Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

The last step before his ordination to the priesthood was ordination as a deacon. In his time of prayer before receiving diaconate, mindful of his unworthiness, he invited Mary to accompany him and intercede for him.

As far as possible, I will not let a single day go by without reminding myself that with every day I am getting nearer to the priesthood; and, recognizing that I am totally unready to receive this sublime order worthily, I will humble myself profoundly before God, confessing my guilt for not having responded to the advances that his infinite goodness had in all truth desired in my regard, and begging him who has always covered me with his shadow, in his great mercy to forget my infidelities, to strengthen and confirm my resolutions, and to pour out anew on me in even more abundance, if it be possible, his grace and blessings, and not to let me misuse them as in the past.

Lastly, I will beg the Blessed Virgin Mary to take me under her protection and to intercede on my behalf.

Retreat in preparation for his ordination to the diaconate, May 1811. EO XIV n 85

REFLECTION

“This was also the experience of the Virgin Mary. At the message of the angel, she does not hide her surprise. It is the astonishment of realising that God, to become man, had chosen her, a simple maid of Nazareth: not someone who lived in a palace amid power and riches, or who had done extraordinary things, but simply someone who was open to God and put her trust in him, even without understanding everything: … God always surprises us, he overturns our categories, he wreaks havoc with our plans. And he tells us: Trust me, do not be afraid, let yourself be surprised, leave yourself behind and follow me!”     Pope Francis

On 23 December 1809 Eugene made a definitive commitment towards the priesthood by being being ordained to the sub-diaconate. In a conference on that day he linked the commitment to give himself totally to the service of the People of God with Mary’s giving of the Savior in the Incarnation.

These are the feelings which the grace of ordination has given birth to in our hearts. Let us go, my brothers, and place them at the foot of the crib of Jesus who will soon make his appearance. Let us be the first thing that catches his attention at the moment of his birth, and at the very instant that Mary presents the world with its Savior.

Let us swear to him with one voice that we will be eternally faithful to the oath we have just taken to give our lives a thousand times over in defense of the inviolability of his Church.

Conference for subdiaconate ordination day, 23 December 1809, EO XIV n 65.

REFLECTION

“To become the Mother of the Savior, Mary, was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role. The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as ‘full of grace.’ In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace.”    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 490)

After a year as seminarian in St Sulpice in Paris, Eugene reflects in his journal on the place of Mary in his spirituality:

But devotion to the Blessed Virgin must excel all others; for the glorious Mother of God is called by the Church: our life and our hope. It is morally impossible for a soul to make any progress in the ways of perfection if it lacks this tender and sincere devotion to the most holy Mother of God.

General counsels for achieving perfection, notes taken in 1809, EO XIV n.39.

REFLECTION

“Mary’s gaze is not directed towards us alone. At the foot of the Cross, when Jesus entrusted to her the Apostle John, and with him all of us, in the words: ‘Woman, here is your son’, the gaze of Mary was fixed on Jesus. Mary says to us what she said at the wedding feast of Cana: ‘Do whatever he tells you’. Mary points to Jesus, she asks us to bear witness to Jesus, she constantly guides us to her Son Jesus, because in Him alone do we find salvation. He alone can change the water of our loneliness, difficulties and sin into the wine of encounter, joy and forgiveness. He alone.”    Pope Francis

After his conversion journey and discernment that God was calling him to become a priest, the 26 year-old Eugene went to the Seminary of Saint Sulpice in Paris.

On the first page of his study notes at the seminary, he wrote this dedication:

To the greater glory of God and of the Immaculate Virgin. Under the patronage of this Virgin, conceived without sin… so that for these and before them the Immaculate Mother may help me in this difficult course of studies

Traité de la pénitence, Ms. Oblate General Archives, DM-III 8a

As Mary reflected on and learnt from the presence of Jesus in her life, so too did Eugene want to have this same attitude in his seminary studies.

After a year as seminarian in St Sulpice in Paris, Eugene reveals in his journal on the place of Mary in his spirituality:

But devotion to the Blessed Virgin must excel all others; for the glorious Mother of God is called by the Church: our life and our hope. It is morally impossible for a soul to make any progress in the ways of perfection if it lacks this tender and sincere devotion to the most holy Mother of God.

