WE ARE MEMBERS OF A FAMILY THAT HAS MARY AS MOTHER AND PATRON (C10)

Open to the Spirit, she consecrated herself totally as lowly handmaid to the person and work of the Saviour. (Constitution 10)

The witness of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Canada immediately drew others to join us in our vocation. Fr. Damase Dandurand was the first Canadian to become an Oblate. Eugene wrote to him:

I could not receive, my dear Father Dandurand, a more agreeable present for the holy season of Christmas than the letter you wrote on the occasion of your approaching oblation. When it was delivered to me, your consecration to God had already taken place and you were decidedly one of us, that is, you had become member of a body which has Mary for Mother and which, under her patronage, wherever her members are to be found, wages the battles of the Lord to destroy the empire of the demon and spread with all its might the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Already, I know, you have put to the test your strength in this warfare and by divine grace you have reaped abundant blessings.

Letter to Fr. Dandurand, February 1843, EO I n 15b

However we express our commitment in the Oblate Family, we can be assured we have “become members of a body which has Mary for Mother and which, under her patronage” we can bring the Good News of salvation to those most in need – and be protected against the power of evil.