St. Francis of Sales

St. Francis of Sales (born August 21, 1567, Thorens-Glières, Savoy [France]—died December 28, 1622, Lyon; canonized 1665; feast day January 24) was a Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva who was active in the struggle against Calvinism and cofounded the order of Visitation nuns. He wrote the devotional classic Introduction to a Devout Life, which emphasizes that spiritual perfection is possible for people busy with the affairs of the world and not only, as many believed at the time, for those who withdraw from society. He was declared a doctor of the church, a title granted to saints whose writings are of particular importance. In 1923 Pope Pius XI named him patron saint of writers.

Francis of Sales was educated at the Jesuit college of Clermont in Paris (1580–88) and at Padua, Italy, where he received a doctorate in law (1591). After briefly practicing law he turned to religion and was ordained in 1593 at Annecy, chief town of his native Savoy. Francis began intense missionary work in Chablais, a district that had broken away from Savoy and had become Calvinist but had been regained by the duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel, an ardent Catholic. Under his protection, Francis rewon the bulk of the people of Chablais to Catholicism.

Francis was consecrated bishop of Geneva on December 8, 1602. In 1610, with St. Jane Frances de Chantal, he founded the Visitation of Holy Mary (the Visitation nuns), which became principally a teaching order.

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Francis was the first saint to receive a solemn beatification at St. Peter’s in Rome (1661). In 1877 he became the first writer in French to be named doctor of the church. In addition to his spiritual works, his writings include controversies against Calvinists, letters, sermons, and documents on diocesan administration.