Salesian Spirituality
At DeSales University, you will be exposed to the virtues and philosophy of Christian Humanism as developed by our patron saint, St. Francis de Sales.
Among other traditional forms, Salesian Christian Humanism revels in the glory revealed by God, who guides history its path toward the perfection of love and who inserts into that history the human being created in the divine image and likeness, whose fullness is the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
Interest in the human person and the positive affirmation of human life and culture which stems from faith is the hallmark of any humanism qualified as “Christian.” Several salient features distinguish its worldview, including:
- an understanding of human nature as dependent on one’s relation to God
- an acknowledgment of human sinfulness and faith in the power of forgiveness
- an emphasis on human freedom as ordered to ultimate beauty, truth, and goodness
- an emphasis on human responsibility and against forms of determinism
- a vision of the individual as rooted in communion with God and others through the Church
- a vision of the universe as ordered by divine providence and oriented toward salvation
- a conviction that human history as a purpose for which Jesus Christ is the key
The ongoing promotion of Christian humanism seeks to provide a necessary corrective to other forms of humanism that can threaten human life in the twenty-first century, including:
- a scientific humanism that proclaims itself capable of explaining the human mind, human qualities, and religious faith itself, entirely by means of physical laws
- a technological humanism that locates meaningfulness in human capabilities alone, and fulfillment material objects of human production
- a secular humanism that seeks the full meaning of human existence within the boundaries of this age and this world itself
- an ethical humanism that values responding to human need but rejects religion as failing to foster independence and courage