Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Priest

Peter Julian Eymard was born in 1811 at La Mure in the French Alps, the son of a cutler. Ordained for the diocese of Grenoble in 1834, he joined the Marist Fathers five years later and held offices in their congregation. His devotion centred on the Eucharist, and in 1856 in Paris he founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, priests and brothers who keep continual adoration; later he founded the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament for women. He also prepared poor adults in Paris, many of them working people, for their first communion. Worn out, he died at La Mure on 1 August 1868. John XXIII canonized him in 1962, during the first session of the Second Vatican Council.