Saint Who?
Saints Who Took Detours in Life
Blessed César de Bus
Priest and founder († 1607) Feast: April 15
César was born into a large family in France and attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, he wrote plays and painted, but he chose a military rather than a literary career and entered the army at the age of eighteen. For the next several years, César pursued all the lowest pleasures available to a soldier and ignored God.
Some biographies say that César came back to the faith during a serious illness. Others say that as he was passing a church late at night, the sight of a burning candle reminded him of a pious friend who was praying for his salvation. Whatever the cause—besides God’s grace—César turned his life around and recognized a call to the priesthood.
César was not ordained until the age of thirty-eight, and he died at the age of sixty-three. He served as a catechist and founded a religious order devoted to providing religious education. Inspired by the example of Saint Charles Borromeo, César sought to bring fallen-away Catholics back to the Church. In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, he developed a system of whole-family catechesis and wrote a manual of catechetics, although it wasn’t published until decades after his death.
Lord Jesus Christ, make us aware of our need
for a Savior when we have separated ourselves
from your grace.
