Bl.James Salès

Born in 1556, the son of a manservant
Joined the Jesuits.

In 1592, in the company of William Saulte-mouche, a temporal coadjutor, he was sent to preach the Advent course at Aubenas in the Cévennes. His sermons, in which he attacked the teaching of the Protestants, were a great success, and the town being then without a parish priest, Blessed James was begged to remain until Easter.

Early in February 1593, a band of Huguenot raiders dragged the Jesuits before an improvised court of Calvinist ministers. After a heated theological discussion, Salès was dragged from the hall and shot, while Saulte-mouche, who refused to make his escape, was stabbed to death

Died 1593; beatified in 1926.