LIFE 



FOUNDER 




CONGREGATION OF THE MISSIO 



THE SISTERS OF CHARITY. 



BY M. COLLET, PRIEST OF THE MISSION. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY A CATHOLIC CLERGYMAN 



BALTIMORE: 
METROPOLITAN PRESS. 

1845." 



ENTERED arrording to the Act of Congress, 
in the year eighteen hundred and forty-five, 
by Louis REGIS DELUOI,, in the Clerk s office 
of the District Court of Maryland. 



.p 

>-- * J 



TO THE 

SISTERS OF CHARITY 

Of St. Joseph s, 
EMMITTSBURG, MD. , 

THIS LIFE OF 

ST. VINCENT OF PAUL, 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

AS A SMALL TESTIMONIAL OF 

ADMIRATION AND GRATITUDE 

BY THE 

TRANSLATOR. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



BOOK FIRST. 

P&gr 

Birth of Vincent of Paul 9 

Receives holy orders at Tarbes 13 

Made a slave, sold to three masters, and returns to Europe 

with the last, whom he had converted 14 

Sets out for Rome, charged with an important mission 17 

On his return to Paris becomes almoner of Queen Margaret. . 23 
Being charged with the parish of Clichy, he leaves it to live 

with Mr. de Gondi 27 

Leaves the house of Mr. de Gondi, to go to Chatillon-les-Dombeg 34 

Establishment of the confraternity of Charity 39 

Leaves Chatillon, returns to Mr. de Gondi, and labors in the 

Missions 45 

Appointed almoner general of the gallies, and superior of the 

Ladies of the Visitation 50 

Takes the place of a galley slave at Marseilles 53 

Establishes a company of missionaries 57 

Leaves the house of Mr. de Gondi, and retires to the college des 

Bons Enfans gj 

The king authorises his association, and Urban VIII erects it 

into a congregation t gg 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



BOOK SECOND. 

Page 
Antiquities and revolutions of the house of St. Lazarus 77 

Vincent, after many entreaties, at last takes possession of the 

house 80 

Commencement of the ecclesiastical conferences 85 

Establishment of spiritual retreats 92 

Institution of the Daughters of Charity 99 

God s singular protection of one of them 102 

Company of pious ladies in favor of the Hotel-Dieu 104 

Different missions 107 

Affair of St. Vincent with Mr. de Saint- Cyran 113 

Miracle worked on one of the Visitation 116 

Establishes his congregation at Richelieu 116 

Adventure of Jacques de la Fosse t 119 

Mission at St. Germain-au-Kaye in presence of the whole court 121 

BOOK THIRD. 

Horrible state of Lorraine under the Duke Charles IV 125 

St. Vincent undertakes to succor that province 126 

Procures a place of retreat for a community of Benedictine 

nuns 133 

Forms an association of gentlemen to relieve the necessities of 

the nobility of Lorraine 134 

Prodigious sums of money sent to Lorraine 136 

Effects of the divine protection in the one who carried it 137 

Prediction of St. Vincent relative to Mr. Arenthon 142 

Journey of Madame de Chantal to Paris 143 

Congregation of the Mission established at Rome 147 

Louis XIII dies in the arms of St. Vincent 151 

Vincent is admitted into the council established by the regent 

for ecclesiastical affairs 152 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. / 

Pag 
Services which he renders the episcopacy 154 

Refuses ten thousand francs 161 

Establishment of his congregation, at Marseilles, Sedan, &c.. 163 

Dangerous sickness of St. Vincent 165 

The Catholics of Ireland relieved by St. Vincent 167 

Conduct of the saint in Mr. Olier s affair 167 

Affair of St. Meer and its results 168 

Mission in Ireland 16<) 

The congregation established at Genoa 174 

Commencement of the affair of the foundlings 176 

The Ladies of Charity take charge of them 177 

During the troubles of the Fronde he proposes to the Queen to 

remove cardinal Mazarin 182 

The house of St. Lazarus pillaged 183 

He visits the houses of the congregation 184 

Runs the risk of his life in leaving Angers 185 

Is recalled to Paris and falls sick 187 

His conduct during the troubles of Picardy and Champaigne. . 191 
HU zeal for the interest of the king 198 

BOOK FOURTH. 

Beginning of the affair of Jansenism 206 

St. Vincent s opinion of the book of Jansenius 211 

Induces the bishops to ask the Pope to censure the book 211 

Drives the error from every place committed to his care 218 

Establishment of the hospital of the Name of Jesus 222 

General idea of his occupations 228 

Mission of Metz 232 

Sends Sisters of Charity to Calais, after the battle of Dunes. . . 233 
The house of St. Lazarus loses property which had cost it a 

great deal 238 

Sickness of St. Vincent 239 

Becomes worse every day , 242 



g TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 

His patience in his sufferings 243 

His death and obsequies 245 

BOOK FIFTH. 

Of his virtues, missions, and veneration 253 

Missions of Madagascar 2 

Missions of Barbary 2 

Missions of Corsica and Piedmont 306 

Missions of Ireland and Scotland 

History of the Devotion to St. Vincent 326 



LIFE 



ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



Book .first. 



