Marian Devotion
On October 1938, Patrick's health took a turn from good to bad when he started coughing blood. For months he ignored his hemorrhages until he could no longer concentrate with his work and on the night of February 6, he was brought to nearby Providence Hospital. Doctors discovered advance stages of tuberculosis on the upper lobe of Patrick's right lung. At the start, Patrick was despondent and feared that was the end of his young life. His sister Nellie traveled to Notre Dame from Scranton and brought him novenas of the Blessed Mother. Nellie reminded Patrick of the never ending love of the Blessed Mother and how their family lived the life of prayer, especially the Holy Rosary. Father Cornelius Haggerty was also influential in this stage of Patrick's life, encouraging the young seminarian to give it all up to God and seek the hand of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The doctors discovered that the patches in his lungs disappeared.
He immediately packed his bags and left for the Holy Cross College in Washington, D.C. to complete his theology studies and take his final vows. On May 1941, a special dispensation from the Vatican allowed Patrick to be ordained as a priest but he must complete his studies after being subjected to severe illness. On June 15, Patrick and his brother Thomas were finally ordained at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the University of Notre Dame as members of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Read more about this topic: Patrick Peyton
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“A lover without indiscretion is no lover at all. Circumspection and devotion are a contradiction in terms.”
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