Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

Come and join us for these four short sessions on St Eugene. They aim to help us to dare to come closer to God through Saint Eugene accompanying us. Four short videos and some reflection questions.

They are specially prepared with the members of our Mazenodian Family in mind.

For more information or to register, visit:

https://ost.edu/event/part-2-daring-to-share/2021-11-15/ 

Once the session is posted, you can look at it ANYTIME during the four-week period.

Reflecting on the powerful effects of the parish mission that had just concluded, Bishop Eugene marveled at the conversion of the men who usually never came near a church, and were often militantly against it..

What power has been able to produce such admirable results? It was necessary to see these men who, for a month, perhaps fifteen days, would not dare to make the sign of the cross upon entering the church, if they ever entered it; today, Sunday of Quinquagesima, that is, Sunday called Fat Sunday by the fashionable, to appear courageously as disciples of the Savior in the face of the entire city which they had more or less scandalized up to the present; not only to sing the praises of God and the hymns of their thankfulness in the whole course of the procession, but to glory in their conversion and to trample underfoot human respect, generously carrying in their buttonholes the cross, a visible sign of their reconciliation with God, and to want to not take it off even after the ceremony which, in bringing everyone together, made of them a formidable army corps, and to keep it on while returning home individually! It’s something as admirable as it is phenomenal, when a person knows in what century we are living and who are the men who surround us.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 21 January 1844, EO XXI

Writing to Father Tempier, Eugene shared the same sentimants:

Imagine, at my arrival yesterday I found in the church of St-Cannat a thousand men gathered and singing with their powerful voices hymns of gratitude. I confirmed more than 200, a thousand received Holy Communion. During the afternoon an immense procession of an even greater number of men courageously faced what people might say and filled the enclosure and the square of Le Calvaire as well as all the near-by streets, windows, balconies and roofs…

Each man in his lapel wore a cross hanging from a ribbon. and they wore this sign of grace the whole day long; and these men who, a few days previously, would have been ashamed to make the Sign of the Cross on entering a church, dared to wear this pious decoration in all the streets of the city and down to the port where many were seen walking. Isn’t this admirable? And what if it had been the women? We know what they can do in similar circumstances.

Letter to Father Henri Tempier, 19 February 1844, EO X n 834

How beautiful to be able to share these sentiments of Eugene’s enormous pastoral heart, from which was born the Mazenodian family.

Bishop Eugene continues to describe the awe-filled experience of the power of God at work to convert people at the conclusion of the parish mission.

Yes, a thousand men made the vaults of this church resound with hymns most touching and most appropriate to the happy location in which the overabundant grace of the Lord had placed them all. Not being able to address this immense assembly, I requested Fr. Loewenbruck to make up for the incapacity to which I was reduced by the loss of voice that was the result of my illness. Father said what was necessary, then the Veni Creatorwas sung, and more than two hundred men and one hundred women broke away in order to come to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. It was necessary to see the contemplation of all these Confirmands, all adults, of every age and of every condition. Young men shining with youth, from twenty to thirty years; men of an age mature in years, and old men in great number also presenting themselves in the most respectful attitude, majesty on their brows and fervor depicted on their faces.

What need is there for tongues of fire to see, in some way, the presence of the Holy Spirit? On these occasions, his presence is perceptible to me and I am penetrated with it to the point of not being able to contain my emotion. I need to force myself to not cry with joy, and, in spite of my efforts, very often involuntary tears betray the feeling with which I am animated and which is overabundant in every depth of the term!

I then offered the Holy Sacrifice and secluded myself after my thanksgiving, leaving to the parish priest the sweet consolation of distributing Holy Communion to this fervent assembly of Christians, my sickly condition not permitting me to obtain for myself this happiness which I appreciate so much!

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 21 January 1844, EO XXI

The closure of the parish missions in Marseilles was one of the greatest consolations for Bishop Eugene as this journal entry testifies.

It’s not for nothing that I did not want to permit a physician to be called; the doctor would have believed himself obliged to keep me in bed and I needed to arise in order to do the will of the heavenly Father. Today must take place the general Communion of the men in the parish of Saint-Cannat, fruit of the mission which Fr. Loewenbruck has been giving for five weeks. A certain number among them, and many women also, were waiting for me in order to receive the sacrament of Confirmation which they had neglected to receive. I would have needed to be in my death throes to stay away. What more consoling duty to fulfill! Who could have replaced me for this ministry? How, besides, to consent to depriving myself of the truly ineffable happiness experienced by a bishop to whom God gives the grace of sensing what is characteristic of the true pastor in regard to his flock in such a situation?

