IF THERE IS A NEW PERSECUTION IN STORE FOR US

In 1828 it was becoming apparent that the French government was beginning to clamp down on the power of the Church, starting with ordinances against the Jesuits and minor seminaries. Eugene saw in this the possibility of a new religious persecution – during which he hoped that the priests and religious would remain faithful in the midst of many who would desert the Church.

If divine anger has a new persecution in store for us, I think that those who have been prepared there in the secret of God’s house and who will have imitated the Apostles in their self-sacrifice, will not be the least faithful and will console us for the defection of a great number which we can expect.

Letter to Bishop Miollis of Digne, 10 March 1828, EO XIII n. 65

 Yvon Beaudoin describes the situation of growing government opposition to the king’s protection of the Church and religion:

The Mazenods mention the king often in their correspondence and their intense opposition to the ordinances of 1828, that of April 21 which deprived the bishops of the oversight and the direction of grade schools and that of June 16 on secondary schools, which forbade religious to teach, limited the number of students in the minor seminaries and established a rule that was in conflict with the rights of the bishops. Concerning this issue, Jean Leflon wrote that the liberal surge worried Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod to no lesser degree than it was a cause for concern for the mayor of Marseilles and the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône and, we should add, to his nephew, Eugene. “The campaign launched against the Church seemed to him, as it did to them, indirectly aimed at the throne. His obligations as bishop compelled him to defend the Church, and in safeguarding it, his personal convictions, that religion could not subsist in France without the legitimate monarchy, committed him to support that monarchy. In the days that followed, starting with 1828, he fully devoted himself to this commitment and, with youthful ardour, hurled himself into the battle over the ordinances which challenged the positions regained by the clergy since 1814 in the field of education.” (LEFLON, Jean, Eugene de Mazenod, vol. II, New York, 1966, trans. Francis D. Flanagan, o.m.i., p. 285)

Beaudoin, “Restoration” in the Oblate Historical Dictionary, http://www.omiworld.org/dictionary.asp?v=5&vol=1&let=R&ID=933

 

“Once you attempt legislation upon religious grounds, you open the way for every kind of intolerance and religious persecution.”   William Butler Yeats

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2 Responses to IF THERE IS A NEW PERSECUTION IN STORE FOR US

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    The politics of that time (and even now) can leave me cold and a little confused. I find it hard to follow the machinations of some in the french government back then much as I sometimes find it difficult to understand current politics here at home and abroad.

    I have sat here for more than a few minutes thinking that religion and state should be kept separate, how we should not have to worry about this, but I think of the sad reality around the world of power and greed sometimes seeming to distort what is right and wrong. My intrinsic belief is that no one person or government has the right to lessen or suppress the life, beliefs or the rights of another be they few or numerous.

    How do I react in the face of any kind of persecution, be it directed at myself or towards another? Are there times when I might tend to let it slide because it does not seem to affect me personally? Do I feel the need to speak out when the rights and beliefs of others (be they far away or right here at home) are being lessened and negated? Am I ready to stand up against it, to speak out when I believe it to be wrong? Do I truly believe that God is behind me, with me through all of it – that God has my back?

    I pray not only that God will give me the the courage to stand up against any who would lessen others, but more importantly that I will allow myself to be filled with courage and conviction. Will I ask God to remove the cup being given to me and then run away or will I stand firm. Who will I stand up for?

  2. Denyse Mostert says:

    Merci Eleanor, pour ce questionnement important.

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