During his time of exile, Eugene had little formal
schooling and was introduced to people and ideas that were both
good and bad influences. In Venice, the young Eugene was
befriended by Don Bartolo Zinelli, a priest who provided some
opportunity for education.
Don Bartolo also instilled the first thoughts
of a religious calling in the mind of the 12-year-old Eugene. As
a young man living in Palermo, Eugene was also introduced to a
more worldly society, to a life of parties and materialism.
When the Revolution ended, Eugene's mother
and sister returned to France. However, Eugene chose to stay in
Italy with his father, who was forced to remain in exile for
political reasons.
After 11 years in exile, at age 20, Eugene
returned to Aix at his mothers' request. He struggled to reunite
his family, especially his estranged parents who were eventually
divorced in 1802. He also tried to regain the family's holdings
that had been lost during the revolution. Meanwhile, he
experienced an inner struggle, wavering between the kind of
social life he had enjoyed in Palermo and the priestly life he
dreamed of.
Prayer to ask a special favor
God, Our Father, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, you called
St. Eugene de Mazenod to gather priests and brothers as
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to announce the Gospel,
especially among the poor and neglected. May we be inflamed with
his zeal for announcing the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior
and receive through his intercession the special grace we ask
for at this time.
St. Eugene de Mazenod, pray for us.
At age 26, Eugene's struggle to "find
himself" ended when he entered the seminary of St. Sulpice
in Paris. After his ordination in 1811 at age 29, Fr. de Mazenod
declined the first assignment offered to him, the prestigious
position of Vicar General to the Bishop of Amiens. Instead, he
asked to work with the poor, neglected, and abandoned people of
Aix.
Fr. de Mazenod visited the sick and those in
jail and reached out to the troubled youth of Aix. He also
preached church missions to the poor, working-class people of
Aix. Instead of the French used by members of the upper class,
he spoke to them in their own Provencal dialect.
Realizing that he alone could not meet the
needs of Aix's many poor, Fr. de Mazenod invited other men to
join in his work. he purchased a former Carmelite convent and
its adjoining church for his future community. Soon, a small
band of priests was formed, and they began preaching church
missions throughout the French countryside, calling themselves
the Missionaries of Provence.
When the success of their work led to
requests for their services on a wider scale, de Mazenod took
steps to form his coworkers into a religious congregation. In
1826, de Mazenod received approval from Pope Leo XII for his new
congregation, placed them under the patronage of Mary and so
they were known as the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
In 1837, Fr. de Mazenod became the Bishop of
Marseilles. The new bishop had many plans for his diocese, from
realigning parish boundaries to fighting the government's
monopoly on education. While serving as bishop, Eugene de
Mazenod continued to oversee his small congregation of priests
in Aix and to plan their future.
In 1841, at the request of Bishop Bourget of
Montreal, four Oblate priests and two brothers went to Canada
and began the congregation's missionary outreach. Soon, Bishop
de Mazenod began receiving more requests for help. While seeking
priests for his mission in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), one bishop
was told to visit Marseilles where he would find a "bishop
with a heart as big as St. Pauls', as big as the world."
Bishop de Mazenod was determined to answer
every request for missionaries that he received. Before his
death in 1861, his congregation of 416 men had spread to ten
countries, including Canada, the U.S., England, Ireland, Sri
Lanka, and South Africa. His message of service to others has
inspired many men to answer the call to serve in Oblate missions
throughout the world.
Efforts to have Bishop de Mazenod canonized
began in 1926 and were rewarded with his beatification in 1975.
The process continued, and on December 3, 1995, Pope John Paul
II proclaimed him a saint of the Church
The Making of Bishop De Mazenod
By Art King, OMI
In the Fall of this year we will be
celebrating the 170th anniversary of the Episcopal Ordination of
St Eugene de Mazenod. It is interesting to look back to see just
how t he Founder became a bishop.
On October 14 1832, Father Eugene de Mazenod
was ordained the Titular Bishop of Icosia in the Church of Saint
Sylvester in Rome. What is usually an openly glorious ceremony
was celebrated for Eugene in the utmost secrecy and immersed in
the most incredible political and diplomatic intrigue.
While Fr de Mazenod was certainly worthy to
be a bishop, he had already refused the honor at least three
times, it was not his worthiness that ultimately secured his
appointment. It was, instead, his iron clad obedience to Pope
Gregory XVI who ordered him to accept the appointment. Gregory
was willing to make de Mazenod a pawn in the fierce contest
between the Holy See and the Revolutionary French government
over the appointment of bishops without secular interference.