FRANCE was, under Henry the third, in the most afflicting 
situation, when God who, even in his anger, is mindful of 
his mercies, gave to the world in a corner of the Barrens of 
Bordeaux a man, who, notwithstanding his humble condition, 
was one day to restore to the Church a portion of her ancient 
splendor, and to render signal service to the State. This child 
of benediction was born on the Tuesday after Easter, the 
twenty-fourth day of April 1576, in a small hamlet of the pa 
rish of Pouy, in the diocese of Acqs, towards the Pyrenees. 
His father was called William de Paul, and his mother, Ber- 
trande de Moras. Their fortune was a medium between ex 
treme necessity, and comfortable mediocrity. Piety, simplicity, 
and innocence of manners, were a substitute before God, for 
what they wanted in the eyes of men. Assiduous labor joined 
to a very frugal life, supplied the want of a more abundaut 
patrimony, and afforded them the means of relieving those 
who were poorer than themselves. 

God blessed their marriage with six children, two girls and 
four boys. Vincent, whose life we are writing, was the third; 
and in a family where every thing was turned to profit, he, 
like his brothers, was employed in the labors of the field. His 



10 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

occupation was that of the young David: like him, he was 
destined to guard the flock of his father, and we shall often 
have reason to remark that he never forgot the humility of his 
first employment. 

As soon as Vincent was capable of manifesting his disposi 
tions, he showed that the hand of God directed them to good. 
That which first discovered itself in him, was a great love for 
the poor. It might be said that compassion was born with him. 
His bread, even his clothing, were not his own, when some un 
fortunate being stood in need of them. It is particularly related 
of him, that having once laid up thirty sous, a considerable 
sum for him, and much more so at a time and in a country 
where money was very scarce, he gave it all to a poor person 
who appeared to him to be in great distress. There can be no 
doubt that this sacrifice was very agreeable to Him, who re 
wards a glass of cold water given in his name; and we may 
believe that the choice, which God made of him long after 
wards, to relieve an almost infinite number of unfortunate be 
ings, was the recompense. 

A good heart was not the only quality remarkable in young 
Vincent. The penetration and quickness of his mind soon 
showed themselves in spite of his want of education. His 
father, who, as well as others, was struck with this, resolved 
to afford him an opportunity for study. He was a little dis 
couraged at the idea of the expense; but the hope of being 
one day indemnified, strengthed his determination. He knew 
in the neighborhood a man of a situation in life similar to his 
own, who, having become prior, had considerably advanced 
his relations by means of the revenue of his benefice; he did 
not doubt for a moment that his son, already so zealous for 
those who suffered, would pursue the same course. He was 
much deceived. Vincent never set bounds to his charity: the 
sequel of his life is an incontestable proof of it; but he always be 
lieved it sacrilegious to make use of ecclesiastical property, to re 
move relations from a state in which God had placed them, and 
out of which he does not usually sanctify them. It was upon 
this principle, from which he never deviated, that when a cu 
rate of his country, some years afterwards, solicited him at 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 11 

Paris, to do something for his family, Vincent, after having 
made him acknowledge that his brothers could still live by the 
labor of their hands, showed him that this kind of charity 
could not draw down the blessing of God, either upon himself 
or upon them. He reminded him, that those of his relations 
whom the prior before spoken of had enriched with the pro 
perty of the sanctuary, after having squandered it all in a short 
time, had fallen into a more wretched state than that from 
which they had been relieved. "And it will always be so," 
continued he, "because there is no house solidly constructed, 
except that of which God is the architect." 

Vincent was about twelve years of age, when his father re 
solved to make him study. He was sent, as a boarder, to 
the Cordeliers of Acqs, who being intrusted with the educa 
tion of a number of young men formed them both to science 
and piety. They were surprised at the ardor, with which he 
encountered the first difficulties of grammar, as well as at the 
success with which the Lord was pleased to bless his labor. 
But they admired still more his piety, his wisdom, and the pu 
rity of his manners. On all occasions they spoke of him with 
that self-complacency, so natural to teachers, when they wit 
ness the fruits of the labor they have bestowed upon their 
scholars. In four years this holy young man became capable 
of teaching others. Mr. Commet, a celebrated lawyer of Acqs 
and judge of Pouy, was so struck with the testimony in his 
favor, that he intrusted the education of his two sons to Vin 
cent. This situation enabled him to pursue his studies, with 
out being a burden to his family. He prosecuted them for the 
space of five years. His modesty, his prudence, his maturity 
so far above his age, induced those who had an opportunity 
of observing him to conclude that a lamp whose light was 
already so bright, would be very useful in the house of the 
Lord. They urged him to embrace the ecclesiastical state, in 
order that he might consecrate himself more particularly to 
God. He finally consented, and on the twentieth of Decem 
ber 1596, received tonsure and minor orders. 

The engagement which he had made with God, obliging him 
to look upon him henceforth as his only inheritance, was not 



12 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL, 

for him, a vain ceremony in which the language of the tongue 
is contradicted by that of the heart. He looked upon the pro 
gress which he had hitherto made in learning and virtue, as 
a mere beginning. To advance more rapidly, he left his coun 
try, with the consent of his father, who made a new effort to 
second the designs of so dear a son, and commenced his course 
of theology. He studied some time at Saragossa. But as the 
differences of opinion which existed amongst the professors of 
that famous university, after having divided their minds, began 
to embitter their hearts, Vincent, who had a natural horror for 
all such disputes, in which charity loses much more than ia 
gained by truth, returned to France, and resumed his theologi 
cal studies at Toulouse. 

If his success was great, it was not without labor. Instead 
of allowing himself a little relaxation during the vacations, 
he used to retire to Buset, there to take charge of the edu 
cation of a number of respectable children. Their parents 
confided them with pleasure to a man, whose virtue and capa 
city were publicly acknowledged. In a short time the school 
became so flourishing, that it was soon composed of all the 
best and most distinguished youths of the province. