Friends at Court.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 4, 26 January 1899, Page 20

Friends at Court.

<♦ BIOGRAPHICAL GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR. (Written for the N.Z. Tablet.) January 29. Sunday. — Septuagesima Sunday. „ 30, Monday.— St. Felix IV., Pope. „ 31. Tuesday — Prayer of our Lord in the Garden. February 1, Wednesday. — St. Brigid, Patroness of Ireland. „ 2, Thursday.— Purification of the B.V.M. „ 8, Friday. — St. Dionysius. „ 4, Saturday. — St. Andrew Coreini. ST. FRANCIS DE SALES. This amiable saint, whose feast usually falla on January 29, and who is so well known and loved by everyone, was born at the Castle of Sales in Savoy, nine miles from Annecy, A.D. 1567. Hiß father, the Count of Sales, and his pious mother brought him up from his earliest years in innocence and piety, and he was distinguished in his childhood by his extraordinary charity for the poor, his candour and love of truth, and his tender devotion to the Blessed Mother of God. After some time spent at the College of Annecy, he was sent under charge of a virtuous priest to pursue his studies at Paris, where he went through his rhetoric and philosophy with great applause, and was instructed in the various accomplishments suitable to his position in life. To fortify himself against the dangers to which he was here exposed, he practised regular mortifications, frequently wore a hair shirt, and spent much time in prayer. Almighty God permitted him to be subjected to gre&t interior trials, and in particular to violent temptations to despair, which took so strong a hold of him that he could neither eat, drink, nor sleep, and was reduced to the verge of the grave. At length being at prayer in the Church of St Stephen, he happened to cast his eyes on a picture of the Blessed Virgin, and immediately prostrating himself on the ground, implored her with many tears to be his intercessor with God, and to obtain for him the grace that if he were destined to be separated from him in the next life, he might at lea'-t love him with his whole heart in this. No sooner had he finished his prayer than the cloud passed away from his soul, and he btcame replenished with a heavenly peace. After leaving Paris and visiting the sanctuaries and famous cities of Italy Francis returned to his parents, who procured for him the appointment of councillor in the parliament of Chambery, and arranged a favourable match which they earnestly pressed him to accept. But Francis had already determined to devote himself to the service of God, and having at length obtained, with extreme difficulty, his father's consent, ho made a formal renunciation of the family estate in favour of his younger brother, and received the sacred orders of deacon and priest from the hands of the Bishop of Geneva. In deference to i he wishes of hia father he accepted the, dLmity of Provost in that church, but his whole time was spent in preaching, hearing confessions, relieving and instructing the poor in their scattered cottages and aiuid the surrounding villages. The Duchy of ChaHais and the adjacent territory, which had for some time formed part of the Protestant Canton of Berne and wen* a hot bed of Calvinisu . bad lately been reunited to the Duchy ot Savoy, and an apostle was required to win back the inhabitants to Crttholic unity. Francis offered himself for this difficult and laborious 'ask, and in company with his c«.upin, Louis de Sales, set out on toot upon his apo-tolic expedition. It is incredible what hardships and privations he endured, what perilous journeys he undertook, what severe labours he sustained and what dangers and difficulties he surmounted in the course of his mission during the next few years. For he had to contend not only againsc the inveterate prejudices of the people, but against the fury of the Calvlnist ministers and their bigoted partisans, and even against the plots of assassins hired to remove him out of the path. But he accomplished his work, and by hi.s meekness, patience, and charity, re-es-t ibhshed Catholic faith and worship throughout the land. When Francis was raised to the S<>e of Geneva be became a model of a bishop, as he had been a layman and a priest. He was the true father of his people. His charities were incredible. Content for himself and his household with the simplest food and clothing, he devoted almost the entire revenues of his See to the relief of the indigent. By pat i we and meekness he was able to carry out the most important reforms in the discipline of the religious houses of his diocese and in the lives and manners of his clergy. His sermons, full of divine unction, were the means of the conversion of innumerable heretics and sinners, but what he most loved was the instruction of the poor and of the little children whom he c.itecbised in person. He devoted much of his time to the work of the confessional, but among these numerous occupations and the constant visitation of his diocese, he found time to compose several ascetic works of gre it value which have merited for him a place among the Doctors of the Catholic Church. When he arrived at Lyons on a mission to the King of France, h* chose for his lodging the poor cottage of the gardener of the Visitation Convent in preference to the magnificent apartments which wtre placed at his disposal. Here he was attacked with his last illness, beinir struck down by apoplexy. He bore with invincible I'atieneo the burb. irons remedies applied by the physicians, though tlie severity of the pain forced tears from his eyes. Meanwhile he poured out his soul in tcnd<r aspirations of love and longing desires to be unittd to Jt-sus Christ. Having 'received the last '-acra lients, he happily expired on the Feast of Holy Innocents, A.D. ir>22, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and the twentieth of his episcopate.