Tag Archives: poor

THE APPROBATION OF THE OBLATES: ALL ABANDONED SOULS, WHEREVER THEY ARE, WILL ALWAYS BE THE OBJECT OF OUR ZEAL AND WILL HAVE THE RIGHT TO OUR SERVICES

Eugene has often been described as an apostle with a heart as big as the world. His missionary zeal and generosity only came about in response to God’s zeal and generosity in his own life, and then in the life … Continue reading

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ONLY ONE THING IS LACKING

 The Missionary Oblates of Saint Charles thus constituted have four houses and a hostel at the present. They are serving in six large dioceses. They are entrusted with the hospitals of Aix, the prisons of Marseilles, the prisons of Aix, … Continue reading

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TELLING THE POPE WHO THE MOST ABANDONED ARE FOR THE OBLATES

We continue to explore the petition Eugene wrote to present to the Pope. In today’s extract he presents a picture of the ten year-old ministry of the Oblates. They have devoted themselves mainly to the missions, which is the principal … Continue reading

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THE IDENTIFYING QUALITY OF AN OBLATE WORK IS THAT IT IS A CENTER OF ONGOING MISSION

Eugene reminds the young missionaries that one of the main aims of Oblate ministry was to instruct people who had generally been left ignorant about their faith and confused in their values as a result of the French Revolution. It … Continue reading

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BRINGERS OF LIFE TO THE MOST ABANDONED

During the lull in summer activities in the diocese of Marseille, Eugene took the opportunity to respond to an invitation to minister to the needs of a group in the city of Nice – which at that stage was not … Continue reading

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AN INVITATION TO TRANSFORMATION UNDER THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

Marius Suzanne described the ceremony thru which the Missionaries began what was to be an Oblate ministry that lasted for 161 years. The Calvaire became a place of permanent mission to the people of Marseille, continuing the evangelization that had … Continue reading

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A YOUTH PROJECT IN PERFECT HARMONY WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE MISSIONARIES

Eugene’s letter of acceptance of this project in Marseille shows the criteria the Missionaries used in accepting to begin a third house. He wrote to the Board of the Work of Divine Providence: Gentlemen, when one of your respected associates … Continue reading

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RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF THE MOST ABANDONED

Awareness of the religious situation of the orphans of Marseille became the awareness of God’s call to the service of a group that was abandoned. One of Eugene’s biographers gives us the background: The Divine Providence Orphanage needed chaplains for … Continue reading

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THE TALENT FOR BEING CLOSE TO THE POOREST OF THE CITY

Marseille was a large city with a varied population, for whom different missionary methods were needed. Leflon describes the differences between the Missionaries of France and the Missionaries of Provence in approach to the 1820 city mission: Now, in order … Continue reading

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A PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR

The first months of the year 1820 were taken up with two important missions to the cities of Marseille and Aix en Provence. Together with the group of the Missionaries of France they were to work at the renewal of … Continue reading

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