SALESIAN LITERATURE

Church and money in the letters of St. Francis de Sales & Jane de Chantal

Summary

In the survey of 4960 surviving letters (after voluntary or involuntary destructions), I only deal with materialia avoiding spiritualia. First, I find the fund raising necessary for the (re)conquest and the management of a part of a diocese, and then, the quest for money and real estate in order to launch and then develop a monastic order, Visitation. Political and social restrictions frame the fund raising and the optimization of the investments, taking into account the circumstances (wars, plagues, famines). therefore we study their implementation of the financial virtues (poverty, charity, labour). Their financial aims can only be obtained with the help of non-ecclesiastical and ecclesiastical networks, mainly in the upper society. The competition is harsh inside the roman church (prelates, monastic orders, Rome) as well as in the world (princes, nobility, local councils); thus they engage in many lawsuits, in contradiction with their other own writings. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of contemporary organizations. furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. nobility, local councils); thus they engage in many lawsuits, in contradiction with their other own writings. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of contemporary organizations. furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. nobility, local councils); thus they engage in many lawsuits, in contradiction with their other own writings. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of contemporary organizations. furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. thus they engage in many lawsuits, in contradiction with their other own writings. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of contemporary organizations. furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. thus they engage in many lawsuits, in contradiction with their other own writings. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of contemporary organizations. furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of contemporary organizations. furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of contemporary organizations. furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. The follow-up of details, as well in the fields of investment rate, as for producing pieces of furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism. The follow-up of details, as well in the fields of investment rate, as for producing pieces of furniture or books, as for selecting buildings or managers, all this detailed behavior fits with the one of a modern top-manager, who shall finance his many activities. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church could be considered as a root of modern capitalism, in an other dimension than the one developed by Max Weber for Protestantism.

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In the content of the 4960 letters that they wrote and which survived the voluntary and involuntary destructions, my study focused only on the materialia and discarded the spiritualia. It first describes the search for the funds necessary for the conquest and then for the management of part of a diocese, and then the collection of money or land to create and then develop an Order, the Visitation. Political and social constraints govern this search for financing and the optimization of investments, taking into account the situation (wars, plagues, famines), which leads to study the implementation of financial virtues (poverty, charity, work). Their financial objective can only be achieved by relying on social and ecclesiastical networks, essentially at the highest level of society. Competition is fierce both within the Church (other prelates, Orders, Holy See) and with secular authorities (princes, high nobility, municipalities). Their objectives can therefore only be achieved by carrying out numerous trials, in contradiction to what they do not write elsewhere. The complexity of their companies makes them develop a management of their resources, financial, real estate, human which prefigures that of contemporary Organizations. Their attention to detail, both in the investment rates of rents, in the production of furniture or books , in the choice of real estate, in the selection of their middle managers, all this corresponds to the behavior of a manager of contemporary company, knowing that each time it is necessary to find money to finance these actions. In this sense this Church is also at the origin of modern capitalism, but in another dimension than the Protestantism presented by Max Weber. On the other hand, these incessant financial constraints can lead them to forget the purpose of their action.

In the the survey of 4960 surviving letters (after voluntary or involuntary destructions), I only deal with materialia avoiding spiritualia. First, I find the fund raising necessary for the (re)conquest and the management of a part of a diocese, and then, the quest for money and real estate in order to launch and then develop a monastic order, Visitation. Political and social restrictions frame the fundraising and the optimization of the investments, taking into account the circumstances (wars, plagues, famines). therefore we study their implementation of the financial virtues (poverty, charity, labour). Their financial aims can only be obtained with the help of non-ecclesiastical and ecclesiastical networks, mainly in the upper society. The competition is harsh inside the roman church (prelates, monastic orders, Rome) as well as in the world (princes, nobility, local councils); thus they engage in many lawsuits, in contradiction with their other own writings. The complexity of their enterprises prompts them to build a resources management (finance, real estate, human resources), foreshadowing the one of…

Table of Contents

Introduction and Plan

0. Preliminary – Systems and Practices

0. 1. Corpus - role of correspondence

0. 2. Support - Theory of organizations

0. 3. Purpose - Funding and Governance


Chapter I. Influence of the economic and political situation on the Church in the seventeenth century

1. 1. Background of the time

1. 2. Temporal and spiritual

1. 3. Background - The Church and money before Francis and Jane


Chapter II. Financing of early developments

2. 1. The beginnings of Francis

2. 1. 1. The (re)conquest of Chablais

2. 1. 2. The coadjutor

2. 1. 3. The (re)conquest of the land of Gex

2. 1. 4. The Bishop

2. 1. 5. The recruitment of the Baroness de Rabutin-Chantal

2. 2. Launch of a congregation, the Visitation to the Poor and the Sick


Chapter III. Wealth through human relationships

3. 1. Human Resources Management

3. 1. 1. Wealth management and the status of women

3. 1. 2. Power and hierarchy

3. 1. 3. Centralization or decentralization to the Visitation

3. 2. Political and financial networks

3. 2. 1. Families, friends, clan

3. 2. 2. High nobility and rank


Chapter IV. Means used

4. 1. Financial flows

4. 1. 1. Statutory income

4. 1. 2. Capital formation

4. 1. 3. Investments, annuities and loans

4. 1. 4. Trial

4. 1. 5. Financial virtues (poverty, charity, work)

4. 2. Use and management of money

4. 2. 1. Tangible and intangible investment

4. 2. 2. 'Housekeeping' on a daily basis


Chapter V. Big "business"

5. 1. Mrs des Gouffiers,

5. 2. Mrs du Tertre,

5. 3. The Mother of Bigny


Chapter VI. Conclusions and avenues of research

6. 1. Limits of research – the secret

6. 2. Philosophy of money?

Appendices: Bibliography, paintings (relatives François, Montmorency, coins, etc ...)