Style Is Substance:Francis de Sales and Vatican II

St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is not mentioned, nor arehis writings referenced, in the sixteen documents of the SecondVatican Council (1962-65), whose 50th anniversary is currentlybeing observed. Yet shortly after the Council—in 1967, to beexact, the 400th anniversary of Francis’s birth—key participantsin Vatican II spoke to Francis’s relationship to this watershedevent. For example, Léon-Joseph Suenens (1904-96), cardinal-archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels (Belgium), wrote: “[I]t wouldnot be difficult, it seems to me, to discover, if not [Francis’s]name, at least his perceptible influence in between the lines ofmany of the great texts of the Council.”1 In a similar vein, PopePaul VI (1897-1978; elected pope in 1963) declared: “No one ofthe recent Doctors of the Church more than St. Francis de Salesanticipated the deliberations and decisions of the SecondVatican Council with such a keen and progressive insight.”2

Cardinal Suenens and Paul VI substantiate their claims byspecifying correspondences between Francis’s ministry andwritings and major themes of key conciliar documents. Theseinclude chapter 5, “The Call to Holiness,” of Lumen gentium(Dogmatic Constitution on the Church); the theology ofmarriage and the family, as well as the sanctification of the laityin Gaudium et spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in theModern World), nn. 47-52; the method and manner ofecumenical dialogue in Unitatis redintegratio (Decree onEcumenism), n. 11; the ethical responsibilities of journalists andwriters in the Decree on the Means of Social Communication, n. 14.The Pope also recommends Francis’s “doctrine [of the Church as]. . . quite useful for interpreting and developing the dogmaticConstitution Lumen gentium.”3

Fast forwarding to the first decade of the 21st century, recentscholarship on Vatican II opens a window on yet another linkbetween Francis de Sales and the Council. In a series of articlesand a book, American Catholic and Jesuit church historian,John W. O’Malley, has remedied scholars’ neglect to date of theliterary form or genre of the Council’s documents. O’Malleyidentifies Vatican II’s particular style of discourse and its patristicand Renaissance humanist pedigree, as well as contrasts it withprevious church councils.4 This approach is grounded in theconviction that “content and mode of expression areinextricably intertwined, that there is no thought withoutexpression, that expression is what style is all about. In dealingwith style we are at the same time dealing with content.”5

Founded in 1997 and published biannually by the International Commission forSalesian Studies (ICSS) of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

No. 30 • November 2013

Blessed Pope John XXIII, c. 1960, relief. The election as pope of the 76-year-oldpatriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (1881-1963), surprisedthe world. From the moment of his election, Pope John XXIII enjoyed extraordinarypopularity worldwide, undoubtedly due to the warm humanity that his every wordand gesture seemed to communicate. Some assumed that he would be a caretakerpope, but, on 25 January 1959, less than three months after his election, hestunned the world by announcing his intention to convoke a council, Vatican II. Inhis opening address to the Second Vatican Council, on 11 October 1962, JohnXXIII spoke of the Catholic Church’s great desire in “this Council . . . to showherself to the world as the loving mother of all mankind: gentle, patient, and fullof tenderness and sympathy for her separated children.” He did not live to see theCouncil’s completion, succumbing to stomach cancer on 3 June 1963.Immediately after his death, a movement began for the Council to canonize himby acclamation. Rather, near the Council’s end, Pope Paul VI announced theopening of the beatification process for his two predecessors, Pius XII and JohnXXIII. Pope John XXIII was beatified, alongside Pius IX, on 3 September 2000 byPope John Paul II. He and John Paul II will be canonized saints on 27 April 2014 byPope Francis I.

ANNIVERSARY Vatican II

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Vatican II’s Style of Discourse

Vatican II’s style of discourse was in no small part madepossible by the patristic ressourcement—return to the theology ofthe Church Fathers as a life-giving wellspring—that took placeon the eve of the Council. Ressourcement was stigmatized bycritics as la nouvelle théologie (the new theology) and censured bythe Holy Office; however, it was vindicated at Vatican II, whichadopted the way of thinking and speaking that the Fathers of theChurch used in their sermons, treatises, and commentaries.6

The patristic mode of discourse that the Council admiredand emulated was a poetical-rhetorical style that corresponds towhat Roman authors called ars laudandi, panegyric, whosetechnical name is epideictic.7 This is not to say that the “fathersof the council . . . set out to ‘talk epideictic,’ but they wanted toadopt a style different from that of theological textbooks andmost ecclesiastical pronouncements, a style more consonantwith the style of the Fathers of the Church, as they often insistedduring the council.”8 Admittedly, “the documents of the councilare far from being literary masterpieces and, as committeedocuments, are not stylistically consistent,” nonetheless, “intheir general orientation they fit the epideictic mold.”9

That style, while operative in all 16 final documents, isbest exemplified in the four constitutions of thecouncil—on the liturgy, the Church, revelation, and theChurch in the modern world. Even in the constitutions,however, the new style suffers interruptions, deviations,and admixtures. Long sections are simply expository, butthe genre still frames them.10

In adopting the patristic panegyric-epideictic style, VaticanII departed from the style of discourse that was characteristic ofcouncils from Nicaea to Vatican I. The latter derived from thelegislative-juridical traditions of discourse of the Roman Empireand was expressed by the literary genre of the canon or itsequivalent, which promulgated laws, specified proscriptions, andimposed penalties for non-compliance.11 Beginning in the HighMiddle Ages, conciliar language had also been affected byScholasticism, whose “style was essentially based on dialectics,the art of debate, the art of proving one’s enemies wrong.”12 Theassumption that the purpose of councils was “to define” alsooriginated in the dialectical tradition, with its technicalvocabulary that aimed to draw clear lines of demarcation.13

For its part, Vatican II issued no canons, anathemas, etc.,abandoning “for the most part the terse, technical, juridical andother punitive language of previous councils.”14 Moreover, it“moved . . . away from what councils were expected to do—define.”15 Likewise, it “moved from the dialectic of winning anargument to the dialogue of finding common ground. . . . Itmoved from grand conceptual schemes or summae with hundredsof logically interconnected parts to the humble acceptance ofmystery.”16 The style the Council adopted

was based, as was the style of the early Fathers for themost part, on rhetoric, the art of persuasion, the art of

finding common ground. That is the art that will enablepreviously disagreeing parties to join in action for acommon cause. The style was invitational in that itlooked to motivation and called for conversion. Itlooked to winning assent to its teachings rather than toimposing it.17

Panegyric-epideictic’s purpose is “not so much to clarifyconcepts”18 as “to praise matters of overwhelming significance”19

in order “to heighten appreciation for a person, an event, aninstitution, and to excite emulation of an ideal.”20 It eschews“‘the obscure’ and ‘the disputed’ and secondary questions inorder to embrace what was . . . central and essential.”21 “Thegenre . . . wants to lift its audience to big issues. Implicit in it . . .is an invitation . . . to strive for an expansive vision and agenerous spirit.”22 And so, for example, Lumen gentium openswith “mystery” and raises up

before our eyes Christ, God, the Church, and thedignity of our human nature to excite us to wonder andadmiration. It [does] this through a panorama of images,evocative of the warmth and richness of the reality ofthe Church. It [engages] in a rhetoric of praise andcongratulation. It [engages] in panegyric, in the arslaudandi, whose technical name is epideictic. 23

It is a truism that the medium is the message.24 Style is thebearer of content, of substance. “Out of the abundance of theheart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). In this instance, themouth speaking is the Council, which speaks for the Churchabout what it holds to be the Church’s inner reality and identity.By means of its style of speaking, the Council also teaches.“Style is the ultimate expression of meaning. It does not adornmeaning but is meaning. It is a hermeneutical key parexcellence.”25

Francis de Sales in Context

Before and during Francis’s lifetime, the patristic panegyric-epideictic genre also enjoyed a revival as a medium forcommunicating the mysteries of faith. Its appeal in early modernCatholicism foreshadows that which it would have at Vatican II.Its resurgence was the result of another movement of return adfontes (to the sources), the Renaissance. One thing on whichRenaissance humanists of all stripes and across the confessionaldivide agreed upon was Scholasticism’s barbaric Latin style, aridity,and failure to concentrate on “wisdom,” on what really matters,and “to communicate important truths with persuasive effect.”26

Rooting themselves in classical rhetoric, the humanistsopposed true eloquence—the harmonious union of wisdom andstyle, content and form—to Scholastic philosophy.27 For Cicero(106-43 BC) and Quintilian (c. 35-c. 100), “a good man, skilledin effective communication” is “a man for others”: “We are notborn for ourselves alone. We are born for the sake of other humanbeings, that we might help one another and bring human societytogether in peace and harmony.”28 The virtue that the rhetorical

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tradition particularly seeks to inculcate is prudence, that is, goodjudgment, the wisdom that characterizes good leaders and setsthem apart from the technocrat, the bureaucrat, and the zealot.29

Renaissance humanists revived the classical rhetorical traditionand shaped it into an educational philosophy.

