Now 32 years after his death, Fr. Peyton’s legacy for promoting the Rosary, especially the family Rosary, is arguably unparalleled in modern times. He is known for relentlessly pursuing every mass media avenue available in his day—from radio to television to holding massive Rosary Rallies in various countries and locations in the U.S. and around the world, recruiting mainstream actors and actresses in the process— to engage people to embrace a love of the Rosary and prayer.
Father Peyton died June 3, 1992, at the age of 83 and is buried in Easton, Massachusetts. His cause for cannonization was opened in 2001 and Pope Francis declared him to be venerable in December 2017. 
Here’s a deeper look at this remarkable Catholic priest who once even brought a Jewish radio studio executive to willingly join him (in her office) in a spontaneous decade of Rosary as he convinced her to allow him some radio time.
The Irish Times—The family that prays together stays together” has been an international Catholic catchphrase for 80 years, a truism that is instinctively self-evident even if it admits of exceptions. Another popular slogan, “A world at prayer is a world at peace,” likewise proposes prayer as a prevention or remedy for conflict and disunity on a much larger scale.
Both axioms owe their origin to the late Fr Patrick Peyton, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and longtime promoter of the family rosary. October is the month of the rosary, with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary October 7.
Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Fr Peyton was perhaps the best-known ‘media priest’. Fr Peyton stayed mainly behind the scenes, hosting a nationally broadcast radio program for more than 22 years and producing more than 70 films and television programs through his Family Theatre Productions, in addition to his numerous rosary rallies conducted around the globe.
Beginnings
The man they would someday call ‘The Rosary Priest’ had his inauspicious beginnings in Carracastle, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Born in January 9, 1909, he was the sixth of what would become nine children in a poor but devout farming family. His father was asthmatic and often unable to work, so all family members did what they could to manage the farm and make ends meet. At one point, Patrick lived with a nearby family and worked on their farm. There he launched his first prayer crusade, one might say: He persuaded the father to initiate a regular family rosary, something that was a daily ritual in the Peyton household and would prove highly influential in Patrick’s religious formation.
Because of the daily family rosary, my home was for me a cradle, a school, a university, a library and, most of all, a little Church”
“From my earliest memories, I saw my father with the...read the full story here>>
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