Apostolic letter on the fourth centenary of the birth of St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church,


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ON ST. FRANCIS DE SALES
POPE PAUL VI





January 29, 1967

Beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic

Blessings

:

St. Francis de Sales, the gem of Savoy and Switzerland, is
the very great glory of Annecy—a town famous for its mountains,
its lakes and its surroundings and even more for its historical monu-

ments both sacred and profane—because the nearby village of
Thorens glories in being his birthplace. As this year will mark the
fourth centenary of his birth, the praiseworthy decision was taken

there to honor his memory with public festivities and various
ceremonies.



Of these festivities we were given timely announcement by
the venerable brother Jean Sauvage, Bishop of Annecy, who also
informed us that in view of the greatness of the saint and the

importance of the event he intended to invite the largest possible

number of bishops of France and other countries to take part in

the commemoration and in the common rejoicings.

We praise and fully approve what was done by the solicitous
pastor. Indeed, following the example of our predecessor, Pius XI
of happy memory, who honored the third centenary of the death
of St. Francis de Sales with the Encyclical Rerum Omnium, we
too, beloved sons and venerable brothers, wish to send you this

letter to show to everyone that, in accordance with the desire of

the Bishop of Annecy, we willingly take part in these celebrations

and that we wish them a most happy outcome. And we do it
wholeheartedly because ever since a tender age and then in mature

years we have always particularly venerated the illustrious Bishop

of Geneva and are therefore most pleased to add splendor to his

name.

We therefore warmly exhort you to honor on this happy occa-
sion the doctor of divine love and of evangelical gentleness with

wise reflection and intense, true piety. Our heart gives us the hope

that this will produce much fruit.

In your regions the holy doctor of the Church was always a

burning and resplendent lamp; ^ its heavenly splendor radiated

from there and still offers ample material for study. This was

because he was above all yours, because he left profound memo-
ries of himself in Paris, in Lyons, in Burgundy, in Geneva and in

Turin, and especially in Savoy. Owing to a natural bond with

these illustrious lands, he influenced the feelings and the mode of
Christian life, of even the men who were the most outstanding for
their virtue, as few and perhaps none of his own time and of those
that followed, had ever done.

There is no doubt that by the example of his virtues, by the

prudence of his advice and by his ascetic teaching, he had great

influence as teacher of the French clergy and led to the reflowering

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there of the true priestly spirit, while stimulating in no negligible

way St. Vincent de Paul to found the Congregation of the Priests

of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity. He helped and pre-
ceded with his great authority and the inventive flame of his

superior intelligence, the three educators of that clergy: Pierre

de Berulle, St. John Eudes and Jean Olier.

In fact, great is his teaching and his authority in your regions,

where spirituality and customs everywhere clearly reflect the gen-

tleness of de Sales. Therefore his memory re-emerges now like a
star; by attracting to itself the eyes and meditation, will it not

dispense generously light, warmth, wisdom and mildness? Cer-

tainly, all the more so since for various reasons he seems to be of

real interest today.

Ecclesiastic history clearly shows that ecumenical councils

gave full results in keeping with hopes when either during their
celebration or afterward, holy ecclesiastics and pastors of illus-

trious virtue sought to make themselves into living and speaking
law and to fulfil the will and the deliberations of the council.

All the best Christians ardently desire today that such men,

outstanding for sanctity, should arise to shine and combat. Perhaps

the dawn of this splendid day is about to rise among you.

However, it is necessary to have confidence; we have a guide,
an adviser, a teacher who will help and precede you and be with
you, many other brothers in the episcopate. By going before you,
he will help you to accomplish integrally the work of salvation and

sanctification.

We are certain that truth, in whose knowledge there is re-
joicing, will convince everyone, once it is studied. None of the
recent doctors of the Church knew more or better than St. Francis
de Sales how to anticipate, with the profound intuition of his
wisdom, the deliberations of the Council. He will give aid by the
example of his life, the abundance of a pure and healthy teaching

and his secure method of spirituality, which is open for the Chris-
tian perfection of persons of any status or condition.

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Three things propose themselves: to imitate, to embrace, to

follow. If we then consider the nature and the form of the virtues

of St. Francis de Sales, it is difficult to describe them, because

their nature and their most outstanding characteristic do not appear

at first sight and with absolute certainty. Star differs from star,

gem from gem, one tree from another and each beauty is marked

by qualities of its own.

Beauty is most resplendent and perfect when a variety of

many beauties merge in it harmoniously. Thus in the luxuriant
growth of a garden, the grasses, the trees, the ffowers stand out

for their beauty, their fragrance and their color, but the garden

seems more beautiful to the eye if right proportions and a suitable

design add beauty to beauty in perfect harmony so that the loveli-

ness and the amiable charm of the distinct beauties stand out even

more clearly as a whole.

