Votive Mass of St. Paul of the Cross (White) - (2025-07-18)

Paul of the Cross, CP (Italian: San Paolo della Croce; born Paolo Francesco Danei; 3 January 1694 – 18 October 1775) was an Italian Catholic mystic, and founder of the Passionists.

Paul of the Cross, originally named Paolo Francesco Danei, was born on 3 January 1694, in the town of Ovada, Piedmont, between Turin and Genoa in the Duchy of Savoy in northern Italy.

His parents were Luca and Anna Maria Massari Danei (sometimes spelled Daneii). His father ran a small dry-goods store, and moved his family and store from town to town near Genoa trying to make ends meet. Paul was the second of sixteen children, six of whom survived infancy; and learned at an early age the reality of death and the uncertainty of life. Paul received his early education from a priest who kept a school for boys, in Cremolino, Lombardy. He made great progress and at the age of fifteen he left school and returned to his home at Castellazzo. In his early years he taught catechism in churches near his home.