St Pius X and the Visitation Order
FROM VENICE TO TREVISO
On 24 November 1894 Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto was appointed Patriarch of Venice, who was born on 5 April 1814 in Riese (now the town is called “Riese Pio X”) in the Treviso area.
As soon as he arrived in Venice, Cardinal Sarto wanted to show “his predilection for the Visitandine monastery, reserving for himself the office of spiritual father”.
However, he also took to heart the survival of the Monastery itself since the state had decided to suppress it.
At the death of Pope Leo XIII, Cardinal Sarto went to Rome for the election of the new Pope. The Conclave, which is the body composed of the cardinal delegates responsible for electing the Pope, designated as successor of Pope Leo the Patriarch of Venice, Giuseppe Sarto, who took the name of Pius X, it was the year 1903.
Also from Rome Pope Sarto took an interest in the Monastery of Venice, now close to being requisitioned, and in 1908, through priests of Treviso, he bought a piece of land, called the “Courts”, “in the parish of S. Maria del Rovere. This was precisely desired and almost commanded by this great Pontiff.” The Pope himself asked in his manuscript that the monastery be built “immediately quietly”.
Pope Sarto had lived for a period in the seminary of Treviso and certainly knew the names of the areas of the city and, therefore, also the one called “alle Corti”. Moreover, he knew that a part of the Courts was once also called “alle mòneghe”, a dialectal term that means “nuns”. What do you know, on the part of the Pope, therefore, a deliberate choice to erect the convent of the Visitandine of Treviso in the place called “alle mòneghe” and “alle corti”, in reference to “the nuns” and “to the Court” French?
On January 14, 1909, the contract for the purchase of the land was signed and “in August the first stone was laid… The entrepreneur and master builder Giuseppe Conte “began work almost immediately.
And finally on March 26, 1913 the first Sisters were able to enter the new Cloistered Monastery at the Courts. Last to arrive at the new house was “our Mother who had crossed the boundaries of the monastery holding the heart of our holy Founder, who could not leave his hands”.
To welcome them with faith and affection they found Monsignor G. Longhin, the Bishop of Treviso.
The long history of three centuries of wanderings had come to an end!
CONCLUSIONS
Longhin at the end of his text writes these reflections: “The church of Treviso can be holy proud of having given hospitality to such a famous religious family … Our Visitandines possess a treasure, which the whole Catholic world envies us: the intact and incorrupt heart of that great, admirable, sympathetic Saint who is St. Francis de Sales to whom the whole city and the diocese of Treviso feel bound …May God grant that the new pages of history that will record the monastery of the Visitation of Santa Maria “le Corti” which with the curious resemblance of the name recalls the dear memory of Bellecour are radiant pages of pure and holy light …”.
John Paul II expressed himself this way about those who are called to the cloistered life: “They have chosen the best part, that of prayer, silence, contemplation, the exclusive love of God, total dedication to his service. The Pope and the Church need you…”
Source: https://www.parrocchiasanpelagio.it/il-cuore-di-san…/