The writings of the missionaries indicate that some of their missions were not a total success, yet the overwhelming majority were presented in superlatives as successes of God’s grace.
The letters I receive from our various missions ‑ we are preaching five at the same time in different dioceses ‑ are most consoling. Marvels are taking place everywhere
Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 20 January 1837, O.W.IX n. 602
The basic thrust of the mission preaching in France remained the basic thrust of all the missionary activity of the Oblates wherever they were. Circumstances forced them to change their approach and activities in response to various situations, but the underlying thrust of being the Saviour’s co-operators to lead the poor and most abandoned to salvation never changed.
I do not believe that there is any other Congregation giving such a moving example in the Church. All of its members are simultaneously employed in divers countries in the two hemispheres to bring souls back to God and to wage violent war against Hell. To have missions in the dioceses of Marseilles, Fréjus, Aix, Avignon, Valence, Grenoble, Ajaccio, in England, in Ireland, in Canada and in the United States, is truly marvellous
Letter to Hippolyte Courtès, 4 January 1843, O.W. X n. 785