Saint Francis De Sales

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Saint Francis De Sales

• Anne Henry-Gross

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Why Study St. Francis de Sales?

• St. Francis de Sales is the patron saint of our
  school.
• He is the patron saint of the religious order
  that began our school, the Oblates of St. Francis
  de Sales
• He was the first to write about spirituality for
  the ordinary lay person and to teach them how to
  grow closer to God

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Salesian Spirituality

• Salesian Spirituality gets its name from St.
  Francis de Sales
• It is based on the writings of St. Francis de
  Sales and St. Jane de Chantal and was given
  further depth through the writings of St. John
  (Don) Bosco who took St. Francis de Sales as his
  model.

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Salesian Spirituality

• This spirituality is to help the ordinary
  Christian to
• grow in their relationship with God,
• deal with the difficulties we find in our
  everyday life and
• become more Christ-like in our words and actions

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St. Francis de Sales1567-1622

• St. Francis de Sales was born in 1567 in the
  Duchy of Savoy in France,
• to a family
• related to
• both the
• royal
• families of
• Italy and
• France

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St. Francis de Sales

• The eldest of 13 children, Francis was born to
• Francois
• and
• Franciose
• de Boisy in
• Chateau du
• Thorens on
• August 21st,
• 1567

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Education and Childhood

• St. Francis grew up and attended his first
• School in
• the city of
• Annecy on
• the shores
• of the
• alpine lake
• of the same
• name.

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Francis education

• Monsieur de
• Boisy sends
• Francis to
• Claremont
• College in Paris
• under the care
• Of the Jesuits

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University of Padua

• Francis is sent to the University of
• Padua to get a
• doctorate in Law
• and he
• continued
• his study of
• theology that
• he had begun
• in Paris

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Francis is called to the priesthood

• After graduating, St. Francis felt called to be a
  priest, while his father planned for him to join
  in the practice of law and serve as senator in
  the local assembly.
• He prayed for wisdom, riding to meet his father,
  his sword fell 3 times forming a cross
• with the
• scabbard.

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The Priesthood

• With his fathers reluctant approval, St. Francis
  is ordained to the priesthood in 1593 and was
  named provost.
• He becomes a
• missionary with
• his cousin in the
• Chablis region

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Missionary in Chablis

• Francis and his cousin sought to re-convert this
  region from the Calvinists
• People were not receptive initially and at the
  end of the year he only had 3 converts to show
  for his efforts
• His cousin gave up and returned to Annecy.

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Writer Extraordinaire

• St, Francis begin writing pamphlets to explain
  the Catholic faith and slip them under peoples
  doors
• He wrote many letters giving advice on how to
  live a devout life to those who wrote to him for
  help
• In 1608 the first edition of his book, The
  Introduction to the Devout Life is published

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Author

• His writings include
• Controversies
• Spiritual Conferences
• Treatise on the Love of God
• In Defense of the Standard of the Cross
• More than 3,000 letters
• books of Sermons on Prayer, Advent, Lent, the
  Blessed Mother and Christmas

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Spiritual Writer

• Francis de Sales wrote about the issues that
  ordinary people face in their lives friendship,
  anxiety, sadness, optimism, prayer and about the
  sacraments
• St. Francis is the patron saint for writers and
  journalists

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Bishop of Geneva

• In 1602 He was named the Bishop of Geneva, whose
  episcopal seat was in Annecy
• As a priest and as a bishop he was concerned with
  teaching both children and adults about their
  faith
• He is the patron saint of religion teachers
• He is concerned with the needs of the poor

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At work in his diocese

• St. Francis developed a sign language in order to
  teach a deaf man about God
• He is the patron saint of the deaf

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Preacher for all

• Francis de Sales became known throughout France
  for his preaching and was frequently requested to
  preach and help others how to have confidence in
  God
• He was requested by King Henry IV to preach at
  Court
• In his travels preaching, he met a young widow,
  Jane de Chantal, sister of the Bishop of Burgundy

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Founding the Visitation Community

• With St. Jane de
• Chantal, St. Francis
• began a
• community of
• women to visit the
• sick, teach and
• feed the poor for
• Girls and widows

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Institute of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin

• Francis and
• Jane begin
• the
• Institute
• at Gallery
• House in
• Annecy

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The Gentleman Saint

• St. Francis was known for his practice of
  patience, gentleness and humility
• St. Francis struggled all of his life with his
  temper and he sought to overcome it by practicing
  the opposite virtues

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Death

• In December 1622 Francis accompanied the Court of
  Savoy into Lyon, France
• In a small house in the garden of the Visitation
  convent, he had a stroke on December 28th and
  died
• Immense crowds came to view his body

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Veneration Canonization

• Following his death, Francis de Sales body was
  brought back to Annecy but his heart was left in
  Lyons
• He was
• beatified in
• 1661
• He was
• canonized in
• 1665

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Doctor of the Universal Church

• Pope Pius IX in 1877, in recognition of his
  holiness and of the effectiveness of his writings
  in helping others develop their relationship with
  God
• declared him
• Doctor of the
• Universal Church