The problems , however, started seven years
earlier, before the Vatican was ever asked to consider Eugene's
appointment as a bishop. The principal and most vicious
protagonist in the affair was Joseph-Antione-Thomas, Prefect of
Bouches-du-Rhone. An ardent revolutionary, Thomas harbored an
intense animosity toward the de Mazenod family. He was a
supporter of the revolution and they were Nobility and
supporters of the legitimate Monarchy. Thomas made it his
crusade, his project to supply the government ministers with charges
against the de Mazenods which were both false and damaging..
Thomas seems to have been a regular government informant on all
sorts of matters in the south of France.
The Prefect of Bouches-du-Rhone was
particularly obsessed with preventing Eugene de Mazenod from
becoming a bishop. His accusations against the priest over many
years ranged from Eugene doing stupid things, to funding a
group of assassins to dispatch government ministers. He
convinced the Minister of Cults that Eugene, even after he had
become a bishop was, in complete disrepute with the people of
Marseilles. For four years Thomas relentlessly persecuted
Eugene and even after the government legitimized Bishop de
Mazenod's appointment he remained ad odds with him.
Bishop Fortune de Mazenod was the aged
Ordinary of the Diocese of Marseilles and also Eugene's uncle.
In response to the request of Bishop Fortune in 1832, for a
successor in his See, Pope Gregory XVI summoned Eugene to Rome.
Eugene was appointed the titular bishop of Icosia with an non
existent job as Apostolic Visitor to Tunisia. He was ordained
and returned to France. All this happened without consulting the
French government which claimed for itself the right of approval
for all Episcopal appointments. Before leaving Rome for France,
the Charge" d'Affairs for the Vatican, Bishop Frezza,
warned Eugene of the personal risk he was taking
Within three months after his return Prefect
Thomas alerted the government of the new bishop's presence in
Marseilles. He literally stalked the bishop and created all
sorts of outrageous stories which he fed to the press. Like
tabloids the press published Thomas' fabrications. His influence
with the government was strong enough to convince the
French government to pass on the
stories-made-fact to the Vatican. They used them as a ploy to
demand the recall of the Bishop of Icosia. First they charged
that he was a foreigner. Then they threatened legal prosecution
against him. The prosecution in the hands of an anti-clerical
government became persecution. It lasted for four years.
It was unfortunate that some in the Vatican
gave some credence to the false allegation levied against the
Founder. Eugene was summoned to Rome by Gregory XVI. Without
delay Eugene presented himself to the Holy Father who lectured
him on his attitude towards the France Government. The Pope was
ready to pack Eugene off to Tunisia. Eugene enlightened the Holy
Father of the Government's intentions to suppress the See of
Marseilles upon the death of his uncle Fortune and that was why
they wanted him out of the way. Later Eugene was able to refute
all the charges against him by the government with the Cardinal
Bernetti the Secretary of State.
A flurry of letters flew between Rome and
Paris. In substance the French Government charged that the
Bishop of Icosia was illegal in France, he could not be bishop
there because he had not been approved by the king. Furthermore
he was considered seditious and dangerous to the government. The
Vatican exposed the fraud of Thomas and declared that there was
no reason to detain the bishop longer. The French Ambassador
however, delayed Eugene's visa. Eventually the Founder was able
to return to Marseilles just before Christmas 183 3.
Prefect Thomas spared no effort with the
Government. In May 1833 the Attorney General decided that the
Bishop of Icosia was guilty of treason for plotting counter
revolution against the July Government. Eugene was branded
very dangerous. In August 1834 the Government stripped
Eugene of his citizenship and his right to vote. He had already
been deprived of his salary as Vicar general in October. The
contest waged between the Holy See and the French government.
Finally in December 1834 Eugene was served with a warrant
forbidding him the exercise of any ecclesiastical function in
the country under penalty of being deported. The Government
again demanded Eugene's recall. The Vatican again refused.
Stalemate !
Through all of this contention Eugene was
ordered by the Vatican to remain silent and to do nothing in his
own defense. Not the slightest consideration was given to what
effect all of this must have had on the very sensitive man who
sat in the midst of this tug of war. Privately the Founder
complained about the affront that was being perpetrated against
his honor and the dignity of the office of a bishop in the
church albeit against the rights of the Holy See. But he
suffered the silence and the inactivity obediently. What is
astounding about the affair is that neither the Founder nor the
Vatican ever considered that indeed his very life was in danger.
