SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES, Bishop and Doctor
January 24

Francis, son of the Count de Sales, was born in 1567. Desiring the ecclesiastical state, he received tonsure at the age of eleven years. Afterwards, he went to Paris to study philosophy and theology, and then on to the University of Padua where he received a Doctorate in both Canon and Civil Law. Upon becoming a priest, and in the face of great difficulties, he pursued his labors with heroism, and many who had fallen into Calvinism were converted. He became Bishop of Geneva in 1602, and despite the amount of pastoral work, he found time to write many books, including Introduction to the Devout Life, which is perhaps his most well-known work. He died on December 28, 1622, and was canonized in 1665.

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