Emblemata Sacra

This volume includes the late Elisabeth Stopp's previously unpublished study of La vie symbolique du bienheureux François de Sales (1664) of Adrien Gambart (1660-68), an introductory essay by Agnès Guiderdoni-Bruslé that updates and amplifies Stopp's work, and a facsimile of Gambart's emblem book. This remarkable book was inspired by the life and writings of St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), and written for the Sisters of the Visitation monastery of Faubourg Saint-Jacques in Paris, where Gambart, a Vincentian priest, served as chaplain for over thirty years. It was published in preparation for Francis's canonization in 1665. Gambart's emblems visualize many of the literary images that Francis employs in his writings, as well as draws on other popular sources of the emblematic tradition. By means of the emblems, Gambart seeks to identify in a tangible and memorable way the truly remarkable qualities of Francis's life and the exceptional elements of Salesian spirituality. Such a method, Gambart avers, is in keeping with Francis's own profuse use of images and symbols to communicate his spiritual doctrine as concretely and clearly as possible. Each emblem invites the reader to reflect on an episode from Francis's biography or on one of his particular virtues. One emblem is provided for each of the fifty-two weeks of the year adn is explained by a meditation, which is then followed by seven points for prayer and resolution, one for each day of the week. Gambart called these points Fruits et pratiques (Fruits and Practice), a summary, as it were, of what was to be learned from meditation on the emblematic picture. Stopp's study offers an English translation of the key observations made by Gambart about eachy of the fifty-two emblems, while the facsimile makes available Gambart's original French text. Moreover, the facsimile is reproduced in color in order to convey the tonal richness of the original emblems. -- from back cover.