translated by website
1Presenting St. Francis de Sales as an heir to Erasmian thought is not a new thing: in a fundamental article, published for more than forty years, L.-E. Halkin showed that Erasmus’ legacy was maintained throughout the century following his death.1 Closer to home, Father W. Marceau, in a work devoted to Optimism in the work of St. Francis de Sales, is far from neglecting Erasmus, even if he does not give him, in our opinion, the place he deserves2.
3 Erasmus is little named in the work of François de Sales but, and this is the case t. XII, p. 301, he (…)
2That humanism, that Salesian piety owe much to Erasmus, and to his teaching, will not be surprising, even if the name of Erasmus hardly appears in his work. Could he, moreover, at a time when almost all the works of the Rotterdam scientist had been put on Index3?
4 J. Baudry, Saint Teresa of Avila, a well-tempered spiritualism, in Christus, No. 3, p. 52, Jan (…)
3It must be noted that if the work was prohibited, its teaching had remained alive. The Jesuits, who were the first masters of St. Francis de Sales, were the main heirs and it is to them that Francis owes the best of his Erasmian heritage. First in Paris, where, as a student of the Collège de Clermont, he followed in particular the teaching of a famous Erasmusian, Father Maldonat; in Padua, where Father Possevin, also heir to Erasmian thought, will train the young student. Finally, his admiration for Saint Teresa of Avila, also heir to Erasmian thought, to the point that one of the critics of the Carmelite order was able to write that “Erasmus is almost omnipresent in his work” could only deepen and strengthen this adherence to Erasmian thought4.
5 For references to the work of St. Francis, we will quote the edition of the Visitation of Annecy, t (…)
4There is hardly any work of St. Francis that does not testify to this fidelity. In the context of this article, we will limit ourselves to two aspects: Salesian piety and humanism. In the Introduction to The Devout Life, Francis shows himself to be the heir and continuator of Erasmian piety, both by the purpose of the work: piety intended for the laity, and by the very spirit of this piety: inner Christianity and mental prayer. In the Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales remains faithful to Erasmus humanism, both by the place and usefulness he recognizes of learned languages, as instruments of return to the sources, and by his conviction, opposed to that of Luther, that there is, in man, a natural inclination of man towards God, which led him to value wealth, and even the sanctity of some works ofantiquity.5
Erasmian piety and Salesian piety
5One can think that François de Sales read this important work of Erasmus that had such a profound influence on piety inthe sixteenth century: the Manual of the Christian Knight. He had more than one reason to be concerned by a work that renewed piety by addressing a gentleman: was this not his own case, like that of Ignatius of Loyola? No doubt, the Manual is never mentioned, but, as we have noted, there were reasons for this. Moreover, the Introduction to The Devout Life cannot be made a departure from the Enchiridion: François de Sales adapts Erasmus’ views to his time, to his subject and above all, continuing the path traced, he goes much further than his predecessor.
6 Erasmus, Enchiridion Militus Christiani, ed. Holborn, pp. 22, 1. 1-4, Munich, 1933.
7 Introduction to The Devout Life, vol. III, p. 7.
6The circumstances of the composition of these two manuals have some things in common. Erasmus responded to a specific request: that of a young man who, “for a long time disgusted with the life of the Court, thought of the way to flee Egypt with its vices and delights, and under the guidance of Moses, to set himself on the path of virtues.”6 For François de Sales, the same reason: “It was not by my election or inclination that this Introduction comes out in public: a vrayement soul full of honor and virtue having, some time ago, received from God the grace of wanting to aspire to the devout life, desired my particular assistance for this look7 “.
8 Erasmus, Paraclesis ad lectorem pium, ed. Holborn, p. 142, 1. 21-23. — Allen, Opus, letter 3086, 1. (…)
7If there is an encounter in the project, probably more apparent than real, the destination of the work is the same in Erasmus as in François de Sales: their work of piety is intended for people living in the world. It was to the laity that Erasmus intended his work. This concern to promote piety among the laity will be a constant in Erasmus: one could evoke, in 1516, this Exhortation where he says his dream of seeing “the weaver at his shuttle, the ploughman at his plough” reciting or humming the verses of the Bible; or this letter to a customs officer of Boppard, to whom he dedicates the commentary of Psalm XIV; on his desk he had found the Bible, and all kinds of works to elevate thespirit.8
9 Introduction to The Devout Life, III, p. 6.
8Francis de Sales first makes a observation: “Those who have dealt with devotion have almost all looked at the education of the people who are very much withdrawn from the world’s trade, or at least have taught a kind of devotion that leads to this entire retreat.” In continuing: “My intention is to instruct those who live in cities, in mesnages, in the court9”, he proposes a goal different from that of the works of piety that were in use, and which he particularly appreciated (we can think of the works of Father Arias, Louis of Granada, and especially Teresa of Jesus), and revives Erasmus’ project: to write a devotional work for the laity.
