Practical Piety

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES was born on August 21, 1567, at the Castle of Sales, near Annecy, the seat of the ancient and noble family of that name, to which he belonged. His father was Francis Count of Sales, and his mother, who was also descended from a noble stock, Frances de Sionas. The history of his infancy is pleasing and beautiful. Before his birth, the holy countess his mother offered the fruit of her womb to God,and prayed fervently that He would rather deprive her of the happiness of seeing herself a mother, than that her child should hereafter become an enemy of God. Her prayers were heard; for the young Francis, even from his earliest years, shewed an extraordinary goodness and sweetness of disposition. He loved God as soon as he began to know Him; and it is said that the first words which he uttered were, “God and my mother love me well” The countess took great pains to bring up her son in innocence and holiness, and he did not disappoint her watchful care. He loved to read holy books, to be often in church, to visit the poor, and to deny himself food as far as he was able, in order to bestow it on them. His capacity for learning was no less remarkable; and on his arriving at the proper age he was sent to the college of Annecy. He there applied himself with great diligence to his studies, with out, however, at all relaxing his zeal for devotion. He very early wished to consecrate himself to Almighty God in the ecclesiastical state, and with the consent of his father he received the tonsure in 1578, at the age of twelve years.

Sometime afterwards his parents sent him to the University of Paris, where he went through a course of rhetoric and philosophy at the schools of the Jesuits, and also studied theology, partly there and partly at the Sorbonne. His principal teacher was the celebrated Maldonatus, and he studied the learned languages under Genebrard, with a view chiefly to a more profound acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures. He made great proficiency in all. his studies, and advanced no less in the path of perfection, on which he had entered from his earliest years. Among the religious books which he most prized, the Spiritual Combat is mentioned as his chief favourite. This admirable book he always carried about with him, and read a chapter, or at least a page or two in it, every day. He frequented the churches constantly, and indeed was never seen abroad except going to or from church and college. The church to which he was fondest of resorting was that of St. Etienne-des-Grès, as being very retired; and it was in that church that, prostrated before an image of the Blessed Virgin, he made a vow of perpetual chastity, placing himself under the special patronage of our Holy Mother.

About this period of his life, at the age of sixteen, it pleased God to allow the saint to be visited with an extraordinary temptation, doubtless intended to purify his heart, and give him wisdom in after years, to comfort others in like desolation. The holy youth was suddenly overwhelmed with the idea that he was doomed to be eternally lost. “This temptation,” says his devout biographer, the Bishop of Belley, “made such an impression on his soul that he lost all peace of mind, and could neither eat nor drink. He visibly wasted away, and fell sick, whilst he could not be induced to tell any one the cause of his grief. He was at the same time deprived of all the sweetness of divine love, though not of the fidelity with which, as an impenetrable shield, he unconsciously endeavoured to repel the fiery darts of the enemy. The consolation and calm which he had enjoyed before this storm, came back to his memory, and redoubled his anguish. It was, then, in vain, he would say to himself, that blessed hope which fed me with the expectation of being inebriated with the abundance of the sweetness of the house of God, and drowned in the torrents of His pleasures. O lovely tabernacles of the house of God, I shall, then, never see you, and never dwell in those beautiful abodes of the palace of the Lord!

“He remained an entire month in this anguish and bitterness of soul, which he could compare to nothing but the pains of death and the terrors of hell. He passed his days in mournful groans, and every night he watered his couch with his tears.

“At last, having by a divine inspiration entered into a church (that of Etienne-des-Grès), to implore the grace of God on his misery, and kneeling down before a picture of the holy Virgin, he besought that Mother of Mercy to be his advocate with God, and of her goodness to obtain from Him, that if he were unhappy enough to be separated from Him eternally, he might at least love Him with all his heart during his life. He recited the prayer, Remember, O most pious Virgin Mary,’ &c., with floods of tears and inexpressible sorrow of heart. He had no sooner finished this prayer than he felt the effect of the succour of the Mother of God, and the power of her assistance with God; for in an instant that demon which had filled his mind with these sad illusions left him, and he remained filled with such joy and consolation, that where darkness had abounded, light much more abounded.

