Spirituality of SFS: A Way of Life

“I am in every way a Savoyard, both by birth and by obligation,” Francis wrote of himself.

He was born on August 21, 1567, to Fracois de Boisy and Francois de Sionnaz at the Chateau de Sales, near Thorens, and spent his childhood in Savoy. At that time, an independent duchy, Savoy was at the crossroads of France, Italy and Switzerland.

His very early studies were at home and at La Roche near Thorens, but at the age of eleven he was sent to Paris, accompanied by his tutor, M. Deage. There, he was a pupil of the Jesuit Fathers at Clermont College, where learning and Christian education went hand in hand.

He returned home in 1588 with the bachelor’s and master’s degree in arts. It was at Paris that he underwent a severe spiritual crisis linked to his courses on grace and predestination, and perhaps also linked to the choice he found himself confronted with by the life-style of so many of his contemporaries: was he, like them, going to lead a double life or would he choose to lead one life, the one in total conformity with the Gospel?

The crisis was resolved by his total abandonment to God’s love through Mary’s intercession.

Home from Paris, he remained a short while with his family before leaving for the University of Padua in Italy. At the end of three years there, during which he suffered a profound internal struggle similar to the one in Paris, he returned to Annecy as a doctor in both canon and civil law. He had studied civil law to please his father, but at the same time he had also studied theology for his own personal satisfaction.

His father had plans for him in the Senate of Savoy, but he finally managed to convince him that his real vocation was to the Church. Named Provost of the Cathedral chapter, a position second only to the bishop, he was ordained a priest, at 26, on December 18, 1593.

He volunteered, along with his cousin Louis de Sales, for the difficult mission to the Chablais, a province which had become almost entirely Calvinist. He worked there from 1594 to 1598.

No doubt Francis espoused something of the current thinking which held that Protestantism was not simply a “heresy” but also an affront to the very unity of a Catholic kingdom, thereby giving the duke the right to banish heretics from his realm. Nevertheless, Francis always refused military protection and the use of force in “converting” the Calvinists. His method was to convince by an exposition of Catholic doctrine and to win hearts by the power of prayer and love.

In 1599, Francis was chosen coadjutor to Bishop de Granier. In this capacity, he undertook several mission to Paris and other places. These gave him the opportunity to preach and to hear confessions, as well as to meet the likes of Madame Acarie, Angelique Arnauld, Vincent de Paul, Berulle, and others.

Francis remembered vividly the day of his Episcopal ordination, December 8, 1602:

When I was consecrated a bishop, God drew me out of myself and took me to Himself, then He gave me the people, that is, He converted me from what I had been for myself to what I was to be for them.

Though he was Bishop of Geneva, he resided in Annecy because of the Calvinist occupation of Geneva. For twenty years he was to be a pastor in the spirit of the Council of Trent (1545-1563). He visited his diocese: he oversaw the formation of his priests whom he called together in a yearly synod; he set in motion the reform and renewal of religious life; he invited and assisted the laity to live their baptismal vocation to its depth.

Overwhelmed by a daily work-schedule which gave him no respite, he died at 55 at the Visitation Monastery of Lyons while on one of his many journeys. The date was December 28, 1622.

One can’t speak of Francis de Sales without mentioning Jane de Chantal. It was during the Lent of 1604 at Dijon, that they met for the first time. She was the sister of Archbishop Andre Fremyot. She was 32 and the mother of four children whom she had been raising alone since her husband’s death three years earlier from an accident while hunting.

Her education had been that of young girls of her time and rank. She had learned to red, write and count; she also learned “good manners” and “how to be a strong and faithful catholic”. At 20 she was married to Baron Christophe de Rabutin Chantal. Her much-loved husband died after only nine years of marriage. She was still struggling with this terrible trial when she met Francis de Sales in 1604. After taking him as her spiritual director, she slowly began to regain peace of mind and advanced rapidly along the way of evangelical perfection.

In 1610, Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal founded the “Visitation of Holy Mary”, today a cloistered Order which is found in many countries throughout the world. At Jane’s death on December 13, 1641, eighty-seven monasteries had already been established.

Vincent de Paul was a great friend of Francis and owed him a great deal in his spiritual journey. Vincent became the spiritual director of Jane and to the Visitation monasteries in Paris for many years. He died in 1660, thirty-eight years after Francis.