St. Paul of the Cross

Feast Day April 28

Paul of the Cross was born at Uvada in Liguria and, as soon as he came to the use of reason, burned with love for Jesus Christ crucified. Fired with the desire for martyrdom, he joined the army which was being assembled in Venice to fight against the Turks. But when the will of God was made know to him, and he had refused a very honorable marriage and an inheritance left him by his uncle, he received a coarse tunic as a habit from his bishop and, although not yet a cleric, cultivated the field of the Lord by preaching the word of God. In Rome, out of obedience to Pope Benedict XIII, he was raised to the priesthood. Then he retired into the solitude of Monte Argentaro, where the Blessed Virgin had already invited him to go, at the same time showing him a black habit adorned with the insignia of her Son's Passion. There he laid the foundations of a new congregation, whose members bind themselves by vow to promote the memory of the Lord's Passion, and he also established one for nuns to meditate continually on this mystery. Renowned for his preaching, virtues and divine charisms, he fell asleep in the Lord at Rome, in the year 1775. Pope Pius IX enrolled him among the Blessed and then among the Saints.
(From Matins of the feast of St. Paul of the Cross)