In a turbulent nineteenth century, Father Emmanuel d’Alzon (1810-1880), passionate about the great causes of God and man, founded the Augustinians of the Assumption (or Assumptionists) in 1850, followed by the Oblates of the Assumption (1865).
Emmanuel d’Alzon was born in 1810 in Le Vigan, in the Cévennes region of southern France. He came from an aristocratic family with strong values. After a solid education and law studies in Paris (1828-1830), Emmanuel hesitated at a crossroads: would he become a soldier or a magistrate? In March 1832, after a period of reflection, his choice was made: he would become a priest, which for him meant commitment and action to transform society. He entered the seminary in Montpellier and went on to study theology in Rome. It was there that he was ordained priest on Boxing Day 1834.
Emmanuel d’Alzon is passionate about Christ and the Church. He committed himself energetically to the Church of Nîmes, becoming its vicar general. For him, love of Christ, Mary and the Church were the treasure he bequeathed to his disciples.
As early as 1845, he shared this passion with a handful of men, who at Christmas 1850 took their vows with him in a fraternal life based on the Rule of St. Augustine – hence the name Augustinians of the Assumption. It was at the Collège de l’Assomption that the young congregation was born. D’Alzon wanted to turn it into a prestigious Catholic college. He would always dream of founding a university, concerned above all to “form Jesus Christ in souls”.
Sensitive to the profound changes in society after the French Revolution, he put his congregation at the service of Truth, Unity and Charity, opening it up to the calls of the Church and the needs of the world: Education (colleges, alumnats…), the press (Le Pèlerin in 1873, then La Croix in 1883…), pilgrimages (the Pèlerinage National in 1873), and a wide range of social works were the lasting means of realizing this project, as was ecumenism, which soon led to its spread as far afield as Bulgaria and Turkey. Later, the secular laws governing congregations dispersed the Assumptionists to England, South America and beyond.
Father Emmanuel d’Alzon died on November 21, 1880 in Nîmes. The Church validated his spiritual journey by granting him the title of “Venerable” in December 1991, the first step towards a hoped-for and prayerful future beatification.
