Monthly Archives: September 2017

Eugene expected everyone who lived according to his God-given Oblate spirit to live a life of Gospel-inspired regularity. It upset him when he came across mediocrity in living this ideal. By regularity I mean fidelity in shaping one’s life according … Continue reading →

Eugene continued to be full of the joys of the time he had spent in Switzerland with the community of Oblate students and their youthful enthusasm for religious life and community. I would not have left Billens. It is a … Continue reading →

Eugene’s two reflections on studies, to the young scholastics, were an echo of his own attitude to studies when he had been a seminarian 20 years before: If I want to be of some use in the ministry, I still … Continue reading →

Eugene, in writing to Fr. Mille and the scholastics in Switzerland, stressed that all study needs to bring the student to an encounter with God. But never forget that it is for God you are working, that the glory of … Continue reading →

In this era of “fake news” and subjectivism, it is interesting to read this comment of Eugene to the superior of the scholasticate, where young Oblates were preparing for their future mission. It is impossible to insist too much on … Continue reading →

… 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 →