#blcesardebus

Our Lady of Kieff, 1010 and Memorials of the Saints – 15 April

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter +2021 Our Lady of Kieff, 1010 – 15 April: Kieff on the banks of the Dneiper River was the first resting place of this famous image of Mary. Here, according to legend, the Apostle Saint Andrew had once stopped on his way from Constantinople to Rome. Waking in the morning to the sights of the heights of Kieff, he was moved to prophecy: “See those hills? On…

Wednesday of the Easter Octave +2020 & Memorials of the Saints – 15 April

Wednesday of the Easter Octave +2020

St Abbo II of Metz St Abbondio St Acuta St Basilissa of Rome Blessed Cesar de Bus (1544-1607) Biography: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/saint-of-the-day-15-april-bl-cesar-de-bus/

St Crescens of Myra St Eutyches of Rome St Eutychius of Ferentino St Huna of Slättåkra St Hunna (of…

Thought for the Day – 15 April – The Third Sunday of Easter Year B and the Memorial of Blessed César de Bus (1544-1607)

He was born in Cavillon, France, on 3 February 1544, the seventh of thirteen children. Though he had a good Jesuit education, he was a worldly young man who couldn’t decide between the career of a soldier and that of a writer.   In the end, he decided for the military.   It was the time of the bloody Wars of Religion in France, when it hung in the balance whether France would remain Catholic or become Protestant.   And yet, despite fighting in the Catholic cause, César himself led a life of dissipation:  he was known as a party boy, as a dandy, as one who wanted to make his way at the royal court in Paris.   He also still had literary ambitions.

Now César’s brother was a priest, a cathedral canon with a good income.   When his brother died, César succeeded in gaining the income from his late brother’s position without himself actually being a priest or doing anything in return for the income.   It was an abuse that often happened in Catholic France in those days:  a layman would hold a clerical position simply as a source of revenue.   Just in case you don’t know, the wasteful and worldly squandering of the Church’s goods is not exactly a new problem.   It was well-known and widely criticised in the 16th century, too.

But then something unexpected happened.  César had come to know an illiterate but very pious servant girl named Antoinette Reveillade.   This young woman had persuaded César to read to her the lives of the saints, even while Antoinette fervently and in tears begged God that death would not find César in mortal sin.   He at first shrugged off her concern.   Then, one night, as César was on his way to a masked ball, he passed a shrine where a light burned before the image of Our Lady.   Suddenly he remembered Antoinette and was stricken with remorse and felt an overwhelming desire to repent and amend his life.   He thought, “How can I recommend myself to God while I am on the way to offend Him?”   In the words of one of César’s biographers, “One tempestuous night, the All-powerful God, the King of Glory, encountered the worldly chevalier César de Bus, obstinate in sin, and conquered him.”   There and then, like St Paul on the road to Damascus, he was converted to Christ.

César resumed at last his studies for the priesthood and was ordained a priest at last in 1582 at the age of thirty-eight.   He read the life of the Catholic Reformer St Charles Borromeo and became convinced that widespread religious ignorance was the cause of many scandals and failures among French Catholics.   But César didn’t just complain or wring his hands:  he did something about it.

First, he converted his cousin Jean-Baptiste back to the Catholic faith. Jean-Baptiste had become a convinced Calvinist because of the impressive zeal and strictness shown by French Protestants, who so often put the Catholics to shame.   After Jean-Baptiste returned to the Church, he, too, was ordained a priest.   César and his cousin then dedicated the rest of their lives to the work of catechesis, founding an order for that purpose called the Fathers of Christian Doctrine and also a similar order for women. After his conversion, Blessed César directed his energies to two things:  penance for his earlier life and the teaching of doctrine.   And yet, it was actually an unlettered servant girl’s prayers that had led to the grace of his conversion.   This reminds us that it is only the love of God and of neighbour that can inspire the teaching of sound doctrine and make it fruitful in our lives.   And yet, true charity cannot be content that those whom Christ has redeemed by his Most Precious Blood should be ignorant of divine truth. Ignorance is not bliss, in religion or in anything else.

Blessed César died on 15 April 1607 and was beatified in 1975.   At the beatification, Pope Paul VI (who will soon be Canonised) had this to say about the parallels between our age and that of Blessed César:

“[Our time] is a period in which the world is in crisis, as formerly and in which most values, even the most sacred ones, are rashly questioned in the name of freedom, so that many people have no longer any point of reference, in a period in which danger comes certainly not from an excess of dogmatism but rather from the dissolution of doctrine and the nebulousness of thought… It seems to Us that an additional effort should be courageously undertaken to give the Christian people, who are waiting for it more than is thought, a solid, exact catechetical base, easy to remember.   We well understand that it is difficult today to adhere to the Faith, particularly for the young, a prey to so many uncertainties.   They have the right at least to know precisely the message of Revelation, which is not the fruit of research and to be the witnesses of a Church that lives by it.”

