Saint Francis de Sales:

Feast day : 24 January

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Francis de Sales, who was the Bishop of Geneva and lived during the period 1567 – 1622. He is known as “the gentleman saint” for his qualities of meekness and charity. Though mild in his mannerism, he was instrumental in defending the Catholic faith against the Calvinists in Chablais and succeeded in bringing thousands back to the faith. One of the most significant works of his life was the founding of the Order of Visitation Sisters of Mary with St. Jane Frances de Chantal. St. Francis insisted that every Christian was called to live a life in holiness and sanctity and it was a wrong notion to think that holiness could only be achieved by men and women leading the religious life. Two of his most famous literary works on growing in perfection and knowledge of God are his books ‘Introduction to a devout life’ and ‘Treatise on the love of God’. He is the patron saint for writers, educators, Catholic press and also of deaf persons as he is believed to have developed a sign language in order to teach a deaf man about God. He was canonised shortly after his death by Pope Alexander VII in 1665 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church during the pontificate of Pope Pius IX in 1877.

Early life:

St. Francis de Sales was born into a noble family of Sales and had the privilege to a good education. Though his father was a worldly man who planned a brilliant career for his son in public life, St. Francis' heart was far from it and fixed on giving himself to God at an early age. At the age of 19, St. Francis underwent a severe spiritual crisis when he was plagued with the thought that he was predestined for hell and could do nothing about it. This made him physically ill and even bedridden for quite some time. In his despair he prayed “Whatever happens, Lord may I at least love You in this life if I cannot love You in eternity, since no one may praise You in Hell. May I at least make use of every moment of my short life on earth to love You”. Finally he overcame this despair when he visited the old parish of Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Paris, where he prayed the "Memorare" before a famed statue of Our Lady of Good Deliverance, a Black Madonna. Though he was originally of sound health, he suffered from poor circulation all his life. While still a youth, he had two near death illnesses which he overcame through his devotion to Mother Mary. In gratitude, he promised to pray the Rosary daily. He consecrated himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and decided to dedicate his life to God with a vow of chastity. Years later, he followed his calling and was ordained a priest in 1593.

Vocational life:

St. Francis volunteered to work in Chablais, a country region in the northern part of his diocese. Though it was legally a Catholic region, the local authorities were Calvinists and strongly resisted the Catholic Church. St. Francis faced a lot of resistance and attempts on his life but he persevered in his attempts to meet people. He went door to door throughout the region. When he couldn’t address large gatherings of people, he made small pamphlets and distributed them by slipping them under the door and posting them in public places. He called these notes “Meditations”. Thirty six years after his death, they were gathered and published under the title “Controversies” and later “The Catholic Controversy”. He also published a book defending the use of crosses titled “The Defense of the Standard of the True Cross of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ’. Mass could not be offered publicly in Church but in the Christmas of 1596, St. Francis erected an altar and celebrated Mass publicly. The following Lent he decided to restore the practice of putting ashes on the forehead of the faithful for which he was threatened and had to flee. In these years of struggle, he was mostly alone or helped by a few priests. However, his efforts bore fruit. He succeeded in winning back thousands to the Catholic faith. He was consecrated the Bishop of Geneva on December 8, 1602. In his report to Pope Clement VIII in 1603, he summed up his work in the Chablais as “Twelve years ago, in 64 parishes near Geneva and almost under its walls heresy was in occupation. It had invaded everything. Catholicism held not even an inch of territory. Today the Catholic Church in those places everywhere spreads its branches and with such vigor that heresy can find no room. Before, it was hard to find 100 Catholics within all those parishes taken together; today, it would be just as hard to find 100 heretics...” He was poisoned by his enemies for converting the Calvinists but he escaped death.

One of the great works of St. Francis life was the founding of the Order of Visitation Sisters of Mary with St. Jane Frances de Chantal. In launching the Visitation Order, St. Francis wanted it “to be founded on the virtues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, meekness and humility.” He desired that the sisters should be adorers, imitators and servants of the Sacred Heart. It was in this Order, 50 years after his death that the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was crowned with greater glory by the appearances and revelations of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a sister of the Visitation Order community in Paray le Monial In France. Looking back, it is evident how God was laying the path to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through this Saint.

The Church sets St. Francis de Sales as an excellent guide to perfection, especially for the laity. Two of his most famous literary works are his books ‘Introduction to a devout life’ and ‘Treatise on the love of God’. St. Francis insisted that every Christian was called to live a life in holiness and sanctity and it was a wrong notion to think that holiness could only be achieved by men and women leading the religious life. His book ‘Introduction to a devout life’ was written for lay people as a guide to achieving holiness even while leading ordinary lives. ‘The Treatise’ was written over a period of four years and is a guide for all those who would like to advance in the knowledge of the love of God.

Death and Sainthood:

St. Francis de Sales spent his last days in Lyons. After a busy Christmas, he collapsed on the afternoon of December 27, 1622. In those days the medical profession diagnosed his sickness as brain haemorrhage and since they considered it dangerous to allow him to fall asleep, they pinched, rubbed and slapped him to keep him awake. After this, the doctors applied a final remedy, pressing a red hot iron against the back of his neck. He submitted to all the torture readily though the red hot iron gave him a blistered and bleeding head. After the doctors did all that they could, he was retired to his room and passed away on December 28, 1622. To one of the Sisters who asked for a last word of advice from him, he handed a card on which he had written three times the word ‘humility’. On hearing about his death, the people of Lyons came to venerate the body as that of a saint. The heart was kept at the Visitation Convent in Lyons, where St. Jane said five years later that it had the same color and substance as in life and a liquid flowed from it. The heart was later brought to Venice. The tombs of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal are below the main altar of the new monastery of Visitation at Annecy.

St. Vincent de Paul and St. Jane Frances de Chantal gave testimony in the official process of beatification and canonization. St. Francis was beatified in 1662 and canonized three years later. Pope Pius IX declared him a Doctor of the Church on November 16, 1877. Pope Pius IX issued an encyclical on St. Francis in which he designated him as the patron of the Catholic press. His feast day is celebrated on January 24.