What we like and admire in Francis de Sales is this associa-
tion, this complex, of virtues.

We therefore spontaneously apply to him what St. Gregory
Nazianzen said in an ardent speech about St. Athanasius: “By

exalting Athanasius, 1 exalt virtue because to speak of him is to

praise virtue since he possessed, or rather possesses, all the virtues,

summed up together. Indeed all live for God, both those who live
according to God, as well as those who may have left this life.” ^

Acute intuition of the mind, strong and clear intelligence,

penetrating judgment, incredible gentleness and goodness, smiling

sweetness of appearance and speech, quiet ardor of an ever-active

spirit, rare simplicity of life not without a modest pride in his

lineage, serene and tranquil peacefulness, an ever steady and secure

moderation not disjoined from strength—gentleness comes from
those who are strong—which enabled him to love tenderly but also
to be strong and to achieve his aim; sublime nobility of mind and

love of beauty, desirous of giving others the supreme good

—

heaven and poetry. Almost infinite zeal for souls and love for God
which precedes all his other virtues like a most resplendent sun.

The overabundance of divine grace added to and sublimated all

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these gifts. These are the main lines which, together with other

similar ones, trace the sublime figure of Francis de Sales.

With these gifts of nature and of grace he consecrated himself

entirely to the Church and with manifold attentions made fruitful

the field which had been entrusted to him. He exercised his pas-
toral ministry even in the midst of perils and treachery, wrote

books full of wisdom, reinstated sacred eloquence and let it flow

like a broad river, led many monasteries back from lost discipline

to full vigor of religious observance and together with St. Jeanne

Francoise de Chantal, who was linked to him by a bond of spiritual
and supernatural friendship, founded the Institute of the Visitation

of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This institute, his most illustrious

charge and glory, experienced such a splendid flowering by divine

grace that when he left this life there was a large number of

convents of that name.

He displayed all his zeal in cultivating and promoting sanctity
everywhere, considering that this was the best way to help the
Church in his century—contaminated by corruption. Thus he
handed down to posterity an example and a teaching which they
could constantly contemplate.

No less illustrious than the sanctity of his life were the teach-
ings he left us, so suitable for the needs of our times. Here are

some of the principal ones which are the pivot of many others.

The Church, in the course of time, cannot shine in its sanctity

without the ornament of holy priests. And the priest, more than
any other Christian, is another Christ. His sanctity radiates from

Christ, the eternal priest who perfects faith, and becomes thus the
living sign of the grace of Christ. Sincere devotion to the Virgin

Mother of God becomes necessary to every faithful person, but
above all to the priest because in addition to all the other singular

benefits, she is the model of our love for God, for Christ and for

the Church. She who is the sweetest among all, the model of grace,
the example of every virtue, represents most clearly the ideal of

evangelical perfection.

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In the choir of virtues primacy goes to charity not only be-

cause it is the most important but also because it gives efficacy and

harmony to the others, since virtue is the order of love. By the
law of the Creator the soul presides over the body in man. Will,

which has love as its ruler and artificer, excels among the faculties
of the soul. By charity, therefore, when it is resplendent and ardent
and active, we touch the summit of evangelical perfection, we unite
ourselves closely to God, the supreme good and the fount of beati-

tude. And, since God is charity we become similar to God by
participating in His nature. Through the body of Christ, that is

to say the Church in heaven and on earth, we are joined together
by charity, we are kept united by this common bond.

The famous “Treatise of the love of God” is rightly summa-
rized by this celebrated definition of charity: “Charity is a love of

friendship, a friendship of spiritual love, a spiritual love of prefer-

ence, but of an incomparable, supreme and supernatural preference

which is like a sun in the entire soul to embellish it with its rays,

in all the spiritual faculties to perfect them, in all the powers to

govern them, but in the will as it sees to inhabit it and make it
prefer and love God above all things. Blessed the soul which is
suffused with this holy spiritual love because with it comes every

kind of good.”

It seems fitting to explain here briefly why St. Francis de Sales
is a modern doctor and so in keeping with modern times. He must
be described as an original and modern doctor not because he

breaks the links of continuity with the rnore ancient ones. Indeed,

his teaching adheres radically to the faith of the Church, sacred

tradition and to the teachings of the holy Fathers. And then in the
ascetic and mystical field he draws not a little particularly from

St. Ignatius of Loyola, from the Blessed John of Avila, from Louis

of Granada, from St. Theresa of Avila, from St. John of the Cross

—

indirectly—and from the thought of the Italian teachers of ascetics.
He tries, however, to show the old teaching under a new light,

to place it wisely in the service of modern life, adapting it to its

manifold necessities. There is no doubt that he also enlists the

help of art for progress from truth to good along a path strewn

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with the flowers of pure beauty. He was in fact formed at the
school of Giovanni Maldonato in Paris and of Antonio Possevino

at Padua, and had acquired a profound literary culture.

