Government
Not long ago I travelled through Chambéry and Annecy, places inextricably caught up with the name of St Francis de Sales and thereby imbued with sweetness. Looking through a life on this his feast day, I find myself pausing over a counsel he once gave to the superior of a community of nuns: ‘The most perfect government is that which most closely approximates to Providence. Providence is peaceful and tranquil in the midst of all that happens. Even at its most active it is not overwrought; it takes all things in hand.’ I think, too, of a letter he wrote in 1602 to the young Pierre de Bérulle, rather given to scruples. The bishop of Geneva told him kindly, ‘We shall ever be in need of having our feet washed, for we walk in the dust.’
