Eugene writes about Father Albini’s appointment to the seminary :
Be well aware that were he to fall ill again and I am unable to employ him in the post which I have in mind for him…
Letter to Jean Baptiste Honorat. 23 August 1827, EO VII n 275
“A school’s worth is directly proportionate to the quality of its teachers. In 1827 there were some fifteen Fathers in the Congregation and none of them had made any studies that would have prepared them to teach in a major seminary. Still, Father de Mazenod could count on two men whom he trusted very much. They were both rather young but devoted religious and endowed with much talent: Father Tempier, who was the Superior of the House for 27 years and Father Charles Dominique Albini taught moral theology there from 1827 to 1835. The two or three other directors, who were always chosen from among the best Oblates, were more frequently replaced.
It is not easy to discern the precise criteria that for a long period of time guided Father de Mazenod in choosing the directors. In fact, it was only the General Chapter of 1850 that composed a part of the Rule that concerns seminaries, in which part the qualities required for this task were for the first time formulated.”
- Beaudoin, “Marseilles, Major Seminary (1827-1862)” in the Oblate Historical Dictionary, http://www.omiworld.org/dictionary.asp?v=5&vol=1&let=M&ID=814
“Encouragement of higher education for our young persons is critical to the success of our collective future.” Charles B. Rangel
I remember attending French language training – it must be about 20 years ago, and the delight of learning a new language. I had thought that I understood what was being said when another spoke in French – in truth I understood only the odd word here and there of a conversation, but I would say that yes I understood. I can only shake my head a little now as I look back on that. I remember going back to work from the language training and being able to understand, really understand what my colleagues were saying. Then I was able to ‘take part’ in the conversation, to share and to offer. To have the full picture – or at the very least a fuller picture and to move from that was (and still is) such a delight.
To have a solid base to share and lead from is so very necessary. When I first became interested in the Oblates and their way of being I knew nothing about St. Eugene de Mazenod, about his spirit and his love of all. I went to a ‘specialist’ (how he was described to me) and asked him to tell me about Eugene. I will be forever grateful to Fr. Jim Fiori for teaching me, for sharing with me his knowledge of Eugene – it opened the door to a whole new world and way of being. I discovered with that first introduction a hunger that was raging within me, like a fire wanting to be fed.
It is still there, that hunger and fire within me, and as it is fed then I am able to share the little that I have learned. Education, even as informal as it sometimes is, opens so many windows and doors. It is a joy to both experience the ‘light being turned on’ as it is to witness it in others.