Do I rejoice and give thanks for the successes of others?
Another example of the Founder’s joy at the missionary zeal and achievements of his Oblate family.
I have received most satisfactory news from the Penzance mission in England. That mission is expanding to all the surrounding towns which are receiving the missionaries with a sort of eagerness. Fr. Daly writes that conversions are multiplying and adds that if he could construct chapels he would render the temples deserted as in Penzance. In that city the school is filling up and the Protestants have no misgivings about sending their children who are thereby being disposed to become Catholics. I am obliged to send out a new missionary as of next spring to assist those who are exhausting themselves due to the excessive amount of work.
Letter to the President of the Council of the Missionary Society of Propagation of the Faith in Lyon, 6 February 1845, EO V n 91
How do I express my enthusiasm for having Jesus in my life? How contagious is it?
We catch the enthusiasm of Eugene’s missionary zeal as he describes a letter from Father Ambrose Vincens who was the novice-master and local superior at ND de L’Osier
Letter from Fr. Vincens, very satisfying for the details which he gives me about several of their missions and about their works during this winter. Truly, all the work that is carried out by the ministry of our congregation is admirable. Bring together all the reports which come to me from Corsica, from America and from the different countries of France and England, and you will see whether there is place for blessing the Lord for his mercy, and you will rejoice in the thought that there is perhaps no congregation in the Church which, relative to the number of its subjects, does as much good as ours.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 2 April 1845, EO XXI
How has Divine Providence used me to further God’s work?
Just at the time that an English-speaking Oblate was urgently needed in Canada to minister to the large Irish population of Bytown, Eugene wrote: ” Providence who watches over our needs has furnished precisely the man who has been demanded so urgently.” He was the 41 year-old novice, Michael Molloy, born in Ireland.
Eugene had to write to the Vatican to ask for a dispensation to cut short his novitiate by six months. He noted in his diary:
The letter from Cardinal Ostini is very friendly. He tells me that our Holy Father the Pope has very willingly granted the requested dispensation and that he gives his apostolic blessing to everyone.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 6 February 1845, EO XXI
Eugene then wrote to the novice-master
I would be very happy to see him make his profession on the feast of the Patronage of St. Joseph. I do not need to recommend that you take good care of this dear Brother Molloy, so that he will be imbued with the spirit of our Society and that he will arrive at his destination so well formed as if he had spent ten years with us. I expect this result from the good will of your zeal.
Letter to Father Jacques Santoni, Novice Master, 18 March 1845, EO X n 867
Then to the Superior of L’Osier, where Brother Molloy had been sent:
I have written to the Bishop of Viviers that we would be sending Brother Molloy to him at the time of ordination for the tonsure, minor orders, and the subdiaconate. I will ordain him deacon at my ordination time at the end of June, and I will ordain him a priest fifteen days later so that he can set sail as soon as possible. If Divine Providence had not sent us this worthy fellow, we would have had to pull up stakes at Bytown, literally. May God grant that he not arrive there too late.
Letter to Father Ambroise Vincens at Notre-Dame L’Osier, 17 April 1845, EO X n 871
Nothing is said about theological studies! Despite the rushed formation, Father Molloy arrived in Bytown in 1845 and remained attached to the Ottawa Cathedral for the next 45 years where he did zealous ministry among the most abandoned until his death. (See https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/molloy-michael/)
Is my town like Bytown? How can I make a healing contribution?
Just three years after the arrival of the Oblates in Canada, they were in demand in many dioceses. One of the requests was for a community to be established in Bytown (present-day Ottawa). Eugene realized its importance and responded positively. Before we begin to follow the mission of the Oblates there, let us get some background.
Bishop Bourget was concerned about the western part of his vast diocese that he had visited in October 1840. It covered the northern part of the Ottawa River. The “Great” river was known in contemporary English as the Ottawa River. Later it was to have the French name of the “Outaouais” in Lower Canada (later to become Quebec) while south of the river was known as Upper Canada (later Ontario). There were native peoples scattered throughout the territory as far as Temiscamingue and James Bay. It was now opening up to colonization and the timber industry.
