Saint Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life is a book that can be used a guide all lay people to leading a devout life no matter what vocation in life they are called to. Saint Francis de Sales, a French bishop from the late 1600s and Doctor of the Church, initially wrote this book for one noblewoman desiring to live a devout life and later for all people wishing to live a devout life. As its title reveals, this book is an introduction to an ideal devout life. Saint Francis de Sales divides the book into five parts. Each part focuses on different aspects that lead to living a devout life. The first part is about how to change one’s desire to live a devout life into a resolve. The second is on prayer and the sacrament, and the third is on living out virtue. The next two parts focus on maintaining one’s resolve by giving ways to “overcome[e] temptations” and renew one’s resolve.[1] Each part is essential for the whole book. Neglecting one part would lead to being unable to live a devout life with all the help necessary to continue. Since this book was made during the late 1600s, it uses old English words, making it a medium reading level book. However, if one can understand old English well, it is fairly easy to read. During the years after its publication, the Introduction made such a great impact on people of the time and after that time that there are even “adaptations of his text for Protestant devotion.”[2]
Like
how the Introduction impacted the lives of people during the 1600s, it
helped me gain more knowledge about how to live a holy life. One point that
specifically interested me is the topic of humility, which is covered in at
least four chapters. In the chapter entitled, “On Exterior Humility,” I was
immediately caught by how logical it is that “…to receive God’s Grace in our
hearts, they must be as empty vessels–not filled with self-esteem.”[3] This
shows how essential humility is in a devout life. Without being empty or
detached from the matters of this world, we cannot begin to attach ourselves to
God or fill ourselves with what God wants to give us. Compared to Saint Francis
de Sales’ other famous work, Treatise on the Love of God, which speaks
of God’s love as a mother and child relationship, the Introduction does
not just talk about the love of God but also other virtues such as patience and
obedience.[4] I highly
recommend reading this book for, like me, it can better help you lead a devout
life and aid to persevere it in a world full of temptations.
Publisher: Random House
Price: $15.00
Year of Publication: 2002
[1] Edward M. Egan,
preface to Introduction to the Devout Life (New York: Random House,
2002), xix.
[2] Mary Hardy, “The
seventeenth-century English and Scottish reception of Francis de Sales’ An
Introduction to a Devout Life,” British Catholic History 33, no. 2 (2016), 230.
[3] Francis de Sales,
Introduction to the Devout Life (New York: Random House, 2002), 95-96.
[4] Suzanne Toczyski,
“'Blessed the Breasts at Which You Nursed': Mother-Child Intimacy in St.
Francis de Sales' Treatise on the Love of God,” Spiritus 15, no. 2 (2015), 191.
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