St. Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod

1782-1861, Born in Aix, Provence, France on Aug. 1, he was obliged to flee to Italy during the French Revolution and was ordained in 1811 at Amiens. He engaged in pastoral activities in Aix, became interested in missionary work, and in 1816 founded the institute which in 1826 was approved by Pope Leo XII as the Cong. of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and of which he remained superior general until his death. In 1832 he was approinted titular bishop of Icosium and in 1837 bishop of Marseilles, where he restored ecclesiastical discipline and became noted for his defense of the papacy against the attacks of Gallicanists and civil authorities. He endorsed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, was made a peer and died in Marseilles, France on May 21.