Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature
pfscl
0343-0758
2941-086X
Narr Verlag Tübingen
121
2008
3569
In God’s Kitchen: Food and Devotion in François de Sales’s Introduction à la vie dévote
121
2008
Michael S. Koppisch
pfscl35690529
PFSCL XXXV, 69 (2008) In God ’ s Kitchen: Food and Devotion in François de Sales ’ s Introduction à la vie dévote MICHAEL S. KOPPISCH As a small boy, François de Sales was forbidden, probably by his saintly mother, to go into the kitchen of the Château de Sales, where the coarse language of the servants might offend his young ears or, worse yet, influence his behavior. One day, however, unable to resist the temptingly rich odor of hot meat pies baking in the oven, François disobeyed. He entered the kitchen and asked if he might have one of the pies. His transgression was rewarded by a callous, malevolent chef, who dropped the hot treat into the child ’ s extended hand, burning it painfully. Already demonstrating the virtuous character for which he was soon to become known, François de Sales refused to divulge the name of the offending servant, who once identified, would surely have been severely punished. 1 For the hagiographer, this episode in the day-to-day life of a little chatelain reveals something about the character of a man who less than fifty years after his death was officially declared a saint. To the literary critic, it suggests an early propensity for the culinary and the gastronomical that would have a central presence in his writing. That food and eating figure in the imagery of devotional texts like those of François de Sales does not surprise. As Ronald Tobin states in his study of gastronomy in Molière’s theater, „the symbolic history of the Judaeo- Christian tradition opens with the episode of the tasting of the fruit in the garden of Eden“ (2), 2 and from that point on, references to food and to 1 Margaret Trouncer recounts this story (33), as does Maurice Henry-Coüannier (24). André Ravier also refers to it (14). 2 Professor Tobin goes on to say that « eating precedes sexual shame [and that] food comes, therefore, before eroticism. The two are linked by the mouth and the connection is such that the same vocabulary is used for eating as well as for sexual satisfaction“(2). Molière has a comic take on the relationship between eating and sexual desire. François de Sales makes the same connection with more serious intent. Michael S. Koppisch 530 scenes in which it is consumed abound in the Bible. Indeed, Christian worship centers on the altar, a table around which the Communion meal takes place. A reader of the Introduction à la vie dévote would probably, therefore, pay no particular attention to references to biblical passages like, for example, John 6.41 - “ Le Sauveur ne s ’ appelle pas pour néant le pain descendu du ciel ” (80) - or the wedding feast at Cana: “ Plût à Dieu que son Fils bien-aimé fût appelé à toutes les noces comme il fut à celles de Cana ” (233). 3 On the other hand, the prevalence of food imagery, the specific images chosen, and the use to which the author puts them invite, indeed demand, consideration and commentary. Despite François ’ s insistence on the absence of artistry in his writing, these images are a calculated literary device. In the preface to the Introduction à la vie dévote, François de Sales denies any pretension to having produced a polished literary work. He claims to be publishing only with some hesitation what had begun as a series of “ mémoires par écrit ” written to instruct Louise de Charmoisy as she pursued her aspiration to live a devout life (24). She had shown François ’ s texts to the Jesuit theologian Jean Forier, who prevailed upon him to publish them. To make his collection of essays “ plus utile et agréable, ” François went over them again, “ [j ’ ] y ai mis quelque sorte d ’ entresuite, ” and added a few “ avis et enseignements propres à mon intention ” (25). And even this he has done, however, rather hastily - “ sans nulle sorte presque de loisir ” - with the result that his book amounts to little more than “ un amas d ’ avertissements de bonne foi que j ’ explique par des paroles claires et intelligibles ” (25). As for “ ornements du langage ” and other writers ’ frills, François never gave them a thought, for, he declares, he had more important things to do (25). None of this adds up to a very