“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Father Bermond’s reply to being sent to Canada astounded Eugene!
I was thinking of sending Father Bermond to America. I wrote him on the subject, a letter full of kindness, which earned me an answer that is filled with insolence from one end to the other. I can overlook the impertinence in this letter, but what is more deplorable is a stupid ignorance of one’s most sacred duties. He builds up a thesis that the vows do not oblige him to obey me in this instance, and from that point he takes off to miserable rationalizations through which one can perceive that his self-conceit has been injured. It is impossible to answer this unworthy letter except with reproach and I prefer to keep silence.
Letter to Father Ambroise Vincens at N.-D. de L’Osier, 11 May 1845. EO X n 872
Honoring our commitments costs sometimes.
Am I moved to the depths of my being when I hear about others coming to know about Jesus Christ and commiting themselves to a relationship with him?
Father Francis Xavier Bermond had asked Eugene to be one of the members of the first founding group of Oblates to leave for Canada. He had a difficult personality, and Eugene did not think it wise to send him on a delicate mission at that stage. Now, four years later, Eugene and his council judged that the time had come to send Fr Bermond to Canada.
I have not forgotten, my dear Father Bermond, how upset you were not to have been chosen to be a member of our substantial colonies abroad. Today it can be done. Father Guigues is loudly pleading for someone to replace Fr. Pierre Aubert at Longueuil. It is quite natural that I call upon you whose wishes are known to me and I readily choose you to fulfil a task which I am confident you will perform well. Nothing is comparable to the blessings that God pours upon our Congregation in Canada. They clamour for men.
You will be received with open arms.
The time of departure will be towards the middle of the month of July. Your destination is Longueuil. There you will find Fathers Guigues and Allard permanently stationed. It is where Father Baudrand and his companions stay when they return from their missions. Fathers Durocher and Brunet have given splendid missions in the lumber camps where they are received like gods and where they lead everyone back to the practice of virtue. It is enough to make one feel ecstatic. As for Fathers Laverlochère, Fisette, etc., they are evangelizing the Indigenous people. There is so much happening there to move a true missionary to the depths of his being.
Letter to Father Francis Xavier Bermond, 20 April 1845, EO I n 53
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
