Emmanuel D'alzon Founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption And

Emmanuel d’Alzon

founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption

&Oblates of the Assumption Assumptionists are religious who live an apostolic communities. Faithful to our founder Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, we propose before all else to work, out of love of Jesus Christ, for the coming of the Kingdom of God in us and around us. When God sees his people in need, loves, urged him to share them first he calls individuals to respond. He with the Laity, before sharing them gives them the grace of compassion with his brother and sister and love like His own; and the Assumptionists. Emmanuel d’Alzon strength to respond. He calls them made them aware of the great and he sends them forth. causes of God and the people of In the Church of the XIX century, their time. He urged them to adopt Emmanuel d’Alzon, the founder of the new and daring paths: a mission in Augustinians of the Assumption – the the Orient, journalism, pilgrimages, Assumptionists – and the Oblates of seminaries for the poor, etc. the Assumption, was one of these But before all else, he invited them in men. Sensitive, by nature and by grace, one and the same movement to to the great changes in his country and the world after the French Revolution, . he suffered wherever God was After the death of their founder, the threatened in anyone and anyone was Assumption seeks to continue his threatened as image of God. work, out of love of Christ and for His passion for the coming of God's the coming of the Kingdom of God. Kingdom, his passion for Jesus Christ Father Hervé Stéphan, Assumptionist, and for everything that Jesus Christ Superior General 1975-1987 Your Kingdom Come hat do you know of Father a man of the Church can be defined W e Emmanuel d’Alzon? If you live geographically and psychologically, he in Nîmes or in that area, you was Vicar General of his diocese for may have heard someone mention his forty years, and he founded two name at one time or another. This man religious families: the Augustinians of of the XIX century (1810-1880), the Assumption, called Assumptionists merits more than the mere mention in (1850), and the Oblates of the a history book and his congregation, Assumption (1865). He played a the Augustinians of the Assumption, significant role in the birth of the founded in 1845 in Nîmes, more than Religious of the Assumption (1839). the traditional stroke of the pen of Throughout his life, Emmanuel d’Alzon Daniel Rops, following the overflowed with activity, initiatives and confrontations that poisoned the projects and never hesitated to lead Dreyfus affair at the end of the XIX from the front. He found his strength and beginning of the XX century. in the long hours he spent in prayer. Besides, by that time Father d’Alzon had been dead for twenty years. So let us turn now to the time of his A son of the Cévennes, of southern birth to gain a better understanding of origin in appearance as well as spirit, if his life and journey to the Assumption.

Your Kingdom Come Your Kingdom Come Emmanuel d’Alzon was born into D’Alzon belonged to a famous an aristocratic family, through his bourgeois family enriched by father Henri, the Daudé d’Alzon, offices and of recent nobility recent nobility of Viganaise origin al- whom the Revolution pursued most ruined by the Revolution. In the with vengeful hatred. When XVII century, the eldest branch decided Emmanuel was born, August 30, 1810, in the ancestral house at to leave the harshness of the Cevennes Condamine in Vigan, France had for the vast sunny plains of the Langue- entered the last beautiful days of doc. Through his mother (Faventine the empire before the twilight of de Montredon), Emmanuel d’Alzon the disasters of the war with Spain

Your Kingdom Come and the defeat of Russia. There were live off the rents and tenant farmers many stories to tell the family in the without any worries about evening about the major and minor tomorrow, and maintain their place events that embossed more than at the heart of the beautiful twenty-five years of political upheaval. Languedocian society. Viscount Henri At Vigan, one remembered the visit of d’Alzon, tempted by demon politics, a black cardinal, Giulio Gabrielli, sepa- had himself elected by a hand vote rated from the papal court, itself a pris- under official scrutiny on several occasions. oner at Fontainebleau, who had benefited from the hospitality of the Opportunities and Duties d’Alzons and predicted, in a blessing, It could be deduced from all this that the destiny of this family's child. Emmanuel d’Alzon only experienced the delights of Capoue The château at Lavagnac during his childhood. It is true that he had the fortune of access to the cultural In 1816, the château at Lavagnac riches of the elite and a good (near Montague in the Hérault) education; he also benefited from purchased in 1790 by the Faventines, the advantages of his birth: affluence, heirs of the Conti princes, now totally relationships, and emancipation from restored, provided a home for the an all consuming manual labour. But d’Alzons that was less austere than this would too easily ignore his Vigan. In close proximity to the concrete environment and the Hérault, an excellent region for responsibilities linked with it as swimming in the warm waters of well as his own conception of a summer. The large agricultural area chivalrous sense of honour and linked to the château allowed them to Christian responsibility.

