Peter Julian Eymard

Saint Peter Julian Eymard
Apostle of the Eucharist
Born	(1811-02-04)4 February 1811 La Mure, Grenoble, France
Died	1 August 1868(1868-08-01) (aged 57)
Honored in	Roman Catholicism
Beatified	1925
Canonized	9 December 1962 by Pope John XXIII
Feast	2 August

Saint Peter Julian Eymard (pronounced "Ay-mard"), (4 February 1811 – 1 August 1868) was a French Catholic priest, founder of two religious institutes, and a canonized saint.

Life

Eymard was born 4 February 1811 at La Mure, Isère in the Frafrench Alps. All his life Peter Julian had an intense devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. Before his first communion on 16 March 1823, he went on foot to the shrine of Notre-Dame du Laus. Later, he came to know about the apparition of Notre-Dame de La Salette and enjoyed traveling to various Marian shrines throughout France.

His first attempt as a seminarian with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, ended because of serious illness. Nevertheless, on 20 July 1834, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Grenoble. He was assigned assistant pastor at the town of Chatte, and three years later, appointed pastor of Monteynard.

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.

His eucharistic spirituality did not spring full grown from some mystical experience, but progressively. Eymard became familiar with the practice of sustained eucharistic worship during a visit to Paris in 1849, when he met with members of the Association of Nocturnal Adorers who had established exposition and perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the Basilica of Our Lady of Victories. After praying at the shrine of Our Lady of Fourviere on 21 January 1851, Eymard moved to establish a Marist community dedicated to eucharistic adoration. His superiors disapproved, transferring him to the Marist College at La Seyne-sur-Mer. Eventually, Eymard resolved to leave the Society of Mary to begin his new religious congregation with the diocesan priest Raymond de Cuers.

On 13 May 1856, the Paris bishops consented to Eymard’s plans for a ‘Society of the Blessed Sacrament’. After many trials, Eymard and de Cuers established public exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in Paris on 6 January 1857 in a run-down building at 114 rue d’Enfer (which literally meant ‘street of hell’).

In 1858, together with Marguerite Guillot founded the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, a contemplative congregation for women. He is quoted as saying, “Religious life is not the end ... religious life is only a means.” And again, "You take communion to become holy, not because you already are."

Le Père Eymard, by Rodin

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 given 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.

Veneration

He was declared venerable in 1908, beatified by Pope Pius XI on 12 July 1925, and canonized by Pope John XXIII on 9 December 1962. His feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on 2 August. John Paul II named Eymard "Apostle of the Eucharist".

Honors and recognition

A series of articles on Eucharistic Adoration
Papal documents Mirae Caritatis • Dominicae Cenae • Mysterium Fidei • Mediator Dei • Ecclesia de Eucharistia Organizations and events Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament • Servants of the Blessed Sacrament • Perpetual Adorers • Tabernacle Societies • Eucharistic Congress Notable individuals St. Francis • Peter Eymard • Jean Vianney • Marie Tamisier • Leo Dupont Eucharistic Meditators Thérèse of Lisieux • Maria Candida • Conchita de Armida • Maria Valtorta

The following landmarks were named to honor Father Eymard:

• Rue Julien-Eymard (Julien Eymard Street), located in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada;
• Eymard Drive (formerly Sunnyside Drive), located along E. Rodriguez St., Quezon City, Philippines, 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, Louisiana, USA;
• St. Peter Julian Eymard Church and Primary School in Mooroolbark, Victoria, Australia;
• St Peter Julian's Church in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

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.

See also

• Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

External links

• Father Eymard's writing
• Peter Julian Eymard at Patron Saints Index