For many in the Quad Cities, the Villa de Chantel in Rock Island was a mysterious old castle-like building tucked away and protected from the public eye. But for some of us, the Villa represented a powerful influence educationally, socially, and, in no small measure, spiritually.

The bulk of the Villa's history was as a convent for the Sisters of the Visitation, whose founder was St. Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, Switzerland (1567-1622). In the foreword by John B. Franz, bishop of Peoria, to Bells on Two Rivers (by Katherine Burten, who wrote a history of the Visitation Sisters in Rock Island), "St. Frances de Sales was learned in the liberal arts, in philosophy and theology, in canon and civil law - so saintly, so eminently practical that in our day, in this mid-20th Century, he is proclaimed the patron of journalists."

The Visitation Order was canonically erected by Pope Paul V in 1618 as a community of women "who were to lead a contemplative life and to visit the sick and the poor." That is why he called his institute the "Visitation. It was one of the few orders which since its beginning has received not only virgins, but also widows, aged, crippled, even the sick within its ranks."

The Visitandines are characterized by their Rule based on moderation and common sense, consisting of fasting and abstaining, strong interior mortification, obedience, and an emphasis on poverty ("even so small a thing as a rosary is exchanged by the Sisters each year").

While the mission of the Visitation Sisters was that of a contemplative life, the needs of the times demanded that the Sisters emerge from their cloistered ways and open their convents as schools for young ladies. The Sisters' discipline and deep love for our Lord made them ideal teachers, both academically and spiritually.

Founded in America directly from France in 1865 in Maysville, Kentucky, the Visitation Order was expanded to include Rock Island with the establishment of the Villa de Chantel in 1900 as a Catholic school for girls. The school was a boarding school until 1959, when costs became prohibitive and the nuns unanimously decided to revert back to a day school and devote their resources to its success.

It was as a day student that I attended the Villa for most of primary education. My younger sister Julie attended from kindergarten through her senior year, and hers was the last class to graduate from the Villa before it closed its school doors forever in 1974. We had a long line of aunts and cousins who also attended the Villa from kindergarten through 12th grade, as many of the students did. This legacy bred familiarity with the nuns, and created a unique connection between the convent, the church, and families.

In hindsight, I would have to say that the Villa's curriculum was one of the best, from strong academia and catechism to sports and etiquette, including an arduous arts focus that gave students a lot of hands-on experience with theatre, visual arts, music, and performance. I remember being one of the only little kids in my neighborhood who knew where various foreign countries and their capitals and major cities were located. The Villa was renowned for the exceptional and well-rounded education it provided.

I can also attest to the Sisters' success in cultivating a spiritual foundation that has served me to this day. Through all of life's trials and the terrible doubt that intrudes, my faith provides me with perseverance. My Catholic upbringing, thanks to the Sisters at the Villa, was one of devotion to God, truth, forgiveness, and the celebration of all life because it is God's most sanctified gift.

Finally, the bond of friendship that I formed with fellow students at the Villa has a special quality of endurance. Perhaps because classmates who were often best friends lived in different Quad Cities, the time to enjoy and interact with one another was mostly confined to school time. Plus, we had most of the same classmates from kindergarten all the way through our senior year. This provides a history of experience together that is rare and wonderful. This bond extended beyond classes to the entire student body, because we literally grew up together. Or perhaps it was the common mission we all shared that gave us purpose through the years, crossing all class ranks and age barriers: Get into the cloistered area of the convent where the nuns lived!

It was strictly off-limits for students to be in the convent area that provided the nuns' living quarters. "Off limits" is putting it mildly. It was the taboo of all taboos to even attempt to contaminate their domain with our childish, unwelcome presence. This forbidden fruit was a looming, ever-present shadow of mystery and intrigue that made sneaking in an absolute must.

I can honestly say, however, that I do not know of a single student who made it in and lived to tell about it. And as hard as we tried, there wasn't a trick, plan, or plot that those nuns hadn't seen. For all our bravado and confidence that we would be the ones to crack the security that protected that part of the convent against our devious little schemes, we were seriously outgunned.

Last week's tragic fire that destroyed the Villa de Chantel's structure is very sad for many of us. Even though our school days have long passed, and the Sisters of the Visitation no longer reside there, the Villa stood as a reminder of a way of life, an integration of principles and values, both academic and spiritual. In many ways, those years at the Villa provided enormous stability for us. We knew the rules, the expectations of us, and the natures and idiosyncrasies of our teachers, and of each other. We grew to greatly respect and admire these remarkable Sisters of the Visitation because they consistently practiced what they preached. And as highly educated women themselves, they provided a rare example of purposed and committed lives to many young girls who were fortunate to witness their deep devotion to God and to us as their students.

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