It was not long before one of the major new orders of theearly modern Catholic reform, the Society of Jesus, appropriatedthe humanist philosophy of rhetorical education. Eloquentiaperfecta, “perfect eloquence,” was an ideal long before the Jesuits,but this expression took hold in the Jesuit tradition as capturingthe most important goal of rhetorical training. It was codified inthe Jesuits’ official plan of studies, the famous Ratio studiorum.Rhetoric was the culminating discipline in Jesuit schools.30

During his decade at the Collège de Clermont in Paris(1578-88), Francis de Sales immersed himself in the long,thorough, and rigorous Jesuit program of education in rhetoric,which would be “of the greatest possible advantage to a manwhose life was to be spent largely in speaking, preaching andwriting. The fostering of these capacities was the great aim ofthis system.”31 Francis’s “whole cast of mind and the nature andstructure of his literary work could not have come into beingwithout the Ratio studiorum of this early Jesuit school.”32

Arguably the Jesuit’s premier student during the early modernera, Francis epitomizes and gives a human face to eloquentiaperfecta: he has a place of honor in French literary history, as wellis the only Francophone saint canonized in the seventeenthcentury (1665), a doctor of the Church (1877), and the patron ofwriters and journalists (1923). This assessment is corroborated bythe phenomenon that “[m]any Jesuits [in the seventeenth century]clearly moved in the wake of St. Francis de Sales” and modeledthemselves after him.33 The student had become the teacher.

Early Modern Catholicism’s Revival of the PatristicPanegyric-Epideictic Homiletic Style

Like education, preaching was another area greatly affectedby the humanist interest in classical rhetoric and eloquence. Atthe Renaissance and post-Tridentine papal court and beyond, anew style of preaching, the panegyric-epideictic sermon, displacedScholastic preaching.34 The latter appealed to the head, took theform of a lecture and disputation, and had as its principal concernsimply to teach. The former appealed to the will and emotions,and sought to bring before the audience’s eyes the great mysteriesof salvation for admiration and contemplation.35 Moreover, “evenas [the panegyric-epideictic sermon] taught by ‘impressing ideas’upon its listeners, [it] was intensely concerned to move and toplease, thereby more effectively fulfilling the prescriptions of theindivisible triad of classical theory—docere, movere, delectare [toteach, to move, to delight].”36

Of prime importance in epideictic preaching is seeing, andthus painting a word-picture. Works and deeds

are presented not for a metaphysical analysis but quiteliterally for viewing. The epideictic preacherconsistently invites his . . . audience . . . to “look,” to

“view,” to “gaze upon” and to “contemplate” . . . Thefrequency and consistency with which these verbs arerepeated are striking. . . . It marks a conversion from thecerebral to the visual. . . . 37

In early modern Catholicism, most preachers may have been“well educated in Scholastic theology, [but] they clearly brokefrom their predecessors who moved from the classroom to thepulpit with little sense of the difference in audiences.”

At work in the new sermons . . . are clearly differentmechanisms of communication, greatly modifiedapproaches to preaching the Gospel, and a novel way toconceive of the task. Preachers no longer look toimpart a clear and distinct apprehension of doctrine(though in other circumstances this was important), butinstead to proclaim it, to draw out the affections, andaddress the heart. . . .

Listeners left powerfully moved, overwhelmed, like thedisciples at Emmaus who after Christ departed fromtheir midst asked, “Were not our hearts burning within

Adamo Tadolini (1788-1868), St. Francis de Sales, 1845. The Vatican, St. Peter’sBasilica. (Photo: Marco Anelli, in Virgilio Card. Noè, I Santi Fondatori nella BasilicaVaticana, 1996. Reproduced with permission and courtesy of Franco CosimoPanini Editore, Modena.)

us while he was talking to us on the road, while he wasopening the Scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32).38

Ars laudandi as Salesian Style

Terence O’Reilly has recently called attention to theconnection between panegyric-epideictic and Francis’s sermons,as well as the style of his masterwork, Treatise on the Love of God(1616). According to O’Reilly, the same qualities for whichFrancis’s sermons were renowned among his contemporariesoccur in the Treatise. For example, St. Jane Frances de Chantal(1572-1641) testified at the canonical process for Francis’sbeatification that his sermons “focused on the beauty of theCatholic faith in all its rich symmetry, rather than upon negativecharacterizations, or even disputed questions of doctrine.” In theTreatise Francis draws as well on the rhetorical resources of thepanegyric-epideictic genre, ars laudandi,

in order to focus attention on all that is attractive inmystical prayer, and in doing so to encourage thereader to aspire to it. From the beginning, for instance,he establishes a warm relationship with the reader,who is addressed directly as [Theotimus]. . . . Hisauthorial voice . . . is always personal, sometimescolloquial; and through the use of carefully chosenadjectives his words are imbued with an emotion(usually joyful and appreciative) that conveys innervalues: a speaking from the heart that appeals, in turn,to the heart of the reader. This rhetoric of invitationand encouragement is reinforced by the symmetry ofthe book’s construction, evident not only in theoverall design, but in the framing of each paragraphand chapter. Complex ideas are presented clearly,within a cumulative argument that develops slowly,and in the process the intellect is engaged in ways thatinvolve also the imagination and the will.39

O’Reilly’s important insight accords with counsels Francishimself proffers in his famous letter of 1604 on preaching. Forexample:

[T]he preacher must do two things, namely, instruct andmove. . . . [T]he preacher must bring light to theintellect and warmth to the will. . . .

I know that many writers say that, thirdly, the preachermust give delight. For myself, I make a distinction andsay that there is a delight that follows upon learning andthe movement of the will. . . . Such delight must bebrought about; however, it is not distinct from teachingand moving but dependent on them. . . .

Our words must be set aflame . . . by inward affection.They must issue from our heart rather than from ourmouth. We must speak well, but heart speaks to heart,and the tongue speaks only to [the] ears. . . .

I like preaching that issues from love of neighbor ratherthan from indignation at them, even in the case of theHuguenots, whom we must treat with great compassion.. . .40

The perception of the link between Francis’s sermons andthe Treatise also resonates with Hélène Bordes’s research onFrancis’s sermons. Bordes finds that Francis’s sermons oftenpopularize and disseminate themes of the Introduction to theDevout Life (1609) and the Treatise, thus underscoring thefundamental unity of the saint’s thought.41

One final point in this connection: Early modern Catholicpreachers may have broken with the scholastic sermon,displacing it by the patristic panegyric-epideictic homiletic style.Yet some of the same preachers, such as St. Robert Bellarmine(1542-1621), who was held in high esteem by Francis,42 weresimultaneously hard at work on the manuals constructing theedifice of Baroque Scholasticism.43 By contrast, no suchdisjuncture occurs with Francis: his ministry of the pen and thatof the pulpit were integrated and formed an indivisible unit.

Concluding Reflections

Cardinal Suenens and Pope Paul VI regarded Francis deSales’s insistence on the universal call to holiness, his theologyof the Church and of marriage and the family, his ecumenicalrelationships, and his ministry of the written word asanticipating Vatican II. Francis’s style of discourse in his sermonsand the Treatise is shaped by the patristic panegyric-epideicticgenre. This highlights another important connection betweenthe saint and Vatican II, whose documents pertain to this sameliterary genre. There is sometimes a tendency to abstract ideasfrom Francis’s writings or the Vatican II documents, leaving asidetheir literary form or style. This diminishes rather than enrichestheir understanding and appreciation, for it separates what isintended to be inseparable—content and form, substance andstyle.

While Francis de Sales’s writings and the Council’sdocuments share a common literary genre, each is singular in itsrespective tradition. As already seen, Vatican II is different instyle and substance from the church councils that preceded it.Likewise, Francis’s writings are unique in the Salesian spiritualtradition.

Francis’s writings are primordial: they are the foundation,support beams, and substance of the edifice of the Salesianspiritual tradition. The doctor of divine love’s gracefulintegration of content and form, depth and breadth, to present afresh vision of the Gospel, so necessary for the Church’s missionof evangelization, is incomparable. It is no accident that Francis’sclosest collaborator, Mother de Chantal, did all in her power toensure the accuracy and integrity of the texts of his workspublished after his death.44 Two centuries later, in the aftermathof the devastation wrought by the French Revolution, theleaders of the nineteenth-century Salesian Pentecost—amongthem, Venerable Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis (1793-1875)and Blessed Louis Brisson (1817-1908), the inspiration and

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founder, respectively, of the De Sales Oblates—returned timeand again to the Salesian corpus as a life-giving wellspring torevive the Church and consecrated life by adopting and adaptingFrancis’s teachings.45 In his acclaimed book, Church, Society andReligious Change in France, 1580-1730, historian Joseph Berginoffers this assessment of the uniqueness of Francis’s writings:

The Bishop of Geneva’s beguiling prose was entirely suigeneris, and it added incalculably to the attractiveness ofhis message. That, and the fact that he was made a saintas early as 1665, meant that those—such as theaugustinian-Jansenists—who disagreed with thetheological or anthropological bases of his approach,were invariably reluctant directly to attack or disownhim. . . . de Sales’s spirituality was diffused rather thanfurther developed after his death in 1622. His own hugecorrespondence had already ensured its diffusion amongthe religious elites of France and Savoy, but itsintimately “personal” expression and characteristicsmade it difficult to rework it much further.46

Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS

NOTES

1. Léon-Joseph Cardinal Suenens, “Saint François de Sales et Vatican II,” inSaint François de Sales: Témoignages et Mélanges à l’occasion du IVe centenairede sa naissance (1567-1967), Mémoires et documents publiés parl’Académie Salésienne, Tome LXXX (Ambilly-Annemasse: ÉditionsFranco-Suisses, 1968), 23-24, at 23.

