Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop of Geneva, Doctor of the Church, and patron saint of Catholic communicators, whose preaching won over an estimated 70,000 people back to the Church from Protestantism during his lifetime.
“Saint Francis de Sales is the model for anybody who aspires to bring Christ to others and others to Christ,” says David Kerr, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lansing, January 24.
“He hated heresy but loved heretics and it was this unshakable commitment to preaching truth in charity – rooted in a life of prayer and asceticism – that won so many souls back to Christ’s Holy Church.”
Saint Francis became Bishop of Geneva in Switzerland in 1602. His gentle character was a great asset in winning over souls. His approach was summed up in his oft-quoted axiom: “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.”
Besides his two well-known books, the Introduction to the Devout Life and A Treatise on the Love of God, he also wrote a voluminous number of pamphlets and carried on a vast correspondence. His consistent message: everybody is called by God to become a great saint.
“It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman…. It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world,” he writes in the Introduction to the Devout Life.
A native of Glasgow in Scotland, David Kerr joined BBC News as a graduate trainee in 1997 and went on to spend 12 years working as a senior broadcast journalist with the BBC in both London and Glasgow.
In 2010, David was recruited by the bishops of Scotland to develop and implement a media strategy for Pope Benedict XVI’s state visit to Scotland. Prior to joining the Diocese of Lansing in 2019, he was director of communications with the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh in Scotland.
“Inspired by Saint Francis de Sales, our communications department has always attempted to prayerfully propose the person of Jesus Christ and His Holy Church to contemporary society in a way that is intellectually coherent, culturally credible and socially compassionate.”
Last year, the Diocese of Lansing’s Communications Department won a record-breaking 18 Catholic Media Association Awards for communications and multimedia work, as well as six awards for print work in FAITH, the official magazine of the Diocese of Lansing. Let us pray:
O God, who for the salvation of souls willed that the Bishop Saint Francis de Sales become all things to all, graciously grant that, following his example, we may always display the gentleness of your charity in the service of our neighbor. Amen.
* Additional material courtesy of Franciscan Media www.franciscanmedia.org