General counsels for achieving perfection, notes taken in 1809, EO XIV n.39

Within days of arriving at the seminary to begin his studies for the priesthood, Eugene wrote to his grandmother:

Up to now I can only speak of the life we are leading during the retreat, which is now unfortunately coming to an end. We are finishing tomorrow with a feast which fills the seminary with its fragrance and is proper to it. It is the feast of the Interior Life of the Holy Virgin, that is to say of all the virtues and the greatest marvels of the Almighty. What a lovely feast! And how fully I am going to celebrate with the most holy Virgin all the great things God did in her! 

Oh, what an advocate at God’s side! Let us be dedicated to her; she is the glory of women. 

Letter to his grandmother, 18 October 1810, EO XIV n 29

REFLECTION

His devotion to Mary was never divorced from Jesus. She was the marvelous instrument who testified to the wonders God worked in her and in humankind through the incarnation. With her example and intercession, she constantly focused him on Jesus.

“Woman, behold your son.”(John 19,25-27) “The words uttered by Jesus signify that the motherhood of her who bore Christ finds a ‘new’ continuation in the Church and through the Church, symbolized and represented by John. ”    Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 24

On Eugene’s spiritual formation, Lubowicki writes:

Jean-Jacques Olier, the founder of the seminary, developed a spirituality in which he stressed the fact that the priest is an alter Christus [ed. anotherChrist},and therefore someone who follows Christ in everything, including his relation to Mary. One of the main driving forces that led Fr. Olier to a Marian devotion was “the desire of adopting the same sentiments as our Lord with regard to his Blessed Mother”.That is why the Sulpicians were vigilant to see that every priest whom they trained could say: “I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Mary was given to them as a model of this attitude since Christ lived in her in the fullest sense of the word. As a result, in the seminary spirituality, “to honor Mary” meant to contemplate in her the life of Jesus and to see to it that Jesus lived in us like he lived in Mary. The best expression of this Christocentric Marian spirituality seems to be the prayer O Jesu vivens in Maria [ed. O Jesus, living in Mary] which was recited after meditation. We can say that the ideas which it contains constitute the essence of Sulpician Marian spirituality and this was the spirituality in which Eugene was formed. (Casimir Lubowicki, “Mary” in the Dictionary of Oblate Values, mary )

Eugene wanted this prayer to be prayed each day by the Oblates, and it has become a part of our spiritual tradition:

O Jesus, living in Mary,

come and live in your servants,

in the spirit of your holiness,

in the fullness of your power,

in the perfection of your ways,

in the truth of your virtues,

in the communion of your mysteries.

Overcome every hostile power in your Spirit,

for the glory of the Father. Amen

Academic demands and Congregational commitments since the passing of Fr David Muñoz have multiplied and I am finding it difficult to keep up with new entries of St Eugene Speaks. To give me some catch-up time of a few weeks, and instead of taking a break, I would like to republish some previous entries on Mary. We prepare for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the season of Advent is the season of Mary, so I hope that these reflections will be beneficial for you on your spiritual journey.

Saint Eugene’s life journey was always accompanied by Mary, whom he loved as mother. Looking back on his life he wrote in his will:

To this end, I invoke the intercession of the Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, daring to remind her in all humility, but with consolation, of the filial devotion of my whole life, and of the desire I have always had to make her known and loved, and to spread her devotion everywhere through the ministry of those whom the Church has given to me as children, who have had the same desire as myself…

Eugene de Mazenod’s will, 1 August 1854, E.O. XV n. 191

REFLECTION

Pope Francis said this to the Mazenodian Family at the recent General Chapter:

“Mary the pilgrim, Mary journeying, Mary who arose in haste to go and serve. After saying her “yes” to God through the archangel Gabriel, she departed in haste to go to her cousin Elizabeth, to share the gift and to place herself at her service. In this too, may Mary be an example to you, for your life and for your mission”

Writing to Bishop Guigues, Eugene shared his optimism about the Oblate presence in England, and its chances of expansion.

We are making giant strides. Apart from the novitiate which we are soon to have in England, as well as a house of studies, we are being offered at London an establishment which is under discussion with Mgr Wiseman and another magnificent establishment at Dublin.
 
