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Towards the end of his life, Eugene had become very free. Faced with the prospect of the cardinalate which had been promised and which slipped away from him because of political considerations, he had this to say: "After all, it is all the same whether one is buried in a red cassock or a purple one; the main thing is that the bishop gets to heaven".
Shortly before his death on May 21, 1861, in keeping with his temperament, the elderly and seriously ill bishop said to those around him: "Should I happen to doze off, or if I appear to be getting worse, please wake me up! I want to die knowing that I am dying".
His last words to the Oblates were a testament that summed up his life: "Practice well among yourselves charity, charity, charity, and outside, zeal for the salvation of souls". Saint Eugene died on Pentecost Sunday to the prayer of the Salve Regina, It was his final salute on earth to the one he considered as the "Mother of the Mission". |
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