A SAINT FOR THE WEEK. 

October 19th.  St. Paul of the Cross. 

Paul Danei, the founder of the Passionists, was born in 1694 at Ovada, inland from Genoa.  He briefly joined the Venetian army in 1714 but then spent several years in prayerful contemplation before setting out with his brother John to found the new congregation to be known as the Passionists.  Beginning in 1727 with a site at Monte Argentário, a promontory on the west coast of Italy near Grosseto linked to the mainland by a causeway, two other houses were added by 1747, and definitive approval from the Pope was given in 1769.  The principle of deep devotion to the Passion of Christ, which fuelled the congregation’s members, was to be transmitted to parishes by missions and retreats.  The Passionists, their habit emblazoned with a distinctive heart-shaped symbol ‘PASSIO IESU XTI’, were soon notable for work among the sick and dying, and for reconciling sinners and lapsed, though many novices left, finding life in the houses too severe.  St. Paul, who was a notable preacher and writer, was especially interested in the mission to England, and encouraged various members of the congregation in their work there, notably Blessed Dominic Barberi, who received Cardinal Newman into the Church in 1845.    St. Paul of the Cross died in 1775 and is buried in the basilica of SS. John and Paul on the Caelian Hill in Rome, a church handed over to the Passionists by Pope Clement XIV in 1765.