Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

In the previous reflection we looked at the letter of Eugene to the Bishop of Gap regarding the Shrine of Notre Dame du Laus. Now Eugene writes to Fr Guibert directly about the same delicate situation.

I admired the means you employed to bring this difficult man to a more reasonable frame of mind, and in taking the whole affair into your hands you got me out of a very embarrassing situation and saved the day. Discussion in the context envisaged by the Bishop of Gap would have been bound to come out badly.

Yvon Beaudoin explains the background in a footnote: “The Bishop and clergy of Gap were already having thoughts of resuming the direction of N.-D. du Laus and of making it a retirement home for elderly priests. As to the latter, Father Guibert was prepared to accept them but Bishop Arbaud found his conditions too onerous. The Bishop of Gap continued to find fault with the Oblates especially on account of the interests they had shown in Lamennais and of their moral teaching, inspired by St. Alphonsus. While saying nothing more about the dismissal of the Oblates, he asked for at least Father Guibert’s departure. Bishop de Mazenod refused and told the superior to pass on this refusal to the prelate, who left things as they were. The better relationship that now existed between Bishop Arbaud and Father Guibert saved the Founder from an embarrassing situation: basically, it was the latter’s moral teachings and past relationships with Lamennais that the Bishop did not approve.”

We had right, fair dealing and justice on our side, he had might and unbridled power in his hands and given his character and formation he would have used them. You were not too far out in what you said concerning Lamennais’ views. These gentlemen have always mistaken my esteem for the author with the use they imagined I made of his works, nor did they make any distinction as to period. I am also strongly in favour of the plan of action you propose to follow in his respect; for his part he ought to remove the obstacles he places to all vocations…

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

Again, an example of the many sensitive issues and tricky situations that Eugene had to navigate the Oblate Congregation through.

Bishop Arbaud focused his discomfort with the Oblates on the superior of the community, Father Guibert, whom Eugene vehemently defended. The underlying cause of the Bishop’s unhappiness was not Fr Guibert – but he became the scapegoat to express it. It is a long letter to reproduce, but I do so because it shows how Eugene defended his Oblates when they were unjustly accused – just as he was the first to reproach and correct them when they were wrong.

If Father is to blame, he should be punished, but your letters prove the opposite. If he is innocent, why should he be punished? However, through what ordeals has he not been put? A model of obedience, he has scrupulously obeyed everything, without allowing himself to make the least observation. Now, you are going further and want me to take him away from the house which he is directing with piety, wisdom and discretion. You are asking too much, Your Lordship!

You are wrongly imputing a crime to Father Guibert for not turning away from the novitiate the men of your diocese who come to present themselves there. You know the Church’s rules in that matter of vocations …

Why do you want to oblige me to recall such a valuable man whom you have praised to me on every occasion? Why deprive him of a climate that is very good for his precarious health? Why force me to deprive the young men that he is instructing in the ways of perfection of the priceless benefits of his good direction?

I deny the calumnies of those who say that he is displeasing to your clergy. The one who slandered him could have discovered the opposite this very year itself during the clergy retreat at N.-D. du Laus. Out of 22 priests, twenty chose him for director. No, Your Lordship, Father Guibert is not well enough known. This excellent priest is not only mentally gifted, but eminently virtuous and, because of that, should be precious to a Bishop like yourself.

I hope that you will render him your good graces which he has done nothing to lose. If my letter weren’t so long, I would quote you an example which would show you the uprightness and simplicity of his soul …

Letter to Bishop Arbaud of Gap, 20 February 1833, EO XIII n 81

This letter is the beginning of a conflict that would simmer and lead to the Oblates being expelled from the shrine some years later. Under them the shrine had flourished, pilgrims were coming in large numbers, and it was financially viable. The Bishop now wanted this thriving ministry returned to him and also to use the refurbished house as a retirement home for his priests.

We have seen the newly-consecrated Bishop Eugene’s understanding of the dignity of the episcopacy as successors of the apostles – which gave a particular relationship between priests and bishops, and between bishops themselves. He refers to this in his response to Bishop Arbaud’s complaints about the Oblates at ND du Laus.

Will it be said that two Bishops do not agree when it is a matter of the Church’s interests, the honor of the priesthood and the rights of justice and fairness? If I knew that one of our men was in the wrong, I don’t say in the respect and submission that is your due, but even in the esteem only that your dignity and virtues require, I would not have words strong enough to condemn him, and I would be ready to demand that he make all the amends that you would require.

