Francis De Sales
Francis De Sales names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Francis De Sales ST. FRANCIS I., King of the Two Sicilies
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ST. FRANCIS I., King of the Two Sicilies, son of Ferdinand I.; born in Naples, Aug. 19, 1777, and twice during the lifetime of his father he carried on the government of the kingdom under the name of viceroy; first st in 1812, when a constitution was granted to Sicily; and afterward in 1820, during the troubles which broke out in Naples and Palermo. He mounted the throne in 1825, and died in Naples, Dec. 8, 1830. He was succeeded by Ferdinand II. (Bomba), who, dying in 1859, was followed by Francis II., who lost his throne in 1861. FRANCIS, DAVID ROWLAND, an American public official, born in Richmond, Ky., in 1850. He graduated from Washington University in 1870. He engaged in business and became a director and official in many important financial institutions. From 1889 to 1893, he was governor of Missouri. He was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Cleveland, in 1896, serving for a year. He was president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. In 1916 he was appointed ambassador to Russia, serving until compelled to leave by the Bolshevik Government, in 1919. FRANCIS, ST., or FRANCIS OF AS- SISI, the founder of the order of Franciscan friars; born in Assisi, Umbria, in 1182. He was the son of a merchant, and was said to be of dissolute habits; but on recovering from a dangerous illness he became enthusiastically devout, undergoing every species of penance and mortification. Thinking his extravagance proceeded from insanity, his father had him closely confined. Being taken before the Bishop of Assisi, in order formally to resign all claim to his paternal estate, he cheerfully resigned everything. He was now looked upon as a saint, and great numbers joining him in his vow of poverty, he drew up rules for their use, which being sanctioned by Pope Innocent III., the order of Franciscans was established. In 1219 he held a chapter which was attended by 5,000 friars. After having made a fruitless effort to convert the Sultan Meleddin, he returned to Assisi, where he died, Oct. 4, 1226, and was canonized by Pope Gregory IX. in 1230.
Francis De Sales ST., Bishop of Geneva
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ST., Bishop of Geneva, founder of the Order of Visitation; born of a noble Savoyard family, in the château of Sales, near Geneva, Aug. 21, 1567. He was educated by the Jesuits at Paris, studied law at Padua, and having a strong bent to theology and a religious life, entered the Church. He was sent, in 1594, with his kinsman, Louis de Sales, to preach in the Duchy of Chablais, and bring back, if possible, to the Catholic Church the followers of Calvin. He had a large measure of success. His conferences with Théodore de Bèze, Calvin's successor, at Geneva, were, however, without result. He went to Paris in 1602, preached there with great success. The same year he was appointed Bishop of Geneva and applied himself zealously to the reform of the diocese and its monasteries. He declined the offer of a cardinal's hat. In 1610 he founded the Order of the Visitation, of which the first directress was his friend, Madame de Chantal. He was sent again to Paris in 1618. His best known works are the "Introduction to a Devout Life" and "A Treatise on the Love of God." He died in Lyons, France, in 1622; was canonized by Pope Alexander VII. in 1665.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's account of 1621 is still accurate in outline, and it was written just before the honour Francis de Sales is now best remembered for: in 1923 Pius XI, in the encyclical Rerum omnium perturbationem, named him patron saint of writers and journalists, a title that has since been extended to Catholic press and broadcasting bodies. Collier's also omits that Pius IX had already declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1877. Two smaller shifts: his feast, long kept on 29 January, was moved to 24 January in the 1969 revision of the Roman calendar, and historians now stress that as "Bishop of Geneva" he never governed from Calvinist Geneva at all but from Annecy in Savoy, where his relics remain. The "Introduction to a Devout Life" is still in print and still read, and Pope Francis marked the fourth centenary of his death in 2022 with the apostolic letter Totum amoris est.
Written for this edition, 2026.