promising beginning for a serious piece of writing, as it portrays the author as anything but a dedicated writer. Later, in the Traité de l ’ amour de Dieu, François claims to write “ sans art et encore plus sans fard ” (338) and even denies being a writer: “ Mais je ne fais pourtant pas profession d ’ être écrivain, car la pesanteur de mon esprit et la condition de ma vie, exposée au service et à l ’ abord de plusieurs, ne le me sauraient permettre ” (343). And yet, that the Introduction à la vie dévote went through five editions in the author ’ s lifetime and, unlike most other devotional works of the period, continues to be read today testifies to the care with which it was written. As Henri Bremond has shown, the originality of François de Sales lies not in any new doctrine that he proposes but rather, in part at least, 3 All citations from François de Sales come from the Pléiade edition of his works, edited by André Ravier, and give the relevant page numbers. Food and Devotion in François de Sales’s Introduction à la vie dévote 531 “ dans l ’ accent très personnel de son œuvre ” (70). According to Bremond, François expresses the spirit of Christianity with “ une voix, limpide, pressante, charmante, ” and convinces by “ la double autorité de son propre génie et de sa personne ” (71). Sainte-Beuve believed that the writer and the holy man were united in François de Sales: “ On sent que, comme écrivain et comme homme de Dieu, il avait le don de l ’ allégorie parlante, de la parabole ” (252). In his writing as in his particular form of devotion, François rejects “ la pompe ” and “ la tristesse, ” preferring “ une certaine gaieté, un certain vermeil riant dans tout ce qu ’ il pense et ce qu ’ il écrit [...] un agrément salutaire ” (277). However much he might resist thinking of himself as a writer, for Sainte-Beuve, he is just that: “ quoiqu ’ il ait mené une vie de pratique, toute d ’ apostolat et d ’ épiscopat, saint François de Sales est un écrivain. Il avait trop de bel-esprit pour ne pas l ’ être, pour ne pas se complaire à ce don heureux et à ces grâces inévitables qui coulaient de sa plume ” (276). 4 As a writer, François chooses with care the imagery that will function most effectively in his work. He distinguishes his intent from that of other devotional writers at the very beginning of the Introduction à la vie dévote. Whereas they address those who have withdrawn from the world to live in pious seclusion, his audience is “ ceux qui vivent ès villes, ès ménages, en la cour, et qui par leur condition sont obligés de faire une vie commune quant à l ’ extérieur ” (23). Potential converts to the devout life like these have all the normal preoccupations of daily living, and François speaks directly to them with familiar, homey images like those of eating and the kitchen. He compares these worldly souls to a grazing animal that “ n ’ ose goûter de la graine de l ’ herbe nommée palma Christi ” (24). So taken up are they in the things of this world that the “ palme de la piété chrétienne ” seems to them out of reach, even an improper goal (24). François sets out to explain how his readers can, in their lives, bridge the distance between the secular and the devout. His new kind of piety is adaptable to the daily routines of ordinary people; it does not require that they retire to a convent in order to meet its high standard (Strowski 98). Just as those who, in Numbers 13, discourage the Israelites from going to the promised land lest they be eaten like locusts by its supposedly ferocious inhabitants, the contemporary world portrays the devout as fretful, sad, and annoying. It sees only the external signs of devotion: fasting, prayer, restraint, control of the senses. Like bees, however, who swallow the bitter juice of the thyme plant and change it into honey, the truly devout convert their “ exercices de mortification [...] en 4 André Ravier cites this passage in his discussion of the style of the Introduction à la vie dévote (164). Michael S. Koppisch 532 douceur et suavité ” (34). Sugar sweetens unripened fruit and makes overripe fruits digestible, and “ la dévotion est le vrai sucre spirituel, qui ôte l ’ amertume aux mortifications ” (35). Using the same image - one of his favorites - of bees, which to produce honey must taste of an acrid plant, François exhorts his disciple to patience with the reminder that “ nous ne pouvons jamais [...] mieux composer le miel des excellentes vertus, que tandis que nous mangeons le pain d ’ amertume et vivons parmi les angoisses ” (136). 