St Francis de Sales has the rare distinction of writing not just one religious classic, but two.
His most famous work is An Introduction to the Devout Life (also called Philothea) but his masterpiece is often considered to be the Treatise on the Love of God.
These books were read widely in his own time, with the Protestant King James I of England remarking that St Francis wrote more like an angel than a man, and they continue to be read today.
He was such a prolific writer that even up until his death in 1622 he was writing 20 to 30 letters a day.
He was named as the patron saint of journalists and writers by Pope Pius XI in 1923.
He also taught that anyone could serve God in any walk of life and on the strength of his gentle but luminous theology Pope Pius IX declared him to be a Doctor of the Church in 1877.
St Francis was born in 1567 in the Duchy of Savoy, in what is now present-day Switzerland, into a family of lower nobility. He studied Rhetoric, Philosophy and Theology in Paris and gained a brilliant doctorate in Law from Padua.
Although his father wanted him to have either an outstanding military or legal career, Francis recognised a call to the priesthood. He was ordained during Advent in 1593 and later sent to Chablais, the mountainous region south and east of Geneva, with his cousin, Canon Louis de Sales, on a mission to win back for the Catholic Church an area cleared of Catholic priests by Calvinists in 1591.
At the end of four hard years – during which he evaded assassins twice, was beaten by a mob, escaped a pack of wolves by climbing a tree (staying there overnight) and enduring severe cold and other hardships – he was seriously ill but was able to celebrate a High Mass for a crowd of 30,000 people and put on processions and a mystery play.
In 1598 he travelled to Rome to be appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Geneva and in the years that followed he impressed the French court. The convert King Henry IV offered him a rich bishopric if he would relocate permanently to France, but St Francis replied: “Sire, I have married a poor wife and I cannot desert her for a richer one.”
In 1602 the saint was consecrated Bishop of Geneva and set about bringing 450 parishes into line with the reforms of the Council of Trent.
He preached tirelessly, educated the clergy, and he personally examined all candidates for the priesthood himself.
A second classic
St Francis also began to set down his ideas in a series of lengthy letters. An Introduction to the Devout Life began this way, growing out of casual notes of advice he wrote to Madame de Charmoisy, a cousin by marriage who had put herself under his guidance. The book was a bestseller and Pius XI, in his declaration of 1923, referred to it as the chosen “spiritual guide of the Holy Father”.
During the same period, St Francis had also been writing to his great friend, Jeanne-Francois Fremyot, a widow and the future St Jane Francis de Chantal with whom he would co-found the Order of the Visitation of Mary in 1610. It was his spiritual counselling of the Visitation nuns that led to his second classic, the Treatise on the Love of God, which was also a success in several languages.
By the early 17th century St Francis was considered a living saint, with huge crowds turning out to hear him preach.
But he was afflicted by high blood pressure and his health was failing. A journey across the Alps to Turin almost killed him and a later journey to Avignon triggered the stroke that led to his death at the age of 56.
On his death bed he was asked by a nun for a last word of advice, and he wrote the word “humility” three times on a piece of paper. The final word he was heard to utter was “Jesus”.
The beatification of St Francis in 1662 was the first solemn beatification to take place at St Peter’s in Rome. He was canonised three years later.