Camille Costa de Beauregard, born in Chambéry in 1841, will be beatified on May 17 in his hometown, becoming the only French person to receive this honor in 2025. The ceremony, which had been suspended pending the election of the new Pope, was confirmed after the designation of Leo XIV on May 8. This long and rigorous process seeks to offer Catholics a model of exemplary life.
A life dedicated to orphans and the needy
Coming from an influential family, Camille studied at the seminary in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1867. After serving as a vicar in the cathedral of Chambéry, he founded together with Father Chenal the Society of Saint Francis de Sales, a mutual aid society and a retirement fund. However, the cholera epidemic that struck the poorest families changed his course. Seeing so many orphaned children, he decided to take them in. In 1868, the Count of Boigne rented him a house to shelter the little ones. Thus was born the Orphanage of Bocage, dedicated to the education and care of disadvantaged youth. «He chose a darker path after encountering orphans whose parents had died of cholera; he made a radical decision,» explains Gabriel Tardy, vice president of the Association of Friends of Camille Costa de Beauregard. Today, the Bocage Foundation includes a children’s home, a horticultural center, and a vocational high school, hosting more than 400 young people.
The «Savoyard Don Bosco»
Thus he is known, in reference to the contemporary Turin saint, whom he met in 1879. «He did not immediately realize that Camille had the same educational intuitions as Don Bosco,» notes Tardy. His pedagogy, based on benevolence, respect, and recognition of children, opposed the rigid and violent education of the time. «It is better to sin by excess of mercy than by excess of rigor,» he used to say. He promoted mountain walks and music as formative axes.
Fragile health and spiritual strength
Despite growing up in the family castle of La Motte-Servolex, an illness forced him to study at home. Later, at the seminary in Rome, he suffered from severe headaches and what today would be diagnosed as depression. «He never complained in public, but he wrote about it,» details theologian Jean-François Chiron. «He performed acts that seem ordinary, but he accomplished them in an extraordinary way.»
The healing miracle
In 1910, a boy injured in the eye was entrusted to the priest’s intercession. After nine days of prayer and the application of a handkerchief that belonged to him, the eye healed completely. The event, documented by the Archbishop of Chambéry, was found years later in archives. Medical experts certified its inexplicable nature, paving the way for beatification.
Original source: france3-regions.franceinfo.fr (published May 17, 2025)
Photo: Jose Antoinne on Unsplash