“This combat and this victory, this captivity and this deliverance, rendered him afterwards so skilful in the use of spiritual weapons, that he was, as it were, an armoury for others; furnishing all who revealed their temptations to him with means of defence; being unto them, like that tower of David on which hung a thousand bucklers, all the armour of valiant men. Above all, he advised that in great temptations we should have recourse to the powerful intercession of the Mother of God, who is terrible as an army set in array.”

After having spent a sufficient time at Paris, his father sent him to the University of Padua, where he studied the law under the celebrated Guy Pancirola, and theology under the learned Jesuit Possevinus. The “rule of life” which he drew up for himself at this time is still preserved, and is full of interest and value for all, but especially for the young student at that dangerous period of life. One of the most interesting passages in this paper is the first, headed, “The Preparation for the Day,” an exercise which the saint expresses his resolution to be very faithful in practicing daily. This preparation he makes to consist, (1) in calling upon Almighty God to assist him in all the dangers to which he may be exposed; (2) in imagining beforehand all the circumstances of the day, the society, the affairs in which he may have to be engaged, and thus, by the grace of our Lord, anticipating any occasions that might throw him off his guard; (3) in arranging the day, considering carefully the best means of avoiding any wrong steps, and determining what he ought to do, to say, to seek, or to avoid; (4) in resolving firmly nevermore to offend God, and particularly on this day; (5) lastly, in recommending himself, and whatever depends on him, absolutely into the hands of God, seeking only to do His will. There are also some admirable rules for mental prayer, and some observations, full of wisdom and that character of excellent good sense which distinguished this great saint, on the deportment he proposed to himself in society. He resolves never to miss hearing Mass every day, and to confess and communicate at least once a-week. His austerities at this time were so great that he fell dangerously ill, but, however, happily recovered, and terminated his residence at Padua by taking the degree of doctor in laws, with the great applause of that learned university. After this he travelled through great part of Italy, going to Rome to venerate the tomb of the holy Apostles; and from thence to Loretto, at which august shrine he renewed his vow of continence under the patronage of our Blessed Lady.

On his return home, all received the young nobleman with great joy. His father, who entertained lofty hopes of the distinctions he was to gain in the world, had obtained for him the important post of Counsellor of the Parliament of Chamberry, and had also a match in view for him suitable to his rank, and in every way worthy of him. Francis, however, declared his resolution of devoting himself to God in the ministry of His Church. The kind but ambitious father was induced with great difficulty to acquiesce; and at length the saint saw every obstacle removed, and he entered on the path in which Almighty God had destined him to exhibit so splendid an example of holiness. He was appointed by Peter de Granier, Bishop of Geneva, to the provostship of the cathedral church of Annecy, where the predecessors of that prelate had fixed the Episcopal residence when the Calvinists had driven them out of Geneva. Francis de Sales entered on this dignity in 1593. The Bishop, immediately on his receiving the diaconate, employed him in preaching. He displayed extraordinary zeal in that office; and by the fervour and wisdom of his discourses he brought many thousands of souls into the fold of Christ. He never refused to preach when he was asked, always having in mind the maxims, “Give to him that asketh of thee,” “Deal thy bread to the hungry;” and dreading that reproach, “The little ones asked for bread, and there was no man to break it unto them.” His method was always to have some particular object in his sermons, such as the explanation of some point of the faith, or the inculcation of some virtue, and the like. He preferred rather to set forth the faith, as if he were instructing Catholics only, without controversially disputing against objectors; and by this means the heretics, who were very numerous in the diocese, were gently led to perceive that texts on which they relied to defend their errors, rightly understood, only proved the truths taught by the Catholic Church. He appears to have been slow and hesitating in his delivery; but the force of his reasoning and the sweetness of his manner were incomparable, and were able to move the very rocks. After he had been raised to the priesthood, the Bishop of Geneva sent him on an arduous mission, This was to effect the restoration of the Catholic religion in the Duchy of Chablais, and other districts about the Lake of Geneva, of which the Calvinist heretics had been in possession for sixty years. In 1594, when he was sent into that province, he found only seven Catholics at Thonon, its capital. He laboured there for five or six years, aided by his cousin, Louis de Sales; and in the end brought over to Catholicity between 40,000 and 50,000 souls. His exertions seemed to meet with little success for the first four years; he lived in the midst of continual hostility; and sometimes his life was in danger from the fanatical Calvinists in those abodes of heresy; but his angelic sweetness and wisdom carried him through all. A pestilence which raged at Thonon enabled the servant of God to win the hearts of the people by his saintly charity, assisting the sick and dying at all hours, by day and night, and deterred by no fear of infection. The simplicity and gentleness with which he set forth Catholic truth gave him such power, that provided only a Protestant allowed him a quiet and peaceable hearing, he would make his objections disappear almost before they were stated. Even the heresiarch of Geneva, Theodore Beza, with whom, by order of Pope Clement VIII., our saint held conferences, was so much shaken by his words, that St. Francis conceived some hopes of his return to the holy Roman Church, which were frustrated by the death of the wretched man, which took place soon after.

