GENERAL AUDIENCE

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

(Video)

Saint John Eudes and the formation of the diocesan clergy

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the liturgical Memorial of St John Eudes, a tireless apostle of the devotion to the
Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who lived in France in the 17th century that was marked
by opposing religious phenomena and serious political problems. It was the time of the
Thirty Years' War, which devastated not only a large part of Central Europe but also souls.
While contempt for the Christian faith was being spread by certain currents of thought
which then prevailed, the Holy Spirit was inspiring a spiritual renewal full of fervour with
important figures such as de Bérulle, St Vincent de Paul, St Louis-Marie Grignon de
Montfort and St John Eudes. This great "French school" of holiness also included St John
Mary Vianney. Through a mysterious design of Providence, my venerable Predecessor Pius
XI canonized John Eudes and the Curé d'Ars together, on 31 May 1925, holding up to the
whole world two extraordinary examples of priestly holiness.

In the context of the Year for Priests, I want to dwell on the apostolic zeal of St John Eudes,
which he focused in particular on the formation of the diocesan clergy. The saints are true
interpreters of Sacred Scripture. In the experience of their lives the saints have verified the
truth of the Gospel; thus they introduce us into a knowledge and understanding of the
Gospel. In 1563 the Council of Trent issued norms for the establishment of diocesan
seminaries and for the formation of priests, since the Council was well aware that the
whole crisis of the Reformation was also conditioned by the inadequate formation of
priests who were not properly prepared for the priesthood either intellectually or spiritually,
in their hearts or in their minds. This was in 1563; but since the application and realization
of the norms was delayed both in Germany and in France, St John Eudes saw the
consequences of this omission. Prompted by a lucid awareness of the grave need for
spiritual assistance in which souls lay because of the inadequacy of the majority of the
clergy, the Saint, who was a parish priest, founded a congregation specifically dedicated to
the formation of priests. He founded his first seminary in the university town of Caen, a
particularly appreciated experience which he very soon extended to other dioceses. The
path of holiness, which he took himself and proposed to his followers, was founded on
steadfast trust in the love that God had revealed to humanity in the priestly Heart of Christ
and in the maternal Heart of Mary. In those times of cruelty, of the loss of interiority, he
turned to the heart to speak to the heart, a saying of the Psalms very well interpreted by St
Augustine. He wanted to recall people, men and women and especially future priests, to
the heart by showing them the priestly Heart of Christ and the motherly Heart of Mary.
Every priest must be a witness and an apostle of this love for Christ's Heart and Mary's
Heart. And here we come to our own time.

Today too people feel in need of priests who witness to God's infinite mercy with a life
totally "conquered" by Christ and who learn to do this in the years of their seminary
training. After the Synod in 1990 Pope John Paul II published the Apostolic
Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis in which he returned to and updated the norms of the
Council of Trent and stressed above all the necessary continuity between the priest's initial
and continuing formation. For him this is a true starting point for an authentic reform of the
life and apostolate of priests. It is also the key to preventing the "new evangelization" from
being merely an attractive slogan and to ensuring that it is expressed in reality. The
foundations laid in seminary formation constitute that indispensable "humus spirituale" in
which "to learn Christ", letting oneself be gradually configured to him, the one and only
High Priest and Good Shepherd. The seminary period should therefore be seen as the
actualization of the moment when the Lord Jesus, after calling the Apostles and before
sending them out to preach, asks them to be with him (cf. Mk 3: 14). When St Mark
recounts the calling of the Twelve Apostles he says that Jesus had a twofold purpose: firstly
that they should be with him, and secondly, that they should be sent out to preach. Yet, in
being with him always, they really proclaim Christ and bring the reality of the Gospel to the
world.

During this Year for Priests I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to pray for priests and for all
those who are preparing to receive the extraordinary gift of the ministerial priesthood. I
address to you all and thus I conclude the exhortation of St John Eudes who said to priests:
"Give yourselves to Jesus in order to enter the immensity of his great Heart which contains
the Heart of his Holy Mother and the hearts of all the Saints and lose yourselves in this
abyss of love, charity, mercy, humility, purity, patience, submission and holiness" (Coeur
admirable, III, 2).

With this in mind, let us now sing the "Our Father" in Latin.

To special groups

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I o er a warm welcome to the English-speaking visitors present at today's Audience,

including the pilgrims from India and Nigeria. Our Catechesis considers St John Eudes
whose feast we celebrate today. He lived in 17th-century France which, notwithstanding
considerable trials for the faith, produced many outstanding examples of spiritual courage
and insight. St John Eudes' particular contribution was the foundation of a religious
congregation dedicated to the task of giving solid formation to the diocesan priesthood. He
encouraged seminarians to grow in holiness and to trust in God's love revealed to humanity
in the priestly heart of Jesus and in the maternal heart of Mary. During this year let us pray in
a special way for priests and seminarians that, inspired by today's Saint, they may
spiritually "enter into the heart of Jesus", becoming men of true love, mercy, humility and
patience, renewed in holiness and pastoral zeal. My dear Brothers and Sisters, upon you
and your families I invoke God's blessings of joy and peace!

Lastly, I greet the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. May the wonderful figure of St
John Eudes, whom I have just mentioned, help each one of you to make more and more
progress in loving God who gives fullness of meaning to youth, to su ering and to family
life. I thank you all for your presence. May the Lord bless you!

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