Father Telmon was a gifted person with an amazing missionary zeal and loads of energy – but, was also impetuous and didn’t always think before he spoke. At times this led to people being offended.
Father Telmon must moderate his character. He is forty, has much talent and zeal. Could he possibly spoil so many good qualities by lack of restraint? Let him convince himself once for all that there is no virtue in saying all that one thinks. There are things better left unsaid even though one would believe oneself a hundred times right. There are so many ways of winning people over. One must never fly off the handle. All is over when wounds have been inflicted. I heard that he alienated the Coadjutor Bishop by a letter he wrote to him.
Letter to Fr Eugene Guigues in Canada, 20 July 1847, EO I n 86
REFLECTION
“Great talents are the most lovely and often the most dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang upon the most slender twigs that are easily snapped off.” Carl Jung
As the Oblate mission was rapidly expanding, so was the need for missionaries. Father Leonard’s recruiting campaign was bringing in new Oblates who were enthusiastic. Eugene was respectful of their wishes as to where to go for ministry: in France or in the foreign missions. He was also confident that they would be generous in responding to whichever were the greatest needs.
Father Leonard’s campaign has procured a considerable number of recruits who ask to be sent to evangelize the indigenous peoples. I have not undertaken never to employ them in other ministries. No doubt what I will take into consideration is mostly their own liking but they will be reasonable when God shows us what we must do for His greater glory.
Letter to Fr Eugene Guigues in Canada, 20 July 1847, EO I n 86
REFLECTION
These words of Ben Carson,”I think one of the keys to leadership is recognizing that everybody has gifts and talents. A good leader will learn how to harness those gifts toward the same goal” certainly apply to Eugene’s leadership style. May generosity to share our talents be a characteristic of our Mazenodian Family.
From the time that the Missionaries became a religious congregation, there have been men who discerned that their vocation was to be religious brothers and not priests. In France, the Oblate brothers generally maintained the infrastructure of the Oblate houses thus enabling the priests to focus on preaching and the sacraments.
This letter to Fr Allard, in Canada, marks an important shift: in the foreign missions the Oblate brothers were to play an important role in the mission itself by having external ministry themselves, especially as teachers.
Would you like us to prepare an able brother for teaching? We have one at the moment who is being instructed by the brothers. He’s intelligent, regular and strong; I’m sending him to you.
Letter to Fr Jean-Francois Allard in Canada, 8 and 9 June, 1847, EO I n 85
REFLECTION
The beauty of the Mazenodian Family is that we have realised that the charism, spirituality and mission of St Eugene can never be completely effective unless we all contribute through our different talents and cooperate as a family.
“I was blessed with certain gifts and talents and God gave them to me to be the best person I can be and to have a positive impact on other people.” Bryan Clay
I would love to spend my life at the foot of the holy tabernacles where our adorable Saviour dwells. It is to go some way towards realizing this desire of my heart that I associate myself with the adoration of all these fervent souls who succeed one another night and day before the throne of the love and mercy of Jesus Christ, our God, our all.
As well as the days I already consecrate to this duty of adoration in the various parishes of my episcopal city… and the time fixed in my rule for my daily adoration…
+ J.C. Eugene, Bishop of Marseilles
Note written on the Register of the Association of the Blessed Sacrament established in the monastery of the Sacramentines of Marseilles, 25 July 1847, EO XV n 190
REFLECTION
Eugene’s devotion to the Eucharistic presence of Jesus formed an important part of his daily schedule and of his whole life. When he became Bishop of Marseilles, he instituted the 40-hour adoration devotion in each parish. He made a point of attending the opening and closing ceremonies in each parish and joining the people in their devotion.
“We can evaluate our Eucharistic adoration when we take care of our neighbour like Jesus does… We find this in the Eucharistic Bread — the attention of Christ to our needs and the invitation to do the same toward those who are beside us. We need to eat and feed others.” Pope Francis
What you tell me of Father Coste gives me great pleasure. Please take good care of this young man who will be one of our resources for missions in the Provençal language.
Father Joseph-Marie Coste, grew up in Marseilles and was thus fluent in the Provencal language – which was the language used by the Oblates in the south of France to preach parish missions.
I insist much that you give him a good education, so that we may get out of the sterile abundance of all these lazy people who find it easier to undermine their reputation and ours than to take the trouble to study.
Letter to Fr Hippolyte Courtès in Aix en Provence, 24 July 1847, EO X n 933
REFLECTION
Eugene could never complain about the missionary zeal of his Oblates – but he worried that this zealous activity got in the way of study and proper preparation of sermon material. Here he expresses his disappointment at their laziness regarding ongoing studies which resulted in poor sermon content and reflected badly on the Oblate family.
The same holds true today for all in the Mazenodian Family. If we do not pray and prepare our activities with reading and reflection, our message suffers and our groups are impoverished in their knowledge of God.
