FOR ME IT WAS MORE HOLY THAN THE CATACOMBS

Posted on September 28, 2022 by franksantucci

Do we consider some of our deceased loved ones as being saints? Are they present to us in the communion of saints?

The bodies of some of the first Oblates to have died, as well as of some of Eugene’s family members, had been buried in the grounds of the “Enclos”, Madame de Mazenod’s property in Aix en Provence. A burial chapel was now constructed in the Aix cemetery and Eugene participated in the exhumation of the remains, which had lain in the earth for some 25 years.

Journey to Aix. I had the bodies exhumed which are still found at l’Enclos. They are those of Fr. Suzanne, of Fr. Arnoux, of Bro. Morandini and of Nathalie de Boisgelin. For me this was a very painful journey, but I acquitted myself of this duty with the meditation inspired in me by the sight of the precious remains of all these predestined saints whose relics I was collecting, penetrated by a religious respect, but also with a type of heartbreak difficult to express. … I will not describe it. It’s too horrible to report. As long as not the least fragment of the holy bones which I came to collect have been able to escape our search.

Eugene knew each of them well and was convinced that each one had lived a holy life and was a saint.

… for me it was more holy than the catacombs, so much did I know the virtues of the blessed souls who had enlivened these bodies reduced to such a deformity. They have been placed, the three missionaries in a three-compartmented box of walnut wood, and my niece in another separate small box. In several days, they will be transported to a tomb which I have had prepared in the grand cemetery, with the other holy bodies of my father, of my grandmother, of Caroline and of Fr. Marcou.

Will we not be able to truthfully inscribe on the tomb containing these holy remains: corpora sanctorum [ed. the bodies of saints]?

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 21 April 1845, EO XXI

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One Response to FOR ME IT WAS MORE HOLY THAN THE CATACOMBS

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    September 28, 2022 at 13:56

    When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a saint – only because God loved those people and made them holy and they loved God in return. I did not know what kind of a measuring stick God used for that – how God measured holiness and goodness. And as I sit here, I realise that I thought the ‘being’ came from the ‘doing’.
    Last night at a gathering of friends one of them asked if any of us knew any saints. He did not specify living or dead. I thought of many of the people who I have loved and who have died – they were all so very human, and I love them dearly. None of them perfect and yet to me they are saints, and most certainly belonging to the communion of saints. And a few like St. Eugene who will have that ‘wow’ factor’.
    And there are those living now, who love and serve; I catch glimpses of them as seen through the eyes of the crucified Saviour. Current day saints perhaps, ordinary people just doing the best that they can. I know so many like that and they have also become my models.
    I think of the ongoing General Chapter and their preparation to the election of a new Superior General, one being chosen from among themselves. I remember some years ago when Fr. Louise Lougen told us via Skype that we were all right where we are supposed to be.
    Yesterday morning during their morning prayer I noted one of the Constitutions that was included – in their preparation for the choosing of a new Superior General to serve and to guide us. Today I will join the communion of saints, focusing on two of the constitutions, knowing that the Spirit who gave these very Rules of Life will ensure they are carried out.
    133 Living bond of unity – The Superior General is the Congregation’s living bond of unity…
    As the successor of St. Eugene de Mazenod, the Superior General will continually keep alive the missionary zeal at the heart of our charism, helping to break new ground at the service of evangelization.
    134 Virtues – Responsible for building up the whole Congregation, for animating its religious life and leading it in its mission, the Superior General will constantly seek from God the wisdom and sound judgement, the strength of will and the firmness of character which the office demands.
    He will be open and understanding, patient and sensitive, welcoming with unfailing kindness all who have recourse to him. He will correct with gentleness. In a word, he will consider himself at once the common father and brother of all Oblates.

    Walking together with the communion of saints…

    Reply

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