St. Francis De Sales: A Biography of the Gentle Saint

by Louise Stacpoole-Kenny, Louise M. Stacpoole-Kenny

St. Francis de Sales is famous in the Catholic world for his personality, as well as for his writings and other accomplishments. When he was being considered for beatification, 5,000 witnesses testified to his heroic virtues and miracles. The Calvinist minister of Geneva said of St. Francis de Sales: "If we honored any man as a Saint, I know none more worthy than this man since the days of the Apostles." Impr. 347 pgs, PB

Genres: Catholic, Biography

Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Noah Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great content, though how could it not be with St Francis as the subject. I was hoping for something a bit more scholarly though, I thought I could use this as a base to jump to more books and such in personal studies of this great saint. Many of the stories from his life were wonderful, but I would have liked source information where I could read them in more detail. The organization of information at times falters as the biography jumps ahead before continuing on with a current story and at places the biography doesn't seem to flow well. Overall though, well-written and inspirational. My only true complaint is that the binding of my book was poorly done and started falling apart on my first read through.

[Christopher Saul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Painful for me to read, but I got through it. Perhaps I wasn't ready for such a book. The writing harkened (and I MEAN harkened) back to the late 19th century. Hopefully as I become a better Roman Catholic, I can come back, reread this book and give it a better rating.

[Brian Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the information. The more I got into it, the more the content pulled me in. The style was difficult at first but I got over that. It is an early 1900's book. It has inspired me to go back and re-read Introduction to the Devout Life.

[Jonathan O'Konek · Rating 5 out of 5]

St. Francis De Sales has become one of my favorite saints due to his teachings of love, gentleness, and humility. This biography of the "Gentle Saint" provides an expansive history of St. De Sales; from his life before entering the priesthood, his amazing works and teachings as the Bishop of Geneva, and his later life and death. In addition to learning about St. De Sales' history, this book offers an intriguing insight into St. De Sales' faith, thought process, and his "Salesian" spirituality.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to learn more about the life and history of St. De Sales.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful hagiography of one of my favorite saints.

[Robert Hearnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty syrupy, but good nonetheless. I did learn a lot about St. Francis de Sales and found a lot of good quotes.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second part of the title is beautifully apt, but this book is not beautifully written, unfortunately. St. Francis De Sales is a new saint for me and I am disappointed that this biography is poorly done. The author seems to pre-suppose that the reader will have an excellent grasp of the politics and geography of Europe in the early 17th century. The saintliness, humility, and eloquence of this holy man does shine through. However, the prose is cloying, new chapters start years before or after the action of the previous chapter which is terribly confusing and frustrating, and over all, it takes a modern reader the patience of a saint to finish this. I do hope there is a more readable biography of this great man that I somehow missed when I was looking for a biography of him.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book - gave a good overview of his life and personality.