Today is the Feast of St. Paschal Baylon, Confessor, whom the Franciscans venerate with a proper Office with the rank of Double of the Second Class. The children of the Seraphic Patriarch cried forth in the silence of the dark morning, at the Invitatory:
Christ the King, Who hath exalted the humble Paschal, * Come, let us adore, alleluia [cf. St. Luke ch. i, 52].
St. Paschal vouchsafes us an illustrious example of the great fruit humility and simplicity can bear. In the first Nocturn, there are proper lessons taken from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians [ch. i., 26-31, ch. ii. 1-16], and this beautiful verse is to be found therein:
See your vocation brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble: but the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise: and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong: and the base things of the world and the contemptible hath God chosen, and those things which are not, that He might destroy those things which are: that no flesh may glory in His sight. [ibid. ch. i. 26-29]
This passage of St. Paul not only illustrates the sanctity of St. Paschal, but also sheds light upon the reason why the Blessed Virgin Mary chose humble, simple and childlike souls to be the seers of her wondrous apparitions in times past, such as Juan Diego at Mexico, or St. Bernadette at Lourdes, or Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima: it is as it was with the humble shepherds who heard the Angelical Hymn on the first Christmas night and went to adore the Divine Infant before any other human person after the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph.
The innocence of the St. Paschal is beautifully praised in the fourth Responsory of his proper Office, drawing a parallel between him and the ancient Tobias:
Paschal from his infancy began to fear God, and to abstain from all sin; * And whereas he was younger than all, yet he did no childish thing in his work, alleluia. V. He alone fled the company of men, he went unto the temple of the Lord, and, being a child, he observed His law. * And whereas he was younger than all, yet he did no childish thing in his work, alleluia. [cf. Tob. ch. i., 10, 4, 5, 6, 8]
The connection between the humble Spanish shepherd and the young David was not forgotten, and their election is wondrously praised in this seventh Responsory:
The Lord hath chose Paschal His servant, and took him from the flocks of sheep; * From after the ewes with young He took him, alleluia. V. Because of truth, and mildness, and justice. * From after the ewes with young He took him, alleluia. [cf. Ps. lxxvii. 70; cf. Ps. xliv. 5]
In the Apostolic Brief
Providentissimus Deus [28 November 1897;
Acta Sactae Sedis, vol. xxx., pp. 280-82], Pope Leo XIII proclaimed St. Paschal as celestial Patron of Eucharistic Conferences and likewise all societies of the Most Holy Eucharist, whether established up to that time, or that might be founded in the future: “sanctum Paschalem Baylon peculiarem coetuum eucharisticorum, item societatum omnium a sanctissima Eucharistia, sive quae hactenus institutae, sive quae in posterum future sunt, Patronum caelestem declaramus et constituimus.”
Let us imitate the love and zeal that St. Paschal had for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and receive Holy Communion as often and as fervently as we can, making an appropriate thanksgiving afterwards for such a prodigious Gift, Who verily is the Giver Himself of all gifts.
Source:
Breviarium Romano-Seraphicuм ex decreto Sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum, Sancti Pii V Pontificis Maximi jussu editum, aliorumque Pontificuм cura recognitum; Pii Papæ X auctoritate reformatum; Officiis trium Ordinum Sancti Patris Nostri Francisci noviter approbatis locupletatum, ac Reverendissimi Patris Leonardi M. Bello totius Fratrum Ordinis Ministri Generalis sollicitudine impressum. Rome: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1938.
Topic: St. Paschal Baylon (Read 864 times)