The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-02-03
SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES


the people to whip him out of the
town. Even amongst a stolid people
some became inflamed and from time
to time the missionary was in danger
| of assassination and was only saved
as If by miracle. The conversion of
the garrison of the town of Allinges,
| however, caused the people at length
to look differently on Francis. There
must be something from God in a
man who could change a ruthless sol
| dlery, the cause of a thousand veXa-
t1ons, to be respectful and laW-abid-
| ing. The conversion of the soldiers
obtained for Francis hearing, hear
ing gave him the long-sought-for op-
portunity to shoW that the Catholic
religion is founded on Christ alone,
that all symbols and Sacraments are
but a means to bring home to the
hungering hearts of men His loving
personality, that to contemplate Him
in the manger or on the cross, in the
Sacrament of His love or in His
friends, the saints, is to bring Him
infinitely nearer the human heart
than to consider Him merely as
lever of arbitrary predestination
Such a scheme Of religion was I'M
known to Christian Faith and to Chris
tian tradition. The meekness, zeal,
and burning eloquence of Francis
were now like the southern winds
that break up the fields of ice. Mass
was once more said in Thonon,
whence it had been banished for fifty
years. The multitude of adherents
grew Ministers feared to meet Fran
els in debate; the hunger for the old
Faith began to be felt in every town.
To appease this hunger men cast to
the winds the prospects of worldly
gain procession after procession
wended it's way to the Church of
Thonon; people seventy-tWo thou
sand strong was rescued from error
and SO true was it's resurrection that
it has staunchly kept the Faith ever
since. Through the vista of years the
people of the Chablais have ever
looked back to that gentle, Jealous
and heroic young priest who brought
them the tidings of great joy of the
true and living Christ And they
saw his face as the face of an angel"
The Teacher of the Devout Life.
About a half a century after the
conversion of the Chablais from Cal
vinism, a modified form of it under
the name of Jansenism was intro
duced into France and for a hundred
years kept the official portion of this
country in turmoil. Among other
things it took away the Christian
child-like trust in God and introduced
an undevotional rigorism. 1t affected
the great preachers of the day, hence
the frequent sermons on the small
number of the elect. 1t affected art,
hence the picture of the crucified with
arms drawn close together. 1t af-
fected religious houses of both men
and women making them proud, con-
tentious and insubordinate. Again
and again Jansenism was condemned.
But it contested the ground inch by
inch and when it received it's final
defeat it was strong enough in dying
to direct death-blow at its most con-
spicuous opponents. Jansenism did
as much as anything else to bring
about the suppression of the Jesuits.
1t had as it's exponents some of the
best scholars of the day, as its de-
fender Pascal, one of the greatest
scientists and satirists of all times
1t welded itself to the theory of Gal
lean liberties,-a theory that was the
peculiar weakness of the French
| clergy. Why was the Jansenistic
party always more formidable for it's
| noise than for it's numbers? Why
did it's rigorism which appealed no
doubt to the fervid onset of the
French character, if we except a small
minority, appeal in vain? There can
| be no doubt that it was because be-
tween the rigorism of the Poor
| Clares and the Carmelites on the one
hand and the rigorism of Jansenism
on the other God had shown that He
was we'll pleased with. the sober and
sane spirit diffused by st. Francis de
Sales. In his book, THE Introduce
| to Devout Life" which had long
penetrated everywhere, the saint,
now the. Bishop of Geneva, had shown
how in every walk people can live
soberly, justly and Cody in this life
and be pursuer of good works. He
| had gone further. He had founded
a religious order wherein the relig
iously inclined but unable to undergo
the severe discipline of the older or
ders might by spiritual modification
and ardent charity attain the highest
perfection The Order of the Vista
tion with it's hundred houses, founded
jointly by st. Francis and st. Chantal
diffusing throughout France the true
spirit of Christ completely neutral
lied the work and the example of the
nuns of Port Royal who to their owr
destruction had sheltered all the
errors of Jansenism. The masses O
/ the clergy and the people taught fol
a half century by the mild spirit O.
st. Francis were able to withstand
the alluring pretensions of the new
error although it came to them will
all the prestige of modern progress
and all the subtle lure of nationalism
God in Francis had sent His ange
before His face and the people il