Peter Julian Eymard
Encyclopedia
Saint Peter Julian Eymard (4 February 1811 – 1 August 1868) was a French
Catholic
priest
, founder of two religious order
s, and a canonized
saint
.
Eymard was born 4 February 1811 at La Mure
, Isère
, France. His first attempt as a seminarian ended when he departed because of poor health. Nevertheless, on 20 July 1834, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Grenoble. In 1839, he joined the Marist
Fathers, where he worked as a well-respected spiritual advisor with seminarians and priests. He worked with the Third Order of Mary and other lay
organizations promoting devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Eucharist
, particularly in the Forty Hours. He rose to the position of Provincial
of the Society at Lyon
in 1845. In 1856, due to disputes with the Marists, Eymard left them and founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
and, in 1858, together with Marguerite Guillot founded the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament
, a contemplative congregation for women.
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament began working with children in Paris
to prepare them to receive their First Communion
. It also reached out to non-practicing Catholics, inviting them to repent and begin receiving Communion again. Eymard was a tireless proponent of frequent Holy Communion, an idea given more authoritative backing by Pope Pius X
in 1905.
Eymard overcame a number of difficulties to reach his goals, including poverty in his family and in his newly founded community, his father's initial opposition to his only son’s desire to be a priest, years of serious illness and pain, a Jansenistic
striving for inner perfection and the difficulties of getting diocesan and later papal approval for his new religious community. Eymard was a contemporary and a friend of other saints including Peter Chanel
, John Vianney and Marcellin Champagnat
.
The French sculptor Auguste Rodin
received counsel from Eymard when Rodin entered the Congregation as a lay brother
in 1862, having giving up art after the death of his sister. Eymard recognized Rodin's talent and advised him to return to his vocation. Rodin later produced a bust
of Eymard.
Eymard died on 1 August 1868. He was declared venerable
in 1908, beatified in 1925, and canonized by Pope John XXIII
on 9 December 1962. His feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on the 2nd of August. He was named Apostle of the Eucharist.
Saint Peter Julian Eymard is a patron saint
of Saint Jean Baptiste Catholic Church in New York City
. A shrine to the saint in the church contains a reliquary
bearing the right arm humerus bone of the saint.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
priest
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
, founder of two religious order
Religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
s, and a canonized
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
.
Eymard was born 4 February 1811 at La Mure
La Mure
La Mure is a commune in the Isère département in south-eastern France.It is located south of Grenoble on the plateau Matheysin.-Neighbour communes:* Prunières* Sousville* Susville* Ponsonnas* Pierre-Châtel* Saint-Honoré-Main sights:...
, Isère
Isère
Isère is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.- History :Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné...
, France. His first attempt as a seminarian ended when he departed because of poor health. Nevertheless, on 20 July 1834, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Grenoble. In 1839, he joined the Marist
Society of Mary (Marists)
The Society of Mary , is a Roman Catholic religious congregation or order, founded by Father Jean-Claude Colin and a group of other seminarians in France in 1816...
Fathers, where he worked as a well-respected spiritual advisor with seminarians and priests. He worked with the Third Order of Mary and other lay
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
organizations promoting devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, particularly in the Forty Hours. He rose to the position of Provincial
Provincial superior
A Provincial Superior is a major superior of a religious order acting under the order's Superior General and exercising a general supervision over all the members of that order in a territorial division of the order called a province--similar to but not to be confused with an ecclesiastical...
of the Society at Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
in 1845. In 1856, due to disputes with the Marists, Eymard left them and founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament is a Catholic religious congregation of priests, deacons, and Brothers whose ideal of life is to become living witnesses of the Eucharist, the source and summit of Christian life. By their life and activities, they assist the Church in her efforts to form...
and, in 1858, together with Marguerite Guillot founded the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament
Servants of the Blessed Sacrament
The Servants of the Blessed Sacrament is a Roman Catholic contemplative, but not cloistered, congregation of sisters with a focus on Eucharistic adoration....
, a contemplative congregation for women.
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament began working with children in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to prepare them to receive their First Communion
First Communion
The First Communion, or First Holy Communion, is a Catholic Church ceremony. It is the colloquial name for a person's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Catholic Church...
. It also reached out to non-practicing Catholics, inviting them to repent and begin receiving Communion again. Eymard was a tireless proponent of frequent Holy Communion, an idea given more authoritative backing by Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X
Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...
in 1905.
Eymard overcame a number of difficulties to reach his goals, including poverty in his family and in his newly founded community, his father's initial opposition to his only son’s desire to be a priest, years of serious illness and pain, a Jansenistic
Jansenism
Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
striving for inner perfection and the difficulties of getting diocesan and later papal approval for his new religious community. Eymard was a contemporary and a friend of other saints including Peter Chanel
Peter Chanel
Pierre Louis Marie Chanel, known in English as Saint Peter Chanel was a Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr.-Early years:Chanel was born in La Potière near Cuet in the area of Belley, Ain département, France....
, John Vianney and Marcellin Champagnat
Marcellin Champagnat
Saint Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat was born in Rozet, village of Marlhes, near St. Etienne , France...
.
The French sculptor Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
received counsel from Eymard when Rodin entered the Congregation as a lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
in 1862, having giving up art after the death of his sister. Eymard recognized Rodin's talent and advised him to return to his vocation. Rodin later produced a bust
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of Eymard.
Eymard died on 1 August 1868. He was declared venerable
Venerable
The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...
in 1908, beatified in 1925, and canonized by Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
on 9 December 1962. His feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on the 2nd of August. He was named Apostle of the Eucharist.
Honors and recognition
The following landmarks were named to honor Father Eymard:- Rue Julien-Eymard (Julien Eymard Street), located in Shawinigan, QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
; - Eymard Drive (formerly Sunnyside Drive), located along E. Rodriguez St., Quezon CityQuezon CityQuezon City is the former capital and the most populous city in the Philippines. Located on the island of Luzon, Quezon City is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region. The city was named after Manuel L...
, PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, where the provincial house of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, Province of our Lady of the Assumption is located; - St. Julian Eymard Catholic Church in Algiers, New Orleans, LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, USA; - St. Peter Julian Eymard Church and Primary School in MooroolbarkMooroolbark, VictoriaMooroolbark is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 31 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges. At the 2006 Census, Mooroolbark had a population of 19,335...
, VictoriaVictoria (Australia)Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
; - St. Peter Julian Catholic Church in SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Saint Peter Julian Eymard is a patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of Saint Jean Baptiste Catholic Church in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. A shrine to the saint in the church contains a reliquary
Reliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
bearing the right arm humerus bone of the saint.