César de Bus had seen how religious divisions and social upheaval had devastated the faith of many.   Amid all the fighting about religion between Catholics and Protestants—and among French Catholics, too—, there was considerable neglect of the actual practice of the faith.

And, like that great saint, we can do something about the situation.   Think of that amazing story of Blessed César’s conversion and ask his intercession for a renewed zeal for the teaching of sound doctrine in our pulpits, our schools, and our catechetical programs.

In the words of the Letter to the Hebrews, let us “lift up our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees” (Heb 12.12), for the Lord himself is calling us to work in His vineyard.   Blessed César de Bus, pray for us!

Blessed Memorial of – Bl Cesar de Bus - 15 April -  (1544-1607) Priest, teacher, Founder of two religious congregations: the Secular Priests of the Christian Doctrine and the Daughters of the Christian Doctrine – Patron of Catechists.

Cesar was born at Cavaillon, France and little is known about his early life, with the exception that he was middle child – the seventh of thirteen children and raised as a pious child.lived both piously and virtuously.    At eighteen years old, he joined the French army,and took part in the king’s war against the Huguenots.      Back in his home town of Cavaillon, he took over the position of his late brother as canon of Salon, a position he wanted for its income and connections instead of its spiritual significance. One night while on his way to a masked ball, he passed a shrine where a small light was burning before an image of the Virgin Mary. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the memory that a friend, Antoinette Reveillade, had prayed fervently for his salvation.   He realised that there was no way he could live a life offending God and then expect to be accepted in the end.  There, on the road, he had a complete conversion.  He returned to his studies, resumed his pious lifestyle and was soon ordained to the priesthood at the age of 38.

Upon ordination, Cesar immediately distinguished himself by his works of charity, serving all in need.    He was profoundly affected reading a biography of Saint Charles Borromeo and tried to take him as a model in all things, especially his devotion to catechesis. He worked as a catechist in Aix-in-Provence, France, an area in turmoil following the Religious Wars. Saint Francis de Sales called him “a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of Catechesis.”    He founded the Ursulines of Province and the Fathers of Christian Doctrine (Doctrinarians).   The Fathers were destroyed during the French Revolution but an Italian branch, the Doctrinarian Fathers continues today with houses in Italy, France and Brazil.   He further demonstrated great effectiveness and zeal in preaching.    He focused primarily on those who would receive the Word of God from no one else—those living in horrible conditions, living out of city in the countryside and those marginalised by society.    He further focused on catechesis of the family, instructing the parents alongside the children, something which had previously not been done.    The congregation was approved by Pope Clement VIII. A few years later, Cesar founded a companion congregation, the Daughters of the Christian Doctrine.

Blessed Cesar wrote five volumes on the Catechism, portions of which continue in use today.    His Instructions for the Family on the Four Parts of the Roman Catechism, was published 60 years after his death.   He died on Easter Sunday, 15 April 1607 in Avignon, Vaucluse, France of natural causes and his remains are interred in the church of Saint Mary in Monticelli in Rome, Italy.   Blessed Pope Paul VI at his Beatification:  “He learns in this way to seek and love sacrifice, for sacrifice configures one with Christ Suffering and Victorious. To offer himself as a libation, to leave everything in God’s hand at the cost of the greatest renunciations, this seems to have been the leitmotif, the perpetual aim of his efforts. And when, at the end of his life, suffering and afflicted with blindness for 14 years, he is at last able to prepare for the supreme gift, he will realize how useful asceticism has been to master the old Adam. He will be ready to meet the Lord. His joy will be perfect.”

He was beatified on 27 April 1975 by Blessed Pope Paul VI who said at the ceremony:

“The work of Cesar de Bus continues to generate, after three centuries, our admiration. Here’s someone who got it right.    He recognised the needs of his time and he responded with equal generosity and efficiency.    Attracted by his vision and influence, other enthusiastic men were gradually gathered around him, learning how to approach the catechism and taking a lead from him.    Quickly they formed a religious family who, despite the vicissitudes of history, still flourishes today in various countries.    Now located in Cavaillon, France, the Fathers of Christian Doctrine know this day our special concern for them, our esteem, and they receive our wishes and encouragement!    We are pleased to honour them now in the person of their founder.

Memorials of the Saints – 15 April

St Abbo II of Metz St Abbondio St Acuta St Anastasia of Rome St Basilissa of Rome Bl Cesar de Bus (1544-1607) Biography:  https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/saint-of-the-day-15-april-bl-cesar-de-bus/

St Crescens of Myra St Eutyches of Rome St Eutychius of Ferentino St Huna of Slättåkra St Hunna (of Strasbourg) (died 679) The life of St Hunna: …