Charles-Joseph-Eugene de Mazenod
French Roman Catholic bishop and saint (1782-1861)
Feast: 21 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Charles Joseph Eugène de Mazenod was born at Aix-en-Provence on 1 August 1782 into a recently ennobled family whose rank and wealth the French Revolution swept away. Ordained at Amiens on 21 December 1811, he returned to Aix and gave his priesthood to the most abandoned: prisoners, the young, farm servants.
He founded the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to bring the Gospel to the poor. Auxiliary bishop of Marseille from 1832 and bishop five years later, for about twenty-five years he adorned his Church with virtue, works, preaching and writing, and was called 'a second Paul' for his zeal.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A nobleman ruined by revolution who gave his priesthood and his order to the most abandoned.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Charles Joseph Eugène de Mazenod
- Wikidata Q967537 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Eugène de Mazenod (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.