HE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT ALL THE WONDERS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THEIR MINISTRY.
Establishing Oblate missions outside of France required personnel and funds. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith was generous in giving financial assistance. In order to receive a grant each year, Eugene had to write to them to give a report on the Oblate missionary situation. He obviously stressed all the achievements so as to entice the benefactors to be generous.
Today these letters give us a glimpse of some aspects of the missions that are not always recorded in Eugene’s diary. Even better, when possible, a personal visit by an Oblate to the Propagation offices made a huge difference in the willingness to give a grant.
Dear Sirs,
The Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, of which I am the Superior General, after evangelizing for a number of years after its approbation by the Holy See a large number of dioceses in southern France has undertaken to open foundations abroad. Around two years ago a number of its members left for Canada. There are now seven priests and six lay brothers[1] and in the novitiate they have received young ecclesiastics who wish to join their ministry. The good they have wrought in the diocese of Montreal as well as the surrounding dioceses has been the cause of great wonderment in those areas. While His Excellency the Bishop of Montreal encourages their effort in favor of his sheep among whom they are established, the other bishops also ask them to open houses in their dioceses. They are especially prompted to this effect by the prelates of Upper Canada. Their increase in this country, however, depends very much on the resources to be placed at their disposal.
Letter to the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, 15 June 1843, EO V n 82
Then, to add a personal touch, he wrote:
Divine Providence places me in a position to be grateful for the kindness granted to our missionaries by the Propagation of the Faith…
I assume that you will soon see one of our missionaries from Canada. He will tell you about all the wonders brought about by their ministry. They have already brought back a large number of heretics and the one whom I expect coming to Europe for a few months single-handedly confuted 5 or 6 ministers in a public debate they had had the temerity to promote…
P.S. I forgot to tell you that the two missionaries who were to leave for Canada were held up at the time of embarkation due to illness. They will leave with the person I am waiting for and who should go back in August.
Letter to the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, 3 June 1843, EO V n 81
Father Telmon had come to France to attend the General Chapter in Marseilles and to bring back to Canada three reinforcements for the Oblate mission: Fr. Allard and two deacons: J.-N.Laverlochère and Aug. Alexandre Brunet.
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The first thing which stands out to me is Eugene’s end note about the two missionaries whose departure for Canada was delayed because of illness… Back in 1843 the missionary journey across the ocean was long and arduous; and when they arrived in the new world there would not be the same access to doctors or hospitals health care. These men needed to be healthy when they arrived here on our shores.
And I took the opportunity to learn about the Society of the Propagation of Faith which had only been founded in the 1820s and which Pope Gregory the XVI placed in the rank of “Universal Catholic Institutions” in 1840. Three years later we have Eugene using it to secure funds to send more young men to Canada. I must admit that I have not thought or paid attention to this office within the Church until today and it reminds me of the fund-raising activities my own parish, as well as the Oblate Associates to raise monies for the missions in other parts of the world.
With all that Eugene was busy with as Founder and Superior General of his still young congregation, as well as Bishop of Marseilles (2nd largest city in France) he also had to find time seek out and ask for the funds not just for his own diocesan needs but for the needs in the new world… Trusting in God and the goodness of the church’s people to help those in the new world who did not yet know God or the sacraments.
Not all that different from the very first missionaries imbued with and sent out by the Holy Spirit to preach the Good News to all peoples, and who held all things in common so that when there was a need, it was filled.
Today as members of the Mazenodian Family each one of us is called to share our experiences of God – as missionaries sent out to each other and to the those who have not yet been touched by the structures of the Church and who are waiting to hear God say their name. We do this in ways large and small that our communal and personal oblation enables us to live as we are called.