This talk was given by Fr. Warren A. Brown,OMI to the Oblate Associates Banquet in San Antonio, TX on February 17, 2002.

ST. EUGENE DE MAZENOD AND THE LAITY

Introduction

When invited to give this talk I was asked to speak of Saint Eugene de Mazenod to you, as Oblate associates and fellow Oblates. It is difficult to describe in a few minutes, the life of our Founder, for he was truly a complex person and had a very full and active life, as perhaps we all do. He was an extremely communicative person; we have thousands of his letters, and several books and numerous articles have been written on him, many of which are available in English.

Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod, born in 1782 to a noble family in Aix, France, lived in exile from the age of 8 yrs old until he was 20, due to the French Revolution. His family suffered greatly due to the tumultuous period in France, his parents separated and eventually divorced when Eugene was 13. Since childhood, Eugene, though from a wealthy noble family, had particular concern for the poor. A story is told of him who when 8 years old saw a poor boy in the street wearing ragged clothing. The young boy was a charcoal gatherer. Eugene, feeling sorry for the boy, exchanged his affluent clothing with that of this poor boy of the street. When he arrived home his mother complained: “Your father is the president of the assembly, and that is no way to dress.” Eugene replied, “Then, I shall be president of the charcoal gatherers!(1)

At around the age of 25 he had a religious experience which would change his life. On one Good Friday, around the year 1807, Eugene, while meditating on the crucifix, had a profound mystical experience of the love of the crucified Jesus. He would later write: “I looked for happiness outside of God, and, to my sorrow, looked there for too long a time. How many times, in my past life, did my heart, torn, tormented, throw itself in desperation at its God whom it had abandoned. Can I ever forget those bitter tears which the sight of the Cross caused to stream from my eyes on Good Friday? Ah! They welled up from the depths of my heart and nothing could stop them. They were too abundant to hide from the people who, like myself, were attending that moving service. I was in mortal sin, and it was this that caused my sorrow. It was a moment singularly different from what I had experienced in certain other instances. Never was my soul more relieved, and never did it feel happier. And it was simply because, during that torrent of tears, despite my grief, or better, by reason of it, my soul leapt toward its final end, toward God, its only good, whose loss it felt so keenly. Why say more? Could I ever do justice describing what I felt at that moment? Just thinking about it fills my heart with sweet consolation.(2)

To be a follower of Eugene, one must attach him/herself to the person of Jesus Christ. Christ must be at the center of their life. This great recognition of the love of Christ, and of his living in Christ, impelled Eugene to seek priesthood, religious life and a life lived in an impassioned struggle to participate in the mission of the Church, eventually reaching to the furthest ends of the earth.

I thought it might be interesting to see, in light of today’s ceremony, how Eugene related to the laity of his time. How did he relate to the common people? Did he work with them as collaborators in the apostolate? Did he establish lay associations? How did he encourage them to work with him for the benefit of the Church’s mission, as described in the terminology of his time, to “save souls”?

Eugene began many associations for the laity, from the beginning of his ministry, but we do not have any of these groups today. Archbishop Marcello Zago, former Oblate superior general, in reference to this fact, states that what the historical record does indicate, is the method Eugene employed of working with laity and sharing with them his charism.(3) The method was simple: he gave them a solid Christian grounding with an openness to the mission. Zago states that Oblates today have inherited the method of working with laity from St. Eugene.

What were some of his special personal gifts, what we call “charisms”, that Eugene wanted to share? Eugene greatly desired that all people, especially those abandoned by society, would experience the same love of God that he had come to know. From the beginning of his priestly ministry in preaching parish missions in southern France, he sought to reach the “most abandoned” as he saw them: people of modest means (servants, artisans, peasants and beggars), the youth, and the prisoners. He spoke to them in the common language of the people, Provençal, a southern French dialect which was not used by the French Church at the time. Most Oblates remember well the sermon he preached in Provençal at the Madeleine Church in Aix on the First Sunday of Lent, 1813: “You, the poor of Jesus Christ, the afflicted and the wretched, the sick and suffering, those covered with sores, all you whom misery overwhelms, my brethren, my dear brethren, my respectable brethren, listen to me! You are the children of God, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, the co- heirs of his eternal kingdom, the cherished portion of his inheritance; you are in the words of Saint Peter, the holy nation, you are kings, you are priests, you are, in a certain way, gods!(4)

