Eugene de Mazenod’s remarkable life celebrated

Oblates celebrate 150th anniversary of founder St Eugene de Mazenod’s death

MAY 21 this year marked 150 years since the death of the Oblate founder, St Eugene de Mazenod.
Born into a noble family in Aix en Provence, France, Eugene had a privileged life up until the French Revolution when his family were dispossessed of their home, forced into exile and fled to Italy where he stayed for 11 years, during which time he was tutored by Don Bartolo Zinelli, a priest who introduced him to the Ignatian spirituality and opened to him a vision of Jesuit overseas missionary endeavours, in China particularly.
Eugene returned to France in 1802; his parents had divorced, his father choosing to remain in Sicily. However, any thoughts of a priestly vocation sparked by Don Zinelli 10 years earlier had all but disappeared in young Eugene thanks to a hectic social life.
Several years later he felt an emptiness amid all the frivolity and began searching for something more in his life.
During the Good Friday liturgy in 1807 or 1808, Jesus’ sacrifice and ransom of each soul profoundly struck the young Eugene.
He was overwhelmed with tears of sorrow for having done so little in his own life to respond to Jesus’ sacrifice while crying tears of joy at the revelation of God’s unconditional love.
It was a profound experience and Eugene entered the seminary shortly afterwards at St-Sulpice.
On 21 December 1811, family friend and Bishop of Amiens, Jean-Francois de Demaldox, ordained Eugene at Amiens.
The new Fr Eugene politely declined the Bishop’s invitation to be his Vicar General which would have led to a rapid rise within the episcopacy.
Instead, he became convinced that he had been called to evangelise the most abandoned – the poor, the youth and prisoners – and that it was important for him to remain free of parochial and administrative structures.
Preaching from the Church of the Madeleine, Eugene spoke to the poor, artisans, servant girls, beggars and workers in their native Provencal – the language of the common people – and conducted Mass at times so that the workers could attend. For the first time, the poor understood. His message to the poor was: “Come now and learn from us what you are in the eyes of faith”.
Aware of Napoleon’s campaign to de-Christianise, Eugene also considered all young people – rich and poor – as among the most abandoned. In Aix, he founded a Sodality of Christian Youth despite Napoleonic laws forbidding meetings of any kind.
By 1817, in less than two years, there were 300 members. The young Fr Eugene also volunteered to serve as prison chaplain, visiting the inmates of the city’s jail almost every day, striving to instruct, encourage and convert them.
His actions ran counter to the prevalent practice among the clergy of Aix. For example, it was customary throughout France at the time to refuse the Eucharist to prisoners condemned to death. The young Fr Eugene turned that way of thinking on its head.
Not only did he give communion to the condemned person, but he would celebrate Mass especially for them in their cell. There, he gave them Holy Communion and accompanied them to the scaffold, staying alongside them through their final moments.
At the same time, Napoleon’s far-ranging wars had brought captured soldiers to France from all parts of the Europe; 2,000 of them were held in Aix. Shortly after their arrival, a typhus epidemic ran through the overcrowded camp. Many died, among them the chaplain, and Eugene offered to take his place. Soon he too contracted typhus and hovered near death, but his health was restored through prayer.
On 25 January 1816, he founded a new congregation of Religious men – the missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. On Christmas Eve 1837, he was ordained Bishop of Marseilles and later Archbishop of Marseilles. Although he had a strong allegiance to his native France, his vision for his Order was Catholic in the true sense of the word because, by 1841, he had sent missionaries to England, Canada, Ceylon and Texas in 1848 and Natal in 1851.
At the time of his death in 1861 there were six Oblate Bishops and more than 400 missionary Oblates working in 10 countries.
On 19 October 1975 Eugene was beatified by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II canonised him on 3 December 1995.
In 1894, four Oblates from Inchicore in Dublin arrived in Fremantle, WA to continue Eugene’s charism and to work among the poor, with youth and prisons.
Today there are Oblates working in every state of mainland Australia, with Oblate Colleges in Victoria, WA and two in Queensland, Oblates working as chaplains in prisons, hospitals and schools in three states, the Oblate Youth programme and Rosies outreach programmes for homeless and marginalised people are expanding.
Today the Australian Province includes a strong Hong Kong Delegation where significant work is being done by Oblates in orphanages.
The Oblates’ current vocations coordinator is Fr John Sherman, former Rector of the Basilica of St Patrick in Fremantle. Now based at Mazenod College in Lesmurdie, he can be contacted on 0418 825 701 or email vocations@oblates.com.au.