At one point, I looked into become a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. I spent a year discerning a vocation with them, but decided against it. Today, we celebrate that founder of that order on his feast day: Eugene de Mazenod. Born in 1782, Mazenod was a child and a youth during the French Revolution. Europe had been going through the Age of Enlightenment, in which human reason, philosophy, analysis, and the individual were emphasized over the Church. During this era, the traditional seats of power and authority in society were being challenged. Even though many in France turned away from the Church during those years, de Mazenod chose to enter seminary. He eventually became the Bishop of Marseille, a larger trading port and a place where there was a lot of poverty on many levels. He eventually founded the Oblates of Mary of Immaculate. Pope Pius XI called the OMI the missionary specialists of difficult missions. In fact, two of the most influential priests in recent years have been members of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate - Father Ron Rolheiser and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, embodying the missionary spirit of the order that de Mazenod founded. The priests of the OMI were a major influence in Canada, helping maintain a Catholic presence in many rural areas of that country. Mazenod died in 1861 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate are one of the largest orders of priests in the Catholic Church today, with approximately 2,900 members.
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