A public act of thanksgiving for Eugene’s healing
On May 3, feast of the Finding of the True Cross, I convoked all the congregants in the Madeleine Church to assist at the Mass I owed it them to say at the altar of the Cross. (I had been saying Mass at home since April 20).
Before beginning the Sacrifice, I gave them a brief address from the heart which found its echo in theirs and stirred us at the same time to acquit ourselves in as holy a way as we were capable of, during the holy Mysteries, of the duties of love and thanksgiving which were our due to God, Father of mercy, who is never deaf to the prayer of those who place all their trust in him: he does not ignore the cry of the poor (Ps. 9:13).
Diary of the Aix Christian Youth Congregation ,
3 May 1814, O.W. XVI