Eugène de Mazenod
Eugène de Mazenod, OMI (1 August 1782 – 21 May 1861) was a French aristocrat and Catholic bishop who founded the congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
When he was eight years old, Mazenod's family fled the French Revolution and left its considerable wealth behind. As refugees in Italy, they were poor and moved from place to place. He returned to France at the age of twenty and later became a priest. Initially focused on rebuilding the Church in France after the Revolution, his mission soon extended, particularly to British North America. Mazenod was appointed bishop of Marseille in 1837, and archbishop in 1851.
Mazenod was beatified on 19 October 1975. He was canonized twenty years later on 3 December 1995. The Catholic Church commemorates him with an optional memorial on 21 May, the anniversary of his death.
In the Martyrology
- May 21 Saint Eugène de Mazenod, archbishop-bishop of Marseille, founder of the Oblates