Each chapter (such as 'How to Combine Due Care for a Good Reputation with Humility') is frank, uncannily modern, and precise. But it is most distinguished by its discussion of how to live a holy life in the secular world. The book includes long sections about prayer, temptation, and how to maintain and renew devotion to God. The book collects passages from many of those letters, organized as one message addressed to the allegorical character Philothea (which means 'lover of God'). He was a popular minister and a prolific letter writer whose correspondence was cherished for its clear and direct instruction in the ways of piety. Francis served the church at a dangerous time in a dangerous place: during the Reformation, in Calvinist areas of France, when celebrating mass was punishable by death. This was the central insight of Saint Francis de Sales, a 16th-century priest whose Introduction to the Devout Life has not gone out of print in almost four centuries. Francis de Sales’s Introduction to the Devout Life has remained a uniquely accessible and relevant treasure of devotion for nearly four hundred years. To see if the type and size of the font used in this book are easy to read and are acceptable to you, we encourage that you download and print out a sample page.Devout life does not require withdrawal from the world. Canon Surmont, Vicar General, Westminster, 20th November 1924. This edition has been re-typeset using the text of the 1943 edition originally published by Burns Oates and Washbourne, London, under the imprimatur of Edm. Thou hast made me, O Lord, for Thyself, that I may eternally enjoy. Introduction to the Devout Life by Saint Francis De Sales, edited and translated by Allan Ross. Thank God, Who has made you for so gracious an end. This book is truly medicine for the soul. Above all, he is a spiritual genius, and thus was made a Doctor of the Church. Even non-Christians have admired his prose.

His writings are characterized by sublime common sense. Francis de Sales was a master psychologist, with a special gift for teaching practical morality.

It has always occupied a privileged position in the Church: no guide ever written provides so complete, so balanced and so practical an approach to the spiritual life. Since its first publication in 1609 this book has never gone out of print. The final edition was published in 1619, prior to the death of Francis in 1622. This book does what many similar books fail to do, teach the reader to grow in holiness, step by simple step. Introduction to the Devout Life (French: Introduction à la vie dévote) is a book written by Saint Francis de Sales, the first edition being published in 1609. Written for the layman surrounded by worldliness, this is a masterpiece of mystical and devotional literature, by a great and much loved Doctor of the Church.

An introduction to the devout life