Today, my friends, is the Feast of St. Peter Paschasius, Bishop and Martyr. He is the Patron saint of all Mercedarian Students. Because of the Sunday, his Feast was "bumped". Nevertheless, it is worth remarking and calling to mind the zealous example of faith given to us by this man.The son of devout Mozarabs, Peter Paschasius was born in Valencia in 1227. Peter Nolasco and his brothers knew young Peter’s family and they stayed at their house near the Gate of Valldigna when they were on their way to a redemption. Peter Paschasius started his ecclesiastical career in his native city and he completed his studies at the University of Paris. Upon returning to Valencia, he was honored with the post of canon of the cathedral church.
Soon after, he left his post to join the Order of Mercy and he received the habit in the Valencia Cathedral at the hands of Arnaldo of Carcassonne in 1250. He traveled to Rome in 1296 and Pope Boniface VIII appointed him bishop of Jaén. On February 20, 1296, he was consecrated by Cardinal Mateo de Acquasparta in Saint Bartholomew’s chapel of the island on the Tiber. Later, when he was making a pastoral visit to his Jaén Diocese, he was attacked and taken captive to Granada by the Moors of that kingdom. While in jail, he wrote in Provençal: Dispute of the Bishop of Jaén with the Jews and Refutation of the Mohammedan Sect, two very interesting works with apologetic content to provide Christian captives with arguments against the proselytizing sermons of the Jews and Moslems. Peter also wrote: The Book of Gamaliel dealing with Christ’s passion and death, The Destruction of Jerusalem, Treatise against Moslem Fatalism, The Gloss on the Pater Noster and The Gloss on the Ten Commandments.
This learned Mercedarian doctor has the honor of having publicly defended the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in Paris and in his work, Life of Lazarus, written in 1295, long before any other Western theologian.
Several times, his fellow redeemers sent him the ransom money but Peter preferred to have other captives recover their freedom instead of him. The fifty years he had been wearing the Mercedarian habit had left a Mercedarian imprint on his soul. On December 6, 1300, while he was still wearing the vestments he had used to offer Holy Mass, he was beheaded in his dungeon. He was buried in the place where the prison was and where he died. Christians called this place, Martyrs’ Hill. Peter’s written works constitute a valuable legacy of the Order of Mercy. Some Mercedarian writers like Manuel Mariano Ribera, 1720, Juan Interián de Ayala, 1721 and Peter Armengol Valenzuela, 1901, have defended the religious status and the Mercedarian profession of this distinguished bishop of Jaén. His works were compiled and published by Fathers Bartolomé de Anento, 1676 and Peter Armengol Valenzuela, 1905-1908.
There is a painting of this saint depicting him offering the Mass before his martyrdom. What is keenly remarkable about this image is that the acolyte for his Mass is the Christ-child, Himself. So the say goes, as faithfully and devoutly did he serve Me, so now, in his last act of love, I shall serve him. It is a lesson of humility for us all... a lesson of Faith, Hope, and Charity.
There is a painting of this saint depicting him offering the Mass before his martyrdom. What is keenly remarkable about this image is that the acolyte for his Mass is the Christ-child, Himself. So the say goes, as faithfully and devoutly did he serve Me, so now, in his last act of love, I shall serve him. It is a lesson of humility for us all... a lesson of Faith, Hope, and Charity.
1 comment:
Seemingly, just like S. Peter Paschasius, Fr. Pere Lamy (Father John Edward Lamy) 1855-1931 -Mystic and Founder of the Religious Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary had mystical visions of Jesus during the Mass! Fr. Lamy wrote about Jesus, “He follows the prayers at Mass as if He were assisting at Mass. He lets you do the praying." "He disappears at the third of the last prayers, so that the priest can communicate."
I'd be interested to look at S. Peter Paschasius work, "The Book of Gamaliel" (dealing with Christ’s passion and death) if you know where there's a copy. I'd like to see his thoughts were on the Blessed Virgin during all of these events.
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