Venerable Louis Brisson (1817-1908)

Born in Plancy, in the Champagne region of France, on June 23, 1817, Louis Brisson was ordained a priest in the diocese of Troyes in 1840. Assigned to teach religion and sciences in the boarding school of the Visitation monastery, he was, himself, an ingenious inventor; among his works is an astronomic clock, one so accurate that it was later studied by NASA engineers. But Fr. Brisson's greatest work would be a divine invention! As chaplain to the Sisters of the Visitation monastery, Fr. Brisson encountered there the religious superior – Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis -- who would orchestrate the prelate's life work as founder of two religious institutes: the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales and the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. It was she who prevailed upon Fr. Brisson, after decades of discussions and 3 miraculous interventions, to establish the group of priests that St. Francis de Sales had intended to found centuries before. As director of the Catholic Association of St. Francis de Sales, Fr. Brisson established four boarding schools, where young female factory workers would be kept safe and would grow in their religious education. This work would lead to the foundation of the Oblate Sisters, with St. Leonie de Sales Aviat, in 1868. A year later, Fr. Brisson accepted the request by the bishop of Troyes to oversee the College Saint Bernard. This educational work led to the foundation of the Oblates in 1872. Personally and professionally, Fr. Brisson suffered the persecutions of the French Revolution, which forced the expulsion of his religious orders and the dissolution of their property. Still, his faith was unwavering: "If everything seems lost," he said, "and everyone has already surrendered his hope, the Lord will show His might and His influence. Then it will become clear to all that the decision lies only in His hands and we are capable of nothing." Fr. Brisson died on February 2, 1908. His mortal remains, along with those of St. Aviat, lie in the crypt of the motherhouse of the Oblate Sisters in Troyes. The process for his beatification was officially opened, in Troyes, in 1938; currently, this cause is under review in Rome.