Eugene began his priesthood by working with lay groups, particularly the youth group in Aix (Congregation of Christian Youth under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception), where he even had to disobey the French law in order for the group to get together for the purpose of deepening their faith and living it. This group grew from 6 charter members in 1813 to 300 by 1817. The group’s life was characterized by strong Marian devotion, with each member offering himself to Christ through the Virgin Mary. Meetings consisted of games, outdoor sports, along with prayer and Christian teaching.

Later, as bishop in Marseilles, Eugene de Mazenod formed at least sixteen groups in the diocese between 1835 and 1847 in order to further the apostolate.(5) They represent quite a diversity:

• The Society for Orphan Boys for street children left orphaned by the cholera epidemic
• The Providence Society for orphan girls to be prepared for a respectable life
• The Working Boys’ Society for working youth of the middle class
• St. Raphael’s Society for Working Boys provided accommodations and training for poor young apprentices
• The Refuge for Wayward Girls, a ministry which Eugene inherited and renovated
• The Guardian Angel Society for destitute descendants of ruined bourgeois families
• The Industrial and Agricultural Reform School for rehabilitation of juvenile offenders
• Society of Les Petits Savoyards for young chimney sweeps who had arrived in Marseilles from rural areas in need of work
• The Society of the Servantes, a shelter for unemployed servant girls who had come from mountain villages and who needed lodging and employment placement.
• Trinitarian Sisters of St. Martha for home care of the sick in rural areas
• Sisters of the Holy Family, home care of the sick in the city of Marseilles
• Sodality of Ste-Anne for the wives of fishermen, whose 900 members took care of the sick and dying in the slums, and provided members religious education
• The Conference of St. Joseph for working men, numbering 1,000 members after one year: they prayed, sung hymns and listened to a catechetical conference each Sunday
• Young Christian Workers Apostolate of Fr. Timon-David, 300 members, led to establishment of a religious society of priests to care for them, les Pères de Timon- David.

We see Bishop de Mazenod’s care for people by the number of daily visits to him as bishop. Eugene states, “The daily audience take up all my time, yet they are necessary. It is the duty of a bishop to be accessible to each one of his flock.(6) However, Eugene did not confine himself to his house and office, he would often wander the streets of Marseilles to visit people on the street.

Some of his earthier visits were with the fishwives, the wives of the fishermen, who were selling fish in the market in Marseilles. These women would shout out in order to sell their fish, and would use rather salty language. Even today the atmosphere in this section of Marseilles is rather boisterous and the air is filled with their salty expletives. One woman, known as Elizabeth Pecout (Sabatier) or “Babeau”, was known as the Queen of the Fishwives. She used to boast, “To bring a woman to her senses is nothing for me, but to flatten a man with my fists and keep at him even when he’s down in the gutter until he can’t take any more, well, that’s my meat.(7) Babeau had been converted after hearing a sermon on the prodigal son during a parochial mission. Besides her fists, she also had a giant heart. She organized a sodality of these fishwives who would take Bishop de Mazenod through the back alleys to visit the poor who were sick and dying. They were prepared to defend the bishop and his causes, even physically. More than once they mobilized to defend him from civil authorities who threatened him because of the changing French political situation.

De Mazenod was close to his people, the rich as well as the poor. During a cholera epidemic in Marseilles in 1835, Bp. de Mazenod stayed in town, visiting the sick and dying, though he himself had been very sick and officially expelled from Marseilles by the French government over his appointment as bishop.

In his pastoral letters Bp. de Mazenod challenged his people of the diocese to have concern for situations around the world, e.g. the unity of the church in Spain, the missionary church in North Africa, the movement to unity with the Anglicans in England, solidarity with the Church of Ireland during the potato famine, and sympathy for the Church in Canada during a deadly outbreak of typhus.