Your Kingdom Come When Providence places someone at the summit of a social elite, it is not for their egoistical benefit to gain an advantageous position, but to teach them, during their life, to come to the assistance of those who need help on their journey.

A united family One is always a child of one’s family. This was very true for Emmanuel. His milieu provided him with a psychological and emotional equilibrium. The ties uniting him to his parents and his two sisters, Augustine et Marie, remained very deep and beneficial. Through his sister, Marie, married to the Count of Puységur, Emmanuel experienced the joys of a prolonged family life continued through their descendents. Three nephews and nieces provided his frequent visits to Lavagnac with a refreshing air and ambiance much needed amidst his continual problems and obligations.

Your Kingdom Come A s the Viscount d’Alzon adaptation to the city and new was forced to live in Paris routine), Emmanuel enthusiastically in his role as deputy from pursued, an intellectual and spiritual 1817, it was decided that the whole formation given in these colleges, family would move there for the preferring this open, stimulating, and school year in 1823. Thus it was communal milieu to that of tutoring, that Emmanuel for the first time which was more«stifling» being strictly left his much loved Midi. This familial and individual. He was inspired departure was to be the prelude to by this experience when he later a number of voyages in his life. His found himself in charge of an parents chose for him the best important school at Nîmes, the scholastic establishments in the College of the Assumption in 1844. capital, the first a public school. He never ceased to advise parents to According to the terminology of offer their children the open and the time (Saint Louis College, on social educational milieu offered by the boulevard Saint-Michel), the the colleges in their collective type of second, private -(Stanislas College, education rather than all the old forms in the district of Notre-Dame des formerly employed by the wealthy. Champs). Public at that epoch did not signify lay, and private did not mean adherence to any particular In the XIX century, education was confession. After a short period of still just for the privileged,

Your Kingdom Come 9 especially in secondary education. institutions and boarding schools of all Primary education was improving, kinds (Falloux Law,1850). thanks particularly to the growth of Yet, under the Second Empire, there was religious congregations of men and a growing animosity in secular society women and certain forms of socialist and Universities towards this easy campaigns. The urban bourgeoisie, diversion of the State authorities and although traditionally anti-clerical, the monopoly of a fraction of young never hesitated to entrust their sons people outside the official and public to these religious institutions Alma Mater. Thus there developed in (notably the Jesuits) France a growing angry split between and their daughters to the the supporters of a liberal education convents, out of a desire for them without State control and the partisans to learn rather of secular society who carefully than for the sciences. The French excluded Congregations and the clergy State was more concerned with from all areas of teaching and scholastic teaching than education, and institutions. encouraged the communes to open primary schools (Guizot Law, En 1883, the proclaimed 1833), and colleges for boys in the primary education, public, free and cities and the large market towns that secular, reversing the process and served as the breeding ground for political and ideological consensus set future public functionaries and up after the Revolution. This liberal professions, while willingly conquering secularism verging on abandoning the many regional sectarianism adopted a mission to Church establishments: minor exclude religion from schools and

Your Kingdom Come prohibited members of Congregations from teaching. Father d’Alzon approached this question not as a spectator but as a militant and committed actor. It was, moreover, one of the passions of his life that he shares with families today, concerned with giving their children the best kind of education and preparation for life through scholastic institutions that never cease to broaden their horizons, methods and programmes. He even had the satisfaction of seeing the lead up to the law for the liberty of higher education (Laboulaye Law, 1875), even if its content was soon to be emptied of significance by the new political regime after 1879. In any event, it is impossible to understand the life and activity of Father d’Alzon, or the early Assumption, if one ignores this educational and scholastic dimension at the heart of their respective existences.

