Francis de Sales

Life events

1. Born — 1567

   Francis de Sales was born two months premature on 21 August 1567 in the Château de Sales into the noble Sales family of the Duchy of Savoy, in what is today Thorens-Glières, Haute-Savoie, France.

2. Educated — 1578

   In 1578 de Sales enrolled at the Collège de Clermont in Paris, then a Jesuit institution, to study rhetoric and humanities; he later completed his doctorate in law and theology at the University of Padua in 1592, taking Jesuit priest Antonio Possevino as his spiritual director.

3. Ordained — 1593

   After signing over his title and right of succession to his younger brother Louis, Francis de Sales was ordained priest in 1593 and appointed provost of the cathedral chapter of Geneva — the highest office in the diocese.

4. Other — 1594

   Beginning in 1594, de Sales undertook a hazardous missionary assignment to Chablais, a recently reconquered Calvinist district, operating from the fortress of Allinges and concentrating his efforts on Thonon-les-Bains; during this period he began writing the pamphlets later collected as The Catholic Controversy.

5. Consecrated — 1602

   Following the death of Bishop Claude de Granier in 1602, de Sales was consecrated Bishop of Geneva by Vespasien Gribaldi with Thomas Pobel and Jacques Maistret as co-consecrators; because Geneva remained under Calvinist control, he resided in Annecy.

6. Other — 1610

   On 6 June 1610 de Sales co-founded with Jane Frances de Chantal the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (Visitandines) in Annecy, one of the first women's religious orders designed for those unable to endure the austerities of existing cloistered communities.

7. Wrote

   De Sales produced two enduring spiritual works during his years as bishop: Introduction to the Devout Life, written unusually for laypeople and especially women, counseling charity over penance; and the mystical Treatise on the Love of God, along with extensive letters of spiritual direction.

8. Died — 1622

   While travelling in the retinue of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, for the Duke's Christmas tour, de Sales suffered a stroke and died on 28 December 1622 in Lyon, lodging in the gardener's hut at the local Visitandine monastery.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Pope Pius XI proclaimed de Sales patron of writers and journalists in 1923 because he made extensive use of broadsheets and books in spiritual direction and in his efforts to convert the Calvinists of Chablais. (certain)
• De Sales developed a form of sign language to instruct a deaf man in the faith, which led to his recognition as patron saint of the deaf. (likely)
• Pope Pius IX declared Francis de Sales a Doctor of the Church in 1877; he had been beatified in 1661 and canonized four years later, both by Pope Alexander VII. (certain)
• After his death, de Sales's heart was kept in Lyon at the demand of citizens who refused to let his remains leave the city; during the French Revolution, Visitation nuns carried it from Lyon to Venice to preserve it from the revolutionaries. (likely)
• John Bosco founded the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1859 under de Sales's patronage; the congregation was approved by the Holy See in 1874 and became one of the largest Catholic religious institutes worldwide. (certain)