On August 28, 1567, a premature child was baptized in a small Savoyard village. Fragile,it seemed he was destined to leave very quickly for his eternity but he became the emblematic pastor of a Catholic Church once again credible after being so rudely challenged by the advance of Protestantism. Michel Tournade’s account follows step by step this great figure of Catholicism with its many facets: formidable fencer even in the amphitheater of one of the greatest universities in Europe, in Padua; Diplomat through the icy squalls of the paths of Leman where the young ardent priest will accept a dangerous mission of dialogue in Protestant land; Patron saint of journalists, inhabited by the passion to tell each and everyone the infinite tenderness of God. But can we also imagine the mirror-image of those whose history has not retained the name? It will be that of Germain Favre-Bonvin, the fierce mountain teenager so convinced of his Protestant faith, infinitely in love with a young Catholic. Over the years, his path will cross many times that of the famous bishop. From hostility to respect, from hatred to friendship, the history of his family will be intimately marked by whoever should have been an adversary. This generous narrative, with an unusual accuracy, manages to accurately relate the historical elements of Francis de Sales’s life while enlightening them through the crossed glances of romantic characters. Michel Tournade is a religious Oblate of Saint Francis de Sales and a priest. Doctor of letters, he is a teacher in high school and parish priest in Annecy. He is the author of the book Un monde à aimer: an adaptation of the Introduction to the devout life of Saint Francis de Sales (Nouvelle Cité).