His ardent love of God and souls, his great kindliness, rare wisdom and sure teaching made St. Francis exceptionally influential in bringing about conversions and in guiding souls in the spiritual life. He was bishop of Geneva. He won back to the faith more than 70,000 heretics, thus restoring to the Church a great part of the Chablais, which had been ravaged by Protestantism. He was St. Jane de Chantal’s director, and with her founded the Order of the Visitation; it was for the Visitandines that he wrote his famous “Treatise on the Love of God.” Another of his works, the “Introduction to the Devout Life,” was written for people in the world, and its deep and lasting influence has had a great effect on the spirituality of our times. St. Francis of Sales died at Lyons in 1622.