Your Kingdom Come 11 ike all adolescents, L Already in his heart another Emmanuel faced all the cause was beginning to take root, questions and uncertainties not so much a career, more a of youth. Which profession should proposition than an integrated life he choose to follow? commitment. It did not divide up life, Military or Legal Profession? the person, or the activity but gave He liked reading but also the army. them an orientation based on what There was a long tradition of the he called his key idea: the role and military in his family. His parents place of God in his life and in society. He discouraged their son from taking fell under the influence of several this option, possibly superficial, priests, the most famous of whom and encouraged him to consider being Félicité de Lamennais, and his something in line with the legal students friends in Paris (d’Esgrigny, profession with a leaning towards Gouraud, de La Gournerie) who, all becoming a magistrate or entering urged him to wait. However, politics.. he preferred to put his project into It was without any real action as soon as possible, but only enthusiasm that Emanuel, in 1828, after giving himself a two year period for began his University studies in Law in reflection, in solitude and in his family, Paris so he abandoned them in far from the political and media (1830) because of current events. upheavals of the day (1830-1832).

Your Kingdom Come The idea of a vocation to the To serve God in society without priesthood for Emmanuel d’Alzon submitting oneself to its traditional was not just a youthful fantasy or supports, to invent new relations with emotional ideal, but a fully weighed the social groups that had developed up, mature decision that evaluated the since the Revolution and were distant social cost of pursuing this kind of life. from the Church. In his meditation For him, to become a priest meant and solitude at Lavagnac he a commitment to actively work to welcomed in the depth of his being transform society with the means, the gift of a priestly vocation to which the concepts and the methods he was not particularly predisposed, available to the Church at that neither in his tastes, his habits, nor his time. environment. Yet he knew how to open himself in great liberty from his “For him to become a Priest environment so as not to become a meant a commitment to act prisoner of the prejudices of his milieu. and transform” At the beginning, Emmanuel was greatly influenced by the ferment He turned the time spent at Lavagnac of new ideas that emanating from de between 1830 and 1832 into Lamennais, ideas that sought to prolonged intellectual and spiritual liberate or sever the traditional retreat, reading the Bible and the religious links attached to or at the great authors of the Christian service of the monarchists and Tradition, in search of God, in search Gallicans. of himself, but also the overtones, the

Your Kingdom Come 13 Expectations and the new needs Open to the numerous questions generated by a society still of society that remained recovering from the shock of the unanswered, than being a young Revolution. During this period man comfortable with the easy Emmanuel appears to be more certitudes of the dogmatists.

14 Your Kingdom Come A fter having vacillated for At the end of the school year in some time, Emmanuel 1833, after having received minor finally chose to go to the orders, Emmanuel opted to go Major Seminary in Montpellier in to Rome to continue his mid-March 1832; the seminary theological studies. Afterwards, had reopened ten years earlier he recognised the benefits of his thanks to the Napoleonic time at Montpellier: the teaching Concordat (1802). of Father Ginoulhiac, a future It was a rather rude awakening Bishop, the beneficial friendship of for this well bred, elegant young several teachers not much older man, who had tasted Parisian than he (Fathers Fabre and life and was accustomed to the Vernières), the entire company intellectual aerobics in vogue illuminated by seminarians like the there than in this rather closed future Father Soulas, and a good environment. What caused him training in liturgical piety most suffering was his friendship (sacraments, offices). His with Lamennais whose liberal correspondence with his family ideas were greatly attacked by gives us a perfect outline of the the local Bishop, Fournier de la atmosphere, methods and life Contamine and several professors proper to a major seminary at still attached to Gallican ideals. that time. Theology had not yet

Your Kingdom Come 15 recovered from the rupture of expectations of the people. the Revolution. Life there, Thanks to the help and support of according to Emmanuel, was far several priests, he followed the too cut off from the intellectual evolution of thought by secretly ferment that stimulated the reading prohibited newspapers most illuminated circles of the including one from Lamennais, intelligentsia at that time, , founded in November especially the new religious 1830, that had a finger on the pulse.

