Deepertruth: Saint Peter Julian Eymard “a little like Jacob, always on a journey

Saint Peter Julian Eymard “a little like Jacob, always on a journey,”8/3/2023

Born in La Mure d’Isère in southeastern France, Peter Julian’s faith journey drew him from being a priest in the Diocese of Grenoble in 1834, to joining the Marists in 1839, to founding the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in 1856.

One day, young Peter Julian Eymard just five years of age, wandered off from the family home. His sister and half-sister searched frantically for the boy and finally located him in the parish church, standing on a stool close to the tabernacle of the high altar. In response to their anxious questioning, he answered simply, “I am here listening to Jesus.”

He once described himself as “a little like Jacob, always on a journey,” always seeking. But, in truth, it was there from the beginning ― the great love and the driving passion of his life: Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

In addition to those changes, Peter Julian coped with poverty, his father’s initial opposition to Peter’s vocation, serious illness, a Jansenistic overemphasis on sin, and the difficulties of getting diocesan and later papal approval for his new religious community.

He was an outstanding organizer of lay societies, a zealous educator, a well-prepared preacher, and something of a prophetic figure in his Marist community and even to his superiors. Father Eymard was especially effective at preaching Eucharistic devotions, very popular at the time.

In 1851, he answered a call to establish a community of men dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration, called the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Its mission was to promote the importance and significance of the Eucharist. The congregation also worked with the poor and helped them to prepare for first Communion.