All our members in England have an excellent attitude, are extremely attached to their vocation and filled with love and devotion for the Congregation. Moreover there is nothing easier than governing them. This is truly a blessing from God in that conversions are continually happening. An English bishop said to me recently while passing through Marseilles that the Oblates of Mary have made the Congregation the most esteemed in England, so impressive is the fine spirit and edifying example shown by all of them.

Letter to Bp Bruno Guigues, 4 March 1849, EO I n. 112

In the footnote, Yvon Beaudoin quotes from the General Council minutes of July 8, 1849 about the establishment of a house of studies and its importance:

“In order to attain this high purpose, the Most Reverend Father General has made known to the Council that he would choose the most capable Fathers to whom to confide this important mission prepared with intelligence and perseverance on the part of Rev. Fr. Casimir Aubert. Moreover, the Most Reverend Father General announced that it was his intention to send a certain number of Scholastic Oblates during the vacation to form the initial group of this house of advanced study. Several Fathers and Brothers were accordingly designated during the same session to become part of the numerous contingent destined to go and support as best they can the religious movement in England and to evangelize the poor souls still dwelling beneath the cloud of error and heresy in the vast English possessions spread over the ancient as well as the new world”.

For Eugene the establishment and growth of the Oblates in England and Ireland was important because Oblate missions were opening in several of the British colonies, where knowledge of the English language was important. A novitiate and house of theological studies for Oblates was now necessary in England.

Eugene was always conscious that the spirit of the Congregation, according to which it was founded, should be the guiding light of all their lives and actions. Today we use the word “charism” to describe this God-given spirit.

All our Irishmen have been imbued in France with the excellent spirit which belongs to them and the attachment that they manifest for the Congregation. We must find a means to avoid the disadvantage in question. Here it is. In deciding to proceed with this plan of a house of theological studies, we could place in it both the Irish who have already spent some time in France and the French who are destined to the foreign missions. The English and the Irish would come on exchange to study for at least two years in France, to be trained in our spirit and our language and to become known to the Superior…

Letter to Fr Casimir Aubert on official visitation in England, 24 February 1849, EO III n.2

In the footnote, Yvon Beaudoin quotes from the General Council minutes of July 8, 1849: “It will serve as novitiate for the members who come from Great Britain and Ireland. It will also be a house of studies for the course of theology for those of our members destined to go and evangelize distant and foreign countries either in America, or in Canada or wherever English is spoken. The establishment, situated a short distance from the great manufacturing town of Birmingham and the celebrated university of Oxford, could acquire eventually the importance which will be necessary for it to become better known and to exercise a salutary influence on minds now turned towards Catholicism”

The Founder wanted the Oblates in Britain to establish themselves in an independent mission in an urban setting. At first it seemed this setting would be in Manchester  but the success of the Oblate mission there in 1849 induced the Apostolic Vicar of the Lancashire District Bishop George Brown to think of offering the mission of Holy Cross chapel in Liverpool to the Oblates. …. On 18 January 1850 the mission was officially placed in the care of the Oblates.

This part of the city was a vast dockland slum, housing many thousands of Irish immigrants who had fled Ireland after the devastating potato famines of 1845 and 1847. Many had used Liverpool as a staging area to go to other lands, but thousands stayed in the area in the most squalid conditions. It was made up of dingy tenements, joined together in airless courts and polluted by open sewers and piles of rubbish. By the end of 1847 over 300,000 impoverished and fever-ridden immigrants from the Irish famine had settled in the Liverpool area. These immigrants formed the vast majority of the parishioners of the parish. It was estimated that the parish contained about 11,000 Catholics, though this number kept increasing with the arrival of every ship from Ireland. (https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/liverpool-holy-cross-parish-1850-2001/)

A year later Eugene visited Liverpool:

After having accomplished my mission at Manchester, which was to bless the first stone of the church to be raised by our Fathers in the district which has been assigned to them, a ceremony which was performed with as much solemnity as at Marseilles, I went to Liverpool where another kind of marvel was waiting for me. Our Fathers, as you know, are in charge of the district of Holy Cross inhabited by a great number of poor Irish to whom they provide the aid of religion. It would be too long to describe to you all that is done in this miserable shed which serves as a chapel and which fills up six times on Sundays.

Letter to Fr Henri Tempier, 10 July 1850, EO III n 42