Explore the Saints

Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C.

Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, known as “the Hollywood priest” or “the Rosary priest,” was an influential figure in mid-century Hollywood, whose great faith in Mary saw him through many trials.

Patrick Petyon was born in county Mayo, Ireland in 1909, the sixth child out of nine born to the Peytons. Patrick’s family were farmers. Patrick was bright and energetic, and he was soon sent off for education. After being kicked out of high school, Patrick helped his family on the farm, while continuing to dream of becoming a priest. Patrick’s older siblings were already in America. And Patrick and his brother Thomas set off in 1927, while Patrick was still a teenager, to join their sisters in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

In Scranton, Patrick studied at a Catholic high school and applied to various congregations—the Redemptorists in Ireland, the Capuchins—and, to his dismay and disappointment, he was rejected. He and his brother both applied to the minor seminary in Notre Dame, Indiana, to complete their high school studies. While at Notre Dame, Patrick became acquainted with the CSCs and grew to love their order. He applied to Moreau Seminary and was accepted in 1932. He received his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Notre Dame and then was sent to Catholic University in Washington D.C. for his graduate degree in theology. While at CUA, he contracted tuberculosis. Patrick was in grim health, when a priest advised him to draw on the deep faith of his family, the faith that brought him to a new country, and his faith in Mary.

Miraculously, the tuberculosis cleared.

Fr. Patrick was ordained in 1941 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame.

After serving his first assignment in Albany, Fr. Patrick got a train ticket across the country to Hollywood, where he convinced radio executives to give him airtime and a nationally broadcast radio hour. The studio agreed, as long as his program was ecumenical, not explicitly Catholic, and as long as he could provide one Hollywood star to host each week. Fr. Patrick accepted. The stars rallied around him. And, on Mother’s Day, 1945, Family Theater was launched into the airwaves.

Fr. Patrick’s stars included luminaries like Jimmy Stewart, Loretta Young, and Princess Grace. A short video (linked here) of Fr. Patrick praying the rosary with Princess Grace gives a sense for the scope of Fr. Patrick’s ministry.

Family Theater also posted billboards with their famous slogan “the family that prays together stays together” on highways around Hollywood and spread throughout the USA. Fr. Patrick took his praying on the road and hosted over 260 “rosary rallies” all over the world. Fr. Patrick traveled around the world, continued making television and radio programs and encouraging families to bond together in solidarity through prayer.

Although he was hospitalized three times for heart failure, Fr. Patrick clung to life heartily. He died peacefully in his bed praying the rosary in the early morning of June 3, 1992. His final words were a prayer to Mary: “Mary, my queen, my mother.” The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved his cause, and Fr. Patrick was declared a “venerable” by Pope Francis in December, 2017.

To learn more about the canonical process of becoming a saint and to read more about Fr. Patrick’s cause for canonization, visit his website here.

Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., Notre Dame graduate and missionary of the rosary—pray for us!