It was Father Guibert, the Superior of the
seminary in Ajaccio who was called upon by Bishop Fortune to
broker the settlement and put and end to the affair. While
changing circumstances in France created a less hostile climate
for his efforts, Guibert's influence and ability undoubtedly
made for success, The proof of his competence was his later
appointment to the See of Paris and then Cardinal. The king
wanted an end to the religious strife in the kingdom. The
revolutionary faction had lost some of its support. It not
unlikely either that the name de Mazenod still had some standing
at the Court of Versailles. Through Guibert's efforts Eugene's
citizenship and right to vote was restored. His Episcopal
position as Titular of Icosia was recognized and His right to
succeed his Uncle Fortune in the See of Marseilles was granted.
St Eugene de Mazenod became Bishop of
Marseilles in April 1837. He served in that Diocese until his
death in 1861 , a year shy of a quarter of a century. He lived
to be the oldest bishop in France in his day, the Dean of the
French Episcopate. On October 5 1855 he was awarded the Cross of
an Officer in the Legion of Honor France's highest decoration.
On June 24 1856 he was appointed by the Emperor Senator of the
Empire.. Had he lived he would have been appointed Cardinal by
Pope Pius IX.
A Patron Saint for the Dysfunctional Family?
By Fr. Charles Banks, OMI. Former Provincial
of the Southern U.S. Province and current Provincial Vicar of
the United States Province. Taken from the April 21, 1996
issue of OUR SUNDAY VISITOR
People in troubled marriages or broken homes
now have a special intercessor they can turn to in their darkest
hours.
A recently canonized saint might one day be
known as the patron of families in crisis.
Father Eugene de Mazenod, O.M.I., the 19th
century founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate,
was added to the Church's long list of holy men and women in
1995 at a December 3rd ceremony presided over by Pope John Paul
II. Among countless stories from the lives of the saints, St.
Eugene's is unique in that his parents were divorced.
Born on August 1, 1782, in southern France,
during a time in history when divorce was rare, Eugene de
Mazenod had far from an ideal family life.
His mother, Marie-Rose Joannis, was of the
bourgeois, or middle class, convent educated and wealthy.
Charles-Antoine, his father, was an aristocrat, educated in the
classics and poor. An even more serious factor in the marriage
was the constant outside interference from Marie-Rose's jealous
mother and neurotic sister. When she was wed to Charles-Antoine,
Marie-Rose's family stipulated that the dowry given by them
remain in her name. In 1791, when Eugene was 8 years old, the de
Mazenod family was forced into political exile for four years.
In 1795, leaving her husband and son behind in Venice - one of
their many, temporary homes - Marie-Rose returned to France with
Eugene's sister. Once back home, she divorced Eugene's father.
That put in a position to repossess their property. She took
back her maiden name and, aided by her mother's shrewdness,
Rose-Marie successfully recovered her dowry. She later wrote to
her ex-husband: "You now have nothing."
At age 13, Eugene was the son of parents
whose marriage of convenience ended over the question of money.
Precisely how this turn of events impacted him lies buried in
time and history. Whatever emotional turmoil the young boy felt,
however, he overcame. With God's healing help, Eugene was freed
to use his gifts and talents to benefit others.
Vocation
Eugene developed a passionate love for God,
much of which was centered on Jesus the Crucified. He regarded
the cross of Jesus as a sign of hope for all people. Eugene
deepened his love for the Savior by spending time daily praying
in the presence
of the Blessed Sacrament. His profound and
tender respect for the Virgin Mary is evidenced by the name of
his religious community: Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
Eugene de Mazenod was ordained a diocesan
priest in 1811. Five years later, he called together his first
group of missionaries. Today, his religious congregation of
priests, brothers and bishops numbers nearly 5,000 members in
more than 50 nations. The Oblates in the United States number
close to 600.
The fact that Oblates - who were approved as
a religious congregation in 1826 - are often described as men
Religious "close to the people" they serve may stem
from Father de Mazenod's early years of priesthood. Though born
into French high society, he stepped out of his status and began
early Sunday morning instructions for neglected blue-collar
workers and street people of his hometown Aix-en-Provence.
Father de Mazenod taught them the love and
compassion of God, but did it in unpolished French. To the
horror of his class-conscious relatives and friends, the young
priest spoke patois, the language of the commoners. It
was a way to be "close to the people."
