26 October 1825 marked the beginning of Eugene\u2019s journey to Rome, which was to keep him away from Marseille for 8 months. During this period he wrote regularly to Henri Tempier and also made entries in his diary. Whereas the letters to the Oblates that we have are to the point, when he wrote to Tempier he would speak about different details that show something of the humanity and character of Eugene. Some of the extracts that I will be publishing have no spiritual or edifying content, but do give us glimpses of the person.<\/p>\n
The journey was done by public transport in horse-drawn carriages that travelled slowly. Often the travelers slept in their seats on the coach or in roadside inns. The first stretch, from Marseille to Fr\u00e9jus, took four days to cover 150 kilometers, and Eugene found in it an opportunity to dialogue with someone who was not a Catholic.<\/p>\n
\nI am profiting, my dear Father Tempier, from a half-hour interval between dinner and vespers to give you my news. I arrived yesterday at four o\u2019clock in the morning at Fr\u00e9jus in quite good health and in rather good company. Of three Englishmen in the carriage, I was able to converse reasonably well with one who spoke good French and to rid him of several false ideas that he, like so many of those of his same religion, had about points of Catholic doctrine which one would never believe that people would not know. I waited at the inn until daylight before going to the church<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Henri Tempier, 1 November 1825, EO VI n. 203<\/em><\/p>\n
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“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.” \u00a0\u00a0Thomas Merton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
26 October 1825 marked the beginning of Eugene\u2019s journey to Rome, which was to keep him away from Marseille for 8 months. During this period he wrote regularly to Henri Tempier and also made entries in his diary. Whereas the … Continue reading