Thursday, April 15
Blessed Cesar De Bus (France, 1544-1607)
Jesuit, Founder of Fathers of Christian Doctrine
Born to wealthy parents, Cesar had a choice of careers before him - as a promising writer, or to join the army.
He chose the latter which also enabled him to be a royal courtier. In 1572, he fought with the French army in
the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, which began with targeted assassination of French Protestant (Huguenot)
leaders and soon turned into mob violence by Roman Catholic groups, in which estimates of the dead ranged
from 5,000 to 30,000, It remains one of the most infamous of crimes imputed to Catholics. Inspired by the life
of St. Charles Borromeo, Cesar decided to become a priest, and was ordained in the Jesuit order in 1582. For
his apostolate, he chose to catechize villagers in out of the way places. This led him to found the Fathers of
Christian Doctrine in 1592 dedicated to family catechesis as a way to ward off heresy among the faithful. In
1666, five volumes of his 'Instructions for families' were published in Paris. St. Francis de Sales would later
call him 'a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of catechesis'. He was beatified in 1975, but his name
is still not included in any online list of Jesuit saints and blesseds, even those updated in 2010.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/041510.shtml
OR today.
At the General Audience, the Pope reminds priests of their duties:
'Christ is never absent in the Church'
He expresses prayers and solidarity for the earthquake victims in China
Other Page 1 stories: A report on the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck part of the Tibetan plateau
early Wednesday; and a UNICEF report on the plight of hatian children three months after the earthquake.
In the inside pages, Cardinal Beertone's message of hope for the Chilean people as he ends an eight-day
visit, and a story on the 30th anniversary of the OR's monthly edition in Polish.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father began the day by offering Mass at the Pauline chapel
with the members of the Pontifical
Bibilical Commission meeting in Rome this week.
Later, he met with
- Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
- Bishops of Brazil (North Sector, Group 2) on ad limina visit.
Later he met the whole entire delegation. Address in Portuguese.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 15/04/2010 21:55]