DeMazenod died as Archbishop of Marseilles,
France, on May 21, 1861. His tomb is located in a chapel of that
city's cathedral. When he died, St. Eugene's heart was removed
from his body and preserved - a custom not uncommon in the 19th
century. As a movement began over time to promote him for
recognition as a saint, a portion of the preserved heart was
placed in a reliquary and brought to the United States in 1964.
Last year, on December 8 (the Solemnity of the Immaculate
Conception), the re-gilded reliquary was enshrined in the
Blessed Sacrament Chapel at the Oblate-owned Lourdes Grotto of
the Southwest in San Antonio.
Patron of the populace
From now on, many non-Oblates - particularly
the laity - will begin to get acquainted with St. Eugene. But
for what will people begin to petition him? How will St. Eugene
now be "close to the people?" Hopefully by interceding
for them as they endure the pains of divorce and troubled family
life.
Since nearly half of all marriages in the
United States end in divorce, St. Eugene can be close to a
growing segment of the population, a group of people who often
experience emotional brokenness and even feel abandonment by
God. Anyone in pastoral ministry can relate firsthand stories of
what a divorce does to people. Adults often feel humiliation and
a sense of personal failure; children may feel the deep
disappointment of parental abandonment.
The break up of a marriage can destroy all
sense of security and open the way to a scary world of
uncertainty.
Since the Church continually looks for new
ways to minister to families and marriages in crisis, a saint
like Eugene de Mazenod is much needed. From his place in heaven,
he knows what it's like to be abandoned by an unstable parent.
St. Eugene's prayers can be supportive for
the victims of nuptial tragedies who feel overwhelmed and are
trying to cope with life minute by minute.
The Church needs a saint who can reach out to
those going through an unwanted divorce. It needs a model of
grace to support the survivors of broken families, to provide
hope and encouragement for those trying to recover from the
myriad disappointments of a divorce.
St. Eugene can help Catholics recognize that
life is not always fair, that it sometimes entails problems and
trials neither asked for nor deserved. As pilgrims making their
way through this life, a saint like Eugene de Mazenod can walk
with people in faith.
St. Eugene understands from his own
experience the storms of life. He had to come to grips with his
own hurts. The difficulties in his family would probably be
labeled as dysfunctional by modern social scientists. Regardless
of his family background, Eugene de Mazenod overcame. And he can
help others do the same.
The Oblates have a long history of working
with families of all types and in many ways - through our work
in schools we have touched the young and their families, through
our work in retreat houses we have have helped the engaged, the
married, the widowed and the divorced, in our parish work we
minister to families of all sorts.
A REMARKABLE FRIENDSHIP
By Arthur King, OMI
Eugene de Mazenod met Emmanuel Gaultier de
Claubry in the coach on his way from Paris to Lyon in September
1805. They were both 23 years old, although Emmanuel seemed
younger. Emmanuel was a surgeon in the Italian Army and was
returning to duty. Eugene was returning to Aix after a trip to
Paris with his Aunt Gabrielle, the Marquise de Pierrefeu.
It must have been an interesting journey.
Besides the two young men and the marquise, there was another
soldier in the coach who was apparently bored or turned off by
the conversation which passed between Eugene and Emmanuel. If
the letters which later passed between them are any indication
of what the conversation was like, it was no wonder. Emmanuel
was described as anything but military. He was rather
fair and polished and lacked the usual machismo associated
with a soldier. He obviously came from a high-born family and
it's anybody's guess what he was doing in the Italian Army. By
todays' standards he was also rather young to be a surgeon.
One might imagine that Madame slept through
the whole thing. One might also believe that Eugene, curious and
uninhibited creature that he was, initiated the conversation.
Within the few hours journey the two men became fast friends and
apparently hit it off so well that they told each other their
life's story. Apparently the conversation centered very much on
religion - a most unlikely topic for strangers. No question,
they liked each other instantly. Eugene seems to have found in
Emmanuel the ami du coeur for which he longed for so
long. Emmanuel was absolutely taken by this charming,
warm-hearted and candid Nobleman from Aix.
It was remarkable that so deep a friendship
could have welded in so short a time and remained for so long.
Eugene and Emmanuel remained close friends for more than fifty
years. Emmanuel preceded Eugene in death in 1855. Eugene
described it in a letter of 1807: "... that journey which
seemed to me so short, and which, in bringing us together each
for his own reason, led us to part from one another perhaps
forever; from that Eugene whom, in a word, you found to your
hearts liking and whom you love as he still loves you."
