st. francis de sales in art

No. 20
•
July – August 2007
Founded in 1997 and published biannually by the International Commission for Salesian Studies (ICSS)
of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales
ST. FRANCIS
DE
SALES
IN
ART
Introduction
The age of Francis de Sales (1567-1622) knew both iconophobia and
iconophilia. Countering the Protestant reformers’ proscription of images, the
Council of Trent (1545-63) affirmed the Church’s teaching, especially the decrees of
the Second Council of Nicea (787), concerning the veneration of sacred images.
According to this doctrine, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ as the visible image of the
invisible God (Colossians 1:15) and His teaching expressed in parables voided the
Old Testament interdiction on figural art and licensed the use of sacred art and
imagery. The Tridentine council fathers went on to insist that
great profit is derived from all holy images, not only because the
people are thereby reminded of the benefits and gifts bestowed on
them by Christ, but also because through the saints the miracles of
God and salutary examples are set before the eyes of the faithful, so
that they may give God thanks for those things, may fashion their own
life and conduct in imitation of the saints and be moved to adore and
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love God and cultivate piety.
France and Haute-Savoie (the oldest part of the Duchy of Savoy that
corresponds to the present-day diocese of Annecy), Francis’s homeland, were among
the areas of Europe where Protestant iconoclasm had the most violent impact,
destroying many works of sacred art in churches and worship sites. We need only
recall the state of ruin and devastation in which Francis found so many churches and
chapels during his mission to reconvert the Chablais to Catholicism. Shortly
thereafter Francis took up the pen in the cause of sacred images, producing his
Défense de l’Estendart de la saincte Croix (Defense of the Standard of the Holy Cross;
1600), a dense theological semiotic treatise on the nature of pictorial representation
in Christianity. As bishop of Geneva, Francis set forth in synodal documents
prescriptions regulating the public display, function, and purpose of sacred images
that faithfully echo Trent’s doctrine on this topic. These guidelines continued to be
Figure 1. St. Francis de Sales, early 18th century, polychrome and gilded wood statue. Les ContaminesMontjoie, Sanctuaire de Notre Dame de la Gorge (Églises et chapelles baroques du diocèse d’Annecy, 1:145;
2:72-73). Here Francis is depicted exercising the ministry of preaching—one of the most popular and
frequent ways in which he is represented in the baroque art of Haute-Savoie. Our saint wears a stole over
his mozzetta, rochet, and cassock, while he holds the Scriptures in his left hand and the attribute of a
flaming heart in his right. Both attributes recall key themes of Francis’s important 1604 letter on preaching
to André Frémyot: first, that the Word of God is the primary focus of preaching; and, second, that in
preaching “heart speaks to heart” (OEA, 12:321). Francis once confessed to St. Vincent de Paul that he
“could sense when someone was inwardly moved by his preaching. ‘For I noticed,’ he said, that something
went out from me, not through any inspiration of mine . . . but uttered by me through divine impulse’”
(Vincent de Paul, Correspondence, Conferences, Documents III, newly trans., ed., and annotated by Marie
Poole et al., vol. XIIIa [Hyde Park, N.Y.: New City Press, 2003], 82). For his part, Vincent attests that
Francis’s words inflamed his listeners “like burning darts” (ibid.) that enkindled their hearts with “a
powerful flame of spiritual devotion” (ibid., 85).
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ICSS NEWSLETTER
normative long after Francis’s episcopate, being regularly
affirmed and renewed by his successors.
Not long after his death, Francis himself became a subject in
sacred art. Images of our saint served several purposes: to express
popular devotion, to exalt Francis as a “salutary example” to be
imitated, and to promote and/or celebrate his cause for
beatification and canonization. There exists an appreciable
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corpus of images of Francis, as previous studies and the recent
digital collections by Fr. Jean Gayet, OSFS, a former longtime
member of the ICSS, and Fr. Valdir Formentini, OSFS, a current
member of the ICSS, attest. Yet, at the same time, much work
remains to be done in such critical areas as the cataloging, study,
and analysis of these images. Two recent books shed new light on
the complex field of Salesian iconography, while at the same
time, hopefully serving as catalysts for further work in this area
of investigation. Here we offer reviews of these two books to
make their findings more widely accessible and known.
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Églises et chapelles baroques du diocèse d’Annecy: Richesses de la
Haute-Savoie. Un art retrouvé [Baroque Churches and Chapels of
the Diocese of Annecy: Riches of Haute-Savoie. An Art
Recovered], 3 vols. (Vol. 1: Voies d’approche [Ways of Approach],
190 pp., ISBN 2-9507720-3-X; Vol. 2: Le Faucigny, 244 pp., ISBN
2-9507720-4-8; Vol. 3: Chablais & Genevois, 176 pp., ISBN 29507720-5-6). By Fernand Roulier, assisted by Bernadette Lejay.
Photography by Denis Vidalie. (La Balme de Sillingy: Éditions
Rossat Mignod, 2002).
The baroque is the first truly worldwide artistic movement,
extending from Europe to the Americas and to Asia. It is also the
prevailing and most popular artistic style in Haute-Savoie, where
it influenced ecclesiastical decorative arts well into the 19th
century. In his three-volume Églises et chapelles baroques du diocèse
d’Annecy, the late Fernand Roulier (hereafter R.), longtime
professor of aesthetics and art history at the Facultés Catholiques
in Lyon, fills a void in the burgeoning body of scholarship on
Savoy’s rich baroque artistic and cultural patrimony by profferring
a detailed examination and in-depth analysis of ninety sites in the
vast diocese of Annecy that have not received the attention they
merit in previous studies. Elegantly designed, profusely illustrated,
and offering a wealth of historical information, R.’s opus magnum
complements, and belongs on Salesian library bookshelves
alongside, such works as the pioneering three-volume Les chemins
du baroque (The Paths of the Baroque, 1994), and the important
volumes of collected studies edited by Dominique Peyre: Savoie
baroque (Baroque Savoy, 1998), and, more recently, La Savoie des
retables: Trésors des églises baroques des hautes vallées (The Savoy of
the Retables: Treasures of the Baroque Churches of the Upper
Valleys, 2006).
The baroque of Haute Savoie is not the “grand baroque” of
Italy, Germany, Eastern Europe or Andalusia, but a popular
religious art form, whose character is rural and rustic (paysan).
The object of R.’s study is the diocese of Annecy. (Here it must
be recalled that the establishment of Calvinism in Geneva
forced the Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva to go into exile in
Annecy in 1535; however, his official title continued to be
“bishop of Geneva,” though the diocese was frequently referred
to as Geneva-Annecy. It was not until 1822 that the diocese of
Annecy was formally established by the Holy See.) To express
this another way, R. studies St. Francis de Sales’s beloved
“Nessy,” as our saint called his diocese, though most of the sites
examined here were not constructed until many years after
Francis’s lifetime. Nonetheless, R. opens a window on, among
other things, the cult of Francis de Sales that flourished in
Haute-Savoie, as evidenced by the region’s religious art.
Volume 1 offers an extensive introduction to, and overview
of, the diocese of Annecy’s baroque churches, chapels, and
oratories—most of which are in rural, rather than urban,
settings. Volumes 2 and 3 are an amply documented catalogue of
ninety sites. Chapels abound in this rural diocese because, due to
distance and harsh weather, parish churches were often not
easily accessible for the inhabitants of remote Alpine villages.
The village chapel provided a place for the faithful to pray, as
well as to invoke the protection of the particular saint who was
the titular patron of the village and the chapel. The “building
boom” in the diocese occurred several decades after Francis de
Sales. Between 1602 and 1678, six new churches were built, and
eleven existing worship sites were renovated. By contrast,
between 1679 and 1730, thirty-five new churches and three new
conventual chapels were built, and seven renovations were
completed. The period 1760-84 saw the construction of fifteen
new churches and three renovations.
R. explains in detail how churches were built, the materials
that were used, and how they were decorated. Each of the
church’s constitutive parts, including the façades, bell towers,
and retables, are considered. The importance accorded the
retable is salient. The word “retable” comes from the Latin retro
tablum, meaning “behind the [altar] table,” and refers to the
painted or sculpture altarpieces that first became popular in
Europe in the 14th century. Extraordinary attention was given to
the design, architecture, and execution of the retable of the main
altar because it was the major visual focal point of the church or
chapel. It was usually quite elaborate, whereas the retables of side
altars were simpler. With its frequent combination of paintings
depicting events from the lives of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and
saints, with sculptures of these figures, the retable served as a
“catechism in images,” as well as a visual aid to assist the faithful
in praying and keeping their minds and hearts fixed on the
things of heaven, of which the retable was considered to be an
emblematic representation. Among the many points of interest
R. includes is that the practice of placing the tabernacle on the
main altar did not become obligatory in the diocese of GenevaAnnecy until 1773.
