Course 3, Chapter 48

Christianity preserved and propagated. — St. Francis of Sales. — Missions of America and the Levant. — St. Vincent of Paul. — Seventeenth Century.

1. How did God punish the countries which had abandoned the faith?

God punished those countries which had abandoned the faith, by calamities, such as we do not read of elsewhere in their history, whilst at the same time his goodness consoled the church, by giving her a great saint, destined to revive piety in the world, as St. Charles had revived it among the clergy and St. Theresa in the cloister.

2. Who was he?

St. Francis of Sales, bishop of Geneva. He was born in Savoy of a noble family, and showed from his infancy a piety and purity of morals which merited for him the special protection of the B. Virgin; he embraced the ecclesiastical state and devoted himself entirely to the conversion of heretics, of wiiom he had the happiness to bring back seventy thousand to the faith.

3. What order did he found?

He founded, in concert with St. Jane Chantal, the order of the Visitation, in which is perpetuated the spirit of piety, mildness, and chanty, which distinguished the most amiable saint of these latter times.

4. What further consolation did God give the church?

He consoled the church still further by the success of missionaries. Some converted a great portion of America and formed the Reduction of Paraguay, where the innocence of the first Christians was seen to shine in all its pristine brilliancy, whilst others converted large provinces in the east.*

Q Who was St. Vincent of Paul?

A. St. Vincent of Paul was born in Gascony, and in his youth was employed as a swineherd. God drew him from obscurity, and called him to the priest hood.

5. What happened to him after he was ordained priest?

After his ordination h? was captured by the Turks, and reduced to slavery at Tunis; but he converted his master and accompanied by him returned to France, where Ivj afforded relief to every species of affliction and established a congregation for the benefit of the unfortunate in life and after death. The members are called Daughters of Charity.-

6. . What further did he do?

He established, also, a company of missionaries to afford spiritual succor to the poor inhabiting the country and to carry the light of faith to infidels — they are called Lazarists. Lastly, he fed many provinces desolated by famine and war; he has done more good than all the philosophers together ever thought of.