Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

With deepest sorrow I inform you of the death of our good and saintly Father Mie.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Mille, 11 March 1841, EO IX n 726

Once Napoleon came to power in 1799, Father Mie was able to be openly in charge of a parish, without danger of persecution. For the following 14 years he was in parish ministry, hospital chaplain, and preacher of parish missions.

Yvon Beaudoin narrates:

In the spring of 1814, he gave a mission at Saint-Paul-lès-Durance with Father Tempier who had been ordained priest a short while before.

In the fall of 1815, Father de Mazenod invited him to join his missionary band. Father Mie readily responded to this invitation for it was in line with the desire to preach missions which the Lord had planted in his heart. He gave his adherence to the Missionaries of Provence in October 1815, but entered the community in a definitive way only during the annual retreat and General Chapter of 1818. Together with his confreres, he pronounced his vows on November 1, 1818. He had also been elected fourth assistant general; in fact, he was appointed assistant general by each General Chapter until his death in 1841.

He was not a gifted orator, but was able to transmit what he had in his heart in such a way that “his audience was gently filled with God’s Spirit as it listened to him.”

Father Mie was tireless as a missionary. He took an active part in all the missions that were given from 1816-1819. For many years thereafter he spent half the year evangelizing the parishes of the south-east of France. His usual calm and placidity gave the impression of apathy. Thus, he was no orator in the pulpit but rather a good catechist. His word was calm, his gestures rare, his appearance not very lively. And yet, as Jacques Jeancard writes, he communicated a certain conviction and feeling which transmitted what he himself believed in his heart. His audience was gently filled with God’s Spirit as it listened to him. Few possessed, to the degree that he did, the art of giving a solid religious instruction the unlearned classes. He explained the Church’s teachings, both dogma and morality, with simplicity, clarity, precision of expression, bringing out the various elements and their mutual unity in such a way that unlearned and even unlearned minds could understand all he was saying.

https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/mie-pierre-nolasque/

With deepest sorrow I inform you of the death of our good and saintly Father Mie.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Mille, 11 March 1841, EO IX n 726

With these words Eugene announced the death of one of his first companions, with whom he had founded the Oblates in 1816. Pierre Mie and Henri Tempier were the only two of the original founding figures to have persevered as Oblates. For this reason, I will dedicate several reflections to this man.

Born in 1768, he was 21 years old when the Revolution broke out in France and he had almost completed his theological studies for the priesthood at the seminary in Aix. He interrupted his studies so as not to have to make the oath of allegiance to the Revolutionary government. He worked as a teacher and helped the priests who had remained loyal to the Church and had to minister in secret in the villages. Six years later, when the persecution of the clergy had become more violent, and there was a desperate need for priestly ministry, he was ordained in secret.

His first years of priesthood were in the village of La Fare where he worked as a tailor’s apprentice during the day, and did priestly ministry in secret during the night. Jeancard describes this:

Mye returned to La Fare, where he secretly exercised the holy ministry. To hide his true apostolic mission, he pretended to be the apprentice of a local tailor. During the day, he appeared to be busy in the store of the tailor, a good Catholic, who knew the secret of his so-called apprentice’s situation, and at night he carried out his priestly duties. It may well be that he did not apply himself very much to learning his trade as a tailor; he made no progress in this art, for which he had not the slightest aptitude. People who did not know what he really was were surprised that he always did the same thing without succeeding. He did not worry about it and suffered, without saying a word, the reproaches that one of his relatives made on his incapacity apprentice – he did not know that his nephew had other things to do than making clothes,.

However, he was known in the area as a priest. This did not produce any compromising effect; the hostility had calmed down, and the one who had not ceased to be called Father Mye seemed to them rather to be a priest than a tailor of clothes.

“Notice sur le révérend père Mie”, in Missions, 5 (1866), p 435

Father Courtès in Aix en Provence was very generous in taking on priestly ministerial commitments for himself and the community in the city. Eugene reminds him to focus on why the Oblates were founded in that city

All these occasion sermons mean nothing. That is not your ministry. You are instituted for missions and retreats. You must aim only at converting souls and not at pleasing the public, not even the Parish Priests…

He then compares us with the Jesuits and their successful city ministry:

If we had four centuries of existence behind us. we could. I hope, compete with the Jesuits, not only in zeal but in moral power and successful means. That is too much of an ambition for the time of our infancy. I bless God for the good they are doing, and I am resigned to the fact that we do much less than they in the big cities where they have plenty of distinguished men.

Let us learn to appreciate the part the Lord has assigned to us. In a mission, don’t we do a hundred thousand times more good than they? Each has his task to do. Let them preach in the cities, we shall continue to convert entire populations in the villages. towns and countryside.

To prove his point, Eugene tells him about a letter from some Oblates currently involved in preaching a village mission:

I received a letter from Father Bernard. The mission is filled with the greatest hopes. I am sure of the most complete success. This is our real compensation. We have to count only on God, and then he will deal with us as in the manner of a generous master.

Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 8 January 1841, EO IX n 722

How ambitious and generous we want to be in our service of others at times! Let us ask God to help us to do our “little part” to the best of our abilities today.

Eugene, writing to Fr. Courtès, the superior of the community in Aix en Provence, speaks of the new Oblate he has sent to the community: Jean Francois Allard. We will be hearing a lot more about him in the future as a missionary in Canada and Southern Africa.

