St. Peter Julian Eymard’s devotion to the Eucharist led him to an active life of love of God and neighbor. He was a contemporary of Blessed Basil Moreau, and both priests sought to revive the Church in the wake of the French Revolution.

Peter Julian was born in 1811 to a poor family just after the Revolution. Peter decided to become a priest and joined the seminary against his family’s wishes. He soon got sick, however, and had to withdraw from his studies—he never fully recovered his health.

A few years later, he tried again, and was successful in his training—he was ordained a priest in 1834 and joined the Marist Fathers. His life and ministry was marked by a strong devotion to Mary and to the Eucharist, and these were the focus of much of his preaching and teaching.

“We believe in the love of God for us,” he wrote. “To believe in love is everything. It is not enough to believe in the truth. We must believe in love and love is our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. That is the faith that makes our Lord loved. Ask for this pure and simple faith in the Eucharist. Men will teach you, but only Jesus will give you the grace to believe in him. You have the Eucharist. What more do you want?”

With the encouragement of his friend, St. John Vianney, Peter Julian founded two new religious orders dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. Though the orders struggled at first, they eventually succeeded in bringing about his vision of a united community of people—priests, deacons, sisters, and laypeople—deeply formed by the Mass and prayer before the Eucharist.

Towards the end of his life, he took a long retreat in Rome and received a mystical experience of communion with Christ, which he described in a series of letters and meditative works. He died on this date in 1868 after suffering a stroke in France. His relics rest in the Basilica.

St. Peter Julian Eymard, who loved Christ in the Eucharist, pray for us!

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