Historical Notes of St. Peter Julian Eymard for the Quiz
St. Peter Julian Eymard was born on 04th February 1811 in La Mure, France, only a few years after the turmoil of the French Revolution. Many churches had been closed, tabernacles emptied, and public worship suppressed. Although religious freedom gradually returned, faith in the Real Presence had weakened in many places. Eymard believed that the renewal of the Church would begin only when people returned to Jesus in the Eucharist. His mission was to rekindle love for the Lord who quietly waited in every tabernacle.
He was Baptized on the very next day of his birth on 05th February, 1811, by Fr. Joseph Secon, Parish Priest. His father Julian Eymard did this fearing that he would also lose his son like his other siblings soon after the birth. He received his Confirmation on 22nd May 1822 in La Mure and First Holy Communion on 16th March 1823. His prayer to Jesus, on the day of his First Holy Communion was "I will be a Priest, I promise you". After his mother's death on 05th August 1828, he surrendered himself to Blessed Mother, with these words "Blessed Mary, you be my Mother". He had a frequent practice of going as a pilgrimage with barefoot to various Marian shrines.
In the nineteenth century, many Catholics in France received Holy Communion only a few times a year because of an exaggerated fear of receiving the Eucharist unworthily. St. Peter Julian Eymard was deeply troubled by this situation. He tirelessly preached that the Eucharist is not merely a reward for the perfect but the Bread of Life given to strengthen the weak. Through retreats, catechesis, and Eucharistic societies, he encouraged priests, religious, and lay people to approach Holy Communion with greater love and confidence. His efforts contributed to the wider Eucharistic renewal that prepared the Church for the encouragement of frequent Communion in the years that followed.
In 1851, while making a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Fourvière in Lyon, Peter Julian Eymard experienced a profound spiritual grace during thanksgiving after Mass. Praying before the Blessed Sacrament, he became convinced that God was calling him to dedicate his life entirely to the Eucharist and to establish a new congregation devoted to Eucharistic adoration. Accepting this mission meant leaving the Marist Fathers, a community he deeply loved, and facing misunderstanding, uncertainty, and many hardships. Like Christ accepting the chalice in Gethsemane, Eymard embraced God's will with courage and trust. Five years later, in 1856, this call became a reality with the foundation of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.
On 20 July 1834, Peter Julian Eymard was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Grenoble by Bishop Philibert de Bruillard. His first years of priestly ministry were spent as assistant pastor at Chatte, where he celebrated the Holy Eucharist, preached parish missions, visited the sick, and devoted himself to catechesis. These early years taught him that every apostolate finds its source and strength at the altar. The experience of parish ministry prepared him for the greater Eucharistic mission that God would later entrust to him. His ministry as the Parish Priest in an abandoned Church in Monteynard from 1837-1839 was a challenge for him. He was successful in bringing people from the street to the church, from the closed church to the completely filled church and no sense of faith to receiving all the sacraments.
In 1859, St. Peter Julian Eymard opened the first permanent house of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament at Rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques in Paris. At the heart of the community was the chapel with the Blessed Sacrament solemnly reserved and adored. Day and night, members gathered before the Eucharistic Lord in prayer, fulfilling Eymard's vision that Christ should never be left alone in the tabernacle. The sanctuary lamp burning in that chapel became a visible sign of the perpetual love and adoration that he desired to spread throughout the Church.
One of the recurring themes in Eymard's conferences and spiritual writings is the "hidden life of Jesus in the Eucharist." He frequently taught that just as Christ spent thirty hidden years at Nazareth, He now continues a hidden life in the Blessed Sacrament, silently waiting for all who come to Him. This teaching became a distinctive feature of his Eucharistic spirituality and was often repeated in the conferences he gave to the members of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and to lay adorers, now they are called as "Lay Aggregates".
On 13 May 1856, after years of prayer, discernment, and many difficulties, St. Peter Julian Eymard founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in Paris. The new congregation was established to promote perpetual Eucharistic adoration and to awaken a deeper love for the Blessed Sacrament. Eymard often described the Eucharist as the "sun of the Church," believing that just as the sun gives light and life to the world, Christ in the Eucharist gives life to the Church. From this foundation, his mission of Eucharistic renewal spread throughout France and eventually to many parts of the world.
St. Peter Julian Eymard developed a practical method of making a Holy Hour, which he taught during retreats, conferences, and in his letters. Rather than encouraging complicated devotions, he proposed a simple movement of the heart through Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving and Supplication (ACTS) a loving conversation with Christ. These instructions were later published in his spiritual writings and became widely known as "The Method of Making a Holy Hour." He expressed his deep devotion to Blessed Mother as "Our Lady of the Cenacle". It is Blessed Mother led me to Jesus in the Eucharist are his words.
During the final years of his life, despite declining health, St. Peter Julian Eymard continued preaching retreats, guiding his religious communities, and writing extensively on the Eucharist. One of the central themes of his writings was the "Kingdom of the Eucharist," his vision of a world renewed through the love and worship of Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament. On 1 August 1868, he died at his birthplace, La Mure, France, leaving behind a spiritual legacy that continues to inspire Eucharistic communities throughout the world. He was canonized by Pope St. John XXIII on 9 December 1962, during the Second Vatican Council, in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to Eucharistic spirituality, calling him the Apostle of the Eucharist.