The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-02-03
The Teacher of Divine Love.

/ Angels not only bring good tidings
and go before the face of the Lord
but they ever burn with love for the
! Divine Being. All mortals likewise
who dispose in their hearts continu-
Gus ascensions to God on the pinions
of love are like the angels. st. Fran
els placed all perfection in Divine
| Love. Austerities, apostolic zeal,
writing, preaching, praying-all are
good as means but the bond of per-
| lection is charity. In this thought
he dwelt and lived, about it he con-
tinuously wrote. 1t was the under
| lying principle of all his direction of
| souls and Francis was the greatest
| director of souls in his time. At
! length he gathered his strength and
| wrote a formal treatise producing
that wonderful work. THE Love of
| God which has entitled him to be
named a Doctor of the Church. Car
! dinal SatOlli, one of the greatest eX-
| pOnents of st. Thomas Aquinas, once
said that st. Francis had culled every
| flower in the Summa of the Angelic
Doctor. Similar studies Francis made
on all the great masters of spirit who
preceded him. But he himself &C.
knOWledged that both as an object
lessen Of all that he had written and
as an incentive to grapple with the
higher and deeper things Of his theme
those first fervent sisters of the Visi-
tatiOn and notably the holy foundress
of the Order helped him more than
all his books. These holy women had
found God not merely as the source
of all created beauty, as any philoso-
pher might find Him, but through
faith in Christ crucified they had sur
passed all earthly knowledge of Gods
attributes of justice and mercy. Nor
were they satisfied with mere knowl-
edge. Moved by an overwhelming inn
pulse to be associated in suffering
with the Divine Victim they had made
complete surrender of themselves in
neVer-ceasing sacrifice of immola-
ton to the Divine Will. In all this
Francis was their director and their
model and he was reacted upon by
their all willing-obedience What he
saw and what he learned he poured
forth in his book on Divine Love.
And in the words of ST. Chantal "he
drew his own portrait" We may add
that he drew theirs also. Our Amer
lean poet has some beautiful lines
which haunt us as we think of Fran
els.
In heaven a spirit doth dwell
Whose heart strings are lutte"
None sings so wildly we'll
AS the angel ISRAELI
And the giddy stars ESQ legends telD
Cease their hymns to attend the spell
OF his voice, all mute.
We can paraphrase these lines by
saying that on earth holy man did
dwell, whose heart strings were
lutte ever choiring the praises of Di-
vine Love. That holy man was st.
Francis de Sales.
Let my heart be torn from me-"
he said, ''or let it be filled with moth
ing but the love of God. | tell you
my heart is made for that only" No
dazzling joy of heaven, no dreaded
pang of hell ever moved him to the
slightest action but only Gods love-
In regard to this theme all other
teachers have mutely hearkened to
his voice. For he above all others
is the Doctor of Divine Love. This
love ever sWeetened his accents, sent
him as an apostle to the Chablais,
made him Jealous and effective re-
former of religious, an able and ever
sollcitous shepherd of souls. 1t was
this love that urged him never to
miss an opportunity to preach Lents
and Retreats, which ever beamed
from his gentle glance, which crown
ed his radiant brow. In an interview
with him a few days before his holy
death st. Chantal saw his counte-
nance enveloped in a heavenly radi-
ance so that in him the words of the
text were literally verified, They
saw his face as the face of an angel"
But st. Francis was not an angel
but man of flesh and blood, a
lawyer, scion of the nobility, en-
doWed with worldly gifts, consider
able fortune, intellectual attainments.
The most alluring avenues of the
world were all open before him. But
not yielding to flesh and blood he
chose the better part and in this he
surpassed those blessed spirits that
while encompassed with the infirmity
of earth he lived the life of the
angels in heaven.
In conclusion, revered Sisters,
have but to remind you of your spe-
cial obligations to st. Francis and to
make one observation on the relig-
ious vocation.
Special Charge of the Visitation.
There are other congregations of
men and women besides the Order of
the Visitation which are under the
patronage of st. Francis de Sales.
They have taken him for their patron
and they sedulously endeavor to in
corporate his spirit. But the Vista
ton was his own foundation. He re-
garded it as the apple of his eye. Into
it he poured all the wealth of his
spirit. The first sisters and notably
the co-foundress St. Chantal caught
that spirit in its fulness and be-
queathed it to the order See that