SAINT PASCHAL BAYLON, Confessor
Patron of Eucharistic Congresses – May 17
Born at Torre Hermosa in the Kingdom of Aragon, in
the year 1540, St. Paschal Baylon spent his early
childhood as a shepherd. So great was his desire for
instruction that while tending his sheep he carried a book
with him and begged those he met to teach him the
alphabet. Thus, in a short time he learned to read. He led
the solitary life of a shepherd until he was about twentyfour.
By meditation, prayer and the reading of pious
works, he advanced rapidly in perfection, so that when he
decided to embrace the religious state and petitioned the
Franciscans to admit him into their Order, he had already
reached an eminent degree of sanctity. When he decided
to become a Religious, he purposely avoided rich
monasteries, for he said, “I was born poor, and I am
resolved to die in poverty and penance.”
In 1564 he entered among the Reformed Franciscans in
the Kingdom of Valentia and insisted upon becoming
simply a lay brother. For twenty-eight years he lived a
perfect life in the austere Order he had chosen, a life of
extreme poverty and of constant prayer, which even his
labors did not interrupt. The saint was characterized by
intense devotion to Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist.
Toward the end of his life he frequently spent a great part
of the night in prayer before the altar. God often favored
him with ecstasies and raptures, but so great was his
humility that he carefully avoided whatever might
redound to his honor or praise. St. Paschal also had a
singular devotion toward the Blessed Virgin. He died on
May 17, 1592. Lives of the Saints, page 192-193