The Venerable Servant of God Camille Costa de Beauregard was born in Chambéry, France, on 17 February 1841, fifth of the eleven children of Marquis Pantaleón, gentleman of King Charles Albert, and Donna Marta Saint-George de Vérac. Having completed his studies in several religious colleges, he experienced a period of loss. After the crisis, in November 1863 he entered the French Seminary in Rome and on 26 May 1866 he was ordained a priest in the St John Lateran Basilica. After ordination he spent another year in Rome, continuing his studies and refusing to enter the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics to pursue a diplomatic career. He therefore returned to his diocese in Chambéry and on 3 August 1867 was appointed assistant parish priest of the cathedral.
The cholera epidemic left a large number of orphans as a sad legacy: the Abbé Costa de Beauregard then decided not to abandon them to their hard fate by bringing them together in a building donated by Count Ernest de Boigne. Thus began de Beauregard's commitment to orphans and the education of children by reading the needs that history placed before him, from a perspective of faith. The Orphelinat founded in Le Bocage, on the outskirts of Chambéry, has developed over the years with several branches, thus being able to accommodate up to 175 young people.
Abbé de Beauregard stands out for the attention paid even to the smallest details of the charitable and social activity of his Work, often taking care personally, and even in the smallest details, of the progress of the houses, workshops and farm for the preparation of children for future farmers. The Venerable's rich charitable and apostolic activity, his zeal as an educator and formator is particularly praised, teaching young people to live a Christian life: teaching the faith and catechetics is a task that he reserved for himself.
Fully committed to what he felt was his vocation, he twice declined the offer to make him bishop. The rich heritage that he inherited from his aristocratic family gave was completely given to his work, starting with the Orphelinat del Bocage, a work that would continue over time under the direction of the French Salesians.
His spiritual and apostolic profile, characterised by the exemplary practice of virtues such as charity, humility and poverty, would be described by the Archbishop of Chambéry, Archbishop Dominique Castellan, as a "happy encounter of the charity of St Vincent de Paul with the gentleness of St Francis de Sales."
Abbé Camille Costa de Beauregard died on 25 March 1910, a few months before the episode of healing, attributed to his intercession, of the little orphan René Jacquemond. His mortal remains were transferred to the Orphelinat du Bocage almost immediately, in 1911, by virtue of the reputation he immediately enjoyed, while Abbé Ernest Costa de Beauregard was his successor. The introduction of the Cause of Beatification took place on 25 January 1961. Pope St John Paul II authorised the publication of the Decree on the Heroic Virtues of the Servant of God Camille Costa de Beauregard on 22 January 1991.
From the beginning, the Cause for the Beatification of Camille Costa de Beauregard was followed by the Salesian General Postulation. In recent years, the Postulator General, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, with the collaboration and support of the Archdiocese of Chambery, the Costa de Beauregard Committee and the Fondation du Bocage, has accompanied and promoted the Cause of the Venerable.
