MAY 17 - SAINT PASCHAL BAYLON
breski1
Paschal
Memorial
17 May
Profile
Son of the pious peasants Martin Baylon and Elizabeth Jubera. From youth he displayed great devotion to the Eucharist. Worked as a shepherd from ages 7 to 24, and was a good influence on his shepherd friends, an often rowdy group. Franciscan lay brother with friars of the Alcantarine Reform, often serving as cook or doorkeeper. His charity to the poor and afflicted, his unfailing courtesy and humility were remarkable even by Franciscan standards. While travelling in France, he defended the Real Presence against the blasphemies of a Calvinist preacher, and narrowly escaped death at the hands of a Huguenot mob. Poorly educated, he was still a counselor sought by rich and poor alike. His cultus is especially strong in Spain and southern Italy, in Central and South America.
Born
24 May 1540 (feast of Pentecost) at Torre Hermosa, Aragon, (modern Spain)
Died
15 May 1592 (feast of Pentecost) at Villa Reale, Spain of natural causes
Beatified
29 October 1618 by Pope Paul V
Canonized
16 October 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII
Patronage
cooks
Eucharistic congresses, confraternities and organizations (proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII on 28 November 1897)
shepherds
–
Bisenti, Italy
Castelnuovo, Assisi, Italy
Montebello, Orciano di Pesaro, Italy
Obado, Bulacan, Philippines
Segorbe-Castellón de la Plana, Spain, diocese of
Representation
man in adoration before a vision of the Host