On Christmas Eve 1850, the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption was born. That night Emmanuel d'Alzon, together with a small group of generous men (the first Assumptionists), pronounced their first religious vows, thus launching this new congregation.

The following imaginary "interview" with Fr. d'Alzon appeared in the Chilean Assumptionist monthly review, Eco de Lourdes, in 1999 in preparation of the 150th anniversary of the founding in 2000. As we celebrate the feast of Fr. d'Alzon this year, we are reprinting it because we received so many positive comments about it  (editorial staff, Eco de Lourdes)

- Fr. d’Alzon,  what would you say is the foundation of your work, of the congregation which you founded?

- The foundation of my work is Jesus Christ. Everything can be found in him. One should look to him alone and dedicate all to him, announce and preach him alone. We must teach what he taught and live as he did; we must always imitate him who is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Fr. Julio Navarro, postulator for the Cause of Beatification of Fr.d'Alzon,.writing in"Signs of God,N.4", agrees with this saying applied to our founder by Fr. Andre Seve,a.a. in his book " Christ is My Life.".Our founder's holiness, like that of other saints, is deeply rooted in his family history of nobility,one so faithful to God and King and steeped in the culture and history of his people of Southern France, profounly marked by the bloody French Revolution. Still our founder "made his own honey." If ever a saint became, through his cooperation with God's grace, his own best self it might well be Emmanuel d'Alzon. And because of this the best way to really get to know him and "feel" his holiness is to use our Chriitian imagination. Not the mind alone but the imagination too is needed to help us grasp the meaning of a man so steeped in the blood of his ancestors, so animated by the warm, sometimes hot passions of his people, but a man finally driven by the grace of a God to whom he surrenders his own strong passions and will in order to put them at the service of that God he loves and all his children too, as he gives his life for the Kingdom of God. With that in mind here are a few snapshots of the life of one Emmanuel d'Alzon.

Word of the Postulator

To really come to know the person and the holiness of Fr. d’Alzon, one must know the place where he was born and lived, his family, his surroundings and the era in which he acted. One must also know the particular Church, that of Nîmes of yesterday and of today, where he took root and where he exercised his ministry from his priestly ordination until his death. A saint is not self-made. He becomes such within a specific people and a particular Church. He becomes a saint by sharing “the joys and hopes, the sadness and distress” of the people of his time. The reflection of Cardinal Amato, which we present in this circular, invites us to exercise a ministry alive, one which in turn transmits enthusiasm and participation, and which consists not only in making known the figure and holiness of Fr. d’Alzon, but also invites us to imitate his virtues and to make of him a saint for ourselves and for the people of our day. The place, the land, the Church where Fr. d’Alzon continues to live today is our Assumption Family. We are responsible for his heritage, that is, for his charism and his spirituality, which are gifts from God for the whole Church; it is up to us to share them with many others. May the Lord soon grant us the joy of being able to invoke him as saint.

Fr. Julio Navarro Román, A.A.

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Word of the Postulator

Devotion to Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon, our Venerable Founder, is quite significant. The number of people who pray to him requesting that he intercede before the Lord to obtain graces and favors for them, healing from illness, help with financial problems, or simply his presence and comfort in tough times is impressive. As Fr. Marie Bernard Kientz wrote to Cardinal Angelo Amato, «Very often in letters from our benefactors, we become aware of the confidence they place in Fr. d’Alzon in their prayers of request and of thanksgiving». It would be impossible to print all of these testimonies of trust and gratitude here.

What is especially striking to us are phrases such as: «I pray to Fr. d’Alzon every night»; «We address our prayers to him every day asking for his protection»; «I have received many graces through his intercession»; «I talk to him every day…»; «We love our Fr. d’Alzon very much ».

Let us continue to ask the Lord that he soon grant to us, to the entire Assumption Family, the joy of seeing the Church’s official recognition of Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon’s holiness.

Fr. Julio Navarro Román, A.A.

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