10 Introduction to the Devout Life, III, p. 6; III, pp. 20-21.
11 Enchiridion, pp. 135, 1. 3-4. — Allen, Opus, letter 3086, 1. 7-11.
9He does not hesitate to denounce the error of those who think that this is impossible “advising them that, as no animal dares to gobble with the seed named palma Christi, so no man should claim the palm of Chrestian piety while he lives emmi the press of temporal affairs”. He is even vehement in chapter III: “It is a mistake, ains a heresy, to want to banish the devout life of the company of soldiers, the shop of craftsmen, the court of princes, the mesnage of married people10”: this was indeed the words of Erasmus, expressed as early as 1506: “We seek to push people into monasteries, as if out of the flow there was no Christianity”, a statement taken up in 1535: “As you are far from the opinion of these people, who think that Christ is found only in monasteries… In the courts of kings, in the camps of soldiers, in the triremes of sailors, there is room for Christ, if the spirit of piety is there.”11
12 Introduction to The Devout Life, vol. III, p. 19.
10Of course, the same type of devotion cannot be proposed to all”, “God commanded plants in creation to bear fruit, each according to its kind: thus he commands the Christians, who are the living plants of his church, to produce fruits of devotion each according to his quality and vacation: devotion must be exercised differently by the gentleman, by the craftsman, by the valet, by the prince, by the widow, by the daughter, by the bride… 12”.
13 Introduction, III, p. 21. — Chaugy, Foundations, I, 33-34.
11Francis de Sales will even develop some aspects of this “monachatus non est pietas” so often reproached to Erasmus. Thus, following St. Gregory, he shows that even loneliness can carry dangers: “It has even happened that many have lost perfection in solitude, which is nevertheless so desirable for perfection, and have preserved it among the multitude, which seems so unfavorable to perfection: Loth, says St. Gregory, who was so chaste in his city, defiled himself in solitude.” Same remark on the fence: “Where devotion does not reign, the narrowest fences of the world do not make souls united to God.”13
14 Introduction to the Devote Life, III, p. 14.
15 Enchiridion, pp. 74, 1. 19-20.
12We even find, in the Introduction, and in the First Chapter, such a page that seems a pure demarcation of the most corrosive pages of the Moria: “He who has devoted himself to fasting will stand as a good devotee provided that he fasts, though his heart is full of grudges… Another will consider himself devout because he says a great multitude of prayers every day, although after that his tongue is based entirely on unfortunate, arrogant and insulting words among his servants and neighbors… All these people are vulgarly considered to be devotees, and yet are by no means14… ». Erasmus, in the Enchiridion, wrote: “Why sprinkle yourself with holy water, if you do not clean yourself of your hidden faults?”15 But the novelty of the Introduction is that this hypocrisy is this time reproached, not to the religious, but to the laity, since it is to them that the book is addressed.
13If Francis de Sales returned to the subject of Erasmus in the purpose sought in the Introduction and in his critique of false piety, he is perhaps even more so in his conception of piety.
14As Erasmus, as we have seen, he expresses reservations about the illusion that can be given by the recitation of a multitude of prayers, about prayers recited mechanically without associating his heart: like Erasmus too, to vocal prayers, he prefers mental prayer: “But above all I advise you the mental and cordial, and especially that which is done around the life and passion of Our Lord”.
16 Introduction to the Devout Life, III, p. 70; p. 72.
15Undoubtedly, his position is not absolute: he accepts, for the beginning, the vocal prayers, the Pater, the Ave and the Creed; “not hastening to say much,” but adds, “to the charge that if you have the gift of mental prayer, you always keep the main place for him.” Better still, “Do not worry that you have not completed the vocal orations that you had proposed to yourself: for the mind that you have made in their place is more pleasing to God and more useful to your soul.”16
17 Thérèse de Jésus, Chemin de Perfection, p. 138, 139, 140-141, Paris, 1961.
16In fact, Erasmus, in defending mental prayer, raised many criticisms: he was accused of wanting to suppress the recitation of the Office (which Ignatius of Loyola will achieve). But his teaching has found echoes. Among the most striking is Teresa of Jesus, whose Path of Perfection is a passionate defense of mental prayer. Passionate, polemic even, because she is strongly attacked. He is told that “this path is full of dangers; such a person got lost in it; another has gone astray… it is not for women, they are subject to illusion; better if they spun off… the Pater and the Ave are enough for them… ». The answer is scathing “Whoever comes to tell you that there is some danger, look at him as himself a danger to you and run away from him. To assure that prayer is dangerous, God forbid! The devil seems to have invented this pretext to cast fear in your souls.”17
17I quoted this passage at length, because it shows the path traveled between 1570 and 1608: no more polemical accent in François de Sales but a first serene affirmation: it is “the most useful and the most pleasing to God”. Second statement: he advises her to a woman (we know that the Introduction was intended for Louise de Chastel): we see that François de Sales makes cheap this antifeminism of which Thérèse was the victim.
