CAMUS, JEAN-PIERRE. — Bishop and prolific writer, b. in Paris on 3 Nov. 1584, d. there on 25 Apr. 1652. He initially entered the magistracy and for a considerable time studied under Montaigne, whose method and style continued to influence him, even when, having left the bar, he joined the ranks of the clergy. He soon distinguished himself by his eloquence; Henry IV therefore proposed him as bishop of Belley. He was in fact consecrated there on 30 Aug. 1609, after receiving a dispensation on account of his excessively young age—25—from St. François de Sales, whose faithful disciple he thereafter remained, absorbing his example and doctrine. In 1629 he resigned the bishopric and received in exchange the abbey of Aulnay in Normandy; but, soon tiring of that life of repose, he was for a short time vicar general at Rouen, from where he went to Paris, to the hospice for the incurables, determined to devote himself entirely to the relief of the poor. He would have become bishop of Arras, at the proposal of Louis XIV, had he not died before the arrival of the bulls.
His works number more than 200; among them are 40 novels, which he wrote for young people, whom he observed to be passionate readers of love stories, with the aim of gradually leading them from human love to divine love. The plot is handled well, with attractive scenes, at times naïve and at times indiscreet, and sometimes even daring; with this particular feature, that the author uses them to polemicize, in matters of asceticism, against religious on account of their defects, their attachment to money, and their claim that perfection was reserved solely for them, whereas C. insists that it belongs to all Christians; hence heated polemics on both sides. He confirms the same ideas in another form in his sermons and ascetical works, which deal with almost every subject, according to the way in which controversy provokes them. Of these, the work that is still known is the Esprit du bienheureux François de Sales (6 vols., Paris 1639-41; later reduced to one volume by Collot [Paris 1727], and reprinted several times), in which C. mingles his own thoughts with those of the holy Doctor, developing and commenting on them, so that he could say with Bremond that the work contains « un François de Sales camusine ».