St. Francis de Sales was an outstanding and highly influential bishop, spiritual director, author, and preacher whose life spans the turbulent decades following the Protestant Reformation. He was born at Savoy in France in 1567. He studied with the Jesuits at Paris, and finally at Padua, Italy where he obtained doctorates in both civil and canon law. It was hoped by his father, that he would become a lawyer and follow in his footsteps as a senator; instead, Francis desired to serve the Church.
He was ordained a priest in 1593 and dedicated himself to the re-evangelization of the many Catholics who had fallen away to Calvinism. Between 1595 and 1598 he won many converts to the Catholic Church by his persuasive preaching but at the same time he was often in danger of his life at the hands hostile Calvinists.
At the young age of 32 Francis was ordained a bishop and made coadjutor of the Calvinist stronghold of Geneva, and was installed as ordinary 3 years later. For 20 years he labored zealously for the conversion of the Calvinists. You may have come across his most famous books: The Introduction to the Devout Life and Treatise on the Love of God, written primarily for lay people who were in danger of being assimilated by the calvinist culture.
In the Treatise on the Love of God he writes: “In holy Church all is by love, in love, for love and of love.” Meaning that God, who is love, is the source of all of the Church’s activity we do and all is directed to him.
That Christians could grow in holiness and likeness of God because God desires our sanctification; that we can in fact become more and more filled with the life of God while still here on earth by cooperating with his grace and disciplining our vices were ideas that flew in the face of the Calvinist theology at the time. And they are still profound for us today.
To advance in holiness is to advance in love. We see this love embodied in Jesus who makes a complete gift of himself to his Father for our salvation. “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love” We see this love in the saints, we seek to conform themselves to Jesus through grace, following his command at the end of the Gospel today: “This I command you, love one another”
May we take up this great adventure that St. Francis de sales, this great Doctor of the Church, the Doctor of Charity, as he is known, lays out for us. Through the example and prayers of St. Frances de Sales may we progress in holiness and charity for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her, care for her, and give her strength and courage in her mission.
For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may preserve harmony among us.
For openness to the example and teachings of the holy saints.
For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may grant them relief and move Christians to come to the aid of the suffering.
For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.
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