“The Rosary reaches the coal miner, the taxi driver, the housewife, all the lonely people in their sorrows and fears. It gives them something both for their intelligence and their senses. It embodies the good news that Jesus loves you because you are His brother or sister.” — Venerable Patrick Peyton
Born January 9, 1909 to John and Mary (Gillard) Peyton, Patrick Peyton was the
sixth of nine children. His family made a meager living on their small farm in
Carracastle, County Mayo, Ireland; however, their life was rich in the faith.
The whole family gathered together each evening to pray the Rosary by the light
of a turf fire. Their faith was strong and sustained them. O May 13, 1928, (The
anniversary of the apparition at Fatima) Patrick and his older brother, Tom,
emigrated from Ireland to the United States to find work.
After meeting a priest who invited them to join the Congregation of Holy Cross,
they went to the University of Notre Dame and began their studies for the
priesthood. While still a seminarian and studying at the University of Notre
Dame, Patrick was stricken with tuberculosis. For almost a full year he
languished in his hospital bed while his situation became increasingly grave.
Father Hagerty, an old priest advisor, encouraged him to put his trust in the
power of Mary’s intercession and the Holy Cross community began a novena of
Masses for his recovery. During that week Patrick announced that he was better.
The astonished doctors who examined him confirmed his cure and allowed him to
return to his studies. He was ordained with his classmates on June 15, 1941.
In gratitude to Our Lady, he was determined to spend his life promoting
devotion to her so everyone would come to know the blessings that she is eager
to bestow on those who turn to her with confidence and love. Father Peyton was
faithful to that commitment to the end of his life.
Following his ordination as a priest, Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., became
chaplain of the Holy Cross Brothers of the Vincentian Institute in Albany,
N.Y.
His Mission: The Family Rosary
During his time at the Vincentian Institute, Father Peyton, with the approval
of his superiors, he officially founded The Family Rosary (1942). His zeal for
promoting family prayer, especially the Rosary, was extraordinary. His efforts
started with letter-writing campaigns to the faithful while urging other
priests to get their parishioners praying the Rosary daily. He also
spread his message at parish missions.
In 1943, Father Peyton led a Rosary prayer on a local radio station in
Albany. Then, on Mother’s day, 1945, he prayed nationally with Bing
Crosby on the Mutual Broadcasting System, the largest radio network at the
time. The move into media brought Father Peyton to Hollywood where in
1947 he founded Family Theater Productions. He continued to utilize radio
and eventually, films and outdoor advertising and eventually television, to
reach people around the world with his message of peace and unity.
Father Peyton would go on to produce numerous programs of faith featuring some
of the biggest stars in Hollywood, including Bob Hope, Maureen O’Hara, Irene
Dunn, Ronald Reagan, Loretta Young and many others. His efforts through
radio, television and film – as well as a billboard campaign that stretched
across America – reached countless people with many inspirational messages,
including “The family that prays together stays together” and “A world at
prayer is a world at peace.”
During this time, in 1948, he began his famous Rosary Crusades, which took him
all over the world. He led 40 massive rallies preaching family unity
through the praying of the Rosary. These events drew crowds estimated at
2 million in cities like Manila and Rio de Janeiro.
Our Lady’s Donkey
Strengthened by prayer and his total commitment to Our Lady, he was able to
overcome his natural shyness and in the most simple, artless, unaffected way he
convinced millions of people all over the world to commit themselves to pray
the Rosary every day with their families. No one ever said that he was a great
orator, but all who heard him preach could sense that he was a holy man. He
radiated the love of God and inspired everyone with his simple, tender,
single-minded devotion to Our Lady.
Father Peyton never forgot his one true calling: priest in the
Congregation of Holy Cross, devoted to Mary, Mother of Christ. Father
Peyton offered Mass and prayed his breviary daily with great devotion. He spent
long hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and prayed the Rosary
whenever he could free his mind from the burdens of his work. In fact, the more
troublesome his problems the more earnestly he prayed. He had committed himself
to work wholeheartedly for Our Lady, not for himself, and he knew she would
come to his aid. His confidence in her was unbounded and she did not disappoint
him. No matter how complex the problems of organizing huge Rosary Rallies,
financing the production of movies and radio shows, traveling to distance
cities and countries, or corresponding with the hundreds of people who wrote to
ask for his prayers, he never lost his peace of mind or gentle manner. He never
let the burdens he had to carry extinguish the love in his heart for the people
he was trying to help. One lady expressed so well the experience of so many who
knew him: “When he spoke to you, you felt to be embraced by his love.” In fact,
he manifested not only love, but also joy, peace, patience and all the other
fruits of the Spirit. He was truly a man of God. He spoke of himself as “Our
Lady’s donkey.”
His Final Days
His health had never been strong and the strains of his ceaseless labors took a
heavy toll on his heart. Yet even after undergoing heart surgery he continued
his labors until he was too ill to leave his room and he died under the loving care
of the Little Sisters of the Poor in San Pedro, California, on June 3, 1992.
His final words were, “Mary, my Queen, my Mother.”
“The family is the greatest treasure the earth possesses. God is the greatest treasure of Heaven. The Rosary is the link of steel that has the power to unite them both together for time and eternity.” — Venerable Patrick Peyton
