Salesian Literature

After the first phase of the missionary work in Chablais, Francis de Sales set up the victorious emblem of the Holy Cross at Annemasse near Geneva [Cf. E.J. Lajeunie, p. 277] . Against the honour paid to it a certain minister wrote a pamphlet, containing a burning venomous invective.  Bishop Claude de Granier appointed Francis de Sales with the task of answering to it [Cf. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, p. 46].  Francis replied him under the title, Defense of the Standard of the Cross.  Later it has been reprinted under the title Pantology or Treasury of the Cross.  The work is divided into four books:

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1. On the Honour and Power of the Cross

2. On the Honour and Power of the Reproductions of the Cross

3. On the Honour and Power of the Sign of the Cross

4. On the Sort of Honour due to the Cross.

 

According to St. Jane de Chantal, St. Francis de Sales wrote a treatise which he called The defense of the Cross, which was written to refute the untruths and blasphemies put forward in a pamphlet by a minister of Geneva.  After the death of Saint Francis, a number of Bishops wanted to read and own this book [Cf. Elisabeth Stopp, pp. 50, 131].

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