Announcement of His Priestly Ordination
December 8, 1811, while on retreat in Amiens, St. Eugene communicates his imminent ordination to his mother:
Dear, darling mother, I am only going to write you a few lines as I am on the most important retreat of my life, in which I must dialogue alone with God on matters of eternal import; by rights I should not be writing to you at all, but I really had to let you know that your Eugene, this poor miserable sinner the sum of whose iniquities are known to God alone, will of a surety in a few days’ time be vested with the most eminent dignity on the face of the earth or even in heaven. I will not dwell on it further, dear mother, but sum it all up in a word: pray for your son, and have others pray for him too, every saintly person you know.
God knows with what love and expressions of tenderness and gratitude I shall offer for you yourself, your sanctification, and even your earthly happiness, that holy Victim who is always heard on account of his infinite dignity. Dear mother, be one with me on Christmas Eve, join in the holy mysteries in Aix while in Amiens, in the most fervent of communities [Sisters of the Sacred Heart], I celebrate them for you; let each of us for our own part speak our minds to our good Master who assuredly will be quite unable to say no on such a wonderful day; be sure, he will pay off all our debts, yes, I will ask him this with confidence when in his infinite, incomprehensible mercy, he places himself in a way in my power, I shall speak to him too of our mother and many others too, but do not let us yield just yet to the feelings such thoughts awaken in our soul, the time has not yet come to pour out what the Lord is working within me. […]
I bid you now an affectionate farewell, dear mother, and hold you tenderly to my heart which is all yours after God. You know the ordination takes place on the 21st, the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. Hands will be laid on probably between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. A double dose of prayers that day. (Oblate Writings, 14, p. 226-227)
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