Saint Francis de Sales, through his familiar style, words, and example, reminds each of us that we carry deep within our hearts a longing for God and that only in him do we find true joy and our fullest fulfillment.

His birth and studies

Francis was born in the family castle at Thorens (about 20 km from Annecy). He was the firstborn of seven children. His mother, Francesca de Sionnaz, was only 15, while his father, Lord de Boisy, was 43!
He was baptized a few days later in the small church of Thorens, which Francis would choose for his episcopal consecration (December 8, 1602).
The education he received from his parents was «without any softness», clearly Catholic in character.
His father wanted him to pursue a legal career, so he sent him to the best schools in Savoy: first in La Roche and then for three years in Annecy with his cousins. During this period he received his First Communion and Confirmation, and from then on he received Communion frequently. He joined the Confraternity of the Rosary and from that moment made a habit of praying it every day.
After completing his studies in Savoy, he was enrolled at Clermont College, run by the young Jesuit Order. And so, in 1578, Francis set off for Paris, where he would remain for 10 years.

The crisis

At the age of 19, while studying in Paris, he attended the lectures of the Benedictine Gilbert Génébrard, who commented on the “Song of Songs”: the symbolic story foreshadows the relationship of love between Christ and the Church! For Francis this was a revelation: from then on he could no longer conceive of the spiritual life as a love story.
We are in the midst of the Protestant Reformation, and the subject of predestination is at the forefront in universities. Francis became absorbed and troubled by it: had God destined him for eternal life or eternal damnation? His perplexity soon became the certainty that he was among the damned «who will never see the sweetest face of God». He fell into crisis and for six weeks neither slept nor ate; he wept and became ill.
He emerged from this state by entrusting himself to Our Lady in the church of Saint Etienne des Grès, with an act of heroic abandonment to the mercy and goodness of God.
«Whatever you have decided, Lord, in the eternal decree of your predestination and condemnation… I will love you, Lord, at least in this life, if I am not granted to love you in eternal life». This would be the secret of his life.

His studies

After Paris, his studies continued in Padua: here Francis discovered the importance and beauty of spiritual guidance, which he found in the Jesuit Father Possevino. After discovering the centrality of God’s love, another piece fell into place: to guide others, one must experience being guided. He brilliantly completed his studies on September 5, 1591, leaving Padua with top honors in civil and canon law.
His father was proud of him and gave him three gifts: he named him universal heir to all his possessions, prepared a fine library for him, and found him a fiancée, the 14-year-old Francesca Suchet, sole heir to a staggering fortune.

Toward the priesthood

Francis had other dreams in his heart, very far from those of his father, who had placed all his hopes in him! His friends came up with a solution: the Provost of Annecy Cathedral had died during that period, a prestigious position but not necessarily one linked to being a priest. Within three months they managed to obtain Francis’s appointment as provost from Rome. Armed with this honorary title, he met with his father to tell him of his intention to become a priest. It was an extremely difficult but understandable confrontation. «I thought you would be the staff of my old age and the support of the family… I do not share your intentions, but I do not deny you my blessing».
On December 18, 1593, he became a priest: «God took possession of my soul in an ineffable way».

Missionary in Chablais

The following year he volunteered as a missionary in Chablais, an area that had almost entirely converted to Calvinism. It would be four years of tremendous hardships, dangers of every kind, deprivation due to the great poverty in which he was forced to live, verbal battles, endless discussions, humiliations, and solitude… He spared no effort in preaching, but the faithful who attended were truly few!
So he decided to write and have his sermons printed, and slipped them under the doors of Catholics and Protestants.
In this way he also reached the most distant villages. His constant concern was also directed toward the condition of laypeople, so he developed preaching and a model of Christian life accessible even to ordinary people immersed in the difficulties of daily life.
He lived with a passion for souls, which was the guiding principle of his pastoral activity.
His gentle and affable manner and his simple, profound, and intelligent speech achieved great results. For two years he organized the initiative of the Forty Hours’ Devotion, days of prayer and conversion led by Francis: they marked Chablais’s definitive return to the Catholic faith.

Pastor and bishop

Founder

On June 6, 1610, Joan, together with Jacomina Favre and Charlotte de Bréchard, began her novitiate under the guidance of the Bishop, who placed in the Foundress’s hands a compendium of the Constitutions written in his own hand: «Follow this path, my dearest Daughter – he said to her – and have all those whom heaven has destined to follow in your footsteps follow it».  Thus began the religious family inspired by the Visitation of Mary.
The title “Visitation” refers to the Gospel scene of Mary “visiting her cousin Elizabeth”. Carrying the Son of God within her, Mary becomes a bearer of salvation.
Saint Francis de Sales saw in this gesture what he desired his daughters to live. Like Mary, animated by her spirit of grace and joyful praise, the nuns are encouraged by the Founder to:
• spiritually bring Christ the Savior to their brothers and sisters, 
• express the feelings of Jesus, living in hearts, through «profound humility toward God and great gentleness toward one’s neighbor», 
• allow the joy and sweetness of heart that God gives to those who walk with him to shine through.

His final years

In 1617, in the convent church of Saint Andrew in Grenoble, Francis joined the Third Order of the Minims; kneeling before the Mantle of Saint Francis of Paola, he received the cord from Father Antonio de Billy.
Leading the diocese with its difficulties, following the founding of the Visitandines, and continually listening to the concerns of ordinary people as well as the nobility required a profound and robust spiritual life. The experience he gained throughout these years of spiritual direction, pastoral life, and intense ascetic commitment flowed into his works, which became famous for their originality and spontaneity of language. Francis de Sales, exhausted and weakened by preaching always carried out with great dedication, died on December 28, 1622.
He was canonized in 1655 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1877. In 1923, Pius XI declared him the patron saint of journalists and Catholic writers.
Several congregations have been inspired by the name of Saint Francis de Sales, including the Salesian family founded by Saint John Bosco, whose focus is the growth and education of younger generations and the less affluent classes.
Saint Francis de Sales is also the patron saint of the Third Order of the Minims founded by Saint Francis of Paola.

Let us ask the Lord to make us resemble this saint in his patience, gentleness, simplicity, and trust, which made him so like Jesus, meek and humble of heart.

May your journey be blessed!