Your Kingdom Come I n November 1833, Emmanuel future Cardinal Wiseman, trying not set off for Rome, the centre of to extend himself with too many Catholicism and, at that time liabilities or worldly relationships to Capital of the Papal States. He which his name allowed him. He lodged at the convent of the was always vigilant, he opened his Minimes close to Spanish Place and mind and his faith to the larger for a time followed courses at the realities of the universal Church. Gregorian. On the advice of some But the pontificate of Gregory XVI, Cardinals and theologians he knew begun in 1831, was clearly (Micara, Mazzetti, Olivieri), conservative, initially distrustful then Emmanuel decided to organise his overtly hostile to the distress caused own education in his room, taking by a liberalism that questioned the notes from readings he chose. He political status-quo of an Italian also spent time discovering the joys peninsula divided into seven states. of the eternal City, its ancient ruins, its architectural and pictorial heritage, and also benefiting from The Menaisienne affair raged its animated liturgical life. He made clumsily in the Roman Court from friends with the young MacCarthy, 1832 to 1834, in an atmosphere of then an English seminarian and the anti-liberalism. This was a great

Your Kingdom Come source of suffering for Emmanuel dependence, both his love who until then felt great sympathy for the Church and his friendship for for the priest who was a symbol of an Lamennais until the rupture evolution consonant with the ideals consumed the latter. This purifying of the day. He discovered that experience taught him that it was wise ecclesiastical Rome was also a centre always to work for Rome, never against of religious political scheming where Rome, but sometimes without Rome. the Gospel did not take first place and where Vatican diplomacy showed questionable disregard towards the He did not waver from his spiritual powers of the world. He learned of search and had the happiness of being the personal evolution of ordained a priest, in private, by Lamennais who eventually Cardinal Odescalchi the day after removed himself from his Christmas in 1834. Firmly resolved to ecclesiastical commitments, so give priority in his life to the spiritual Emmanuel, moved towards the interests of the Church before any priesthood, his heart divided political or partisan considerations, he between his friendly trust for the had the joy of an audience with Pope man and his moral fidelity to the Gregory XVI before bringing his first Church. stay in Roman to an end in May 1835. He returned joyfully and affectionately to his family at At the heart of all these controversies Lavagnac, happy to benefit from the and condemnations, he sought to early days of his priesthood after maintain without repudiation, without more than eighteen months absence.

Your Kingdom Come Your Kingdom Come A fter a meeting with the Vicar General Bishop de Chaffoy of The successor to Bishop de Chaffroy the Diocese (1835), another Franc-comtois, Msgr Cart, who unequivocally dissuaded deliberately made him Vicar General in him from having any form of 1839, despite his young age, his lack of apostolate among the pastoral experience and a temperament Protestants, Father d’Azon diametrically opposed to his. Father rapidly moved up the d’Alzon refused to stay at the Episcopal ecclesiastical ladder. Soon a Palace, preferring the freedom of a domicile Canon and then honorary Vicar in town which allowed him a certain degree General, he quickly mastered of independence and a rhythm of life more his new position and freed in keeping with his tastes . himself totally for for the animation of local Christian life, with a special interest in the A desire for Unity youth, even to the point of attracting unkind judgments. He His preoccupation with the Protestants used his spirit and zeal with an of the Midi saw him more than once step unusual freedom and energy, up and debate issues, but always with upsetting well established courtesy and with the sense of a personal ecclesiastical routines. relationship that encouraged a franc

