Pakenham, Charles Reginald (1821–57), army officer and religious, was born 21 September 1821 at Longford House, 10 Rutland Square (later Parnell Square), Dublin, fourth son of Thomas Pakenham, 2nd earl of Longford, and his wife, Georgiana Emma Charlotte, fifth daughter of William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp. His earliest years were passed chiefly between Longford House and Pakenham Hall (Tullynally Castle), Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath. He was educated at preparatory school in Richmond, Surrey, and, possibly, at Winchester College (however, his name does not appear on the college's registers, though the names of his three brothers are given). He entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, on 13 July 1835. Gazetted as ensign to the 72nd Regiment (14 June 1839), he became lieutenant on 12 October 1841; in 1848 he obtained a captaincy in the 69th Foot, and transferred as captain to the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, on 19 October that year. After being appointed ADC to the inspector general of cavalry, his uncle Maj.-gen. Edward Lygon, he was received into the Roman catholic church on 15 August 1850. He resigned his staff appointment at Easter 1851, sold his commission in the Guards, and early in May entered the Passionist noviciate at Broadway, Worcestershire.
He was clothed with the Passionist habit on 22 May 1851, and professed on 23 May 1852, his religious name being Paul Mary of St Michael; he was ordained priest on 29 September 1855 at St Mary's College, Oscott, near Birmingham. On 18 October 1855 he went to be spiritual director to English students at the Passionist generalate in Rome. Recalled to England in June 1856, he was appointed as superior of the first Passionist foundation in Ireland and took formal possession on 15 August 1856 of a farmhouse known as Argus in Harold's Cross, Dublin. This was the humble beginning of the eventual monastery, St Paul's Retreat, Mount Argus. He died there on 1 March 1857 and is buried in the cemetery attached to the monastery.
In his short time as superior, he endeared himself to the people of Dublin, the small chapel he had built becoming a place where many people, especially the poor, gathered to receive his council and charity. Though his family was of the ‘ascendancy’ in Ireland, he was an enthusiastic nationalist.
His portrait (the only known likeness of him), painted by a ‘Mr Grant’, is preserved in Mount Argus. His papers are located in the Central Archives, also in Mount Argus.