18But he goes even further: Teresa of Jesus explicitly recommended it “to people who have entered religion”: Francis recommends it to a person living in the world. It even provides that if it has not been possible to place this hour of prayer in the morning “or for the multiplicity of affairs, or for some other reason”, one tries “to repair this defect the after-dien, in some hour furthest from the meal”.
18 Introduction to the Devout Life, III, p. 73; p. 84.
19In fact, François de Sales advises it to all people living in the world, indicating that one must “go from prayer to all kinds of actions that your vacation and profession requires… I mean, a lawyer must know how to move from prayer to pleading, the merchant, to trafficking; the married woman, the duty of her marriage and the hassle of the household18… ».
20Like Erasmus, like Teresa of Jesus, Francis de Sales will give a method to practice mental prayer. Here again one can only be struck both by his fidelity to the Erasmian method, and by his independence.
19 Enchiridion, Rule IV, p. 63, 1. 18-19.
20 Teresa of Jesus, Path of Perfection, 160.
21 Enchiridion, pp. 75, 1. 14-17 ; Introduction III, p. 79.
21Like Erasmus, like Teresa of Jesus, Francis gives pride of place to meditation on the Savior’s humanity. The fourth rule of the Enchiridion sets Christ as the sole goal: “Love nothing, admire nothing, expect nothing but Christ or that which leads to it.”19 This Christocentrism, which so clearly marked the spiritual ideal of the Society of Jesus, will also be that of Teresa of Jesus. With one nuance, though. Thérèse, incapable of abstract contemplation, recommended using a pictorial representation of Christ: “Be careful to have an image or painting of our Lord that is to your liking.”20 While Erasmus seemed to prefer a more spiritual meditation: “You honor the image of Christ suffering on stone or wood, or tinted with various colors: it is the image of his spirit that must be honored, the one that the Holy Spirit expressed in the Holy Letters”, Francis de Sales prefers the choice of Teresa: “Some will nevertheless tell you that it is better to use the simple thought of faith, and a simple apprehension all mental and spiritual. But this is too subtle for the beginning, and, until God lifts you higher, I advise you, Philotheus, to hold back in the lower valley that I show you”: Francis de Sales knows that he is addressing lay people and beginners21…
22 Introduction, III, p. 72.
23 The Paraphrase of the Pater Noster had been translated into Spanish in 1528, and the Modus orandi Deum deva (…)
22Mental prayer, as we have noted, does not exclude vocal prayers: Francis de Sales even recommends the recitation of the Pater, the Ave and the Creed to begin prayer. But he insists on saying them “while savoring the admirable and delicious meaning of these holy prayers… and not hastening in any way to say much, but studying you to say what you will say cordially; for a single Pater says with feeling is better than several recited falsely and commonly22 “. Already Teresa of Jesus had praised a well-done vocal prayer: “I tell you, it is very possible that while you recite the Pater or another vocal prayer the Lord will lift you up to perfect contemplation.” She will even devote the last fifteen chapters of her Path of Perfection to the commentary of the Pater. Is it necessary to recall the success, in Spain, of the Paraphrase of Erasmus’ Pater Noster, and note that the Modus Orandi also ended, precisely, with a commentary on the Sunday prayer23?
24 Introduction to The Devout Life, III, p. 364.
23Finally, let us mark that this mental prayer, which Erasmus proposed in his Enchiridion and in his Modus Orandi; that Thérèse of Jesus, fifty years later, will have to claim, with what passion, for his nuns, Francis de Sales serenely recommends her to all the laity. He does not even hesitate to affirm that “if not everyone has the gift of mental prayer, it is true that almost everyone can have it, even the crudest ones, provided that they have good drivers, and that they want to work to acquire it, as much the thing deserves it24 “. We can measure the progress made since Erasmus.
François de Sales and humanism
24If the reading of the Introduction to the Devout Life revealed the affinities of piety and the words of Francis de Sales with Erasmus, the Treatise on the Love of God shows to what extent Salesian humanism is in many ways Erasmian.
25Again, we cannot speak of imitation, or of precise memories. The humanism of St. Francis appears as a mature humanism, which adopted many of Erasmus’ points of view, but adapting them to his subject, to his time, and giving them new extensions.