Without thinking I was doing a heroic deed, I then wrapped myself in my ceremonial fur and got out of bed to go to the church, where so many renewed Christians found themselves gathered at the foot of the holy altar, in the expectation of the remainder of the graces which had been reserved for them after their reconciliation with God. What a delightful sight! I was counting on a great number of attendants, but when, placing my foot on the doorstep of the main door, I saw the nave filled with gathered men, all of whom knelt to receive my blessing, when, having arrived in the sanctuary, I prostrated myself to adore our Savior, to give him thanks for having arranged such a harvest in my ministry, and while a thousand men’s voices were raised at the same time to sing the mercies of the Lord, to exalt the power of his arm and to witness to the happiness with which they were filled, I no longer knew if I was in heaven or on earth, and I had to shed tears of joy and appreciation.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 21 January 1844, EO XXI

The main evangelizing activity of the Oblates in their early years of existence was the preaching of parish missions. It is not surprising then to see how important these were for Bishop de Mazenod in his diocese. It was a conviction that the like-minded Bishop Bourget shared in Montreal. Eugene wrote to him on this topic:

I have read with great interest the pastoral letter that you addressed on the occasion of a mission to each parish favoured by this great grace. I know that you are not without consolation in this respect and I bless God for it. It is a just recompense earned by your zeal for the salvation of your flock.

Eugene then describes his custom to attend the closing ceremonies of every preached parish mission in his diocese to bless the spiritual renewal that had taken place.

I also gather consolation of this kind when I go to preside over the closing of all the missions which are annually given in my diocese. It is at such assemblies that one understands what is the communication of the Holy Spirit between the father and the spiritual children that grace has just regenerated. I cannot conceive why all bishops do not procure this happiness for themselves.

Letter to Bishop Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, 15 February 1844, EO I n 31

Bishop de Mazenod’s care for the poor of his diocese knew no limits and he relentlessly established groups to respond to the many spiritual and material needs of every category of people. Here is one example from his Diary.

It’s a year yesterday, day for day, that I had established the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul in the service of the poor of our parishes. Who would have told me that, one year later, on the very day, they would be installed to render the “service de la Misericorde” [of Mercy] after the great anger of the administrators and the opposition of all these gentlemen?

Yvon Beaudoin explains the background to Eugene’s happiness: “In 1758, seven charitable men of Marseille formed a brotherhood to give a regular association to the distribution of alms. This brotherhood was established first in the church des Accoules (Le Calvaire), under the title of N.-D. de la Miséricorde [Our Lady of Mercy]. This work received numerous donations, acquired several establishments and distributed many alms…  In 1843, some administrators wanted to appeal to some recognised religious. One among them, Pélissier, opposed it. An accord was, nevertheless, concluded on September 13, 1843 with the Filles de la Charité [Daughters of Charity] who set themselves up in two houses on the street Fonderie-Vieille.”

The Lord, who is the master of hearts, has turned theirs in such a way that they could become the most powerful promoters of a good to which no one could have dared lay claim. The Sisters were adopted by the administration and soon much good will be done by them, and the enormous abuses which existed will be destroyed. Only God works such marvels.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 21 January 1844, EO XXI

The “enormous abuses” refers to the way in which help for the poor provided by the government sometimes never reached the poor but ended up in the wrong pockets. Now that the Sisters were to be in charge of all the almsgiving, the poor would be assured of receiving help.

In this beautiful reflection in his private journal, Eugene describes how he was caught up in the wonder of the presence of Jesus during his time of prayer before the Eucharist.  He writes about his desire to be united with Jesus at all times and to prepare himself for the permanent encounter at the moment of his death. His death was to occur 17 years later, but the fact that the Church was to canonize him was proof that he did indeed live these words for the rest of his life.

During my adoration before the Blessed Sacrament exposed, I was preoccupied with the thought that it was impossible to be better. Is it not a foretaste of paradise to find oneself in the presence of Jesus Christ, prostrate at his feet to adore him, to love him and to expect from his goodness the graces which are needed.

