Salesian Literature

Epilogue

 

In 1610 Francis moved his belongings out of the episcopal apartments in the Maison Lambert into the townhouse belonging to his dear friend Antoine Favre. The latter had recently been named president of the Senate in Savoy and was quitting Annecy for Chambery. As he did so he insisted that Francis take over his spacious dwelling, reported to be the most beautiful in the city. The young bishop hesitated, unsure whether a priest dedicated to the service of the poor man Jesus should live in such elegant surroundings. There were, however, a number of good reasons why he might make such a move, so he decided in favor of the relocation; but he made one striking provision. For his own office and bedroom he chose a tiny garret apartment so that, to paraphrase his own words, after he had paraded around all day in those great salons and hallways like the most powerful men of the age, at night he could retire to his four walls and single bed reminding himself that he was just a man and a miserable one at that. If he could walk around as the bishop of Geneva by day, at night he could be merely Francis de Sales.

 

So for the rest of his episcopate until his death in I622 at the age of fifty-five, Francis de Sales worked out of his garret apartment at the Hôtel Favre. He accomplished an enormous amount during his relatively short lifetime. Besides his writing projects, which were in fact secondary in occupying his attention, although he loved finding the spare moment to give to them, he was constantly occupied with the business of his diocese, spiritual direction, and the greater concerns of the church. He continued the evangelization among the Protestants that he had begun as coadjutor to the former bishop. He was actively involved in reforming monastic communities and pilgrimage sites within his jurisdiction. His preaching and pastoral duties consumed the better part of each day. A firm believer that a bishop should genuinely preside over his own flock, Francis also found time to travel with the courts of various royal houses, attending to the pastoral needs of princes, priests, religious, merchants, scholars, and commoners equally. He oversaw the flowering of the Visitation community, which in 1615 moved beyond the borders of Savoy into France, where it quickly became transformed into a formal contemplative order. By the time of his death there were over twenty houses of the Visitation in existence. In the midst of all this activity he managed to correspond with hundreds of persons. Over two thousand of his letters are still extant and attest to his attentiveness, sensitivity, and creativity as director and advisor of people in all walks of life.

 

When he died (on the road, in Lyon of an apoplectic stroke) on December 28,1622, he had just given a conference to a group of Visitation sisters. Three days previously he had preached through the night at the three festive Christmas Masses at court. Only nineteen days before he had seen his friend and co-founder, Jane de Chantal, for the last time as they discussed for three hours the concerns of their growing community.

 

Besides the vivid memory of his presence that lingered long among his contemporaries, Francis de Sales left two major works, The Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God, as well as a host of smaller treatises and letters of correspondence. It is through these written works that his spirit is primarily available to Christians today. It is, in my view, well worth the trouble to seek out his writings, for he is one of those who has gone before us who has struggled to learn what it means to live the Christian life in its vitality and integrity. We might well learn from him.

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