THE SLOW JOURNEY TO ROME

26 October 1825 marked the beginning of Eugene’s journey to Rome, which was to keep him away from Marseille for 8 months. During this period he wrote regularly to Henri Tempier and also made entries in his diary. Whereas the letters to the Oblates that we have are to the point, when he wrote to Tempier he would speak about different details that show something of the humanity and character of Eugene. Some of the extracts that I will be publishing have no spiritual or edifying content, but do give us glimpses of the person.

The journey was done by public transport in horse-drawn carriages that travelled slowly. Often the travelers slept in their seats on the coach or in roadside inns. The first stretch, from Marseille to Fréjus, took four days to cover 150 kilometers, and Eugene found in it an opportunity to dialogue with someone who was not a Catholic.

I am profiting, my dear Father Tempier, from a half-hour interval between dinner and vespers to give you my news. I arrived yesterday at four o’clock in the morning at Fréjus in quite good health and in rather good company. Of three Englishmen in the carriage, I was able to converse reasonably well with one who spoke good French and to rid him of several false ideas that he, like so many of those of his same religion, had about points of Catholic doctrine which one would never believe that people would not know. I waited at the inn until daylight before going to the church

Letter to Henri Tempier, 1 November 1825, EO VI n. 203

 

“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.”   Thomas Merton

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1 Response to THE SLOW JOURNEY TO ROME

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Thank you Frank for these glimpses of Eugene, for the opportunity to simply get to learn and know a little more about him.

    Tomorrow I shall take a very small trip of less than 500 kilometers on the bus and it will take me around 5 hours. In that time I will be able to read, nap, visit with those around me, meditate, listen to my music, send emails, sit back, relax and simply look out the window and see the beauty alongside the road as we go. I will try to remember to intentionally include God in my conversations, listening to my music, sharing my joy and wonder in what I see passing by as I look out the window. We know what Eugene talked about, and we can readily enough guess at some of what he might have thought about.

    I realise as I write that I am continuing to give voice to that question of “who am I?” It is not an egotistical thing, but rather one that is seen when it is reflected back from another. For a very long more and more the response comes from my being. I get it – finally I am starting to get it. The old way continues to present itself as something to be worn and cover up, but that nakedness, no longer such an enemy is slowly winning out.

    Another occasion for gratitude. So today rather than finding only the weakness and grubbiness and failure in what comes before me, I will try to make this another day to try to take what I hear, what I see and what I meet as an opportunity for finding and seeing with awe all that God lays out in this buffet of life.

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