St Eugene de Mazenod After St Eugene de Mazenod established the community of Missionaries of Provence they started preaching missions in the area straight away. A mission it was the time of a few weeks when a group of missionaries was staying in the parish in order to revitalize people’s faith. At some stage it came to a situation that Eugene and his companions were booked three years in advance. At times they carried on in spite of great fatigue. God alone is able to judge the good they accomplished in the people’s hearts. To be sure, they at least apparently were not equally successful: some just managed to avoid failure, others had moderate success, and others succeeded completely, even beyond expectations. If we want to grasp what was happening ate that time let’s very briefly look at some facts of that crucial time when the future Congregation of Missionary Oblates was being forged when our first fathers still known as Missionaries of Provence were crossing the hills and valleys of Provence to take the Gospel of Christ to the poor.
In a parish one morning the attendance was reduced to eight people, and the Missionaries considered cancelling the Mission but at the same time the rest of the Community of priests at Aix “was fasting on bread and water, begging the Lord to have compassion on these people who have gone astray.” In another place the people and the parish priest himself begrudgingly accepted the preachers who had been imposed on them by the diocesan administration. Nothing had been prepared, not even living quarters. Another parish for the whole period of Mission reminded aloof. In some places, getting the mission properly started proved to be difficult. There was the parish where more than a week was needed to raise the people out of their “unbelievable apathy”. Once the mission had caught on, the eagerness of the people surprised the priests. On the contrary there were parishes where as we read in the letters of the missionaries “the almost unanimous eagerness became an enthusiasm.” In a parish the arrival of the missionaries was “truly a triumph for the Catholic Faith. An immense crowd of people, led by the parish priest, the mayor and prominent town people came out to meet them.” However what we learn about those first priests who were at the outset of the future Oblates is that neither failures discourage them nor successes made them big-headed. They drew their strength from Jesus Christ and they ministered because they wanted to be part of the ministry that was Jesus’. Looking at that period of time (1816 when the first group was formed in Aix and 1826 when the Pope approved them) we can see that they were not only doing pastoral ministry among the poor but they were laying foundations for the future Congregation of Oblates.
As we are still in Aix I would like to write about the mission preached here in 1820 by Frs de Mazenod, Tempier, Mie, Denilieu and Maunier. As we can see the original group of Missionaries of Provence grew a bit. During the mission in Aix they worked with another group of priests called Missionaries of France. Eugene and his companions preached mainly to the poor in the Provancal dialect while the other group preached in French focusing on the upper class of the city. The activities lasted from March 12 to April 24.
During those weeks Eugene and his missionaries worked in three churches: the church of mission which was purchased some years before by Eugene, St John the Baptist and the cathedral of the Holy Redeemer.
In a parish one morning the attendance was reduced to eight people, and the Missionaries considered cancelling the Mission but at the same time the rest of the Community of priests at Aix “was fasting on bread and water, begging the Lord to have compassion on these people who have gone astray.” In another place the people and the parish priest himself begrudgingly accepted the preachers who had been imposed on them by the diocesan administration. Nothing had been prepared, not even living quarters. Another parish for the whole period of Mission reminded aloof. In some places, getting the mission properly started proved to be difficult. There was the parish where more than a week was needed to raise the people out of their “unbelievable apathy”. Once the mission had caught on, the eagerness of the people surprised the priests. On the contrary there were parishes where as we read in the letters of the missionaries “the almost unanimous eagerness became an enthusiasm.” In a parish the arrival of the missionaries was “truly a triumph for the Catholic Faith. An immense crowd of people, led by the parish priest, the mayor and prominent town people came out to meet them.” However what we learn about those first priests who were at the outset of the future Oblates is that neither failures discourage them nor successes made them big-headed. They drew their strength from Jesus Christ and they ministered because they wanted to be part of the ministry that was Jesus’. Looking at that period of time (1816 when the first group was formed in Aix and 1826 when the Pope approved them) we can see that they were not only doing pastoral ministry among the poor but they were laying foundations for the future Congregation of Oblates.
As we are still in Aix I would like to write about the mission preached here in 1820 by Frs de Mazenod, Tempier, Mie, Denilieu and Maunier. As we can see the original group of Missionaries of Provence grew a bit. During the mission in Aix they worked with another group of priests called Missionaries of France. Eugene and his companions preached mainly to the poor in the Provancal dialect while the other group preached in French focusing on the upper class of the city. The activities lasted from March 12 to April 24.
During those weeks Eugene and his missionaries worked in three churches: the church of mission which was purchased some years before by Eugene, St John the Baptist and the cathedral of the Holy Redeemer.
The crowds in the Cathedral were so huge that there was no room inside. That’s why Eugene approached the Bishop to remove the grills that were in the main body of the church to keep the space for clergy and more distinguished guests. As soon as the permission was given Eugene immediately got some workers who in two hours took the grills down. Somebody wrote how much fun people had watching Eugene and his missionaries knocking down those barriers and transporting the pieces out of the cathedral on their shoulders. Those grills have never been reinstalled in the Aix cathedral. What Eugene and his companions did nearly 200 years ago eradicated any sign of separation between the poor and the wealthy. From that day in the Aix cathedral a poor person could pray next to a nobleman. Of course that action of Eugene angered some and in revenge he wasn’t allowed to preach at the end of the mission. When people found it out there was such an uproar that the Archbishop had to intervene. Eugene did preach and from his diary we learn that when he went up to the lectern a memory black-out made him forget the text he carefully prepared for the occasion. Guided by the inspiration of the moment, he proclaimed the charity of Christ. It must have been such a powerful sermon that the Archbishop didn’t feel worthy to bless the crowds and he asked Fr Eugene to bless them all instead.
At the end a Mission Cross were erected and the end of the main street of Aix, the same street where Eugene was born and spend his early years. In this way one end of the street was “guarded” by the Mission Cross while the other end was “guarded” by the Mission Church which today is also known as the Oblate Church. On the base of the cross the names of the then Missionary of Provence who preached at the Mission: de Mazenod, Tempier, Mie, Beblieu and Maunier. Unfortunately some decades later the local council decided to put there a big fountain and the cross was moved to another location. Still, most of the people entering Aix passes the cross that reminds of the time from 1820 when Eugene and his companions brought faith and hope to many in Aix.
As I was exploring Aix I came across another monument that was built in the middle of the French Revolution - Joseph’s Sec’s monument. The leaders of the Revolution wanted to destroy the Catholic Faith so that they were promoting so called religion of reason and some pagan cults. The monument that is fortunately outgrown by trees was an attempt to draw people from Jesus Christ to paganism. This monument was a symbol of all Eugene stood against, everything he fought. Looking at it we can reflect on Eugene’s words: “The Church, that glorious inheritance purchased by Christ the Savior at the cost of his own blood, has in our days been cruelly ravaged.” However Eugene de Mazenod didn’t simply cry over the condition of the Church in his time. He devoted his life to make Christ known and loved.
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