5 Humility requires the acceptance of “ votre propre abjection ” (145), but “ beaucoup de choses qui vous sembleront dures quand vous les considérerez [...] seront plus douces que le sucre et le miel quand vous les pratiquerez ” (148). In the Traité de l ’ amour de Dieu, François affirms that practicing virtues helps the devout person satisfy an innate need to be at one with God. The more this hunger for God ’ s love is satisfied, the more it grows: “ savourant la bonté divine nous la voudrions encore savourer; en nous rassasiant nous voudrions toujours manger, comme en mangeant nous nous sentons rassasier ” (573). Only by energetic engagement of the mind, the heart, and the body can virtue take hold, and François stresses virtue ’ s quickening power with active verbs: savourer, vouloir, rassasier, and manger. Gastronomical metaphors and similes that compare food and eating to other aspects of human existence serve François ’ s purpose as a writer especially well. He wants to convince his readers of the viability of the devout life in the context of virtually any legitimate vocation and mode of living. Everyone must eat, everyone knows something about the preparation of food, and no activity is more central to life than sitting down at table. A style that prides itself on its frankness and simplicity easily accommodates this kind of imagery. Nor is food linked solely to bodily nourishment. If it is necessary for that, it is also appealing and potentially dangerous, characteristics to which François alludes when he resorts to the equation of eating and sexual activity. Food imagery is both accessible and attractive to François ’ s reader, but the devout life, however easy such imagery may make it seem, is, nevertheless, a rigorously ascetic existence. Bossuet understood perfectly that François never abandoned this premise. Perhaps he did “ ramené la dévotion au milieu du monde, ” but make no mistake, Bossuet adds: “ ne croyez pas qu ’ il l ’ ait déguisée pour la rendre plus agréable aux yeux des mondains: il l ’ amène dans son habit naturel, avec sa croix, avec ses épines, avec son détachement et ses souffrances ” (483). As Brémond writes, the doctrine propounded by François de Sales is “ foncièrement héroïque ” (107). The 5 The index of Henri Lemaire ’ s François de Sales lists numerous references to bees. Food and Devotion in François de Sales’s Introduction à la vie dévote 533 asceticism of the Introduction à la vie dévote was overlooked by its readers, as Viviane Mellinghoff-Bourgerie suggests, but it is at the heart of the work ’ s message. The image of people who hunger or thirst for God and that of a God who nourishes them are commonplace in both biblical and devotional literature. François calls Holy Communion “ cette viande céleste qui vous nourrit à l ’ immortalité ” (119-20) and recommends frequent communion. 6 In the Traité de l ’ amour de Dieu, he tells his interlocutor, Théotime, that “ Le Sauveur nous a nourris dès notre tendre jeunesse [...] et nous a repus de sa propre chair et de son propre sang ” (689). 7 To partake of the sacred meal and be sustained by it, one must develop an appetite for the devout life itself. Curiously, to the mind of a twenty-first-century reader, the scourge can help open the digestive tubes: “ La discipline a une merveilleuse vertu pour réveiller l ’ appétit de la dévotion, étant prise modérément ” (197). And once a devotional hunger is aroused, let it follow the rhythm of the day ’ s regular meals: “ Comme devant notre dîner temporel vous ferez le dîner spirituel par le moyen de la méditation, ainsi avant votre souper il vous faut un petit souper, au moins une collation dévote et spirituelle ” (95). This spiritual mini-souper should take place before a crucifix and might include the repetition of “ les points que vous aurez plus savourés en la méditation du matin ” (95). Since, however, “ La variété des viandes (si principalement la quantité est grande) charge toujours l ’ estomac, ” moderation is as warmly recommended for the spiritual repast as it had been for the disciplinary aperitif: “ ne remplissez pas votre âme de beaucoup de désirs, ni mondains [...] ni même spirituels. ” For “ [q]uand notre âme est purgée [...] elle a un appétit fort grand des choses spirituelles, ” like, for example, “ mille sortes d ’ exercices de piété, de mortification, de pénitence, d ’ humilité. ” A good appetite is a positive sign, but François warns against the danger of indigestion after too much of a good thing: “ regardez si vous pourrez bien digérer tout ce que vous voulez manger ” (232). 