PASCHAL BAYLON, Saint. — Patron of Eucharistic Works, born 17 May 1540 at Torre Hermosa (Aragon), died at Villareal 17 May 1592. Son of Martino B. and Isabella Jubera, he spent his childhood and youth tending flocks and cultivating an intense life of piety; even then he was favoured with supernatural gifts. In 1560 he left his native place for Valencia with the intention of becoming a religious, an inspiration he fulfilled in 1564 by entering the Franciscan Order. While his superiors considered directing him to the priesthood, he chose, out of humility, to remain a simple lay brother, performing throughout his life the humble duties of the convent, especially that of porter.
In 1576, while on a journey to carry a commission from the province of Valencia to the Order’s General in Paris, he suffered greatly at the hands of Calvinists (from whom he hoped to obtain martyrdom). Already renowned in his lifetime for miracles, he was distinguished above all by an intense Eucharistic piety (he had had visions relating to the Eucharist even as a youth). Almost illiterate, he was endowed with a lofty wisdom in spiritual matters and consulted by learned men of the day. He wrote several devotional booklets. During the Spanish Civil War his tomb was profaned and his relics were sacrilegiously burned.
He was beatified by Paul V in 1618, and canonized solemnly by Alexander VIII in 1680. Leo XIII, paying homage to the Seraph of the Eucharist, as he was called, declared him patron of Eucharistic congresses and societies. Feast day, 17 May.