He knows, therefore, how to combine humanism with research
and mystical accent and how to develop in himself and in his

disciples a gradual and harmonious heightening of all the human

faculties.^

This does not mean that the sense of beauty develops spon-

taneously in the flower of mystics but that the love of God descend-
ing from above does not destroy the natural faculties but indeed

elevates them, orders and harmonizes them with one another and

expresses vividly every form of beauty and the whole perfection

of human nature.

Therefore, rather than a “devout humanism,” his should be

called a “Christocentric superhumanism,” since it is close in all its

aspects to the integral sanctity which is in keeping with man. And
since we are talking about sanctity, it is fitting to mention here

briefly and to correct the opinion of those who believe that the
true sanctity, such as is proposed by the Catholic Church, does not

concern or commit all the Christians but only a few, taken either

individually or associated with others by means of religious vows.

This old error reappears in the abstruse or open cavils of

some who, disconcerted and disconcerting, make a false distinc-
tion between Christian perfection and evangelical perfection and

trace absurd distances between the acts of charity of monks, of

priests and of laymen or else distort into false interpretations the

decrees of the recent ecumenical council, in which everything is

clearly sanctioned and vividly hoped that all the faithful and all

categories of laymen will reach out with an undivided heart to the

sanctity of life since divine grace offers them this possibility.

These various forms of sanctity are proposed by the holy

Bishop of Geneva under the significant name of devotion. “Love
of God when it makes us elevate ourselves to Him with frequency,
promptness and elan is called devotion.”

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St. Francis de Sales insistently exhorts and urges all, however

different in sex, wealth and condition, that, inflamed by holy

desires, they may feel and experience this devotion.

Sanctity is not a prerogative of one or another social class.

The pressing invitation, “Rise higher, friend,” is addressed to all

Christians. All are bound by the obligation to climb the mountain

of God even though not all by the same way. “Devotion must be
exercised in different ways by the gentleman, by the artisan, by

the waiter, by the prince, by the widow, by the young woman,

by the bride. And more: the practice of devotion must be in
keeping with the strength, with the affairs and with the duties of

each. Tell me, Philothea, would it be suitable for the bishop to

live the solitary life of a Carthusian? And if husbands did not
want to set aside any more money than Capuchins do, if the artisan

spent the whole day in church as the religious does, or if the

religious were exposed daily to all sorts of meetings in the service

of his fellow beings, like a bishop, would not this devotion be

ridiculous, disordered and unbearable? No, Philothea, devotion,

when it is true, does not spoil anything but indeed perfects every-
thing. But when it becomes contrary to the legitimate commit-
ments of each, it is certainly false.”

It would be fitting in this respect to recall another most beau-

tiful sentence of his with which he interprets allegorically the

command God gave to the earth to bring forth the green herb
that its seed and fruit trees may yield fruit after their kind.^ “Do
we not see by experience that trees and fruit do not have their
proper growth and maturity except when they produce the grains

and the seeds which serve for the production of herbs and of trees

of the same species? Thus our virtues do not have their proper

measure and sufficiency until they produce in us desires of progress

which, like spiritual seed, serve to produce new degrees of virtue.

And it seems to me that the soil of our heart has received the
order to bring forth the herbs of virtue to bear the fruit of the

holy works, each according to its species. All these have the order

to bring forth desires and decisions for growth, for daily progress

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in perfection. The virtue which does not have the grain and the

seed of these desires is not at all sufficient and mature.”

In the conciliar Decree on Ecumenism it is laid down: “It is

essential that the doctrine be clearly presented in its entirety.

Nothing is so foreign to the spirit of ecumenism as a false irenicism

which harms the purity of Catholic doctrine and obscures its

assured genuine meaning. . . . Furthermore, in ecumenical dia-

logue, Catholic theologians standing fast by the teaching of the

Church yet searching together with separated brethren into the

divine mysteries, should do so with love for the truth, with charity

and with humility. When comparing doctrines with one another,
they should remember that in Catholic doctrine there exists an

order or “hierarchy” of truth, since they vary in their relation to

the foundation of the Christian faith. In dealing with the hetero-

dox, St. Francis de Sales anticipated by centuries our times and

our habits. His method follows a luminous line which should still

be followed today. In him is found a supreme integrity of life,

supreme mildness and benignity. He is never violent in dispute,
he loves those who err while he corrects the errors, and if his
positions are different he never has recourse to polemic opposition

but draws the lamp close to the lamp. Tenacious in loving, in

praying and in illuminating, he knows how to wait patiently for
a long time and how to lead those who err gradually back to the
fullness of truth from which none may move away and none is
allowed to diminish. And what were his fruits? Through his work,
in the province of Chalons-sur-Saone alone 72,000 men returned
to unity with the Apostolic See.

