Saint Caesar’s devotion to Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother

Procession for the Feast of the Consolata in Turin

In May 2026, the communities of the Fraternity of the Word reflected and prayed about how to live the practice of the Rosary, also to understand the evangelizing power it brings when prayed together and as a community, involving so many others. Here are the suggestions they reflected on in the monthly Oratories.
The Rosary was born as the prayer of the poor and is dear to simple people, who allow themselves to be guided by Mary, our mother and the first disciple of her son, to delve deeper into the mysteries of Jesus’ life.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux said: “By following her you cannot go astray, by praying to her you cannot despair. If she supports you you will not fall, if she protects you you will not give in to fear, if she is favorable to you you will reach your goal.”
The joy of praying the Rosary together should make us understand the beauty of spiritual communion, which means taking on the prayers and expectations of those who are united in prayer with us at that moment.
The Rosary is an integral part of that “popular piety” that several Popes have spoken of as an evangelizing force.
Alongside the liturgy, Christian life is marked by pious exercises, by popular piety, such as the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, processions, and pilgrimages.
Saint Paul VI wrote that it “manifests a thirst for God that only the simple and poor can know; it makes one capable of generosity and sacrifice to the point of heroism, when it comes to manifesting one’s faith; it involves a keen sense of God’s profound attributes: fatherhood, providence, loving and constant presence; it generates interior attitudes rarely observed elsewhere to the same degree: patience, a sense of the cross in daily life, detachment, openness to others, devotion.”
Saint John Paul II confirmed: «Popular piety cannot be ignored or treated with indifference or contempt, because it is rich in values».
And Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, defined popular piety as “an authentic expression of the spontaneous missionary activity of the People of God. It is a constantly evolving reality, in which the Holy Spirit is the protagonist.” He also stated: “It is a legitimate way of living the faith, a way of feeling part of the Church, and of being missionaries; it brings with it the grace of missionary spirit, of coming out of oneself and of being a pilgrim: walking together toward shrines and participating in other manifestations of popular piety, even bringing one’s children or inviting others, is in itself an act of evangelization. Let us not coerce or presume to control this missionary force!”
Now let’s try to listen to Saint Cesare. It seems to me that Saint Cesare’s love and fidelity to the Madonna and the Rosary, as well as to “popular devotions” such as processions, were quite well-established. He considered them a true evangelizing force.
His first biographer, Father Marcel, wrote: “He had a tender devotion to Our Lady, in whose honor he recited a prayer every day with particular intensity and affection.” Saint Cesare had a small church dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows restored, where he is said to have had an apparition of Our Lady of Sorrows, and he often went there to pray with the poor of his city. To his nurse, Father Larme, Cesare confided: “The first grace he received from God after his Baptism was a singular devotion to Our Lady, cultivated since childhood.” And again: “I believe I recited the Rosary at least twenty thousand times during the fourteen years of blindness.”
How can we forget how the nocturnal singing of a Marian antiphon by the Poor Clares touched the heart of our Saint, sparking his “conversion.” And also how, during a brief illness, rather than remain idle, he himself made rosaries and distributed them to the people, to the point that his first biographer, Father Marcel, said: “Father Cesare was thus able to introduce the practice of the Rosary to Cavaillon, his hometown, offering many clergymen the opportunity to wear it on their belts and many laypeople to have it with them.”
In April, the Fraternities reflected on the relevance of Saint Caesar, who anticipated many modern insights: with his gradual and personalized catechetical method, including the use of posters he designed and later incorporated into catechesis; with his practice of Christian Doctrine, making himself understood by all in simple language; with his love for Sacred Scripture, which he communicated using the method of “lectio divina” and by encouraging popular devotions such as penitential processions, using the Cross he painted for that purpose.
I’ve always loved Saint Caesar, a modern and timely saint. As a Doctrinarie Family, let’s introduce him to those who don’t yet know him well, and let’s try, despite our own frailties, to be witnesses to all the beautiful things Saint Caesar loved.
How beautiful it would be to simply say what attracted you to Him and share with everyone your choice of the Fraternity of the Word as a path to holiness?

father Giambattista Carnevale Garé, DC