Born in 1567 into a noble Savoyard family, Francis came into the world at the castle of Sales. He studied in Paris and earned a doctorate in both civil and canon law at Padua. During his time in Paris, he experienced a spiritual crisis under the influence of Calvinism. Troubled by doubts about predestination, he resolved: even if he could not be sure of eternity, he would at least spend this life doing all he could to serve and love God.
He was ordained a priest against his father’s wishes and volunteered for the difficult and dangerous mission of Chablais, a Calvinist region south of Lake Geneva. After much hardship and many threats to his life, Francis succeeded in bringing the Catholic faith back to that land. At the age of thirty-two, he was appointed coadjutor bishop, and three years later, bishop of Geneva, though he resided in Annecy.
He worked zealously to implement the reforms of the Council of Trent. In Paris, he came into contact with Madame Acarie and her spiritual circle, with Pierre de Bérulle, Saint Vincent de Paul, and especially with Madame de Chantal, with whom he founded the Order of the Visitation (the Salesian sisters). Though offered the coadjutorship of Paris, he declined.
In 1622, though in poor health and sensing his death was near, he traveled to Lyon to meet the Duke of Savoy. There he died of a stroke on December 28. He was canonized in 1665.
Francis was a great preacher and apostle, sharp in mind and gentle in spirit, and he became a renowned spiritual director, particularly among women of the French high society of his time, so remarkably rich in faith. He is one of the best representatives of the “devout humanism” that marked the beginnings of the French School of spirituality. Today, an entire religious family bears his name: the Salesians, founded by Saint John Bosco, who chose Francis as the model of the modern apostle.
The current liturgical calendar has moved his feast from its traditional date of January 29 to January 24, the day in 1623 when his body was brought to Annecy, where it was laid to rest.
