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The Order of the Visitation of Saint Mary (Ordo Visitationis Beatissimae Mariae Virginis, VSM) is a Religious Institute of contemplative life founded by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Joan Frances Frémyot de Chantal in 1610 in Annecy (Savoy, France). Our Order was approved by the Holy See on April 23, 1618 and erected as such by Paul V on October 16 of the same year. We are called to live the Holy Gospel by following the Evangelical Counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, with a spirit of profound humility towards the Lord and gentleness towards our neighbors, always attentive to renouncing the "old man" in order to live by the Divine Will. We are an Order of contemplative life and papal enclosure, whose nuns, called Visitandines or Salesians (in Spanish-speaking countries), have as their goal the constant union with God with a spirit that seeks only Him, independently of everything except divine approval; with a spirit of profound humility towards God and great gentleness towards others; with a spirit that does not put the emphasis on external austerities, these being supplemented by interior renunciation, with great simplicity and joy in common life.