José Telésforo Paúl y Vargas was born on 5 January 1831 in Bogotá, Colombia.[1][2][3] The son of Rafael Paúl y Motta, a Venezuelan lawyer, and Florentina Vargas Gaitán, he had two siblings, Felpie Fermín and Rafaela.[3][4]
Paúl was ordained a priest on 5 December 1855,[1][2] and was assigned to the Seminario de Guatemala in Guatemala City, where he taught rhetoric and the humanities.[4] When the anti-Jesuit persecution ended in Colombia in 1858, his superiors sent him back to Bogotá, where he rose to prominence as a teacher, orator, and counselor.[4] In 1861, he was exiled from Colombia for the second time, this time by President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.[4] He returned to Guatemala, where he was a professor of theology at the seminary and was also mastor of novices for the Guatemalan Jesuits.[4] In 1869, he was sent with the Rev. Roberto Pozo to found a new Jesuit residence in San Salvador, but were expelled in 1872 by Salvadoran President Santiago González, along with other religious orders.[4]
Paúl and the other Jesuits moved to Ecuador, before being invited to Panama State (at that time an autonomous province of Colombia) by President Buenaventura Correoso.[4] He taught there at the diocesan seminary and later was superior of the Jesuits in Panama, with his seat at the Church of St. Francis in Panama City.[4]
As bishop of Panamá, Paúl reorganized and established parishes, made frequent pastoral visits to different communities, and made efforts to improve the discipline and education of the clergy.[4] He also took special interest in the construction of the Panama Canal, construction of which began in 1881 by France.[4] Paúl became friends with Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat in charge of the project, and blessed the work at the start of construction.[4][6] He eventually became a trusted advisor and counselor of Lesseps, who described Paúl as "the most illustrious prelate I have ever met."[4] In addition, he paid special attention to providing religious care to residents of the Panama Canal Zone, dividing it into three different districts and ensuring the regular visit of Panamanian priests.[4]
Paúl made pastoral visits through the diocese several times, and worked to establish schools and hospitals, and invited the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul to staff many of them.[4] He wrote pastoral letters, which encouraged evangelism and Catholic education, condemned the conflict of liberalism with Catholicism, and addressed the relationship between church and state.[4] In 1877, Paúl personally had traveled to the Congress of Colombia to demand respectful treatment of the church by the government.[4]