“Solitude is very different from a ‘time-out’ from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we interact with each other directly, we are potentially opened for a deeper intimacy with each other.” (Henri Nouwen)
In sending Oblates into a new diocese, Eugene insisted that their spirit and charism be understood and respected.
… May it please God that in the diocese of Nancy, as you lead me to hope for the future, people will be able to understand the excellence of the vocation that dedicates a person to the glory of God, to the service of the Church in its most difficult duties, and to the salvation of the most abandoned souls.
Letter to M. Marguet, Vicar General of Nancy, France, 15 June 1847, EO XIII n 111
REFLECTION
Eugene’s clarity about the excellence of our vocation, and his insistence that it be properly understood, continues to be lived today in the vocation of each of our Mazenodian Family members. Our vocation is the love of God expressed in the Church with a special predilection for the most abandoned.
“Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” (Mother Teresa)
Father Tempier, Eugene’s right-hand man, had been sent to Nancy to finalize all the necessary arrangements for the new Oblate establishment. Eugene wrote to the Vicar General of Nancy assuring him of his support for all the decisions made.
You will settle everything with Father Tempier, my Vicar General and my first and eldest companion in the holy work that you plan to adopt in your diocese. In advance I approve everything that he may decide. You will have no difficulty in coming to an agreement with him; he is a zealous and dedicated man, very wise, very astute in business matters. By excellent qualities he compensates what may be lacking in some external graces, if you judge him by his coldness. But capable men value merit on its true scale. Father Tempier has my fullest confidence and you can give him yours without hesitation.
Letter to M. Marguet, Vicar General of Nancy, France, 15 June 1847, EO XIII n 111
REFLECTION
Eugene’s admiration for his first companion in the foundation of the Oblates is clear in this letter, as is his realism about Henri Tempier’s character. Eugene and Henri complemented each other perfectly in their leadership of the Missionary Oblate Congregation and the Diocese of Marseilles. Where one was outgoing, impetuous and a visionary, the other was taciturn and an outstanding ansd calculating administrator who had to bring Eugene back down to earth at times.
“Constancy is the complement of all other human virtues.” (Giuseppe Mazzini)
By the end of July 1847 Father Tempier had already travelled to Nancy to make all the necessary arrangnemnts for the Oblate establishment. He had forgotten to take the letter of recommendation that Eugene had written for him
My dear Tempier, the only thing you forgot in leaving were your credential letters. It is true that an open face like yours has only to show itself and hearts will open in confidence when seeing your qualities written there. However, as a precaution I am sending you these documents. Anywhere one can come across a bunch of dimwits who can’t read people’s faces.
. … So, goodbye, I await your news with some impatience. I embrace you wholeheartedly.
Letter to Fr. Henri Tempier, 28 July 1847, EO X n 934
REFLECTION
Eugene’s wry sense of humor emerges at times in his writings. He loved and respected Fr Tempier, but could not resist teasing him.
“My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” (Henry Ford)
Once the decision to send Oblate missionaries to Nancy had been made, Eugene wrote to his friend, Alexis Menjaud, who was the Bishop of Nancy.
I would be happy if you could become a second father to my sons … I dare assure you, and I guarantee that you will never regret having adopted them. The spirit I instil into them and which they have perfectly understood, is that they see themselves as the bishop’s men, promising him inviolable submission and affection, making his person and authority respected everywhere and by everyone, never doing anything without his approval, in a word, to be in his regard what children are toward their father.
Letter to Bishop A.B. Menjaud of Nancy, France, 14 June 1847, EO XIII n 110
and later,
I dare to assure you that, in the family you are adopting, you are giving yourself not only good workers to cultivate your vineyard, but also devoted sons who by principle attach themselves to their bishop as to their father. They are the born defenders of his interests in regard to everyone and against all, in a word, his right-hand men ready to carry out all his commands, because they know the value of obedience to the one who represents God in the diocese …
Letter to Bishop A.B. Menjaud of Nancy, France, 24 July 1847, EO XIII n 112
In response to this declaration, Bishop Menjaud wrote: “You will not find in France a bishop… better disposed than the bishop of Nancy to support your views for the benefit of religion and the spread of the faith in foreign countries. Your sons will be my sons and they will find in my heart something of the tenderness that is found in your heart…”
REFLECTION
Eugene’s flowery words to the bishop shows his understanding of the important role that the bishop of a diocese has for the Oblates who are working under his jurisdiction. In a more sober reality, all this was true as long as the local bishop recognized the specific spirituality and mission of the Oblates. We will see several examples in the future of Eugene removing the Oblates from a diocese when the bishop did not respect our charism.
What Viktor Frankl says about individual mission, applies equally to the mission of a group like the Mazenodian Family: “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.” (Viktor E. Frankl)
