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If there had been a bestseller book list in 1609, Introduction to the Devout Life would have been at the top. Perhaps it was unusual even in the seventeenth century for a spiritual book to become so popular, but there was a reason that this one—written by the well-loved Bishop of Geneva, Francis de Sales—hit a chord with so many.
Its premise was revolutionary: Even if you were not in a religious order, you could lead a life pleasing to God. The laborer, the shopkeeper, the wife and mother—all could discover God’s immense love for them.
Francis attracted people to the Lord by his writing, but he was even more of a magnet for Christ in person. In fact, many said he personified Christ. Gentle, gracious, good-natured, and wise, he was not afraid to show his love to others, even though his office as bishop could have caused him to distance himself from his flock. A master spiritual director, he possessed a keen understanding of human nature that enabled him to give practical, realistic advice to guide people in their journey to God.
Francis de Sales was born on August 21, 1567, in the Alpine region of Savoy, now part of eastern France but then an independent duchy. He was the oldest child of a retired soldier who pinned great hopes on a stellar law career for his son. At the age of fourteen, Francis went to Paris to study with the Jesuits, where his devotion to God grew. Even during a brief spiritual crisis when he was nineteen and feared he would never get to heaven, he was able to pray, “Whatever happens, Lord, may I at least love you in this life if I cannot love you in eternity.”
Although Francis completed his law studies in Padua, Italy, he knew he wanted to become a priest. To ameliorate his father’s disappointment, his cousin obtained a position of rank for him in the church. Francis was ordained on December 18, 1593, and became provost of the diocese.
Love Will Shake the Walls
Full of zeal, the young provost volunteered for a harrowing missionary trip to Chablais, to the south of Lake Geneva. The Swiss had invaded the area some sixty years earlier, persecuting Catholics and forcing them to become Calvinists. In September 1594, de Sales and his cousin Louis went to Chablais on foot, hoping to reconvert the region’s sixty thousand inhabitants to Catholicism. Yet de Sales was determined to accomplish this without the Duke’s military assistance: “Love will shake the walls of Geneva. By love we must invade it; by love we must conquer it.”
The first years were rough and discouraging. Only about one hundred people had remained Catholic, and just a few of them were courageous enough to venture out publicly to attend a Mass. Consequently, de Sales often preached to the walls. Undaunted, he trudged door to door in the frigid Alpine winter, crossing a dangerous ice-covered bridge on his hands and knees each morning. When he saw that this too was bearing little fruit, he finally decided to write doctrinal pamphlets which he could distribute by hand and leave in public places. Slowly, these began to make an impact, and Francis’s writing ministry was born.
By Christmas 1596, Francis felt it was safe enough to say a public Mass in Thonon, the chief city of Chablais. The next year, he distributed ashes on Ash Wednesday, which so angered some of his opponents that he had to flee for his life from the church. Nevertheless, he led a large procession with the Blessed Sacrament that fall, with thousands of people in attendance. At a similar but larger procession the following year, many Protestants asked to be received into the Catholic Church. De Sales was becoming known as the “Apostle of Chablais.”
Around this time, Francis’s bishop, Claude de Granier, failing in health, was anxious to name de Sales as his successor. Francis saw the post as too heavy a burden and asked to be spared. But a fellow priest encouraged him to offer a Mass to the Holy Spirit to find what God wanted him to do. Francis agreed. After kneeling on the altar in prayer and ecstasy, he felt ready to accept the post.
Preaching Love and Mercy
In 1602, de Sales traveled to Paris on diplomatic/church business. With his simple, heart-to-heart approach to preaching—and with his emphasis on the mercy and love of God—his popularity in the city grew. He was soon accepting numerous invitations to preach, even from the royal court. King Henry IV was especially impressed and offered him the opportunity for a larger, more important diocese. But de Sales replied, “I have married a poor wife, and I cannot desert her for a richer one.”
On the way back from Paris, de Sales learned of Bishop de Granier’s death. He would now become Bishop of Geneva. During his Mass of Consecration, in December 1602, Francis had a vision of the Trinity working powerfully within him. It was a defining moment for him, as he later explained: God “took me away from myself, to make me his own, and to give me in turn to the people.”