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The pulpit was another major element of ecclesiastical
architecture, reflecting the pivotal importance assigned the
ministry of preaching by the Council of Trent. To enable the
congregation to hear the preacher, the pulpit was often situated
at the junction of the choir and nave, although sometimes it was
placed in the midst of the congregation. Like retables, pulpits
were also elaborately decorated, often with sculptural reliefs of
the four Latin Fathers of the Church (Ambrose, Augustine,
Jerome, and Gregory the Great), or of the evangelists.
Significantly, several pulpits in the diocese of Annecy include
sculptural reliefs of Francis de Sales. For example, the pulpit in
the church of St. Hippolytus in Thonon is adorned with reliefs
of three Fathers of the Church, Francis de Sales preaching, and
the four evangelists and their attributes. Francis is also portrayed
on the pulpit of the church of St. Maurice and of the cathedral
of St. Peter in Annecy. The former, sculpted in 1715 by Pierre
Jachetti, depicts the saint, vested in mitre and cope, seated at a
desk writing, whereas the latter illustrates Francis preaching
before the Senate of Chambéry in 1606, when the congregation
saw the 13th-century crucifix facing the saint
project rays of light that enveloped him.
R. offers a tally and a discussion of the many
and great variety of sacred images found in the
churches and worship sites of the diocese of
Annecy. Not surprisingly, Francis de Sales
figures at the top of the list. R. counts nearly fifty
images of our saint: twenty-five statues, twentytwo paintings, and a sculptural reliquary bust,
noting at the same time that the existence of
many others is documented, although they have
since disappeared (Figure 1). The placement of
these images makes known the importance
ascribed to them: twenty-one appear on the
retables of main altars, twelve on the retables of
side altars, and several statues, which were part
of retables, are now displayed in settings other
than for which they were originally intended.
Twenty-eight images represent Francis
preaching. In three images, Francis holds a
flaming heart, which is also the attribute of
St. Augustine. In this connection, R. notes,
Figure 2. Claude Chapuis, The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, with St. Francis de Sales and St. Agatha, signed and dated
1662. Abondance, Church of Notre Dame de l’Assomption
(Églises et chapelles baroques du diocèse d’Annecy, 1:156; 3:64,
66-67). The altarpiece for a side altar, this painting portrays
the heavenly coronation of the Virgin Mary by the blessed
Trinity—an iconographic subject that became popular in the
17th century. This event takes place in the celestial realm
delineated by clouds and above a carefully composed
terrestrial landscape. The scene is flanked by the presence of
the figures of St. Francis de Sales and St. Agatha, who is
identified by the instrument of martyrdom (pincers) she
holds. Francis was beatified the year prior to the execution of
this painting.
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images of the bishop of Geneva and the bishop of Hippo appear
together as pendants no fewer than nine times. Perhaps the most
notable example of this pairing occurs in the church of St. Francis
de Sales in Annecy. Polychrome statues of Augustine and Francis
appear in niches on the left and right sides, respectively, of the
retable of the main altar. Above these statues are two elegant
polychrome sculptural emblems (cf. Emblems XXVII and XXXI
in Adrien Gambart’s emblem book, La vie symbolique du
bienheureux François de Sales [1664]): the emblem of a magnifying
glass in the shape of a heart held high receiving rays from heaven
and kindling other hearts, with the motto Acceptas refero flammas,
“I pass on the fire I receive,” is above Augustine, while the
emblem of a mirror with the motto Omnibus omnia, “All things to
all people” surmounts Francis.
Francis’s “portraits” depict him in ecstasy, imparting his
blessing, at prayer, and writing. Twice he is portrayed with the
Virgin Mary, and two other times he is the recipient of a
supernatural vision. Besides being paired with St. Augustine,
Francis is also shown with various other saints, including
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SS. Crispin and Crispinian (the former is mentioned
in the Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, chap. 3),
St. Peter, St. John the Evangelist, St. Lawrence, and
St. Agatha (Figure 2).
By contrast with the prodigal number of images of
Francis, St. Jane de Chantal is represented only three
times: an 18th-century massive wood statue depicting
her in heavenly glory, a polychrome wood reliquary
bust, and a painted portrait. The paucity of images of
Mother de Chantal recalls her constant prayer for the
grace of a hidden life for her and the Order, both in
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this and eternal life.
R.’s commentary, in vols. 2 and 3, on each
of the ninety sites that he has studied is a gold
mine of historical, artistic, and iconographic data. In
the case of the church of St. Francis de Sales in
Annecy, however, the information provided can be
appropriately amplified by the recent research on its
history by Jean Gayet, OSFS, a native Savoyard and
former longtime member of the ICSS. As is well
known, this church was attached to the first monastery
of the Visitation Order in Annecy. But it is less well
known that Francis himself blessed the church’s
cornerstone on 14 September 1614, and four years
later, on 30 September 1618, solemnly consecrated the
church, placing it under the titular patronage of
St. Joseph. This site remained the church of St. Joseph
until 1923 when, to commemorate the third centenary
of the saint’s death, the bishop of Annecy renamed it
for St. Francis de Sales. Francis’s naming this church
for St. Joseph always figures among several important
data adduced by his contemporaries and modern
scholars alike to signal the key role he played in the
promotion and popularization of devotion to the
husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus in the early
modern period.
Vol. 1 is rounded off by a glossary of art and
architectural terms, a most helpful repertory of artists,
and bibliography. Likewise, vols. 2 and 3 each have
bibliographies. In sum, Églises et chapelles baroques du
diocèse d’Annecy is a veritable feast for the eyes and the
spirit, and an indispensable, splendid, and appealing
reference work on the sumptuous baroque artistic
heritage of the homeland of Francis de Sales.
Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS
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Figure 3. Jean Couvay (Arles, 1622-Paris?), after François Chauveau (Paris, 1618-76), St. Francis
de Sales Composing the Treatise on the Love of God, frontispiece engraving from Henrico Maupas
du Tour, Vita B. Francisci Salesii . . . (Cologne: Apud Joannem Busaeum, 1668). Courtesy Salesian
Library, Wilmington-Philadelphia Province of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. Francis de Sales
and Augustine of Hippo shared the common attribute of the flaming heart. In the baroque art
of the churches and chapels of Haute-Savoie, their images are often paired as pendants. In
designing this engraving, Chauveau partially reverses Philippe de Champaigne’s painting of St.
Augustine, executed ca. 1645-50, and now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Figure 4).
For both saints, the artist retained the same position of the body, the episcopal vestments, the
flaming heart in the left hand and the quill in the right one, and the divine illumination within a
radiating aureole (veritas for Augustine, and the dove of the Holy Spirit for Francis) at the upper
left-hand corner of the picture. The desk has been moved to the opposite side, but the lectern
and heretical books that Augustine tramples underfoot are omitted in the engraving of Francis.
ICSS NEWSLETTER
Franz von Sales. Ikonographie in Kupferstichen des 17. und 18.
Jahrhunderts [Francis de Sales: Iconography in Engravings of the
17th and 18th Centuries]. By Erich Hehberger. (Lindenberg:
Kunstverlag Josef Fink, 2006). 104 pages. ISBN 3-89870-260-X.
In this short catalogue, Erich Hehberger (hereafter H.) has
gathered eighty-six images representing Francis de Sales, either
simple portraits, or in more elaborated settings. The corpus of
images is divided into five categories: Bienheureux, 1624-1660;
Beatus, 1661-1664; Sanctus, from 1665; devotional images
(Andachtsbild); Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal (called
“Franziska von Chantal” in the table of contents). Three short
introductory texts, in German, present the saint’s life, the
technique of engraving and its market in the 17th and 18th
centuries, and a very brief overview of the Salesian portrait
tradition. Finally, a bibliography provides the reader with a list of
references, principally in the areas of the history of printing,
engraving, and book illustration.
As H. indicates in his introduction, the iconography of a
saint is based on a model portrait, the “true portrait” or vera
effigies, which gradually emerged from one
image to another. It more often than not
includes a few lines of text, in verse or prose
form. The few attributes or other elements that
accompany the portrait itself are of great
importance since they stress the essential
features (qualities, virtues, events, etc.) of the
saint’s life and spirituality. They emblematize
the particularity of the subject’s sanctity. This
was especially necessary in an age when there
were no media, in the forms that we know, that
could easily and quickly circulate the image of a
person’s face. The vera effigies allowed for an
immediate and unmistakable identification of
the person represented, as well as spread the
person’s fame throughout Europe and the
broader world of its overseas colonies.