25 Ratio Verae Theologiae, ed. Holborn, p. 189, 1. 32-33.
26Thus, theology, like Erasmian exegesis, relied heavily on humanist science and culture: a pupil of Augustine, Erasmus recommended the study of the three languages of the Bible to facilitate the use of the originals; Anxious to go back to the sources of theology, he took advantage of the works of the Fathers of the Church, Greek and Latin, and especially the most eminent: Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, whom he compared to a “river of gold”, in contrast to the most recent Scotist theologians and others, whom he regarded as “small streams, muddy25”.
27In contrast to Luther, who saw only sin in the ancient tradition, Erasmus, faithful in this to the spirit of Augustine, was convinced that the writings of the pagans contained their share of truth; that some of them have given eminent examples of virtue; that finally, there exists in man a natural inclination to the good.
28These different aspects, to name just a few examples, are found in the work of François de Sales. It will even be noted that, in specific cases, he seems to have found Erasmus too shy, and has surpassed him on his own ground.
Languages at François de Sales
26 Ratio Verae Theologiae, p. 181, 1. 15 et seq.
29The Prefaces to the New Testament, the true Discourse of the Method of the New Theology, explicitly recommended, with reference to St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, the study of the three languages, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the same Augustine having affirmed that their knowledge is necessary for the intelligence and restitution of thetexts.26
30Erasmus, who possessed a very good knowledge of Latin from the monastery, set about studying Greek, which was indispensable for the interpretation and translation of the New Testament, with courage, even heroism. He had even begun the study of Hebrew, but the difficulty of the language, combined with the feeling that a man’s life could not suffice for everything, made him give up his project and he had to settle for some basic knowledge.
27 A. Delplanque, Saint François de Sales, humanist, Lille, 1907, cites many other examples.
31François de Sales was in better conditions. At the Collège de Clermont, first in Padua, he was able to acquire a knowledge and an easy practice of correct Latin. His Latin correspondence is proof of this. Delplanque, in an already old thesis, showed the wide use he makes of poets, even the lightest. This correspondence, by its warmth, by the friendship expressed therein (in particular with Antoine Favre), by its multiple quotations from Ovid, Terence, Martial even, irresistibly evokes the first letters of Erasmus, written to Roger Servais at the convent of Steyn. This employment of Latin poets and moralists would continue throughout his career as a pastor. Thus, it is Virgil that he quotes when confronting the Chablais: “Dulce bellum inexpertis”; or in his moments of discouragement “Dabit Deus his quoque finem… ». Even the commentaries of the Bible do not ignore the Ancients. It is the Ovid of the Ars Amandi who illustrates the commentary on the Epiphany “munera placing hominesque deosque”; and Horace who will illustrate the episode of the widow of Naïm: “Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas // regumque turres27”.
32Latin philosophers, scholars and abbreviators occupy a prominent place in the work of François de Sales. It is necessary to mention here the wide use he makes of the Natural History of Pliny the Elder, whose accounts, anecdotes, comparisons are continually put to use in works such as the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God. Like Erasmus, like Augustine, he likes to bring back these “mirabilia”, whose legendary or implausibility he probably sometimes had to recognize.
33This Latin culture, all humanist, was not limited to the writers of antiquity. Like Erasmus, he drew heavily on the river of gold represented by the patristic tradition. He knows Augustine well and widely, especially the Confessions and the City of God, but also the Letters of Saint Jerome, the works of Ambrose, without neglecting the great theologians of medieval times: Saint Thomas Aquinas, and even the great figures of modern holiness: Catherine of Siena, Catherine of Genoa and especially Teresa of Jesus.
28 On the tribulations of Erasmus studying Greek, see C. Bene, Erasmus and St. Augustine, p. 115 and (…)
34François de Sales associated the knowledge of Latin with that of Greek. He did so in better conditions than Erasmus, since he did not have to ask for the services of any adventurer or to pawn his clothes to obtain texts28: the College of Clermont offered him a quality education, which allowed him to familiarize himself so much with the great writers of ancient Greece, than with the Fathers of the Greek Church.
35Two aspects deserve to be particularly highlighted: on the one hand, the use of the Septuagint version to explain and comment on the Bible; on the other hand, the new use of the Fathers of the Greek Church and Platonic philosophy.
36Thus, François de Sales does not hesitate to use the septuagint version to comment on either the Old or the New Testament. Where the Vulgate offered “vulnerasti cor meum” Ct IV, 9, Francis de Sales prefers the Greek version “you took my heart away, you pulled and delighted my heart”. Similarly, where the Vulgate offered “beati pauperes spiritu” Mt. V, 3, Francis prefers the Greek original: μακάριοι πτωχοὶ … τῷ πνεύματι: “Blessed beggars in spirit”.
