In my article, “On Great Souls and Little Souls,” I tried to show the very tangible criteria by which we may safely see Little Souls like St. Therese, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and Servant of God Marcel Van as being a class apart from Great Souls like Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and just about every other saint before our post-Theresian era.
To those who know him well, St. Francis de Sales might seem to break those molds. Not because he fits into neither of them — but because he fits into both.
Like a Great Soul, the Bishop of Geneva emphasized the necessity of active purification: “Ordinarily,” he said, “most Christians simply snip at their defects, without uprooting them. They may do something about their spiritual ills, but only a few reach the point of using the scalpel to remove completely from their hearts that which is unsuitable” (Spiritual Diary [SD], March 14). But like a Little Soul, he also made frequent (even very frequent) references to our interacting with God as little children ought: “Little children live in great confidence,” he said; “they never think that their father either wishes to beat them, or is preparing an inheritance for them; but only think of loving him, because they are carried in his arms, and are cherished and provided for in every way by the care of their good father.”1
Unlike his “older” friend and contemporary, St. Vincent de Paul, who:
…had such low esteem of self that he reputed himself a great sinner, a burden on all, and unworthy to be a member of his Congregation. And just as he had a low concept of himself, he desired the same from others. Hence, he desired everyone to know his imperfections and frequently he would reveal them to all in order to be looked down upon and despised by all. (SD, Feb. 9)
It is said of St. Francis de Sales:
People crowded around him in the streets, kissed the hem of his cloak, imploring his blessing, acclaimed and called him “this holy Bishop, this great Francis de Sales.” This upset him greatly, and often tears came to his eyes. One day he went into a shop in order to escape from the crowd, and sighed, “Alas! If I had the courage of my convictions, I would do many rash things to undeceive these people, but we must live in Christian sincerity, playing neither the wise man nor the fool.” (St. Francis de Sales and His Friends [SFSF], 381-382)
Unlike the Great Soul, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who said: “When some created thing comforts and delights me, I do not dare to declare that my love for God is ardent” (SD, Nov. 2), St. Francis said:
Can you see the baby Jesus in His cradle? He receives all the insults of the weather, the cold, and everything which His Father allows to happen to Him; He does not refuse the small comforts His Mother gives Him. And thus we should neither desire nor refuse anything, but accept everything God sends us, cold and every other thing. (SFSF, 388)
When the Great Soul St. Stephen Harding lay dying:
…he heard many whispering that, after so virtuous and penitential a life he could have nothing to fear in dying: at this he said to them trembling: “I assure you that I go to God in fear and trembling. If my baseness should be found to have ever done any good, even in this I fear, lest I should not have preserved that grace with the humility and care I ought.” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Vol. II, 10)
Not so with St. Francis de Sales. Though he “was grieved by the excitement that [his] cures gave rise to — ‘because,’ he said, ‘with all their praise, these good people will leave me to languish in Purgatory through not praying to God for my poor soul when I die. That is all the gain my reputation will bring me’” (SFSF, 303); still he died — on the feast of the Holy Innocents — like the “Middle Soul” that he was:
A priest who happened to be at St. Francis de Sales’ deathbed asked him if he were not afraid of the devil, and he replied, “I trust in God.” And as another pointed out that among the twelve Apostles there was indeed one who had failed due to the devil’s temptation, he replied, “He who began will finish, will finish,” several more times repeating this until he ran short of breath. Finally, having breathed the name of Jesus, he spoke no more….” (SFSF, 391)
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Returning the analogy of children in a family, we know that there are the “little ones,” (those under the age of reason) and the “grown ones,” (those already functioning as adults in society. Strange it would be indeed if there were not to be found in God’s family “middle” children, distinguishable as such simply by their possessing qualities characteristic of both their younger and their older siblings.
That is precisely what I am proposing St. Francis de Sales was.
