Dates

• Existence: 1567 August 26 - 1622 December 28

Biographical note

Born near Annecy, in Savoy, in 1567, the eldest son of the Seigneur de Nouvelles. He read for the Law at Paris and Padua, but abandoned his legal studies and became a priest in 1593. He set out for his apostolate among the Calvinists of the Chablais, where he is said to have made within two years over eight thousand converts to Roman Catholicism. In 1599, he was chosen coadjutor to the bishop of Geneva, whom he succeeded in 1602. Two years later, he met Saint Jane Frances of Chantal, with whom he founded the Order of the Visitation. As a bishop, he organized conferences for the clergy, directed them to teach catechism in simple words, insisted on unadorned straightforward preaching, and established a seminary at Annecy which he visited regularly. Canonized in 1665, declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877, and patron saint of journalists in 1923.

(paraphrased from The Book of Saints : A Dictionary of Persons Canonized or Beatified by the Catholic Church. 5th edition. New York: Crowell, 1966.)

Alternate names

Francis of Sales

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