Happy Feast of St. Francis de Sales

Today is the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, the patron of this blog, (as I explain in the "About" page).  St. Francis is the patron saint of journalists and writers.

In a procrastinating move to avoid my to-do list- quick check of what people are saying about St. Francis on this, his feast, I found a couple of interesting tidbits:

Universalis, as often is the case, has a nice little reflection on today's saint. Here's what he has to say about St. Francis:

"St Francis taught that we can all attain a devout and spiritual life, whatever our position in society: holiness is not reserved for monks and hermits alone. His wrote that 'religious devotion does not destroy: it perfects,' and his spiritual counsel is dedicated to making people more holy by making them more themselves. ....

  St Francis is the patron saint of writers and journalists, who would do well to imitate his love and his moderation: as he said, 'whoever wants to preach effectively must preach with love.'"

I've read Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis' best-known classic, many times--it is usually on my Lenten reading list.  Since I've not done so in a few years, I've already set it aside for this Lent.  That's why it's really great to see a new generation of Catholics discover this fantastic saint.

*Jen at Conversion Diary (who will be speaking at this year's Behold Conference in our diocese) has decided to take on a year of St. Francis de Sales.  She has a great way of translating St. Francis' writing for a modern audience, as you can read in this post on "banishing the spiders." 

*'bearing', a blog I visit occasionally, is also blogging through Introduction to the Devout Life.  I haven't had a chance to read too much of the series, but again it's nice to see some of the "young 'uns" writing and learning about this great saint.

*The Ironic Catholic has a free e-book giveaway for today only.   I already have this book and it is fun to read! (St. Francis de Sales is also the patron of her blog, proving she has great taste in saints, in addition to her excellent sense of humor).

 Today is also the baptism anniversary of our oldest daughter.   We tend to really mark baptism anniversaries in our house, so we'll be celebrating at our house tonight!