January 24: Feast of St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church, but also patron saint of journalists, writers and communication professionals for his style based on kindness, respect and balance: truth communicated without fueling verbal violence or conflict.
Holiness in everyday life
I discovered it several years ago, translating from French a work edited by Fr. Max Huot de Longchamp, a compilation of Salesian texts on holiness in modern life, a sum in which Francis de Sales (and some later authors, including his disciple Jeanne de Chantal, with whom he founded the Congregation of the Visitation) proposes a holiness accessible to all, in any state of life, and based on love, balance and gentleness, with a faith that is not imposed, but embodied in relationships, work and the responsibilities of every day.
For him, the true «devotee» builds his holiness not on the basis of artificial and distant models, but on the constant relationship (St. John of the Cross would say: «loving attention») with the Master, who invites to enter into all daily occupations: household chores, public and administrative life, government, agriculture.
All this with a constant warning: not to want to be in someone else's place and not to want to live the devotion of others. For example, he advises the wife and mother not to be always in church praying like the nuns, the young courtier not to hide his faith, but not to impose it either, etc. In addition to the concept of «devotion», the concept of «perfection» is also very important, that is, the maturity and development of those who live their lives in harmony and communion with God, in each and every aspect (from work to affections), which leads the saint to specify the difference between commandment (for all) and advice (personal).
Life
Born in 1567 in Savoy, Francis de Sales received an education initially destined for a legal career. In fact, he studied law in Paris and Padua at a time of great cultural and theological tensions: the confrontation with Protestantism and predestination, the weight of nascent rationalism.
In Paris he underwent a profound spiritual crisis, marked by the anguish of condemnation, from which he was liberated thanks to the experience of God's gratuitous love and trust in his Providence, elements that would become the focal point of his spirituality.
Ordained a priest in 1593, he immediately found himself working in a difficult context: the evangelization of Chiablese, convulsed by the Reformation.
Another fundamental experience was the encounter with the spirituality of St. Philip Neri. It is not certain that Francis knew Philip, but he had a close relationship with Cesare Baronio, his successor at the head of the Congregation of the Oratory.
In Neri's spirituality, Francis saw his conviction as a pastor confirmed: faith is not transmitted with harshness, but with persuasion, patience and charity (the Salesian balance).
Appointed bishop of Geneva in 1602, he exercised his ministry from Annecy with a sober, concrete and profoundly human pastoral style.
Works and legacy
Among his works are the Treatise on the Love of God, the Spiritual Letters, the Sermons and Spiritual Colloquies and the Introduction to the Devout Life, a revolutionary text in which Francis de Sales affirms that holiness is not reserved for monks and religious, but is the vocation of every baptized person.
In all his writings, the heritage of the modern Devotio, about which we have written in an article on Filippo Neri, of whom Francis de Sales can be considered the most illustrious disciple, stands out strongly. If Neri had wanted to burn all his writings when he died, Francis, on the contrary, put in writing all the spiritual heritage of the saint of joy, becoming, although not officially, the first Oratorian outside Italy.
A model for communication
In an era marked by increasing polarization, also in the field of communication and in the religious sphere, we often witness the emergence of personalities with a strong media presence, who become a kind of Christian influencer and often find themselves at the center of controversies that can only naively be defined as a side effect of the message they convey. In fact, the controversies themselves (in particular those related to issues such as faith, family, identity and rights) are part of a media strategy (agenda setting) based on a precise positioning aimed at greater visibility: the media and algorithms tend to reward clear, identitarian and non-conciliatory messages.
Those who use this strategy employ deliberately provocative language and construct a kind of battleground: «us versus them», where «us» would be the true Christians and «them» the bad and ugly ones (even the bishops and the Pope!). It never ceases to generate controversy, but rather, more astutely, it ignites sparks through which others generate controversy. In this way, he reinforces the identity of his group of followers, builds loyalty among his audience and consolidates a community that follows, defends and supports him by buying his books, participating in his events and consuming his content. And while he is at it, he also reactivates the so-called «editorial long tail», that is, he brings back to the forefront texts published in the past.
Another characteristic of this polarizing form of communication is the simplification of complex issues into generalized or inappropriate communicative contexts, so that the conflict reinforces the personal brand and exponentially increases visibility in terms of editorial sales and recognition.
Those who act or communicate in this way may not be in bad faith, but they certainly know the effects of their words and use the conflict to reinforce their visibility in a system that rewards confrontation.
However, it is a strategy that does not bear fruit in the long term, because in the end it damages the credibility of those who employ it, who see their communicative role crystallized and end up becoming a reference only for an ever-shrinking circle of the faithful.
St. Francis de Sales, who lived in a far from peaceful era (religious wars, confessional divisions, doctrinal confrontations), systematically rejected the logic of confrontation, convinced that Christian truth cannot be separated from the way it is communicated (which would later be reflected in all the documents produced by the Catholic Church on communication since the Second Vatican Council).
Patron of journalists and communicators, he reminds us that the Gospel does not need to be shouted to be true, but needs to be well communicated, which also recalls the words of Benedict XVI on evangelization, which is not proselytism, but attraction (Aparecida, 2007).
And we conclude by quoting precisely St. Francis de Sales who, in a letter of 1611, referring to St. Robert Bellarmine, writes:
I hate all disputes and controversies among Catholics, whose end is useless. [...] And I hate even more those whose only result is confrontation and disagreement, especially in these times when there is an abundance of tempers prone to quarrels, slander and criticism, to the detriment of charity.
Nor can I say that I have appreciated certain writings of a holy and most excellent prelate, in which he treats of the indirect power of the Pope over princes; and not because I found them good or bad, but because at a time like this, when we have so many enemies outside, I think we should not stir up anything within the body of the Church. This poor hen, who keeps us under her wings as if we were her chicks, has enough trouble defending us from the kite, without our pecking at each other and tossing her to and fro.
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