In describing the opening day of the mission in Marignane, Eugene had spoken about the warm welcome that the missionaries had received from the villagers. Noticeably absent were certain members of the middle class, the Mayor and the lay administrators of the church.
No less remarkable and a good indication of the spirit of the bourgeois of this village, was the fact that neither the Mayor, nor the lay administrators of the church thought it in keeping with their dignity to come to meet the ambassadors of Jesus Christ. The Mayor was so inflated with the importance of his office as to assist neither at the opening address nor the subsequent benediction.
One of the reasons for this behaviour is the lack of harmony prevailing between the Parish Priest and the lay administrators, between the Parish Priest and the Mayor. The former has only to propose something for the others to oppose and reject it. For the simple reason that it was the Parish Priest’s idea to have the mission, the administrators saw in it insurmountable difficulties, and the Mayor disassociated himself from it. They also have some bizarre pretensions which the Parish Priest does not think he should give in to, and that was all it took for them to seize this chance of hurting him. It was then because of the Parish Priest that these gentlemen behaved in this way towards the missionaries.
This did not prevent the church being full on the procession’s return. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed, the Veni Creator sung. The Superior gave the opening address which was followed by benediction. After the announcements everyone went quietly away.
In the evening, the Parish Priest and missionaries began the visitation of homes. They had been informed by the administrators. Although the Mayor had behaved so rudely, we judged it good to begin our visit with him. He seemed embarrassed, whether because of his prior behaviour or perhaps also because we were visiting him in an apartment and this fell short of the idea we should have had of his official position.
Diary of the Marignane Mission, 17 November 1816, O.W. XVI
(Note: the term I have translated as “lay administrators” refers to a group of people of that time known as fabriciens, or Marguilliers. They were the group of people in a parish who were in charge of the administration of the church building and of its income, expenses and physical maintenance.)