Monthly Archives: September 2017

… It is unbelievable how the morale influences my unhappy person physically. My heart is heavy, it beats with difficulty and too fast. Letter to Henri Tempier, 24 December 1830, EO VII n 375 The anti-religious climate was taking its … Continue reading →

Having left Switzerland, Eugene was now in Nice with his uncle, Bishop Fortuné. He was able to appraise the tension and dangers to the Church from the new government. The civil authorities tried on every possible occasion to create difficulties … Continue reading →

One of the difficulties of establishing missions by French religious and priests was that the people of the Kingdom were suspicious of foreigners who would bring in “revolutionary” ideas. Would someone want to oppose us as foreigners? The members of … Continue reading →

An impressive description of the Oblate outreach to the most abandoned: Thus, at Aix, for example, besides the church that belongs to their house, where the members of the Congregation are attached offer divine service and every evening after prayer … Continue reading →

Wishing to establish the Oblates in the dioceses of Sardinia, Eugene recalls the fruits of their ministry in the dioceses of France: These effects have occurred in the dioceses of Aix, Marseilles, Nimes, Fréjus, Digne, Gap, Grenoble and even that … Continue reading →

In the hope of being able to establish the Oblates in the Kingdom of Sardinia, Eugene continued to present their mission and spirit: I am thus disposed, Reverend Father, if His Majesty so wishes, to place at his disposition all … Continue reading →

In an attempt to establish the Oblates in the Kingdom of Sardinia (which comprised Nice, Savoy and Sardinia), Eugene wrote to Fr. Anthony Grassi, Jesuit Provincial and confessor to the King and Queen of Savoy. He was hoping that Fr … Continue reading →

While Eugene had been in Switzerland, it had been decided that his elderly uncle, Bishop Fortuné, troubled by the anti-religious sentiment in Marseilles, should leave France and take refuge in Nice. Eugene went to meet him there, after a frightening … Continue reading →

In these lines we touch the heart of Eugene’s prayer for those he loved: “I concern myself about you before God.” It was in the presence of God, in prayer, that Eugene communed with those who were absent. My dear … Continue reading →

Eugene had hoped to spend his last hours in Billens with the scholastics, but Bishop Forbin Janson had unexpectedly arrived to visit, and Eugene had had to spend time with him instead. God alone, my dear children, can know what … Continue reading →