Salesian Literature

Part I: Presentation

1. The Canticle in Francis’ Youth   ::   2. The Canticle in his Life and Writing

3. Analysis of the Salesian Commentary on the Canticles   ::   4. Theology of the Canticle of Canticles

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2.  The Canticle in His Life and His Writings

 

(a) The “Mystical Declaration on the Canticle of Canticles”:  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?  Among all the hypotheses, and these would be numerous (why he did not publish the Controversies …), one of the reasons seems to be the genre of the work itself, a “declaration,” which means not a “manifesto,” but an explanation, a work in which a certain polemic on the subject of the interpretation of the symbolism of the “Canticle” would undoubtedly be displayed:

 

Neither the nature, nor the properties of the soul are at all mentioned there, but instead: eyes, hair, teeth, lips, necks, garments, gardens, ointments, and a thousand similar things which have put confusion into the explanations on account of the liberty which the expositors have had of attaching to one of them his own sense and, which is worse, on account of the insupportable license which the same expositor has taken of understanding in one page, one same word in different ways and for different things.[1]

 

St. Francis, on the other hand, will confine himself to that which “having once given one meaning to one expression,” will never change (id.).  One could go so far as to say that it was a bit of a gamble, for the meanings for a single word are actually innumerable, even those in Tradition, for which he says further: “but we have undertaken nothing without imitation of better authors and without apparent propriety (agreement) among the terms signified and signifying.”

 

And to complicate matters, he adds that in this work the Canticle of Canticles solely represents and illustrates what he means by “mental prayer” (oraison).  It is evident that one can enlarge a great deal the sense of “mental prayer,” but tradition also acknowledges the Spouse of the Canticle to be the Jewish people, the Church, or the Virgin Mary!

 

Thus, to display this work and publish it would certainly have exposed him to many difficulties.

 

Likewise, we could acknowledge another reason, which considers the general evolution of the thought of St. Francis de Sales and, consequently, of his style: “the language of war is different from that of peace, and no one speaks in one fashion to young apprentices and in another to old companions”[2] and differently to those famous “expositors” than to some religious (who are) more advanced in the spiritual life.

 

But already in the Controversies, even if we admit that the “Declaration” had been written earlier, we find the Spouse considered as representing the holy Church.[3]

 

It seems, therefore, that a profound transformation has taken place in him, in some sense an evolution, as mentioned previously.  We are not saying that “he put some water into his wine” and that he accepted that one word could have several meanings, but rather that a great synthesis progressively developed in him, that as he gradually employed the image in all its depth and richness, he discovered that all of creation extols the Creator and, consequently, that a single image, a single word could comprise in itself a limitless source of meanings and values, since as soon as they are neither immediately opposed nor contradicted to themselves, just as in a grain, the entire plant in all its variety is already found implicitly contained.

 

So to discuss, for example, that image of the “kiss” ardently desired by the Spouse in the first verse of the Canticle, he could easily apply all the flights of man toward God.  For, as Francis tells us, this gesture so marvelously expresses the union of love, it could then explain the ardent cry of men who desire the Saviour in the mystery of the Incarnation; it could more explicitly be on the lips of Mary, whose sighs, we are told, hastened the coming of the Messiah; or it could also spring forth from the heart of man in prayer.[4]

 

Where, then, do we find a contradictory interpretation?  Quite simply in that it would seem improper, and consequently loathsome, to wish to give a noble and mystical interpretation to a gesture, a desire, which at that time was considered as evil, sensual and, therefore, sinful.

 

Now St. Francis de Sales intends to follow tradition.  He speaks to us of “those theologians (who) employed the name of love in reference to divine things so as to remove from it the odour of impurity of which it was suspect according to the imagination of the world.”[5]

Is this not precisely the problem of the Canticle of Canticles?

 

(b) The Commentary on the Canticle in other Writings:  Outside of the “Declaration,” we do not find a systematic commentary in his writing.  On the other hand, we do know that he especially loved to make use of verses of the Canticle to guide and inspire the Instructions which he gave to the first Visitandines and which we have a remnant of in the Spiritual Conferences and in some of his Sermons.

 

In this way, we have six Sermons of this genre, all of which deal with the Virgin Mary.  We also possess one of two outlines of sermons which are some rather long commentaries on certain passages.

 

Apart from the Sermons for grand occasions, such as that of August 15, 1602, given “in the Parish Church of St. Jean en Greve,” we must realize that St. Francis de Sales reserved the Canticle for persons already advanced in the spiritual life.  This appears even more clearly in his Letters, in which the numerous citations reveal an uncommon equilibrium.  We can cite some of these here to give you an idea of the style inspired by the canticle in his Letters.

 

“Let us kiss a little the feet of the Saviour; he will call us, when it will please him, to his holy mouth.”[6]

“Your heart, it is the bed of the Bridegroom, for which it is necessary to strew it with flowers.”[7]

“O my daughter, hold this Infant completely in your arms, and give him your breasts (heart).  He feeds on the milk of humility.”[8]

 

Canon Lemaire, himself, tells us:

“I have withheld only a very small number of images from the Canticle in the choice of 412 texts, because they are far from our present tastes.  No longer are we sufficiently unpretentious, and they could offend some readers who are not predisposed.”[9]

 

This does not mean that there would not be some citations of and allusions to the Canticle in the Introduction to the Devout Life, (for) we find there the same Salesian themes as in the Treatise, but less supported.

