Sending Oblates to the foreign missions and maintaining them, especially in the poorest rural regions, required funds. Each year Bishop Eugene had to write to Rome and to the French Propagation of the Faith asking for grants.
Dear Sirs,
Since some of our missionaries are about to leave for the missions which our Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate has founded in North America … That same period will also mark the departure of a group of four of our missionaries I have placed at the disposal of Bishop Bettachini, the coadjutor of the Apostolic Vicar of Ceylon. During the few days he spent in Marseilles, when I had a number of conversations with him, this prelate painted such a picture of the deplorable state of the religion in that island that I was unable to refuse coming to his aid despite the needs of the other foreign missions entrusted to our Congregation. …
I recognize the fact that we cannot claim a large grant in light of the requests already advanced this year by our Congregation for its missions in America and England. Therefore we will restrict ourselves to what is strictly necessary for our mission in Ceylon; the travelling expenses of the four missionaries and the initial settlement and support costs. That will require at least 12000 francs.
To the Members of the Central Council of Southern France for the Missionary Society of the Propagation of the Faith, Lyon, 14 August 1847, EO V, n106
When they delayed in responding, Eugene feared that he would not have the money to be able to send the 4 missionaries to Ceylon and would have to cancel the project. Two months later he wrote again:
Dear Sirs,
I awaited your response to my letter of September 15 last with a sort of anxiety. In effect, I saw the day arrive when it would be necessary to decide on the departure of our missionaries for Ceylon and I still had no assurance of finding the means to send them to their destination…
Gentlemen, this gives you an idea of the distressing state from which I was rescued by the reception of your letter of October 4th and the draft for 3 000 francs it contained.
Letter to the Members of the Central Council for Southern France, of the Missionary Society of the Propagation of the Faith, Lyon, 14 October 1847, EO V n 109
REFLECTION
“I’ve heard people say, “I want more of a heart for missions.” I always respond, “Jesus tells you exactly how to get it. Put your money in missions – and in your church and the poor – and your heart will follow.” (Randy Alcorn)
Father David Muñoz OMI has prepared this beautiful series of daily meditations to help us on our Advent journey.
As we make use of them, let us consciously unite ourselves with all the members of the Mazenodian Family throughout the world who are pilgrims of hope in our suffering world.
https://sites.google.com/view/mazenodianfamily/news/november-2023-updates/advent-with-the-mazenodian-family-2023?fbclid=IwAR2iCSFIg1GadqN_Ed5vrQ5oUZOg2w5Uww3gbeqU1KcmYFJYNMkHq–g5MU
Father Vincens was the Novice Master, preparing future Oblate missionaries. In the previous entry we saw Eugene’s letter to him announcing the acceptance of our first mission in Asia, which concludes with:
Bishop Bettachini left with his heart full of joy; and unless the Propagation presents obstacles, which I hope will not happen, next month our first missionaries will leave with the Bishop to lay the first foundations of this great endeavor.
This departure will not prevent four missionaries from leaving for America, who will soon be followed by several others. You see that we need a lot of people to satisfy all these needs.
Let’s have courage then and put our confidence in the Lord. The important point will always be to form good men; neglect nothing to that purpose.
Letter to Father Ambroise Vincens, 12 August 1847, EO X n 936
REFLECTION
“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.” (John Keith Falconer)
Tomorrow begins the Novena in preparation for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Click the link to see the Mazenodian Family novena in its entirety or check back daily.
https://sites.google.com/view/mazenodianfamily/news/december-2023-updates/immaculate-conception-novena?fbclid=IwAR3GtY42upLJwc-3yye1fn09z8LW3X-at1UmWHHpW-f3QJpqKo2PPSoN0Mg
Eugene wrote enthusiastically to Fr Vincens about his conversation with Bishop Bettachini from Ceylon (today Sri Lanka).
Here is a magnificent mission opening up to us. The Coadjutor to the Vicar Apostolic of the isle of Ceylon has just spent two days with me. Our conversations kept on until after eleven o’clock in the evening.
What a mission field is opening up before us! One million five hundred thousand Gentiles to convert in the most beautiful country in the world, one hundred fifty thousand Christians to instruct. This immense population is disposed by its gentleness of character and a certain trait of religiosity to listen with docility to the voices of the Lord’s envoys and will receive those who bring them the Good News.
Having given all these reasons for accepting the new mission, Eugene continued:
How can we resist so many pressing motives and not answer with gratitude to the invitation to cooperate powerfully in such a great good work. I have therefore accepted this new mission, one of the most beautiful in the world. I foresee that this great island will one day become an endowment our Congregation will sanctify entirely.
