Marius Suzanne describes Eugene’s preaching on Good Friday of 1820 during the Aix mission. He who had been captivated as a young man by Jesus the Saviour on that Good Friday more than twenty years before, truly showed himself to be a co-operator of that same Saviour. He had imitated the examples and virtues of Jesus his Saviour, and was able to speak through personal experience:
But if the impression that this eloquent speech made on us was lively and deep, he touched us even more appreciably in the instruction that he gave us on Good Friday. He followed the Lord in the most important events of his painful Passion. He spoke to us with so much eloquence about the immense love of Jesus Christ for all people, and for each of us in particular; he attributed such moving prayers to Him, sentiments so lively and so ardent for our salvation; he prayed himself with so much fervour, that we were delighted with admiration, and penetrated by the deepest gratitude; and when he portrayed this divine Saviour burdened under the humiliating weight of all the crimes of mankind, of those thoughts, of those desires, of those actions, he said, raising his voice, for which you never blamed yourselves; when above all he made Him die while asking for forgiveness for us, and desiring that his Blood not be shed in vain for us, then we believed that we had discovered all the secrets of the holy soul of the Lord Jesus, and only then did we begin to know him and to love him.
M. SUZANNE, Quelques lettres sur la mission d’Aix, p. 11-12.