Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

Eugene spent 13 days at St Laurent, compiling a Rule of 55 hand-written pages. His early biographer, Jeancard, described him poetically as being like Moses “going up to Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments of God.”

This was not quite the case – although the process of writing was certainly done in a spirit of prayer and discernment of the will of God. This is why he was able to say with conviction to the Oblates near the end of his life:

For my part, my very dear Sons, I will be content to sum up my advice in this single recommendation: read and meditate upon your Holy Rule. In the Rule you will find the secret of your perfection; it contains all that is necessary to lead you to God.

Circular Letter 1, 2 August 1853, EO XII

Having received the approval of all the Missionaries to take responsibility for ND du Laus as a center of mission and the go-ahead to write a Rule of Life for them, Eugene set out from Aix to go to the family home at St Laurent du Verdon with the scholastic brothers Marius Suzanne and Noel Moreau. They travelled by public horse-drawn coach. He described the journey to his uncle Fortuné.

It shows the spirit of unity between the Missionaries.

Our trip, very dear uncle, was very agreeable, very happy and not at all tiring…

Our Fathers at Aix are always present in our thoughts and in our solitude we make our religious exercises in union with theirs.

Letter to Fortuné de Mazenod, 4 September 1818, EO XIII n 17

In the process of discernment, Eugene placed the situation of establishing a second community and its implications before all the Missionaries. His Memoires recall:

I felt that I should summon to an extraordinary council, all those who then comprised my little band, even the younger members who were not yet in major orders. I wanted to convince them that if we were to answer the call to another diocese to establish a new foundation,

we should have to broaden the Rule we were following,

draw up more extensive Constitutions,

tighten our bonds

and establish a system of hierarchy;

in other words, coordinate everything in such a way that we should have but one mind and one code of action.
They all felt as I did and urged me to devote my time earnestly and immediately to the task of drafting the Constitutions and Rules that we should have to adopt.

Bishop de Mazenod, “Memoires.” Cited by Rambert, I, p. 282

At this stage all the attention was focused on taking on the ministry of the Marian Shrine of Notre Dame du Laus. As we shall see later, the question of the passage to religious life would become a “hot potato” for some of the Missionaries who were diocesan priests.

The letter from the Diocese of Digne offering the care of Notre Dame du Laus to the Missionaries stated that two priests would be needed. In the summer they would devote their whole time to the many pilgrims who came every day, and during the winter, they would evangelize the neighboring villages.

Based on the Mémoires of Marius Suzanne, Rey describes the discernment around the requests:“The Founder evaluated them. To avoid uncertainty, he decided to consult the companions that God has given him. He gathered around him the six priests that make up the small Society. He read them the letter from M. Arbaud, reading slowly and stopping at the most significant passages he urged them to give their opinion.
He was careful to point out that acceptance of this foundation would lead to huge consequences. Among others, that of the transformation of the Society, which would cease to be diocesan, and which could continue to exist only if all members committed themselves to it by religious vows.
This proposal did not alarm anyone, says Father Suzanne, and all gave their assent with enthusiasm to the foundation of the House of Our Lady of Laus.” (Rey I, p. 228.)

Eugene was thus able to write to the Diocesan authorities of Digne:

… if you think that the plan you have thought of might gain some glory for God and contribute to the salvation of souls, I am totally disposed…

Letter to M. Arbaud, 23 August 1818, EO XIII, n 16

Two and a half years after the foundation of the Missionaries, this seemingly insignificant letter, written by St Eugene, signaled an explosion in their life and a new direction.

The letter was written in response to an invitation from the Vicar General of the Diocese of Digne. He had asked the Missionaries of Provence to take over the shrine of Notre Dame du Laus, some 150 kilometers from Aix, and to make it a center of pilgrimage and of missionary activity.

I have no other desire than to do a little good; thus, if you think that the plan you have thought of might gain some glory for God and contribute to the salvation of souls, I am totally disposed to offer myself for all the arrangements which are compatible with my commitments in this diocese and the duties of my position in our little Society.

Letter to M. Arbaud, Vicar General, 23 August 1818, EO XIII, n 16

The result of Eugene’s letter of acceptance was to be that:
          this tiny group of Missionaries realized that their future was not limited to only one house in Aix en Provence – as had been their original intention. It would eventually open the way to a world-wide expansion;
          this group of diocesan priests were to change their status and to become a group of religious priests and brothers with vows;
          they would produce their first comprehensive Rule of Life as religious;
          they understood that the care of Marian sanctuaries was part of their missionary charism.

What the Missionary Oblates and the Mazenodian Family are today is the fruit of this decision.

In 1816 Eugene de Mazenod and his first companions had come together to form the Missionaries of Provence. The plan was to have only one community, based in the former Carmelite Convent, and to concentrate on evangelization in the villages of Provence through preaching missions. Nothing further was envisaged.

Then in 1818 everything changed with a new step being revealed by God’s will: the invitation to consider changing plan by establishing a second community and a ministry that they had never imagined for themselves: a Marian Shrine.

