Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

The Bishop of Montreal then wrote about the Superior of the missionaries, Father Jean Baptiste Honorat.

“Some of your Fathers have found that their superior does not have the tact necessary in this country where there are many matters to handle carefully, in the unfortunate circumstances wherein we find ourselves.

Yvon Beaudoin explains the “unfortunate circumstances”: “Bishop Bourget is undoubtedly alluding to the insurrection of 1837-1838 and, as a consequence, to the Act of Union of Lower and Upper Canada, voted for by the English parliament in 1840. By this act, the French Canadians lost much of their autonomy in their own province. Fortunately, Lord Elgin, governor general from 1847 to 1854, found the idea of anglicizing the French Canadians to be absurd; he revoked the clause of the prohibition of French in the Act of Union”

The Bishop continued:

He has, as a matter of fact, carried out some imprudent activities whose consequences his heart, upright and simple like the dove, has not permitted him to foresee. They consulted me in order to make sure that it would not be appropriate to request his recall to France. I counselled them to do nothing about it and to rely on Providence, which would arrange everything. I hope that I will not be mistaken in my expectation.

God will not fail to bless all the works of a very holy man such as this Father Honorat. The opinions given to him by me have always been welcomed with respect and I see with consolation that he is on his guard so as not to expose himself to those who take advantage of everything when they want to belittle a work which does not please them.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 20 March 1843, EO XXI

Eugene responded to Bishop Bourget:

Father Honorat is indeed such as you portray him to me. He is an angel of candour and simplicity, excellent religious, fully possessed of the spirit and virtues of his state. Sometimes his manner is a little hard; his voice accentuates this somewhat, but this is only his exterior. Within he is good and will ever be amenable to any good advice your paternal charity will prompt you to give him.

Letter to Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, 30 May 1843. EO I n 18

Even though we occasionally make many bad judgements and mistakes, God will not fail to bless our good intentions as we stand up and begin again.

As we explore Eugene’s diary entry regarding the situation in Montreal, some important lessons emerge.

But the letter from the Bishop of Montréal contains reflections that are too accurate, he passes a judgement too wise for me to resist transcribing here. After having made the most amiable, the most paternal statements up until the third page, he continues:

“Now, Monsignor, I am going to update you about small troubles which have been noticed among these men of God and where are there none of them? since God sees them in his angels! First, they have not had the advantage of seeing themselves and of living together long enough to develop this sympathy and this cordiality which forms a Cor unum et anima una [ed. Acts 4: 32: One heart and one spirit] of the entire community. The lack of this perfect harmony has been noticed by the priests of the country and even by certain laity. Some have lamented about it and others have made it the object of their joking. Fortunately, things are much better in this account.”

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 20 March 1843, EO XXI

Eugene responded to this situation:

First, in the matter of certain petty and internal troubles, I believe I have put an end to them by recalling Father Baudrand who is a self-opinionated man of a mentality which does not know how to adapt to circumstances. If he had taken more notice of my advice, he would have been immunized against his tendency to judge and appreciate things and persons only according to his own ideas. He would have distrusted his own notions and inexperience and thus would not have had the stupid pretension to blame his superior in front of strangers, still less would he have asserted that his superior was not suitable for the responsibility I had laid on him. He himself has shown that he is unworthy of the mission with which I had honoured him.

I am withdrawing him, quite confident that unity and cordiality will reign in the community when he will no longer be there to perturb it with his pretensions and his complaints. Excuse my error: I did not train this Oblate myself but I had believed he would have a better understanding of the duties imposed on him by his position.

Letter to Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, 30 May 1843. EO I n 18

Eugene had always insisted on BEING men of God and the necessity of a Christ-centered supportive community as the sine qua non of DOING the missionary work of evangelization successfully. The fumbling of the first community in this regard confirmed Eugene’s wisdom: “be” in order to “do.” How often do we make this mistake when we form a new team for a particular task and fail to get the members to grow in unity, in “being” before they reach out to others in the “doing.”

The first six Oblate missionaries sent to Canada had arrived evidently unprepared for ministry in a new continent and culture. Their experience had been of the church in France and they had worked under the constant guidance of Eugene. Now it had all changed for them: a new country, a totally different cultural environment, and correspondence with Eugene that took months for delivery. It is clear that six far-from-perfect men would make mistakes. We have seen some of this in previous entries.