8 Prayer and meditation lie at the heart of all forms of pious devotion, and François de Sales makes them an integral part of the spiritual meal. Speaking of the necessity of prayer, he explains why, in the Gospel of John, Jesus calls himself “ the bread which came down from Heaven ” (John 6.41). 6 He refers to Communion both as “ viande ” and as “ pain ”. “ Pain, ” of course, is standard. 7 He also speaks of “ amants sacrés, qui s ’ abandonnent si absolument aux exercices de l ’ amour divin ” that they end up dying because they neglected to eat and drink (694). 8 Digestion is a recurring image in the work of François de Sales. See Lemaire, Les images 184. Michael S. Koppisch 534 “ Comme le pain doit être mangé avec toutes sortes de viandes, aussi le Sauveur doit être médité, considéré et recherché en toutes nos oraisons et actions ” (80). The prayers and actions of the devout become here the meat of the devotional meal. François develops more fully the relationship between meditation and eating in the Traité de l ’ amour de Dieu. The first degree of prayer, “ La méditation n ’ est autre chose que le ruminement mystique, requis pour n ’ être point immonde ” (614-15), and serves the purpose of purification, as suggested here by the reference to the permission granted in Leviticus (ll.3, 8) and Deuteronomy (14.3, 6) to eat the meat of animals that chew their cud and have a cloven hoof. François differentiates between meditation - “ une attentive et réitérée pensée, propre à produire des affections ou bonnes ou mauvaises ” (611) - and contemplation, a higher form of concentration on the divine: “ Or manger, c ’ est méditer, car en méditant on mâche, tournant ça et là la viande spirituelle entre les dents de la considération, pour l ’ émier, froisser et digérer, ce qui se fait avec quelque peine; boire, c ’ est contempler [...] mais s ’ enivrer, c ’ est contempler si souvent et si ardemment, qu ’ on sort tout hors de soi-même pour être tout en Dieu ” (627). 9 Drunkenness, in this context, draws the pious imbiber closer to God: “ Sainte et sacrée ivresse, qui, au contraire de la corporelle [...] nous angélise et, par manière de dire, divinise […] pour nous élever au-dessus de nous et nous ranger avec les Anges, en sorte que nous vivions plus en Dieu qu ’ en nous-mêmes ” (627). Similarly, eating, when done in the mode of love and not simply “ pour contenter ce chétif ventre, ni pour assouvir cet appétit, ” can become a spiritual act: “ L ’ appétit de manger est rendu grandement spirituel si, avant que de le pratiquer, on lui donne le motif de l ’ amour ” (940). 10 The appetite becomes holy by its subordination to the will of God. Salesian spirituality lends itself to gastronomical images because it conduces to an intimate relationship with God while recognizing, indeed requiring, that its followers maintain good physical health and fulfill faithfully their 9 As André Ravier indicates in his edition of the works of François de Sales, “ émier ” means “ émietter ” (1737). 10 In 1619, Jeanne de Chantal, a friend of François’s and superior of the order of Visitation nuns that he had founded, consults him about a young cripple who wants to join the order. François sees no impediment. The other nuns can carry their crippled sister wherever she needs to go, and she will be able to perform all the duties of a nun, which include eating: “ Sans jambes, on peut faire tous les exercices essentiels de la Règle: obéir, prier, changer, garder le silence, coudre, manger […]. ” (Cited by Ravier 178). Food and Devotion in François de Sales’s Introduction à la vie dévote 535 social obligations. 