Beasts in the Devout Life: Animals in the Writing of St François de Sales

Abstract

Abstract In both the Introduction à la vie dévote and the Traité de l'amour de Dieu, St François de Sales (1567–1622) makes extensive reference to the animal world. Writing in a tradition dating back to the medieval Christian bestiary, he draws his evidence from classical sources and from the Bible and Fathers, as well as from more demotic material. His zoological imagery is remarkable by its diversity, and by François's readiness to include the fantastic or improbable alongside the more scientifically attested. His pagan examples do not however function as a mythological fable; rather they place classical zoology at the service of Christian theology, with pride of place accorded to elephants and bees. Biblical examples too extend beyond commonplace similes; and even more modest contemporary illustrations are transformed into the means of spiritual encouragement. All such analogies are described by François as 'similitudes', and serve to effect a link between the natural and divine worlds. Yet if such zoological images may at times appear comic by their improbability or disproportion, these features do nothing to diminish their didactic potential; nor does their incorporation detract from the uniqueness of humankind's capacity to aspire to a closer spiritual union with God.