The Reverend 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 three 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…This work would led 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…Fr. Brisson died on February 2, 1908.