29 Treatise on the Love of God, Preface, IV, p. 9.
37He must explain: “I quote the Saincte Scripture in no time in other words than those which are used in the ordinary edition: o vray God, my dear reader, do not make me wrong to believe that I want to get rid of this edition; Oh no, for I know that the Holy Spirit authorized it by the sacred Council of Trent, and that therefore we must all stop there; on the contrary, I use the other versions only for the service of this one, when they explain and confirm its vray meaning29 “.
38His knowledge of Greek patristics allowed him to appeal to its greatest representatives. But, while Erasmus, at the same time as St. John Chrysostom, made the greatest case of the works of Origen, Francis de Sales probably refers to St. Basil, to St. John Chrysostom, but his most constant reference is St. Gregory of Nazianzus.
39His recourse to classical Greek literature allowed him, again, to distinguish himself from Erasmus.
40Thus, it is Aristotle who is often quoted, and who fulfills a little, on occasion, the role of Pliny the Elder. He provided François de Sales with themes, anecdotes and comparisons to illustrate his remarks. We thus find, under his pen, as under that of Erasmus, the presentation of the “pirauste”, this insect that feeds on fire. But, while Erasmus claims to have seen it, it is doubtful that Francis takes this document very seriously.
30 Enchiridion, pp. 71, 1. 23 and Ratio, pp. 178, 1. 10-11.
41This is even more striking about Platonism. Erasmus had merely pointed the way, and this on the faith of Augustine “Platonicos te sequi malim… “, but he had made little use of this philosophy in his work. If Plato is used, it is often to illustrate this or that sentence, thanks to images or the use of widely known myths; of the Platonists, he makes little mention of it, except the Pseudo-Dionysius, of which he quotes twice the De Diuinis Nominibus, but the terms used by Erasmus clearly show that he did not read the work “et ante hune opinor Dionysius quidam30”. This will not surprise us: Erasmus was always very reserved about the metaphysical theories of Plato and his successors.
31 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, pp. 27-29.
42Francis de Sales followed to the letter the advice that Erasmus had merely formulated: he would make extensive use of Platonism, even using the works of Platonists such as Hermes Trismegistus and Dionysius the Areopagite. The whole Treatise on the Love of God is nourished by this teaching. One could thus evoke the place he gives to the will in its role on the soul and passions. It is she who must govern them, and especially the sensual appetite, which he makes a platonic description: “rebellious subject, seditious, stirring; it must be confessed that we cannot defeat him so much that he does not rise, that he does not undertake and assail the rayson; Mays yet the will is so strong above luy that, if it wants, it can swallow it, break its designs and repel it31 “.
32 Ibid., IV, p. 356. — M. Ficin, Commentaire du Banquet, ed. R. Marcel, p. 213, 1956.
43When Francis de Sales evokes justice in the individual, and he marks that God “wanting to make all things good and beautiful, has reduced the multitude and distinction of islands into a perfect unity, and so to speak, he has put them all in the monarchy… who commands and dominates over all that is in this small world” we recognize without difficulty the exposition of the Republic. On the other hand, Plato is explicitly named when Francis de Sales makes the portrait of Love “poor, torn, naked, deschaux, puny, without house, sleeping outside on the hard, from doors, always destitute”. And yet, the comment he gives is borrowed from the comment of Marsile Ficin32.
44In fact, and in this François de Sales behaves like most scholars, when he uses Platonic ideas or images, it is usually through Augustine, and especially the City of God, that he evokes Plato.
45Finally, it would be necessary to mention the use made by François de Sales of Hermes Trismegistus, and especially of pseudo-Dionysius (whom Francis cites with praise under the name of “divine Saint Dionysius Areopagite”): one could then see how much he enriched Erasmian Platonism, sensitive especially in chapters 3 to 7 of the Enchiridion.
46Francis de Sales’ use of the Hebrew language leads to similar conclusions. Erasmus, as we have noted, very quickly renounced the study of Hebrew: in fact, if the first commentaries of the Psalms and Paraphrases sometimes refer to the Hebrew text, the last commentaries, and in particular Psalm XIV, totally ignore it. We may be surprised. It is likely that in addition to the difficulty of the language (Erasmus speaks of it several times) there was a feeling that the Old Testament did not have the authority of the New for Erasmus, and his work focused mainly on the New Testament.
33 W. Marceau, op. cit., p. 76.
47Nothing similar with François de Sales. He had the chance to hear in Paris the “docte Génébrard” comment on the Song of Songs. This reading will mark the whole life and work of Francis and, observes W. Marceau, “in the whole of his work, there is not a single verse of the Song that is not quoted33”. It is obviously the Treatise on the Love of God that is most deeply inspired by it.
