“One Mind, One Heart”

The Salesian Shrine in the Church of Holy Redeemer by the Sea

As a way to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales and the 450th anniversary of the birth of St. Jane de Chantal, Fr. Bill Walsh and the Staff of Holy Redeemer parish commissioned these carvings of our Patron Saints. They are presented together because both perfectly compliment the other in their life, ministry, spirituality, and writings. One cannot truly understand one without understanding the other. Both of our Patrons point to a golden globe with the letters “VJ” or “Live Jesus” on it, a motto of sorts that sums up the practical spirituality they both lived and fostered. You may note that a banner with “Live Jesus” on it hangs above the front door, a reminder that all Christians are called to “Live Jesus” in their daily lives such that the Redeemer may be seen to walk the face of the earth once again.

 

Holy Redeemer

St. Jane de Chantal was born in 1572 to a noble family in Dijon, France. She married in 1592. She raised four children as well as an illegitimate daughter of her husband. Tragically widowed at an early age, Jane lived several years with her father-in-law, running the estate and enduring great emotional abuse. She met Francis de Sales in 1604 and sensed an immediate calling to be spiritually guided by him. In 1610, at the then-older age of 38, she and St. Francis de Sales began the Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary, an Order unique in that it was designed for those wishing religious life but were judged too old, infirm or otherwise unsuitable for convent life at the time. She is depicted here in the habit of the Visitation. She died in 1641 after establishing 81 monasteries of the Visitation across Europe. The Visitation Sisters, though not as numerous as before, nonetheless offer a cloistered ministry of prayer and education.

St. Jane de Chantel wears the same silver pectoral cross as did St. Francis de Sales. Note that there is no corpus on the cross. The idea is that one should live their lives such that their “corpus”, their body, becomes the body on the cross. St. Jane de Chantel is also shown holding a heart on which is inscribed the name of Jesus. St. Francis de Sales once told her that he hoped that she could engrave the name of Jesus on her heart. He meant it spiritually; she took it literally. He was shocked at her fervor and grave action. It was perhaps the only time these two kindred souls were not of one mind and heart.

Holy Redeemer

St. Francis de Sales was born in 1567 in the Kingdom of Savoy, an area today taken up by parts of France, Italy and Switzerland. The eldest son of a noble family, he was supposed to study Law and then take his father’s place in the local political and social life of the times. His wish to become a priest was gradually accepted by his father. His ministry as a priest and later as a Bishop was in a time of great turmoil and incivility between Catholics and Protestants. He pioneered the use of the printing press to gently but firmly lead receptive Protestants to rejoin the Catholic Church. Unlike others of his time, St. Francis de Sales held that divisions among people can only be healed through love and never through force. His writings to many lay people on how to live a practical and holy life coalesced into his famous “Introduction to the Devout Life”, a book which remains a best seller and classic amongst Christian writings today. St. Francis de Sales died in 1622 at age 55 but his gentle and humble spirituality lives on in the numerous Religious Congregations who exist in the Church.

St. Francis de Sales is depicted in a turquoise cassock, a color usual in his time for the “working clothes” of a humble Bishop. His pectoral cross is the same as worn by St. Jane de Chantal and the Visitation Sisters as well as all Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.