Saint Paschal Baylon

Paschal Baylón (24 May 1540 – 17 May 1592) was a Spanish Catholic religious brother in the Order of Friars Minor. He served as a shepherd alongside his father in his childhood and adolescence, but desired to enter the religious life. He was refused once but later was admitted as a Franciscan lay brother and became noted for his strict austerities, as well as his love for and compassion towards the sick. He was sent to Paris, France; on the way he encountered Calvinists and was nearly killed by a mob. He was best known for his strong and deep devotion to the Eucharist. The process for his canonization opened and in 1618 he was beatified. Pope Alexander VIII canonized him a saint on 16 October 1690. On 28 November 1897, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed Baylón patron of Eucharistic congresses and confraternities. Paschal Baylón was born on 16 May 1540 at Torrehermosa, in the Kingdom of Aragon (part of the Spanish Empire) on the feast of the Pentecost to the poor but pious peasants Martin and Elizabeth Jubera Baylón. He was named Paschal in honour of Pascua de Pentecosta, for local custom required that a child be called after the saint or feast day on which it was born. He had a brother and two sisters. 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. His mother gave him the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He learned to read by asking people for help with the words. Not having any other means to relieve the poor, he always gave them a part of his own dinner which was sent him into the fields. To help support the family, Paschal was hired out by his father to tend the flocks of others. Some of his companions were much inclined to cursing, quarrelling, and fighting; but learnt to hold their tongue in his presence since they respected his pious nature and his virtue.