By Maurice Henry-Couarmier

Translated By Veronica Morrow

Introduction: No other saint has inspired so many pens, for his life has been written by about thirty different people. I feel, however, as did m y predecessors, that there are still some things left unsaid. I believe that if I can portray him against a background of the people he knew and loved, he himself will be thrown into sharper relief, just as a portrait in oils comes to life more vividly if the subject is shown in his natural surroundings, instead of having the canvas devoted to him alone.

We may well say that the background to the life of St Francis, the atmosphere surrounding him, the tone, so to speak, of his sanctity, was one of friendship. Just as St Teresa is the saint of prayer and St Vincent de Paul the saint of charity, so Francis de Sales may be called the saint of friendship.

His friends were, on the whole, people of very strong personality, and they have been favourably described for us by their contemporaries. Thus would he himself, who inspired in them such enthusiasm and affection, not be brought into greater prominence if the story of his friends were told with his own? This, at least, is what I have set out to do.

It so happens that, of the many people who put themselves under his guidance and thought of him as their ‘father’, the great majority were women who, incidentally, have also become much better known than the men. We find the names of St Jane de Chantal, Blessed Madame Acarie, Jacqueline Coste, Mademoiselle de Brechard, Sister Simplicienne, Madame dcs Gouffiers, Angelique Arnauld, little Francon, the notorious Mademoiselle Bellot, the beautiful Madame Armand. All these women differed greatly in character, and in describing their individual relationships with the Bishop of Geneva, I hope to throw light on every aspect of their personality. In this biography of St Francis I have, therefore, devoted a considerable amount of space to the lives of his penitents; therein lies the novelty of this work.

In several places I have quoted the earlier biographers of the saint, hoping that their style may lend an aura of archaism reminiscent of the saints own speech. In quoting these old texts, some of them from the pen of the saint himself’ I have omitted many sentences and even paragraphs, while keeping meticulously to the sense. I have thought it unnecessary to draw attention to these omissions, and if any punctilious reader wishes to confirm my sincerity he can easily do so, as the reference to each quotation is given. M y aim was to avoid long, wearisome passages, the age in which we live being much fonder of conciseness than was that of the good St Francis.

For the same reason, I have either omitted or simplified various incidents in the saint’s life which would only have prolonged the text unnecessarily. For example, in the year 1598 the ceremony of the Forty-Hour Adoration was held twice in Thonon, the one ten days after the other, because the duke was unable to attend the first. But I have omitted this as I thought that a description of two almost identical events might weary the reader unduly.

This reminds me that the best Introductions are also the shortest! It only remains for me to acknowledge my thanks to the Convent of the Visitation in Annecy and also to the Salesian Academ y who very kindly placed their libraries at m y disposal.