Already in 1791 a Government commission had recommended the establishment of a town at the meeting of the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers, near the mouth of the Gatineau River. In 1800 a little group of foresters came up from the United States and settled beside the Chaudière falls to form the village that would become Hull. In 1826 the Government asked colonel By to build a canal with locks connecting the Ottawa River with the Saint Lawrence River and to survey the land with a view to building a new city. We are told that Bytown quickly acquired an unenviable reputation. “The centre of the canal works, meeting place of wood cutters, this cosmopolitan place was soon the scene of disorder caused by race hatred and religious antagonism, the abuse of alcoholic drink and often the place where might became right” (Ibid. p. 64).
Beginning in 1827 and until 1842 about a dozen priests lived for brief periods in this rowdy milieu. Then, in 1842 and until the arrival of the Oblates the resident priest was Father Patrick Phelan, future coadjutor of Kingston. Besides the central parish there were about a dozen missions spread throughout the surrounding area. The success of the missionary ministry of the Oblates around Montreal inspired Bishop Bourget to entrust the care of this vast developing area to them. However, since Bytown was on the side of Kingston, he promptly communicated his views on the matter both to the Oblates and to Bishop Phelan.
This is what he wrote to Bishop de Mazenod on October 19, 1843: “It is a matter of finding an establishment for them in a newborn town in the diocese of Kingston, called Bytown… This town is at the centre of all the communications routes on the Great River known as the Ottawa. It is here that the thousands of men land who are engaged in the cutting down of the forests that grow along this beautiful and wonderful river. They are all worthy of the zeal of your children. From there the men will have to leave to go and evangelize what we call here the “chantiers” (loggers’ camps)… Besides, about 60 or 80 leagues from there are the hunting grounds of the native peoples… The missionaries who work for their conversion will need a central establishment from which to set out as they journey to these infidels and to which to return to work for the salvation of the whites… For the time being Bytown offers this precious advantage.” (Registre des lettres, Vol. 3, pp. 206-208, Archbishop’s House, Montreal).
Alexandre Taché, o.m.i. in https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/ottawa-diocese-1844-1861/
“Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained.” Helen Keller
Under Father Honorat, the new Oblate mission in Saguenay took on a particular character.
Norman Séguin writes:
Honorat endeavoured to organize the religious life of the new settlers by creating parishes and building churches and schools.
The society that was developing in Saguenay area with a mixture of agriculture and timber as its base had a strong effect on Honorat. Because of its monopoly of lumbering the Price Company was ensured control of the region. The population, poor and still sparse, was under the domination of Peter McLeod, partner of William Price and chief of operations in the region. McLeod, an unbending advocate of Protestantism, represented in Honorat’s eyes a grave threat to the Catholics there. Moreover, to him McLeod symbolized economic dictatorship, for not only did the company pay employees with vouchers redeemable in goods in its stores, but it also resorted to intimidation to enslave the population. The ministry of the Oblate superior in the Saguenay rapidly became a social commitment, a struggle against exploitation and poverty. (https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/honorat-jean-baptiste/)
“Go forth and set the world on fire.” (St. Ignatius of Loyola)
The 63-year old Eugene de Mazenod certainly had his hands full as Bishop of the second-largest city of France and as Superior General of a rapidly expanding missionary congregation in France, the British Isles and Canada. This explains why his writings (and consequently my reflections) constantly cover all these areas by moving from one to the other.
In a letter to the Society of Propagation of the Faith, Eugene described the new Oblate venture in the Quebec Diocese.
His Excellency the bishop of Quebec wrote to me as follows last October 27… “Please accept the expression of my deepest gratitude for the kindness done to my diocese in granting it a few members of your excellent Congregation of the Oblates of Mary. Fr. Honorat left three weeks ago with three of his confreres to open a house of his institute at Grande Baie on the Saguenay river. This site is more or less at the center of the settlements being established on the banks of this large river and within the reach of the various places visited by the Indigenous peoples. The opening of this house will be of great advantage for religion especially if the members can be increased as the needs increase, etc.”
