The mission ended with a ceremony in which a Cross was erected in a prominent place in the village as an on-going reminder of the mission – and as an incentive to prolong its effects.
From the beginning of the mission, negotiations were started between the local pastor, the missionaries and the municipality about a prominent spot where the cross was to be erected.
The Mayor, who, on being informed that the missionaries wanted to go to see him, had gone as early as the morning to the parish house, came at one o’clock to take us to go and choose the most suitable place for the mission cross.
Diary of the Marignane Mission, 4 December 1816, O.W. XVI
The villagers collected the money for their cross and were responsible for its construction. Care was taken in making the cross, and it had to pass the approval of the missionaries:
A fine lesson not to go another time to the village carpenter to have mission crosses made. The one ordered by the Parish Priest turned out to be so huge, so out of proportion, so awful to put it bluntly, that there was nothing for it but to leave it with the workman and order another immediately, which may not turn out any better
Diary of the Marignane Mission, 5 December 1816, O.W. XVI
In Aix and Marseilles the two large crucifixes are still present. In the smaller places like Barjols they were simple and made of wrought iron or of wood.