Saint Francis de Sales, the passionate humanist, A fruitful life
The humanism, the life, the missionary activity of Francis de Sales tends, in the light of the Word of God, to take into consideration the human person as a whole with a view to his human and spiritual development. François demonstrates great openness and a great interest in culture, science and new technologies emerging in his time. Spirit curious, open, and this since his childhood, he likes to observe nature, animals. Creation is for him an open Bible that speaks of God. During his travels between Annecy and the castle of Brens in Chablais, with his cousins, he opens his eyes wide to the landscapes because he is as eager to see as he is to know. And he could write later, after all these moments of contemplation: “God created the elements, the sky and the stars, establishing by an admirable order that almost all creatures serve reciprocally to each other: the horses carry us and we groom them; the ewes feed us and clothe us and we graze them; the earth sends vapors to the air and the air of the rains to the earth… Who is able to see this trade and general traffic that the creatures do together with such great correspondence, would be deeply moved and loving towards this sovereign Wisdom, to exclaim: Your Providence, O great Eternal Father, governs everything!” (TAD 418)
In Padua, Francis was particularly interested in the natural sciences and everything especially to the knowledge of the human body which appeared to him as the marvel of creation; anatomical research carried out at the Medical University of Padua on were passionate. Many dissections were practiced there but with the greatest difficulty to get corpses, which led to fights between the students who went at night to dig up bodies in city cemeteries. François was aware of this practice and he lamented. When he fell seriously ill in 1590, learning that he was lost, he told his accompanist, the Reverend Déage: “I see only one spiritual testament to make: that I give my soul to God. For my body, when I’m expired, please give to students in medicine so that, having served nothing in the world during this life, it may serve as something after my death…” A gesture of charity and humility from Francis which also shows his desire to collaborate in the progress of medicine.
During the winter of 1606-1607 President Favre and the bishop François de Sales founded the Florimontane Academy in Annecy. Charles-Auguste de Sales relates its genesis as follows: “The city of Annecy was similar to that of Athens under such a great prelate François de Sales and under such a great president Antoine Favre and was inhabited by a large number of doctors either theologians, either jurisconsults or well-versed in letters . This is why it entered the mind of the blessed François and President Favre to establish an Academy in one site great abundance of beautiful minds…”
Another anecdote that shows Francis’ interest in science concerns Father Redento Baranzano professor at the Chappuisien College of Annecy, a brilliant Piedmontese professor who aroused the admiration, even the enthusiasm of his students because he was passionate and a specialist in new scientific theories. He taught the theses of Copernicus on the planetary system as well as the ideas of Galileo. In 1617, he published, without the authorization of his superiors, a summary of his courses on the work of Copernicus and Galileo. This immediately caused a great stir to the point that he was recalled to Milan. François de Sales will intervene to defend this professor and he did return to teach in Annecy.
Later in 1619, Francis supported him again and even publicly endorsed the new book Don Baranzano has written, the “New physical opinions”. Francis gave his official approval in Latin to “this scholarly work of a learned man” and he authorized its printing. And because the muses flourished among the mountains of Savoy, it was found very appropriate to call it “Florimontane and to give it an orange tree as its emblem with this motto: Flores fructusque perennes” (Flowers and fruits all year round), because “the orange tree was the admired tree by François de Sales, because it is laden with flowers and fruits almost in all seasons”. Sessions were held in the residence of President Favre. The first year was devoted to the study of mathematics, cosmography, navigation and music. Unfortunately, the sessions of this Academy could only last 3 years because in 1610, the President Favre had to leave Annecy for Chambéry, where he was appointed President of the Senate.
The source which is at the origin of the Marian sanctuary of the “Bénite Fontain”e” arose in a wooded valley located 1.5 km from La Roche-sur-Foron (Haute Savoie), between Geneva and Annecy. When we arrive at the Bénite Fontaine, we first see the current Chapel. You have to go down a small path to find in the clearing, below, the miraculous fountain and the numerous ex-voto in thanks for the graces received.
The beginnings of devotion
A plausible hypothesis mentions two successive waves of the Black Death, one in 1542, the other in 1586. We know how much the plague was feared, because it decimated the population powerless to fight the scourge. Prayer and devotion to Mary, were a way to seek protection and Salvation. Fleeing from living quarters was another natural reflex and the population of La Roche sought refuge in the hollow of a valley. They discovered a source of pure, uncontaminated water, which enabled them to survive. It is probable that an oratory was then built near the source.
In 1586, another episode of the Black Death sent the inhabitants to the valley. They find the source and the oratory dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It seems it’s shortly after the foundation of the Capuchins at La Roche in 1617, the small oratory became famous. But we can think that this place benefited for much longer of the devotion of the inhabitants of the surroundings, who came to seek protection, giving thanks or entrusting their sorrows to the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour.
François has the water from the Bénite Fontaine analyzed.
The first official cures
During a visit by Saint Francis de Sales to Saint John the Baptist (patron of the parish of la Roche), the Reverend François de Saint-Sixt, archdeacon of the collegiate church, spoke to the bishop of Annecy of the popular devotion for the “good fountain” and reported individual cures obtained in this place. The bishop then asked for a written report. They made him a list of numerous healings, he retained 14 which were submitted to the examination of the council of Geneva (this list appears in a Turin manuscript). The water from the fountain was analyzed by Father Baranzano, a science teacher at the college from Annecy. It was recognized as natural, without any curative properties. The cures having been attested, François de Sales asked the parish priest of La Roche-sur-Foron to have a chapel built, near the source, and to place it under the patronage of Our Lady of the Visitation. François de Sales was therefore a fervent follower of the vaunted “experimental knowledge” by the best scholars of his time. He even applied it to the spiritual life, saying that “the experience of a good makes it infinitely more lovable to us than all the sciences that we could have”