In the case of Francis de Sales, the type of
his vera effigies seems to have been established
early on—just after his death in 1622. He is
represented en buste, three-quarter profile,
Figure 4. Philippe de Champaigne (1602-74), St. Augustine,
ca. 1645-50, painting on canvas. Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, Gift of the Ahmanson Foundation (photo:
courtesy of the Museum). This painting served as the
compositional model for François Chauveau’s engraving of
St. Francis de Sales Composing the Treatise on the Love
of God (Figure 3), which was the frontispiece for the Latin
translation of Henry Maupas du Tour’s biography of
the saint, first published in French in 1657. However, because
of his premature application of the appellations “blessed”
and “saint” to Francis, Maupas du Tour was obliged to
withdraw this edition from circulation. However, after Francis’s
canonization in 1665, Maupas du Tour’s biography was
republished several times, supplemented by an account of the
canonization ceremonies.
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looking straight into the eyes of the spectator, bareheaded, and
usually dressed in a mozzetta (worn over a cassock and rochet),
and whose only adornment is a simple pectoral cross. As for
attributes, in a significant number of prints, there are none. When
they are present, they signal Francis’s activity as a writer (attributes
such as books, quills, and inkwell), or as a man of prayer (attributes
such as a crucifix, rosary, Bible, or prayer book). Therefore, Francis
is shown either writing his major works, including the
Constitutions of the Order of the Visitation, or praying alone in
front of a crucifix or an altar. The latter iconography combines two
miraculous episodes of his life: the fiery globe, shedding sparks of
light, which appeared in his room while he was writing the Treatise
on the Love of God, with the miracle that took place in of
Chambéry while he was preaching, when rays of light seemed to
come from the crucifix on which his eyes were fixed. When
Francis is shown writing, his roles as a spiritual writer and as
founder of the Visitation are stressed; when he is shown praying,
his nearness to God and his divine election are emphasized.
These two aspects of his iconography are synthesized in
some pictures, when a very special attribute is added. Indeed,
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ICSS NEWSLETTER
apart from the pectoral cross, which Francis, in some engravings,
touches with his hand, making it conspicuous to the beholder, he
sometimes holds a flaming heart, recalling the principal attribute
of St. Augustine, who was also, as is well known, the model of
spiritual writers. Certainly, the most eloquent example of this
merging of Augustinian and Salesian iconography is the
frontispiece (H., p. 32) to the Latin translation of Maupas du
Tour’s biography of Francis (1657) published in 1668 in Cologne
(Figure 3). The designer partially reverses Philippe de
Champaigne’s painting of St. Augustine (ca. 1645-50, now in the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Figure 4). For both the
bishop of Hippo and the bishop of Geneva, the artist retained
the same position of the body, the episcopal vestments, the
flaming heart in the left hand and the quill in the right one, and
the divine illumination within a radiating aureole (veritas in the
case of Augustine, and the dove of the Holy Spirit in the case of
Francis) at the upper left-hand corner of the picture. The desk
has been moved to the opposite side, but the lectern and
heretical books that Augustine tramples underfoot are omitted
in the engraving.
H.’s catalogue presents a fascinating corpus of images,
although the manner of presentation does not provide as much
information as desirable. The distinction that the author makes
between bienheureux and beatus requires clarification because,
strictly speaking, bienheureux is simply the French translation of
beatus. Until Pope Urban VIII (1548-1644; pope from 1623), it
was customary to refer to a person renowned for sanctity, like
Francis de Sales, as bienheureux, without the individual having
undergone prior official Roman proceedings for beatification.
Urban’s decrees on canonization (1625; confirmed by a brief of
1634) legislated on the matter, but most of the 17th century was
a transition period, during which the tradition persisted. This
explains why as early as 1624, Francis is called bienheureux
although he was not officially beatified until 1661. Therefore,
bienheureux cannot be translated any differently than beatus in
German: they both mean selig (blessed). It would be interesting
to identify the possible iconographic differences in the portrayal
of Francis before and after his beatification.
The criteria of selection for the images are not rigorously
established. The captions are even less rigorous, sometimes
giving a date, sometimes not, although each engraving is
assigned to a chronological category. But, more importantly, the
contexts in which these engravings were published, as well as
their provenance, are not indicated. Even if the author’s purpose
was to offer a primary overview of Salesian iconographic
production, a simple grouping of the images by their nature,
under each chronological part—fly leaf, book frontispiece,
illustration in a Salesian work, illustration in a biography,
translations, etc.—would have made available a more reliable
basis for future scholarship. From this basis, many avenues for
study open up: to start with, a comparative and systematic study
of this corpus of images, the inclusion of Francis de Sales’s
portrait in devotional images, the hagiographic image which is
promoted through this iconography, and the relationship
between this “traditional” iconography and the different
emblematic programs that were designed in the 17th century to
support and then celebrate Francis’s canonization. In sum, H.’s
selected iconography of St. Francis de Sales is a most welcome
initiative that will hopefully foster further study in an underexplored field of investigation.
Agnès Guiderdoni-Bruslé
Dr. Guiderdoni-Bruslé is research associate at the Fonds National de
la Recherche Scientifique and professor of French Literature at the
Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium).
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R EFERENCES
1.
Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, trans. H. J. Schroeder, OP
(1941; St. Louis, Mo.: Herder Book Co., 1960), 216.
2.
See, e.g., J. Grand-Carteret, “Étude iconographique,” in S. François
de Sales, Introduction à la vie dévote, réimpression textuelle de la 3e
edition (1610), 2 vols. (Moutiers: F. Ducloz, 1895), vol. 1, 157
separately numbered pages (an introductory essay followed by a
catalogue of paintings, statues, stained-glass windows, medallions,
engravings, and lithographs), and L. Lecestre, Saint François de
Sales, “L’Art et les Saints” (Paris: Henri Laurens, 1934).
3.
See E. Stopp, Madame de Chantal: Portrait of a Saint (Westminster,
Md.: Newman Press, 1963), 141.
ICSS NEWSLETTER
HUMAN ENCOUNTER IN THE SALESIAN TRADITION
Collected Essays Commemorating the 4th Centenary
of the Initial Encounter of
St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal
Human Encounter in the Salesian Tradition, scheduled for release by the ICSS in
December 2007, includes essays by Salesian scholars from throughout the world
that explore manifold and various aspects of the theme of human encounter in
the Salesian tradition, from its Biblical foundations to its roots in the Christian
humanism of the mystics of the Low Countries to contemporary pastoral care
and ecumenism. Twenty essays are grouped into five thematic sections:
I.
Theological Foundations of Encounter
“An Eternal Inclination to an Otherness”: The Mystery of
Encounter in Christian Humanism from the Mystics of
the Low Countries to Francis de Sales (R. Faesen, SJ)
Alterity: At the Heart of the Salesian Matrix
(J. Cryan, OSFS)
“Rencontre” et “dialogue” dans la vie humaine selon
François de Sales (H. Bordes)
Eucharist and the Theopoetics of Encounter According to
St. Francis de Sales (T. Dailey, OSFS)
II. The Initial Encounter of Francis de Sales
and Jane de Chantal
The Encounter of Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal
(D. Koster, OSFS)
The Flowering of a Friendship (M.-P. Burns, VHM†)
“God has given me to you”: Divine Action in the
Friendship of Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal
(D. Wisniewski, OSFS)
The Freedom to Love: A Close Reading of Francis de
Sales’s Letter of 14 October 1604 to Jane de Chantal
(A. Pocetto, OSFS)
III. Salesian Encounters with Other Traditions
St. Joseph in the Spirituality of Teresa of Ávila and Francis
de Sales (J. Chorpenning, OSFS)
Picturing the Way of Perfection: Gregory Huret’s
Engravings of St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1644) in
Their Teresian Context (C. Wilson)
“True and Public Knowledge”: The Political, Religious, and
Social Context of Jane de Chantal’s Testimony for the
Canonization of François de Sales (W. Wright)
François de Sales et les Chartreux: Liens d’amitié et
affinites spirituelles (V. Mellinghoff-Bourgerie)
IV. Encountering and Encounters in the Salesian Tradition
Gottes Wille ist immer Gottes Liebe: Wie Franz von Sales
und Johanna Franziska von Chantal Sterben und Tod
begegneten (H. Winklehner, OSFS)
La relation pédagogique chez François de Sales (P. Legros)
Figure de la sainteté salésienne par elle-même: Rencontrer
saint François de Sales en texts et en images
(A. Guiderdoni-Bruslé)
Mère Marie de Sales Chappuis—Abbé Louis Brisson—
Léonie Françoise de Sales Aviat (A.-T. Furian, OSFS)
Youthful Holiness: The Encounter between Dominic Savio
and Don Bosco (J. Boenzi, SDB)
V. Salesian Ministry as Encounter
Sinnzentriert und salesianisch: Geistliche Begleitung im
Geist des hl. Franz von Sales in der Begegnung mit
Viktor E. Frankls Logotherapie (R. Fobes)
“Winning Hearts”: Ministering in a Salesian Manner
(L. Fiorelli, OSFS)
Ecumenical Relationships and Dialogue Today: Insights
from the Salesian Tradition (J. Crossin, OSFS)
Paper over board | 436 pp. | 19 illustrations | US$35.00, plus handling and postage
Distributed for the ICSS by
De Sales Resources & Ministries, 4421 Lower River Road, Stella Niagara, NY 14144, USA
E-mail: [email protected]; website: www.desalesresource.org
Franz-Sales-Verlag, Rosental 1, D-85072 Eichstätt, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]; website: www.franz-sales-verlag.de
7
SALESIAN STUDIES
WORLDWIDE
Fr. Brisson’s Cause
With the death of Fr. Emilio Testa, OSFS, who as postulator did
so much work to introduce the cause of the beatification of
Fr. Brisson, it was the prerogative of the Oblate Sisters to present
a replacement to the Congregation of Causes of Saints since they
had initially introduced the cause. Mother Françoise Bernadette
Beuzelin, OSFS, superior general of the Oblate Sisters, submitted
the name of Sr. Madeleine-Thérèse, OSFS, who has been
officially accepted as postulator. Fr. Thomas Dailey, OSFS, will
work closely with Sr. Madeleine-Thérèse and assist her whenever
necessary.