Letter to Father Ambroise Vincens, 12 August 1847, EO X n 936
REFLECTION
“Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love.” (Roland Allen)
Bishop Horace Bettachini, Coadjutor of the Vicar Apostolic of Colombo, came to Europe in 1845 to seek missionary help. He obtained no more than one member of the Congregation of the Oratory, and one Sylvestrine Benedictine. In vain he travelled throughout the rest of Europe, pleading everywhere. Every door was closed to him. In his distress he met Bishop Berteaud of Tulle, who said to him: “Go to Marseilles. There is a Bishop there whose Congregation is still small, but who has a heart as large as Saint Paul’s, as large as the world. Go and make it clear to him that it is a matter of saving those poor, poor souls — insist on that point. When he hears that, he will be unable to resist.” (Yvon Beaudoin in EO IV page XXIII)
Bishop de Mazenod responded enthusiastically to this request.
What a mission field is opening up before us!
Letter to Father Ambroise Vincens, 12 August 1847, EO X n 936
REFLECTION
“But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 10:14-15.
“Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 15:20
From their first sermons in Limoges, the style of the Oblates was not understood and appreciated by the clergy and others. Fr Courtès did not allow himself to be disheartened and responded well to the critical comments. Eugene commended him:
Bravo, my dear Courtès. That is the way to answer all these pretentious remarks from men who judge everything by their own measure and who do not know how to recognize that true merit can be found in a sphere other than that of their own rotation.
Let us spurn their prejudices and go at our own rate. We shall finally see who has brought the greater number of souls to God, those academics they seek after, or apostolic men who preach as they should to instruct and convert.
Letter to Fr Hippolyte Courtès in Limoges, 30 December 1847, EO X n 961
REFLECTION
“You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.” (J. Wooden)
Continuing his letter to the Bishop of Limoges, Eugene underlines that the preaching of the Oblates is to be to the poor and most abandoned and not to grandiose sermon series in parishes.
I must even say about this matter that the Oblate Rule forbids them to preach Lenten and Advent sermons, and they need an express dispensation to accept that type of preaching which we want to leave to others, being satisfied on our part with the blessings that the Lord has never ceased to lavish on the humble ministry of missions for which the Oblates have been established. I beg you to look elsewhere than to the Oblates for Advent and Lenten preachers.
We must keep the Rule; our men must keep their feet on the ground, live in humility and not push themselves forward before people.
Letter to Bishop Buissas of Limoges, 24 October 1847, EO XIII n 118
REFLECTION
“For the Christian, humility is absolutely indispensable. Without it there can be no self-knowledge, no repentance, no faith and no salvation.” (Aiden Wilson Tozer)
The first group of missionaries, temporarily under the leadership of Fr Courtès, arrived in Limoges in early November. To prepare the bishop for this, Eugene wrote to him to make the mission of the Oblates very clear.
Your Lordship will allow me to make an observation in regard to what you tell me that at Limoges you need not only virtue but also talent among our Missionaries. I agree if it is a question of talent suited to the ministry that our Missionaries must fulfill.
They are called to evangelize the poor and work for the salvation of the most abandoned souls.
To fulfill this ministry appropriately, they must first of all possess virtue and then talent in accord with the needs of those whom they are to lead back to God. That is all we must require.
Letter to Bishop Buissas of Limoges, 24 October 1847, EO XIII n 118
REFLECTION
This letter stresses the heart of the Mazenodian charism: be in relationship with God and live a virtuous life so as to be able to lead the most abandoned to that same relationship. It is the witness of our lives that evangelizes.
1847 was a year of unexpected expansion for the Oblates in France. Firstly, establishing themselves in Nancy, in north east of the country. Then came the unexpected and providential invitation to open a house for mission preachers in Limoges in the center of France, 700 kilometers from Aix en Provence.
Eugene noted in his Diary:
October 3: What thus does Divine Providence ask of us? The kindness of God! Here is a letter which the Bishop of Limoges wrote to me to offer me a superb establishment in his episcopal city. The house is ready for receiving the missionaries which he is requesting of me…
How can we refuse this gift of God? An establishment in the centre of France, where the people have such a great need for being evangelized.
But, in addition, how to establish a staff in this establishment, at the moment when we are engaged in establishing that of Nancy and when it is necessary to send so many missionaries both to Canada and to Ceylon? There is something therein about which to rack one’s brains.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 3 October 1847, EO XXI
To Fr. Vincens he enthused:
Take out your map and find out where Limoges is located. You will find it in the center of France, touching several good dioceses, but with others as neighbours who have more need for missions than others do: Angoulème, Bourges, etc. I prostrated myself before the Lord when I received the first letter from this good Bishop who was offering us this vast field we are to cultivate with such great advantages.
Letter to Fr Ambroise Vincens, 19 October 1847, EO X n 949
REFLECTION
“We cannot measure Divine Providence by the yardstick of human mentality.” (A.J. Cronin)
