Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

Poor Eugene! Frustrated because of his slow convalescence. Disappointed with the behavior of some of the Oblates. Annoyed because he could not be fulfilling his responsibilities as Vicar General in Marseilles. Now came the political crisis and we touch something of his raw state of nerves and anxiety for the Oblates and for his uncle, the 83-year old Bishop Fortuné.

Is it conceivable that you have had the hard-headedness, in such times as we are traversing, to leave me without letters from July 27 to August 4! I told you, in my last letter, to let me know immediately whether my uncle would consider it wise that I return to his side. I repeat the same question; I am utterly out of my element here, being moreover of no use for anything or to anyone.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 9 August 1830, EO VII n. 353

Four days later we find him still suffering from his inability to do anything.

Unless, my dear friend, you may have written letters to me on the 20th, the 27th and August 4th, it is impossible not to be afflicted over your failure to send me news of yourselves of which I have such great need. I am tired of repeating that, in the grave circumstances in which you are, it would not be too much to write three times a week. You can imagine that I think only of you and that I feel here like a fish out of water.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 13 August 1830, EO VII n. 354

We can all identify with the experience of worrying about loved ones who are far away and may be in danger – and we seemingly can do nothing for them because of distance, illness, age or other circumstances. We are encouraged by Eugene:

I will say to you however that I am not discouraged and that I am afflicted without being laid low. It seems to me that Our Lord will help us by his grace to endure all our sorrows.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 23 August 1830, EO VII n 359

Yesterday at last, the “Constitutionnel” of the 31st informed us of the state of affairs, by what it said and by what it omitted. Some letters, addressed to Swiss families, whose heads are in the service of France, confirmed in part the accounts of the journalist. Now it remains to know what happened where you are. Whatever they may tell me here, if you think at Marseilles that it would be necessary that I return, you are to send for me. My ailment is not one of those that a change of air can cure; my heart left me rather tired during the course of yesterday; I am well otherwise.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 4 August 1830, EO VII n. 352

The news had reached Eugene in Switzerland. There had been riots in Paris, and looting and destruction in the residence of the Archbishop, in the church of St. Germain l’Auxerrois, in the Jesuit novitiate and the destruction of public mission crosses. Was this the signal of a new persecution of the Church as the events of 1789 and the Reign of Terror had been? Was the alliance between the “Throne and the Altar” that the Bourbon kings had restored going to be destroyed again? Were the Oblates going to be persecuted?

The convalescing Eugene’s frustration at being far away is evident. Unrealistically he wanted to return to France yet, realistically, he continued to experience the physical symptoms of a “tired heart.” Like our patron saint, we also often struggle between unrealistic ideals and the realism of our situation. He remained focus on God, and inspires us to do the same.

What French history has referred to as “The Three Glorious Days” (27-29 July 1830) were anything but “glorious” for Eugene. For the preceding few years government anti-religious sentiments and actions had been increasing. (cf the entry from https://www.eugenedemazenod.net/?p=3415 onwards)

Now these erupted and revolt broke out in Paris, leading to the abdication of King Charles X and the takeover of power by Louis Philippe. He named himself not “King of France”, but “King of the French.” The “Citizen King,” as opposed to the line of Bourbon monarchs, was going to change the relationship between the State and the Church – and we shall see how Eugene was to be affected at great personal cost to himself in the years that followed.

Eugene was in Switzerland, while Henri Tempier was in Marseilles. Rumors of the violence that had been happening in Paris had filtered through to him, and he was anxious:

You can understand, my dear friend, how impatiently I await news from you. You did not write on the 30th, the day, by my calculations, when you ought to have been informed of the events at Paris.

You were at fault, for you can imagine the extent of my anxiety after the rumors, increasingly exaggerated one after the other, during the three days that the post failed to arrive.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 4 August 1830, EO VII n. 352

Eugene’s anxiety was focused on whether the violence had spread to the south of France and the danger to his Oblates and to the diocese of Marseilles. Was this going to be a repetition of 1789?

Once Eugene had expressed his feelings about the Oblates who were not living up to the lofty ideals of the Rule of Life, he realized that he had been too negative and unrealistic, and so he wrote to Henri Tempier on the next day:

I beg you, my dear friend, to burn the page which precedes. This outpouring is all right for you, from whom I have nothing to hide but were someone else to read it, he could interpret it badly and be persuaded that I little appreciate the brothers that God has given us while, quite certainly, there is a good number of them that I esteem.

