Podcast channels: Apple β Spotify β iHeart β Audible. Quote: Holy Fatherβ¦Why does the greatest of all mysteries not have its own religious group like the other mysteries; why would it not have men with a perpetual mission of prayer at the feet of Jesus in his divine Sacrament? It would dedicate itself apostolically to the salvation of souls by using all the [necessary] means inspired by a wise zeal enlightened by the charity of Jesus Christ. Reflection: Peter Julian Eymard was born to devout parents and was the youngest of ten children, eight of whom died in infancy.
His mother, especially devout, taught him the faith well. From an early age, Peter developed a profound devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist. His devotion to the Blessed Mother was intensified as a child when he made a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Laus, where the Blessed Mother had appeared to a young shepherd girl a century earlier. One story relates that, at the age of five, Peter was missing from home. He was found in the local church standing next to the tabernacle.
His love for our Eucharistic Lord was so intense that he could consider nothing else. In his teenage years, Peter asked his father to allow him to become a priest, but his father initially refused. His father, an artisan who made cutlery, wanted Peter to work in the family business, especially since Peter was his only surviving son. As a result, Peter studied Latin in private to prepare himself for eventual theological studies.
In , when Peter was seventeen years old, his father finally consented and Peter began to study under a hospice chaplain near Grenoble, about twenty miles from his home. In , at the age of nineteen, Peter moved about miles south to Marseille, France, where he entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Five months later, Peter became seriously ill and had to return home again.
Peter left the family business, traveled back to Grenoble, and was reluctantly admitted to the diocesan seminary. Though he was a bit behind in his education, his zeal got him through, and he was ordained a diocesan priest on July 20, , at the age of twenty-three. As a newly ordained priest, Father Peter suffered from some health problems but was eventually able to serve as a parish priest in the countryside.
