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St. Francis de Sales RSS feed On the life, writings and spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious St. Francis de Sales, 1567-1622, and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, 1572-1641, worked together to found the Congregation of the Visitation, a religious order of nuns that follows Salesian thought and spirituality. St. Francis de Sales St. Francis de Sales was born in August 21, 1567, the eldest of thirteen children at the Chateau de Sales in Savoy - the south of France. He studied in Paris when he was age 14, and then studied in the University of Padua where he obtained a doctorate in law at age 24. He then chose to be a priest despite the opposition of his father and despite an offer of a high government position. At age 26, he was then ordained as a priest on December 18, 1593. The pope appointed St. Francis de Sales as the provost of the chapter of Geneva even though St. Francis de Sales was reluctant in taking up its duties. This and other responsibilities engaged him in an active life of teaching and preaching. St. Francis de Sales loved to minister to the poor and to preach with enthusiasm. His single and effective style won a large following. At a certain period of his life, St. Francis de Sales volunteered to the dangerous mission of restoring the people of Chablais to the Catholic faith. At that time before he started his mission, the people of Chablais embraced Calvinism. The efforts of St. Francis de Sales to bring Chablais back to Catholicism made him the target of two assassination attempts and other trials. It was also during this same period that St. Francis de Sales wrote tracts which set the Church teachings in opposition to the Calvinist faith. Despite all danger and opposition, St. Francis de Sales was able to firmly reestablish Chablais in the Catholic faith. It was his simple message of love that did the work. Claude de Granier, bishop of Geneva, proposed to the pope that St. Francis de Sales be appointed coadjutor of the see of Geneva. Pope Clement VIII then invited St. Francis de Sales to Rome to examine him before this appointment. After proving himself knowledgeable before a illustrious panel, his appointment was confirmed and the pope made St. Francis de Sales coadjutor of Geneva. When Claude de Granier passed away in 1602, St. Francis de Sales succeeded him as bishop of Geneva. He was 35 years of age at the time. As bishop, he preached a lot and heard confessions. While he was preaching in Dijon in 1604, St. Francis de Sales met St. Jane Frances de Chantal. This encounter led both of them to eventually found the order of the Visitation nuns in 1610. St. Francis de Sales continued in his writings. His famous work is the "Introduction to the Devout Life". On December 27, 1622, he suffered a paralyzing stroke. He died the next day, December 28, 1622 at the age of 55. St. Francis de Sales was beatified in 1661 at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by Pope Alexander VII. He was then canonized by the same pope in 1665 and declared doctor of the Church in 1877. St. Francis de Sales is named as patron of journalists by Pope Pius XI. He is also the patron of authors, other writers, and of the deaf. St. Jane Frances de Chantal Jeanne Françoise Fremyot, later to be known as St. Jane Frances de Chantal, was born of a rich family at Dijon, France in 1572. At 20 years of age, she married Christopher de Rabutin, Baron de Chantal and officer of the French army. After her husband's death, she went to her father's home, bringing her children with her. In 1604, St. Jane Frances de Chantal met St. Francis de Sales, who became her spiritual director. In 1610, after providing for the welfare of her children, she founded a religious order together with St. Francis de Sales. This religious order is called the Congregation of the Visitation. Through her guidance and also through the guidance of St. Francis de Sales, the Visitation Order prospered in holiness and good works. St. Jane Frances de Chantal died in 1641 and was buried at Annecy, beside the tomb of St. Francis de Sales. Salesian spirituality For St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, the human person was made by God and was made for God. The foundation for this and all of their thought lies in the desire or insistence of the good. Even though humans have been wounded by sin in the Fall, Francis and Jane affirm the teaching of the Church that God's image and likeness was not effaced by it. There is still that central impulse within each human person to return to God. And it is in the heart (seen as the dynamic core of the person) that this God-directedness is located. In Salesian spirituality, God is love. And the heart of God is the source and womb of that love. The heart of God, which is filled with great love, is intent upon calling all of God's creation into Himself - yearning for union with all humankind. To effect the union with humankind, the mediator between the heart of God and humankind, is the heart of Jesus Christ. For St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Jesus is a living presence - a reality lived into more fully as one's life unfolds. Christ's presence comes to live in people's hearts so that all hearts may find union with God. Excerpts from writings As soon as a person gives a little attention to divinity, a sweet feeling within the heart is experienced, which shows that God is God of the heart...If some misfortune strikes fear into our heart, it immediately turns to divinity... This pleasure, this confidence that the human heart naturally has in God certainly comes from nowhere else than the congruity between God's goodness and our soul...We are created in the image and likeness of God. (from Treatise on the Love of God) 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.' Good God! How amorous the divine heart is of our love! Wouldn't it have been enough to give us permission to love Him as Laban permitted Jacob to love his fair Rachel and to gain her by services? But no! He makes a stronger declaration of His passionate love for us and commands us to love Him with all our power... (from Treatise on the Love of God) Related articles and books:
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