Letters passed between them which can only be
called passionate in a truly holy sense. Keeping in mind that
they were both laymen and still in their early twenties, the
spiritual content is extraordinary given that they lived in an
age of decadence. Emmanuel's letters were unabashedly candid. By
our standards they might appear to be a bit "gushy".
But it is clear how much he was invested in Eugene and depended
on him as a mentor and for spiritual support. He was obviously a
troubled and lonely young man and much out of place where he
was.
"I ask you for your fervent prayer, O
Eugene, do not abandon your friend in his need," Emmanuel
wrote to Eugene in October, 1805. At the Officer's Mess he
apparently took a raking over the coals, "the sarcasms,
mockery, jests, slurs... about my appearance, my manner,
expression, which you know is not very military," he
complained to his friend. It seems to have been a somewhat
vicious persecution which followed him wherever he was billeted.
He would complain of it again. Eugene replied in November
"... your letter, my dear friend, fills my heart with
sorrow. I have very much resented the insults which tested you
during that horrible meal." But Eugene does not coddle
Emmanuel. "... it is when they discover that you are a
Christian that they will inundate you with sarcasm, insults and
contempt," Eugene tells his friend, "you will have to
summon all the power that you received with holy regeneration
and the laying on of hands." Though Eugene wanted to
encourage and support him, he says to him "Eugene is not
the point, it is Jesus Christ, it is Peter, Paul, John who send
the salutary nourishment which received with spiritual faith of
which you are capable, will certainly not be without
effect." Eugene then sent him a long list of Scripture
passages to contemplate.
This is very revealing. No doubt that Eugene
considered Emmanuel a beloved friend, but he seems to have
readily sensed Emmanuel's dependence and a certain weakness in
him. The emotionally distraught friend really had no one. Eugene
proved to be a good friend and a wise counselor by making his
friend turn to his own inner resources to find the strength to
cope. Eugene is up front with him. He says he must be careful
what he says to him "to draw from a pure source... where
all our needs are foreseen and the remedies prepared." It
is eminently Christocentric.
A year passed before Emmanuel wrote again. He
had been seriously ill and had a long convalescence. Emmanuel
speaks of a change, "... the soldiers I live with are not
like you... I have had to endure humiliations... because I defy
human respect." Now Emmanuel openly prays grace at the
table and makes no secret of how he thinks and feels, especially
in a moral sense. Emmanuel found his courage to be himself, no
matter what, and he conquered his internal foe. "I have
seen the end," he says "I am tranquil." Evidently
Eugene's counsel proved salutary. Emmanuel was profoundly
grateful. "O my friend, how many times I have blessed God
for having so kindly willed to associate me with you as a fellow
traveler. My heart is devoted to you and I will never cease to
love you. I pray for you always, not because you need my
prayers, but so that God bestow more and more of his gifts on a
man who is so worthy."
Just before Christmas, 1807, Eugene wrote a
very long letter to Emmanuel. "I shared your sufferings, my
dear friend, but I also blessed the God of your victory as I
pray that he will preserve you in these sentiments which are the
source of your glory, mind and the whole Church's." This is
a firm pat on the back but was immediately followed by a sober
admonition - "Do not be disturbed by the persecutions which
come to you, for you know that we are destined to these... for
the Master has told us: 'you will be persecuted for my
sake.'"Eugene then told Emmanuel something which must have
shocked him. "Now, shall I speak about myself to you? Yes,
but it will be for me to recommend myself to your prayers, to
expressly charge you to ask God with perseverance that he will
accomplish in me his adorable designs that I foil the effect of
by my infidelities." Emmanuel could hardly have ever
thought this of his friend. Eugene continued, "... that he
will strike, shape, subdue me, so that I will not fail to will
what he wills; that he will eradicate the number of obstacles
with which I oppose him; that I arrive at a more perfect state
to which I am firmly convinced that I am being called."
The force of this language, the candor of
this revelation must have been amazing to Emmanuel. He knew
Eugene was sincere. It must have been difficult to picture the
friend to whom he looked with such esteem, albeit reverence, in
this way. But was this more than just a confession? It is in
fact an early hint of the rebirth of Eugene's lost vocation. It
was certainly a sign of his newborn conversion.
The exchanges between these two remarkable
young laymen give us a clear insight into their very souls. It
reveals to us as well the depth of the Founder's spirituality,
even as a layman. It underlines the depth of a fraternal love
which he would later lavish upon his Oblate sons. At the end of
his life, St. Eugene spoke to his sons about his successor,
"perhaps he will be a better superior than I was... but
will he ever love you as I have loved you... never!" And
that was his farewell to us
