Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

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

On February 12, 1840, the 91-year-old retired Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod became seriously ill. His nephew Eugene did not leave his bedside until his death on 22 February.

He later wrote that he mourned

the untimely death of my dear uncle. All has been written and printed about this blessed death, I do not have the courage to add anything, but the loss of this holy man has deeply affected my heart. One cannot replace such friends!

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, April 1840, EO XX

Eugene was deeply affected because he had had a deep friendship with his father’s brother. He was associated with his uncle during his childhood in Aix. Then they were together during part of the years of exile in Venice, Naples and Palermo. After Eugene’s return to France, Fortuné and Eugene lived under the same roof from 1817 to 1841 and worked together. It is thus easy to understand his grief

My thoughts go to the tomb where I just placed the precious remains of my venerable uncle. Yet a few years and I will go down into the same crypt to be placed beside him and our ashes will await there together for the great day of the glorious resurrection, as it is written on the stone which will cover both of us: Hic jacent, etc., expectantes beatam spem et adventum gloriae Magni Dei [ed. “Here lie, etc…. who await the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of our Great God.” -Titus 2:13]

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, April 1840, EO XX

For further details on Fortuné, see the article in the Historical Dictionary https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/mazenod-bishop-fortune-de/

In France it is customary that people wish each other for the New Year – whereas in several other countries this is done for Christmas. For the Bishop this meant hours of meeting people formally to exchange greetings and good wishes.

Eugene found these moments heavy, but saw them as an important part of his role in the city. He survived them by trying to live them in the presence of God.

January 1:

And then began the grand general reception. It lasted all day. I had to repeatedly raise my heart to God to offer him the wearisome duty of my position. As annoying as it is, there is a good side to be considered. It is a tribute to the head of religion in the diocese. A lot of people meet him. We exchange a few kind words.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 1 January December 1840, EO XX

The visits were so numerous that a second day had to be set aside to continue the process.

January 4: A day of visits like yesterday. All our actions can be acceptable to God when we offer them to him. It is out of duty that I do thisdrudgery. Besides, some good comes from this meeting of the pastor with his flock.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 4 January December 1840, EO XX

A good attitude for us to cultivate when we have to face the dull routine of some of our daily occupations.