University students in the late sixteenth century were not very different from those of today, searching, questioning, and discussing endlessly any controversial aspect of the human condition. It is not surprising that the bright, gifted young nobleman from Savoy, Francis de Sales, should be quickly caught up in the intellectually stimulating life of Paris where he studied from 1578-1588. At this particular period in uropean history, the burning topic in both Catholic and Reform circles was the issue of predestination. The doctrines of Martin Luther and Calvin on this subject were loudly proclaimed and hotly debated everywhere.1 Further, preachers, in an effort to tuch sinners and move them to repentance, expounded on God's judgement and wrath, rather than on his mercy and forgiveness.2

Young Francis, who was unusually sensitive and pious, began to feel vaguely oppressed by the thought that he might well be one of hose souls destined to be eternally damned by God. Anxieties and doubts, one after another, began to invade his thoughts: he belonged to Adam's race; he was a weak and fragile mortal; he was a sinner; God might well abandon, reject, and damn him. Impresionable, vulnerable to all that he encountered in university life, his heart and mind were the soil in which seeds of doubt and fear, disillusion, and mistrust could take root and grow. St. Jane de Chantal wrote in her testimony at the first canonizationinquiries for his cause in 1627 that as a student in Paris, Francis "was tried by a state of extreme mental anguish, firmly believing that he was doomed to go to hell and had no hope of salvation. This made him go cold with fear, especially when he thougt how the damned have no power to love God or to see the Blessed Virgin."3

By the year 1586-87 he was experiencing a full-blown crisis. This was the result of a violent conflict between, on the one hand, the growing doubts about his eternal salvation an, on the other, the spiritual enthusiasm awakened in his soul by Genebrard's commentary on the Canticle of Canticles. In the fall of 1584, Francis had occasion to attend the lectures of Gilbert Genebrard, the well-known Benedictine scholar from Cluny. Tese lecturers were of a very high calibre and presented a deep, mystical interpretation of the Canticle of Canticles.4 The love between the Sulamitess and the shepherd was presented as the symbol of the relationship between God and the human heart, and f that between Christ and the Church. Such an interpretation was a startling revelation to Francis. From the moment he grasped its full implication, he would never again be able to conceive of the spiritual life as anything other than a true love story,the most beautiful love story in all creation.5

What about the impact of the lecturers he was hearing at the Sorbonne on the subject of predestination? Theologians were greatly concerned about the doctrine promulgated by Martin Luther and Calvin who seeed to rely heavily on the authority of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Francis expected his professor to refute the ideas of the Protestant masters and to supply him with another interpretation of Augustine and Aquinas that was less pessimistic andhopeless than the one he was hearing. He was disappointed.6 He became increasingly disturbed by the thought of being one of those whom God had destined for eternal damnation. In his torment he turned to the psalms of anguish, writing them down and repating them over and over: "Save me, O God, for the waters have risen and have entered my soul."7

At stake in this drama was the possibility that, having already experienced the great love of God, he might be deprived of this love forever. "Insignifican creature that I am," he wrote in his notes, "am I to be deprived of the grace of him who has allowed to me so lovingly? O Love, O Charity, O Beauty in whom I have placed all my affections! Will I never again delight in your presence?...O Virgin, most peasing among all the daughters of Jerusalem, will I never then see you in the kingdom of your Son?...And will I never participate in the immense benefits of his redemption?...Yet, did my sweet Jesus not die for me as well as for others?...However it may b, Lord, if I cannot love you in eternity, may I love you here on earth."8

These outpourings were so tragic and pain-filled, and in December 1586 the tension became almost insupportable, even physically. Francis was wearing down under the strain.9 Yet tere seemed to be no way out for him, until one day in January 1587. Late one afternoon, returning to his lodging after classes, he stopped, as was his custom, for a visit to the Dominican Church of St. Etienne-des-Gres. "One day, however, divine providece mercifully delivered him," reported Jane de Chantal in her deposition.10 Francis' own revelation of the event to his tutor and to a Benedictine monk as well as to her enable us to follow the steps of this memorable deliverance, even if the accounts whch have come down to us differ on certain details.

