Saint of the Day—St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor

My personal associations with St. Francis de Sales are few. Though his Introduction to the Devout Life had a certain vogue among Anglicans, I have never been attracted by its piety, which seems to assume one has the lifestyle and the leisure of a (female) member of the sixteenth-century French nobility. I must admit to having an unread copy of his Treatise on the Love of God on my bookshelf. (Since he is a doctor of the church, I suppose I ought to be more responsive). But I have long admired his evangelistic efforts as Provost and then Bishop of Geneva (in exile). And one day, while I was browsing in the late lamented bookshop at St. Francis of Assisi on Thirty-second Street, the lady behind the counter told me I looked like our saint, pointing me to the picture on the cover of a volume of his Lenten sermons. In so far as we were both bald and bearded, there was a resemblance.

The old Catholic Encyclopedia says of St. Francis's ministry among the Genevans:

From the time of the Reformation the seat of the Bishopric of Geneva had been fixed at Annecy. There with apostolic zeal, the new provost devoted himself to preaching, hearing confessions, and the other work of his ministry. In the following year (1594) he volunteered to evangelize Le Chablais, where the Genevans had imposed the Reformed Faith, and which had just been restored to the Duchy of Savoy. He made his headquarters in the fortress of Allinges. Risking his life, he journeyed through the entire district, preaching constantly; by dint of zeal, learning, kindness and holiness he at last obtained a hearing. He then settled in Thonon, the chief town. He confuted the preachers sent by Geneva to oppose him; he converted the syndic and several prominent Calvinists. At the request of the pope, Clement VIII, he went to Geneva to interview Theodore Beza, who was called the Patriarch of the Reformation. The latter received him kindly and seemed for a while shaken, but had not the courage to take the final steps. A large part of the inhabitants of Le Chablais returned to the true fold (1597 and 1598). Claude de Granier then chose Francis as his coadjutor, in spite of his refusal, and sent him to Rome (1599).

I am a bit skeptical about Beza's near-conversion, however.

Because of his pamphleteering, he is the patron of writers and journalists (not of editors, though that saint was a Salesian, St. John Bosco), and therefore one of mine. Because he taught the faith to a deaf man through sign language, he is also patron of the deaf.

From the Roman Missal, 3rd Edition:

O God, who for the salvation of souls

willed that the Bishop Saint Francis de Sales

become all things to all,

graciously grant that, following his example,

we may always display the gentleness of your charity

in the service of our neighbor.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.