Going further into this thought, I came to a conclusion from it that had never presented itself to my spirit. It’s that, if in my last illness, I maintain my reasoning, I ought to obtain for myself the happiness of suffering the anguishes of death and of rendering my last breath in the presence of our divine Savior. It seems to me that this would be an infallible means of being absorbed only with him and that my heart would not cease for a single instant in being united to him who would embrace it by his presence and fortify it in the formidable moment of this passage from time to eternity.

It also seems to me that it would be impossible that this same Jesus Christ continuously invoked, gripped lovingly with a complete trust and in whose bosom, in a way, I would render my last breath, could send me away from his face at the very instant that I would have just left him on earth. I feel these things better than I express them.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 6 January 1844, EO XXI

Eugene’s strong sense of fatherhood regarding his Oblate family is evident in this letter to the Bishop of Montreal. With the Atlantic Ocean separating him from his Oblates, he is happy that Bishop Bourget regards them as his family too. This has wider implications, because Eugene’s religious family belongs primarily to God and to the Church and not to the Founder.

Day by day there deepens in me a lively sense of gratitude that comes from learning of your continual kindnesses towards the family which you have taken to your great heart and which, for her part, is entirely devoted to you. You rightfully regard her as belonging to yourself. She is as much yours as mine; God’s family too and that of the Church.

Convinced that the Bishop of Montreal was concerned only for the good of the Missionaries, Eugene accepts the wisdom of his decision to establish the Oblates in Bytown.

I can but approve, therefore, whatever you decide as best for her to do for the greater glory of the Master whom we all so happily serve. None is better able than you to judge what is advantageous to undertake, Pontiff that you are in the Church of Jesus Christ and consequently having your share of the solicitude, not only for your own flock, but for all the Churches. So it is in all tranquility that I adopt what you propose for the good of the diocese of Kingston both for the ministry of the lumber camps and the conversion of the Indigenous peoples. I cannot express the consolation that I experienced from your letter. You show me a field that is fertile, ready to cultivate. Could I allow myself to refuse to go and work there?

Right away I wrote to Father Honorat to tell him how much I thanked the Lord for having inspired you with this idea. I designated to him Father Telmon and Father Lagier whom he should accompany with a brother to found this establishment which is so interesting.

Letter to Bishop Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, 15 February 1844, EO I n 31

 You certainly need to be enterprising if you are called to the conquest of souls. I was furious at finding myself 2000 leagues [ed. about 6000 miles] from you and unable to make my voice reach you in less than two months. And yet your letter of February 2 arrived today, March 1.

Eugene, who was  a man of immediate action, struggled to live with the fact that the only means of communication he had with his missionaries in Canada took two months to happen – the length of time for a letter to cross the ocean. He was partulcalry worried here because he had given permission for the Oblates to take on the mission in Bytown, and was worried that the length of time for the post to reach them may have jeopardized the project.

 God grant that you may have at last received mine which not only approved this great project but applauded it with delight. This was not something tentative to be tried. You had to go there with the firm resolve to overcome all obstacles, go there to stay, take root there! How could you hesitate? What more beautiful mission than this! Ministry in the lumber camps, missions to the Indigenous, establishment in a city which is wholly of the future. But it is the beautiful dream coming true and you would have let it escape! The thought makes me shiver! Take all your courage in your hands once more and establish yourself there properly. Urge each one to do his duty. It is only thus you will bring upon yourselves the blessing of God…

Letter to Father Jean Baptiste Honorat, 1 March 1844, EO I n 32.

A month after his previous letter accepting a new Oblate mission in Bytown (Ottawa), Eugene’s enthusiasm continued to be expressed.

If ever anything compelled belief, it was what you proved so convincingly and what the Bishop of Montreal properly represented as ideal and beautiful for missionaries who live only for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. So I welcomed with ecstasy this happy news

The Oblate Family in France lived the achievements of their brothers in the foreign missions as if they were their own – it was as a Mazenodian Family that they participated from a distance. Eugene thus always shared the letters from these Missionaries with all the members of his religious family.

and, to sustain the zeal and renew the courage of those who had shown readiness to dedicate themselves to the missions of the new world, I hastened to send copies of the kind and excellent letter of the Bishop of Montreal to each of our houses.

They were overjoyed and rightly regarded this new mission as a sign of the protection of God and a means of doing immense good whether to the Indigenous or to the Christians forsaken in the forests for so long a period of time. I wrote you in this vein, persuaded that I had only to ratify what, I gathered from you, must have already begun.

Letter to Jean Baptiste Honorat, in Canada,7 February 1844, EO I n 30