Eugene certainly never spared himself in his efforts to help his Oblate sons to grow into zealous missionary achievers, while trusting in God.

Some cannot be in doubt that while loving them, I would wish them to be other than they are since I do not cease to tell them so and I write to them when the occasion presents itself. For the rest, we must bless the good God for the hopes that we have in the future.

The Blessed Alphonse de Liguori was not any more fortunate than we during his lifetime.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 1 August 1830, EO VII n 351

Fr. Tempier wrote in the margin of this letter, probably after the death of the Founder in 1861 “I did not at the time dare to tear up this letter and throw it in the fire, as my venerated Father bid me to do, still less will I do it today”.

“A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”   Abigail Van Buren

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His reflection on the ideals, fiery zeal and soaring achievements of the first groups of Jesuits led Eugene to a feeling of despondency when he compared some of the first groups of Oblates to them. He had been particularly disappointed in the past few years with the quality of the men who came to join, and their ability to persevere in difficulties and strictly follow the Rule of Life.

Can we look around us and see anything similar? We have to labor at training a few children who are mostly incapable of conceiving the great ideals which would raise them above their situation.

Not one of them has anything to give of his own, a stone to bring to the edifice that must be built by concerted effort. Wretched are these times and detestable is the influence of this age on minds!

He bemoaned their lack of responsiveness and how they remained cold and feeble despite all that was done to fire them up.

If any of them can produce anything, it is contrariwise and, instead of a soaring achievement attained by the acting in community of several wills intent on the same goal, we have to watch the dampening and deadening of all the impulses of our souls by the carefulness, cautiousness and scheming we have to employ in their regard in order to utilize them at least in some mediocre sphere where such cold and feeble souls prefer to be.

Eugene had become so despondent about his lack of achievements in improving the situation that he concluded:

I finished by asking God to take me out of this world if I am not to achieve anything more than I have done.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 1 August 1830, EO VII n 351

In the past we have often seen Eugene at his passionate fiery emotional best, and here we see him in a despondent emotional low point. Within hours, however, he had realized that he had exaggerated in expressing himself and we shall see that he rectified his opinion. Do not forget that this letter was never intended to be public – it was a private outpouring to Fr Tempier in whom he confided everything, including his darkest moments.

“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”   Oscar Wilde

Eugene’s reflections were within the context of having been invited by the Jesuits to celebrate the Mass for the feast of their founder, St. Ignatius. He was a strong admirer of Ignatius and the Jesuits, and the contribution they had made to the Church

Again yesterday, when the solemnity and length of the ceremonies of the Feast of St. Ignatius, at which they asked me to preside, and the circumstance of it being the last day of my forty-eighth year, aroused in me more devout thoughts and holy desires and allowed me also leisure to reflect with Jesus Christ present and exposed, how deep into my soul I plunged! How many and diverse my feelings!

He reflected on the marvels worked by Ignatius and his first companions

I was happy at the altar as I offered the Holy Sacrifice for the Order of Jesuits without forgetting our own family. I congratulated their holy Founder for the marvels he had worked. But how great the help he received! There is nothing like it in our days. Though he had so many heretics and bad Christians as enemies, how mightily he was protected by most eminent Popes and Bishops! Seeing everything as lost in the Church they confided to his Order the fate of the Church: it was thus he obtained all…

All this was achieved because of the quality of his first companions

But, let it be noted, by what men he was supported! From the first years of their coming together, it could be said of each of them that they did more than he did. I do not speak only of the first companions, I speak of all those who joined them as soon as they became known. It seems that all those zealous to defend the Church so horribly torn apart, who felt they had the ability to be useful to her and the virtue to devote themselves to this great task, flocked to the banner of Ignatius. His company was from the beginning an army of generals. Can we then be surprised at all they have done!

Letter to Henri Tempier, 1 August 1830, EO VII n 351

Eugene’s birthday found him in the somber mood of the reflection of one who is limited during recovery from serious illness and feels frustrated.

1830 marks the beginning of a very difficult phase in Eugene’s life. It was a dark night which was to last for several years and from which he emerged as a wiser figure who had grown much.

