All Saints’ Day has arrived: from three in the morning, those who made up the Chapter are awake; before four o’clock they are all in the chapel praying in front of the altar, preparing themselves for the most beautiful, the most consoling of all the sacrifices.
Mémoires of Suzanne and Moreau cited by Rambert, I, 290-291.
Leflon narrates:
It must indeed have been a time of great satisfaction for Father de Mazenod. On November 1, 1818, after receiving the necessary authorization from Guigou, he pronounced his vows of chastity, obedience and perseverance in the presence of Fortuné [ed. the vow of poverty was added a few years later]; during the Mass which followed, he accepted the vows of Fathers Maunier, Mie, Tempier and Moreau and of the scholastic brothers Dupuy, Courtès and Suzanne.
Leflon 2, p. 169
The formula used by Eugene was:
In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the Angels and all the Saints, all my brothers here assembled,
I, Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod,
profess, promise to God and vow perpetual chastity and obedience;
I swear and likewise vow to persevere until death in the holy institute and society of the Missionaries known as Missionaries of Provence. So help me God.
Eugene de Mazenod missionary priest
Oblation formula, 1 November 1818, O.W. XV, n.149
What today’s Oblate Rule of Life says about the first commitment of the novices, is a direct application of the sentiment of the first commitment of Eugene and his companions in 1818.
Novitiate formation ends with a free and faith-filled commitment in the Oblate Congregation. The novice, having experienced the Father’s love in Jesus, dedicates his life to making that love visible. He entrusts his fidelity to the one whose cross he shares, whose promises are his hope.
CC&RR Constitution 59
Think about the time you said these words or the words of commitment to another person or the words of discipleship to Jesus our teacher and Lord.
Where were you? What was going on?
Rest in the innocence of that Love!