The instructions were generally held twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. In the morning they began with a prayer and were followed by Mass, and they were usually referred to as “conferences.” The morning topics were instructional: prayer, the commandments of God and of the Church, virtues, sacraments, Apostles’ Creed, etc. One could summarise this in today’s language as a concentrated course of adult catechetical instruction.
So as not to remain on the level of intellectual instruction, the missionaries touched on everyday issues. Going through the commandments gave the Oblates the opportunity to speak about practical things like how to love God and neighbour, dealing for example on practical topics like scandal-mongering and rash judgements. Eugene summarises:
Tell Father Suzanne it is important that he spend several days to instruct the people concerning what is called Christian life. One must greatly insist on and make them feel the necessity of practising virtue, giving them a great esteem for this, first for the state of being Christian, for which they have had little care until now; go over the practical aspect of the Law of God, the commandments of God and of the Church; bring out all that pertains to religion that they must be taught to respect in the least details, fulminate against the stupid pleasantries that they sometimes make about religion for the sake of making conversation, a liberty that is quite common amongst the country people”
Letter to Jacques Marcou, 18 December 1824, O.W. VI n.161