St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622). Born in the family castle at Thorens, Savoy, on August 21, he studied at Annecy and the Jesuit college of Clermont in Paris, 1580-88, and then studied law and theology at the University of Padua, receiving his doctorate in law when only twenty-four.
Despite the opposition of his family and the offer of a senatorship, he abandoned his prospects for a brilliant secular career for the religious life and was ordained in 1593, when he was appointed provost of Geneva. He spent the next five years as a missionary in the Chablais, the residents of which were fiercely resisting the efforts of the duke of Savoy to impose Catholicism on them by military force. Despite repeated attacks on him by assassins and mobs of Calvinists, he was most successful in attracting thousands back to Catholicism and making new converts. He was named coadjutor to the bishop of Geneva in 1599 and succeeded to the see in 1602. He soon became one of the outstanding leaders in the Counter-Reformation, noted for his intellect and wisdom. An outstanding confessor and preacher, his theological knowledge and understanding impressed all. He founded schools, taught catechetics, and governed his diocese ably and well. In 1604 he met Frances de Chantal, and became her spiritual advisor, and with her, in 1610, founded the Order of the Visitation. He died in Lyons, France on December 28.
Two of his writings, Introduction to the Devout Life (1609) and Treatise on the Love of God (1616, stressing that sanctity is possible in everyday life, have become spiritual classics and are still widely read today. His beatification the year he died was the first formal beatification held in St. Peter’s; he was canonized in 1665. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877 and designated patron saint of the Catholic press in 1923. His feast day is January 24.