From Swiss Army Officer to Jesuit Priest—The Wonderful Conversion of Father Nicholas Diessbach

Father Nicolas Joseph Albert von Diessbach, S. J. was born in Bern, Switzerland, on February 15, 1732. His family was Huguenot, and he was raised in the rigid, dry, and sterile morals of that Calvinist sect.

At the age of eleven, his parents placed him in the Swiss Army regiment commanded by his uncle, Count John Rudolf von Diessbach. His parents believed that Nicholas’s destiny lay in following the military career in which many of his ancestors had distinguished themselves.

As a teenager, he was already an experienced officer whose talents promised a brilliant career. He led the worldly and dissipated life typical of aristocratic youth of his time. That life soon led him to skepticism and the abandonment of religious practices.

Diessbach saw service in Turin with his regiment in the service of the King of Sardinia. There, the future Jesuit met the family of the Chevalier de Saint Pierre, the Spanish Consul in Nice, who used to spend his vacations in Turin. Little could Diessbach suppose that this social relationship would lead him to Catholicism.

Unfortunately, the events resulting in his conversion are obscure because of his extreme discretion when referring to this phase of his life. However, Fr. Candido Bona’s study of the various versions provided by biographers allows a probable reconstruction of the facts.

The Chevalier de Saint Pierre initially welcomed the Swiss officer into his home and family life. The Chevalier later became apprehensive, realizing that the Protestant young man nurtured a desire to marry one of his daughters. Diessbach, beloved by the whole family, became the target of an intense apostolate. The family employed every handy and discreet trick to convert him. During his visits, the conversation often turned to religious topics. Gradually, his anti-Catholic prejudices gave way, shaking his skepticism.

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At that time, he began attending sermons by Catholic apologists in Turin. These talks were designed to encourage Catholics to defend the Faith against Protestant deceptions and fighting heresy. These lectures on Catholic doctrine greatly impressed Diessbach. Gradually, they helped drive him further from his family’s Calvinism.

However, the Saint Pierre family was the most important instrument of grace used to persuade Diessbach to decide to study the Catholic religion seriously. In their untiring zeal, one day, they left a book they hoped he would read within his reach. Upon leafing through it, Diessbach became interested and read it. He was so impressed that he went to a Jesuit priest for enlightenment. On his advice, he asked for a leave of absence from his regiment and shut himself up in the Society’s college for two months. During that period, he studied the Catholic Faith under the guidance of the sons of Saint Ignatius. He emerged from there converted.

His conversion presented Nicholas Joseph with a serious problem. If it became known, his career would be cut short. Swiss laws tenaciously persecuted Catholicism. After consultation, the Archbishop of Turin, Giambattista Roero di Pralormo, allowed the conversion to take place in private. This precaution was of no avail. Diessbach’s attendance at Catholic churches and his assiduity in frequenting the sacraments made his conversion well-known. In September 1755, the Swiss War Office dismissed him. Immediately after this iniquity, Charles Emmanuel, King of Sardinia, made him the commander of a company in the Sardinian army with the rank of captain. The king then entrusted his son—the future Victor Amadeus III—to Captain Diessbach for military instruction.

Diessbach married the daughter of the Chevalier de Saint Pierre. She died three years later and left a little girl for him to raise. This period of his life is entirely unknown, including the names of his wife and daughter. She seems to have been a zealous Catholic who completed her husband’s religious formation. Foreseeing that she was going to die, she reportedly told her husband, “I know you will never remarry. Do you know what God is calling you to be? Have no doubt, it is to become a Jesuit.”

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Convinced that such was his vocation, the young widower prepared to join the Society of Jesus. He was accepted after many difficulties. He placed his daughter in the Convent of the Visitandines in Nice to be educated. He entered the novitiate in Genoa on October 19, 1759. After philosophical and theological studies in Milan, he was ordained to the priesthood in Geneva on September 22, 1764. He said his first Mass in Freiburg and returned to Milan to complete his studies. From there, his superiors sent him to Germany and then to Turin, where he was based when Clement XIV dissolved the Society of Jesus in 1773.

Many years later, on Father Diessbach’s death, Pio Brunone Lanteri wrote a short “Biographical Sketch,” which aptly depicts his works before he was forced to become a secular priest:

“Having become a Jesuit and further cultivating his talents, he became dear to many people and did great good in the missions in Piedmont and Switzerland; he converted many people, including among the Protestants where he secured many impressive conversions.

“He sometimes preached in Italian, French, and German in several churches on the same day. He was most learned and up-to-date on current events, observing immediately how they could be related to the glory of God. He had the gift of speech, and his conversation was gentle, polite, cordial, reserved and prudent. He knew how to win the hearts of all; thus, everyone sought him out and appreciated him.

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“He also took advantage of every occasion to counter some offense against God and did not rest until he achieved his purpose, even if it meant exposing himself to insults. When an opportunity to give glory to God presented itself, he sought every means to make the most of it. He undertook long journeys in poor health or without money, trusting entirely in Providence, which miraculously assisted him.”¹

Such was the extraordinary spiritual director that Pio Brunone Lanteri encountered in 1779. The reasonable manner in which Father Diessbach won him over led Father Lanteri away from Jansenist errors. During his theological studies, Venerable Lanteri placed himself entirely under Father Diessbach’s direction. A deep friendship in Our Lord Jesus Christ united them. Their lives became intertwined from that point on. They worked together to conquer the state of perfection. They spent their efforts in the apostolate, accomplishing a work that made them famous.

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