Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent was born of poor parents in the village of Pouy in Gascony, France, about 1580. He enjoyed his first schooling under the Franciscan Fathers at Acqs. Such had been his progress in four years that a gentleman chose him as subpreceptor to his children, and he was thus enabled to continue his studies without being a burden to his parents. In 1596, he went to the University of Toulouse for theological studies, and there he was ordained priest in 1600.

In 1605 while traveling aboard ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Vincent was captured by North African Pirates and sold into slavery. Vincent remained in bondage for two years eventually gaining his freedom by converting his Mohammedan owner to Christianity. After leaving North Africa, Vincent traveled to Rome and then back to France serving in Various Chaplaincies and Parishes for a time.

This brought him into contact with the peasants, and he became concerned for their needs, physical and spiritual. A peasant who believed himself to be dying confessed to him that his previous confessions for many years had been dishonest. Vincent began to preach in the local church on confession, repentance, forgiveness, and the love of God. His sermons drew such crowds of penitents that he had to call in a group of other priests to assist him. He took on the pastorship of a neighboring church attended by a more fashionable and aristocratic crowd, and there he likewise drew many of his listeners to repentance and amendment of life. Returning to Paris, he worked among the prisoners destined for the galleys who were being held at the Conciergerie.

In 1625 he established the Congregation of the Mission (now known as the Vincentians, or the Lazarists), a community of priests who undertook to renounce all ecclesiastical advancement and devote themselves to work in the small towns and villages of France. In an age not noted for "interdenominational courtesy," he instructed his missioners that Protestants were to be treated as brothers, with respect and love, without patronage or condescension or contentiousness. Wealthy men and women came to him, expressing a wish to amend their lives, and he organized them into a Confraternity of Charity, and set them to work caring for the poor and sick in hospitals and in home visits. In 1633 the Archbishop or Paris gave him the Priory of St Lazare as a headquarters. There he offered retreats six times a year for those who were preparing for the ministry. These lasted two weeks each, and each involved about eighty students. He then began to offer similar retreats for laypersons of all classes and widely varying backgrounds.

Out of his Confraternity of Charity there arose an order of nuns called the Daughters (or Sisters) of Charity, devoted to nursing those who were sick and poor. He said of them, "Their convent is the sick-room, their chapel the parish church, their cloister the streets of the city." Many babies were abandoned in Paris every year, and when Vincent saw some of them, he established an orphanage for them, and thereafter often wandered through the slums, looking in corners for abandoned babies, which he carried back to the orphanage.

He complained to the King that ecclesiastical posts were distributed simply as political favors, and that the spiritual qualifications of the appointees were simply ignored. The King responded by creating a Council of Conscience to remedy the matter, with Vincent at the head. On one occasion, a noblewoman of the court, furious with Vincent because he refused to nominate her son for a position as bishop, threw a stool at him. He left the room with a stream of blood pouring from his forehead, and said to a companion who was waiting for him, "Is it not wonderful how strong a mother's love for her son can be?" He died 27 September 1660.


Propers for Vincent de Paul - Priest, Confessor and Helper of Men

The Collect.

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Vincent de Paul to serve thee in the person of those in need: Grant, we beseech thee, that we, following his example, may fulfil thy commandments by loving our neighbour, and by loving thee with all our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


The Epistle - Philippians 4:4-9.


The Gospel - St. Luke 10:1-9.


Reference and Resources:

http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/09/27.html
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-vincent-de-paul/
http://www.monasteryicons.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?action=DETAIL&item=397&EXPANDED=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul
http://tridentine-mass.blogspot.com/search/label/Saint%20Vincent%20de%20Paul
http://www.ttstm.com/2009/09/september-27-vincent-de-paul-slave.html

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