As you look at the date on this letter, you will recall my dear friend that I enter today into my forty-ninth year. I was busy yesterday, the whole day, with the thoughts that the circumstance of the end of my forty-eighth year brought to mind. I have groaned, as you can imagine, over a quantity of miseries; I thanked God for many graces, but I was saddened – and it is here that I have been wrong – to find in my life, as a whole, a field greater than that which I have walked on; I meant that it seems to me I have not really fulfilled my course. Is it my fault? Is it a question of time?

Looking back on his life, he is conscious of not having achieved all that he could have. He asked himself whether this was his own fault or had he been a victim of circumstances.

The director to whom I confided these regrets seemed persuaded that it is the fault of the times and the misfortune of circumstances. I then complained in a way to God for having given me more thoughts, more desires, more means, more will than physical strength.

Ruminating about what he could have achieved had he not had these obstacles, he wishes he had been born under different circumstances.

If, to be just, I agreed to admit to myself that I had habitually profited enough from the situations in which I have found myself to act, even with some courage, in the midst of obstacles of every kind, I felt rather annoyed in a way at not having been placed in another time, or in some other position where I could have discharged all the energy that was in me, and which fades because it is not used.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 1 August 1830, EO VII n 351

Let us remember that he is convalescing as he writes to Father Tempier, his confidant and confessor, and so he reflects his intimate thoughts and questions out loud as he writes. We witness a rare glimpse into the frustration of one who was used to being a man of action and constant activity and, who was now, incapacitated.

The travelers arrived in Fribourg, where Eugene’s nephew Louis was boarding at the college of the Jesuits. Politcal events in France at the end of July obliged Eugene to remain until mid-November.

As you look at the date on this letter, you will recall my dear friend that I enter today into my forty-ninth year. I was busy yesterday, the whole day, with the thoughts that the circumstance of the end of my forty-eighth year brought to mind. I have groaned, as you can imagine, over a quantity of miseries; I thanked God for many graces

Letter to Henri Tempier, 1 August 1830, EO VII n 351

It had indeed been a difficult year for Eugene. He was in Switzerland recuperating from a serious illness that had left him weak and had kept him away from his work as Vicar General in Marseilles for many months. He was also mourning the death of Marius Suzanne and of his niece, Nathalie. From a political point of view, having had to react to the increasing anti-religious attitude and laws of Charles X’s government had also worn him out. As he “groaned” remembering the hardships, he was aware that he had never been deserted and that God’s grace had been his constant companion.

It is a reminder that we are never alone.

Also, my heart was gladdened at the sight of the first cross I perceived as I entered the canton of Fribourg. We recited with joy the Vexilla as if we had just found our compass once more…

It is on these occasions that one feels what it is to be Catholic and the full rapture of this veritable love which unites us all to our common center who is Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory in all places, at all times and for all eternity!

Letter to Hippolyte Guibert, 29 July 1830, EO VII n 350

Having been knocked off-balance for couple of days, Eugene refocused on his enduring and loving relationship with the universal Church. Thirty years later we find him repeating the same conviction to the people of Marseilles.

How is it possible to separate our love for Jesus Christ from that which we owe to his Church? These two kinds of love merge: to love the Church is to love Jesus Christ and vice versa. We love Jesus Christ in his Church because she is his immaculate spouse who came out of his opened side on the cross…

Lenten Pastoral Letter, February 16, 1860

Having been knocked off balance by his experiences in the Protestant part of Switzerland, Eugene found his equilibrium again when he saw his first crucifix in a public place.

Also, my heart was gladdened at the sight of the first cross I perceived as I entered the canton of Fribourg. We recited with joy the Vexilla as if we had just found our compass once more. Yet we had journeyed only two days in this beautiful country ravaged by heresy.

Letter to Hippolyte Guibert, 29 July 1830, EO VII n 350

One Good Friday, nearly a quarter century earlier, Eugene had found the compass of his life looking at the Cross. Now he proves how it had remained his compass in all moment of his life, especially those of confusion and difficulty.

The Vexilla is a hymn dating back to the 5th century. A translation of the first verse is:

Abroad the regal banners fly,
now shines the Cross’s mystery:
upon it Life did death endure,
and yet by death did life procure.

“The cross is not just a badge to identify us…it is also the compass which gives us our bearings in a disoriented world.” John Stott