Life of St. Francis de Sales

August 21, 1567 – December 28, 1622

Feast Day is January 24

 

      St. Francis de Sales was born into a Savoyard noble family in which is today Thorens-Glieres, Haute-Savoie.  The oldest of 6 children, it was his responsibility to maintain the family name and fortune.  He studied theology and law and received a Doctorate in both Theology and Law from the University of Padua.  While in Padua St. Francis discovers he wishes to become a priest.  Meanwhile, back home, his father had obtained several positions for his son and has selected for him a wife.  With his doctorates and resolute after a pilgrimage to Loreto, St. Francis returns home, announces his desire to become a priest and refuses to marry.  His father refused to have his expectations for his eldest son thwarted.  The bishop of Geneva intervened and obtained an appointment as provost of the cathedral chapter of Geneva, the highest post in the diocese.  The father at last relented and St. Francis de Sales was ordained a priest in 1593.    

     Geneva is the home of Calvinism and one of the great centers of Protestantism.  In August 1527 the bishop of Geneva fled and the Grand Council of Geneva decided in 1528 to adhere to Lutheranism.   In 1536 Geneva declares itself a Protestant city and elects John Calvin as leader.  Calvin serves from 1536 until his death in 1564.  Since 1536 the seat of the Bishop of Geneva has been Annecy, Savoy. 

     The bishop of Geneva died in 1602 and St. Francis de Sales was appointed and consecrated the next bishop of Geneva.  He quickly developed a reputation as a spellbinding preacher, friend of the poor, a person of great affability and understanding.  As bishop, St. Francis de Sales instituted catechetical instructions for the faithful, made regulations and guidelines for his clergy, carefully visited the parishes scattered throughout the mountains of his diocese and reformed religious communities.  He is the author of “Introduction to the Devout Life” and “Treatise on the Love of God”. 

     With St. Jane Frances de Chantal, St. Francis de Sales founded the Congregation of the Visitation in 1610.  St. Francis died in Lyon in 1622.  He was beatified by Pope Alexander VII in 1661 and canonized in 1664 by the same pope.  Pope Pius IX declared him to be a Doctor of the Church in 1877.  Pope Pius XI declared St. Francis de Sales patron of writers and journalists because he made extensive use of flyers tracts and books in both spiritual direction and to convert Protestants back to the Church.  St. Francis de Sales developed a sign language to assist deaf man – he is patron saint of the deaf.