Continuing to tell the story of our third Oblate foundation, we see that the number of people coming to the Calvaire increased rapidly. The Missionaries found themselves ministering to regular parish groups coming on pilgrimage over and above the regular pilgrims who came on a steady basis. Having established a committed group of laity in the two sodalities, it was necessary for the Missionaries to establish their own presence in a definitive way.<\/p>\n
On certain feastdays, the enclosure, which could only contain several thousand, was more than filled with people who came especially from the populated city sections that surrounded Le Calvaire. Here the missionaries found themselves in their real element. Zealously they applied themselves to serving the needs of the pilgrim poor.<\/em><\/p>\n The Missionaries became aware that the ancient convent of the Accoules was on sale. The religious had been chased away by the Revolution when the church had been destroyed. With the help of their lay cooperators, they were able to buy the property.<\/p>\n Very soon there was an opportunity to acquire some property. The former cloister of the canons, consisting of nine houses, was put up for sale in May 1822. The Fathers purchased it for 12,000 francs. Two of these houses were empty and they took up residence there at the end of 1822. The tenants of the other houses all moved out more or less within one year. Even before he came to Marseilles as Vicar General in July 1823, Father de Mazenod had instructed Father Tempier to tear down these old houses and to built a vast convent of some 50 rooms and halls. This was the first of many construction projects undertaken by Father Tempier in Marseilles; it was already completed by the beginning of 1825.<\/em><\/p>\n Yvon Beaudoin, \u201cMarseilles, Le Calvaire\u201d in Oblate Historical Dictionary, Volume 1<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Jeancard describes the condition of these buildings in 1822 when they moved in:<\/p>\n We lodged in these types of dilapidated shacks, of which we had become the owners – blackened by smoke and dirty and repulsive. For more than thirty years they had provided shelter for poor families whose position was very similar to that of the nomads or beggars. Taking their place was more an act of poverty than one of ownership.<\/em><\/p>\n M\u00e9langes historiques<\/em>, page 144<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “It is not the glorious battlements, the painted windows, the crouching gargoyles that support a building, but the stones that lie unseen in or upon the earth. It is often those who are despised and trampled on that bear up the weight of a whole nation.”<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Owen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Continuing to tell the story of our third Oblate foundation, we see that the number of people coming to the Calvaire increased rapidly. The Missionaries found themselves ministering to regular parish groups coming on pilgrimage over and above the regular … Continue reading