2. The Apostolic Letter “Saubaudiae gemma” of Pope Paul VI . . . commemoratingthe Four-Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Saint Francis de Sales, Doctor ofthe Church, trans. Neil Kilty, OSFS (Hyattsville, MD: Institute of SalesianStudies, 1967), 5.

3. Suenens, 23-24; Saubaudiae gemma, 10-13 with quote at 13. 4. John W. O’Malley, SJ, “The Style of Vatican II,” America, 24 Feb. 2003,

http://americamagazine.org/issue/423/article/style-vatican-ii (retrieved 28Sept. 2013); “Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?,” Theological Studies 67(2006): 3-33; and What Happened at Vatican II (Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 2008).

5. O’Malley 2003, 3. 6. O’Malley 2006, 14-15, 24-25. Also see Ressourcement: A Movement for

Renewal in Twentieth-Century Theology, ed. Gabriel Flynn and Paul D.Murray, with the assistance of Patricia Kelly (New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2012), which offers the most extensive introduction available inEnglish to the Ressourcement Movement.

7. O’Malley 2006, 23-24; 2008, 47-48. 8. O’Malley 2008, 48. 9. O’Malley 2008, 47. 10. O’Malley 2006, 23. 11. O’Malley 2006, 18-19; 2008, 45.12. O’Malley 2003, 3.13. O’Malley 2006, 21; 2008, 46.14. O’Malley 2003, 3.15. O’Malley 2006, 25.16. O’Malley 2008, 46. 17. O’Malley 2003, 3. 18. O’Malley 2006, 25. 19. Frederick J. McGinness, Right Thinking and Sacred Oratory in Counter-

Reformation Rome (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), 104. 20. O’Malley 2006, 25. 21. John W. O’Malley, SJ, Praise and Blame in Renaissance Rome: Rhetoric,

Doctrine, and Reform in the Sacred Orators of the Papal Court, c. 1450-1521,Duke Monographs in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, No. 3 (Durham:Duke University Press, 1979), 69.

22. O’Malley 2008, 48.

23. O’Malley 2006, 25. 24. The phrase, “The medium is the message,” was coined by Marshall

McLuhan in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (New York:Mentor, 1964). It means that the form of the medium embeds itself in themessage, creating a symbiotic relationship whereby the medium influenceshow the message is perceived.

25. O’Malley 2008, 49. 26. Hanna H. Gray, “Renaissance Humanism: The Pursuit of Eloquence,”

Journal of the History of Ideas 24/4 (1963): 497-514, at 501. Also seeQuirinus Breen, “Three Renaissance Humanists on the Relation ofPhilosophy and Rhetoric,” and “John Calvin and the Rhetorical Tradition,”in his Christianity and Humanism: Studies in the History of Ideas (GrandRapids: Eerdmans, 1968), 1-68 and 107-29, respectively.

27. Gray, 498-99.28. John W. O’Malley, SJ, “Eloquentia: A Short History,” America, 16 May

2011, http://americamagazine.org/issue/776/article/eloquentia (accessed 30Sept. 2013).

29. John W. O’Malley, SJ, “‘Not for Ourselves Alone’: Rhetorical Education inthe Jesuit Mode with Five Bullet Points for Today,” Conversations on JesuitHigher Education, no. 43 (Spring 2013): 3-5, esp. 5.

30. O’Malley 2011, 1; 2013, 5. 31. Elisabeth Stopp, “St. Francis de Sales at Clermont College: A Jesuit

Education in Sixteenth-Century Paris,” in A Man to Heal Differences: Essaysand Talks on St. Francis de Sales (Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s UniversityPress, 1997), 23-50, at 29. On the daily educational regimen at Clermont,see Stopp, 28-35.

32. Stopp, 26. 33. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice.

A Historical Study, trans. William J. Young, SJ, ed. George E. Ganss, SJ(Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 350.

34. See O’Malley 1979; McGinness; and John M. McManamom, SJ, FuneralOratory and the Cultural Ideals of Italian Humanism (Chapel Hill: Universityof North Carolina Press, 1989).

35. O’Malley 1979, 42-44, 49. 36. O’Malley 1979, 44.37. O’Malley 1979, 63. 38. McGinness, 106-7. 39. Terence O’Reilly, “The Mystical Theology of St. Francis de Sales in the

Traité de l’amour de Dieu” paper presented at the conference, “MysticalTheology: Eruptions from France,” at All Hallows College, Dublin, 11-12Jan. 2013. I am deeply grateful to Professor O’Reilly for sharing with me acopy of his paper, which in due course will be published in the conferenceproceedings.

40. St. Francis de Sales, On the Preacher and Preaching, trans., with anintroduction and notes, by John K. Ryan (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co.,1964), 32-33, 64, 66. As is well known, Francis composed this letter to offerguidance to Mother de Chantal’s brother, André Frémyot (1573-1641),who had recently become archbishop of Bourges. For the French text of theletter, see the Annecy edition of the Œuvres 12:299-325.

41. See Hélène Bordes, “The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales,” in SalesianInsights, ed. William C. Marceau, CSB (Bangalore: S.F.S. Publications,1999), 130-43, esp. 132, 138. This article presents a summary of the mostimportant findings of Bordes’s multi-volume thesis for the Doctorat d’État,Les sermons de saint François de Sales (1989), at the Université de Metz(France).

42. See, e.g., André J.-M. Hamon, Vie de Saint François de Sales, 6th ed., 2 vols.(Paris/Lyon: J. Lecoffre, 1875), 1:559-62.

43. Lawrence S. Cunningham, review of McGinness, Right Thinking and SacredOratory, Commonweal, 5 Apr. 1996, 42-43.

44. For example, in 1628 a spurious edition of the Spiritual Conferences had beenpublished, and Mother de Chantal wasted no time in seeing the authenticedition, the Vrays entretiens spirituels (True Spiritual Conferences),published in 1629. After his death, Francis’s writings were regarded as“speaking relics” (reliques parlantes). See the “Au lecteur” to the biographyof Francis by the Jesuit Nicolas Talon (1605-91) in the folio edition of Lesœuvres du bien-heureux François de Sales . . . (Paris: chez Arnould Cottinet,Jean Roger et Thomas Lozet, 1641), n.p.

45. For an overview of the nineteenth-century Salesian Pentecost, see WendyM. Wright, “To Live with One Heart: Louis Brisson and the SalesianPentecost,” ICSS Newsletter, No. 29 [Fr. Louis Brisson SymposiumProceedings] (Feb. 2013):1-8.

46. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 321.

ICSS NEWSLETTER 5

SALESIAN STUDIESWORLDWIDE

2013-2014 ICSS GrantThe General Council has approved, upon the recommendationof the ICSS, a grant for 2013-2014, for the following project:Bro. Daniel Wisniewski, OSFS (Assistant Professor, De SalesUniversity, Center Valley, PA), to assist publication of a book ofthe collected essays of Fr. Joseph F. Power, OSFS (1935-2002). This book project will make readily available a key part of thelate Fr. Power’s rich legacy of scholarship on the spirituality ofSt. Francis de Sales: a collection of his original essays, selectedfrom the archive of his writings housed at De Sales Resources &Ministries, Stella Niagara, NY, which will be the publisher ofthis book. This project pertains to the innermost circle ofSalesian Studies (original research based on primary sources),while also reaching out to the wider popular and pastoral circles,which will find therein a rich resource of new insights andpractical applications presented in an easy-to-understand andreader-friendly style (ICSS Statute, 1).

Reviews of ICSS Book on the “Introduction tothe Devout Life” Encountering Anew the Familiar: Francis de Sales’s “Introduction tothe Devout Life” at 400 Years (Rome: ICSS, 2012), the volume ofcollected studies originating in the symposium coordinated andsponsored by the ICSS in Annecy in July 2009, to mark the400th anniversary of the publication of the Introduction, recentlyreceived critical acclaim in reviews in two prestigious scholarlyjournals: Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 13/1 (Spring2013): 143-45 (review by Dr. Terence O’Reilly, NationalUniversity of Ireland, Cork); and Modern Language Review 108/3(July 2013):970-71 (review by Dr. Richard Parish, Professor ofFrench and Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford).

ICSS and WikipediaThe entry for “Francis de Sales” on Wikipedia includes a link tothe website of the ICSS (www.franz-von-sales.de), with thenotation: “All about St. Francis de Sales worldwide.”