34 Treatise on the Love of God, V, p. 128 and p. 34.
48If Hebrew inspired him, with the Song, the best of his doctrine of the Love of God, it was also useful for him to explain Sacred Scripture. As with the Septuagint, Francis de Sales does not hesitate to resort to the Hebrew text when the original can enlighten or deepen a commentary. Thus, when the Vulgate hides a happy image, Francis does not hesitate to restore it: instead of Intende, prospere proceed and regna (Ps. 45:5): “Hurry, advance successfully and reign”, Francis de Sales, basing himself on the Hebrew text, replaces “advance” by “ride a horse, which is the meaning of REKAB; where the Vulgate proposed: suscepisti me de utero matris meae (Ps. 139:13), François de Sales, referring to the Hebrew SAKAK, prefers the translation of Desportes: “Your fingers having tissue me // all warm you received me // from the womb of my mother”. Finally, where the Vulgate proposed (Ct II, 4) Ordinauit me in charitatem (“he ordained love in me”), Francis, basing himself on the word DIGUEL, prefers “He sported on me the estendart of love34”.
Man’s natural inclination toward God
49Francis de Sales, in the Treatise on the Love of God, seems to go beyond Erasmus in a particularly important area: that of the natural goodness of man.
35 Erasmus, Hyperaspists, L.B., vol. IX, col. 1454 F. Rabelais will take up this theme in the Gargantua, ch (…)
50Anxious to defend, against Luther, the freedom and dignity of man, Erasmus, in his Second Hyperaspists, affirmed that man is not fundamentally evil: there can be in him an attraction to the good, and the example of the sages of antiquity proves it. He even came to write: “It must be recognized that in some well-born, well-educated minds… there is, so to speak, only a very low propensity for evil. Most of this attraction comes mainly from a bad education, dishonest dating, the habit of doing wrong and a perverse will.”35
36 Rabelais, Gargantua, p. 302, Geneva, 1970. Mr. Screech refers to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bona (…)
37 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, p. 79.
51This doctrine, which was not new, as M. Screech36 excellently shows, is very much surpassed by François de Sales. For him, in fact, “the human heart tends to God by its natural inclination, without knowing who it is”. Even better: “Our human heart produces… naturally some beginnings of love towards God… ». And he explains it by means of a comparison borrowed from Saint Ambrose: the pretty image of the partridge, “hatched and nourry under the armpits of a estrangère partridge, to the first reclam that he oyt of his vraye mere… he leaves the larronnesse partridge. goes to his first mother and follows her… The same is true of our hearts: for though he is incubated, nourished and raised up bodily things, low and transient, and by way of saying, under the aysles of nature, nevertheless, at the first glance he throws into God, at the first connoissance he receives from it, the natural and first inclination of aymer God, who was as drowsy and imperceptible, marvels at herself in an instant, and has the improuveu paroist, like a spark that comes out of the ashes, which touching our will, luy gives an eslan of supreme love deu to the sovereign and first Principle of all things.”37
52This inclination to the sovereign well leads St. Francis to paint “that intimate eagerness and this continual anxiety that makes it impossible for him to accost himself in any way, nor to cease to testify that he misses his perfect satisfaction and solid contentment”.
38 Ibid., pp. 137 and p. 84.
53This anxiety, natural in the heart of man, which St. Augustine suggested to him, has a role to play: “For, as for God, he uses it as a handle to be able to more savely take and remove us from soy, and seems that, by this impression, divine Goodness holds in some way attached our hearts, like little oyseaulx, by a net by which he can pull us when it pleases his mercy to have mercy on us.”38
54It is therefore understandable that Francis de Sales gave a large place to ancient philosophers, and that he professed admiration for the virtues of the pagans; here again, he does more than join, he goes beyond Erasmus of the Hyperaspists and Colloquia.
39 “It is a guestbook, which should always be in hand,” he wrote in the Preface; Conui (…)
55Already in the first edition of Cicero’s Offices, in 1501, Erasmus proclaimed that this book should never leave us, as its reading was so profitable. The Convivium Religiosum, in 1522, takes up this praise in the same terms, then extends it to the three other treatises Old Age, Friendship and the Tusculanes, Eusebius (spokesman of Erasmus) not being able to defend himself “to embrace the volume and venerate this holy soul, inspired by God”. After this praise of Cicero, it is that of Socrates, borrowed this time from the Phedon, but in even more laudatory terms, that the same Colloquium39 offers us.
40 Hyperaspistes, L.B., vol. IX, 1461 C; 1460 C.
56The First and Second Hyperaspists, published in 1526 and 1527, will turn into a real plea for the great men of antiquity, emphasizing that in a Socrates, an Epictetus, an Aristide or a Cato, one cannot find this reproach of pride that Luther puts forward. Praise that can be summed up in the challenge to Luther: “Let us reread what a Socrates, what the Stoics, the peripateticians, Epictetus wrote about the purpose of good, about the rectitude of life, and let it be said that human reason is, in everyone, blind, foolish and ungodly.”40
41 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, pp. 80-81.