In 1596 he effected the restoration of the church of St. Hippolytus at Thonon, in which he celebrated Mass on Christmas-day in that year, and considered it in future as his parish church. During the subsequent three years he gradually re-established the parochial system of the province. In reading the history of the wonders he effected, it is impossible for an English Catholic not to sigh over the records of his own country, or to resist the thought, what if it had pleased God to have sent us a St. Francis de Sales at some period ere the wild boar had utterly wasted the vineyard of the Lord! But at this moment, when the Catholic Church is addressing itself, under such happy and unlooked-for auspices, to reconquer whole populations to Christ, the history and writings of such a servant of God as St. Francis de Sales must be of the highest interest and advantage to all zealous missioners and devout Catholics, who pray incessantly for the restoration of our Sion. As we shall presently see, the conversion of England was an object of profound interest to this great saint, as it was to so many others, such as St. Philip Neri and V. Paul of the Cross. The success of the mission in Chablais, which was witnessed by several distinguished persons, such as the Bishop of Geneva, Cardinal Medici, Apostolic Nuncio in France, and the Duke of Savoy, attracted universal attention to St. Francis, and ere long he was chosen by the Bishop of Geneva to be his coadjutor. On accepting this dignity he went to Rome to ask for the Papal benediction, where the Holy Father (Pope Clement VIII.) received him with singular honor; and after having questioned him concerning his charge, addressed to the holy prelate these words: “Go, my son, drink water out of thine own cistern, and the streams of thy own well; let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.” (Prov. v. 15.) In like manner, all the illustrious men in Rome at that time honored his virtues; and it is mentioned that the great Cardinal Baronius said of him, that Adam had not sinned in that holy minister of Jesus Christ, He received of the Pope the Bulls for being consecrated Bishop of Nicopolis and coadjutor of Geneva, and returned to Annecy towards the end of 1599.

Some time after this, a war between France and Savoy terminated in the cession of the bailiwick of Gex to the former. As the Calvinist heresy was prevalent in that district, it be came necessary for St. Francis to proceed to Paris to secure the interests of the Catholic religion with the king (Henry IV.); and this business he transacted with such sagacity and prudence, that he obtained from that prince all he wished in favor of the Catholics. The fame of St. Francis had, of course, gone before him to Paris, and he was received by all with the highest reverence. Henry IV. in vain tried to persuade him to accept a rich bishopric in his dominions. The holy Cardinal Bérulle obtained his advice in establishing the Congregation of the Oratorians, as also the Order of the Discalced Carmelitesses, in France. His sanctity and wisdom recommended him to whoever about the court regarded religion. The Duchesses of Mercoeur and Longueville placed themselves under his direction. His sermons converted many of the most obstinate of the Calvinists; and, indeed, he never descended from the pulpit without being followed by numbers of persons desirous either of instruction or confession. He was a living example of the rule of the Apostle: “Be mild towards all men, apt to teach, patient, with modesty admonishing them that resist the truth.” (2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.)