Upon entering the church, Francis went directly to the chapel of the Black Madonna. There he made an heroic act of abandonment: "Whatever you have desired concerning me, Lord, in your eternal secret of redestination and reprobation, you whose judgements are unfathomable...I will love you always, at least in this life, if it is not given me to love you in eternity. If, deserving it, I am to be...among the damned who will never gaze upon your face, grantthat at least I may not be among those who curse your holy name."11 Then he happened to pick up a tablet that was hanging from the railing in the chapel, suggesting to all visitors to recite the prayer the Memorare.12 Francis began, "Remember, O most grcious Virgin..."and recited the prayer in its entirety. "He said it right through, rose from his knees, and at that very moment felt entirely healed," wrote Saint Jane de Chantal. "His troubles, so it seemed to him, had fallen about his feet like a lepe's scales."13

All at once, in a spirit of gratitude and for fear that one day his eyes, or mouth, or hands might betray what was really in his heart, he made a vow of virginity to God and to the Blessed Mother. To secure this, he promised to say the rosry14 every day for the rest of his life.15 No one will ever know all that this crisis involved, nor the extent of the graces and insights gained for Francis from this temptation. Surely, this strange episode in his youth mysteriously prepared him for th apostolic work that he would undertake as Bishop of Geneva. It has been said that, in Paris, grace laid the foundation on which Francis would build his theological optimism, an optimism that remained unshaken and strong the rest of his life. One may alo conclude that the "miracle" wrought through the intercession of the Black Madonna left its mark on Francis' relationship with the Virgin Mary. He was always moved, often to tears, in speaking of her. He sometimes cried out, in filial respect: "Oh, ma I belong to you forever, and may all creatures with me live and die for your love!"16 Throughout his life he bore toward Mary a grateful, tender, and deep devotion.

17

1 Francis Trochu, Saint Francois de Sales, Lyon et Paris Libraire Catholique Emmanue Vitte, 1946, Vol. I., p.125-127.

2Ibid., p.125.

3Elisabeth Stopp, ed. & trans., St. Francis de Sales: A Testimony by St. Chantal, Hyattsville, MD, Institute of Salesian studies, 1967, p.44-45.

4 Francis refers to these lecturers in the Treatise on the Loe of God, Oeuvres Completes, Annecy Edition, V.5, p.277.

5Andre Ravier, Un sage et un saint: Francois de Sales, Paris, Nouvelle Cite, 1985, p.26.

6 Francis Trochu, Saint Francois de Sales, p.126; Andre Ravier, Un sage et un saint: Francois de Sales, p.26 27.

7 André Ravier, Un sage et un saint: Francois de Sales, p.27.

8 This text, based on testimony of Dom Claude de Quoex and François Favre, valet of the saint, was first cited by Charles Auguste de Sales, Historie du Bienheureux Francois de Sales, Evequ et Prince de Geneve, F. de la Bottere et J. Julliard, Lyon, 1634, p.11, 12. Cited in Francis Trochu, Saint Francois de Sales, p.130.

9 Francis Trochu, Saint Francois de Sales, p.131.

10 Elisabeth Stopp, ed. & trans., St. Francis de Sales: A Testimony bySt. Chantal, p.45.

11 This text, recorded by Francis' tutor, Abbé Deage, was part of the deposition of Dom Quoex. Francis Trochu, Saint Francois de Sales, p.131.

12 The Memorare of Saint Francis de Sales is cited in Antony Kolenchery ed., Praying With Sait Francis de Sales, Bangalore, SFS Publications, 1986, p.147-48.

13 Elisabeth Stopp, ed. & trans., St. Francis de Sales: A Testimony by St. Chantal, p.45.

14 Saint Francis de Sales followed a particular method for the recitation of Rosary and it is writte on August 1606. The method Francis used for the recitation of Rosary is cited in John Sankarathil ed., Samarpanaajali, Bangalore, Samarpanaram, 1997, p.70-72. Oeuvres Completes, Annecy Edition, v. XXVI, p.233.

15Francis Trochu, Saint Francois de Sales,p.132. Ravier suggests that the crisis may have been linked to violent temptations against chastity provoked by the dissolute example of some classmates, by the atmosphere at the home of the Queen's sister-in-law which Francis was accustomed to visit, an by acquaintance with certain "mignons" of the Court. St. Francois de Sales: Oeuvres, Preface et Chronologie par André Ravier, Gallimard, 1969, p. xxix.

16 Nicholas Talan, La vie du Bienhereux Francois de Sales, Ch.I, p.34-36, cited in Francis Trochu, Sant Francois de Sales, p.135.

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