Your Kingdom Come and free discussion of ideas along into a prestigious Catholic collage that with an incontestable apostolic was free: the College of the goodwill. Assumption. Being the Director of this Ecumenism at that time was not establishment increased his active on either side, and, despite relationships with hundreds of entrenched doctrinal and parents of pupils who came from the confessional positions, they knew whole Provence-Languedoc Region how to agree on matters of public placing Fr. d’Alzon in daily contact life, and human relationships were with young people. The school friendly, and, in some cases, became his natural habitat until his pleasant (de Larcy, de La Farelle death and deepened his concept of a and Girard). Christian education that he never hesitated to assimilate into the work Major Projects of the Incarnation: to form Jesus Three activities filled Father Christ in people. Everyone of note d’Alzon’s attention from 1843: the but also families lower in society, installation of a Carmel in Nîmes, the such as craftsmen and the working privileged relationship of spiritual classes in Nîmes, could not ignore direction and friendship with a young the dynamism of this energetic founder in Paris, Mother Marie- priest who was now thinking of Eugénie of Jesus, whom he met in adopting the customs of religious 1838 through the intervention of the life; being urged on by the apostolic famous Father Combalot, and taking spirit of the Religious of the charge of a school that was in the Assumption, experienced in the decline, that became the home of work of education and the Assumption that he wanted to make devotions proper to a common life.

Your Kingdom Come F rom 1845 the College of the Religious family, began on Assumption became the Christmas eve, 1845, of humble birthplace of a founder. Thanks origins, hidden away, like the o the courageous and devoted lay Nativity at Bethlehem. The help of Monnier and Germer- impressive Father d’Alzon, with Durand, both University four friends, Henri Brown, from graduates, Father d’Alzon, despite Lozére, Victor Cardenne, from the procrastinations of his Bishop, Paris, Étienne Pernet, from Franc- was inspired to create within his Comté, and Hippolyte Saugrain, college a spiritual movement under from Normandy went against the the patronage of Saint Augustine tides and currents of the day, and inspired by other religious persevering in their religious orders. He combined the devotion commitment until finally making of religious life found in the their first profession at Christmas monastery with the zeal found in 1850 and authorized by the modern apostolic communities reticent Bishop Cart. popular at that time. An association, in the style of a third order, gathered An International opening together lay men and women to help This very modest foundation gave with the pastoral work of the young birth to a new family in the church Assumption. This one, a masculine eventually spread to twenty-seven

Your Kingdom Come countries and to the four corners of During the lifetime of Father d’Alzon the planet today. It has over 150 as a religious, between 1845 and 1880, communities divided among eight there were 21 foundations or provinces or vice-provinces, in implantations of which seven were just which the usual language of ephemeral. He had only 73 religious to communication marry a variety of fulfil these works that included territories and cultures from Africa, colleges, orphanages, parishes, houses through America to Asia. A real of formation and alumnats (minor mosaic of international humanity that seminaries), distant missions, the seeks to live in a unity with its press, preaching and pilgrimages. So founding spirit that is evangelical and this unity of life and spirit was from its characteristic, serving the local origins a multilateral fight, carried out in Church and local populations, many the name of the Gospel and in response of whom are on road of development. to the call of the Church at that time. Although born in Nîmes and French within an academic structure, the A triple Love Congregation of the Augustinians of The Assumption embodies a vigorous the Assumption owes to the faith of its spirit of faith that it developed in the founder and his first religious, the grace form of the love of Christ, the Virgin of a spiritual and apostolic beginning Mary and the Church, under a banner that constantly strives to move beyond entitled: Adveniat Regnum Tuum - the limited structures of its birth. This has continued throughout its history A.R.T., the motto of the Assumption; not without suffering or uncertainty, an expression taken from the prayer nor without rupture and a certain of Jesus, the Our Father: metamorphoses.

