Cause for Sainthood of the “Rosary Priest,” Father Patrick Peyton, Advances to Next Stage

On October 1, 2003, Bishop George Coleman, D.D., Ordinary of the Fall River Diocese and Ordinary Judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal presided over the opening session of the Cause for Sainthood of Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, the “Rosary Priest.” Dr. Andrea Ambrosi, Postulator of the Cause, before the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints in Rome, presented his credentials and the members of the Theological and Historical Commissions, as well as Notary Officials, received their appointments.

The Theological Commission is appointed to study the candidate’s writings, published and unpublished, to ascertain Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton’s faithfulness to the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Historical Commission is appointed to examine all the collected documents about Father Peyton.

Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, Catholic media pioneer, spent the 51 years of his priesthood (1941-1992) serving the spiritual needs of families, particularly encouraging them to pray together daily, especially the rosary. He believed, as his famous mottoes reflect, that “The family that prays together stays together” and “A world at prayer is a world at peace.”

After immigrating to the United States from Ireland in 1928 at age 19, eventually becoming a seminarian and miraculously surviving tuberculosis and being ordained in 1941, Father Peyton founded Family Rosary in Albany, N.Y., in 1942. He conducted rosary crusades in 40 countries that drew 28 million people, including 2 million each at events in Brazil and the Philippines.

Through Family Theater Productions, which he created in Hollywood in 1947, he produced 600 radio and TV programs that featured hundreds of star actors and other celebrities and had more than 10,000 broadcasts.

Family Rosary and Family Theater Productions are members of Holy Cross Family Ministries, which also includes Family Rosary International (offices in 16 countries) and The Father Peyton Family Institute (offices in Peru and the United States), all under the sponsorship of the Congregation of Holy Cross, at whose request Father Peyton’s Cause for Canonization was opened in June of 2001.

Today, more than ten years after his death, devoted visitors to Father Peyton’s grave in North Easton, Massachusetts, find rosary beads draped on the tombstone. It has become a custom to exchange a personal string of rosary beads for one of the draped rosaries.

Holy Cross Family Ministries, which carries on the works of Father Peyton, is headquarted in North Easton, Massachusetts, and serves Jesus Christ and His church by promoting and supporting the spiritual well-being of the family.