Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

Thirty years after the foundation of the Congregation, the missionaries were in Corsica, the British Isles and North America and in the south of France. We have seen, in previous entries, the success of the recruiting tour of Fr Leonard Baveaux which brought in a large number of candidates to the novitiate. The novitiate at ND de l’Osier was overflowing, so it was time to open a second one. Eugene and his council decided to open this in Nancy, in the north of France, in order to have an Oblate community closer to England and Ireland as a “relay point” with the south of France.

Eugene was nervous about this establishment. Nevertheless, as he wrote to the Vicar General of Nancy:

…Faced with this enormous burden, there would be cause for concern were it not for the boundless confidence that God has placed in my heart toward his adorable Providence.

So let’s get on with it and make the best of it. I can only pray to the Lord to bless this holy undertaking, which has been conceived with such simple and supernatural aims in mind; it is his divine hand that is driving us forward; let us allow ourselves to be led, and let us make every to cooperate with his admirable designs.

Letter to M. Marguet, Vicar General of Nancy, France, 15 June 1847, EO XIII n 111

REFLECTION

“God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing God to do the impossible.”  (Oswald Chambers)

Eugene had very high expectations and standards for those preparing for ministry in the scholasticates (here referred to as “Oblates” as opposed to Missionary Oblates being those who had completed formation)

As I have said to some of your other brothers, I cannot accept dissipation in an Oblate. You are neither a college student nor even a seminarian, and yet it happens that seminarians have a better attitude than Oblates do. Also, notice the results. For several years now, not a seminarian has entered the Congregation, they see them too closely. On the contrary. it should be because they see them so closely that they should be attracted toward them by the good impression and example of their virtues.

At this time the Oblate scholastics were studying with the diocesan seminarians.

That is no small disappointment for me because I fear that those who did not want to be fervent during their probation as Oblates will become deficient missionaries, lukewarm religious and miserably imperfect when the time comes to perform miracles in their holy ministry. Impress this truth upon yourselves; and be always concerned in case you lessen the effects of God’s special graces by being unfaithful to that which is required of you.

Letter to Brother Charles Baret, at N.-D. L’Osier, 17 July 1847, EO X n 931

REFLECTION

Sobering words from Eugene, which apply to all of us in whatever our state of life. We are called to live by and be strengthened by the special graces we received at our baptism and constantly through the experience of living our faith.

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” Denis Waitley

Eugene’s strong sense of fatherhood of his missionary family received a new expression once he was ordained bishop in 1832: he could now be the one who ordained his sons to the priesthood. It was an awe-inspiring gift for him, as we read:

I would like nothing better, my dear son, than to confer the subdiaconate on you; I would like to keep you present in my heart unceasingly. You can imagine how happy I am when I can communicate the heavenly gifts to you, especially in sacred ordination.

I am so penetrated by this thought that you know how much I would like to lay hands on you to receive the sublime priesthood, but I am delighted when, independently of the claim I make for this great order, I am allowed to give you the minor orders as well. So you see, my dear son, that we are in perfect agreement.

Now it’s a question of preparing yourself well, so that you can take advantage of your successive steps to Holy Orders to make yourself ever more worthy of your vocation by advancing in the perfection of your holy state… But you must be fervent to become a deacon! Pray to St. Stephen. St. Lawrence. and St. Francis of Assisi to suggest how you should respond. Goodbye once more, my dear son.

Letter to Brother Charles Baret, at N.-D. L’Osier, 17 July 1847, EO X n 931

REFLECTION

I am always moved when I see a parent blessing their child – this is a special gift that only the one who generates life is capable of imparting. Eugene was always conscious of, and grateful for, having been chosen by God to be the Founder who brought a religious family into existence. How much more grateful he was for the privilege of being able to be God’s channel of grace to impart ordination on some of its members.

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.” (Kahlil Gibran)

Father Hippolyte Courtès had been a member of Eugene’s youth group and was one of the first novices to join the Missionaries in 1817. He was afflicted by poor health and became depressed at times, but was an example of patient endurance and perseverance in his service. This quiet man was to remain a friend and respected confidant for the whole of Eugene’s life.

We can thus understand Eugene’s concern over Hippolyte’s wellbeing when he fell ill in May 1847.

