Statue of St Charles donated by St Eugene After the railway station was built in Marseille, France, where St Eugene de Mazenod was Bishop the city council decided to name it: St Charles Station. The decision made by the council shows that Eugene’s devotion to St Charles Borromeo was well known. The council knew that the old bishop was to be thrilled by that. Eugene himself contributed greatly to convincing the Central Government in Paris that Marseille should have a railway station. He was also well respected in the city, so it was appropriate to acknowledge his contribution to the wider community there. How much he loved St Charles is shown in his reaction to the station being named after st Charles Borromeo, he was over the moon having the Italian Saint acknowledged so publicly in the city where he ministered as Bishop. In fact all men in the de Mazenod family had Charles as their first name. St Eugene wasn’t exempted from that. He was baptized as Charles Joseph Eugene. However for Eugene it wasn’t just his family tradition he preserved what is known in the Church as Communion of Saints. Our Saints are not only our heroes, who can inspire us, but they are our intercessors in heaven, our committed supporters. When St Eugene was renovating the Church of Mission in Aix where the first community of the Missionaries was established he ordered a few statues, one of them was a statue of St Charles Borromeo. As Bishop of Marseille he donated a beautiful statue of St Charles to one of the city churches. Very often people saw their Bishop praying in that church to his dear patron.
St Charles Borromeo lived in 16th century Italy. Born to a noble family he could spend his life just having fun. However God had different plans for the young aristocrat. Because he was the second son so it was decided he was to have a career in the Church as his older brother was to inherit the family property. Slowly Charles was transformed by the grace of God into a committed cleric. When his brother died everybody was trying to convince him to give up the path to the priesthood. He was advised to get married and to take up the family inheritance. The young Charles declined. To ensure that nobody could take him away from the service to God and his Church he asked to be ordained a priest. It was done privately as there were suspicions that the family would stop the ceremony. Soon he became Bishop of Milan. First people thought that he was going to limit his association with diocese to taking money from it. Young Bishop however shocked everybody when he decided to move in to Milan. The city didn’t have a bishop living there for 80 years. As St Charles participated in the Council in Trent before coming to Milan, he started impleading the pastoral and doctrinal renewal introduced by the Council. If the city people were shocked having bishop living now with them, it was even a bigger shock when he started visiting parishes even in the Alps region. The chronicles of the local parishes dating back to 16th Century preserve records of the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan coming to participate in their daily life and worship. He would spend weeks or months climbing up the mountains or descending to the valleys to reach out to even the tiny Catholic Communities. Exhausted by his dedicated ministry he died while serving the city folks during the Black Death plague. He was 46.
When the Missionaries of Provence opened the first house outside the region of Provence they had to change their name. They chose to be called Oblates of St Charles. It was early 1825. A few month later when Eugene went to Rome to ask the Holy Father to approve the Order he decided to change the name to Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. However we still remember that brief period of time in 1825 when we were known as Oblates of St Charles. In fact it was an interesting year: at the beginning of the years we were Missionaries of Provence, then Oblates of st Charles and at the end of the year we were Missionaries Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
St Charles Borromeo lived in 16th century Italy. Born to a noble family he could spend his life just having fun. However God had different plans for the young aristocrat. Because he was the second son so it was decided he was to have a career in the Church as his older brother was to inherit the family property. Slowly Charles was transformed by the grace of God into a committed cleric. When his brother died everybody was trying to convince him to give up the path to the priesthood. He was advised to get married and to take up the family inheritance. The young Charles declined. To ensure that nobody could take him away from the service to God and his Church he asked to be ordained a priest. It was done privately as there were suspicions that the family would stop the ceremony. Soon he became Bishop of Milan. First people thought that he was going to limit his association with diocese to taking money from it. Young Bishop however shocked everybody when he decided to move in to Milan. The city didn’t have a bishop living there for 80 years. As St Charles participated in the Council in Trent before coming to Milan, he started impleading the pastoral and doctrinal renewal introduced by the Council. If the city people were shocked having bishop living now with them, it was even a bigger shock when he started visiting parishes even in the Alps region. The chronicles of the local parishes dating back to 16th Century preserve records of the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan coming to participate in their daily life and worship. He would spend weeks or months climbing up the mountains or descending to the valleys to reach out to even the tiny Catholic Communities. Exhausted by his dedicated ministry he died while serving the city folks during the Black Death plague. He was 46.
When the Missionaries of Provence opened the first house outside the region of Provence they had to change their name. They chose to be called Oblates of St Charles. It was early 1825. A few month later when Eugene went to Rome to ask the Holy Father to approve the Order he decided to change the name to Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. However we still remember that brief period of time in 1825 when we were known as Oblates of St Charles. In fact it was an interesting year: at the beginning of the years we were Missionaries of Provence, then Oblates of st Charles and at the end of the year we were Missionaries Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
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