There is no doubt, my dear Father Courtès, that in sending you the excellent Father Allard, I thought I was making you a gift. I remained firm in this resolution despite all the requests addressed to me from the various houses where they wanted him. He is a precious person. I recommend him to you.

Then he sounds a note of caution which points to the danger of overburdening people with work demands and exposing them to burnout.

 However, do not demand anything beyond his strength. He will do anything out of obedience but you must be careful not to put men at risk by burdening them with what they cannot do.

Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 8 January 1841, EO IX n 722

Are we tempted at times to make unrealistic demands on others which cause stress?

The Marian shrine of Notre Dame du Laus had been our first foundation outside of Aix in 1819. From that time on, the ministry of the shrine had grown and it became a popular pilgrimage and center of mission. Its success was a cause of envy among a section of the local clergy who demanded that it be given back to the Diocese of Gap. A new bishop was appointed in 1841 and was about to arrive in Gap. Eugene wrote these words of advice to Oblate Father Mille, who was the superior of the shrine community.

There is no doubt that our enemies must have maintained a continuous correspondence with his Lordship. Be prepared to see him arrive full of prejudice against you. What is to be done?

For your part, you will behave with dignity, sincerity and moderation. The good Lord will do the rest.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Mille, 6 January 1841, EO IX n 721

Good advice when we are faced with situations of conflict that make us angry and in danger of lashing out and speaking words that cause even more damage.

Continuing to write to the discouraged missionaries:

Discouragement is a weakness. If you analyse it well, you will find it is caused by self-love. The Lord, in giving you the lofty mission of sowing, planting and watering, has reserved to himself the granting of the growth and maturity when it pleases and as it pleases him. Do then, what you have been commissioned to do and leave to God that which belongs to him alone.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Mille, 13 December 1840, EO IX n 720

Even though the people of the village were not responding to the ministry of the Oblate missionaries, Eugene reminded them that God was using them as instruments and it was up to God to judge the people, not them.

Useful advice when we are discouraged if things do not go our way.

Father Mille and a team of Oblates were preaching a parish mission in the village of Malijai. Few people attended their ceremonies, and they were deeply discouraged.

My dear friends, I share the pain brought to you by the indifference of the people whom you are evangelising. I do not, however, approve the discouragement into which I understand you have fallen, you who are accustomed to be the instruments of God’s mercy.

They wanted to abort the mission and move on. Eugene gave them encouragement by reminding them that they were there as God’s instruments and not as independent workers.

You have lost sight of the fact that you can at times be like the Master who has sent you, witnesses to his justice. … Thus, far from dwelling on the thought of withdrawing as though you had been conquered, it is necessary that you stay there to accomplish your work. It is perhaps in this case a sentence of rejection which can be promulgated only after the normal course of your exercises; even in such a case you will have been God’s ambassadors who have fulfilled their mission faithfully.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Mille, 13 December 1840, EO IX n 720

Father Tempier had been Eugene’s first and closest companion since 1815. Eugene went to confession to Tempier every week. This time, Tempier had forgotten and Eugene gently reprimands him, but with a sense of loving humor in his words. After 25 years of close collaboration and companionship, these two knew one another very well – a tone we detect on this letter.

One may sometimes be distracted, dearest Tempier, but to forget that today is Saturday. the usual day for confession; furthermore, that it is the eve of our great ceremony [ed. November 1 when all Oblates renewed their vows] that should naturally be preceded by confession; thirdly, that last evening, realizing that it was too late. I told you that we would meet again this morning at 7 o’clock. and it is already 8 p.m.

All these combined complaints force me to compel you mercilessly to make the pilgrimage to the bishop’s house this very evening. And so I pray God that he have you in his holy and worthy keeping and especially that he grant you a little more memory.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 31 October 1840, EO IX n. 715

Responding to the needs of the most abandoned, Bishop Eugene wrote in his diary:

Circular letter to announce the establishment that I have been thinking about for a long time for female domestics.

His concern was also focused on those who were sick and were too poor to afford medical care and hospitals, thus enduring suffering and often death at home. The Sisters who took on this ministry were nurses who went to care for these sick in their homes:

I join to it the announcement of an institution for religious nurses of which there is a great need in Marseilles. I have every reason to believe thatthe two foundations will be well received.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 12 December 1840, EO XX

Both works were entrusted to the Sisters of Hope of Bordeaux, a branch of the Holy Family founded by Fr. Noailles.

Always aware of the needs of the most abandoned in his diocese, Eugene was concerned about the poor girls who came in from the countryside to look for work as domestics in the city. Coming from the rural villages they were often naive about city life and how to cope. Many landed in the wrong hands and were forced into immoral ways of life in order to survive. The same was true of domestics who had lost their jobs and were forced to walk the streets to survive.

He established a home to receive these girls on their arrival in Marseilles and to be safe until they found suitable work and accommodation. The house also was a safe haven for them in the event of their losing their employment.

Sister Geray will be at my disposal to start the work I have wanted for so long to establish… It is about founding a home to receive domestics who have lost their status, until they can be placed, and to accommodate young people who come from their areas for work and who face terribledangers before they find what they need.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 14 August 1840, EO XX