A thousand times, thank you, and I bless you, my dear son, for having had the happy thought of giving me news of yourself. Good Father Martin had very well fulfilled this duty during your short but very violent illness. He kept me informed day by day. I cannot tell you with what tender interest he spoke about you. I really needed that to moderate the pain against which I found no defense, in spite of everything he told me to reassure me. I bless the Lord for your prompt recovery; I am sure that you felt that we invoked Him in these circumstances. I was full of confidence, but when the heart is troubled, it is alarmed.

Letter to Fr Hippolyte Courtès in Aix en Provence, 13 May 1847, EO X n 929

REFLECTION

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares.” (Henri Nouwen)

Marseilles, as an important port city, was the home to several military establishments. Bishop Eugene had just confirmed 30 soldiers and First Communion to six of them. His joy and pastoral satisfaction in expressed in his diary entry.

April 22: [Confirmation of soldiers.] No one could be more edifying than these good people are, nor more attentive to the paternal words I spoke to them.

This is another of my consolations; they multiply and follow one another, and they are certainly heartfelt.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 22 April 1847, EO XXI

REFLECTION

When Eugene was appointed Bishop of Marseilles in 1837, he had undertaken to “attach myself to this people as a father to his children” (EO XV n 185). Ten years later we glimpse this fatherly attachment, and the joy and consolation he experiences when he ministers to his flock.

His words echo those of St Paul: ” We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.” (I Thessalonians 2:13)

An invitation for us to give thanks today for those whose ministry has made a difference to our faith life.

Bishop Eugene’s publication for the people of his diocese of Pope Pius IX’s letter to the universal Church asking for help for the famine in Ireland, concluded with a call to support the Pope in his suffering for the Church.

Popes, until Pope Paul VI abolished it, were crowned with a tiara. This crown had its origin in the dual role of the Pope as the spiritual head of the Church and as, still in Eugene’s lifetime, the temporal ruler of the Papal States. The latter were finally eliminated in 1870 but the tiara remained in use until 1963.

His head wears the crown of thorns of the divine Savior under the tiara of the Pontiff-King.

A firm supporter of the divinely-instituted mission of the successor of Peter, Eugene believed that the pope had a special understanding of the destiny of the Church, despite its sufferings.

So, like Jesus Christ from the cross, his Vicar from the throne of the Prince of the Apostles cries out to the world. His spirit, illuminated by a supernatural light that penetrates the depths of what is happening today, has an insight into the dark plots of the depths. He tells us that he is constantly preoccupied with them, and that he is alarmed by them. It is like the Saviour in the Garden of Olives, when his struggles, his sufferings and the unfaithfulness of humankind presented themselves to his mind, and he was seized with fear and affliction, “distressed and agitated” (ed. Mark 14:33)

Bishop Eugene’s Circular Letter to the people of Marseilles, 12 June 1847, EO III Circular n 3

REFLECTION

“Each one, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.” Pope John Paul II

“God’s love calls us to move beyond fear, and it gives us the courage to continue seeking and working for the benefit of all. We ask God to give us the strength to work and to struggle for love of the common good and for those suffering the indignities of poverty in our communities, our nation, and our global family.” Pope Benedict XVI

“Dearest brothers and sisters who are so persecuted, I know how much you suffer, I know that you are stripped of everything. I am with you in the faith of the one who has conquered evil!”  Pope Francis

Bishop Eugene finished presenting the people of his diocese with Pope Pius IX’s letter to the universal Church asking for help for the famine in Ireland. It gives an interesting glimpse into Eugene’s understanding of the Pope. He begins by paraphrasing St Paul’s text, “I am under daily pressure because of my concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28):

Finally, our dearest people, in publishing the text of Pius IX, we cannot help adding emphasis to the final words he says to each individual Pastor as the one who has the responsibility for all the churches.

Eugene focuses on the suffering connected with this responsibility:

Chosen by Heaven to represent the Supreme Shepherd of souls throughout the world, he sees the Church militant, obliged to endure unceasingly terrible attacks and to withstand harsh struggles.

He feels all the anguish of the Bride of Jesus Christ, whose heart is stricken by all the blows directed against her and torn by all the wounds she receives.

Bishop Eugene’s Circular Letter to the people of Marseilles, 12 June 1847, EO III Circular n 3

REFLECTION

Speaking of the sufferings of the Church, who is the Bride of Christ, Eugene’s earlier language of the Preface of 1818 is echoed: “The Church… has in our days been cruelly ravaged. The beloved spouse of God’s only begotten Son is torn with anguish…”

As a seminarian in Paris, Eugene had directly experienced Napoleon’s religious oppression, the arrest of the Pope and the suffering of the Church. This experience had turned Eugene into a faithful and loyal supporter of the Pope at all times (“Ultramontaine”). He and Pope Pius IX were to develop a strong personal relationship.