Salesian Youth Education CommitteeUnder the auspices of the Salesian Youth Education Committee,coordinated by Fr. William McCandless, OSFS, the SalesianYouth Education Conference was held in Annecy, 11-14 July2013. It was the first time in the Congregation’s history thatrepresentatives from the De Sales Oblates’ schools, the OblateSisters’ schools, and the Visitation’s schools met together todiscuss common goals in Salesian Education. Twenty Salesianeducation apostolates from eleven countries were represented.

The conference opened with an address by the SuperiorGeneral of the De Sales Oblates, Fr. Aldino Kiessel, OSFS. Hereminded participants of the importance of ministry to youth inSalesian educational apostolates. His address set the tone for theconference. It will be published, along with select otherpresentations, and distributed to the Salesian educationalinstitutions represented at this historic gathering.

The keynote presentation, “Character U & the De SalesUniversity Experience,” was given by four staff members fromDe Sales University: Dr. Jerry Joyce, Vice President for StudentLife; Wendy Krisak, Director of Counseling; Maggie Riggins,Director of Campus Ministry; and Bro. Joseph Schodowski,OSFS, Character U staff. This presentation detailed the four-year experience that uses the “Golden Counsels of St. Francis deSales,” together with other Salesian teachings, as its foundation.A full description of this program can be found at:www.desales.edu.

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Other presentations included: “Education in theSalesian/Oblate Tradition,” by Fr. Donald Heet, OSFS, whichprovided a framework for our common mission in education;“The Live Jesus Charter,” presented by three faculty members ofBishop Ireton High School, Alexandria, VA, which offered aneasily adopted way to ensure the continuation of the Salesiantradition; and “Salesian Exchange Program,” by Fr. McCandless,which explained how schools can join this program of Salesianschools worldwide.

The conference concluded with a planning session for futureSalesian educational endeavors, including a course to take placein Annecy that will provide continuing education credits and/oruniversity credits, a Salesian pilgrimage for youth to be held inAnnecy in summer 2014, the next Salesian educationconference to be held in two years, and the establishment of aformal international Salesian Educational Consortium amongthe participating schools. For further information or to find outhow your Salesian educational apostolate can connect with theSalesian Education Consortium, please contact Fr. McCandlessvia email at: wmccand@salesianum.org.

Africa

SOUTH AFRICAN REGION

Fr. Chris Jonkers, OSFS, a member of the South African Region,has recently translated the Introduction to the Devout Life intoAfrikaans. The translation, entitled Inleiding Tot Die Vrome Lewe, isnow available and will be a key resource in the Region’s apostolate.Efforts are underway to launch and market the book so that it canreach as wide an audience as possible. This is an importantinitiative for disseminating the Salesian charism in Africa.Congratulations to Fr. Jonkers and the confreres of the Region!

Asia

INDIA MISSION

The opening of the 2012-13 academic year at De Sales Academywas an historic day for the De Sales Oblates’ India Mission.Guests of honor were Bishop Andreas Laun, OSFS, AuxiliaryBishop of Salzburg, Austria; Fr. Aldino Kiesel, OSFS, SuperiorGeneral of the De Sales Oblates; Fr. Baiju Puthussery, OSFS,Delegate Superior of the OSFS Indian Mission; Fr. Eugen Szabo,OSFS, of the German Province; and Fr. Alfred Smuda, OSFS, of theWilmington-Philadelphia Province. Fr. John Kadavumkandathil,OSFS, Principal of De Sales Academy, welcomed the studentsand their parents. Bishop Laun inaugurated the new academicyear, and the other guests of honor addressed the assembledaudience. Fr. Bruzily Vettukallamkuzhiyil, OSFS, the newPrincipal of De Sales Academy, was installed by Fr. Puthussery.

Europe

BELGIUM

During the 2011-12 academic year, Dr. Agnès Guiderdoni-Bruslé, Professor of French Literature, Université catholique de

Louvain, offered a yearlong doctoral seminar on the celebrationsthat took place in France to mark the canonization of St. Francisde Sales (1665). The seminar was entitled: “Intermédialité etperformance hagiographique: les festivités pour la canonisationde François de Sales (1665)” (Hagiographic Intermediality andPerformance: The Festivities for the Canonization of Francis deSales [1665]). Dr. Guiderdoni-Bruslé is also preparing forpublication her research on this topic.

FRANCE

The Journées Salésiennes 2012, organized by the Association RESand the De Sales Oblates and Oblate Sisters of St. Francis deSales, took place in Troyes at the Maison N.D. en Isle, 20-24August 2012. The theme was “From the Cross Life Gushes Forth:Suffering, Death, Pascal Mystery, and Christian Hope Accordingto Francis de Sales.” Five of the papers presented are publishedin Annales salésiennes, new series, no. 7 (1st semester 2013), andthe remaining papers will be published in the next issue of theAnnales. In the former are: Philippe Legros, “Les images de laCroix dans l’œuvre de François de Sales” (Images of the Cross inthe Works of Francis de Sales); Jean-Luc Leroux, OSFS,“La souffrance et la Croix dans la direction spirituelle de Françoisde Sales” (Suffering and the Cross in the Spiritual Direction ofFrancis de Sales); Blandine Delahaye, “Le regard de François deSales sur la maladie: Maître dans l’art de souffrir” (A Close Lookat Francis de Sales on Sickness: Master in the Art of Suffering);Most Rev. Marc Stenger, Bishop of Troyes, “Le mystère pascal etla souffrance” (The Pascal Mystery and Suffering) and “Messe declôture. Introduction et homélie” (Closing Mass. Introductionand Homily). This issue of the Annales also includes a memoir ofFr. Roger Balducelli, OSFS, Ninth Superior General of the DeSales Oblates and longtime Chaplain at the Motherhouse of theOblate Sisters in Troyes, as well as Bishop Stenger’s homily andthe reflection by Mother Françoise-Bernadette Beuzelin, OSFS,Mother General of the Oblate Sisters, at his Mass of ChristianBurial. The theme for the Journées Salésiennes 2013, which tookplace at the Maison N.D. en Isle in Troyes, 19-23 August, was“Faith, Love, and Freedom in St. Francis de Sales.”

The Musée de la Visitation in Moulins (France) hasmounted as its annual exhibition, “A tout cœur: L’art pour leSacré Cœur à la Visitation” (With All One’s Heart: Art for theSacred Heart in the Visitation Order), 7 May-24 December2013. As its title indicates, the exhibit offers an impressivesurvey of the enormous variety of sacred art produced under theauspices of the Visitation Order to celebrate the Sacred Heartand St. Margaret Mary (1647-90) worldwide, from Paray-le-Monial to Europe, the Americas, Asia, and even Oceania. Theexhibit includes painting, sculpture, engravings, textiles, sacredvessels, reliquaries, etc., and is accompanied by a 280-page full-color catalogue (see Publications below and centerspread for asampling of this exhibit).

Salesian Studies Worldwide, continued on page 10

Preview of the exhibition, “Art for the Sacred Heart in the Visitation Order,” at the Musée de la Visitation

The First Celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, c. 1860, oil on canvas.Visitation Monastery, Paray-le-Monial.

The Promises of the Sacred Heart in 238 Languages. Paray-le-Monial, Monasteryof the Visitation. In His apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-90),the Lord promised a series of blessings to those who practice devotion to HisSacred Heart. In 1882, an American businessman spread the tabular form of thepromises worldwide, the twelve promises appearing in 238 languages.

Green Chasuble with Roses, early 20th century, embroidery on silk. Giftof Père Zi (China) to the Monastery of the Visitation, Paray-le-Monial.

Box with the List of Members of the Apostleship of Prayer of theApostolic Vicariate of Nanking (China), 1889, sculpted and gilded woodand with embroidered silk cover. Ex-voto gift presented to theMonastery of the Visitation, Paray-le-Monial.

n, Moulins (France)

Charles Natoire (1700-77), The Sacred Heart of Jesus, engraving,frontispiece to Joseph de Gallifet, SJ, De Culto Sacro Sancti Cordis Dei(Rome, 1726). From the beginning of the Sacred Heart devotion, imageswere important. The Lord told St. Margaret Mary that He would “spreadblessings on places where images of the Sacred Heart were placed to beloved and honored.” The first recorded Sacred Heart image was drawn in1685 by Margaret Mary (or one of her novices) in ink on a small sheetof paper: a heart with a cross and flames at its top and a crown of thornsframing it. Natoire’s engraving is the first image to depict the Heart ofJesus in an anatomically correct manner, stipulating that this is asMargaret Mary saw it in a vision.

Flemish School, Christ as the Fountain of Life, late 16th century, oil onboard. Caen, Monastery of the Visitation. “He gave Himself up for us witha wonderful love and poured out blood and water from His pierced side, thewellspring of the Church’s Sacraments, so that, won over to the open heartof the Savior, all might draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation”(Preface of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus).

Pierre Parrocel (1670-1739, French lateBaroque painter), St. Margaret MaryAlacoque, St. Francis deSales, and St. Claude LaColombière in Adorationof the Sacred Heart,early 18th century, oil oncanvas. Carpentras,Monastery of theVisitation.

