REMEMBERING THE CANONIZATION

 OF ST. EUGENE DE MAZENOD

On December 3, 2002, the students at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio celebrated a Mass to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the canonization of St. Eugene de Mazenod, OMI.  Canon Law professor, Fr. Warren Brown, gave the following reflection during the Mass.

The canonization event of Eugene De Mazenod itself was a once in a lifetime event which has made a strong impression on me.  The trip to Rome with so many fellow Oblates, friends and my own parents was a special event in itself.  But, to go to St. Peter’s and celebrate mass with the pope and thousands of others who were there for the purpose of canonizing our Founder was unique.  There were more than 800 Oblates and their people from all over the world, as well as members of De Mazenod’s family from France.  To see the image of Eugene De Mazenod displayed from the facade of St. Peter’s made such a strange and awesome place feel like home, for now our Founder Eugene was a saint, not for the Oblates but for the universal Church. 

 Let me paraphrase a few of the pope’s comments from his homily.  St. Eugene was a man of Advent, according to Pope John Paul II, whose efforts as an apostle helped bring on the modern age.  The “waiting” of Advent was heroically lived by Eugene, as he exhibited heroic faith, hope and charity.  He had a true missionary spirit geared to bring on the second coming of Christ.  He saw the universality of Christ’s mission and that of the Church.  His strong emphasis on preaching the word of God was based upon a meditation and prayer over that word.  As a truly apostolic man, he had a real zeal for the apostolic mission of salvation.  Beyond the suffering and despair of his own life and France after the Revolution, he saw the great hope that the Gospel and the Church could bring into people’s lives.  Through his patient work on himself, he disciplined a difficult character, and led people to accept Christ as their Savior and to love the Church as they loved Christ.  By proclaiming Christ through his own life and his words, he participated in the ongoing work of salvation.  He gradually configured himself to the image of the risen Christ.

 In today’s scriptures, we see some significant themes of St. Eugene’s spiritual journey.  These were important texts for him and spoke to him of his deep faith and vocation.

(1Cor 1, 18-25;  2, 1-5)  He had an experience of the passionate love of the crucified Savior which led him to be the great apostle he was.  As a young nobleman at age 25, he had a religious conversion experience on Good Friday, 1807, in which contemplating a crucifix and the image of Christ crucified, tears flowed from his eyes as he experienced Jesus’ great love for him personally, that Jesus came to save him from his sins.  At the depth of his heart he felt the love of Jesus for him in spite of his sinfulness and unworthiness.  Throughout his life, he would always see his trials as a sharing in Christ’s ongoing work of salvation.  He did everything in union with Christ.  He always considered Christ himself as the Founder of the Oblates, along with the Apostles.

(Lk 4, 14-22a)He felt the Spirit of the Lord anointing and calling him to preach the good news to the poor of his time and place, beginning with the poor peasants of Provence in southern France, and later to the missions in Great Britain, Canada, Oregon, Sri Lanka, Southern Africa and Texas.  Eugene spoke the language of the people of southern France, Provencal.  Though Bishop of Marseille, St. Eugene took personal interest in each foreign mission, we would say today that he “micro-managed” the entire missionary enterprise from the beginning.  He also had great interest in the formation of clergy, as they would be the leaders of the Church, thus he saw the Oblates establish seminaries and schools of theology for leadership formation, such as ours, Oblate School of Theology.

For St. Eugene, to have love for the poor was to respond to Christ’s love. Early on in his ministry, St. Eugene realized that he could not go it alone, so he formed a community of religious to better take up the mission of Christ.  His dying words to the Oblate community are a reminder of the central virtues of charity and missionary zeal:  “Among yourselves charity, charity, charity, and towards others, zeal for the salvation of souls.”  He had a zealous concern and love for all of the Oblate missionary endeavors, including the fledgling mission in Texas.  St. Eugene requested that his heart be kept as a reminder of his great love for the Oblates and their mission.  A reliquary containing part of St. Eugene’s heart resides in the chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto here on campus.  Let us strive to honor and imitate the example of our Founder and Father, Eugene De Mazenod.  As we ourselves strive to be men and women of Advent, let us follow his example, and let him be our inspiration