CLOSENESS TO THE POOR MEANS LOVING AND BEING LOVED (Constitution 8)

CC&RR. Constitution 8

Leflon (Volume IV. pages 328-330), based on eye-witness accounts writes:

A missionary by vocation, he remained one all his life, devoting him-self by preference to the poorest and most abandoned souls. This aristocrat who shocked the Aix drawing-rooms by isolating himself in that very “uncouth” ministry and who was so little inclined toward democracy, maintained a touching solicitude for the common people. He loved them and was loved by them, understood them and was understood by them… What was most typically Marseillais, however, was the manner in which the fishwives of the Port district showed him marks of favor without any regard for protocol.

Their queen, Babeau, who was not shy, sometimes would force his carriage to come to a stop, stand in front of his door, and begin a conversation in the Provencal dialect which is more than direct, although its lilting harmonies will soften what might otherwise be too blunt a remark. Her cronies would rush up to add their bit to the conversation,, and, in his witty and hearty manner, Bishop de Mazenod would reply in rough and ready fashion, using expressions no less colorful, while at the same time slipping in a few spiritual ideas. He would then drive off again, after giving his blessing to the ladies of the fishmarket as they knelt devoutly on the ground.

The women esteemed him so highly that they “had arranged to ask for him personally each time any of them became ill,” and, in 1848, they appointed themselves his guardians and protectors and rushed to the episcopal palace when it was rumored that the Republicans, furious over the election results, planned to attack him. “Don’t be afraid, Monseigneur,” they told him; “we are here to guard you.” Actually, he had little need of such “protection” since there were only threats; but had there been more than just threats, the determination of these femmes terribles would have halted the assailants for they would not have confined themselves to heaping the spiciest and strongest morsels of their choice vocabulary upon their heads. It should not be concluded from these unique demonstrations, however, that only the fishwives appreciated the prelate’s innate goodness. Testimony proves that when he passed by on foot, “ the common people and the poor surrounded him, greeted him, talked with him, and ran after him.”