11 Impeccable civility in all human relations both protects the well-being of society and helps one grow close to God through love of other people. The worldly meal derives its value from what it shares with its spiritual counterpart. When he was still very young, François apparently trained himself to eat whatever was put before him (Trouncer 31). Perhaps with this early pious exercise in mind, he recommends following to the letter Christ ’ s charge to his disciples, as he sends them out into the world, that they eat what is offered them. Although it might seem more exacting to choose to eat only what one least likes, by doing as the disciples were ordered to do, “ on ne renonce pas seulement à son goût, mais encore à son choix; et si, ce n ’ est pas une petite austérité de tourner son goût à toute main et le tenir sujet aux rencontres. ” Furthermore, “ cette sorte de mortification ne paraît point, n ’ incommode personne, et est uniquement propre pour la vie civile ” (197). 12 François replaces fasting as a means of selfmortification, a staple in devotional literature, with eating, with choosing to eat in a way that contributes to the good order of polite society and does not, above all, disrupt it. 13 One of François de Sales ’ s models, Saint Louis, was, like his seventeenthcentury admirer, concerned that when in company, especially at table, people conduct themselves civilly. He “ ne trouvait pas bon qu ’ étant en compagnie l ’ on parlât en secret et en conseil, particulièrement à table, ” lest such behavior arouse suspicion that one is slandering others (219). As a sign of civility, happy conviviality should reign at table, where matters of grave importance are best not mentioned. François has gastronomically-oriented advice to give as well about other gatherings of people in polite society, namely, dances and balls. While not inherently evil, he warns, “ cet exercice […] est fort penchant et incliné du côté du mal ” and, therefore, “ plein de danger et de péril ” (222). About balls, François declares, he has the same opinion that doctors do about pumpkins and mushrooms: even the very best of them are totally worthless. “ Si 11 See Ruth Murphy ’ s discussion of “ la civilité chrétienne ”. According to Richard Strier, François would have his readers become “ Christian versions of the honnêtehomme ” (38). 12 Strier cites this passage as evidence of the link between sociability and charity (41). 13 Viviane Mellinghoff-Bourgerie points out that “ la recherche d ’ une conduite extérieure impeccable semble avoir été l ’ une des préoccupations majeures de François, dès sa jeunesse ” (60). More severe in his priestly life than in his writing, François once had St. Jeanne de Chantal discipline her taste by eating olives, which he knew she disliked. On another occasion, he insisted that she consume an especially unappealing concoction of “ limaces fricassées ” (Bremond 105). Michael S. Koppisch 536 néanmoins il faut manger des potirons, prenez garde qu ’ ils soient bien apprêtés, ” and should there be no polite way of declining an invitation to a ball, “ prenez garde que votre danse soit bien apprêtée, ” that is, modest, dignified, and well-intentioned. Doctors recommend avoiding mushrooms: “ Mangez-en peu et peu souvent ” (223). François gives the same advice about balls: “ dansez peu, et peu souvent ” (223). He agrees with Pliny that the spongy, porous quality of mushrooms allows them to soak up any infection in the vicinity. Balls, those “ assemblées ténébreuses, ” those “ impertinentes récréations, ” like mushrooms, “ attirent ordinairement les vices et péchés qui règnent en un lieu ” (223). So what is to be done if one must absolutely attend a ball? After eating mushrooms, “ il faut boire du vin précieux; et je dis qu ’ après les danses il faut user de quelques saintes et bonnes considérations, ” that is, turn one ’ s mind to more sober thoughts (224). For example, one might consider that “ À même temps que vous étiez au bal, plusieurs âmes brûlaient au feu d ’ enfer pour les péchés commis à la danse ou à cause de la danse ” (224). Alternatively, one could call up in one ’ s mind ’ s eye the agonizing death of some poor souls or the painful illness that others endured while the ball was going on. Whatever the penance chosen, dancing will have exacted an even heavier toll than eating the noxious mushrooms, but, like eating, it will also have found a place in the dancer ’ s devout life. François defines that life explicitly and simply in the third part of the Introduction: “ La seule charité nous met en la perfection: mais l ’ obéissance, la chasteté et la pauvreté sont les trois grands moyens pour l ’ acquérir ” (161). These three virtues are what he calls “ les trois branches