Eugene wrote in his Diary:

Letter from the bishop of Montréal. I read it with emotion, admiration and gratitude. I am not able to transcribe it because it is not less than eight pages; but it is precious as a document and it gives an exact knowledge of the state of the community in Canada.

He knows all its troubles and he judges them with an entirely paternal moderation. It results no less from his observations that our Fathers have conducted themselves with a rare imprudence from the beginning. They have shown themselves in all their imperfection, not only in the eyes of the bishop, who was inclined to excusing them, but also in the eyes of the clergy and even of the laity.

Eugene could not hide his distress:

It’s pitiful! Dashing in this way every hope, abusing my trust, not attaching any importance to my directions for overcoming themselves, for mutually supporting one another, for standing by those from the outside; instead of this, deceiving themselves and denigrating themselves not at all from the point of view of virtue, but on their character, their knowledge, etc.

He, however, was not blind to the good work that they were achieving.

In spite of this, the good God has blessed their ministry “for the glory of his name” [Ed. Psalm 78:9] and by a continuation of the protection which he deigns to grant to our Congregation.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 20 March 1843, EO XXI

Yet another example in the history of our Mazenodian Family where God uses weak instruments to produce a Gospel harvest for others.

For the prayer text go to: https://sites.google.com/view/mazenodianfamily/monthly-oraison/august-15-2021

The major ministry of the Oblates in France was the preaching of parish missions. At the end of each one, a report was sent to Eugene. After 27 years of this ministry, Eugene’s sense of wonder never diminished at how God used the missionaries as instruments of mercy.

Father Vincens sent me a letter from Father Burfin who narrates the blessings of God poured out on the mission he has just given with Father Lavigne in the diocese of Grenoble. Our men continue to be the instruments of God’s mercy in these regions. Is there not something to be thankful for in being chosen to do so much good in the Church of God?

Why not write a summary of it? Everyone will be amazed; and it would be a record of which the Congregation could be rightfully proud.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 13 March 1843, EO XXI

Writing to Father Guigues, Eugene continued to enthuse:

Tell me just where our Congregation is not doing good things? Thanks be to God, we are working wonders. The dioceses of Aix, Avignon, Marseilles, Fréjus, Ajaccio, Valence and Grenoble: all are witnesses. Let them show me anywhere in France a Congregation which is present in so many places and is granted so many blessings by the Lord. Let us thank the Lord and ask Him as a reward that He set us to doing even more by sending us a goodly number of candidates fit for the holy work that His Church has confided to us.

Letter to Fr Eugene Guigues, 12 April 1843, EO X n 792

An invitation to us to maintain our sense of wonder at God ‘s ongoing work through people around us.

The Oblate community in Vico, Corsica, had heard about Eugene’s visit to Africa and the frightening storm on his return. They had expressed concern.

You were overly alarmed about the danger in my crossing over from Africa. The windstorms that forced us to lay over at Palma was an impulse of the Holy Spirit, which pushed us into that harbor to reconcile with God five unhappy Christians who otherwise would have died in their sins.

The storm was so fierce that the boat was driven to the islands of Majorca. The passengers disembarked in Palma, and Eugene saw that there was a ship nearby where the passengers were under quarantine. He arranged for two priests to visit the ship and administer the sacraments. Some of the people died a few days later.

Therefore I can have only thoughts of thanksgiving to give to the Saviour, who chose me to be the instrument of his mercies toward those souls who were doubtless predestined to glory.

Letter to Father Semeria in Vico, Corsica, 18 February 1843, EO X n 790

Sometimes, what appears to be a misfortune, turns out to be an instrument that God uses for good.

Letter from Fr.Guigues. Always stubborn in the reflections which he presents in favor of his house at l’Osier. Quite far from agreeing to release from this house the person who would be needed elsewhere, he has the nerve to request two more of them. Uniquely occupied with the prosperity of the establishment at whose head he finds himself, he reprimands Father Aubert for having dared to undertake the formation of two of them in England and in Ireland.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 18 February 1843, EO XXI

Eugene responded to him immediately that for the future good of the new missions that were opening up in Canada, England and Ireland, it was essential for the Oblates in France to make sacrifices. It was essential that the new missions be soldily founded, and then they would grow by themselves when local candidates joined the Oblates.

