Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us

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Father Casimir Aubert, was an Oblate respected by Eugene and a person with whom he shared many of his more private thoughts. Eugene confided to him:

I am sorely tried by our Fathers in Canada. Fr. Baudrand, utterly outraged with the lack of agreement to be found in the ideas of Fr. Honorat and Fr. Telmon, has filled our houses with his exaggerated complaints… and it is 2000 leagues away that these things are happening! It is impossible for people around not to notice this disorder and our fine future in those regions is terribly compromised.

In the midst of these woes, Eugene exclaimed:

However, God works miracles for us. In spite of the difficulties caused by this treason…

He gives thanks for the generosity of lay benefactors who generously gave material support to the missionaries, and he continues to give thanks for God’s blessings:

As for the spiritual, the most abundant blessings have accompanied the ten missions which our Fathers have already given.

The fine ministry of the Oblates began to attract vocations and also requests from other dioceses :

Two excellent priests have joined them, others are announced. The Bishops of Toronto and Quebec are asking for us.

But I am fearful lest all will come to nothing through the fault of those unworthy sons who have no idea how to endure anything, sacrifice anything or excuse anything except their own faults. I am outraged as much as afflicted by such conduct.

Letter to Casimir Aubert, 26 September 1842, EO III n 2

We have seen the optimistic and lofty ideals and the dreams of Eugene and the missionaries regarding the first group of Oblates sent to Canada. Now, one year later, the cracks began to appear. It is normal in any human enterprise to encounter misunderstanding, to fail, to blame others, and to experience discouragement. Eugene, however, did not take kindly to this behaviour and his passionate nature shows in his reaction.

One of the missionaries in Canada, the 28-year-old Lucien Lagier, had been negatively influenced by another member of the team and had written a fault-finding letter to some people in Europe which had come to Eugene’s attention.

I have read a letter from this little Lagier which should be handed to the flames by the executioner, so unworthy is it even of a man who has retained only the initial notions of his duties. I have bowed to the law of necessity in sending so far, to fulfil so fine a mission, men so imperfect who have deceived my hopes and who have worked to destroy what God had founded. I am sick with disappointment.

Letter to Fr. Francois Bermond, 8 September 1842, EO I n 12

Eugene continued to boil as he poured his feelings into his private diary:

Things would not go less well in America if Fr. Baudrand had not sown this internal division which inspired in poor Lucien Lagier this foolish letter…

Here is the letter which this young brother has the insolence to write to me. It is good to safeguard such documents for the judgment that must be passed on false men whom hell has introduced among us…what insolence, to dare say this in front of his superior, to a bishop, to teach him his duty which, according to him, he has failed to observe, whereas no one has ever read in the rule such a command contrary to good sense and to the basic rudiments of regular administration.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 20 September 1842, EO XXI

Eugene’s irritation and disappointment with Fr Lagier did not last long and he recognized the goodness of this missionary who gave the next 32 years of his life in generous and successful service to the people of Canada.

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Father Bermond had begged Eugene to be sent to Canada as one of the pioneer missionaries, but Eugene had reasons to hesitate and so did not include him. In the previous entry we saw how Bermond had resisted to be changed from one community in France to another. Eugene responded to his request in a blunt, but loving way.

But after reflection I come back to your letter. I ought to tell you that it has given me much grief. Your resistance over such an easy thing, the miserable reasons you allege, the insistence with which you oblige me to revoke my decision without worrying about the trouble you may cause me, all this gives me food for thought. First, if your health is so feeble as to make you afraid of several months of a change of air from Marseilles to Aix, will it not be supremely imprudent to risk transferring you 2000 leagues away where you will live in a country of which the climate is so rigorous, so cold in winter and so hot in summer?

Moreover, in such distant missions where one can expect so many frustrations, so many vexations, and where to serve demands so much sacrifice for the will, so much fatigue for the body, men are needed who are firmly rooted in holy indifference, devotedness, absolute obedience, men of sacrifice who act promptly and willingly in opposition to their own ideas, etc. If you have failed, my dear son, in a trial so weak as the one which has been the first to present itself, what will you do in the midst of the obstacles of a difficult mission?

… My duty is to send men strong in integrity, lovers of religious discipline, jealous of the honour of the Congregation which others compromise by their murmuring, their spirit of independence and their lack of regularity… Do you feel yourself to be one of these strong men I seek?

I end, my dear son, for lack of paper yet still with enough space to embrace you.

Letter to Fr. Francois Bermond, 8 September 1842, EO I n 12

A good example of the fatherhood of Eugene: truthful and direct, yet a loving father who wanted the best for his Oblate sons.

Eugene’s role as leader of the Oblate Congregation meant that he had to distribute the Oblates according to the needs of the missions we were caring for. In some cases, he encountered difficulties because of personal likes and dislikes of individuals.

I express how much I was displeased by the repugnance shown by Fr. Bermond to go to the residence at Aix for a while. The pretext of health is not admissible for a man who implores to be sent to the ends of the earth.

Father Bermond had insisted that he should be sent to Canada as a missionary, and yet complained about a temporary assignment to a community 50 miles away.

These dislikes obstruct administration, they are contrary to the basic principles of holy indifference which is the pivot of regularity and of good discipline. They are not allowable in any way, we dare not even acknowledge them.

Then Eugene wryly comments that all those Oblates who complained should be put in charge of finding personnel to fulfil the missions – they would change their tune very quickly!

Ah! I would like to hand over the care of combining the needs of all our houses and the placing of subjects on their way again to those who have been in the habit of complaining when it is a matter of their personal preference. We should see them at work.

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 7 September 1842, EO XXI

Eventually, Eugene gave in to Fr Bermond’s desire, and left him where he was.

I made no reply to your letter of August 30th, my dear Father Bermond. I contented myself with letting Father Ricard know that I had yielded not to your reasons but to your dislike and that I would leave you at Lumières.

Letter to Fr. Francois Bermond, 8 September 1842, EO I n 12

Writing to the benefactors who had been so generous to the Oblate missionaries in Canada, Eugene wrote to express his gratitude. A gratitude not expressed only in words, but in the action of making them Associates in all the spiritual benefits of the Oblates – as is expressed in making persons “Honorary Oblates.”

To Monsieur and Madame Olivier Berthelet,

Greeting and benediction in Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Your piety has inspired you, for the sake of your souls, with the desire to request that we admit you into communication of the good works of our Congregation. This request is all the more agreeable to us in that we know how much this Congregation is indebted to you for the gift your pious charity has made to her of the beautiful place where those of our members who have gone to evangelise Canada will have their dwelling in the diocese of Montreal. By your generosity, you are taking a great part in the good to be done in this country and you have acquired a right to our just gratitude.

So it is wholeheartedly that in virtue of the authority invested in us by the Holy See as Superior General of the said Congregation we grant you in Jesus Christ participation in the merits of the sacrifices, prayers, fasts and generally in all good works and pious exercises, both spiritual and corporal which, by the grace of God, take place in this Congregation, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Moreover we pray God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ to deign to ratify and confirm in Heaven this spiritual concession, the while we implore Him to make good our poverty from the inexhaustible riches of the treasure of the merits of His Son, also to heap you with graces and blessings in this life and finally to reward you with the crown of eternal glory.

Given at Marseilles under our sign, the seal of our arms and the countersign of the secretary of the Congregation on the 25th of September, 1842.

+ C. J. Eugene, Bishop of Marseilles.

By mandate of Monseigneur, our most Reverend Father, Tempier, first assistant.

Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Olivier Berthelet at Montreal, 25 September 1842, EO I n 13

In our Mazenodian Family we find this reality continued today.