Forgotten Truths
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Long Sermon
Jean Pierre Camus, bishop of Berrey, was a close friend and disciple of St. Francis de Sales. So determined was he to imitate the holiness of this great saint in every way that he bored a hole in his wall to watch him, unsuspecting, in his private prayers and studies in the evenings.
The excellent memory of Bishop Jean Pierer Camus would serve him well in relating many of the sayings and experiences of St. Francis de Sales. An author of some 200 books, Bishop Camus would compile these conversations in the "Spirit of St. Francis de Sales".
The excellent memory of Bishop Jean Pierer Camus would serve him well in relating many of the sayings and experiences of St. Francis de Sales. An author of some 200 books, Bishop Camus would compile these conversations in the "Spirit of St. Francis de Sales".
St. Francis de Sales to Bishop Camus
Francis greatly approved of short sermons, saying that lengthiness is the great fault of preachers of our day"
"Do you call that a fault," I once said "or liken over-abundance to starvation?"
"The vine makes most wood which bears least fruit," he replied "A multitude of words has but little result. Look at the homilies of the fathers, how short they mostly are, and how far more useful than our sermons." One of St. Francis' rules for his preaching Order is brevity, giving as a reason that "God's word is brief." "Believe me" he would say, "I speak from long experience; the more you say, the less people will remember; and the less you say, the more they will profit."
"Those who load their hearers' memory destroy it, just as you put out a lamp by filling it too full, or kill plants by unmeasured watering. When a discourse is too long, the end makes one forget the middle, and the middle puts out the beginning. Indifferent preachers are bearable if they are brief, but even good preachers become intolerable when they are lengthy. Depend upon it, there is no more detestable quality a preacher can possess than tediousness."
Conversation between St. Francis de Sales and Bishop jean Pierre Camus of Belley
The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, 1880, p. 295
The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, 1880, p. 295
Posted August, 2016
______________________
______________________
 Volume I |
 Volume II |
 Volume III |
 Volume IV |
 Volume V |
 Volume VI |
 Volume VII |
 Volume VIII |
 Volume IX |
 Volume XI |
 Special Edition |
 Special Edition |