In the United States, the Church remembers Saint Paul of the Cross on October 20. In the rest of the Church the date is October 19. He was an Italian priest born in 1694, and the community he founded still carries one word in its name: the Passion.
This article sticks to what the Church’s own documents and standard Catholic reference works say. The date comes from the U.S. bishops’ liturgical calendar, the pope’s words from a 2020 message on the Vatican website, and the biography from the Catholic Encyclopedia and the Passionists themselves.
Born in Ovada, 1694
Paolo Francesco Danei was born on January 3, 1694, in Ovada, in northern Italy. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that his father’s home was in Castellazzo, the town where his story turns in 1720.
Castellazzo, 1720
In 1720, at Castellazzo, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, his bishop clothed him in the habit of the Passion, and there he wrote the rules of a new institute. The Passionists’ own biography says the community was meant to be devoted to the Passion of Christ.
The year 1720 is the year he wrote the Rule. It is not the year the Church approved it, and this article does not call it the date the order was founded.
The Rule, Approved
Benedict XIV approved the Rule in 1741. The first general chapter was held on Monte Argentario, at the Retreat of the Presentation, on April 10, 1747, and Paul was elected the first superior general. He held the post until his death.
Besides poverty, chastity and obedience, the Passionists take a fourth vow, which the Catholic Encyclopedia words as promoting, to the utmost of their power, devotion to the Passion of the Lord.
What the Passion Meant to Him
Pope Francis wrote to the Passionists on October 15, 2020, as the community prepared to mark 300 years since the Rule. His message, addressed to the superior general, Fr. Joachim Rego, calls the Passion, in words it attributes to the founder, “the greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s love.” It says Paul felt consumed by that love and wanted to set the world on fire with it through missionary work.
The same message gives the community a task for the present: “This missionary calling is directed above all towards the crucified of our age.” Francis asks the Passionists to renew their life through a personal relationship with the Crucified and Risen Lord, and not only to speak of God’s love but to share the lives of those who suffer.
Death and Canonization
Paul of the Cross died in Rome on October 18, 1775. Pius IX beatified him on October 1, 1852, and canonized him on June 29, 1867. He is buried in the Basilica of Saints John and Paul in Rome.
One thing to do this week
Paul’s own idea of the Passion was practical. Choose one person you know who is suffering, an illness, a loss, a long loneliness, and give them one concrete hour this week. A visit, a meal, a phone call that is not about you. No speech needed. That is the question Pope Francis puts to the Passionists: not what we think about suffering, but who we sit with.
If stories like this one stay with you, there are fifty more in 50 Saints: Stories and Prayers for Divine Intervention — fifty lives from across the history of the Church, each paired with a prayer. Find it in the Catholic Journey shop.
Sources
- Tier 1: Pope Francis, Message to the Superior General of the Passionists, October 15, 2020 (vatican.va).
- Tier 1: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Daily readings for October 20, 2026 (Optional Memorial of Saint Paul of the Cross in the dioceses of the United States).
- Tier 2: Passionists, Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent).
- Tier 2: St. Paul of the Cross (EWTN Library).
- Tier 2: Birth: January 3, 1694 – Ovada, Italy (Passionists).
Image credits
- Saint Paul of the Cross, engraving. Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.