Venerable Valentinus Paquay

Johannes Ludovicus Paquay (17 November 1828 - 1 January 1905), also known as Valentinus, was a Belgian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor. He was a popular confessor and noted preacher while serving in various leadership positions in the house he was stationed in; he was also known for his popular devotion to the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart and promoted these devotions to the faithful and to his conferees alike. Pope John Paul II beatified him in Saint Peter's Square on 9 November 2003. Johannes Ludovicus Paquay was born in Belgium on 17 November 1828 as the fifth of eleven children to Hendrik Paquay and Anne Neven. He studied literature at the college in Tongeren - the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine managed it - and commenced his studies for the priesthood at Saint-Trond in 1845. But his father died in an unexpected twist in 1847 and he left school in order to join the Order of Friars Minor and he commenced his novitiate in Thielt on 3 October 1849. He made his perpetual profession on 4 October 1850 in the new religious name of "Valentinus" and made his profession into the hands of Father Ugoline Demont who was the head of that convent. Paquay later resumed his studies after this and was ordained to the priesthood on 10 June 1854. He was at once assigned to the Hasselt convent where he was stationed for the remainder of his life and there served as both sub-prior and prior of that house. Paquay served as the provincial definitor from 1890 until 1899 and soon became a sought after confessor and spiritual director. The priest became noted for his ardent devotion to the Eucharist and he often prompted to his parishioners the importance of the frequent reception of the Eucharist while likewise promoting to the faithful the devotion of the Sacred Heart as well as to his fellow friars. He died in 1905. The beatification process commenced in Liège in an informative process that opened in 1908 and later closed in 1910.