Leflon tells us that on 13 May 1816, “Madame Gontier surrendered the use of the entire Carmelite house to Father de Mazenod, in exchange for a financial consideration, since her boarding school was in bad straits.” (Volume 2, p. 44).
Having more space gave the Missionaries the opportunity to improve their living quarters and become better organised. Eugene’s letter to his father gives an indication of the concerns that he had, and the strength that came from his conviction that it was God’s grace that was making it all possible:
…To tell you about ourselves, I would need more time than I have since there would be much to tell. I think that I’ll have to leave the details till our first meeting. To form an establishment at the bat of an eye, to see its components come together in spite of obstacles which seemed insurmountable to human wisdom, to meet men dedicated to God’s work even though a thousand apparently good reasons might have turned them away;
these men, among whom I am the eldest, are producing such surprising fruits of salvation as to silence any calumny and all that before anyone was convinced that the almost unknown plan was a reality: such are the prodigies of which we are witnesses and instruments.
Letter to C.A. de Mazenod, 1 May 1816, O.W. XIII n.3
Some notes on this text.
– “Our first meeting”: President de Mazenod was still in exile in Palermo, and Eugene was trying every available means to make it possible for him to return to France.
– “among whom I am the eldest”: Emmanuel Maunier and Pierre Mie were thirteen years older than Eugene, so presumably he is referring here to being the elder as the superior of the community.