Peter Julian Eymard was a French Catholic priest and founder of two religious institutes: the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament for men and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament for women. He has been referred to as “the Apostle of the Eucharist.”
Peter Julian’s road to the priesthood, as well as his life as a priest, was shadowed by the cross. Peter Julian Eymard had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. After his mother died, young Peter entered the seminary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate for the first time in 1829. His father protested his vocation, as Peter was his only surviving son. His first attempt to pursue the priesthood ended in serious illness. Following his father’s death, he tried once again, and in 1834, at the age of 23, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Grenoble but later joined Marists in 1839. On Corpus Christi (25th May 1845), Father Eymard had a powerful experience that would change the course of his life. While carrying the Blessed Sacrament in procession at Saint Paul’s Church in Lyons, he felt an intense attraction to Christ in the Eucharist and resolved to “bring all the world to the knowledge and love of our Lord; to preach nothing but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Eucharistic.” Father Eymard petitioned his superiors to form a Marist community dedicated to eucharistic adoration. When his superiors denied his request, he felt called to leave the Marists and found a new community focused on the Eucharist in 1851.
Peter Julian Eymard was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1962, one day after Vatican II’s first session ended.
0802 Saint Peter Julian Eymard Prayer to Saint Peter Julian Eymard
Gracious God of our ancestors,
you led Peter Julian Eymard,
like Jacob in times past,
on a journey of faith.
Under the guidance of your gentle Spirit,
Peter Julian discovered the gift of love in the Eucharist
which your son Jesus offered for the hungers of humanity.
Grant that we may celebrate this mystery worthily, adore it profoundly,
and proclaim it prophetically for your greater glory.
Amen
Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Apostle of the Eucharist, pray for us!
NOVENA TO SAINT PETER JULIAN EYMARD
Saint Peter Julian, who received the great privilege of so perfectly knowing what treasures are ours in the Most Blessed Sacrament, of being all afire with seraphic love for It, and of consecrating unto It your untiring zeal that It might be perpetually adored and glorified by all mankind, we beg of you to obtain for us the spiritual and temporal favors of which we stand in need.
Obtain for us particularly to become, in imitation of you,faithful adorers in spirit and in truth of the Most Blessed Sacrament, while tending ever more toward the acquiring of Christian virtue, above all, of sincere humility. Thus we hope to live that life of union with Our Lord which was the aim of your constant zeal, as it is the principal effect on Holy Communion in our souls.
Finally, Saint Peter Julian, obtain for us your own filial devotion toward Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, that we may learn from that dear Divine Mother how to serve and adore on earth Our Saviour hidden in His Sacrament, and thus come to adore and glorify Him unveiled in heaven.
Amen .
Say 1 Our Father…, 1 Hail Mary…, 1 Glory Be…
O Sacrament most holy,
O Sacrament divine.
All Praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine
Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.
Saint Peter Julian, pray for us.
Liturgical Prayer of the Feast
O God, You filled Saint Peter Julian with wondrous love For the mysteries of the Body and Blood of your Son. Grant, we beseech you, That, like him, We may experience the richness of this Holy Banquet. Grant this through Our Lord Jesus Christ your Son Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit One God forever and ever.
Amen
Saint Peter Julian Eymard Novena Prayer
Saint Peter Julian, who listened with such loving response to the voice of Jesus, help us also to listen and hear Him as He calls us to serve Him each in our own vocation. Help us especially during this Novena when we turn with our petitions to your powerful intercession.
(intentions… mention in the quietness of your own heart).
Lord Jesus Christ, through Your grace, St. Peter Julian understood the Eucharist to be Your Gift of Self to the world. May our prayers lead us to an ardent love of the Eucharist so that, like St. Peter Julian, we may shine in the world with the Radiance of Your Presence, a radiance that will silently say:
Jesus is there – let us go to Him!
St. Peter Julian, Apostle of the Eucharist, pray for us.
Prayer to Saint Peter Julian Eymard
Saint Peter Julian, the Lord gave you, as he once did to Jacob, his servant, an ever-searching faith. All your life long, you sought the way to deepen your union with God and to satisfy the hungers of humanity. In the Eucharist, you discovered the answer to your searching: God’s love was there for you and for all humanity.
Answering this gift of love, you made the gift of yourself to God and gave yourself to the service of his people. Your life, modeled on that of the Cenacle, where Mary and the apostles were united in prayer, inspired your disciples to live in an atmosphere of discernment and prayer. Their apostolic zeal caused them to build Christian communities where the Eucharist is the center and source of life.
Saint Peter Julian, accompany us on our journey of faith. May our ardent prayer and our generous service help us to contribute to the building of a world where there is justice and peace. May our celebrations of the Eucharist proclaim the liberating love of God for the renewal of his Church and the coming of his kingdom.
Amen.
Novena Prayer in Honor of St. Peter Julian Eymard
St. Peter Julian, you were called by the grace of God to be a priest of the Eucharist. Your mission was to make the Eucharist known and loved on earth. You were to embrace selfless service and suffering you took the cross. You walked with Jesus. Your pilgrimage led you to the kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice and love, A Kingdom of Peace. St. Peter Julian, living in the fullness of Life, be aware of our needs. By your prayers before the lord, we ask you to help us especially in this need. (please mention your request) St. Peter Julian, during your life, you accepted the trials and troubles of life. You accepted with faith, hope, and love the will of the father. You said, “Your will be done.” We have our share of trials and troubles. We sometimes falter beneath the cross. By your intercession, St. Peter Julian, help us to have faith, Help us to trust in god, help us to accept his will for us. May your prayer for us be heard. May your prayer gain for us strength to follow Jesus – To love as He loved, to serve as he served, to share in the joy of His resurrection. St. Peter Julian, in your great gift of self, you never forgot those in need. Enable us to remember the needs of our brothers and sisters. You knew the needs of society. In your ministry, you did not forget the poor. You did not forget the sick and dying. Help us to recognize the poor in our midst, to remember the sick in home or hospital, the lonely and the dying those who have no one to care for them. Move us to make known the power of the Eucharist, to transform our society into paradise regained the new messianic Kingdom. A Kingdom in which no one will go hungry, no one will suffer injustice, no one will lack care in sickness, no one will die alone and unaided, it will be a Kingdom of God, in which the goodness of creation will be known again – among men and women, among brothers and sisters, among husbands and wives and children, among all nations on earth – the Kingdom where men and women will walk in harmony with God and all creation, Now and forever. Amen. St. Peter Julian Eymard, Apostle of the Eucharist, Pray for us!
