Interestingly as I was reading about Saint Francis De Sales 1567-1622(whose feast day was last week) I discovered that he is credited with writing the first Christian tracts!
From Catholic Online
For three years, he trudged through the countryside, had doors slammed in his face and rocks thrown at him. In the bitter winters, his feet froze so badly they bled as he tramped through the snow. He slept in haylofts if he could, but once he slept in a tree to avoid wolves. He tied himself to a branch to keep from falling out and was so frozen the next morning he had to be cut down. And after three years, his cousin had left him alone and he had not made one convert.
Francis' unusual patience kept him working. No one would listen to him, no one would even open their door. So Francis found a way to get under the door. He wrote out his sermons, copied them by hand, and slipped them under the doors. This is the first record we have of religious tracts being used to communicate with people.
The parents wouldn't come to him out of fear. So Francis went to the children. When the parents saw how kind he was as he played with the children, they began to talk to him.
By the time, Francis left to go home he is said to have converted 40,000 people back to Catholicism.
So as it turns out, writing and distributing Christian tracts is a very "Catholic" thing to do!
3 comments:
Excellent Post Elena!!!
who knew?
The leaflets are still in print. They are published in book form under the title The Catholic Controversy by Tan books. I found them to be very excellent.
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