Web News
Over the course of numerous trips to Europe and many years of
research on the life of St. Francis de Sales, Fr. Robert McGilvray,
OSFS, took many, many photographs relating to our saint. Over
the years, Fr. McGilvray received several ICSS grants to assist
him with the project of digitizing these photographs, which are
now being added to a new online digital repository by Trexler
Library at De Sales University (DSU). At long last,
Fr. McGilvray’s work will have a worldwide audience and should
be an excellent resource for furthering Salesian studies.
Digitized versions of some classic monographs about St. Francis
de Sales will also soon be made available online. Scanned copies
of the originals will be able to be viewed and will be searchable.
The ICSS contributed a grant to get this project underway.
Trexler Library at DSU has mounted these online resources on a
server provided by ACCESS PA, and the images are organized
and displayed using the software product, ContentDm. To view
the
current
contents
of
the
site,
go
to
http://www.accesspadr.org:2005/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT
=%2Fadesu-sfdes.
A new Web portal is online for the information and
communications agency that represents the Salesians of Don
Bosco, offering an almost daily news service (courtesy of
Zenit News Service). The Salesian Info Agency
(http://www.infoans.org/index.asp?Lingua=2) has also been
given juridical recognition that enables it to interact with other
news services. A statement posted on the site explains: “The site
has been planned from the point of view of a new approach to
news, derived from the rapid development of the world of
communication and from the new forms of journalism and
broadcasting.” The new site offers articles, photos, audio, and
video in six languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French,
Portuguese, and Polish.
Africa
BENIN
The annual Salesian conference held in Benin welcomed
Sr. Claudine Delmée, a Salesian Sister of the Visitation from the
Congo, who gave a presentation on spiritual accompaniment.
This conference brings together different members of the
Salesian family and people who strive to live in accordance with
the teachings of St. Francis de Sales. It is a dramatic reminder of
the richness of the Salesian spiritual patrimony that is so
adaptable to our world and across different cultures.
With the return of Fr. Jean-Luc Leroux, OSFS, the De Sales
Oblates now number seven priests (three French and four
Béninois), two Béninois brothers, and three novices who are
expected to make their first profession in September. There are
other young men being prepared for entrance into the Oblates.
So the prospects for gradual but solid growth in the Benin
foundation look very promising. The Benin foundation is the
visionary undertaking of the French Province.
ICSS NEWSLETTER
9
During the month of August, a group of thirteen students from
the area of Lyon, France, participate jointly with the young
people of Benin in two humanitarian projects: the agricultural
college Fondéou and at a shelter that takes in children from the
streets, Notre Dame du Refuge. There is significant cross-cultural
exchanges in these encounters, as well as in meetings with
students from the University of Parakou and trips to various parts
of the country. The group has greatly profited from this
experience that opens them up to the problems of a developing
country and the need for mutual aid and solidarity among
peoples of both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Another group of young people from Craponne, France, with the
help of Frs. Antoine de Moismont, OSFS, and Thierry Mollard,
OSFS, is planning to visit Benin in 2007 and 2008.
gain hands-on experience of Catholic primary and secondary
education in the United States.
SOUTH AFRICA
The De Sales Oblates in Upington were recently visited by firstyear students from DSU participating in Destination: South
Africa!—a program developed by Fr. Joseph DiMauro, OSFS,
associate dean of students, in collaboration with other staff and
faculty, to facilitate student learning, spiritual and character
development, student-faculty interaction, and global
engagement through education, field research, and acts of
human solidarity in South Africa. A group of ten students—
accompanied by Fr. DiMauro, one staff, and one faculty
member—forged a relationship with the Oblates at the cocathedral and the mission of St. Augustine. Participants
delivered food parcels to the poor in Upington for the
St. Vincent de Paul Society, accompanied hospice caregivers to
the homes of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis patients, and
facilitated youth programs in Malmesbury and Gansbaai. Host
country residents, Fr. Robert Hindley, OSFS, Fr. Peter Ziegler,
Ms. Isidora Koetzee, Ms. Florida Brown, and Dr. Kamilla Swart
were key to the success of Destination: South Africa! in 2006-07.
They will assist with the return trip, as will Mr. Michael Lutzeyer,
Owner/Managing Director, Grootbos Private Nature Reserve,
Gansbaai.
Europe
Asia
INDIA
The De Sales Oblate foundation is branching out into a new
state. With the generous assistance of the Swiss Oblates, a piece
of land was recently acquired in Eluru/Andhra Pradesh to serve
as a novitiate. With a change in the formation program, the next
group of novices will not begin their novitiate until 2009. This
allows a two-year period for the construction of the new
novitiate. The new location will expand the influence and the
work of the De Sales Oblates in India.
Fr. Baiju Puthuserry, OSFS, recently graduated from DSU with
the Master of Education degree in preparation for establishing an
Oblate school in India. Along with this academic experience,
Fr. Baiju will spend next year at the De Sales Oblate parish of
St. Anthony of Padua in Wilmington, De., where he will teach
in both the elementary school and Padua Academy in order to
Several educational establishments of the Missionaries of
St. Francis de Sales (Fransalians)—Suvidya College and
St. Francis de Sales College—as well as two De Sales Oblate
institutions—Samapanaram (The Garden of Offering), the
Oblate House of Studies for approximately forty seminarians,
and Brisson Bhalavan, a hostel for young boys adjacent to the
seminary—were recently visited during a ten-day stay by a group
of sixteen (twelve students and four staff) from DSU. This visit
was part of a global education initiative undertaken by DSU to
better prepare its students for today’s world by cross-cultural
experiences.
AUSTRIAN-SOUTH GERMAN PROVINCE
At its 30th Chapter, the Province decided that Salesian
formation and education should be the main focus of its future
activities. As a first concrete step, a team for Salesian formation
and education was established. Members of this team are:
Fr. Georg Dinauer, OSFS; Fr. Thomas Günther, OSFS; Bro. Hans
Leidenmühler, OSFS; and Fr. Herbert Winklehner, OSFS.
On 25 March 2007, Reinhard Pappenberger was ordained as
auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Regensburg, Bavaria. Bishop
Pappenberger is an alumnus of a special high school for
vocations administered by the De Sales Oblates at Fockenfeld,
near Konnersreuth, Bavaria. This Salesian-Oblate experience
evidently had a great influence on the new bishop, as evidenced
by the fact that he included on his coat of arms “V+J” (Vive
Jesu!), the motto of the De Sales Oblates.
In a sense, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal returned
to Markt Indersdorf, a parish in the Archdiocese of Munich in
January 2005. Over 150 years ago, there was a monastery of the
Visitation in this village. The sisters left and founded a new
monastery at Dietramszell, south of Munich, where the
monastery still exists. Needless to say, the sisters took all their
Salesian belongings with them. New statues of St. Francis de
Sales and St. Jane de Chantal now grace the former abbey
church. This occurred with the restructuring of the parishes in
the area. Four parishes were consolidated into one, which was
placed under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales. All this was
initiated by the parish priest, Stefan Hauptmann, an enthusiastic
devotee of St. Francis de Sales.
The association “VENITE” annually performs the “Mass of
St. Francis de Sales in B-major” on the feast day of St. Francis de
Sales in memory of Fr. Franz Lachinger, SDB, who died in 2001.
