Eugene always had a strong sense of being the spiritual father of each Oblate in the Congregation God had founded through him. In this letter he expresses this feeling as he write to Brother Chauvet, a scholastic who was preparing himself for priestly ordination.<\/p>\n
Your letter, my dear Brother Chauvet, gave me great pleasure… now there remains only to establish the time of the various Orders you are to receive. I think you would do well to come for a short visit on the Ember Days of next Lent so that I may give you the subdiaconate. This will be a preparation to receive the diaconate at the Ember Days of Sitientes and then we will decide on the date for the priesthood, which will complete the graces that the good Lord reserves for you within the bosom of the Congregation to which he called you above all to bring you to this end, one that is so happy for you and so useful to the Church and to souls<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Added to the joy of having a future priest within the Oblate Family, Bishop Eugene, as the ordaining bishop, claimed a special relationship with all those who received the sacrament from him.<\/p>\n As for myself. the Lord reserved the consolation of communicating these gifts to you and, by the imposition of my hands, to identify in some manner your soul to mine and to bind together in a more perfect way the bonds which already unite you to me. I think of this with great satisfaction; I hope that you share these sentiments and that already you pray for me more often and with greater fervor, so that by becoming more saintly, I can add onto the “opus operato” a more abundant “opus operands” in the sacrament I will soon confer upon you.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Through the imposition of hands, Eugene as Superior General and Bishop considered himself doubly a father.<\/p>\n Goodbye, my dear son. Oh! You already belong to me. I congratulate myself that I am doubly your affectionate father.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Letter to Brother Cyr Chauvet, 29 December 1843, EO X n 828<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eugene always had a strong sense of being the spiritual father of each Oblate in the Congregation God had founded through him. In this letter he expresses this feeling as he write to Brother Chauvet, a scholastic who was preparing … Continue reading