St. Joseph Pignatelli was a man who knew that no good deed goes unpunished.

Joseph was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1737 and was educated in Jesuit schools. He joined the Jesuit order in 1753 despite his family’s opposition and a general distrust of the order in the Church at the time.

He taught in Zaragoza after his ordination. During a time of scarcity and famine, the people of the city gathered to riot and burn the governor’s palace. Joseph used his persuasive powers of speech to calm the people and the disaster was averted.

Notre Dame’s reliquary is pictured.The people turned on the Jesuits, however–they blamed the priests for instigating the riots, and exiled them from Zaragoza. All of this happened at about the same time that the Jesuit order was being suppressed by Rome.

Joseph lived in exile for two decades and worked for the restoration of the order. He laid the groundwork for the order to be eventually reinstituted in 1814. Popes described him as a priest of “manly and vigorous holiness,” and the “restorer of the Jesuits.” Joseph was canonized in 1954 and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. His image is used here with the permission of Catholic.org.

St. Joseph Pignatelli, your patience and persistence restored the Jesuits, pray for us!