Lives Of The Saints
May 17
St. Paschal Baylon
Quick answer
At a glance
- What it is
- Paschal Baylon was a lay brother and lover of the Eucharist. His life joins humility, hard work, prayer, and deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
- Feast
- May 17
- Source
- Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume II (April-May-June), May 17, St Paschal Baylon, Christian Classics 1990. Read the source standards.
The Corpus Christi Procession, Hipolit Lipinski, National Museum in Krakow
Brief life
Paschal Baylon is one of the most lovable saints of Eucharistic devotion. A poor shepherd boy from Aragon, he learned early to pray amid work and solitude, and later entered the Franciscans as a lay brother. Both his humility and his extraordinary interior life are striking.
Paschal chose the roughest tasks, remained unlettered, and yet became renowned for wisdom because of the depth of his prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. He longed for martyrdom and came close to it during dangerous travel among hostile Huguenots, but God reserved him for a quieter witness. His is a luminous rather than dramatic story: a simple brother transformed by adoration, obedience, and hidden holiness.
Historical note
This life uses St. Paschal Baylon because Butler gives him the principal fuller life on the date.
Next step
Novena to Saint Paschal Baylon
A novena connected to this saint is in the library.
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