57We find in François de Sales, the same apology. Following Augustine’s teaching, after having evoked the “beautiful testimonies, not only of a great knowledge of God, but also of a strong inclination towards Iceluy, which were left by the greatest philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Trismegistus, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Seneca, Epictetus”, he presents the example of Socrates teaching philosophy to purify the spirits, so that they can better contemplate the divinity”, then that of Plato, who affirms that “philosophizing is nothing but loving God”, so he wants “that the true philosopher be the one who loves God41”. While Erasmus emphasized the knowledge of God among philosophers, the height of their morals, Francis de Sales made them true initiators of God’s love: we see the path traveled.
58If Erasmus emphasized the virtues of the philosophers of gentility, if he even emphasized what their teaching may have in common with the message of Christ, he probably never had the idea of appealing to the teaching of the Ancients in a chapter devoted to “that all-Chrestian virtue” that is penance.
59Setting aside “the penance of several payens… so vain and useless that even sometimes they did penance for having done well”, François de Sales distinguishes three degrees in their testimonies. First, a penance, “purely moral and human”, like those of Alexander the Great or Alcibiades, quoted by Cicero and Augustine.
60But other philosophers, such as Seneca, Plutarch, and Epictetus, have gone one step further, for, evoking “the trouble that the inner remors excites in the soul, have no doubt heard that there is repentance; and as for the wise Epictetus, he described so well the reprehension that we must prattiquer towards ourselves, that we could hardly say better.”
42 Ibid., pp. 147-148. Half of the chapter is devoted to them.
61We even find in these philosophers another penance “which is even moral, but religious nevertheless, and in a certain way divine, especially since it proceeds from the natural connoissance that one has of having offended God by sinning42 “.
43 Halkin, op. cit., p. 33.
62The whole next page is a praise of Epictetus. When Francis de Sales writes: “The good man Epictetus makes a wish to die in vray Chrestien (as it is very likely that he also did) and, among other things, he says that he would be happy if he could raise his hands to God by dying and luy say: ‘I have not made you, as for my part, made of dishonor’, is he far from Erasmus, making Socrates say ‘I do not know if God will approve of my actions, but I have done my utmost to please him, and I am hopeful that my efforts will have been pleasing to him’, holiness underlined by Nephalus who cries out: ‘When I read such features, I must restrain myself so as not to exclaim: Saint Socrates, pray for us’43”.
44 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, p. 82; p. 137.
63François de Sales will mark the limits of this “quest for God” among the philosophers of antiquity. This natural inclination, this worry cannot be enough to lead us to God. ” These are only the beginnings of love for God; but to come to the point of aymer on all things, which is the vraye maturity of love deu to this supreme goodness, it belongs only to the animated and assisted hearts of heavenly grace… ». On two occasions, he will emphasize the necessity of faith. “The human heart tends to God by its natural inclination… but when he finds it at the fountain of the Foy, and he voids it so good, so beautiful, so sweet and so debonair towards us… o God, how many contentemens and how sacred weave in the spirit, to unite forever with this goodness so sovereignly aymable.”44
45 Erasmus, Hyperaspists, L.B., vol. IX, 1325 A.
64These reservations, these limits, marked so clearly by François de Sales, do not separate him from Erasmus. After reaffirming, on the faith of Paul (Rm. I, 19) and a faulty translation of Psalm IV, 7 (Vulgate and Septuagint) “God marked him with his light, when he created man in his image and likeness. It is this light that sin has obscured, not extinguished”, (philosophers have given multiple proofs of this). Also, I can conclude that in them the light of reason has not been extinguished; I would even add that it is not improbable that there would have been in them some will for good, but ineffective for eternal salvation, if the grace of God were not added to it by faith.”45
46 Opera Omnia D. Erasmi Rot., Amsterdam, in the process of publication, 1969. — The Correspondence of Erasmus (…)
47 M. Bataillon, Érasme et l’Espagne, Paris, 1937. We are happy to tell W. Marce our debt (…)
65The rise of Erasmian studies during these last decades, whether in the studies devoted to him, the edition of his complete works, or the translation of his correspondence, have made it possible and make it possible to better know Erasmus46. Until now, much has been done about the impact of his work on those of the Reformers. A vast field opens up to seekers among spirituals from what has been called the “Counter-Reformation”. The studies on Ignatius of Loyola, on Teresa of Jesus, begun by the beautiful book of Marcel Bataillon, paved the way47. But research is still needed on the spirituals of theseventeenth century: Saint Francis de Sales is an example.
66Grenoble.