French School, France Kneeling before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, c.1820, oil oncanvas. Paris, First Monastery of the Visitation. The Sacred Heart of Jesus, seatedbefore an altar, receives the homage of a queen, symbolic of France, who offers thesymbols of the monarchy, the crown and scepter.

10 ICSS NEWSLETTER

GERMANYGERMAN-SPEAKING PROVINCE(GERMANY-AUSTRIA-SWITZERLAND)

To honor and make better known their founder, Blessed LouisBrisson, the De Sales Oblates held various events following hisbeatification in different venues. At the annual “Castle Festival”in Fockenfeld on 16 September 2012, Fr. Herbert Winklehner,OSFS, ICSS member and its Webmaster, gave a presentation onthe life and work of Fr. Brisson. Masses honoring Fr. Brisson werecelebrated in Fockenfeld, Eichstätt, Mülheim an der Ruhr, andDüdingen, Switzerland. The topic of the annual meeting ofArbeitsgemeinschaft für Salesianische Studien (Working Groupfor Salesian Studies) held at Salesianum Rosental in Eichstätt,Bavaria, was “Louis Brisson: Founder in Salesian Spirituality.”The closing ceremony of the Brisson Year took place in theparish of St. Judas Thaddäus, Krim, in Vienna, Austria, on 21September 2013. The topic, “Back to the Future,” centered onFr. Brisson’s life and work. There were also a Brisson Parcourtand a play about the life of Louis Brisson.

The 2013 issues of the Salesian magazine Licht took as theirtheme, “The Sound of Fr. Brisson,” featuring articles on thefollowing topics: “The Sound of Love,” “The Sound of Hope,”“The Sound of Faith,” “The Sound of Everyday Life,” “TheSound of the Divine Will,” and “The Sound of Prayer.” Underthe theme of “With Courage and Small Steps,” Thaddäusbote, themagazine of the De Sales Oblates in Switzerland, treatedFr. Brisson’s life, work, and teachings.

A new German translation of Fr. Brisson’s biography ofMary de Sales Chappuis, La Vie de la Vénérée Mère Marie de SalesChappuis de l’ordre de la Visitation Sainte-Marie (Paris, 1886), byAdelinde Heidenreich and computerized by Christian Deppisch,is now available at: www.louisbrisson.org. The next project is thetranslation into German of Fr. Brisson’s talks to the OblateSisters of St. Francis de Sales.

In Böhmfeld near Eichstätt, Bavaria, the St. Francis de SalesChildren’s Choir was founded in 2012. It consists of about twentychildren, ages seven to twelve years. The leader of the choir,Anja Lindner, sees Salesian spirituality as the ideal teachingmethod for this children’s choir, especially the Salesian sayings“All by love, nothing by force” and “Bloom where you areplanted.” To show the children the practicality of Salesianspirituality, each member of the choir can choose his or herfavorite quote of St. Francis de Sales, which then is printed on acolorful t-shirt.

As part of the series, “Seekers of God in History and thePresent,” at the Center for Retreats and Education of the Dioceseof Passau, Fr. Winklehner gave an introduction to the life andspirituality of St. Francis de Sales on 26 January 2013. There wassuch great interest in this topic that a sequel took place on 15June 2013—an introduction to the Introduction to the Devout Life.Next year, Fr. Winklehner will offer retreats based on theIntroduction, 24-27 March 2014.

The abbess of the Benedictine monastery of St. Walburg inEichstätt, Bavaria, Sr. Franziska Salesia Kloos, was the guest ofhonor at the St. Francis de Sales feast-day celebration at the

Salesianum Rosental in Eichstätt, 27 January 2013. In herpresentation, she explained that she chose her religious name“Franziska Salesia” because the Introduction to the Devout Lifehelped her discover her religious vocation. She also explainedthe connection between St. Francis de Sales and St. Benedict ofNursia, as both emphasize the primacy of love.

A special Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated at St. Francisde Sales Educational Center in Niedernfels, Bavaria, to honor itspatron. Two catechists performed the play, “Going through Lifewith Heart and Mind.” This play focuses on explaining theSalesian saying, “To Do Ordinary Things Extraordinarily Well.”More information about the school can be found at:www.niedernfels.de.

On 10, 17, and 24 March 2013, the musical, “The Baroness,”about the life of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, was performed toacclaim in the parish Bad Endorf near Rosenheim, Bavaria.Under the direction of Judith Trifellner (music), ChristineRossmy (play), and Ursula Stacheder (organization), the castconsisted of about forty children and young people, together withthe youth choir of the parish. The musical team at Eichstätt,Bavaria, developed a concert version of the musical, a “MusicalOratorio.” First performances of this new project were wellreceived in the parish churches of Böhmfeld near Eichstätt,Bavaria (1 March 2013), and Halsbach near Koblenz,Rhineland-Pfalz, (8 March 2013). The musical’s composer,Francis Care, said in an interview: “It was always our wish thatthe musical would live on. The Salesian spirit, Salesianspirituality should be known more and more.” In September, theMusical Oratorio traveled to Saxony for two performances inLeipzig and Limbach-Oberfrohna. In October, an additionalperformance will be held in Eichstätt. Additional information onthe musical can be found at: www.musical-diebaronin.de.

The former boarding school of the De Sales Oblates in Riedim Innkreis, Austria, is now a public music school. The chapel isstill used for worship. Five years ago a group of lay people knownas “Konviktgemeinde” (parish of the former boarding school) setout to keep the Salesian spirit alive in the absence of theDe Sales Oblates. This group celebrated its fifth anniversarytogether with the Provincial of the German-Speaking Province,Fr. Thomas Vanek, OSFS.

The Swiss radio station “Radio Maria” published under theseries “Reports,” on 24 May 2013, a segment about St. Francis deSales and his episcopal city of Annecy. The West German Radio(WDR) praised this broadcast as follows: “A successful mediacampaign—as it is called today: The Catholic priest Francis deSales distributed leaflets on the south bank of Lake Geneva atthe end of the 16th century to confront the people in thisCalvinist territory with his ideas. In recognition of this successfulcampaign, St. Francis de Sales was named the patron ofjournalists and writers. From today’s perspective, the Doctor ofthe Church, pastor, religious founder, mystic, and bishop ismainly of interest due to his absolute devotion to love andgentleness.”

A bridge over the highway in the 10th district of Vienna,near the parish church of St. Francis de Sales, is officially called“Francis de Sales Bridge.” The plaque reads: “Francis de Sales,

ICSS NEWSLETTER 11

Bishop of Geneva and Founder of a Religious Order, 1567-1622.” In the De Sales Oblates’ school in Fockenfeld, “Salesian”

electricity is generated. The school announced a new gauge of itsphotovoltaic system, with these words: “The sun flows overeverything with her cheerful warmth. Likewise, the divinegoodness animates all souls and encourages the heart to love.”(Treatise on the Love of God, Book 2, chapter 8).

From May to August 2013, a reliquary containing relics ofSt. Jane Frances de Chantal and St. Francis de Sales from theVisitation Monastery of Annecy travelled throughout Germany.Among the stops on the pilgrimage were the foundations of theDe Sales Oblates in Fockenfeld, Pleystein, Salesianum Eichstätt,and Haus Overbach. This provided a good opportunity to speakabout the two saints in the context of the liturgy and sermons.

Sisters of the Visitation“All by Heart, All by Love,” was the topic of a meeting of theSisters of the Visitation at the Visitation Monastery of Zangberg,Bavaria, 26-28 October 2012. Fourteen nuns from Germanyand Austria committed themselves, under the direction ofFr. Winklehner and Sr. Lioba Zezulka, VHM, to devotion to theSacred Heart of Jesus in the Salesian tradition.

At the Assembly of the Federation, which took place in theVisitation Monastery of Zangberg, Bavaria, 2-4 May 2013, thesuperiors of the ten monasteries of the German Federationcommitted themselves to study the future of the monasteries inthe face of the lack of vocations and the challenge of taking careof the older sisters. Fr. Winklehner gave a presentation on the arsmoriendi (art of dying) in a Salesian congregation. One day was devoted to “Prayer in the Salesian Tradition.”

Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de SalesThe 2012-13 school year began with the beatification of thefounder of the Oblate Sisters, Fr. Louis Brisson. This was theyearlong focus of the school of the Oblate Sisters in Linz/Donau,Austria, which included a presentation on Fr. Brisson’s life bythe students during the school year. The intensive study ofFr. Brisson’s life and ministry helped to familiarize students andteachers with Fr. Brisson’s historical context and spirituality.

Soyhières, the small village in the Swiss Jura, is not only thebirthplace of the Visitandine Venerable Mother Mary de SalesChappuis, but also where St. Léonie Frances de Sales Aviat, co-foundress of the Oblate Sisters, worked. There she founded thefirst kindergarten in 1905. Today the Oblate Sisters have alanguage school for teenagers in Soyhières. Returning to theirroots, the sisters dedicated, on the anniversary of the death oftheir foundress, 10 January 2013, the kindergarten to “SainteLéonie.” Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel, Switzerland, blessed thefacility, which has been open since September 2012.

