EUGENE AS MISSION PREACHER: AS A SPEAKER HE WAS LOVED, SOUGHT AFTER, APPLAUDED

Adolphe Tavernier, who had known Eugene throughout his life, wrote about the gifted preacher that Eugene was known to be:

Before numerous gatherings, in the churches of large cities, Paris, Marseilles, Aix and others, in small towns and villages, during missions, before immense crowds of people, on solemn occasions, always his mind, voice and heart found the right language, the right style, the right balance, and the right tone to use; always he knew how to convince, to touch, to draw tears, to soften and quicken hearts; always he knew how to command the attention of the great, the learned, the humble, the unlettered, the children, keeping them all motionless, silent and enraptured.
As a speaker he was loved, sought after, applauded, and his words have remained among Provencal improvisations as the highest, clearest and purest type of speech ever heard in Christian pulpits. Thiers and Mignet, who afterwards became illustrious, and they could hardly be suspected of showing him partiality, after hearing him, readily acknowledged him as a great orator.

A. Tavernier, Quelques souvenirs sur Monseigneur Charles-Eugene de Mazenod (Aix, 1872), p. 21 – 22.

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