From 1997 to 2001, Fr. Lachinger was the one who made it
possible to perform this work, composed by Gerald Spitzner and
conducted by both handicapped and non-handicapped
musicians at the celebration of the Eucharist. This special
musical event, whose proceeds benefit mentally and physically
10
ICSS NEWSLETTER
handicapped people, was honored by the municipal government
of Vienna, Austria, with the “Silver Medal of Vienna” in 2006.
The initiator and founder of this musical event is Professor
Renate Spitzner, the wife of the composer. Copies of the sheet
music, as well as a CD or mp3 of this “Missa St. Francis de Sales”
are available gratis at: [email protected], or www.venite.at.
At its inception, the Office of Pastoral Care for the Hearing
Impaired in Austria was associated with St. Francis de Sales,
patron of the deaf. This office annually celebrates the saint’s feast
day with special Masses. From time to time, pilgrimages for the
hearing impaired to the tomb of St. Francis de Sales in Annecy
are sponsored. At this office’s initiative, the magazine Salesbote
(“Sales Herald”) was founded over fifty years ago. This magazine
is published four times a year and contains information about the
office’s activities for the hearing impaired. In 1983, the patron of
the hearing impaired was made known to a wider audience by
the play “St. Francis de Sales and Deaf Martin,” which was
performed by hearing impaired children. More information
about the activities of this ministry may be found at
www.gehoerlosenseelsorge.at.
GERMAN PROVINCE
The provincial of the German Province, Fr. Josef Lienhard,
OSFS, led a group of teenagers and young adults, from 12-21 July
2007, on a bus tour of various Salesian sites in Annecy and
Troyes.
Fr. Konrad Esser, OSFS, is also leading a pilgrimage to Salesian
sites in Annecy and Troyes from 23-30 September 2007. For
further information and registration, contact: Fr. Konrad Esser,
OSFS, Haus Overbach, 52428 Jülich-Barmen, tel: 02461-930152, fax: 02461-930-199, e-mail: [email protected].
FRENCH PROVINCE
The Échanges Salésiens is attempting to interest more young
people in this annual conference. This year’s theme will be “La
civilité salésienne, un art de vivre en société aujourd’hui” (Salesian
Civility, the Art of Living in Today’s Society), and will take
place in Troyes, France, 27-31 August. The proceedings will be
presided over by the Most Rev. Marc Stenger, bishop of Troyes,
with the following presenters: Dr. Hélène Bordes; Fr. Benoît
Goubau, PSFS; Dr. Philippe Legros; Fr. Jean-Luc Leroux, OSFS;
Sr. Thérèse-Dominique Poignant, OSFS; Bishop Stenger;
Fr. Michel Tournade, OSFS; and Fr. Morand Wirth, SDB. Those
interested in attending should contact Sr. Hélène Bernard,
OSFS, 4 rue des Terrasses,10000 Troyes, France.
The monumental task of digitizing the twenty-seven volumes of
the Annecy edition of the Oeuvres complètes of St. Francis de
Sales has been completed. Over many years, Fr. Jean Gayet,
OSFS, has generously dedicated himself to and assiduously
worked on this project of inestimable value and importance to
the world of Salesian scholarship. The Congregation and the
wider Salesian world owe Fr. Gayet a deep debt of gratitude for
his work. The ICSS joins in adding its own deepest appreciation,
together with heartfelt congratulations and kudos, to Fr. Gayet
on a job well done!
The Province’s website notes that on the feast of St. Francis de
Sales this year, Pope Benedict XVI invited young people, as well
as the sick and newlyweds, to live the saint’s teachings. The pope
reemphasized the universal call to holiness so passionately and
invitingly espoused by the Doctor of Love. The full text is
available at: http://www.osfs-france.net/.
IRELAND
Fr. Eunan MacDonald, SDB, is planning to set up a spirituality
center in Ireland that will serve as resource center for Salesian
spirituality, stressing the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales and
focusing on young people. He plans to develop a website, as well
as to offer retreats, seminars, and workshops on the saint’s
spirituality for young and old. All of this must wait, though, until
Fr. Eunan completes his doctoral thesis on the concept of
freedom in the writings of St. Francis de Sales.
OBLATE SISTERS
OF
ST. FRANCIS
DE
SALES
On the solemnity of the Ascension, the Oblate Sisters of
St. Francis de Sales in Linz/Donau, Austria, celebrated the 70th
anniversary of religious profession of Sr. Theresia-Gabriela
Persazi, OSFS, and the Golden Jubilee of Sr. Johanna-Maria
Grimmeis, OSFS. In his homily Fr. Konrad Haußner, OSFS,
provincial of the Austrian-South German Province of the
De Sales Oblates, encouraged all in attendance, in a truly
Salesian manner, to live fully the vocation to which God has
called them. A special day has been set aside for all the Oblate
sisters celebrating jubilees this year. It will take place at the
motherhouse of the Oblate sisters in Troyes on 18 August 2007.
SECULAR INSTITUTE
OF
ST. FRANCIS
DE
SALES
The “Group Overbach” (Nordrheinwestfalen, Germany) of the
Secular Institute of St. Francis de Sales celebrated the 25th
anniversary of its foundation in late 2006. The occasion was
marked by a special Eucharistic liturgy celebrated by their
spiritual director, Fr. Konrad Esser, OSFS.
DAUGHTERS
OF
ST. FRANCIS
DE
SALES
The German region of the Daughters of St. Francis de Sales has
a new head. Mrs. Marie-Therese Deckers succeeds Mrs. Erika
Fröhlich, who held the leadership for the last nine years.
Latest information about the Association of St. Francis de Sales
(Daughters, Sons, Priests and the Salesian Missionary Sisters)
may be found in its periodical, Lien salésian (Salesian Link). The
January-February and March-April 2007 issues focus on the topic
“Love.” This topic was occasioned by the first encyclical of Pope
Benedict XVI, Deus est caritas. Various articles emphasize very
clearly that many themes of this encyclical deeply resonate with
Salesian spirituality.
ICSS NEWSLETTER
Two new members were accepted for the Swiss group of the
Daughters of St. Francis de Sales on 15 February 2007. Lythi Lydia
and Saskia Reber Jansen prepared themselves for this day during a
two-year formation period. In the course of the Eucharistic liturgy,
they made their consecration. Two members of the Daughters
celebrated their 40th anniversary on the same day.
The Swiss group of the Daughters of St. Francis de Sales made
their retreat with the Visitation sisters in Solothurn,
Switzerland, in late April 2007. Fr. Antony Kolencherry, MSFS,
of the Indian Institute of Spirituality in Bangalore, India,
conducted the retreat, whose theme was “Our Relationship to
God, Jesus Christ, and One Another.”
SISTERS OF SACRED SCIENCE
The Sisters of Sacred Science are Salesian sisters founded by
Fr. Kolencherry. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of their
foundation, they are planning to publish the book, Compendium
of Salesian Spirituality. If anyone has articles in English they wish
to publish in this book, they are asked to contact Sr. Siji, Kloster
Visitation, Grenchenstrasse 27, 4500 Solothurn, Switzerland.
South American Province
The formal change of status from a region to a province was
celebrated on 3 February 2007 in Palmeira das Missions, Rio
Grande do Sul. Attending the ceremonies were representatives
of the De Sales Oblates from around the world. As part of the
centenary celebration, there was a six-day bus trip to places
where the Oblates had ministered or are still ministering. An
atmosphere of prayer and thanksgiving marked these days. There
were many public expressions of affection and hospitality for the
Oblates and their work. One of the highlights of the celebration
was the election of Fr. Michael Moore, OSFS, as the first
Provincial. As Fr. Aldino Kiesel, OSFS, superior general of the
De Sales Oblates, noted in his Generalate Newsletter: “We
participated in celebrations marked with creativity, with joy and
enthusiasm, and with the use of many symbols. All of us felt
renewed by the end of the week, which closed with the
celebration of a diaconal ordination of two confrères of the new
Province.” Another important part of the celebration was the
First Profession of ten novices on 23 February. This group
consisted of six Haitians, two Ecuadorians, a Colombian, and a
Brazilian.
United States
11
Dual–Core Jesus of the Young”; Fr. Kevin Nadolski, OSFS, “The
Salesian Quest for Social Justice”; Fr. John Graden, OSFS,
“Familiar Melodies Uniquely Arranged”; Danielle Charles, “The
Influence of Francis de Sales on the Role of Women (and Men!)
in Today’s Church”; Joseph Caporaso, “A Lay Salesian in the
Workplace”; Dr. Wendy M. Wright, “A Thoroughly Modern
Mary”; and Bro. Al Vu, SDB, “A Venti Passion: Living PerkFilled Experiences Instead of Decaf Moments.” Additional
information and online registration is available at:
www.desalesresource.org.
