della croce (2)

After a short course in pastoral theology...

the brothers were ordained to the priesthood...

by Pope Benedict XIII on 7 June 1727, in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. After ordination, they devoted themselves to preaching missions in parishes, particularly in remote country places, where there were not a sufficient number of priests pastorally involved.

Paul was known as one of the most popular preachers of his day, both for his words and for his generous acts of mercy. Their preaching apostolate and the retreats they gave in seminaries and religious houses brought their mission to the attention of others, and gradually the community began to grow.

The first Retreat - the name Passionists traditionally gave to their monasteries - was opened in 1737 on Monte Argentario. the community now had nine members. Paul called his monasteries 'retreats' to underline the life of solitude and contemplation, which he believed was necessary for someone who wished to preach the message of the Cross.

In addition to the communal celebration of the divine office, members of his community were to devote at least three hours to contemplative prayer each day. The austerity of life practised by the first Passionists did not encourage large numbers. But Paul preferred a slow, at times painful, growth to something more spectacular.

More than two thousand of his letters, most of them letters of spiritual direction, have been preserved.

He died on 18 October 1775...

at the Retreat of Saints John and Paul.

By the time of his death, the congregation founded by Saint Paul of the Cross had one hundred and eighty fathers and brothers, living in twelve Retreats, mostly in the Papal States. There was also a monastery of contemplative sisters in Corneto (today known as Tarquinia), founded by Paul a few years before his death to promote the memory of the Passion of Jesus by their life of prayer and penance.

Saint Paul of the Cross was beatified on 1 October 1852...

and canonized on 29 June 1867, by Blessed Pius IX.

Two years later, his feast day was inserted in the Roman calendar, for celebration on 28 April as a Double. In 1962 it was reclassified as a Third-Class feast, and in 1969 it became an optional Memorial and was placed on 19 October, the day after the day of his death, 18 October, which is the feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist.


~wikipedia~