de la croix spirituelle, ” and all three have their foundation in a fourth, humility (161), 14 whose natural habitat François locates in the kitchen, where the most basic work of preparing food is done by those who occupy the lowest place in the social order of his day. Most people have little capacity or inclination for the lofty heights of rapture and ecstasy or the performance of heroic acts of virtue. Nor does God expect this of them: “ Laissons volontiers les suréminences aux âmes surélevées: nous ne méritons pas un rang si haut au service de Dieu; trop heureux serons-nous de le servir en sa cuisine, en sa paneterie, d ’ être des laquais, portefaix, garçons de chambre ” (132). No matter what one ’ s station in life, one must love and serve the poor by way of participating in their poverty. François urges Philothée, for whom he is writing in the Introduction à la vie dévote, to associate with the poor, to 14 Butler ’ s Lives of the Saints mentions the importance of humility in the thought of François de Sales: “ Being asked one day by a nun to write down what virtue he specially wished them [nuns] to cultivate, he wrote on a sheet of paper, in huge letters, the one word ‘ Humility ’” (200). Food and Devotion in François de Sales’s Introduction à la vie dévote 537 speak freely with them, and, in the end, to be “ plus pauvre que les pauvres ” (174). A good place to do this is in the kitchen: “ rendez-vous donc servante des pauvres; allez les servir dans leurs lits quand ils sont malades; [...] soyez leur cuisinière, et à vos propres dépens ” (174). Two of the saints whom François most admired spent lots of time in the kitchen or at table. Although a great and powerful king, Saint Louis “ servait fort souvent à la table des pauvres qu ’ il nourrissait, et en faisait venir presque tous les jours trois à la sienne, et souvent il mangeait les restes de leur potage avec un amour non pareil ” (174-75). 15 Catherine of Siena was among those saints who experienced “ tant de ravissements et d ’ élévations d ’ esprit ” (227) that François has no doubt about her extraordinary holiness. Her extreme humility, displayed in her father ’ s kitchen, impresses him just as deeply: “ mais j ’ ai été également consolé quand je l ’ ai vue en la cuisine de son père tourner humblement la broche, attiser le feu, apprêter la viande, pétrir le pain et faire tous les plus bas offices de la maison ” (227). Since she performed these seemingly insignificant acts for God, François honors her work in the kitchen no less than her states of ecstasy in prayer. Catherine once again proves her saintly humility when, in the Traité de l ’ amour de Dieu, she and another saint engage in a singularly unappetizing bit of ingestion: “ ils léchaient et mangeaient les ulcères des ladres et chancreux ” (743). Catherine ’ s gesture of submission to God and her will to serve Him at any cost recall to François de Sales the advice of Saint Paul to the Corinthians: “ Soit que vous mangiez, soit que vous buviez, [...] soit que vous tourniez la broche [...] vous profiterez beaucoup devant Dieu, faisant toutes ces choses parce que Dieu veut que vous les fassiez ” (228). 16 By being dedicated to God, humble service in the kitchen, eating, and drinking find a place of honor in the devout life. Dedication to that life preserves the soul, and François, in one of his most striking images, compares devotion to the steeping of fruits in sugar and honey. Frequent reception of the Eucharist, for example, keeps the soul safe from sin by a process similar to that of preserving fruits: Que si les fruits les plus tendres et sujets à corruption, comme sont les cerises, les abricots et les fraises, se conservent aisément toute l ’ année étant confits au sucre et au miel, [...] nos cœurs, quoique frêles et imbéciles, sont préservés de la corruption du péché lorsqu ’ ils sont sucrés et emmiellés de la chair et du sang incorruptible du Fils de Dieu. (116) 15 So impressed was François by Saint Louis ’ s gesture of humility that he speaks of it again, using virtually the same words, in the Traité de l ’ amour de Dieu (743). 