Your Kingdom Come A Rule of Life The human and spiritual history of an continuing calls and needs of the exceptional man does not engender in Church and society. Father d’Alzon itself the survival of a social group. To understood this well in his own time face the passages of time and to inspire when he did not hesitate to sacrifice the it with authentic evangelical vigour, the communities at Rethel (1859) and Assumption must give of itself and Clichy (1860) when he decided to receive food for its religious journey. withdraw the mission from Australia The first Constitutions drawn up (1875). between 1855 and 1865 by Father d’Alzon and the General Chapters, were entirely reformulated in 1923 at A Faithful Creativity the cost of agonizing sacrifices contain Like love, the life spirit of a foundation the formula of this founding spirit up is to be found in being faithful to its to the present Rule of life, published in creativity, as much in terms of its 1983! Yet these texts will never be able possible continuity as in unforeseen to completely express the problems tragedies: the turmoil of World War I and the risks of thousands of faithful ravaged the Orient, decolonisation actions experienced and fostered by removed the Assumption from Tunisia the Assumption yesterday, today and and Algeria, the lack of vocations eats tomorrow for the of the away the communities in the Northern Kingdom. Religious life could easily be hemisphere. The positive choice of dulled in its contact with the everyday calls and evangelical challenges by a difficulties inherent in the routines and Congregation eager to work for pitfalls of daily life, if, as it evolved, it people made in the image of God in its did not constantly receive renewed quest for unity, truth and solidarity, and refreshing impulses from the

24 Your Kingdom Come present us with a vision and an ideal that leaves us in permanent tension. It is true that at the Assumption several “ have experienced its preferences, its character or its historic dreams: places like Turkey, the Balkans, Russia and even faraway Manchuria, but the Assumption cannot afford to be over nostalgic about its choice of territories yesteryear. Its apostolates led it to work with generous faith and take unforeseen directions into unknown territories like Madagascar in 1953, the Congo in 1929, Latin America in 1890 and Mexico in 1948, all this without prejudice to the virgin territories newly encountered today and tomorrow: East Africa (Tanzania and Kenya), Ecuador (1996), South Korea (1991) and more recently the Philippines,Togo and Vietnam (2006); all with God's help, and under the patronage of Our Lady of Salvation and with the ardour of missionary pioneers. Your Kingdom Come 25 B ut let us return to Father a character that that was jolly, free, d’Alzon’s era. This humorous and ironic, and, similarly somewhat flamboyant title, his authoritative impulsiveness, , was although he was never able to bestowed on him by Father André completely free himself from the Sève in the spiritual biography that severity of his highland roots. he wrote for the centenary of our founder's death in 1980. He did not In difficult Territory try to conceal the trials and sufferings With a very lively Catholic faith and that life inflicted on him, but he tried drinking a water laced with anti- to give an account of everything that Protestantism, he became an Emmanuel was conscience of having Ultramontanist of the Veuillot, received: education, fortune, always alert and often aggressive. A relations, without the false easiness southerner in spirit, Father d’Alzon of a bourgeois spirit that, according breathed in the ardour and pugnacious to him, have crippled the best of vivacity of this population of characters. On the contrary, Father Southern France and was easily carried d’Alzon learned the art of away by the fevered passions of politics embellishing what nature gave him and religion. Nîmes was a city sadly like characteristics of the Cévenol. accustomed to apoplectic passion He knew how to gradually that made the region a bastion of evangelise the prominent features of Catholic Legitimists (Ultra-Royalists)

Your Kingdom Come Interwoven with large pockets of their royalist support or their devotion Protestantism, liberals, and later to demonstrative Catholicism: republicans: as seen in 1789, 1830, processions, illuminations, public 1848, 1851 and even in 1870. The displays of Marian and Eucharistic century was fertile with the birth of worship that was triumphalist and anti- new democracies which often led to Protestant. confrontation with inter- The difficult periods of political denominational warriors. Christianity turmoil that struck the country in at that time always sought to pave a 1815, 1830 and 1848, shattered the way that fell between the difficult fragile consensus established extremes of the modernists and the between the communities. Despite dissatisfactory traits of the his authoritative tone and his traditionalists. It could not escape the complete ease with principles, buffeting caused by these changes. It Father d’Alzon is one of those who, was this demanding but intellectually in practical terms, prepared the intolerant Catholicism, called people for unavoidable compromises Ultramontanism, into which the (especially in elections). As Vicar founder tried to draw the clergy of his General between 1839 and 1878 he diocese. The bourgeoisie generally mixed with all the local eminent claimed to favour liberalism, supported people (municipal, prefecture, by an active minority from Protestant scholars), overlooking partisan circles that saw in the ideals of the differences when the questions Revolution a bastion against the were not a matter of doctrine. inequalities of the . This Despite his background he was not tendency contrasted with the masses afraid of all the recent technical of the working class who did not hide innovations (the railroad, sewing

