St. Eugene de Mazenod (1 August 1782 – 21 May 1861) was a French aristocrat and Catholic priest. When he was eight years old, Mazenod’s family fled the French Revolution, leaving their considerable wealth behind. As refugees in Italy, they were poor, and moved from place to place. He returned to France at the age of twenty and later became a priest. Mazenod founded the congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Initially focused on rebuilding the Church in France after the Revolution, their work soon spread, particularly to Canada. Mazenod was appointed Bishop of Marseille in 1837, and Archbishop in 1851.
Bishop de Mazenod was beatified on October 19, 1975, and was canonized twenty years later on 3 December 1995. The Catholic Church commemorates him with an optional memorial on 21 May, the anniversary of his death.
Three schools are named for him, in the Australian cities of Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.
