One of the conditions of the Missionaries taking on the shrine of ND du Laus as a permanent mission was that when the cold weather put an end to the pilgrimages, the Missionaries would spend the winter months preaching parish missions in the surrounding villages.<\/p>\n
Thus Fathers Tempier, Mye and Maunier preached a mission in in the village of Rognac, from14 November to 5 December 1819. It was a difficult mission because the parish was divided and the mission had been imposed on the parish by the Archbishop and the people were badly prepared for the mission. Henri Tempier wrote to Eugene:<\/p>\n
\nI hope that you will be pleased with our apostolic life; \u2026. you will know that we made our trip on foot in beautiful weather, in spite of our fears. Upon arriving at Rognac, we went to adore the Blessed Sacrament, then we had a light lunch at the Mayor\u2019s home, and from there we went to visit two other homes which were recommended to us; in the evening, after a frugal meal that we had in the parish rectory, we found beds exactly like we wanted, three bad straw mattresses, that they obtained for the three missionaries only after having scoured the countryside, three chairs and three poor blankets.<\/h5>\n
This town is very divided, but I hope that we will do some good here, more by our life of poverty, which strives to be in line to the utmost possible degree with that of our good Master, than we will by our sermons.<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter from Henri Tempier to Eugene de Mazenod, 14 November 1819,
\nOblate Writings II.2, n. 19<\/em><\/p>\nEugene responded enthusiastically:<\/p>\n
\nGod be praised, my dear friends and true apostles! My heart is afflicted by your situation but rejoices at the same time to see you sharing the fate of our first fathers, disciples of the Cross.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Henri Tempier, 16 November 1819, O.W. VI n.47<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Even during the worst hardships, when the other things in our lives seem to fall apart, we can still find peace in the eternal love of God.\u00a0 <\/em>Armstrong Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the conditions of the Missionaries taking on the shrine of ND du Laus as a permanent mission was that when the cold weather put an end to the pilgrimages, the Missionaries would spend the winter months preaching parish … Continue reading