EYMARD, PIERRE-JULIEN, blessed. — Born at La Mure d'Isère (Grenoble) on 4 February 1811, he died there on 1 August 1868. Having overcome family obstacles, he entered the Seminary of Grenoble in October 1831, and was ordained a priest on 20 July 1834. First assistant parish priest at Chatte and then parish priest at Monteymard, he gave luminous proof of piety and zeal, to such an extent that he was regarded as an example of perfection. Austere with himself but generous toward others, he exercised such influence that within a few years he transformed a parish long abandoned into a model of Christian life.
Having entered the Society of Mary, he was deemed worthy to hold the offices of spiritual director at Belley, provincial at Lyon, and superior of the college at La Seyne-sur-Mer.
At the sanctuary of Fourvière, Our Lady called him to found a religious Congregation dedicated to the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and to the Eucharistic apostolate. Having assured himself of God’s will, he began in Paris on 13 May 1836 the Congregation of the Religious of the Blessed Sacrament (which comprises priests and brothers), and later that of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. He also founded the Aggregation of the Blessed Sacrament to unite the faithful, and especially priests, to the life of adoration of his Institute, forming a great family of adorers.
For 12 years he worked to extend the Eucharistic kingdom with living faith and ardent love, amid innumerable crosses and humiliations, borne heroically. His preaching was collected in five highly esteemed small volumes of meditations. He was beatified in 1925.
His Congregation, spread throughout the world, continues the founder’s work, putting into practice his motto: «May your Eucharistic kingdom come always and everywhere».