Salesian Literature

Part I: Presentation

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1. The Canticle in Francis’ Youth

It is in the Treatise on the Love of God that St. Francis de Sales reveals to us how he had been introduced to the Canticle of Canticles.  He does it when he cites a book by Genebrard: “in the Chronology of the Hebrews, published by the scholarly archbishop of Aix, Gilbert Genebrard, whom I mention (with love), with honour and consolation, for having been his disciple, although unprofitably, when he was Royal Lecturer in Paris and expounded the Canticle of Canticles.”

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2. The Canticle in his Life and Writing

According to the editor of the 1642 edition, this work of the saint is “one of the first exercises of his pen,” and it should be kept secret.  St. Jane de Chantal, herself, confesses to never having intended to speak of it.  Why should it be mislaid?  Why did he not publish it? 

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3. Analysis of the Salesian Commentary on the Canticles

Following tradition, St. Francis de Sales attributes the Canticle to Solomon and tells us that this Canticle is a “description of the loves of the Saviour and the devout soul,” for which “it employs a perpetual representation of the loves of a chaste shepherd and a modest shepherdess.”

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4. Theology of the Canticle of Canticles

St. Francis de Sales affirms that “Love is the sum of all theology.”  The Doctor of the Church invites us, more especially here in the opportunity given by the Canticle of Canticles, to reflect more deeply on the fundamental relations between theology and love.  Moreover, it is astonishing to consider how he ha marvellously known to encapsule all of “holy doctrine” in this precise writing about a delicate story of love. 

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