Following in the footsteps of Saint François de Sales

After excelling as a student, studying philosophy, math, history, music, and theology, François de Sales de Sales decided to turn towards religion, and was ordained as a priest in 1593. The Bishop of Geneva bestowed upon him the mission of bringing the inhabitants of the Chablais, who recently converted to Protestantism, back into the Catholic fold. At the time Geneva was a major hotspot for the Protestant Reformation, and the former faithful had deserted their churches. Saint François de Sales began a long peaceful crusade using spiritual weapons such as prayer, charity, converting the heart, and leading by example. This prophet, who merged humanism and Christian philosophy, taught, preached, confessed, visited the poor and the sick, and lived in poverty, all the while helping those living in even more meager conditions than he. Saint François de Sales stood out from his contemporaries through his non-violent approach to Protestantism.

In 1602, at the church in Thorens where he was baptized, Saint François de Sales was ordained the Bishop of Geneva, but lived in exile in Annecy, since Geneva remained Protestant at the time. He spent the twenty years of his episcopate teaching, preaching, traveling throughout his diocese, as well as reforming the clergy and the religious orders, all the while writing a prolific amount of letters and correspondences. “We should do everything through love, and nothing by force; we should love obedience more than we fear disobedience.”

When invited to the court of King Henry IV’s, the king assured him of his trust. In 1610, along with Baroness Jeanne de Chantal, Saint François de Sales founded the Order of the Visitation in Annecy. He died in Lyon, on December 28, 1622. He was then canonized in 1665 and proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1877. He will always be considered a major figure in the rebirth of Catholicism at the beginning of the 17th century. His tomb is in Saint François Church, aka “the Italians,” located in Annecy’s Old Town.

To commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary of his death, a walk entitled, “In the Footsteps of Saint François de Sales,” created in partnership with the Annecy diocese, offers the opportunity to follow, from street to street, in the footsteps of François de Sales and to learn how, via his intellectual and religious capacity, he left such a long-lasting impact on the city.

The walk is wheelchair accessible, except for the staircase to the Basilica (take the road to go around it). Details for the walk are available on the ViAnnecy app.

Discover the walk     (only in French)