St Francis de Sales is a popular Saint and Doctor of the Church who promoted the universal call to holiness and encouraged lay people to grow in holiness in their current state of life. This blogcast explores “St. Francis de Sales: The Doctor of Divine Love" from the Ad Infinitum blog, written by Erin Donn and read by Brian Rhude.
St Francis de Sales is a popular Saint and Doctor of the Church who promoted the universal call to holiness and encouraged lay people to grow in holiness in their current state of life. This blogcast explores “St. Francis de Sales: The Doctor of Divine Love" from the Ad Infinitum blog, written by Erin Donn and read by Brian Rhude.
Today we celebrate the heavenly birthday of one of my dearest friends, St. Francis de Sales. It is often said that the saints choose you, and I have certainly found that to be the case with Francis. Since I first “met” him while reading a book about the saints, he has continued to captivate and encourage me.
Francis was born in France in 1567 to an aristocratic family. He was well educated, and while his father hoped this would lead Francis to a career in law, his studies ended up leading him to the priesthood. He was a sought-after spiritual director (perhaps his most well-known directee was St. Jane Frances de Chantal with whom he started the Visitation Sisters). Francis was also devoted to evangelization and catechesis through preaching and writing, and had a love of the poor which was manifested through works of charity and his own detachment from material things. He was canonized a saint in 1665 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1877.
One of the things that makes a saint is that their life and teaching transcend time and remain relevant over the centuries. This is certainly true of St. Francis de Sales. While Vatican II affirmed the universal call to holiness in the 1960s, Francis ardently promoted this teaching three centuries prior. When St. Jane Frances de Chantal wanted to leave her duties as a mother for the “higher” calling of entering religious life, Francis encouraged her to have patience and fully embrace her current vocation as a mother. Rather than imagining that holiness is better achieved in religious life, he reminded her that faithfulness to the real life unfolding before her was the place for her to become holy. As he said to another directee in An Introduction to the Devout Life, “work in quiet cooperation with him, and then rest satisfied that if you have trusted entirely to him you will always obtain such a measure of success as is most profitable for you, whether it seems so or not to your own individual judgment.”
When Francis was named a Doctor of the Church, it was under the title Doctor of Divine Love. Francis’ personal devotion to the Lord and life of ministry flowed from his own love for God and awareness of God’s love. When Francis’ devoted friend, Bishop Jean-Pierre Camus, questioned him about how to grow in love of God and neighbor, Francis replied simply, “You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working. Just so you learn to love God and many by loving. If you really want to love God, go on and love Him more and more.” This simple approach to God is a hallmark of Francis’ spirituality. Without pretending that such growth in holiness would be quick or easy, he offered straightforward guidance that people in any vocation or stage of life could follow. While we may not be able to love God perfectly and completely today, we can certainly strive for that and lay our foundation today. Francis shows us that God’s love toward us and our love toward God are reciprocal, growing in relation to one another.
One of my favorite quotes from St. Francis de Sales is, “Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.” Francis offers the guidance of a gentle, compassionate father. He knew firsthand the temptation towards despair at our lowliness before God, but he also knew personally that God offers us the grace we need in our pilgrimage towards Him. God knows each of us intimately–our strengths and our struggles–and looks into our hearts. Rather than being overwhelmed by our shortcomings, spiritual and otherwise, Francis encourages us to extend God’s own gentleness and patience to ourselves. As Francis says elsewhere, God “delights to show forth his power in our weakness, his mercy in our misery.”
St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of Divine Love, pray for us!
Author:
Erin Donn serves as the parish missionary at Immaculate Conception Church in Washington, DC.
Resources:
Listen to On Mission: The Saints
On Mission: St. Vincent Pallotti
Browse the Saints and Feast Day Site
Read the Ad Infinitum blog