Today, October 19, is the memorial of Saint Paul of the Cross.
Founder of the Passionists (Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ).
Paul was born in 1694. Family and relatives wanted Paul to marry, but he refused, believing that he could serve God more as a bachelor.
A heavenly vision inspired Paul to found a congregation: Paul saw the habit he and his companions would wear. His spiritual director Bishop Gastinara of Alexandria advised him that it was God’s will to found a congregation dedicated to the Passion of Jesus Christ.
It took Paul of the Cross over 20 years to receive his first papal authority to establish this congregation, now known as the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ or the Passionists. In those years, Paul served as a hospital chaplain and a traveling preacher. He met many trials and faced it all with humility and perseverance.
For over 40 years, Paul and the Passionists preached about the passion and death of Jesus Christ. He challenged his audience to die a mystical death with Christ so as to rise up with Christ to a life of faith and love. He was such a powerful preacher that hardened soldiers and robbers were seen to weep.
Paul focused his ministry on the sick and the poor. He reminded the clergy of their obligations to serve the neglected.
He would later found the Passionist Nuns, a contemplative order of nuns.
He was a prolific writer, with over 2,000 letters of spiritual direction kept and preserved.
He died of natural causes at age 81 in 1775. At the time of his death, Paul had already established 12 monasteries in Italy. Blessed Pope Pius IX beatified him in 1852 and canonized him in 1867.