Founders' Day! October 12th — Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

Celebrating Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS

On October 12, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales celebrate Founders’ Day, a day in which we remember the first Oblates beginning their novitiate. On this day in 1873, Bishop Ravinet of Troyes, France, presented the Oblate religious habit to Fathers Brisson, Gilbert, Rollin, Lambert, Lambey, and Perrot as they began their novitiate. Thus, this was the day that the congregation of Oblates of St. Francis de Sales began! This day is also the Feast of Father Brisson, as declared at his Beatification.

When he was a diocesan priest, Father Brisson was assigned as chaplain to the monastery of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Troyes. Mother Marie de Sales Chappuis, Superior, was convinced that it was the will of God that their humble chaplain start a religious congregation of men to follow the spiritual legacy of Saint Francis de Sales. Brisson responded and founded the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, a congregation dedicated to spreading the optimistic, inspired-common-sense wisdom of Saint Francis de Sales in a variety of ministries and apostolates in 1875. Father Brisson was beatified, at the authorization of Pope Benedict XVI, in 2012, in Troyes, France. The cause for his canonization remains active.

Oblates share their quotes from Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS

Fr. Barry R. Strong, OSFS, Superior General
- “The Congregation of the Oblates today is you. Within ten years, the Congregation will still be you... in a hundred years, in two hundred years, if it still exists, it will be you, yourselves. Understand that well. It is a heritage that you have received and that you will pass along to others: let it not deteriorate in your hands!” (First Instruction, General Retreat 1894)
  This is what Blessed Brisson told the early Oblates to make sure we would all understand our shared responsibility!
Fr. Paul Colloton, OSFS, Superior, Oblate Retirement Center
- “If we should love those who love us, how much more we should love those who come from other countries.” (Chapter 1896: 57)
- “Let us always be polite. Let us give everyone great respect because the proper respect for our neighbor is the basic rule of love.” (Chapter 1888: 38)
- “Let us remain with one another bound with a bond of love. Be of one heart and soul.” (Chapter 1891: 4)
- “Let us love one another! Let us be considerate toward another’s personality, toward the circumstances in which he lives, toward those who work with you whom you find repugnant. Put all that into the refining oven, into the chemical retort as Saint Francis de Sales stressed.” (Chapter 1897: 48-50)
Fr. Thomas Dailey, OSFS, John Cardinal Foley Chair of Homiletics & Social Communication, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary
- “‘Cheer up.' For us (Oblates), this expression should carry great weight because in the mind of Saint Francis de Sales it really meant something - it meant a lot. 'Cheer up.' After all, it's courage, the right kind of courage that will be your prop always and in every circumstance, and it's a real test of strength of mind. It takes a lot of courage to keep up a solid front, hard work, and good judgment on an even keel... Just as yesterday I told you that we must do our work passionately well, so today, I would tell you to 'cheer up' in every phase of your life. And this sort of courage will be proof that you are a real Oblate of St. Francis de Sales." (Retreat Instruction, August 19, 1890)
Fr. Mike Newman, OSFS
- "It is never what we do that obtains grace, it is the disposition with which we do it." (Chapter to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales December 28, 1887)
  This saying is a reminder to me that nearly anything we do can be done for the glory of God, or done in the presence of God. Brisson reminds me that any action, when I do it for love of God, is a holy action; that is, an action 'that obtains grace.' When I have the disposition to remember God is with me at all times then all parts of our days can be holy and lived in the presence of God.
- My second favorite quotes are on prayer. I like them because they are so practical!
  "We define prayer as a conversation of the soul with God, an intimate talk with God about our needs, about our personal affairs, and about the affairs of others when we have them in our care. This type of prayer unites us intimately with God." (Chapter to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales May 16, 1894)
  "To pray or meditate is to treat of our own affairs with God; it is we talking simply and affectionately about them. And not only about spiritual affairs -about everything." (Chapter to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales May 16, 1894)
Fr. Dave Whalen, OSFS, Priest-Assistant, St. Pius X Parish
- “If God graces you from His great abundance, then profit from it. But if you remain dry, dry as a piece of wood, then just say, ‘Lord, here is a piece of wood, please wrap your arms around it.’”