Pray to Love: The brooklyn Nun Series

---

For decades, award-winning artist Anne Goetze has documented the closed-cloister Visitation Order in Annecy, France. In trying to understand her aunt, Soeur Margarite Marie’s, faith journey it organically and ultimately became her own. Through images, paintings and film, the ‘Pray To Love’ Series evolved.  Anne’s art reflects the beauty, simplicity  and the importance of the beloved women of the Visitation who dedicate their lives to prayer and to live their motto “To be a gentle presence in a violent world.”Founded by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal in 1610, the Visitation Order was the first order of nuns that was started by a woman, allowing widows and those not in austere health.  The Visitation spread with Monasteries all over the world. Their numbers are dwindling in the U.S., but living humbly in the middle of Brooklyn, New York since 1855, the Sisters of the Visitation Monastery and Academy are steadfastly praying for this world. In 2015, they were the first monastery to exhibit ‘Pray To Love’. It has since grown and expanded as Anne  added new works from documenting and painting the existing Visitation monasteries in the U.S. With text written by the nuns to accompany the paintings, the exhibit offers insights as well as a change to perceptions of the religious and contemplative life.  By sharing the gift of hope that spreads to all of us, it helps us to increase our own faith.