St. Paschal Baylon

Witnessing to Christ by the way of life, not by death.

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May 18 · Confessor

St. Paschal Baylon

St. Paschal Baylon

Witnessing to Christ by the way of life, not by death.

Traditional feast

May 18
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

May 17
Secondary source · Wikipedia

Represents

Confessor

Their story

Adapted in modern English from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) · original text below · little is known

Paschal was born at Torre-Hermosa on 24 May 1540, Pentecost Sunday. He was a shepherd from seven to twenty-four, then became a lay brother among the Alcantarine Franciscans (the order of friars founded by St. Francis of Assisi).

His great devotion was to the Holy Eucharist. Sent into France, he defended the Real Presence and narrowly escaped a Huguenot mob. He died at Villa Reale on 15 May 1592 and was canonized (officially declared a saint by the pope) in 1690. Leo XIII named him patron of Eucharistic Congresses.

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 153 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

…of furious Calvinists, who asked him if he believed in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. When he boldly confessed his faith, they set on him with stones, and he had great difficulty in escaping. As it was, his shoulder was so injured that he never completely recovered the use of that arm.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Build up the community you belong to. This life was lived with and for a community.

Give to people in need. The account records care for the poor.

Learn from the kind of life it was. Witnessing to Christ by the way of life, not by death.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

1913 · 290 words

Born at Torre-Hermosa, in the Kingdom of Aragon, 24 May, 1540, on the Feast of Pentecost, called in Spain "the Pasch of the Holy Ghost", whence the name Pascal; died at Villa Reale, 15 May, 1592, on Whitsunday. His parents, Martin Baylon and Elizabeth Jubera, were virtuous peasants. The child began very early to display signs of that surpassing devotion towards the Holy Eucharist, which forms the salient feature of his character. From his seventh to his twenty-fourth year, he led the life of a shepherd, and during the whole of that period exercised a salutary influence upon his companions. He was then received as a lay brother amongst the Franciscan friars of the Alcantarine Reform. In the cloister, Paschal's life of contemplation and self-sacrifice fulfilled the promise of his early years. His charity to the poor and afflicted, and his unfailing courtesy were remarkable. On one occasion, in the course of a journey through France, he triumphantly defended the dogma of the Real Presence against the blasphemies of a Calvinist preacher, and in consequence, narrowly escaped death at the hands of a Huguenot mob. Although poorly educated, his counsel was sought for by people of every station in life, and he was on terms of closest friendship with personages of eminent sanctity. Pascal was beatified in 1618, and canonized in 1690. His cultus has flourished particularly in his native land and in Southern Italy, and it was widely diffused in Southern and Central America, through the Spanish Conquests. In his Apostolic letter, Providentissimus Deus, Leo XIII declared St. Pascal the especial heavenly protector of all Eucharistic Congresses and Associations. His feast is kept on 17 May. The saint is usually depicted in adoration before a vision of the Host.

Read more

The full original · 153 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Beatified by Pope Paul V., in 1618, and canonized by Alexander VIII., in 1690. Authority: — The life of the saint written by John Ximenes, his disciple, in 1598. It was printed at Valentia in 1601.] S. Paschal Baylon was born of very poor parents at Torre-Hermosa, in Aragon, in the year 1540, on Easter Day. As a boy he served a master named Martin Garcia, as shepherd, and was so good, obedient, and trustworthy, that his master offered to adopt him as his own son. But Paschal had set his heart on embracing the religious life, and he went to Montfort, in Valentia, where was a convent of discalced Franciscans, and entered their society as a lay-brother. In 1565 he took full vows, being then aged twenty-five. The general of the order being in Paris, Paschal was sent to see him on some affairs of the community. At that time France was ravaged by the Huguenots. The life of Paschal was frequently endangered by the heretics. At Orleans he was surrounded by a mob S. Paschal Bay Ion.

…of furious Calvinists, who asked him if he believed in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. When he boldly confessed his faith, they set on him with stones, and he had great difficulty in escaping. As it was, his shoulder was so injured that he never completely recovered the use of that arm. He then asked for alms at the gate of a chateau, but the owner, a Calvinist, threw him into a dungeon, from which, however, he was liberated by the gentleman’s wife. He would have perished by falling again into the hands of the mob, had not a peasant concealed him all night in his stable, and sent him off on the Paris road before dawn.

He died on May 15th, in the year 1592, in the convent of the Friars Minors at Villa Reale, in Valentia, at the age of fifty-two. His body is preserved in the convent church.

Feast days

Feast: May 17
Traditional: May 18

Nine days · Free

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One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Paschal Baylon's story, and a nudge to keep going.

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← All 1727 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

Image: LienzoS Pascual.jpg · Unknown · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

Image: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

From “Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Pascal Baylon,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907–1914), via Wikisource. Public domain. Matched by name and feast date; text unedited except for our bracketed notes in grey.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.