St. Paul of the Cross, C.P. (1694-1775)
Feast Day - October 19th
Paul seems to have given himself to God from earliest youth, but his striving began in earnest at age 15 when he embarked on an austere life sleeping on the ground, arising in the night, spending hours in prayer, and taking the discipline. Although convinced that he was not meant for ordinary life in the world, he spent several years of fervent prayer unsure of his vocation until this was confirmed by visions. These showed a black habit in which, the Blessed Mother said, the congregation he was to find would mourn continually for the Passion and Death of her Son. Unsuccessful in his first attempt to gain papal approval, Paul and his brother set up a hermitage from which they later emerged to be ordained priests and begin preaching parish missions. The first novices they admitted as fellow Passionists all gave up on the rigorous life, but the congregation grew as the brothers' fame as preachers spread. Paul himself evangelized nearly every town in the Papal States, sharing his conviction that in meditation on the Passion, "the holiest of schools, true wisdom is learned."
DonorThe Passsionist of St. Paul of the Cross Province |
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