\Vis`it*a"tion\, n. [L. visitatio: cf. F.
visitation.]
1. The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access
   for inspection or examination.
         Nothing but peace and gentle visitation. --Shak.
2. Specifically: The act of a superior or superintending
   officer who, in the discharge of his office, visits a
   corporation, college, etc., to examine into the manner in
   which it is conducted, and see that its laws and
   regulations are duly observed and executed; as, the
   visitation of a diocese by a bishop.
3. The object of a visit. [Obs.] ``O flowers, . . . my early
   visitation and my last.'' --Milton.
4. (Internat. Law) The act of a naval commander who visits,
   or enters on board, a vessel belonging to another nation,
   for the purpose of ascertaining her character and object,
   but without claiming or exercising a right of searching
   the vessel. It is, however, usually coupled with the right
   of search (see under {Search}), visitation being used for
   the purpose of search.
5. Special dispensation; communication of divine favor and
   goodness, or, more usually, of divine wrath and vengeance;
   retributive calamity; retribution; judgment.
         What will ye do in the day of visitation? --Isa. x.
                                               3.
6. (Eccl.) A festival in honor of the visit of the Virgin
   Mary to Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, celebrated
   on the second of July.
{The Order of the Visitation of Our Lady} (R. C. Ch.), a
   religious community of nuns, founded at Annecy, in Savoy,
   in 1610, and in 1808 established in the United States. In
   America these nuns are devoted to the education of girls.