St. Paschal Baylon

St. Paschal Baylon - Patron of Eucharistic Congresses and Societies - May 17th

Paschal is a Spanish saint. From the time he was seven until he was twenty-four years old, he worked as a shepherd and never had a chance to go to school. Yet he taught himself to read and write, asking everyone he met to help him. This he did so that he could read from religious books.

Paschal was very honest. If any of his sheep damaged someone’s crops in any way he would make sure the owner was paid for what was lost.

When he was twenty-four, the shepherd became a Franciscan brother. His companions in the monastery found him to be a kind, humble man who willingly did the most unpleasant and hardest chores. He practiced even more mortifications than the strict rule required so that he could overcome his temptations. Yet he was a gay and happy soul whose great joy was to be with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. He would kneel for hour at a time before the altar without letting his joined hands touch the pew, and he loved to serve one Mass after the other.

Out of some scraps of paper, St. Paschal made himself a little notebook. In it, in nice handwriting, he wrote down some beautiful thoughts and prayers. After he died, a holy Archbishop read some of these and exclaimed, “These simple souls are stealing Heaven from us!”

St. Paschal’s other great love was the Blessed Mother. Every day he said as many Rosaries as he could and he wrote beautiful prayers to our Heavenly Mother.

This humble Saint died with the Rosary in his hands just as the bell rang at the consecration of the Mass. The last word on his lips was the holy name of Jesus.

Let us make it a practice never to pass a church without paying a brief visit to Jesus. He lives there for our love and wants to help us in all our needs.