The basic foundation stone of the existence of the Oblates, and of the whole Mazenodian family, had been laid on 25 January 1816, when the group came together formally to live as a community. Less than three months later, a second defining moment took place when Eugene and Henri Tempier made vows. In his memoires, Eugene describes the event:
Briefly put, Father Tempier and I felt that we should not delay any longer, and on Holy Thursday, when both of us had taken our place under the structure of the beautiful repository we had erected over the main altar of the Mission church, in the night of that holy day, we pronounced our vows with an indescribable joy… and we prayed the divine Master that, if it were his holy will to bless our undertaking, to lead our present companions and those who would be associated with us in the future, to appreciate the full value of this oblation of one’s entire self to God, when one wanted to serve him unreservedly and to consecrate one’s life to the spread of his holy Gospel and the conversion of souls. Our petitions were answered.
Rambert, La vie de Monseigneur Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod,
Tome I, p. 187
This action was to give a distinctive character to the Missionaries: that of oblation, from where our name comes. As this text is one of the fundamental bases of our identity, I will spend the next few reflections analyzing it.