During his journey homeward from Paris he heard the news of the death of the Bishop of Geneva, and his own consequent elevation to that see. Pie retired to the chateau of Sales, where he prepared himself, by a retreat of twenty days, for his consecration, which took place on 8th December, 1602. He made a general confession, and constituted for himself a rule of life, to which he invariably adhered. In his house everything was done as regularly as in a monastery. They rose, they attended prayer or went to Mass, they sat down to meals, they took recreation, they retired, at fixed hours. His table was frugal; he dressed in woolen only, using no silk or costly array. The furniture and arrangements of his house, though dignified, were perfectly plain. Every day he offered the holy Sacrifice; he said office on his knees. He was always present at the feasts of devotion kept in any of the churches of the town. On Sundays and holidays he attended his cathedral. Every year he made a retreat of ten days. The alms he gave were wonderful, considering the limited income of his see. He fasted every Friday and Saturday. He rose every day at four, and observed an exact economy of time. In his diocese he set himself to reform morals, by checking as far as possible the excess of public amusements. He ordered the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament during the Carnival; he ordered catechism to be given on Sundays and holidays throughout the year, and every day during Lent. He was very scrupulous to confer holy orders only on those thoroughly qualified; and he gave ecclesiastical preferments by an examination, so as to promote the most deserving. He instituted confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament, to strengthen Catholics in the faith against the errors of Calvin. Among other confraternities established by St. Francis de Sales was that of the Penitents of the Holy Cross, and that of the Purity of the Blessed Virgin. Like St. Alphonsus Liguori, he was profoundly convinced of the blessings to be derived from such associations. He convoked a synod of his clergy, and revised a ritual for the administration of the sacraments. He diligently visited his diocese a work full of difficulty, from its being a country of mountains and glaciers, and having a population ferocious and ignorant, and to a great extent hostile to the faith; but no dangers or difficulties ever checked the zeal and charity of the apostolic pastor. He arrested the devastations of Calvinism, not only in his own diocese, but at many other places; for example, Dijon and Grenoble, where he made glorious conquests for the Catholic faith, converting, amongst others, the Duke of Lesdiguières, viceroy of Dauphiny, and many ministers of the Calvinist heresy. On one occasion he boldly passed through the city of Geneva, on his way to the Calvinist district of Gex, giving his name at the gate as the bishop of the diocese. Although the town was full of fanatics bearing deadly hate to Catholicity, he passed unhurt through the midst of them, protected by his saintly courage and zeal. On another occasion, the Calvinist ministers, enraged at his having converted two gentlemen of the household of the Duke of Bellegarde, governor of Gex, caused poison to be administered to him. Francis, however, by the miraculous protection of the Blessed Virgin, to whom he recommended himself, escaped this danger, after great sufferings. In the midst of all this, he not only found time to effect reforms in several monasteries, to establish at Annecy an ecclesiastical seminary and public schools of belleslettres, philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, but also to write numerous works, which have ever since been treasured by Catholics all over the world as replete with wisdom and holiness. Such was his “Advice to Confessors;” such his “Introduction to a Devout Life,” known to almost every Catholic reader; such his Letters, from which, as from his other writings, choice extracts are given in the following collection, and of which Alban Butler says, that they contain “an inestimable treasure of moving instruction, suitable to all sorts of persons and circumstances.” A copy of the “Introduction to a Devout Life” was sent by Mary of Medicis to James I. of England, who was delighted with the book, and asked his (the Anglican) bishops, how it was none of them could write with such feeling and unction? Jeremy Taylor, indeed, is largely indebted to St. Francis in his work entitled, “Holy Living and Dying;” but King James s question may still be asked, and receive no answer, except that Protestant writers may have learning, but cannot have the faith and charity to be found nowhere save in the Church. The heretic monarch was no less delighted with a subsequent work of St. Francis on “the Love of God,” and even expressed a great wish to see the author; which being told St. Francis, he exclaimed: “Ah! who will give me the wings of a dove, and I will fly to the king, into that great island, formerly the country of saints, but now overwhelmed with the darkness of error. If