Archbishop Marcello Zago notes four characteristics of the Oblate charism handed down from St. Eugene and the early Oblates which can be seen in the contemporary Oblates’ relationship with the laity.(8)

First, a closeness to the people, as expressed in today’s OMI Constitutions and Rules, Const. #8: We will always be close to the people with whom we work, taking into account their values and aspirations. To seek out new ways for the Word of God to reach their hearts often calls for daring; to present Gospel demands in all clarity should never intimidate us. Awareness of our own shortcomings humbles us, yet God’s power makes us confident as we strive to bring all people - especially the poor - to full consciousness of their dignity as human beings and as sons and daughters of God.

Rule 7f: We shall support lay people in the discernment and development of their own talents and charisms, encouraging them to undertake ministries and apostolic commitments and thus to shoulder the responsibilities which are properly theirs in the Christian community.

Eugene’s use of a local dialect, the Provençal language, unheard of in the French Church of his time, finds expression in Rule 7g: In proclaiming the Word, it is our tradition to be simple and direct and to speak a language easily adapted to and easily understood by our hearers. In all our ministry, but especially in that of reconciliation, we will reflect the understanding, patience and compassion of the Saviour.

Rule 18c: As the generous example of married or single lay persons often inspires us, Oblates in turn, by their own genuine affection and fidelity, will inspire them to faithfulness in the face of their struggles and difficulties.

A second characteristic would be a missionary sensitivity for those far from the Church and those who don’t belong to the Church. This spirit implies creativity and finds ways to promote new initiatives to answer the needs of time and place. About 40 religious institutes have been inspired by Oblate missionaries, and several lay cooperative missionary efforts, for example in the Yukon in Canada, in Africa and in Australia.

Sensitivity for the needs of the Church is a third characteristic which is handed down by Saint Eugene. An Oblate acquires a feeling for the Church, a sense of what is the urgent need and new ways of being opened up to the apostolate. The OMI mission focus evolved from the French countryside, to immigrants in England and elsewhere, to apostolate among workers, all involving the laity in the apostolate. The missionaries give a special role to lay catechists as animators of local community in the missions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We also see Oblate involvement in the lay movements throughout the world, here in our area Marriage Encounter and Cursillo, others in Europe: focolari, Catholic Action movement.

Finally, Marian devotion has played a key role in the development of the Oblate Congregation and in the association with the laity. It was present in the heart of Eugene and his companions, and led them to accept ministry in a number of Marian shrines in France and elsewhere. The Missionary Association of Mary Immaculate, which raises funds in support of the foreign missions, usually flourishes alongside a shrine, as here in San Antonio and in Belleville, Illinois at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine.

Laity have also picked up the Oblate charisms of care for the poor and life in community. This Oblate charism has been expressed in an adventurous spirit, and some participating laity have been drawn to become Oblates themselves.

In conclusion, perhaps the present-day hope for sharing between Oblates and laity is best expressed in OMI Constitutions and Rules, Rule 37a: The charism of Saint Eugene de Mazenod is a gift of the Spirit to the Church, and it radiates throughout the world. Lay people recognize that they are called to share in the charism according to their state of life, and to live it in ways that vary according to milieu and cultures. They share in the charism in a spirit of communion and reciprocity amongst themselves and with the Oblates.

(1)” A. Hubenig, Living in the Spirit’s Fire: Saint Eugene de Mazenod, Founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, with a Foreword by R. Motte, Toronto, Novalis, 1995, p. 13.

(2)” Hubenig, p. 29.

(3) M. Zago, “Oblates and Laity Can Cooperate in the Light of the Charism”, in Vie Oblate Life, 54 (1995), p. 4.

(4)” Hubenig, p. 53.

(5) Hubenig, pp. 198-204.

(6)” Hubenig, p. 174.

(7)” Ibid, p. 178.

(8) See Zago, pp. 5-7.

Hubenig, A., Living in the Spirit’s Fire: Saint Eugene de Mazenod, Founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, with a Foreword by R. Motte, Toronto, Novalis, 1995, ix, 330 p.

Zago, M., “Oblates and Laity Can Cooperate in the Light of the Charism”, in Vie Oblate Life, 54 (1995), pp. 3-16.

——— , “Laity”, in Dictionary of Oblate Values, F. Ciardi (ed.), Rome, Association for Oblate Studies and Research, 2000, pp. 504-512.