 

Indeed, the commentaries in the Treatise on the Love of God are many of the most vivid.  They occupy a very important place, and the persistence of the impressions given by one image so pervades all the chapters which follow that one can say that the Bridegroom and the Spouse of the Canticle are constantly “present” in the entire book.

 

And if one consults the first manuscript of Treatise, this impression become even more impressive; one truly wonders whether the Treatise, itself, was originally envisioned as a “commentary” on the Canticle of Canticles.  Indeed, it seems very much that next to Philothea and in front of Theotimus (who is found only in the definitive edition), there was in a proper position, Sulamite, the Sacred Lover, the Spouse of the Canticle.

 

It is here, indeed, that she seems to have acquired a new personality, a tint entirely Salesian.  St. Francis takes pleasure in reanimating her, in describing her, in speaking to her, and in inviting us to heed her well.  It is a true commentary “on the living person,” for all personages are living and full of ardour.

 

“I listen,” she says, “to the voice of my Beloved; ,,, see how it brims over …” “Behold this holy Sulamite.  She can first embrace her spouse even before having greeted him; she needs no further introduction.  But have compassion on her passion; she is enraptured by love.”[10]

 

A little further on: “See the holy Sulamite of the Canticles, as she is gently sleeping, attentive with an unparalleled sweetness to the presence of her Bridegroom…”  Francis puts himself on familiar terms with his readers.[11]

 

In addition, sometimes one can no longer know how the Sulamite truly is: Magdalene, at the feet of Jesus or Mary, the perfect Spouse whose “Beloved is everything to her and she is all for him.”[12]  It is also Anna, the mother of Samuel.  It is, without naming her, St. Jane de Chantal.  It is the blessed Virgin Theresa, “one of the greatest Sulamites of this age.”[13]  And, finally, it is himself (Francis): “Draw me; I shall run after your attractions and shall cast myself into your heart in order to stay there for ever and ever.”[14]

 

Further on we find her again, completely wounded by love[15], listening to the words of her Beloved:

 

I am within your heat and on your heart

because I am the inhabitant and master of it;

I am in the midst of your heart

as the heart of your heart;

but I wish further to be on your heart

as the master of your heart,

so that nothing may enter there

other than what I will put there

and that only I may possess it perfectly.[16]

 

Our saint would desire very strongly that we, in our turn, listen to these words, and he wishes, in all his works, to place this desire in us.  In the Canticle of Canticles, he has so assimilated this song of love that his entire expression is penetrated by it; he has become, in his turn, the true “chanter of the Love of God.”

 

But he wishes that we, possessed in turn by this love, also would sing, and this is the motive for the Treatise.  that is why this book, which begins with the Canticle, ends likewise in its atmosphere.

 

“The Holy Spirit teaches that the lips of the divine Spouse, meaning the Church…” – these are the first words, and before ending the book, Francis offers us an earnest invitation to imitate the Sulamite by those “loving arrows” which our heart ought to shoot forth constantly toward the Beloved. These are “ejaculatory prayers,”[17] a particular expression for that prayer which becomes a loving word, an arrow which goes straight to the heart.

 

The assimilation (of this) is actually the fulfilment of the “allegorical” mission of the Canticle, since the Bridegroom is Jesus Christ:

 

Ah, Lord, I am yours.

My love is mine and I am his.

My life is Jesus Christ.[18]

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[1] Oeuvres de St. Francois de Sales. Annecy: Religieuses de la Visitation, 1893-1993), Tome XXVI, p. 14.  The Mystical Exposition of the Canticle of Canticles, trans. Henry Benedict, Canon Mackey, D.D., O.S.B. (publication information unknown), preface, xvii.

[2] oeuvres, Tome IV, p. 20.  Treatise on the Love of God, preface.

[3] oeuvres, Tome I, p. 44.

[4] oeuvres, Tome XXVI, p. 14. The Mystical Exposition of the Canticle of Canticles, preface, xiii.  (there is without doubt the insistence and deliberate choice for an affective and imaginative style.  Cf. Oeuvres, Tome XV, p. 120, remarks to a theologian).  On the Virgin Mary, cf. Oeuvres, Tome X, p. 14.

[5] Oeuvres, Tome IV, p. 73. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, chapter 14.

[6] Oeuvres, Tome XIII, p. 62.

[7] Oeuvres, Tome XV. p. 17.

[8] Oeuvres, Tome XVII, p. 116.

[9] Lemaire, Henri. Les Images chez St. Francois de Sales, (Paris: Nizet, 1962, p. 29.

[10] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 392. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 6, chapter 7.

[11] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 395. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 6, chapter 7.

[12] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 394. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 6, chapter 7.

[13] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 396. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 6, chapter 7.

[14] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 408. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 7, chapter 3.

[15] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 415. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 6, chapter 13.

[16] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 431. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 10, chapter 12.

[17] Ejaculatory prayers are prayers in forms of arrows (from jaculum meaning “fleche”) which go to the heart; flights of the heart.  Cf. the essential point in Oeuvres, Tome III, pp. 73, 94, 100; Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 2, Chapter 2, Chapter 13.  Here it is a matter of the fundamental Salesian teaching on prayer. 

[18] Oeuvres, Tome V, p. 487. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 12, chapter 9.

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