Francis de Sales
French bishop, saint, writer and Doctor of the Church (1567-1622)
Francis de Sales (French: François de Sales; Italian: Francesco di Sales; Arpitan: Francês de Sâles; 21 August 1567 – 28 December 1622) was a Catholic prelate from Savoyard who served as Bishop of Geneva from 1602 to 1622. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topics of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God. He was a member of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, a tertiary of the Order of Minims, and was canonized in 1665.
Life
Early years
Francis de Sales was born two months premature on 21 August 1567 in the Château de Sales into the noble Sales family of the Duchy of Savoy, in what is today Thorens-Glières, Haute-Savoie, France. His father was François de Sales, Lord of Sales, and Novel, and by marriage, de Boisy. His mother was a noblewoman, Françoise de Sionnaz, the only child of the prominent magistrate, Melchior de Sionnaz, Seigneur de Vallières, de la Thuile, and de Boisy. This being one of the noblest families in Savoy, Francis's father was generally known as M. de Boisy.
He was baptised Francis Bonaventura after his godparents, François de la Fléchère and Damoiselle Bonaventure de Chevron-Villette, who was also his widowed, maternal grandmother. His father wanted him, the first of his six sons, to attend the best schools in preparation for a career as a magistrate.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Francis de Sales” as french bishop, saint, writer and Doctor of the Church (1567-1622). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as french bishop, saint, writer and Doctor of the Church (1567-1622). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q231256. VIAF identifies the subject as 88908024. The Library of Congress control number is n81075792. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1567, 1622, 1602 and 1665.
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This entry incorporates text from “Francis de Sales” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.