There was division in the Archdiocese of Aix between those who had been faithful to the Bishop and those who had not recognized his authority – which had come from Napoleon and not from the Pope. Eugene clearly sided with the latter.
Compromises undermine discipline; advantage is taken of silence when duty called for speaking out. Let us determine, if we cannot destroy outright, these detestable so-called freedoms, dangerous haunt where impiety, constitutional schism, insubordination and the revolt of our Bonapartists have ever sought refuge. In this gloomy lair one ends up being a Catholic only in name; at least one often adopts the heterodox stance. People of this ilk come out with it in all its shades. Not when I am around, for they are afraid of me, I do not know why, or rather, I know very well why.
The fiery young Eugene thundered on:
This is so true that the Bishop of Metz, according to what they write from Paris, sees me as his most feared adversary, not only in Aix, which might well have some basis, but even in Paris, which is absolutely untrue. Anyway, it is only his principles I contest, as they are not in conformity with the truth and the holy traditions of our Fathers. I could go on forever about this, as it is one of the present wounds of the Church, that it must cure with steel and fire, if more gentle remedies should not work effectively. As to myself, I am quite resolved to defend the Church’s discipline with as much zeal and passion as dogma itself.
Letter to Forbin Janson, June 1814, EO XV n. 125
Imagine what it would be like to meet Eugene walking down the street, hearing him speak. Would I move closer to the front of the crowd or would I want to run back to the edges for a quick escape if it became necessary?
I stop for a moment as I think of some many of the people I have met and come to know with that passion and fire that Eugene expressed. It is tempered or refined like steel – in love.
I remember many years ago stating that I did not like the way certain people were being treated and I was told ‘that is the way the world works – you have to get used it and find life in it’. Which I translated to mean ‘give in and accept it’. My whole being responded with a silent ‘no way’. Some things simply cannot be compromised, watered-down or changed to accommodate personal wishes.
Again for some reason I think of the Constitutions and Rules, which embody the charism, the spirit, the foundational basis of the Oblate way of being. What if they were to be watered-down or adapted to be some less than they are? Which is why that is never done, in the dark, by only one or two, without prayer and discernment, without the Church’s approval.