The Winter 2006 issue of Bondings, the province’s newsletter
(available at www.oblates.us/bondings_winter.06.pdf) contains
several articles of interest, including the inspiring story of Peter
Morelli, principal of St. Mary’s High School, Stockton, Ca., who
is intent on imbuing the entire school community (students,
faculty, and staff alike) with the Salesian-Oblate spirit. Peter also
brings the Salesian-Oblate spirit to bear on the NFL (National
Football League), of which he is an official, by reciting the
Direction of Intention with members of his crew on Sunday
mornings prior to the league’s games.
In the same issue of Bondings, Fr. Bill Auth, OSFS, and his work
are featured. Fr. Auth has spent fifteen years working with the
Maya Indians of Komchen in the Yucatan. Most of his time these
days is spent on the foundation he established to help the Maya.
This includes assisting over 85 students to finish college and
university, building bathrooms, completing plans for a computer
center, and affiliating his English school with a university. As
Fr. Auth notes: “Unless [the Maya] get some education, our
people can only find work on pig farms or in clothing factories
where they make less than $5.00 a day!” For more information
about Fr. Auth’s work, visit the Maya Indian Missions website at:
http://www.mayamissions.com/Contact%20Us.htm.
The Spring 2007 issue of Bondings included an interview with
Alan Zobler, OSFS, who was ordained to the priesthood on 30
June 2007. A graduate of St. Francis de Sales High School in
Toledo and of DSU, Alan did his theological studies at the
University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto. This issue also
included reflections by the Province’s novices (now newly
professed) on their recent Salesian pilgrimage with the novices
of the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province (Patrick Kennedy and
Dan Jackman). Dan Lannen focused on the days in Annecy,
Rudi Schwarzkopf on Freiburg, Soyhieres, and Paris, and Nate
Bolz on Dijon and Troyes.
TOLEDO-DETROIT PROVINCE
The Joseph F. Power, OSFS, 25th Annual Conference on the
Spirituality of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal,
sponsored by De Sales Resources & Ministries will be held 2-5
August at the Mendota Heights Visitation Monastery, St. Paul,
Mn. This year’s theme is “Ever Faithful, Ever New.” The
presenters and their topics are as follows: Fr. Joseph Boenzi, SDB,
“Francis de Sales in Western Spiritual Traditions”; Sr. Mary
Greenan, FMA, “Back to the Future: The HD, Mega Byte
WILMINGTON-PHILADELPHIA PROVINCE
The De Sales Spirituality Center (DSC) website has a new
section, entitled “Retreats on the Run” (mini-retreats for busy
people on the go). Beginning with Lent 2007, the DSC site
features Salesian Sunday Lectionary Reflections by Pasqualine
Young† to complement the Sundays Salesian. Fr. Michael
Murray, OSFS, executive director, has introduced an audio
version (mp3) for Sundays Salesian, Sunday Reflections, and his
12
ICSS NEWSLETTER
weekly Spirituality Broadcasts delivered via e-mail. With the
assistance of the DSC, three Oblate apostolates have established
Salesian Discipleship Teams (SDT): Our Mother of Consolation
Parish, Philadelphia, Pa.; St. John Neumann Parish, Reston, Va.;
and Salesianum School, Wilmington, De. In May 2007,
Fr. Murray is planning to establish SDTs at St. Cecilia’s Parish
and Our Lady of Light, both of which are located in Fort Myers,
Fl.; combined Salesian Discipleship Seminar will be offered for
these parishes. In addition, plans are also underway for a SDT at
Holy Infant Parish, Durham, N.C. The goal of a SDT is to
develop/offer strategies and opportunities to learn, live, and
share Salesian spirituality. For more information about SDTs and
many other Salesian activities, programs, and resources, visit the
DSC site at: http://www.oblates.org/spirituality/.
De Sales World, the province’s newsletter, has a feature article on
Fr. John Hurley, OSFS, mission procurator for both U.S.
provinces of the De Sales Oblates. The article enumerates Fr.
Hurley’s many accomplishments, including setting up Model UN
programs in a number of Oblate high schools, with his teams
garnering national and international honors, and annually
scheduling over 200 mission appeals in seventy dioceses
throughout the U.S. Fr. Hurley works with a core group of
Oblates (Richard Reece, John Kowalewski, and William Gore),
recruits over thirty Oblates to make these annual appeals, and
each year devotes forty-five weekends to visiting parishes
throughout the country to make appeals for the Oblate missions.
A stage-reading of the Jeweler’s Shop by Karol Wojtyla, in
collaboration with the Department of Performing and Fine Arts
of DSU, was offered by the Salesian Center for Faith and Culture
(SCFC) as the second event in its annual “John Paul II Arts &
Culture Series.” The SCFC’s activities over the past several
months included the programs “From Snow Flakes to Stem Cells:
Using Cryogenically Preserved Human Embryos for Medical
Research” and “Access to Compassion: Using Experimental
Drugs for Dying Patients,” and programs in collaboration with
the Forum for Ethics in the Workplace, such as: “Illegal Work?
Immigration Laws & Ethics of Employment” and “Healthcare at
a Premium: The Spiraling Costs & Benefits of Good Business.”
Fr. Thomas Dailey, OSFS, director of the SCFC, recently
inaugurated an electronic newsletter for the SCFC. In
recognition of the importance of the SCFC’s mission for
promoting the Salesian-Oblate philosophy of DSU, the silent
phase of a capital campaign to raise funds for the construction of
a new Salesian Center has been initiated. For more detailed
information about the activities and resources of the SCFC, visit
its website at: www.desales.edu/salesian.
The inspiration for a new program at DSU called “Character U”
comes from the little pamphlet, Golden Counsels of St. Francis de
Sales. The program is intended for freshmen students to help
them better adapt to university life and is a collaborative effort
of Dr. Gregg Amore and Wendy Krisak of the university’s
Counseling Center and two DSU Oblates, Frs. Joseph DiMauro
and John Hanley. Among other objectives, the program assists
students, who are mentored by selected upperclassmen, to focus
on a different virtue each month based on the Golden Counsels.
An article written by Fr. Charles Norman, OSFS, in the 17 May
2007 issue of the AD Times (the newspaper of the Diocese of
Allentown), extols the excellent singing group known as
“Charlie’s Angels” formed at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.,
where Fr. Norman is the Catholic campus minister. The article
emphasizes not only the group’s musical gifts, but also the very
close ties of friendship they have formed in dedicating their
talents to make the Eucharistic liturgy more meaningful and
joyful—a very difficult achievement when there is a turnover
every four years in the student population. Fr. Norman strives to
imbue this apostolate with the Salesian-Oblate spirit.
The Spring College Guide section of The Catholic Standard &
Times, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,
includes a feature article on Fr. James MacNew, OSFS, a former
U.S. Navy chaplain, in his new role as campus minister at Holy
Family University. The article is aptly entitled, “The Spirituality
of the Ordinary,” and has a large color photo of Fr. MacNew
holding two stuffed raccoons, which he uses as “ice-breakers” in
conversations with students. The article emphasizes the very
positive impact that he is having on the students by his
spirituality of the ordinary, which he sums up simply and in a
Salesian fashion as God finds us and God is present to us in
ordinary circumstances.
SECULAR INSTITUTE
OF
ST. FRANCIS
DE
SALES
In his capacity as the national assistant director of the Secular
Institute of St. Francis de Sales, Fr. William Nessel, OSFS,
accompanied by Joan Liles, director of the Institute in the U.S.,
attended the General Assembly held in Augsburg, Germany
30 June-7 July. After the meeting, Angela Hauche, general
director of the Institute, will lead a group to Eichstätt to visit the
grave of Fr. Reisinger, OSFS, the founder of the Institute.
Fr. Nessel gave a day of recollection for the Institute members in
Wilmington, De., on 24 March 2007. In addition, he will
conduct a retreat for the Institute members and associates on
22-24 September 2007. In conjunction with this retreat, the
members will meet to discuss concerns and planning for
the Secular Institute in the United States.
Publications
BOOKS
Antony Mookenthottam, MSFS, Introduction to Indian
Spirituality, vol. 1 (Bangalore: SFS Publications 2006) and
Selected Letters and Writings of Fr. Peter-Marie Mermier (17901862) (Bangalore: SFS Publications 2006). Both of these works
have a Salesian flavor. Fr. Mermier, of course, is the founder of
the Fransalians.
ICSS NEWSLETTER
13
African Memories: The Journal of Bishop Jean M. Simon, OSFS
(1858-1932), trans. Sr. Thérèse Bernard Thünemann, OSFS
(Diocese of Keimoes-Upington, 2006). This is a sequel to the
book Bishop of the Hottentots (New York: Benziger, 1959) and
covers the period from 1909-32.
Church, Marriage and the Family: Proceedings of the 26th Annual
Convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, September 2004,
ed. Kenneth Whitehead (South Bend, In.: St. Augustine Press,
2007), 224-40. The author cites the Introduction to a Devout Life
several times at length.
