+ St Francis de Sales was a very important post Reformation Bishop and Doctor of the
Church. He was born in 1567 and died in 1622 of natural causes. Francis was the
eldest of twelve children born to a well-placed Savoyard family. His parents
intended that he become a lawyer, enter politics, and carry on the family line
and power. He studied at La Roche and Annecy in France, taught by the Jesuits.
He entered the College de Clermont in
Paris at age 12. In his early teens, Francis began to have an overly fearful
belief in pre-destination, and was so afraid that he had been already condemned
to Hell that he became ill and eventually confined to bed. However, in January
1587 at the Church of St. Stephen, he overcame the crisis, decided that
whatever God had in store for him was for the best, and dedicated his life to
God.
Francis then studied law and
theology at the University of Padua, Italy, and earned a doctorate in both
fields. He returned home, and found a position as Senate advocate. It was at
this point that he received a message telling him to “Leave all and follow Me.” He took this as a call to the
priesthood, a move his family fiercely opposed. However, he pursued a devoted
prayer life, and his gentle ways won over the family.
Francis became a priest in
1593 and was appointed provost of the diocese of Geneva, Switzerland, a
stronghold of Calvinists. He fought hard to win them back to the Church,
becoming a preacher and a writer. He even used sign language to communicate
with the deaf – thus explaining his patronage of the deaf. His gentle ways
brought many people back to the Church. In 1602 he was named Bishop of Geneva.
With St. Jane de Chantal he helped to found the Order of the Visitation, as well as many other religious
congregations.
He was noted for writing The Introduction to the Devout Life –
which emphasized the fact that holiness
is not just for the elite, but for everyone; this was not a popular sentiment
at the time. But the value of his writing led to his being declared a Doctor of
the Church by Pope Blessed Pius IX in 1877, and patron of writers and
journalists by Pope Pius XI in 1923. He is buried at the basilica of the
Visitation at Annecy, France. Pope Francis today in his homily in Rome called
Francis de Sales the “doctor of gentleness” as he used a gentle approach (that
he had to work for many years to develop and fine tune) to deal with the
problems he faced in ministry. He was always about building bridges of
understanding, and tearing down the walls of bitterness and resentment.
As it relates in the gospel
passage today, St. Francis de Sales found the joy that comes from being friends
with Jesus and doing his Father’s will; this is an immense joy that leads to
many self-sacrificial works for the greater honor and glory of God.
May we love others today
simply, honestly and self-sacrificially as did St. Francis de Sales.
The
mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
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