16 In his edition of François de Sales, André Ravier has italicized and identified quotations from the Bible. The italicized passage in this citation is from 1 Cor. 10.31. Michael S. Koppisch 538 The tartness of some fruits, like the quince, makes them palatable only as preserves. Others, like cherries and apricots, are so delicate that they must be macerated if they are to last very long: “ Ainsi, ” François says, “ les femmes doivent souhaiter que leurs maris soient confits au sucre de la dévotion, car l ’ homme sans dévotion est un animal sévère, âpre et rude ” (239). In another passage, he explains the reasons for which people must treat not only others but also themselves with gentle understanding. For undue harshness toward oneself results in anger, or, more properly, in a “ cœur confit et détrempé en la colère ” (156). The ideal, as François writes in the Traité de l ’ amour de Dieu, is hearts “ détrempés en la sacrée dilection par le Saint-Esprit qui habite en nous ” (887-88). A good reputation resembles a vessel in which human virtue can be preserved by divine love: Conservons nos vertus [...] mais comme ceux qui veulent garder les fruits ne se contentent pas de les confire, ains les mettent dedans des vases propres à la conservation d ’ iceux, de même, bien que l ’ amour divin soit le principal conservateur de nos vertus, si est-ce que nous pouvons encore employer la bonne renommée comme fort propre et utile à cela. (149) To restore damaged fruit or virtue defiled requires maceration in some preserving medium. Chastity, once stained, shares the fate of blemished fruits, which “ étant une fois entamés, il est presque impossible de les garder que par le miel et le sucre, en confiture: ainsi la chasteté [...] étant une fois entamée, rien ne la peut conserver qu ’ une excellente dévotion, laquelle, comme j ’ ai souvent dit, est le vrai miel et sucre des esprits ” (165). Like any good writer, François has obviously chosen his image carefully and is aware that he uses it often. Gastronomical imagery serves François especially well in his chapter on the “ honnêteté du lit nuptial ” (240-44), in which he lays out the rules to be followed in sexual relations between husbands and wives. To avoid speaking directly about such taboo matters, he equates marital sexuality and eating, for both “ les voluptés honteuses et celles du manger [...] regardent la chair ” (240). The chapter begins and concludes with the writer ’ s calling attention to his rhetorical strategy. Before enumerating the laws of correct sexual behavior, François says: “ J ’ expliquerai donc ce que je ne puis pas dire des unes [voluptés honteuses] par ce que je dirai des autres [celles du manger] ” (240). The chapter ends with an expression of satisfaction at his having used his imagery successfully: “ Je pense avoir dit tout ce que je voulais dire, et fait entendre sans le dire ce que je ne voulais pas dire ” (244). This particular “ amas d ’ avertissements de bonne foi ” (25) has been very carefully designed, and François speaks of himself as a writer aware of his art and pleased with his efforts. Food and Devotion in François de Sales’s Introduction à la vie dévote 539 If the rules themselves, of which there are seven, follow strictly the teachings of the Church, the imagery is remarkably explicit. The purpose of marriage is the propagation of the race, and eating “ pour nourrir et conserver la personne est une bonne chose, sainte et commandée. ” This it shares with “ ce qui est requis au mariage pour la production des enfants ” (240). In keeping with his call for civility in human relations, François points out that eating preserves not only life but also “ la mutuelle conversation et condescendance que nous nous devons les uns aux autres ” (240- 41). Similarly, “ la réciproque et légitime satisfaction des parties au saint Mariage ” is a duty that neither husband nor wife may abrogate without the consent of the other, “ même pour les exercices de la dévotion ” (241). 