This past week, on January 24, the entire Salesian family, including the Oblates, celebrated the Feast of Saint Francis de Sales. As our patron, all Oblates revere his goodness, faith and insights into the human heart, intelligence, the prolific body of written material on the devout life and his selflessness in caring for the spiritual journey of thousands and thousands of people.
One of the traps of honoring any saint, though, is that we may find it easier to admire them than to imitate them. Their lives and circumstances seem so removed from our own that we quickly distance ourselves from them. Simone Weil, a French philosopher, thoughtfully wrote, "It is not enough to merely have saints; we must have saints for our times."
While I agree with Simone Weil's insight, I believe Saint Francis de Sales IS a saint for our times, even though he died over 400 years ago. One example of his relevance is a sobriquet attached to Saint Francis de Sales in the title, the Gentleman Saint. It does not come from his position in society as a nobleman but his profound belief in the power of Christ's words in the gospel, "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart." Our patron believed the gentleness of Christ was the way not only for social interchange but also the way to confront conflict, violence and evil.
Throughout his life, Saint Francis de Sales was immersed in a Catholic community grappling with the Protestant Reformation and the violent religious wars that resulted. He was attracted to a group named the Acarie Circle, a Catholic group who desired to rekindle devotion to the Catholic faith in France. Some members of the Acarie Circle proposed a militant vision that sanctioned the use of force and violence to accomplish this goal. Saint Francis de Sales, while cordial and respectful of the Acarie Circle, was not attracted to this method. Instead of a vision of coercion and force, he embraced the gentleness of Christ as the way to lead others to devotion and a relationship with God.
In this belief, he developed a theology of non-violence seen in the first sermon he gave at his induction as Provost of the Cathedral Chapter in the Diocese of Geneva. Saint Francis de Sales wrote, “It will be by charity that the walls of Geneva must be shaken; by charity that the city must be invaded and by charity that it must be recovered. I propose to you neither iron nor powder whose odor and taste call to mind the infernal furnace. I am not forming one of those armies who soldiers have neither faith nor piety. May our camp be the camp of God whose trumpets proclaim with accents all of gentleness, this song, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of armies. It is on this camp that you must fix your gaze...we will conquer only with prayer and love."
Violence is an overwhelming presence in our lives. It impacts almost every facet of our world and society, graphically illustrated by the horrific fact that in the first 24 days of 2023, there have been over 40 mass shootings in the United States. Indeed, fear dominates as a response to this reality, and often, fear itself leads to violence.
The words of Christ that prompted Saint Francis de Sales to choose gentleness over violence must be rooted in every heart of faith. As we cope with our world's disdain for peace, let us pray for peace and embrace a gentle heart and a gentle way to confront sin and violence in the spirit of Christ and the example of Saint Francis de Sales.