Your Kingdom Come machine, telephone) that offered the animation and launching of new new possibilities to people’s lives. works, preaching, links with the Over many years, despite Religious of the Assumption. numerous responsibilities and a multitude of enterprises, his energy Against this backdrop, his life never flagged. developed into a never ending series of journeys constantly taken Serving the Kingdom for new reasons and in response He refused to let himself be given to new needs: the struggle for the the mitre or the crosier that his freedom of teaching, social friends tried to offer him at transformation, foreign missions, Mende, Aire-sur-Adour and even journalism. Father d’Alzon at Nîmes. Down to earth, he was himself was always being not interested in an ecclesiastical stimulated by the new currents career, but accepted responsibility and needs produced by a society for the pastoral supervision of his that was constantly undergoing diocese and the dynamism of new transformation. He sought ways works that, had spring to life in for the ecclesiastical body to Paris and Lyons (the Propagation of most benefit from all this or, the Faith, Conferences of Saint when the case arose, to protect Vincent de Paul, the Work of Saint François de Sales, Christian Worker it. Movements), he wanted to be embellished with a Nîmois spirit. His frequent journeys to Paris were motivated by his pastoral concerns:

Your Kingdom Come Pastoral Priorities A lready in 1868, during a Under the influence of various General Chapter, Father religious, especially Father Étienne d’Alzon anticipated the Pernet and the Parisian Religious (François Picard, Vincent de Paul Bailly, importance of various changes and and Hippolyte Saugrain), it still seemed evolution in his apostolic courageous to him to reorient some of objectives: to serve the common his pastoral priorities for the masses good of the masses rather than to and for people in terms of pilgrimages, concentrate his efforts only on the the popular press, minor seminaries elite. Suffering from health problems and apostolic schools for the poor in 1854, he reassessed his apostolic (which the Assumption call work in the light of a more interior, “alumnats”), conferences and worker even mystical, reflection attested to movements that flourished after 1871. in the maturity of his writings (The He was involved in animating Directory 1859, Letters to the popular movements, giving free Novice Masters 1868, Circulars and reign to his younger religious who Meditations after 1870), which added had experienced military prison an important dimension to his natural camps after the defeat in 1870. The excesses of the Paris Commune in dynamism which might appear to 1871 certainly did not moderate his some only as the work of an activist. own political preferences for the

Your Kingdom Come restoration of the monarchy, but daily newspaper (1883). In Paris, stimulated his desire to respond to Father Pernet, who formed the more social demands that arose Fraternities of lay people connected at this time. This generation of his with the Little Sisters of the disciples, while not abandoning the Assumption (who looked after the field of education, knew how to be sick at home unpaid), also entered innovative in this sense and assist him the field of social Catholicism. in this larger impulse. From Nîmes, Father d’Alzon whose age was beginning to take its toll, Great Figures supervised this ferment of ideas and bubbling with ideas actions that inspired in him strong In Paris, Father Picard mobilised sympathy and criticism, but in which the clergy and interested crowds he recognized the generous vigour of people in the Association of of his own youth and the lively faith Notre Dame de Salut, founded in of his spirit. He never questioned the 1872 (with campaigns of public strength of the Assumption, which, prayer). Father Vincent de Paul Bailly despite its small numbers of religious, took the small bulletin published for launched out on many more fronts pilgrims in 1873, begun at La Salette, than it had members! and transformed it in 1877 into an The Relief attractive domestic and amusing New young people were being magazine in which the caricatures formed in the minor seminary- played an eye-catching role in the alumnats whose upkeep was political debates at that time. A short entrusted to Providence. Many time later (1880) La Croix appeared generous donors, who formed the – this Review very quickly became a association of Notre Dame des

Your Kingdom Come Vocations, financed the apostolic be listed on the Stock market where activities of the Assumption. Without the bourgeois spirit that disgusted their contribution many of these him triumphed. Prince or Knight of impulses would not have been the Kingdom, he did not depend on the realised. They would have been left goods or generosity of this world as paper projects locked away in except in the manner of the gospel, convent drawers! Father d’Alzon which meant subjugating them freely knew this well, throughout his life to the worthy aims of his convictions he underwent according to him and concerns. On his death bed, he in replied to his doctor, who compared which he generously used up his his depleted health to that of a worn- domestic heritage on innumerable out capital, that he could now leave works whose profits would never after having damaged many others!

