Alfred Pampalon
Alfred Pampalon (24 November 1867 – 30 September 1896) was born in the city of Lévis, Quebec, and died at 28 in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. He was a Redemptorist priest known for having a deep faith in God and a deep love of Mary. He is a patron for people with addictions.
His character and early life
He was known to be a modest, prayerful person, and was thought of as honest and pure by his classmates.
Religion in his life
Pampalon was devoted to Mary; before going to a Redemptorists' monastery, he went to a statue of Mary and asked her to pray for the monks to let him join. The Monastery allowed him to join despite his poor health, because they saw his strong desire to become a Redemptorists father. While training to become a Roman Catholic priest his fellow students asked him how he managed to study philosophy so well, and he replied he imagined Mary was asking him the questions. He would make his head touch the floor and pray to her daily, and while dying he would pray to her throughout the day.
Later years and death
At the age of 26, Pampalon found out that he had tuberculosis. During this time he stayed devoted to God, moving back to Quebec to be a priest there. While dying from tuberculosis he gave communion, baptized people, and heard confessions. Before his death he was in constant pain, and would spend his days in prayer. The night before he priest died, he said in a soft voice
"O death..., O holy death..., come..., do come! O divine Savior..., my hope is in your merits... I am happy... to suffer for you! I want to go to Heaven... to see you and Mary,"
After this he got up and sang the Magnificat in a loud voice. He has become known as the "Hail Mary Saint" because of this.