Venerable Patrick Peyton

Patrick Peyton, CSC (9 January 1909 – 3 June 1992), also known as "the Rosary priest", was an Irish-born Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and founder of the Family Rosary Crusade. He popularized the phrases "The family that prays together stays together" and "A world at prayer is a world at peace." Peyton staged massive Rosary rallies in key cities of the world and extensively utilized mass communication, helped by world-recognized celebrities of Hollywood at that time, promoting his ministry of binding families through prayer under the Family Rosary. Peyton was a popular and charismatic figure in Latin America and the Philippines, where he promoted the rosary and was known for his strong Irish accent. His cause for canonization was opened in 2001 and Pope Francis declared him venerable on 18 December 2017. Peyton was born Patrick Joseph Peyton in Attymass, County Mayo, Ireland, to subsistence farmers John and Mary Gillard Peyton. Peyton was the sixth in a profoundly religious family of five girls and four boys living in a small cottage on a 14-acre (5.7 ha) stony farmland near the foot of the Ox Mountains. Later on, some members of the family migrated to the United States. Peyton was sent to his mother's relatives in Bonniconlon, County Mayo to study at a school run by Tadhg O’Leary in Bofield. As a young man, Peyton was rebellious and had moments of defying authority; as a result, he dropped out of school. Despite the youthful rebellion, he remained close to his family and deeply religious. By his teens, he was considering a priestly vocation. Although religious recruiters such as the Capuchins and the Redemptorist fathers visited Carracastle in search of young men wanting to pursue the priesthood, Peyton concentrated on helping his family earn a living when their father became too ill to work the farm. Some of his elder sisters were already in America and sent money to help the family in Ireland.