Association of St. Francis de SalesThe Group Austria/East of the Association of St. Francis de Saleshas been in existence for ten years. The motto for its anniversarycelebration was a saying by their founder, Henri Chaumont

(1838-96): “The love of God should be a fundamental part andatmosphere of your life.” With great joy and gratitude, theAssociation of St. Francis de Sales celebrated its 140th year anda series of anniversaries: 90 years for the Cologne Group, 40 yearsfor the Dortmund Group, and the 40th and 25th jubilees of twomembers. The change in leadership of the German region tookplace on 15 September 2012. Fr. Goubaut, the Association’sspiritual director, who hails from Brussels, Belgium, celebratedthe Mass, with the spiritual directors of the Dortmund andCologne groups as concelebrants.

A group of the Association of St. Francis de Sales made apilgrimage to Annecy, France, 21-26 October 2012. Thepilgrimage’s theme was “Who Was the Source of Francis deSales’s Motivation?, Who Was His Model?, What Shaped HisSpirituality?” The group, under the spiritual direction of PastorMatthias Marx, dwelt on St. Francis de Sales’s own patron: St.Francis of Assisi.

Secular Institute of St. Francis de SalesIn May 2012, the four regional groups (Vienna, Carinthia,Overbach, Bavaria) of the Secular Institute of St. Francis deSales merged into one German group. The first meeting of thecombined group took place in Augsburg, Bavaria, 10-14September 2012. Fr. Konrad Esser, OSFS, reflected on “TheApostolate Today” and “Viable Ways of Hope.” A highlight ofthe week was the renewal of vows during the Eucharisticcelebration.

South American and Caribbean Province

MONTEVIDEO

The Marian Lyceum, Liceo Mariano, in Montevideo, Uruguay iscelebrating its sixtieth anniversary. Founded in 1953 by Fr. PeterKramer, OSFS, and later developed and expanded under the longand fruitful leadership of Fr. Mario Bortignon, OSFS, it hasbecome the premier Catholic school in Montevideo.Unabashedly and proudly Oblate, its website prominentlydisplays sayings from Blessed Louis Brisson. On the home page,we read: “Turn to God to bless all our actions (Volverse haciaDios. Benedice todas nuestras acciones) and “The Savior is the lightthat enlightens each person, and Mary, his Mother, gives us thelight and counsel that we ask.” (El Salvador es la Luz que illuminacada persona y María, su Madre, nos da la Luz y el consejo que lepedimos). During the month of May, there were severalcommemorative celebrations. We salute and congratulate allthose involved in the history of this historic institution ofOblate-Salesian education. To visit Lyceum’s website, go to:www.colegioyliceomariano.edu.uy.

HAITI

The Province recently renewed its commitment to Haiti byseeking funds to build an Oblate Formation House in Haition property it had previously purchased. Plans for theOblate Formation House may be viewed at: http://www.desales.org/Email/Resources/HaitiFormationHouse.pdf.

12 ICSS NEWSLETTER

The North American and Netherlands delegations at thesummer 2013 meeting of Major Superiors offered to explore waysto honor the work of Frs. Thomas Moore, OSFS, and MichaelMoore, OSFS, who both recently passed away.

United States

NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES

An historic joint convocation of the two American Provinceswas held at De Sales University, 24-28 June 2013. It was the firstsuch joint assembly since the two provinces were established in1966. There were several presentations by outside speakers ontopics relating to the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II and theliturgical renewal. Over 180 Oblates attended. The highlight ofthe event was the priestly ordination of four De Sales Oblates:Frs. Timothy McIntire, Joseph Newman, Edward Ogden, andBrian Zumbrum. The two provinces have had a joint formationprogram for several years and have recently established a jointrecruitment program. A new house of studies, known as BrissonHall, recently opened in Washington, D.C., to house scholasticsand postulants from both provinces.

TOLEDO-DETROIT PROVINCE

The theme for the biennial Salesian Scholars Seminar, held atDe Sales Resources and Ministries (DR&M), 18-21October 2012,was “Pentecost in the Salesian Tradition.” The presenters andtheir papers were as follows: Joseph Boenzi, SDB, “Don Bosco’sYoung People: The Conditions of Pre-Industrial Youth in DonBosco’s Time”; Kathleen Hope Brown, “The Influence ofSt. Teresa of Ávila on St. Francis de Sales and Their Contributionto the Contemplative Tradition”; Roberta Brown, “Voices of theDoves: A Reading of the Fourteenth Entretien spirituel betweenSt. Francis de Sales and the Daughters of the Visitation”; JosephChorpenning, OSFS, “Lectio divina and Francis de Sales’sPicturing of the Interconnection of Divine and Human Hearts”;Thomas Donlan, “Jesuit Affirmation of Francis de Sales’s Reformof Militant Piety”; Paula McCarthy, VHM, “Visitation Schools:The Will of God’s Good Pleasure?”;Terrence McGoldrick,“‘Everything in Marriage Is Holy’: Francis de Sales, a ChristianHumanist Theology of Marriage”; Alexander Pocetto, OSFS,“Love and Belief, Francis de Sales (1567-1622), and the NewEvangelization”; Daniel Wisniewski, OSFS, “‘I Shall AlwaysTake the Side of Divine Providence’: How the Spirituality ofSt. Francis de Sales Supports Human Resilience duringBereavement”; Wendy Wright, “To Live With One Heart:Louis Brisson and the Salesian Pentecost.” The next seminar isscheduled for 8-12 October 2014. The theme will be “Love in theSalesian Tradition and the Treatise on the Love of God at400 Years.”

In April 2013, leaders of a number of Salesian organizationsmet for the second year in what has now been named the NorthAmerican Salesian Network (NASN). Hosted by DR&M, thegathering was again held at St. Paul of the CrossPassionist Retreat Center, in Detroit, MI. Eleven Salesianassociations and institutes were represented. The initial aim ofthe network is the sharing of talent, resource materials, and

programs to enhance the training of members and theaccomplishment of respective missions, ultimately spreading theGospel in the Salesian tradition. The three-day gathering led toa vision statement that included the sharing of various resources,collaborative vocational efforts, and key ministries to moreeffectively penetrate and shape North American culture. Thewebpage, www.salesianspirituality.com, has been initiated todirect those interested in “everything Salesian.” NASN willmeet again in April 2014.

In addition to recent DR&M publications listed below,prayer aids and posters using the Brisson/De Sales image are alsoavailable. For more detailed information, visit the DR&Mwebsite at: www.desalesresource.org, or call 1-800-782-2270.

WILMINGTON-PHILADELPHIA PROVINCE

The Salesian Center for Faith and Culture (SCFC) of De SalesUniversity (DSU) offers the Ryan Leadership Institute, a two-year program of personal growth and executive training withinthe framework of Catholic spirituality lived in the Salesiantradition. Frs. Doug Burns, OSFS, and Peter Leonard, OSFS,directed four training sessions for the junior class. Severaleducational initiatives, spearheaded by Fr. John Fisher, OSFS,sought to bring Salesian spirituality to a greater audience, bothon and off campus. Two series of cultural enrichment courses—during the Lenten and Advent seasons—were offered in theSalesian Studies Online program for eighty-three learners. Anew program, “Tuesday with Francis,” engages students at DSUin a series of four to five meetings each semester to read anddiscuss our patron saint’s letters of spiritual direction. TheDirector of the SCFC, Fr. Thomas Daily, OSFS, led the secondedition of the “Inculturation” series for full-time employees atDSU. Some forty employees spent a daylong retreat and fourfollow-up sessions learning about our Salesian heritage and itsapplicability to work on campus.

The Wilmington-Philadelphia Province has generouslyagreed to have its rare book collection of Salesiana housed inDSU’s Trexler Library. Although the books do not circulate, theholdings may be searched on the library’s website by typing underthe call number category “DSC.”

SECULAR INSTITUTE OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES OF THE USADana Elzi was re-elected National Director, and Joan Liles andDorothy Kelly were elected as counselors. The term for theseoffices is four years. There is also a new web site.

Publications

BOOKS

ENGLISH

St. Francis de Sales, The Sign of the Cross: The Fifteen MostPowerful Words in the English Language, ed. and trans. ChristopherO. Blum (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2013). AnEnglish translation of Book 3 of the Defense of the Standard of theHoly Cross.

ICSS NEWSLETTER 13

St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love God, trans. and ed.by Antony Mookenthottam, MSFS, Armind Nazareth, MSFS,Henry Jose Kodikuthiyil, MSFS, (Bangalore: SFS Publications,2012). This volume offers a new, very readable translation of theTreatise in a single volume, with footnotes and headers withbook and chapter numbers, thereby making it very reader-friendly.

Joseph Boenzi, SDB, Saint Francis de Sales: Life and Spirit(Stella Niagara, NY: De Sales Resource Center, 2013). Thisexcellent biography provides a comprehensive study of Francis deSales and his spirituality including a masterful section onFrancis’s spiritual theology and an account of his influence afterdeath. The invaluable appendices provide a detailed timeline ofFrancis’s life in tandem with contemporary events; a descriptionof religious families related to Francis and Salesian spirituality; anextensive index of persons and their relationship to the saint.The author’s select bibliography and detailed notes add to thiswealth of information.