the duke will permit me, I will arise and go to that great Ninive: I will speak to the king, and will announce to him, with the hazard of my life, the word of the Lord.” The Duke of Savoy, of whom St. Francis was a subject, would not suffer the holy prelate to leave his dominions for this mission; and consequently the English king had not this yet greater grace given him of conferring with the saint, whether it would have availed to his conversion or greater condemnation. The idea had apparently suggested itself to Henry IV. of France. We read in the Bull of Canonisation of St. Francis de Sales that the saint “had an admirable eloquence which it was impossible to resist, and this was in him less a natural talent, or one acquired by study, than a supernatural gift, and the fruit of the purity of his heart. Of this the world was so generally persuaded, that the most Christian king was accustomed to say, that he knew of no person so fitted as the coadjutor of Geneva to win the heart of James I. the king of England, and to bend that indocile spirit under the yoke of the Church.”

In 1610, St. Francis de Sales founded the order of Nuns of the Visitation. He designed this institution for women who, either from their advanced age, their poverty, or their in firm health, might not be able to undertake the austerities of other orders, but who nevertheless were called to the religious life. To the direction of the Order much of the saints time was subsequently devoted, and to it we owe a large proportion of his spiritual writings, as profitable to the secular as they are to the religious reader. The most valuable passages of them will in fact constitute a considerable part of the following pages. As very great bodily austerities, from the nature of the institution, were inadmissible in his plan, St. Francis wished that his religious should make up for them by continual slight mortifications, and by incessant denial of their wills. The two virtues of humility and meekness formed the basis of the rule. “In the practice of the virtues,” he said, “let humility be the source of all the rest; let it be without bounds; make it the reigning principle of all your actions. Let an unalterable meekness and sweetness in all events by habit become natural to you.” The first superioress of this order was the holy widow, St. Jane Frances de Chantal; and the formation of the character of that saint, as also the marking out for her the exalted career by which divine Providence intended to turn her wonderful holiness to the best advantage, may be said to be one of the greatest of the works of St. Francis de Sales. So abundantly did the Order of the Visitation receive the benedictions of the Lord, that in the year 1655, that of the canonisation of its holy founder, after it had been established only forty-five years, there were no less than one hundred and thirty houses of the institute in different parts of Europe.

It is beyond the purposes of this sketch to enter into any detailed history of the episcopate of St. Francis, though of no other saint are there more abundant or more interesting records. His time was passed in indefatigable labors for the conversion of souls; in preaching, in writing, in the confessional, besides the frequent public missions which the secular power obliged him to undertake, from the universal reverence in which he was held for his wisdom and dignity. He was the adviser of all his people, of whatever rank, who resorted to him, denying access to no one. As a confessor, he was compared to a guardian angel, suggesting the holiest and wisest inspiration, or to the angel at the pool of Probatica, with strong hand enabling the feeble and sick to reach the healing waters. The great work of his disciple, the Bishop of Belley, entitled L’Esprit du D. François de Sales, gives a most elaborate picture of the daily life of the saint. The immense variety of his conversations and actions there recorded, shew him to have combined in an extraordinary degree prudence and simplicity, sweetness and strength. Every where you meet with a spirit of seraphic devotion, and every where also with the very perfection of good sense.