Herbert Winklehner, Mit Herz, Humor und Gottvertrauen. Vier
Wochen mit dem heiligen Franz von Sales (With Heart, Humor and
Trust in God: Four Weeks with St. Francis de Sales) (Munich:
Neue Stadt Verlag, 2007). This book contains twenty-eight
anecdotes from the life of St. Francis de Sales to serve as material
for daily meditation about faith and life. The saint is presented
especially from his humorous and jovial side.
Hans Werner Günther, OSFS, “Zuverlässig in kleinen Dingen.
Predigt zum 25. Sonntag im Jahreskreis” (Reliable in Small
Things: Homily for the 25th Sunday of the Year), in Gottes Wort
2007, vol. 3, p. 265 (Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 2007). In this
sermon, St. Francis de Sales is characterized as the “doctor of
small steps.”
Lorenz Marti, Wie schnürt ein Mystiker seine Schuhe? Die großen
Fragen und der tägliche Kleinkram (How Does a Mystic Tie His
Shoes? The Big Questions and the Daily Odds and Ends)
(Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag, 2006). In this book about
mystical prayer in everyday life, St. Francis de Sales is presented
as “pastor and teacher of a silent, inner mysticism.”
Jean-Marie Gueullette, “L’amitié dans la communauté: Les
enjeux theologiques d’un histoire complexe” (Friendship within
the Community: The Theological Issues of a Complex History),
Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 87 (2003): 261-91.
A study of the principal stages of the long history of friendship in
the spiritual life that shows how the counsels and directives
concerning friendship are tied to radically different
anthropologies.
Johannes Kaufmann, SDB, Evviva Giovanni: Lieder zu den Feiern
der Don-Bosco-Familie (John is Alive!: Songs for the Feasts of the
Don Bosco Family) (Munich: German Province of the Salesians
of Don Bosco, 2007). The songbook contains German songs
about Don Bosco and other saints of the Don Bosco family:
St. Francis de Sales, Dominic Savio, Maria Mazarello, and
others. This songbook should make Salesian songs more popular
in the German-speaking world, especially the newer songs.
Within the next few years, a supplement to this collection and a
CD with a selection of these songs are planned. Fr. Josef
Grünner, SDB, provincial of the German Province of the
Salesians of Don Bosco, writes in his preface, that it would be
great if more songs were composed to honor the Salesian saints.
The songbook can be downloaded gratis as a pdf-file at:
http://www.donbosco.de/cms/upload/downloads/Evviva
Giovanni.pdf.
ARTICLES
Rama P. Coomaraswamy, “A Guide for Internal Direction,”
Parabola 25 (2000). Calls attention to the advice given by
Francis de Sales, John of the Cross, and Teresa of Ávila.
Raymond Darricau, “L’union des esprits et des coeurs:
L’enseignment de Vincent de Paul et de Louise de Marillac”
(Union of Minds and Hearts: The Teaching of Vincent de Paul
and Louise de Marillac), Nouvelle Revue Theologique 116 (1994):
530-44. Shows how Augustine’s Trinitarian theology, the
thought of Francis de Sales, and the theme of the union of minds
and hearts in the writings of Vincent and Louise formed the basis
for their spirituality of apostolic work.
Theresa H. Farnan and William Thierfelder, “Raising Catholic
Children in a Secular Culture: The Importance of a Sound
Vision of the Person in a Sexually Permissive Culture,” in The
Jeremy Holmes, “The Spiritual Sense of Scripture,” Downside
Review, no. 419 (Apr. 2002): 113-28. Among other things, this
article considers Francis de Sales’s “Letter on Preaching.”
Jean-Pierre Jossua, “Accoiser son âme en Dieu: L’oraison dans la
correspondance de Jeanne de Chantal” (Quieting the Soul in
God: Contemplative Prayer in the Correspondence of Jane de
Chantal), Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 81
(1997): 69-84. Studies Jane de Chantal’s understanding of
contemplative prayer, particularly the prayer of quiet, and sheds
light on how Jane and Francis influenced each other.
Thomas Keating, “A Traditional Blend: The Contemplative
Sources of Centering Prayer,” Sewanee Theological Review 48
(2005). Fr. Keating discusses sixteen practices drawn from
various sources, including John Cassian (“We pray with the door
shut”), Francis de Sales (gentleness towards self and others),
John of the Cross (dark nights of the soul purification), and
Teresa of Ávila (union with God).
Ruth Manning, “A Confessor and His Spiritual Child: François
de Sales, Jeanne de Chantal, and the Foundation of the Order of
the Visitation,” in The Art of Survival: Gender and History in
Europe, 1450-2000, eds. Ruth Harris and Lyndal Roper, Past &
Present Supplement 1 (2006), 101-17. This article is available
online at: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/past_and_present/
v2006/2006.1Smanning.html#top.
Alexander Pocetto, “Construire une civilisation d’amour”
(Creating a Civilization of Love), Lien Salésien 3 (jan.-fev.2007),
and 4 (mars-avril 2007). Points out a number of similarities
between St. Francis de Sales’s concept of love and Pope Benedict
XVI’s encyclical, Deus caritas est.
14
ICSS NEWSLETTER
John Sankarathil, OSFS, “Consecrated Life in India: The Asset
of a Model or a Challenge to Remodel?,” Vidyajyoti Journal of
Theological Reflection 71 (Mar. 2007): 185-94. Emphasizes the
growth of religious life in India and cites Francis de Sales’s
understanding of the purpose of consecrated life as an excellent
guide for religious formation.
Jerry Stiefvater, “La Reconciliation selon St. François de Sales (à
suivre)” (Reconciliation according to St. Francis de Sales
[continuation]), Lien Salésien 4 (mars-avril, 2007): 12-14.
Jean-Pierre Wagner, “Saint François de Sales, analyste et
narrateur de la convenance entre Dieu et l’homme” (St. Francis
de Sales, Analyst and Narrator of the Likeness between God and
Man), Revue des sciences religieuses 75 (2001): 233-55. Studies the
role of the will in Francis de Sales’s spirituality in comparison
with other mystical traditions.
—————. “Saint Francis de Sales predicateur de la croix”
(St. Francis de Sales, Preacher of the Cross), Revue des sciences
religieuses 72 (1998): 176-97.
BOOK REVIEWS
Adrian Gambart’s Emblem Book (1664): The Life of St. Francis de
Sales in Symbols, a facsimile edition with a study by Elisabeth
Stopp, edited by Terence O’Reilly, with an introductory essay by
Agnès Guiderdoni-Bruslé (Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s
University Press, 2006), has received very favorable reviews in
The ICSS NEWSLETTER was founded in 1997 and is
published biannually by the International Commission for
Salesian Studies (ICSS) of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales
(Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS, Chairman; Valdir Formentini,
OSFS; Dirk Koster, OSFS; Herbert Winklehner, OSFS). Its
primary purpose is to disseminate on a global scale information
dealing with Salesian Studies (St. Francis de Sales; St. Jane
Frances de Chantal; Fr. Louis Brisson, founder of the Oblates of
St. Francis de Sales; the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales; the
Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales; the Visitation of Holy
Mary; Lay Institutes and other Religious who are members of
the Salesian Family).
Editor: Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS (Saint Joseph’s University
Press, 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131-1395, USA;
e-mail: [email protected])
News Editor: Alexander T. Pocetto, OSFS. News items for future
issues should be sent to Fr. Pocetto via e-mail
([email protected]), fax (610/282-2059), or by mail
(De Sales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA
18034-9568, USA).
Designed, typeset, and printed at the Printing Office of
Saint Joseph’s University Press, 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia,
PA 19131-1395, USA.
the following publications: Society for Emblem Studies Newsletter,
no. 40 (Jan. 2007): 7-8; Renaissance Quarterly 60 (Spring 2007):
252-54; and Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 7 (Spring
2007): 104-07. The latter two publications also include positive
reviews of the exhibition catalogue, Emblematica Sacra: Emblem
Books from the Maurits Sabbe Library, Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven (Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2006).
Dr. Wendy M. Wright’s review in Spiritus sums up the
contribution of these two works: “These two handsome books
provide scholars and students with valuable insights into
emblems and emblem thinking and thus the spiritual
consciousness and practices of early modern Catholicism,
insights not possible through textual analysis alone.”
ONLINE RESOURCES
For a website focusing on St. Jane de Chantal that includes a
brief biography, as well as a number of links to her writings such
as the “Martyrdom of Love,” excerpts from her letters, her
deposition on Francis de Sales, and thoughts on prayer, etc., go to:
http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/chantal.html#anchor239817.
A series of talks on the Sacred Heart are available on the website
of the Tyringham Visitation at http://www.vistyr.org/.
