Saint Francis de Sales, born on August 21, 1567, at the Castle of Sales, Savoy, and died on December 28, 1622, in Lyon, was a distinguished Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church who, in times of religious turbulence marked by the Protestant Reformation, stood out as a bulwark of the Catholic faith through meekness and pastoral charity. Co-founder of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary together with Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, he revolutionized Christian spirituality by teaching, in his masterpiece Introduction to the Devout Life, that holiness is a universal call, possible to be fully lived in the world, whether in the court, in the barracks, or in the home, and not only in the cloisters. His tireless defense of religion against Calvinism, carried out not with the sword but with the pen and loving preaching, converted thousands of souls back to the Church, earning him the title of patron saint of Catholic journalists and writers, his doctrine being characterized by a profound understanding of the love of God that attracts all things with sweetness.
📖 Introit (Sir 15:5 | Ps 91:2)
In medio Ecclesiae aperuit os ejus: et implevit eum Dominus spiritu sapientiae, et intellectus: stolam gloriae induit eum. Ps. Bonum est confiteri Domino: et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime.
In the midst of the Church the Lord opened his mouth; and filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding: he clothed him with a robe of glory. Ps. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to Thy Name, O Most High. ℣. Glory be to the Father.
✉️ Epistle (II Tim 4:1-8)
Caríssime: Testificor coram Deo et Christo Jesu qui judicaturus est vivos ac mortuos et adventum ipsius et regnum ejus: prædica verbum insta oportune importune argue obsecra increpa in omni patientia et doctrina. Erit enim tempus cum sanam doctrinam non sustinebunt sed ad sua desideria coacervabunt sibi magistros prurientes auribus, et a veritate quidem auditum avertent ad fabulas autem convertentur. Tu vero vigila in omnibus labora opus fac evangelistæ ministerium tuum imple. Ego enim jam delibor et tempus meæ resolutionis instat. Bonum certamen certavi cursum consummavi fidem servavi. In réliquo reposita est mihi justitiæ corona quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex non solum autem mihi sed et his qui diligunt adventum ejus.
Dearly beloved: I charge thee before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming, and his kingdom: Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. Be sober. For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming.
✠ Gospel (Mt 5:13-19)
In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Vos estis sal terræ quod si sal evanuerit in quo salietur ad nihilum valet ultra nisi ut mittatur foras et conculcetur ab hominibus. Vos estis lux mundi non potest civitas abscondi supra montem posita. Neque accendunt lucernam et ponunt eam sub modio sed super candelabrum ut luceat omnibus qui in domo sunt. Sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant vestra bona opera et glorificent Patrem vestrum qui in cælis est. Nolíte putare quoniam veni solvere legem aut prophetas non veni solvere sed adimplere. Amen quippe dico vobis donec transeat cælum et terra jota unum aut unus apex non præteribit a lege donec omnia fiant. Qui ergo solverit unum de mandatis istis minimis et docuerit sic homines minimus vocabitur in regno cælorum qui autem fecerit et docuerit hic magnus vocabitur in regno cælorum.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing anymore but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
📝 The Doctrine Of Sweetness And The Combat For Truth
The liturgy of this day presents to us, in the figure of Saint Francis de Sales, the perfect synthesis between the apostolic zeal required by Saint Paul and the luminosity of good works requested by Our Lord in the Gospel, revealing that true Christian wisdom does not lie in the arid imposition of the law, but in the sweetness of charity that preserves the incorruptible truth. In the Gospel, Christ warns that if salt loses its flavor, it is good for nothing; Saint Augustine comments that this salt represents the apostolic wisdom that must combat the corruption of the world, for "he who, through fear of persecution or the desire to please men, softens the truth of the Gospel, loses his flavor and serves no longer to season the earth, but to be trodden upon by the contempt of vices" (St. Augustine, De Sermone Domini in Monte). Saint Francis de Sales embodied this "salt" by confronting the Calvinist heresy not with the bitterness of contention, but with the "sound doctrine" mentioned in the Epistle to Timothy, administered with such patience and meekness that he reconquered the region of Chablais for the Church. He understood that the "light of the world" cannot be hidden under the bushel of timidity or false prudence; on the contrary, as Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches, "the perfection of charity consists not only in loving God, but in enlightening one's neighbor with the truth that saves" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 184). By fulfilling Paul's mandate to "preach the word, be instant in season and out of season," Francis did not destroy the law, but gave it fulfillment (Mt 5:17), showing that devotion is not the enemy of the duties of one's state, but its perfection. The encyclical Rerum Omnium Perturbationem, by Pope Pius XI, recalls that this Doctor of the Church taught that holiness is accessible to all, making the "city seated on a mountain" - the visible Church and her saints - shine before men so that, seeing the works of grace operating in human frailty, they may glorify the heavenly Father. Thus, the life of Saint Francis de Sales is a testimony that fighting the "good fight" and "keeping the faith" requires the courage to be salt that burns to purify and light that consumes itself to illuminate, always clothed with the robe of glory of divine wisdom.
See English version of the critical articles here.