Lewis Fiorelli, OSFS, Inspired Common Sense, SevenFundamental Themes of Salesian Spirituality (Stella Niagara, NY:De Sales Resource Center, 2012). This work offers a clearunderstanding of the practical spirituality taught by St. Francisde Sales in a user-friendly format.

John D. Lyons, Before Imagination: Embodied Thought fromMontaigne to Rousseau (Stanford: Stanford University Press,2005). Chapter 2, “Self-Cultivation and Religious Meditation,”focuses on St. Francis de Sales.

Richard Parish, Catholic Particularity in Seventeenth-CenturyFrench Writing: ‘Christianity is Strange’ (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 2011). Originating in the author’s 2009Bampton Lectures at Oxford, this book offers, among many otherthings, what one reviewer describes as “a rich analysis” of the“wealth of imagery” used by and the style of St. Francis de Sales,as well as of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

FRENCH

P. Gilles Jeanguenin, Guérir des blessures de l’âme avecS. François de Sales (Healing the Wounds of the Soul withSt. Francis de Sales) (Paris: Éditions Emmanuel, 2010).

Rencontres autour de saint François de Sales (EncountersAround St. Francis de Sales), Documents d’histoire savoyarde,vol. 5 (Thonon-les-Bains: Académie chablaisienne, 2011).

Aimé Richardt, Saint François de Sales et la Contre-Réforme(St. Francis de Sales and the Counter-Reformation) (Paris:François-Xavier de Guibert, 2013).

Olivier Robin, SDB, La parole et ses chemins: Le paradigmesémiotique appliqué à l’accompagnement spirituel selon François deSales: énonciation et figures de la perte féconde, (The Word andIts Ways: The Semiotic Paradigm Applied to Spiritual Accom-paniment According to St. Francis de Sales: Enunciation andFigures of the Fecund Lost), 2 vols., unpublished doctoral dissertation,Université Laval and Université Catholique Lyon, 2011.

À tout cœur: L’art pour le Sacré Cœur à la Visitation (With AllOne’s Heart: Art for the Sacred Heart in the Visitation Order),ed. Gérard Picaud and Jean Foisselon (Paris/Moulins: Somogy

éditions d’art/Musée de la Visitation, 2013). Profusely illustrated,full-color exhibition catalogue.

GERMAN

Johanna Franziska Frémyot von Chantal, Korrespondenz.Briefe von 1605-1641 (Correspondence: Letters from 1605-41)(Eichstätt: Franz-Sales-Verlag, 2013). A study edition of theGerman translation of the letters in PDF format on CD-ROM,published by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Salesianische Studien(Working Group for Salesian Studies), under the direction ofFr. Gottfried Prinz, OSFS, and Raymund Fobes. After ten yearsof work, this enormous project of the German translation of allthe letters of St. Jane Frances de Chantal has now beencompleted. Publication of this important resource for Salesianresearch in the German-speaking world was assisted by anICSS grant.

Reinhard Gesing, SDB, (ed.), Vernunft, Religion undLiebenswürdigkeit. Don Boscos Pädagogik der Vorsorge – damals undheute (Reason, Religion and Kindness: Don Bosco’s Pedagogy ofCare - Then and Now) (Munich: Don Bosco Verlag, 2013).Reason, religion, and kindness are the three pillars of St. JohnBosco’s educational approach. The book notes that for DonBosco St. Francis de Sales was a special model whose goodnessand kindness he wanted to imitate.

Thomas Günther, Ekklesiologie im Werden. Biografie undKirchenbild bei Franz von Sales (Ecclesiology in Process: Biographyand Images of the Church by St. Francis de Sales) (Eichstätt:Franz-Sales-Verlag, 2013). A study of St. Francis de Sales’s imagesof the Church and how they changed over the course of his life.

Antony Kolencherry MSFS, Das bist du. Mystische Dialoge 3(That’s You. Mystic Dialogues 3) (Eichstätt: Franz-Sales-Verlag,2013). An anthology of texts that make clear that the humanbeing is a unique creature beloved by God. “Be who you are, andbe that well!” advises St. Francis de Sales.

Sr. Maria Margareta Laumann, OVM, Weil ich dich liebe(Because I Love You) (Uedem: Kloster der Heimsuchung, 2012).A nun of the Visitation Monastery of Uedem in North Rhine-Westphalia describes the reasons that led her to become aVisitandine and their impact on issues important for theCatholic faith. Unfortunately, the book does not exploreSalesian spirituality. It may be ordered from Sr. Margareta,Kloster der Heimsuchung, Mühlenstr. 42a, 47589 Uedem,Germany; tel: (02825) 403; Fax: (02825) 7341; e-mail:klosteruedem@t-online.de

Mit Mut und kleinen Schritten. Gedanken von Louis Brisson(With Courage and Small Steps. Thoughts of Louis Brisson)(Düdingen: Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, 2013.). This brochurecombines some remarkable quotes of Fr. Brisson with a shortintroduction to his life and impressive color photos. It may bepurchased at: Oblaten des hl. Franz von Sales, Hauptstraße 40,3186 Düdingen, Schweiz; tel. +41 (0)26 492 50 90; fax +41(0)26 492 50 90; e-mail: thaddaeusheim@osfs.ch; Internet:http://schweiz.osfs.ch/.

Thomas M. Mueller and Schlotthauer Reiner (eds.), Gottdenkend entdecken. Meilensteine der Theologie (Discovering God by

14 ICSS NEWSLETTER

Thinking: Milestones of Theology) (Kevelaer: Verlag topos plus,2012). Among these milestones is Fr. Herbert Winklehner,OSFS, “St. Francis de Sales: Introduction to a Devout Life (1609):Piety Fits Every State in Life” (pp. 188-93).

Paul-Werner Scheele, Mit den Heiligen hin zum Herrn.Biografische Skizzen (Together with the Saints to the Lord:Biographical Sketches) (Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 2013). Theformer Bishop of Würzburg, Bavaria, describes a number of saintsand their meaning for our lives today. Among them is St. Francisde Sales. Although his description has a few small historicalerrors (e.g., the place of Francis’s episcopal ordination is given asAnnecy, instead of Thorens), it still provides the essential aspectsof the Doctor of the Church and an excellent summary of his life.

Ludwig Schwind, Das Kreuz. Zeichen Christi (The Cross:Sign of Christ) (Augsburg: Sankt Ulrich Verlag 2004). Thisbook contains a chapter on Francis de Sales: “The Cross Led theWay. Francis de Sales and the Cross.”

Josef Weber, Michael Rua. Weggefährte und Nachfolger DonBoscos (Michael Rua: Companion and Successor of Don Bosco)(Munich: Don Bosco Verlag, 2012). Blessed Michael Rua (1837-1910) was essential in the expansion and consolidation of theSalesians of Don Bosco after their foundation. This biographyshows clearly how crucial St. Francis de Sales was in the earlydays of the Salesians.

ARTICLES

Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS, “A Spiritual Pilgrimage tothe Crèche with St. Francis de Sales,” Spiritual Life: A QuarterlyJournal of Contemporary Spirituality 58/4 (Winter 2012): 202-12.

Michael S. Koppisch, “Desire and Conversion in Françoisde Sales’s Traité de l’amour de Dieu,” Contagion: Journal ofViolence, Mimesis, and Culture 19 (2012): 123-38. A study of theTreatise from the perspective of the thought of René Girard.

—————, “In God’s Kitchen: Food and Devotion inFrançois de Sales’s Introduction à la vie devote,” Papers in FrenchSeventeenth-Century Literature XXXV, 69 (2008): 529-41.

Richard Parish, “Beasts in the Devout Life: Animals in theWriting of St. François de Sales,” Seventeenth-Century FrenchStudies 33/1 (2011): 3-15.

—————-, “‘Une vie douce, heureuse et amiable’: AChristian joie de vivre in St. François de Sales,” in Joie de vivre inFrench Literature and Culture: Essays in Honour of MichaelFreeman, ed. Susan Harrow and Timothy Unwin(Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2009), 129-40.

Wendy M. Wright, “Seventeenth-Century FrenchMysticism,” in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to ChristianMysticism, ed. Julia A. Lamm (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell,2013), 437-51.

Fri., Jan 10 Feast of St. Léonie Frances de Sales Aviat, co-founder of the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales

Fri., Jan. 24 Solemnity of St. Francis de Sales, Principal Patron of the Congregation

Sat., May 31 Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Fri., June 27 Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Tues., Aug. 12 Feast of St. Jane Frances de Chantal,Secondary Patron of the Congregation

Sun., Oct. 12 Feast of Blessed Louis Brisson, Founder of the Oblates and Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales

Thurs., Oct. 16 Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Fri., Nov. 21 Memorial of the Presentation of theBlessed Virgin Mary

2014 SALESIAN CALENDAR FOR THE DE SALES OBLATES

The ICSS NEWSLETTER was founded in 1997 and is publishedbiannually by the International Commission for Salesian Studies(ICSS) of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales (Joseph F. Chorpenning,OSFS, Chairman; Valdir Formentini, OSFS; Dirk Koster, OSFS;Herbert Winklehner, OSFS). Its primary purpose is to disseminate on aglobal scale information dealing with Salesian Studies (St. Francis deSales; St. Jane Frances de Chantal; Bl. Louis Brisson, founder of theDe Sales Oblates and the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales; theVisitation of Holy Mary; Lay Institutes and other Religious who aremembers of the Salesian Family).