He had a singular disposition for writing, no less than for
discussing. What abundance of doctrine in the books he compiled,
what clarity of thought, what innate charm, what splendid ele-

gance! The argument develops harmoniously, and the reading is
supremely pleasant, instructive, stimulating.

When he writes, as when he preached to the people, his
readers as once his listeners have but one fear: that it may end
too soon. His word possesses the highest gift of oratory, the con-
stant vivacity that Pindar has so splendidly expressed: “If one

9



expresses himself in an outstanding way, his words have an im-

mortal echo; they soar over most fertile lands and the sea and the

light of illustrious deeds is an unextinguishable ray.”

Given to Catholic writers and journalists as their efficacious

heavenly patron, may he remind them by example and direct them
by authority so that—never misleading for reasons of profit, nor
betrayed by prejudice, but imbued by the spirit of Christ and honest

followers of truth—they may fulfill their duty for the common good
and may deserve well of the Catholic faith whose servants they are.
By acting thus they will comply in a praiseworthy way with the
Decree on the Instruments of Social Communication (chapter 14)

of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and will not sorrow-

fully betray the hope and the expectation placed in them.

A most important trait would now be missing in the true
image of the holy Bishop of Geneva if we did not speak of his
excellent and rich doctrine on the mystery of the Church, of its

amplitude, of its nature and authority. How loving was his rever-
ence—a gift common to all saints—and how was his constant and
amiable zeal full of respect toward the Church, the mother and

teacher, where the doctrine of truth is placed on the Chair of Unity!

What the foundations of the Church are and where they are
he declared with such certainty as to serve considerably for the

clear interpretation of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gen-
tium (On the Church) of the Ecumenical Council. Leaving aside

other passages we quote this one:

“Our Lord is foundation and founder, foundation with no

other foundation, foundation of the natural. Mosaic and evan-

gelical Church, perpetual and immortal foundation, foundation of

the militant and triumphant Church, foundation of Himself, of

our faith, hope and charity and of the value of the sacraments.

St. Peter is the foundation and not the founder of the entire Church,

foundation but founded by another foundation which is our Lord,

foundation of the only evangelical Church, foundation subject to

succession, foundation of the militant Church, not of the tri-

umphant Church, foundation through participation, foundation of

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service not of domination and in no way foundation of our faith,

hope and charity, nor of the value of the sacraments.

“Nevertheless, in authority and in government St. Peter has

surpassed all the others to the same extent to which the head sur-

passes the limbs. Since he was made ordinary pastor and supreme

head of the Church, the others were pastors sent and designated in

other parts of the Church with power and authority over the entire

Church as full as St. Peter’s, except that St. Peter was their common
head and their pastor and the pastor of entire Christianity.

“Thus they were the foundation of the Church with him and

like him as regards the conversion of souls and doctrine; but as

regards authority and government they were (the foundation of

the Church) in a different way because St. Peter was the ordinary

head not only of the other parts of the entire Church but also of

the apostles. In fact. Our Lord had built on him His entire Church,

of which they were not only the parts, but the principal and most

noble parts.”

It is also very fitting to meditate with intelligent judgment

and profound reflection on the similarity which Francis de Sales

suggests between Abraham and St. Peter. One as well as the other
is a rock, father of believers, father of many peoples, that is to
say, of a posterity promised—as prize for faith in Christ—to the
one as sands of the sea and a multitude of stars shining in heaven,

to the other as an immense flock. “Because if Abraham was so
called for the fact that he was to be the father of many peoples,
St. Peter received this name because on him, as on a solid rock,
was to be founded the multitude of Christians. Because of this

resemblance, St. Bernard calls the dignity of St. Peter the Patri-

archate of Abraham.”

With these profound aspirations, with these life purposes,

with this full affirmation of integral Catholic faith, add as much
splendor as you can to the celebrations of the fourth centenary

of the birth of St. Francis de Sales. In the mutual bond of the

communion of the saints the great Doctor—fount of light for the
holy Church—will respond to our homage with the help of his
merits and of his powerful and compassionate prayer to God.

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