The Oblates had not been disrespectful of the Bishop, and their conduct had been irreproachable.

Thanks be to God, however, there is no question of that, and in the annoyance that your correspondence gives me, I have the consolation of finding in it the assurance that you are satisfied with everyone’s conduct.

The problem was that someone had complained that the Oblates were too lenient with penitents in the confessional

It all comes down to a few vague allegations, evidently exaggerated, that some secret enemy communicated to you.

Letter to Bishop Arbaud of Gap, 20 February 1833, EO XIII n 81

A diplomatic way of getting his point across while calming the waters!

The Oblates had been at the shrine of Notre Dame du Laus since 1819 and, in those 13 years, had made it a flourishing center of mission activities which attracted many pilgrims. The local bishop, who was Jansenist and a Gallican, objected to the pastoral approach of the Oblates which was based on the mercy of God manifested in Jesus Christ the Savior and not on the rigorous harshness of legal prescriptions. He had written two strong letters to Eugene, who responded:

I deliberately put off replying to the two letters that you did me the honor of writing. I had hoped that further reflection would soften the extensive rigor of your thinking, and that you would not insist on cruelly grieving priests who pride themselves on having some claim to your affection and to whom you have not denied your high regard.

God is my witness that in my relationships with you, I have done all that depended on me to avoid a collision. I had to place many things at the foot of the cross, for I have scarcely been spared.

Letter to Bishop Arbaud of Gap, 20 February 1833, EO XIII n 81

It was always to the Cross that Eugene looked to for inspiration, strength and endurance in difficult situations.

He poses a challenging question: when I am upset with someone do I first lash out and then calm down and go to the foot of the Cross to ask forgiveness – or can I go to the foot of the Cross first as St. Eugene teaches?

Eugene accepted to be made a bishop, after consultation with the Oblates, for the welfare of the Congregation. He remained 100 percent Oblate.

… you will readily understand that this high dignity, this great character that has been bestowed upon me, does not relax a single one of the bonds that bind me to our Congregation, since, rather, the overriding reason for the submission of my will has been the consciousness of the good that would flow from it for the Congregation…

He then explains how useful it would be for the Missionary Oblates to be represented by someone who had an acknowledged presence in the hierarchy of the Church.

Confined as we are, and still little known, it is my opinion, and those other Oblates whom I was bound to consult thought the same, that it would be very advantageous if we could when need arose indicate that the representative of this small and unknown family, but newly-born, and which has had to begin its growth in the midst of thorns, is a bishop, and a bishop chosen, elected by the Supreme Head of the Church, consecrated under his eyes and at his command, in the capital of the Christian world, by a Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and Regular Clergy, who represented him in this sublime function.

To the Oblate community in Billens, 24 October 1832, EO VIII n 439

Being a bishop “does not relax a single one of the bonds that bind me to our Congregation,” he wrote. In fact, the next 29 years of his life were to prove that all that he did and achieved was seen through the Oblate eyes and acted upon with the Oblate heart that had guided him since our foundation.

Writing to his confidant, Father Tempier, Eugene described his spiritual state after his episcopal consecration.

The Holy Spirit, the object of so many saintly people’s prayers, made his appearance on the great day, and I assure you that not a day has passed since then, and I could even say an hour, that he has not imparted indescribable spiritual experiences to that person whom he deigned to choose and sanctify.

I did not count in vain on his powerful help for my whole retreat was made in a spirit of trust. I feel renewed and am in a spiritual state that I cannot put into words.

He had always had an awe-filled respect for the status of bishops as the successors of the apostles, and now he finds himself as one.

All my life I had been filled with respect for the episcopate, I had always considered it in a great spirit of faith; it was, so to speak, an instinctive reflex of my soul. If I had not held myself back, I would many times have been carried away and fallen prostrate at the feet of some good bishop, as one does before the Pope. I wanted everyone to think as I did and to render noble acts of homage to these successors of the apostles. I was ready to let them walk right over me so as to exalt them the more, and now the Lord raises me myself to the summit of this greatness and what is more, now he is making me understand that I still fell short in my estimate of this plenitude of the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Conscious of his personal weakness and sinfulness, the gift of the Holy Spirit gives him confidence to fulfil his responsibilities.