I realize that I am not fortunate enough to have you share my views. No matter what I say, you continue to consider matters only from the point of view of your current surroundings.

According to you, everything must give way to the local interest which you feel called upon to defend…

Thus, while recognizing that it would be advantageous to be able to furnish all our houses with an abundant staff, I believe that, rather than lose the present opportunity that opens for our Congregation the doors to three large kingdoms, it is better to leave them shorthanded for a spell, convinced as I am that there is not a single member of our Society who would not wish to somehow multiply himself to bring such a gain to our Society and to enlarge the sphere of the immense good it is called to accomplish. This is a short-term effort for which we will be quite compensated when very soon these far-distant countries will be able to take care of their own needs.

I therefore do not want you to blame Father Aubert who is fulfilling his task with intelligence and dedication. There are always painful moments in the stages of a Congregation’s life as there are in the usual course of any life. What is essential is to have confidence in the Lord and to ask him for his light in favour of the one who must govern, without ever putting shackles on those solutions which he must take for the general good, even though something is taken away from the good of such and such a locality.

Letter to Father Eugene Guigues (at Notre Dame de L’Osier in France), 18 February 1843, EO X n 789

A new experience for the Founder, who until now had personally known every Oblate: the lifetime commitment of a new Oblate whom he had never met! He writes in his diary:

Letter from Father Dandurand from Longueuil. This Father writes to tell me that he is beginning a retreat in order to make his oblation on Christmas day. His letter is full of pious sentiments. He will be the first fruits of Canada. We are able to give thanks to the Lord, because he is a very good individual.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 22 January 1843, EO XXI

Eugene now wrote directly to the first Canadian Oblate:

I could not receive, my dear Father Dandurand, a more agreeable gift 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…

You are the first fruits of this fine country of Canada to which the Master of the Vineyard has sent the workers of our family. For this reason I owe to you my dearest affection and you can count on it.

I hope your example will soon be followed by men of goodwill and devotion like yourself. Already Father Leonard and Father Durocher follow in your footsteps. The good God will grant that we shall see others imitate these fine priests of whom much good has already been reported to me.

Take care to preserve, all of you, the family spirit which animates us. I love you already as my children. Consider me as your father. A day will perhaps come when it will be granted to me to see and embrace you as I actually do in spirit. I give you my blessing and recommend myself to your prayers.

Letter to Father Damase Dandurand, 22 January 1843, EO I n 15 b

Sentiments which surely Saint Eugene continues to express today every time there is a new member of the Mazenodian Family

The community in Canada had been on a bumpy ride with several strong personalities interacting – not always smoothly. By now they had come to a more united lifestyle and Eugene recognized this.

At this moment your house at Longueuil is certainly one of our most regular houses and well you know that it is indeed by the Providence of God that you recognize that it would be too ungrateful on your part, after receiving so many graces, if you were not to become ardent for the glory of God and your improvement. I am in perfect agreement with you and it is not as of today that I think so. How could you dream of accomplishing a mission like yours if you did not exert every effort to attain the perfection of your vocation? I thought I had made this plain enough to you when I sent you: “carry each other’s burdens” [ed Galatians 6:2]. Need I say to you: “and so you will fulfil the law of Christ”?

How is that the difference of temperaments is not effaced by the resolution to have but one will for good, to consider only God whether in the Rules you should observe, whether in the men with whom you are but one body and soul. The least clash in this supernatural order brings on grave inconvenience, disorders and consequently many sins.

But you want us to be no longer concerned with the past. I agree to this provided that in future you are such as you say you have become by the grace of God. But to this end, always be very deferential and respectful to each other… Be convinced that no one here below possesses every good quality, be satisfied with those you have received as your share, try to acquire more but do not demand that your brother possess numerically more than yourself. It is possible that he lacks some quality or some virtue that you think you have, but be quite sure that he has some on his side that are lacking in you. Put everything then in common for the advantage of all. You are all members of one body. Let each make good his own talent, then it will be the body that lacks nothing.

Letter to the first group of Canadian Missionaries, 17 January 1843, EO I n 15a