Your Kingdom Come The death of Father d’Alzon is State and heralded dark days with reminiscent of that of our scholastic programmes focused on Patriarch from the Occident. secularism, especially for the young One knows that Augustine spent communities who had no legal all his life in Africa in the setting of protection or guarantee. the Roman Empire which he The college in Nîmes suffered the admired for its organisation, effects of the Ferry decrees that administration and culture. expelled from teaching those who Before the increasing invasions of avoided any form of government forces including the authority. Father d’Alzon knew his Vandals undermined the communities were threatened and structures of this empire and already prepared for their next exile. affected the development of Yet it was in great serenity that the Christianity, he died in 430 facing a profound decline in the future. took his leave of this earth, after having taken The Ultimate Test the time to prepare himself spiritually More than fourteen centuries later, for eternity and had the sense to Father d’Alzon for his part faced a nominate someone to succeed him similar experience. In France, the as head of his religious families; anticlerical republican forces, until another great witness of faith and then held back, now filled the character, Father François Picard.

Your Kingdom Come His Last Breath On Sunday 21 November 1880, ability to adapt and renew itself as the feast of Mary's Presentation, time passes and events unfold, Father Emmanuel d’Alzon left to with the freedom to invent new his followers the strength of a and sometimes unexpected paths. spirit that no tomb could hold The Church validated the spiritual down and no power on this earth legacy of Father Emmanuel could break. d’Alzon in December 1991, Even if history slates men in awarding him the title of whatever way they chose, a Venerable, the first stage in a religious force born from the future beatification hoped and Gospel finds the strength and prayed for.

Your Kingdom Come For more information about the Assumptionists please see www.assumptionist.org.uk Information about days on Assumptionist Spirituality & Lay Assumptionists & Cycle of talks Main web site for the Assumptionists www.assumptio.org/e

Information: Assumption Priory, Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green London, E2 9PB. Tel: 02089801968 e-mail: [email protected]

Your Kingdom Come May the Assumption seek before all else the Kingdom of God, and may it receive an increase in brothers, & sisters, unity, joy and courage to serve: let us pray to the Lord. Response: Lord, may your Kingdom Come! May the Assumption be faithful to the spirit of its founder in its love for Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Church, let us pray to the Lord. May the Assumption, faithful to the mission of Christ, like him be present to the world and protected from all evil: let us pray to the Lord. May the Assumption love and serve the Church in the example of Christ who loved her and died for her: let us pray to the Lord. May the Assumption, with hope and in prayer, welcome that day when the Church will recognise the sanctity of Father Emmanuel d’Alzon: let us pray to the Lord. « Emmanuel d’Alzon founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption and Oblates of the Assumption » is part of the collection « Your Kingdom Come ». Editorial Committee : Dominique Lang, Noël Le Bousse, Marie-Bernard Kientz, Claude Maréchal, Hervé Stéphan, Benoit Gschwind, Assumptionists. Translation: Tom O’Brien a.a.a Texts : Jean-Paul Périer-Muzet, Assumptionist, archivist. Booklet published in collaboration with Prions en Église. Design: Maguy Figureau, Cathy Croizet. “The spirit of the Assumption can be summed up in these few words: the love of Our Lord, of the Holy Virgin, his Mother, and the Church, his spouse. In my position as a religious, I am more especially the servant of Jesus Christ, and all the affections of my heart, the whole power of my being, must be directed towards him.”

Father Emmanuel d’Alzon 1810-1880