Editor: Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS (Saint Joseph’s University Press,5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131-1395, USA; e-mail:jchorpen@sju.edu).

News Editor: Alexander T. Pocetto, OSFS. News items for future issuesshould be sent to Fr. Pocetto via e-mail (alexander.pocetto@desales.edu),fax (610/282-2059), or by mail (De Sales University, 2755 StationAvenue, Center Valley, PA 18034-9568, USA).

Proofreaders: Charles J. Norman, OSFS, Elaine C. ZajanoDesign and typesetting: Carol McLaughlin

ICSS NEWSLETTER 15

The word “mysticism” has a tendency ofturning a number of people off becauseit connotes for them something veryesoteric, abstract, and elite. It is viewedas a special gift of prayer that is out ofreach for most people, and intended andexperienced by those who have beenhighly favored by God. This coolnesstoward mystical prayer and experiencesis due, no doubt, to the unfamiliar andmany times difficult to comprehendlanguage and imagery used by themystics themselves or those trying toexplain this profound prayer encounterwith God.

Michon illustrates the linguisticdifficulty of communicating thisexperience and how innovative andcreative Francis de Sales was inexplaining mystical prayer or theologyin his Treatise on the Love of God. Insteadof inventing a new word or expressionfor a mystical state or experience,Francis employs ordinary everydaylanguage, fully aware of the ambiguity orlack of clarity it might cause. He uses a twofold process fordescribing his mystical theology. He gives certain ordinary wordsa spiritual meaning, as well as restricts or withdraws from certainterms their unique mystical definition and confers on them amore comprehensive meaning. To avoid misunderstanding, hebriefly and concisely describes what he means by the particularword. Michon gives the example of the word “waiting” (attentein French) to illustrate what Francis means by Holy Indifference,which this reviewer believes can be better understood as thespirit of freedom so dear to the saint. “Attente” or waiting is thatstate between passivity and activity or of acute attentivenessdisposing us to readily and promptly fulfill God’s will.

Francis avoids the abstract language and concepts of theRheno-Flemish school of mysticism by utilizing with great effectan abundance of biblical images, especially from the Song ofSongs, and those drawn from nature. Frequent references to thesaints, as Michon aptly points out, show mystical prayer inaction/practice in their lives, encouraging us to imitate them.With great insight, Michon observes that Francis presents virtuesnot from a purely ethical aspect but as a way to mystical ecstasy.Furthermore, she notes that in Salesian mysticism there is nodichotomy between dogma and mystical experience. Francis

joins orthodoxy with orthopraxis, therebygiving his mystical theology an ecclesialdimension. He achieves this by usingconciliatory language with seeminglycontradictory ideas, e.g., grace andfreedom, force and liberty. His mysticismis anchored in meditation or “prayer ofthe heart.” He explicitly states thatmeditation is the first step to mysticaltheology.

Although Francis admired andlearned a great deal from St. Teresa ofÁvila’s prayer experiences, Michonpoints out where his approach to prayerdiverges from hers. Unlike Teresa, Francisdistrusts the ecstasy of the intellect whichhe calls “the ecstasy of admiration.”Prayer for Francis leads us not only toadmire, but also to love and embrace,God’s beauty and goodness. This is whyhe opts for the ecstasy of the will, what hecalls “the ecstasy of work and life.” Forhim, this type of ecstasy is whatauthenticates genuine meditative andmystical prayer. Prayer is not so much a

matter of feeling good but of being good by doing good.Francis’s view of love, as Michon points out in the metaphor

of the drop of water in the ocean, is not a fusion but a union thatdoes not annihilate the individual, as the Berullian viewmaintains, but keeps or allows it to remain intact. By hercomprehensive and illuminating grasp of early modern mysticismand its medieval forerunners, Michon has deftly and convincinglydemonstrated in an erudite but clear and uncluttered fashion howFrancis has to a great extent demystified mysticism and given usnew and exciting perspectives on his mystical theology, thusmaking it more understandable and accessible. Her refreshinginsights provide us a deeper appreciation of the Treatise that isgreatly helpful not only for the scholar, but also for all thosedesiring to pursue a closer and more profound relationship withGod in the spirit of Francis de Sales.

Alexander T. Pocetto, OSFS

Fr. Pocetto (Ph.D. in French Literature, Université Laval) is SeniorSalesian Scholar in the Salesian Center for Faith & Culture atDe Sales University, Center Valley, PA, and News Editor of theICSS Newsletter.

Book Reveiw

Hélène Michon, Saint François de Sales: Une nouvelle mystique [St. Francis de Sales: A New Mysticism] (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2008).

16 ICSS NEWSLETTER

THE MOST REVEREND ROGER BALDUCELLI, OSFS (1919-2013)

On 23 January 2013, Fr. Roger Balducelli, OSFS, entered eternal life, having lived ninety-three years, seventy-four of them as an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales. Born in a small Italianvillage near Bologna (Italy), he spent the vast majority of his Oblate life as a teacher in theUSA. He was one of the first faculty members of the fledgling De Sales School of Theology.He later taught at La Salle University, where he received the Lindback Distinguished TeachingAward in 1963, and at The Catholic University of America, where for more than two decadeshe taught biblical studies and the phenomenology of religion. In 1982, he was elected theninth Superior General of the Oblates and remained in that position until 1994, after whichhe served as chaplain to the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales at their Motherhouse inTroyes, France. There, in the same city in which the Oblates were founded, Fr. Balducelli diedand is now buried.

His admiring colleagues and his countless students no doubt have innumerable stories to recount about theirgrandfatherly professor. He penned several book reviews and his own articles on priestly celibacy and on phenomenology,several of which were published in the prestigious Theological Studies.

We Oblates knew him best as Superior General and Archivist. He traveled the world to converse with, write for, andpreach conferences to the Oblates—usually in whatever was their own native tongue! Among the many initiativesmounted during his tenure as Fr. General was the courageous decision to undertake a new mission in India, which today isthriving. His writings on the Oblate life constitute a veritable treasure for our continuing history. Among these are hisinsightful commentaries on The Spiritual Directory, his analytical studies on Oblate Identity and the Oblate Brother, his“sacred history” of the Oblate Congregation, and his extensive and definitive works on the writings and the holiness ofFr. Louis Brisson and Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis. The historical-critical analysis with which he undertook thosewritings, along with the ecclesiastical prudence with which he promoted their causes for canonization, paved the way forthe beatification of Fr. Brisson on 22 September 2012, a joyous event in which Fr. Balducelli reveled with his characteristichumility and deference.

Too vast to recount in this brief memoir, the character of his lifelong work—as religious, priest, teacher, and scholar—was well captured in the funeral homily given by Bishop Marc Stenger of Troyes, who said “His research was a way of beingin proximity to those men and women radiating the Gospel, and of enabling them to be known and recognized for whatthey truly were, witnesses of the essence of God.” Now, we hope, in their company, we pray that Fr. Roger Balducelli restsforever in that peace of God’s loving presence that he once claimed is a most important element of our Salesian spirituality.

Thomas Dailey, OSFS

Fr. Dailey is Professor of Theology, Fr. Louis Brisson Chair in Salesian Spirituality, and Director of the Salesian Center for Faith & Cultureat De Sales University, Center Valley, PA.

SR. PÉRONNE-MARIE THIBERT, VHM (1923-2013)

Salesian scholar and translator, Sr. Péronne-Marie Thibert, VHM, entered eternal life on 12 September 2013.A member of the St. Paul (Mendota Heights), MN, Visitation Monastery, she was born on 25 August 1923 in Fitchburg,MA, entered religious life in 1951 and celebrated her 60th anniversary of religious profession in June 2013. Sr. Péronne-Marie was the translator of Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction (Paulist Press, 1988), and thetranslator and editor of I Leave You My Heart: A Visitandine Chronicle of the French Revolution (Saint Joseph’s UniversityPress, 2000). She was a longtime contributing member of the Salesian Scholars Seminar.

Bilingual from birth, Sr. Péronne-Marie loved all things French. An exceptional French teacher, she taughtgenerations of Visitation students and was dearly beloved by them. Over the years, she held key positions of responsibilityin her monastery and its school, as well as represented the Second Federation of the Visitation Order in both the U.S. andEurope. In addition to her significant contributions to Salesian scholarship, she was a gifted poet and writer.

Sr. Péronne-Marie was a woman of great wisdom who perfectly exemplified the Salesian virtue of douceur andgentleness of heart. Though we mourn her loss, we can only be grateful for the gift that she was to her religious community,her students and friends, and the extended Salesian family. May we continue to Live Jesus! in the model she has left us.

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