In 1828 it was becoming apparent that the French government was beginning to clamp down on the power of the Church, starting with ordinances against the Jesuits and minor seminaries. Eugene saw in this the possibility of a new religious persecution \u2013 during which he hoped that the priests and religious would remain faithful in the midst of many who would desert the Church.<\/p>\n
\nIf divine anger has a new persecution in store for us, I think that those who have been prepared there in the secret of God\u2019s house and who will have imitated the Apostles in their self-sacrifice, will not be the least faithful and will console us for the defection of a great number which we can expect.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Bishop Miollis of Digne, 10 March 1828, EO XIII n. 65<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0Yvon Beaudoin describes the situation of growing government opposition to the king\u2019s protection of the Church and religion:<\/p>\n
The Mazenods mention the king often in their correspondence and their intense opposition to the ordinances of 1828, that of April 21 which deprived the bishops of the oversight and the direction of grade schools and that of June 16 on secondary schools, which forbade religious to teach, limited the number of students in the minor seminaries and established a rule that was in conflict with the rights of the bishops. Concerning this issue, Jean Leflon wrote that the liberal surge worried Bishop Fortun\u00e9 de Mazenod to no lesser degree than it was a cause for concern for the mayor of Marseilles and the prefect of Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne and, we should add, to his nephew, Eugene. \u201cThe campaign launched against the Church seemed to him, as it did to them, indirectly aimed at the throne. His obligations as bishop compelled him to defend the Church, and in safeguarding it, his personal convictions, that religion could not subsist in France without the legitimate monarchy, committed him to support that monarchy. In the days that followed, starting with 1828, he fully devoted himself to this commitment and, with youthful ardour, hurled himself into the battle over the ordinances which challenged the positions regained by the clergy since 1814 in the field of education.\u201d (LEFLON, Jean, Eugene de Mazenod, vol. II, New York, 1966, trans. Francis D. Flanagan, o.m.i., p. 285)<\/p>\n
Beaudoin, \u201cRestoration\u201d in the\u00a0Oblate Historical Dictionary<\/em>, http:\/\/www.omiworld.org\/dictionary.asp?v=5&vol=1&let=R&ID=933<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Once you attempt legislation upon religious grounds, you open the way for every kind of intolerance and religious persecution.” \u00a0 William Butler Yeats<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1828 it was becoming apparent that the French government was beginning to clamp down on the power of the Church, starting with ordinances against the Jesuits and minor seminaries. Eugene saw in this the possibility of a new religious … Continue reading