This was to have major consequences for us: the decision to change from being a single group of diocesan priests to becoming a religious congregation in vows with more than one community, drawing up a Rule of Life, and launching into shrine ministry.

All this happened in 1818 – and we celebrate 200 years of these decisions in November. For this reason I will focus on these events and their meaning in the coming weeks.

The house in Billens, Switzerland, had been opened as a formation house for the scholastics when it appeared that the Revolution of 1830 was about to begin a persecution of the Church. Three years later the students returned to France, and the house in Billens was a house of itinerant Oblate preachers. The community became somewhat unfocused and discontented, unleashing Eugene’s anger:

I have to confess that the pen fell from my hand each time I made the effort to write you. What’s there to say to men who after so many years of religious life don’t have the first idea of their chief and essential obligations, and some of whom go so far as to threaten to leave if their obedience is not changed, in other words, if instead of being told what they have to do, they are not asked to place their orders, so that their tastes can be complied with … .
You want me to write and I have no blessing to impart, only anathemas. You are all at fault, without a single exception.

What would have hurt Eugene deeply was the fact that some who had made perpetual oblation and given their lives to God and to the Congregation, were now threatening to leave the Oblates if they did not get their own way. He made some personnel changes and harmony was restored.

I begin by recalling Father M. He will leave immediately on receipt of this letter…. I will let you know the destination of the others in due course… It is my wish that this letter be read aloud in the community so that each individual will be made aware of my displeasure, and no one will escape the reproaches that I feel obliged to make in all conscience.

Letter to the Fathers in Billens, 23 June 1833, EO VIII n 447

As a person passionately in love with Jesus the Savior, it is no surprise that Eugene had a strong attachment to the devotion to the Sacred Heart. In 1819 he had made the Oblate Church of the Mission the center for this devotion in Aix. When he moved to Marseilles, he tried to return to Aix every month to be with the Oblate community on first Fridays.

… You know quite well what a pleasure it would be for me to spend the Feast of the Sacred Heart with you. But various reasons oblige me to be absent. In the first place a pastoral visitation has been fixed for the vigil and the day after ….

Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 5 June 1833, EO VIII n 446

Now that he was a bishop, it appears that he was to preside at the procession through the city on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Pastoral commitments in Marseilles did not make this possible.

René Motte writes about how Eugene instilled a sense of the importance of the love of Jesus Christ in others.

Eugene is quoted as saying to Father Timon-David:

There is no need for me to recommend to you to develop in your young people a thorough understanding that in adoring Our Lord’s Sacred Heart, they should not so much focus their attention on this sacred object of their love as they should extend it to the living person of Jesus Christ who is present.

Blessed Joseph Gerard’s reaction to the news of Eugene’s last illness is one of many illustrations of this devotion when he wrote: “I have just learnt that your Lordship has fallen seriously ill […] We remember with edification your great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and we are going to appeal to this Sacred Heart with the most ardent confidence”.

(See R. Motte, “Sacred Heart” in https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/sacred-heart-the/#_FtntRef3 )

Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod was old, and thus handed over the pastoral visitation of seven outlying towns to his newly-ordained nephew, Bishop Eugene.

My dear friend, I am on my way to make a pastoral visitation in a part of the diocese. It will take me a fortnight and, please God. I won’t be wasting my time.

Eugene had been a missionary for some 20 years and it was in his blood to think and act like one. It was with an Oblate heart and approach that he ministered to everyone.

A bishop is primarily a missionary; I know my duty, it only remains for me to accomplish it as I ought.

If resolve were all that were needed. I would have no doubts about it, but it is something that has to be earned, for what greater grace can a man have than that of doing his duty well. It needs prayers: it is up to you to give me your help, my dear children.

Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 4 May 1833, EO VIII n 445

Since then many Oblates have been called by the Church to become bishops. Each one’s vocation has always been to be “primarily a missionary” and approach people with an Oblate heart like St. Eugene was.

Writing to Father Guibert at the Marian Shrine in Laus, Eugene asks for prayers for the community. In particular for Casimir Aubert who was preparing himself for his priestly ordination on April 6. He would be the first Oblate to be ordained by Bishop Eugene.

… There is no need for me to tell you that all these good brothers are asking for your prayers and those of our Fathers. Aubert in particular has been really insistent lest I forget his commission; he is on retreat, I could not refuse to let him have a fortnight off to prepare himself for the priestly ordination that his unblemished life has already made him so worthy of. What an outstanding fellow he is! Intelligence, character, virtue, heart: he has them all to perfection. You can congratulate yourself on gaining such a prize and the family will be eternally grateful.

Letter to Hippolyte Guibert, 25 March 1833, EO VIII n 444

Eugene’s praise for his Oblate son was well-founded, and we will be hearing more about Casimir Aubert in Eugene’s correspondence in the future.

I recommend the Oblate Historical Dictionary article: https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/aubert-joseph-jerome-casimir/