Letter to the President of the Council of the Missionary Society of Propagation of the Faith in Lyon, 6 February 1845, EO V n 91
Norman Séguin explains further:
On 15 October 1844, Honorat arrived in the Saguenay region, accompanied by fathers Augustin Médard Bourassa, Pierre Fiset, and Flavien Durocher. The Oblates’ responsibility was to lay the foundations of an organized church in this forest region, which had been opened to settlement only six years earlier. While his missionaries carried on their ministry among the native peoples of this vast area, Honorat endeavoured to organize the religious life of the new settlers by creating parishes and building churches and schools. (https://www.omiworld.org/lemma/honorat-jean-baptiste/)
An invitation to unite ourselves with our missionaries who respond generously in difficult situations – and to be missionaries ourselves in our immediate surroundings.
https://www.omiworld.org/2022/09/09/meet-the-lay-team-that-will-be-present-at-the-chapter/
Sometimes those receiving this by email do not receive the pictures, so here is link in case you receive a blank email: https://www.eugenedemazenod.net/?p=5229
“What more sublime purpose than that of their Institute! Their founder is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God; their first fathers are the Apostles. They are called to be the Saviour’s co-workers, the co-redeemers of mankind” (Eugene de Mazenod 1818 Rule)
In this beautiful passage, Rey gives us an insight into Eugene’s joy at the end of the day of celebration and retreat with the women who worked in the market. The ideal of being “cooperators of the Savior” was what Eugene desired for all the members of his missionary family – here we see it being put into practice by the lay members of his diocese: cooperators of the Savior.
When the ceremony and the songs were over, Bishop de Mazenod came forward to address the assembly: “It is in our beautiful Provençal language that we will speak to you,” said the Prelate, “in that language which is despised only by those who do not know it.”
And indeed, once again a Missionary of the people, he spoke in his former language and with the best Provençal accent he thanked the ladies of the market and all the congregation for the happiness they had just given to their Chief Pastor. If they valued his presence among them on this happy day, it was for him, rather, it was for his heart as a bishop, he said, to express the emotion of gratitude: an entire assembly rising to approach the Holy Table, eight hundred communions and running out of hosts for this universal reconciliation, the need to celebrate a second Mass to provide sufficient.
In the evening again the same eagerness and such beautiful testimonies of faith, this was what had moved him deeply. He proposed, he added, to close the meeting with some good advice, but before that he said, ” mai loit predicatour me leis a leva de la bonco ” (Provencal for: the preacher took the words out of my mouth”). And the assembly shared the Prelate’s amusement. This preacher has left me with only one thing to say to you, and that is my satisfaction for all the good that he and his worthy collaborators are doing: it is my esteem and my veneration for their character, it is my entire confidence in them. Your Pastor cannot himself take care of all the needs of the flock, but it is these good workers who help me to look after you in this field of the Father of the family, they sow and reap with me.
Rey p.204
My call is to be to be a cooperator of the Savior and to assist those in my faith community who are dedicated to be and do the same.
“Love is shown more in deeds than in words.” (St. Ignatius of Loyola)
We have been looking at the works of charity that Bishop Eugene started and supported in his diocese and have just been focusing in particular on those around the person of Babeau at the market place.
Charity embraces everything; and for new needs, it invents, when necessary, new means: spiritual help, bodily help, bread for the soul, bread for the body. ..,
All kinds of good works are being generated in the name of Jesus Christ
Eugene de Mazenod’s Pastoral Letter of 7 February 1847, Marseille
In his diary, Eugene described a day spent with the St Anne Work of Charity for women begun by Babeau:
Mass at la Mission of France church for the Congregation of Working Women, of repetiers, pastisannes, food sellers, fishmongers, etc.
He uses two words which were typically of Marseilles:
“repetiers” [ed. a name given in Marseille to female merchandisers and in general to all women who sell fruit, vegetables, etc],
“pastisannes” [Pastis, in the south of France, signifies a mixture of pâteux -bread insufficiently baked -, pâté [pâté], patisserie [cakes and pastries],
I gave Communion during more than an hour to these courageous women who today edified the city. More than a hundred fireworks were fired during the day. At five o’clock, I returned there to bless the beautiful statue of Saint Anne which they had fashioned.
In the morning and in the evening, I spoke to them in Provençal to their great satisfaction. In the evening, I was obliged to restrain the outburst of this multitude of women who began to cry out in their enthusiasm when I had finished speaking: “Vive Monseigneur.” I gave the blessing of the Blessed Sacrament.
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 8 June 1845, EO XXI
We see here in Bishop Eugene’s activities how he put into practice his characteristic of being close to his people – which he desired to be the characteristic of every member of his missionary family.
How do I make Jesus a part of each of my everyday ordinary activities? Does love embrace everything?
