Born in the French Alps in 1811, he had a great devotion to The Blessed Mother from the time he was a young boy, a devotion which would last throughout his entire life. 

Before receiving his first communion, he went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Notre Dame du Laus where The Blessed Mother had appeared a century earlier asking for sinners to do penance and for Eucharistic Adoration. 

He would learn of the apparitions of Our Lady of La Salette, in which The Blessed Mother appeared to two young children with her face in her hands, crying, because of the disrespect people had for The Lord’s Name and The Sabbath. 

In 1828, against his father’s wishes, Peter entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate but, because of health problems, he had to withdraw. 

When he tried a second time, and in 1834 Peter was, at last, ordained. 

But he was not content as a parish priest and six years later he joined The Society of Mary. This allowed him to spread devotion to The Eucharist and The Blessed Mother among lay people and one of the members of that Society was St. John Vianney. 

He was determined to start a Marianist community dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration. But his superiors did not see this as part of their journey, so Peter and diocesan priest, Fr. Raymond De Cures, left The Society of Mary. 

After many attempts, they were at last given permission to start The Blessed Sacrament for Men and The Servants of The Blessed Sacrament for Women. Their Mission: To love, to worship, and to announce the Risen Christ to the world, present and revealed in The Eucharist. 

Peter once said: “You take Communion to become Holy, not because you already are.” 

St. Peter Julian Emyard, please pray for us.