This profound conviction of my soul sits very well with the feeling of my own lowliness, personal poverty and unworthiness; but none the less I am sure that, through God’s mercy, I have completely changed. I have a clearer knowledge of my duties and I think I have obtained, with the Holy Spirit, the resolve to discharge them faithfully.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 20 October 1832, EO VIII n 437

Writing to his bishop uncle, Eugene described his experience during the ceremony of episcopal consecration. The presence of God was tangible:

This great deprivation apart, which I could not help but feel, everything went wonderfully well. It even seems that thanks to the tangible and wholly gratuitous outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit this ceremony will live on in the memory, it was so dignified, majestic, edifying: the poor one who was chosen was under the influence or impression of the superabundant grace of God, so good, so generous; and when his emotion which it was impossible for him to hide was perceived, both by the consecrating bishops and those assisting, they shared the same feeling and tears flowed from all eyes in the midst of this general recollection which I was assured prevailed far more than it does usually…

There, then, my dear uncle, you have the consolations that God in his goodness granted me along with others of a more hidden nature.

To Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, 14 October 1832, EO XV n 168

Despite the joy of the ceremony of episcopal consecration, Eugene never forgot that it all happened as a response to the anti-religious attitude and actions of the French government.

There, then, my dear uncle, you have the consolations that God in his goodness granted me along with others of a more hidden nature, to strengthen me no doubt against the tribulations that are reserved for me.

Eugene had no doubt that he was on a collision course with the French authorities, but he also knew that God’s grace was more powerful.

I face them without defiance or fear. The Lord gave me the grace during my retreat to make a very firm resolve to will only what he wills in times of prosperity and adversity alike. I am penetrated to the depths of my soul with the sublimity of the character and the grandeur of the dignity conferred on me; I have established myself, with the help of grace, in the disposition to fulfil always all the resulting duties, for the glory of God, the honour of the Church, the service of neighbour and my own sanctification.

Armed in this fashion one is strong, especially when one looks to God for everything and for nothing from oneself whose nothingness and powerlessness I fully understand. Please continue, my dear uncle, to come to my aid with the help of your prayers; my own, quite feeble as they are, are due you by too many titles for you not to feel you can count on them.

Affectionate greetings with all the tenderness of a nephew and a wholly devoted son.

+ Ch. Jos. Eugene, Bishop of Icosia

To Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, 14 October 1832, EO XV n 168

“Armed in this fashion one is strong, especially when one looks to God for everything” was going to be the guiding light of the difficult years of personal suffering that Bishop Eugene was soon to face.

Eugene’s first letter immediately after his episcopal consecration was to his uncle, Bishop Fortuné, who had been the one responsible for this happening. Signing himself, for the first time, “+ Ch. Jos. Eugene, Bishop of Icosia” he expressed his affection for his old uncle.

If I had been at liberty to follow my heart’s desire, the moment I descended from the altar I would have taken up my pen to render you my first act of homage and say again the words I had just addressed to the consecrating Bishop who represented your person to me: ad multos annos. It was high time too I expressed my gratitude towards you, and gave expression to my feelings of filial affection which, while admitting no increase, I experienced in a very lively way even in the midst of the abundant spiritual consolations it pleased the Lord to pour out in my soul on this memorable day. Really it was a great disappointment for me and the occasion, I hope, of much merit to have been deprived of the happiness of being consecrated by you and surrounded by my whole family and our dear friends.

In your very real absence, I tried to make up for it in spirit by being united with you in the prayers you must all have been offering for me.

To Bishop Fortuné de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, 14 October 1832, EO XV n 168

At the moment of his episcopal consecration Eugene, who was in Rome would be united with all his loved ones, separated from him in France. They would be united, however, in the most intimate way through prayer.

So, removing itself from the crowd of curious onlookers my eyes may see, my soul absorbed in God will see you in Him,

you, my darling sister, her children, my venerable uncle and the whole family, my children in Jesus Christ, my friends worthy of that title that it is not my habit to give lightly.

If, as I hope, my letter of the 4th arrived in time, tomorrow morning we shall all be united in Jesus Christ in the most intimate way, as you will all be united with the Sacrifice during which I shall be consecrated, by communion and by the Masses that will be said for my intention. And this is how I shall find consolation for my isolation from all whom I love…

I go on my knees to ask your maternal blessing, and hug you with all the affection that you know I have for you. Hugs too for Eugenie and her children.

Letter to his mother, 13 October 1832, EO XV n 167

Looking at the strong bond between Eugene and his mother we can understand the origin of his strong bond with Mary Immaculate, his heavenly mother, which he shared with “my children in Jesus Christ,” his Oblate family.