“You aim at true devotion, my dear Philothea, because, as a Christian, you know how acceptable it is to the Divine Majesty. But inasmuch as trifling errors at the outset of any undertaking are wont to increase rapidly as we advance, frequently becoming almost irreparable, it is needful that, first of all, you should ascertain wherein lies the virtue of devotion; for there are many counterfeits, but only one true devotion...”

The “Philothea” or “Introduction to the Devout Life” is meant for all Christians. St. Francis himself tells us that too many spiritual authors addressed themselves in their writings to priests only, to religious men and women living under a special rule that obliged them to aim at a higher perfection.

These authors did not address the vast majority of their brethren who had no other guide but the Gospel. They had cloistered the principles of sanctity and made asceticism a closed book to them. Yet Our Lord had preached that perfection was meant for all men. He had called all to perfection, that perfection at least which they might attain in their various states of life. “Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

It is the special merit of the Bishop of Geneva to have opened the too rigidly barred gates of asceticism; to have given asceticism, devotion an open entrance into the court, the camp, the farm-house, the fashionable salon or parlor, the work-shop of the laborer; to have taught with unsurpassed authority, sweetness and charm, that the very height of sanctity and perfection might be attained by any man or woman who, in the fear of God and His Love, fulfills all the duties of the state of life in which his lot has been cast.