The grace of this experience was evident in the way in which de Sales threw himself into his duties, even as he continued to write books and numerous letters of spiritual direction. One of his favorite activities was to personally teach Sunday catechism classes, especially to the children. Even though Francis’ diocese spanned remote mountain villages, he made it a point to visit each parish, reaching the peasants on horseback in all kinds of weather and conversing with them in their own dialect. “It is one of God’s little miracles,” he once wrote. “Every day I am so tired that I cannot move body or spirit; but in the morning I am brighter than ever.”
Despite his busy schedule, in 1604 Francis accepted an invitation to preach the Lenten sermons in nearby Dijon. Before he left, he had a vision of a young widow, and knew that God wanted him to found a religious order with the woman, although he did not know who she was. The newly appointed bishop of Dijon was André de Frémyot, whose sister, Jeanne de Chantal, had been widowed for several years. Two years earlier, she too had received a vision—of an unknown bishop—and heard a voice saying, “Here is the guide, beloved of God and men, in whose hands you must put your conscience.” When the two saw each other in the church in Dijon, there was a spark of recognition. The meeting was to begin one of the most famous spiritual friendships of all time.
A Union of Hearts
The young widow was desolate and sought Francis’ advice and direction. He agreed, and in one of his first letters to her, Francis wrote out spiritual exercises—with one word of caution: “Everything must be done through love, nothing through force. Obedience must be loved rather than disobedience feared.” Although Jeanne desired formal religious life, Francis urged patience and reminded her that “nothing so impedes our progress in perfection as to be sighing after another way of life.”
Under Francis’ direction, Jeanne’s spiritual life blossomed, and their friendship grew. “My daughter,” Francis wrote in one letter, “God has given me a special light and shown me that the union of our hearts is his work… . I desire to look upon it as something sacred.”
In 1607, Francis told Jeanne of his plans to found a new religious congregation, with her as its superior. He wanted to create a community that would not exclude women whose health might not permit them to endure the rigorous lifestyles of some stricter orders. Jeanne’s youngest child was only six years old, so they assumed that nothing could be done for a long time. Yet in only three years, enough changes had taken place in Jeanne’s life to make it possible to launch the congregation, with her young daughter living with her. And so, in 1610, the Institute of the Visitation was begun with three women living in a small house in Annecy.
The Devout Life
In the meantime, de Sales published his spiritual masterpiece, Introduction to the Devout Life. In this book, he guided readers through detailed meditations designed to help them choose to love and serve God above all else. He encouraged regular prayer and the sacraments and explained very practically how to cultivate virtue and live a moral life. For example, when we find ourselves “surprised into anger,” Francis wrote that it is best to “drive it away quickly than to start a discussion with it. If we give it ever so little time, it will become mistress of the place” (Part III, Chapter 8).
Francis’ book was so popular that it was soon translated into other languages, and from his poor diocese, the fame of Bishop de Sales spread. Coupled with reports of miraculous healings that occurred through his prayers, Francis was quickly being recognized as a saint.
Francis’ second famous book, the Treatise on the Love of God, was written in 1616 for people who are “advanced in devotion.” The book described a kind of silent, mystical prayer in which “eyes speak to eyes, and heart to heart, and none understand what passes save the sacred lovers who speak” (Book IV, Chapter 1). Such words were not merely theoretical. Francis, Jeanne, and the other Visitation nuns at Annecy were beginning to experience this kind of depth in their own prayer, and the book grew out of their time together when Francis would present “conferences” to the sisters.
Although he was only middle-aged, it would not be long before Francis would finally see Jesus face to face. The constant stress of his demanding lifestyle contributed to deteriorating health. In 1622, even though he was ill, he accepted an invitation from the Duke of Savoy to attend a church/state conference in Avignon. The Sisters of the Visitation in Lyons could offer only a small, poorly heated room for him to stay, and, despite swelling in his legs, he insisted on walking everywhere he went. On December 26, after spending three hours in the cold at an outdoor service, Francis suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He died two days later, only fifty-five years old.
By 1656, Introduction to the Devout Life had already been translated into seventeen languages. Through the written word—which displays all the gentleness, love and wisdom that made him famous—St. Francis de Sales has pastored millions of Christians. The patron saint of Catholic writers and a Doctor of the Church, he is still attracting others to take the narrow path that leads to Christ.
Can somebody tell me if his books are available today and, if so, have they been modified for easier reading and/or understanding.