The Church continues to be “cruelly ravaged” today and in unity with Pope Francis how do we respond to the suffering of our Church, the Body of Christ, who “endures unceasingly terrible attacks and withstands harsh struggles.”

Three months after Bishop Eugene’s successful appeal to the people of his diocese for financial aid for those suffering in Ireland, Pope Pius IX issued an Encyclical Letter to all the countries of the world on the same topic.

Not long ago, we received an Encyclical Letter from our Holy Father the Pope, inviting all the Bishops of the Christian world to make an appeal to their flocks in favor of the unfortunate people of Ireland. We were still unaware of the Sovereign Pontiff’s intention when, moved by consideration of the magnitude of the evil afflicting our brethren, we anticipated the charitable invitation of the common Father of the faithful. Our words to you have not been without result;

The people of Marseilles had been very generous and were the first to respond.

Your hearts have understood and you have responded with an eagerness which, in addition to so many other good things you have done, has manifested in the presence of the entire Church the eminently Catholic spirit which animates you. Your alms for the Irish have merited your being cited as an example to the rest of France… Ireland has also been particularly consoled, my dear brethren, by your helpful sympathy.

Having already been generous financially, Eugene invites them to respond in a different way: by converting their concern into support in prayer.

We have come today to present to you the Apostolic Encyclical. It is no longer precisely a request for your generosity; we are communicating it to you in order to request another kind of almsgiving, spiritual almsgiving. You must understand the Holy Father’s wish that we order public prayers to obtain from heaven the ending of the double scourge of famine and fever, which is desolating a region so dear to the Catholic Church, and to preserve other countries from the same calamities.

Bishop Eugene’s Circular Letter to the people of Marseilles, 12 June 1847, EO III Circular n 3

REFLECTION

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Two months after Bishop Eugene’s appeal to his diocese for aid for Ireland, he was able to send the equivalent in today’s currency of £13,300 British Pounds (USD 17 000) to Ireland.  He wrote to one of the Irish bishops:

Moved as I ought to be by the evils afflicting Ireland, I felt that the faithful of my diocese could not remain indifferent to them, and that they owed at least a gesture of charity to their unfortunate brethren. I appealed to their good will in a published letter to this effect. Although we are in a city where a multitude of important charities and charitable establishments have no other resources than the voluntary donations of a charity that is constantly being called upon for this, nevertheless, a sympathy inspired by the Catholic spirit has manifested itself quite generally for the object of my request. The collection made in churches where the poor man’s penny was mixed with the rich man’s offering produced a sum of around twenty thousand francs of our currency.

… It is a privilege to be able to associate myself with your charity, which soothes so many pains and wipes away so many tears. The great trials to which your unfortunate homeland is subjected make me regret, however, that I cannot contribute a greater share to its relief.

Letter to the Bishop of Tuam, Ireland, 14 April 1847, EO III n 15

REFLECTION

“People lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give.
For these they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve.” (St Francis of Assisi)

Concluding his appeal for help for the suffering Irish, Eugene stresses that all are called to help not only for humanitarian reasons, but more important because, as members of the Body of Jesus Christ, when one part suffers it affects all the members.

Let us show them that none can suffer without our recognizing Jesus Christ himself in those who suffer, without anyone imbued with his spirit of charity not being able to say with Saint Paul: Who amongst you is in sorrow without I myself being sorrowful too [ed. 2 Corinthians 2:29] Why then distinguish one nation from another in the Catholic Church?

There is no distinction, says the Apostle, of Jew and Greek; they all have the same Lord who is bountiful towards those who invoke him [ed Romans 10:12].  You have all been clothed with Jesus Christ, the same Apostle says energetically elsewhere, there is not amongst you Jew or Greek, slave or free person… You are all one in Jesus Christ [ed. Galatians 3:28].

… Be moved then, my dear brethren, by the holy inspirations of your compassionate character and your spirit of charity on behalf of this people. You will be abundantly recompensed even in this life.

Bishop Eugene’s Circular Letter to the people of Marseilles, 24 February 1847, EO III Circular n 2

REFLECTION

“I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.”  (Mother Teresa)