St. Paschal Baylon

St. Paschal Baylon (16 May 1540 – 17 May 1592) was born to a poor peasant family in Torrehermosa, in the kingdom of Aragon, Spain. He spent his youth as a shepherd, teaching himself to read from books lent to him so that he could better know God, and praying while he tended his flocks. In his early twenties he entered the Franciscans of the strict Alcantarine reform as a lay brother, choosing to remain humble and unlettered, serving as porter, cook, and doorkeeper.

He was renowned above all for his ardent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, spending long hours in adoration and defending the Real Presence in his travels, including a dangerous mission to Huguenot France. Simple, joyful, and charitable to the poor, he died on his birthday's eve in 1592. He was canonized by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690, and in 1897 Pope Leo XIII declared him patron of Eucharistic congresses and confraternities.