Background
Jean-Pierre Camus was the son of Jean Camus, seigneur de Saint Bonnet, who was governor of Étampes.
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Jean-Pierre Camus was the son of Jean Camus, seigneur de Saint Bonnet, who was governor of Étampes.
As a young man he traveled about Europe, and following his theological studies he became a priest in 1608. In the same year Henry IV, necessitating a dispensation from Pope Paul V, appointed him bishop of Belley (1609–1628) and Camus became a fervent disciple of Saint François de Sales. Camus gave three speeches at the États-Généraux of 1614.
After the death of François de Sales, Camus remained in Belley for a five more years, and then resigned his post in 1628.
He was briefly given a position at the Abbey of Aunay in 1629, and subsequently performed other duties for the archbishop of Rouen. In the last years of his life, he consecrated himself to working with the poor in Paris.
In 1652, he was appointed bishop of Arras, but died shortly thereafter. As an orator, Camus was a product of the 17th century Baroque school of preaching.
In form, he believed the sermon should exude good literary style, including ample illustrations and vivid examples designed to entertain the audience.
His sermons occasionally took the form of moral exhortation - which foreshadowed the practice of later Neoclassical preachers - and drew on the lives of the saints as moral exemplars, of whom Charles Borromeo and Ignatius of Loyola were favorite of his.