St. Francis De Sales: Do All Through Love, Nothing Through Constraint

By Fr. René T. Lagaya, SDB

It was at 8 PM on the 28th of December 1622, at the age of 55, when St. Francis de Sales entered into heavenly glory. The year 2022 will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the glorious demise of the saintly Bishop of Geneva. The Salesian Society should celebrate this event with joyful solemnity. After all,

St. Francis de Sales appears fi ve times in the Salesian

Constitutions: (1) Title – Constitutions of the Society of

St. Francis de Sales; (2) Article 4: Form of our Society – “Inspired by the goodness and zeal of St. Francis de

Sales, Don Bosco called us Salesians and gave us a programme of life in the motto: ‘Da mihi animas, cetera tolle’”; (3) Article 9: Patrons and Protectors of our

Society – “Don Bosco entrusted our Society in a special way to Mary, whom he made its principal patroness, as well as to St. Joseph and to St. Francis de Sales, the zealous pastor and doctor of charity”; (4) Article 17:

Optimism and joy – “Inspired by the optimistic humanism of St. Francis de Sales, he believes in man’s natural and supernatural resources without losing sight of his weakness”; (5) Article 24: Formula of Profession –

“Father, may your grace, the intercession of Mary Help of Christians, of St. Joseph, of St. Francis de Sales and of St. John Bosco, together with the assistance of my brother Salesians keep me faithful day by day.”

A certain “Fabio Chigi, the papal nuncio in Cologne, was elected pope as Alexander VII in 1655. He claimed to have been healed of a serious illness through the intercession of Francis de Sales. He thus, decreed that the process for his beatifi cation be accelerated. Miracles abounded: 47 persons were raised from the dead; 19 deaf-mutes were healed; 12 were cleansed of leprosy; 20 blind people regained their sight; 102 cripples were able to walk again. Pope Alexander VII beatifi ed Francis de Sales at St. Peter’s Basilica on 8 January 1662. A little more than three years later, on 19 April 1665, Good Shepherd Sunday, Blessed Francis de Sales was solemnly canonized by Pope Alexander VII. It was with a voice strained with emotion that the Supreme Pontiff enrolled the Bishop of Geneva in the saintly list of the true heroes of Christianity. On 19 July 1877, Pope Pius IX proclaimed St. Francis de Sales as Doctor of the Church. With the encyclical letter Rerum omnium perturbationem, dated 26 January 1923, Pope Pius XI proclaimed St. Francis de Sales as the Patron of Catholic Writers and Journalists” (René T. Lagaya, SDB, Ask for Nothing, Refuse Nothing: The Life Story of St. Francis de Sales, Makati, Word & Life Publications, 2011, pp. 96-97). All these realities prove the holiness of St. Francis

de Sales. But what is really at the core of the enticing holiness of St. Francis de Sales?

An event in Paris may be of help. “In the autumn of 1584 at the Sorbonne, he attended the biblical lecture of the Benedictine monk Gilbert Génébrard on the Book of the “Song of Songs.” The saint fell in love with this Old Testament book attributed to King Solomon. Meditating on it fi lled him with inexpressible joy. It became the inspiration of many of his later writings” (Lagaya, p. 16). This inspired book describes true love thus: “Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for stern as death is love, relentless as the nether world is devotion; its fl ames are a blazing fi re. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor fl oods sweep it away. Were one to off er all he owns to purchase love, he would be roundly mocked” (Song of Songs 8:6-7). The Second Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, states in its fi fth chapter on the Universal Call to Holiness that holiness consists in “the perfection of charity” (n. 39). St. Francis de Sales reached the pinnacle of holiness because he excelled in love. He did all through love, nothing through constraint. problem of predestination became St. Francis’ overriding preoccupation. He was profoundly aff ected by the conviction that he was predestined for damnation” (Lagaya, p. 16).

“This conviction brought him immense pain and untold sadness. He appeared to be undergoing a bout of severe depression. But in reality, he was going through a genuine spiritual purifi cation. Already as a student at the threshold of adulthood, his motivations needed profound clarifi cation and utmost purgation. In January 1587, he wandered into the Dominican church of St. Etienne-des-Grès. He approached the altar of the Black Madonna and on his knees found himself praying the Memorare: ‘Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fl ed to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided.’ It was a prayer of trust in the power, intercession, and loving care of the Mother of God. He prayed it in deep self-surrender. He was saying in his heart: ‘If you have destined me for hell – then this I accept in utter surrender to your will. But, Lord, only this I ask – even in hell allow me to love you!’

St. Francis de Sales reached the pinnacle of holiness because he excelled in love. He did all through love, nothing through constraint.

The American developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg explains that fear of punishment and hope for reward are what motivate a person in the initial stages of moral development. One is constrained to comply with adult demands so as to avoid physical pain or not to lose material gain. But at the highest stage of moral development, the human person acts for love. The Apostle John says, “Love has no room for fear; rather, perfect love casts out all fear. And since fear has to do with punishment, love is not yet perfect in one who is afraid” (1John 4:18). What brought St. Francis de Sales to such sublime heights of love? It was his “experience of the dark night of the spirit” (Lagaya, p. 16).

“This occurred towards the end of his studies at the French capital. Paris was alive with discussions on the doctrine of predestination. Basically, it taught that since nothing is hidden from God, the destiny of every single individual is known to God from the very beginning. Such human destiny, whether for salvation or for damnation, whether heaven or hell, was thus, already predestined or predetermined by God. You can do nothing to alter your fate. You must just accept your destiny as already decided by divine foreknowledge. The He became convinced that whatever would befall him would always be a loving act of God, because indeed ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). The saint felt indescribable relief and overwhelming peace. He spontaneously made a vow of total dedication to God in celibate chastity. No trace of this youthful crisis was ever evident in the saint’s later life. St. Francis was purged of all selfi sh and worldly motives – only the love of God would rule his life and move him in all his endeavors” (Lagaya, pp. 16-19).

St. Francis de Sales discussed at length the love that brought him utter surrender to the divine will in his work Theotimus, the Treatise on the Love of God. In Book VIII, he spoke of “the love of conformity, whereby the soul surrenders itself to the divine will expressed in God’s commandments, counsels, and inspirations. Book IX deals with the love of submission, by which the human will is united to God’s good pleasure. Book X expounds the commandment to love God above all things” (Lagaya, p. 69). The Patron of the Salesians of Don Bosco spent his life striving to make God happy. This could only be done is he would do all through love, nothing through constraint.