EUGENE ENTRUSTS HIS STUDIES AND FORMATION IN THE SEMINARY TO MARY

Posted on November 27, 2024 by franksantucci

After his conversion journey and discernment that God was calling him to become a priest, the 26 year-old Eugene went to the Seminary of Saint Sulpice in Paris.

On the first page of his study notes at the seminary, he wrote this dedication:

To the greater glory of God and of the Immaculate Virgin. Under the patronage of this Virgin, conceived without sin… so that for these and before them the Immaculate Mother may help me in this difficult course of studies

Traité de la pénitence, Ms. Oblate General Archives, DM-III 8a

As Mary reflected on and learnt from the presence of Jesus in her life, so too did Eugene want to have this same attitude in his seminary studies.

After a year as seminarian in St Sulpice in Paris, Eugene reveals in his journal on the place of Mary in his spirituality:

But devotion to the Blessed Virgin must excel all others; for the glorious Mother of God is called by the Church: our life and our hope. It is morally impossible for a soul to make any progress in the ways of perfection if it lacks this tender and sincere devotion to the most holy Mother of God.

General counsels for achieving perfection, notes taken in 1809, EO XIV n.39

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1 Response to EUGENE ENTRUSTS HIS STUDIES AND FORMATION IN THE SEMINARY TO MARY

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    November 27, 2024 at 13:34

    God has given us much more than we could ever imagine.

    I think for a minute of how we come together, to meet and be with each other in the presence of the Eucharist, but more … in the very heart of God. And my heart begins singing the Salve Regina. It is not just reserved for the Liturgy of the Hours but is present and proclaimed at the end of many of our community celebrations: it becomes the backdrop of my morning reflection.

    Surely Eugene learned the prayer and sang the Salve Regina at the very beginning of his studies”: we see him writing from the sense of the Salve Regina with words such as: “…for the glorious Mother of God is called by the Church “our life and our hope.””

    We as human beings strive to take on the values and characteristics planted within us during our times of formation. We do this by tasting and savouring that which is shared with us and only then do we chew it up and allow it to become a part of our beings.

    What began as a list of the “general counsels for achieving perfection [ed. holiness]” becomes a way of each of us being able to succeed in our own formation, the “tender and sincere devotion to the most holy Mother of God”.

    There is a mystery of becoming one in communion with “the Body and Blood of Christ” as I seek to go deeper and am accompanied with Our Lady, the Mother of God and of all of us.

    Reply

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