NOTES
1 L.-E. Halkin, D’Érasme à saint François de Sales, in Les Études Classiques, t. X, p. 5-15, Namur, 1941.
2 W. Marceau, L’optimisme dans l’œuvre de saint François de Sales, Paris. — Note also the work of E. Lajeunie, Saint François de Sales, l’homme, la pensée, l’action, 2 vol. Paris, 1966.
3 Erasmus is little named in the work of François de Sales but, and this is the case in vol. XII, p. 301, he is named in a laudatory tone.
4 J. Baudry, Sainte Thérèse d’Avila, un spiritualisme bien tempéré, in Christus, no 3, p. 52, January 1982.
5 For references to the work of Saint Francis, we will quote the edition of the Visitation of Annecy, vol. I-XXVII, 1892-1964.
6 Erasmus, Enchiridion Militus Christiani, ed. Holborn, pp. 22, 1. 1-4, Munich, 1933.
7 Introduction to The Devout Life, vol. III, p. 7.
8 Erasmus, Paraclesis ad lectorem pium, ed. Holborn, p. 142, 1. 21-23. — Allen, Opus, letter 3086, 1. 1-5.
9 Introduction to The Devout Life, III, p. 6.
10 Introduction to the Devout Life, III, p. 6; III, pp. 20-21.
11 Enchiridion, pp. 135, 1. 3-4. — Allen, Opus, letter 3086, 1. 7-11.
12 Introduction to The Devout Life, vol. III, p. 19.
13 Introduction, III, p. 21. — Chaugy, Foundations, I, 33-34.
14 Introduction to the Devote Life, III, p. 14.
15 Enchiridion, pp. 74, 1. 19-20.
16 Introduction to the Devout Life, III, p. 70; p. 72.
17 Thérèse de Jésus, Chemin de Perfection, p. 138, 139, 140-141, Paris, 1961.
18 Introduction to the Devout Life, III, p. 73; p. 84.
19 Enchiridion, Rule IV, p. 63, 1. 18-19.
20 Teresa of Jesus, Path of Perfection, 160.
21 Enchiridion, pp. 75, 1. 14-17 ; Introduction III, p. 79.
22 Introduction, III, p. 72.
23 The Paraphrase of the Pater Noster had been translated into Spanish in 1528, and the Modus orandi Deum was to be translated in 1546.
24 Introduction to The Devout Life, III, p. 364.
25 Ratio Verae Theologiae, ed. Holborn, p. 189, 1. 32-33.
26 Ratio Verae Theologiae, p. 181, 1. 15 et seq.
27 A. Delplanque, Saint François de Sales, humanist, Lille, 1907, cites many other examples.
28 On the tribulations of Erasmus studying Greek, see C. Béné, Erasmus and Saint Augustine, pp. 115-116, Geneva, 1968.
29 Treatise on the Love of God, Preface, IV, p. 9.
30 Enchiridion, pp. 71, 1. 23 and Ratio, pp. 178, 1. 10-11.
31 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, pp. 27-29.
32 Ibid., IV, p. 356. — M. Ficin, Commentaire du Banquet, ed. R. Marcel, p. 213, 1956.
33 W. Marceau, op. cit., p. 76.
34 Treatise on the Love of God, V, p. 128 and p. 34.
35 Erasmus, Hyperaspists, L.B., vol. IX, col. 1454 F. Rabelais will take up this theme in the Gargantua, ch. IV, but he will put the honor forward.
36 Rabelais, Gargantua, p. 302, Geneva, 1970. Mr. Screech refers to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure.
37 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, p. 79.
38 Ibid., pp. 137 and p. 84.
39 “It is a guestbook, which should always be in hand,” he wrote in the Preface; Conuiuium religiosum, translation Halkin, Les Colloques d’Érasme, p. 22-33, Brussels, 1971.
40 Hyperaspistes, L.B., vol. IX, 1461 C; 1460 C.
41 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, pp. 80-81.
42 Ibid., pp. 147-148. Half of the chapter is devoted to them.
43 Halkin, op. cit., p. 33.
44 Treatise on the Love of God, IV, p. 82; p. 137.
45 Erasmus, Hyperaspists, L.B., vol. IX, 1325 A.
46 Opera Omnia D. Erasmi Rot., Amsterdam, in the process of publication, 1969. — La Correspondance d’Érasme, Centre d’Études de la Renaissance, Bruxelles, edited by Aloïs Gerlo, 1971.
47 M. Bataillon, Érasme et l’Espagne, Paris, 1937. We are pleased to express our debt to W. Marceau for some references of the Third Part and to Sister Marie-Christophe, Visitation of Voiron, for the documentation provided and references Nos. 3 and 13.
AUTHOR
Charles Béné