Salesian Literature

Texts

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The text of Francis de Sales’ letters translated here is that of his Oeuvres Complètes, a critical edition begun in 1892 by an English Benedictine, Dom H.B. Mackey, and published over many years by the Sisters of the Visitation of Annecy.[1]  The twenty-sixth and final volume of the text appeared in 1932, and was followed eventually by a twenty-seventh volume of indices in 1964.  Of this edition, Volumes XI through XXI, published from 1900 to 1923, contain Saint Francis’s extant correspondence, about 2,100 letters, which has been estimated to be about one-tenth of the letters he actually wrote.  A challenge to the authenticity of some of these letters has been refuted by André Ravier and Albert Mirot[2], with the result that the overall critical value of the Annecy edition has been reaffirmed.  The same André Ravier has published a selection of almost 400 letters which, in its notes and appendices, has been very helpful to those preparing the present volume.[3]

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Given the extent of the correspondence left by each of our authors, it is clear that the present volume represents but a sampling, not only of the total number of letters, but even of those which are primarily concerned with spiritual direction.  The selection was made on the basis of which letters seemed most representative of Salesian spirituality, and which have a certain unity and focus, both literary and doctrinal; that is, we have preferred whole letters to quotations from here and there, although we have taken the liberty of omitting certain extraneous or repetitive material, indicating such omissions in the usual way.  A third and less important guideline has been that of not redoing letters already available in recent English translation.  This explains the absence here, for example, of the sublime correspondence between Jane and Francis during her retreat of 1616[4], or of certain letters of Francis contained in Elisabeth Stopp’s selection.[5]

 

In both major parts of this volume we have grouped the letters according to the person or class of persons addressed, and, within each group, followed a chronological order.  In this way the reader, once introduced to the correspondent by the preliminary heading, may follow the contours and the progress of the direction given to this specific person, albeit on the basis of a very fragmentary record.

 

With specific regard to the selection of Francis’s letters, many others of great interest from the point of view of Francis’s own personal life,[6] his role as bishop and preacher, his various diplomatic missions, both religious and civil, and the like, have been omitted simply because they are not letters reflecting a continuing spiritual direction relationship.  One consequence of this is that, with one exception, all of Francis’s letters in this volume are addressed to women.  Francis corresponded with many men, some of them close friends (e.g., Antoine Favre jean-Pierre Camus, Bishop of Belley; the Duke of Bellegarde), and these letters contain spiritual advice and responses to specific questions.  He may have directed men in a continuing way, but his extant correspondence does not reflect this.  In fact, a criticism made of him during his lifetime suggests the contrary.[7] 

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The marvel is that we do have as complete a record as we do, both of the friendship of Francis and Jane, and of their respective relationships with their various directees.

 

Finally, to avoid unnecessary repetition we have generally omitted the following:

 

-          the motto “Live Jesus” at the beginning and “God be praised” at the end of individual letters;

-          the salutation, except where it helps to suggest the tone of a letter;

-          the place where the letter was written, especially when it is Annecy;

-          the complimentary close and signature.

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[1] Oeuvres de Saint François de Sales, Evêque de Genève et Docteur de l’Eglise, Edition Complète, d’après les autographes et les éditions originales … Publiée … par les soins des Religieuses de la Visitation du Ier Monastère d’Annecy, 27 Volumes (Annecy: J. Niérat, et. al., 1892-1964).

[2] Saint François de Sales et se faussaires (Paris: Picard, 1971).

[3] François de Sales Correspondance: Lettres d’amitié spirituelle (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1980).

[4] See Wendy M. Wright, Bond of Perfection, pp. 163-170.

[5] Saint Francis de Sales, Selected Letters (New York: Harper, 1960).

[6] Manfred Tietz has rightly questioned the extent of the autobiographical content Francis’s letters in his Saint François de Sales’ “Traite de l’amour de Dieu” und seine Spanishchen Vorläufer (Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, 1973), pp. 36-40.  Though the letters of Francis hardly reflect an outpouring of his soul, A. Ravier has gathered many references to “l’expérience spirituelle de Saint François de Sales à travers ses confidences epistolaires,” in Lettres d’amitié spirituelle, pp. 745-758.

[7] “You are a bishop, and you spend your whole time with women!” was the charge of an overzealous Paris priest.  See Maurice Henry-Coüannier, St. Francis de Sales and His Friends, Trans. Veronica Morrow (Staten Island, N.Y.: Alba House, 1964), p. 352.

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