Saint Paul of the Cross
Priest
- Feast Day
- October 20
- Life
- 1694–1775
- Canonized
- 1867
- Order
- Congregation of the Passion (Passionists)
- Born
- Ovada, Liguria, Italy
Paolo Francesco Danei was born at Ovada in the Republic of Genoa on 3 January 1694. After a brief military service in 1714 he experienced a profound conversion and devoted himself to the Passion of Jesus Christ. In 1720, after a forty-day retreat at Castellazzo, he wrote a Rule for a community devoted to the Passion. Bishop Francesco Maria Arborio of Alessandria approved the project; from his own hand Paul received the black habit with the heart-and-cross emblem on the breast that has marked the Passionists ever since.
Ordained priest in 1727 with his brother John Baptist, he founded the first house, the Retreat of the Presentation, on Monte Argentario in Tuscany in 1737. The full name of the community is Congregation of the Discalced Clerics of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ; the Rule received papal approval from Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 and final approval from Pope Clement XIV in 1769. A parallel cloistered community of Passionist nuns followed in 1771 at Corneto (modern Tarquinia).
Paul became one of the great preachers of eighteenth-century Italy, conducting more than two hundred parish missions and renowned for his ministry of confession and spiritual direction. He died at Rome on 18 October 1775. Pope Pius IX canonized him on 29 June 1867. His Optional Memorial is observed on 20 October in the United States, and on 19 October on the General Roman Calendar.
The whole spirituality of Paul of the Cross centers on the contemplation of the Passion of Christ, which he called the greatest and most overwhelming work of God's love. Passionists profess a fourth vow, in addition to the three traditional vows of religion: to promote the memory of the Passion of Jesus Christ in the hearts of the faithful.
Patronages
the Passionist Order
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Paul of the Cross
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Paul of the Cross's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- Saint Paul Catholic Church — Nampa, ID
- St. Peter & Paul Parish — Bulawayo
- St. Paul's Mission
- Sts. Peter & Paul Parish — JM
- Pfarre St. Paul im Lavanttal — St. Paul im Lavanttal, KÄRNTEN
- St. Paul's
- Sts. John and Paul Church (St. Mary Magdalene Parish) — New Maryland, NB
- St. Peter's & St. Paul's Parishes (Shankill) — Lurgan
- Sts Peter & Paul’s, Gawler — Gawler, SA
- St. Paul’s Church — Nightcliff, NT
- St Paul's Catholic Church — Kokatahi
- Sts Peter & Paul Catholic Church — Nightcaps
- Sts Peter & Paul Catholic Church — Halswell
- Saint Paul's, Grimethorpe — Grimethorpe, ENG
- St Paul, Cantley — Cantley, ENG
- Holy Spirit - Heckmondwike (Parish of Holy Spirit and St Paul in the Spen Valley) — Heckmondwike, ENG
- Sant Paulí de Nola
- St Paulinus - Dewsbury (Served from St Joseph, Batley Carr) — Dewsbury, ENG
- St Vincent de Paul — Eoligarry, SCOTLAND
- Sts. Peter and Paul Parish — Polangui, ALBAY
Sources