17 Eating only because one is hungry, without keeping in mind the necessity of civil discourse at table, is “ supportable mais non pas pourtant louable ” (241). “ Le simple plaisir de l ’ appétit sensuel ” can never be more than “ supportable ” and may be much worse (241). Gluttonous eating, on the other hand, “ est chose plus ou moins vitupérable ” and to be avoided (241). How one eats also matters. Honey, so good for bees in most circumstances, can at times give them “ le flux de ventre ” and even kill them if it covers their head or wings (241). Improper marital relations, such as “ l ’ infâme et exécrable action que Onan faisait en son mariage, ” carry the same danger of death, the spiritual death of mortal sin (242). The commerce between a husband and his wife has a specific purpose, procreation. Limited to that end or, at least, “ comme si c ’ était avec espérance de la production des enfants ” (241), marital relations conform to the dictates of the devout life. They must never, however, be the source of prurience: C ’ est une vraie marque d ’ un esprit truand, vilain, abject et infâme de penser aux viandes et à la mangeaille avant le temps du repas, et encore plus quand après icelui on s ’ amuse au plaisir que l ’ on a pris à manger, s ’ y entretenant par paroles et pensées, et vautrant son esprit dedans le souvenir de la volupté que l ’ on a eue en avalant les morceaux, comme font ceux qui devant dîner tiennent leur esprit en broche et après dîner dans les plats. (242) People who behave in such disgusting fashion are “ gens dignes d ’ être souillards de cuisine ” (242). After a meal, it is preferable to wash one ’ s hands, rinse out one ’ s mouth, and retain neither the taste nor the odor of 17 François refers his reader back to his chapter on frequent Communion, where he wrote that “ C ’ est chose indécente, bien que non pas grand péché, de solliciter le payment du devoir nuptial le jour que l ’ on s ’ est communié, mais ce n ’ est pas chose malséante, ains plutôt méritoire de le payer ” (118). Michael S. Koppisch 540 what has been eaten. The elephant is, in this regard, an exemplary beast: always faithful to the same female, he mates with her in secret for five days every three years and on the sixth day, washes himself in a river. François invites the reader to make the obvious connection between the elephant and the fastidious diner and take to heart the lesson offered. In François de Sales ’ s Introduction à la vie dévote, images of eating, cooking, and working in the kitchen are rich, varied, and perfectly adapted to the simple style in which the author intentionally couches his central message, that the devout life beckons all people, not just those who reject the world and leave it. He was certainly influenced in his choice of these and other images by his thorough knowledge of the Bible. It is clear, however, that, like the thoughtful writer he was, François consciously deploys his imagery to draw his reader into both the language of his text and the devout life that it defines. 18 Works Cited Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne. Œuvres. Ed. B. Velat et Yvonne Champailler. Paris: Gallimard, 1961. Bremond, Henri. Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France depuis la fin des guerres de religion jusqu’à nos jours. Vol. 1. Paris: Bloud et Gay, 1916. Butler, Alban. Lives of the Saints. Ed. Herbert Thurston, S.J. and Donald Attwater. Rev. Ed. Vol. 1. New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1962. Henry-Coüannier, Maurice. Saint François de Sales and his Friends. Trans. Veronica Morrow. Staten Island, N.Y.: Alba House, 1964. Lemaire, Henri. François de Sales: Docteur de la confiance et de la paix. Paris: Beauchesne, 1963. ----. Les images chez St. François de Sales. Paris: Nizet, 1962. Mellinghoff-Bourgerie, Viviane. François de Sales: Un homme de lettres spirituelles. Geneva: Droz, 1999. Murphy, Ruth. Saint François de Sales et la civilité chrétienne. Paris: Nizet, 1964. Ravier, André. Un sage et un saint: François de Sales. Paris: Nouvelle Cité, 1985. Sainte-Beuve, Charles-Augustin. Port-Royal. Vol. 1. Paris: Gallimard, 1953. Sales, François de, Saint. Œuvres. Ed. André Ravier. Paris: Gallimard, 1969. Strier, Richard. “ Sanctifying the Aristocracy: ‘Devout Humanism’ in François de Sales, John Donne, and George Herbert. ” The Journal of Religion 69 (1989): 36-58. Strowski, Fortunat. Saint François de Sales. Paris: Plon, 1928. The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Ed. Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford UP, 1965. 18 Frieda S. Brown and Paula B. Koppisch read drafts of this essay. Their insights and suggestions were most helpful. Food and Devotion in François de Sales’s Introduction à la vie dévote 541 Tobin, Ronald W. Tarte à la crème: Comedy and Gastronomy in Molière’s Theater. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1990. Trouncer, Margaret. The Gentleman Saint: St. François de Sales and his Times, 1567-1622. London: Hutchinson, 1963.