Fr. John Crossin, OSFS, writes the column “A Discerning Word”
on the website of the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province. To
date, four articles have appeared; they may be viewed at:
http://www.oblates.org/vocations/discernment_a_discerning_
word.php.
ODDITIES
Amelie Nothomb, a popular writer from Belgium and member of
the Académie Française, is well-known for her numerous novels,
which are marked by a special dark humor. In her novel Mercure
(Paris: Albin Michel 1998), St. Francis de Sales is mentioned. In
this book, the saint’s Introduction to the Devout Life helps a female
prisoner escape.
Heinrich Steinfest, a popular Austrian writer of detective stories,
wrote a thriller, in which St. Francis de Sales is the favorite saint
of the contract killer Anna Gemini. The title of the thriller is
Ein dickes Fell (A Thick Skin) (München: Piper Verlag, 2006).
ICSS NEWSLETTER
(“A New Edition of a Classic,” continued from page 16)
Part I:
To provide a better idea of the richness and
comprehensiveness of B.’s masterwork, as well as of the critical
apparatus of this new edition, here follows a summary (in English
translation) of the contents of the five volumes.
Part II:
VOLUME I
Émile Goichot, “Henri Bremond, a Historian of the Hunger for God
[un historien de la faim de Dieu]”
Sophie Houdard, “Devout Humanism and ‘Literary History’”
Tome I: Devout Humanism (L’humanisme dévôt)
Part I: St. Francis de Sales, the Origins, and
Characteristics of Devout Humanism
Part II: Evolution and Various Manifestations of Devout
Humanism
Part III: Yves of Paris and the End of Devout Humanism
Tome II: The Mystic Invasion (L’invasion mystique)
Appendix: The Mystic Ladder (previously unpublished)
François Marxer, “The French School: Theology between Theocentric
Amazement and Christological Fracture [la théologie entre éblouissement
théocentrique et faille christologique]”
Tome III: The French School (L’Ecole française).
The Mystic Conquest *
Part I: Pierre de Bérulle
Part II: Charles de Condren
Part III: The French School and Catholic Devotions
Appendix: The Singularities of Monsieur Olier
(previously unpublished)
VOLUME II
Alain Cantillon, “To Destroy and to Save Port-Royal”
Tome IV: The School of Port-Royal. The Mystic Conquest **
Patrick Goujon, SJ, and Dominique Salin, SJ, “Henri Bremond and
Ignatian Spirituality”
Tome V: The School of Father Lallemant and the Mystical
Tradition in the Society of Jesus. The Mystic Conquest ***
Tome VI: Marie de l’Incarnation. Turba Magna.
The Mystic Conquest ****
Part I: Marie de l’Incarnation
Part II: Turba Magna
Excursus: François Marxer, “‘This peculiarity of mystical states
that were forbidden for him to live:’ Claudel, Mounier, Maritain,
Du Bos—Readers of Bremond”
VOLUME III
Jacques Le Brun, “Henri Bremond and the ‘Metaphysics of the Saints’”
Tome VII: The Metaphysics of the Saints*
15
The Masters of Masters: St. Francis de Sales and
Pierre de Bérulle
Developments and Dissemination
Tome VIII: The Metaphysics of the Saints **
Part III: The Great Synthesis – Chardon et Piny
Part IV: Bourdaloue’s Anxiety and the Genesis of Ascetism
Supplement: Introduction to the Philosophy of Prayer
Part I: Definitions, Distinctions, and Discussions
Part II: The Philosophy of Prayer
VOLUME IV
Pierre-Antoine Fabre, “The Time of Praying”
Tome IX: Christian life in the Ancien Régime
Tome X: Praying and Prayers in the Ancien Régime
Tome XI: The Trial of the Mystics
Part I: Anticipations and Preludes
Part II: About Quietude
François Trémolières, “The Situation of Bremond”
VOLUME V
Table of Contents, Indices, Bibliography, List of Illustrations, and
Translations of Quotations
This augmented new edition of B.’s classic has been
prepared by a highly competent and close-working team of
scholars coordinated by François Trémolières, whose book on
Fénelon is much awaited. Émile Goichot, the renowned B.
specialist, should have led this project, but his premature death
precluded his participation. Fortunately, we have the benefit of
his introduction, at the beginning of the first volume. Each
contributor then introduces a volume or a set of volumes,
according to his/her area of specialization. A few previously
unpublished texts are also included, so that the reader has a more
accurate idea of how B. envisioned his initial project.
A great debt of gratitude is owed to Jérôme Millon for the
courage to undertake the risks that such a monumental project
necessarily involves. Given the sterling quality of the outcome,
we urge Salesian libraries to add this title to their collections so
that this indispensable reference work for the historiography of
St. Francis de Sales is readily available to Salesian readers and
scholars.
Agnès Guiderdoni-Bruslé
Dr. Guiderdoni-Bruslé is research associate at the Fonds National de
la Recherche Scientifique and professor of French Literature at the
Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium).
A NEW EDITION
OF A
CLASSIC
Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France depuis la fin
des guerres de Religion jusqu’à nos jours [Literary History of the
Religious Sentiment in France from the End of the Wars of
Religion Until the Present]. By Henri Bremond. New
augmented edition, coordinated by François Trémolières,
with studies by Alain Cantillon, Pierre-Antoine Fabre,
Émile Goichot, Patrick Goujon, SJ, Sophie Houdard,
Jacques Le Brun, François Marxer, Dominique Salin, SJ, and
François Trémolières. 11 tomes in 5 volumes. (Grenoble:
Jérôme Millon, 2006). ISBN 2-84137-188-3.
Henri Bremond’s Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux
en France has finally been republished in a new and
augmented edition by the French publisher Jérôme Millon,
who has specialized in publications on spiritual literature,
e.g., his series “Atopia.” This monumental study by the
fascinating Fr. Bremond (1865-1933; hereafter B.) was first
published from 1916 to 1933 by Bloud and Gay in Paris.
Since then, only a facsimile edition has been issued (Paris:
Armand Colin, 1967-68), with a preface by the French
historian René Taveneaux.
The first and perhaps only question to answer when
reviewing a reedition is: what is the point of this new
edition? Does this kind of project have any “added value,”
especially when it has the scope (and weight!) of the title
under review here? The reply in the present instance is,
without any reservations, positive. A new edition was, first
of all, very much needed for reasons that will be briefly
described, and, second, this reedition has been
accomplished with great care and precision in order to bring
out the importance of B.’s work. It is not a critical edition,
in the sense that it does not annotate B.’s text, but it is,
rather, and perhaps with even greater relevance to our
needs, a major survey of B. and his project.
B.’s monumental study is a major contribution to the
understanding of 17th-century religious culture and society
as well as of early 20th-century church history, and both the
original and the facsimile edition have been out of print for
a long time. Indeed, B.’s work must be situated in the
context of the early 20th-century modernist crisis. His views
on the history of spirituality and mysticism, and his strong
attachment to literature, particularly poetry as prayer
through which, he argues, we can reach God or express our
peculiar relationship to the Divine, make B. a unique figure.
In a very personal style (he often writes in the first person
singular), he presents the writers and their works by telling
the story of their lives as the unfolding of a narrative or even
a drama (to use his own terms). In B.’s view, 17th-century
French religious life was an optimum moment in the history
of Catholicism that served as a model for the renewal of
Catholicism at the beginning of the 20th century. B.’s
central argument regards the definition and role of
mysticism in Christian spiritual life, and what he calls the
“philosophie de la prière” (philosophy of prayer). While the
title of B.’s opus magnum announces that it encompasses the
period from after the Wars of Religion to the early 20th
century, B. actually only covers the 17th century, although
the title has never been changed to reflect this.
In this perspective, Francis de Sales is a key figure who
makes the transition from Christian humanism to “devout
humanism” (humanisme dévot). B. specifically treats Francis’s
life and writings in tomes I and VII. In the former, Francis
is presented as the “homme de genie” (man of genius), who
was needed by the 17th century to disseminate the Christian
Renaissance by placing it within reach of the humblest
souls. B. returns to Francis again in tome VII, significantly
at the outset of his consideration of the “Metaphysics of the
Saints.” Francis is presented, together with Pierre de Bérulle,
the founder of the Oratory, as the “master of masters” who
gave decisive impetus to the Catholic renewal in early 17thcentury France through his emphasis on the primacy of
prayer in Salesian spirituality. For B., Francis is a true
Christian philosopher, whose “metaphysics” is mainly
elaborated in the Treatise on the Love of God. According to
B., the Salesian prayer described as “prière pure” (pure
prayer) is opposed to asceticism, in that its moving force is
the will (voluntas) and charity (caritas). Because the will is
primary in Salesian spirituality, Salesian philosophy is
mystical and not ascetical.
(continued on page 15)