Among the important events of the later years of St. Francis life was his accompanying the embassy of the Cardinal of Savoy to Paris, on occasion of the marriage of the Prince of Piedmont with Christina of France, sister to Louis XIII. This was in the year 1619. His time during that visit was consumed, as usual, in ceaseless apostolic labors, in preaching, hearing confessions, and in counseling the crowds who resorted to him to ask his advice, and hear the wisdom that flowed from his lips. Great efforts were again made to induce him to accept a bishopric in France; and Henry de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, then Bishop of Paris, used many arguments to persuade the saint to become his coadjutor in that See. In vain, however, did the Cardinal attempt to attract the zeal of the holy prelate, by representing to him the good he might do in the chief city of the kingdom. The saint excused himself, quoting playfully those words of the Apostle: “Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.” (1 Cor. viii. 27.) He would not forsake his poor spouse, the bishopric of Geneva, for a rich one; and if he quitted her at all, it would be to take no other.

In 1622, when at Annecy, St. Francis de Sales received an order from the Duke of Savoy to attend him to Avignon, where that prince was to hold a conference with Louis XIII. The saint s health was failing, and though he considered it his duty to go, he felt that he should return no more. He therefore made his will, answered the questions of a vast number of people who came to consult him on the affairs of their conscience, took farewell of his Nuns of the Visitation, and preached with extraordinary fervour. The whole city, over whelmed with grief, accompanied him some miles on his journey, and received his last benediction.

From Avignon he attended the court of Savoy to Lyons, where he arrived seriously indisposed, but refused all the splendid apartments which were offered him, preferring to lodge in the poor cottage of the gardener of the monastery of the Visitation. For some days he preached and took part in various ceremonies as usual, though sinking fast. At length he was obliged to take to his bed, a seizure of the nature of apoplexy coming on. The rude surgery of the time applied the most barbarous remedies, blisters, hot irons behind his neck, and a caustic to the crown of his head, which caused him the greatest agony, but which he bore with heavenly patience. Though shedding tears from the excessive pain, he kept repeating, “Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin. Still cleanse me more and more. What do I here, my God, separated from Thee?” He also consoled those around him, saying: “Weep not, my children; must not the will of God be done?” He received extreme unction, and on the evening of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, as they were reciting the Litany of the Saints, and had come to the petition, “Holy Innocents, pray for him,” he gave up unto God his pure and innocent soul, in the year of our Lord 1622, and in the fifty-fifth year of his age. His obsequies were celebrated with great pomp in the Cathedral of Annecy, and he was buried near the high altar in the church of the monastery of the Visitation in that city. Many miracles were wrought by his relics and intercession, and in 1665 he was canonised by Pope Alexander VII. The feast of St. Francis de Sales is on January 29.

It remains to say a few words respecting the selection from St. Francis de Sales’ Letters and Discourses, now for the first time translated into English. Though originally addressed, for the most part, to religious, perhaps few manuals of devotional reading could be mentioned which are more admirably adapted to persons living in the world. There breathes throughout it such practical wisdom, such gentleness, such sweetness, and frequently what we may call such a majesty of holiness, which, whilst it enters into the difficulties and scruples of the weakest, furnishes food for those who are strongest, that we seem not so much to be reading the writings of a saint, as hearing his living voice addressed to ourselves. May his intercession avail for all who read this book, either to strengthen them in the faith to which, by God’s grace, they have already attained, or to lead them to the true fold, if they are still wandering outside of it!

God, by whose gracious will the blessed Francis thy Confessor and Bishop became all things unto all men for the saving of their souls; mercifully grant that, being filled with the sweetness of thy love, we may, through the guidance of his counsels, and by the aid of his merits, attain unto the joys of the life everlasting.

COLLECT FOR THE FEAST OF S. FRANCIS DE SALES.