PASCAL OF SPAIN, MISSIONARY AND MARTYR - 24 JUNE

 

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PASCAL OF SPAIN, MISSIONARY AND MARTYR

Pascal of Spain (Paschalis de Hispania), a priest of the Order of Friars Minor, was born in the city of Vittoria, Spain, and entered the Order there. Later he went to the Orient as a missionary and travelled through many countries, sometimes on his own; on other occasions he was accompanied by a bishop called Richard of Burgundy and the priests Francis and Raymond Ruffi. 

He preached the good news of Christ amid immense hardships, persecutions and suffering. He seems to have proclaimed the gospel chiefly in Turan, in areas near the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus, where individual traces of Christianity are still to be found; the place Sarei, where he stayed four years before his death, is also said to be located there. 

In 1338, on the feast of Saint Laurence, he wrote a long letter from Armelech (Amelech) to his confreres in Vittoria, in which he recounted his travels and his sufferings in detail. He also mentioned that he desired to go all the way for Christ, including martyrdom. Four years later, on the feast of Saint John the Baptist of the year 1342, he was indeed martyred in the town of Armelech. With him were killed Francis of Alexandria (Franciscus de Alexandria), Richard of Burgundy, [Peter Martial], and several other confreres. 

Pascal's letter, which is very edifying to read, has been published in the Chronicle of the Minor Brothers, which was printed in Prague in 1694, and Sannig also provides a copy of it in his works. This holy man is also remembered on November 30 (J.M.R.).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875, pp. 682-83)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org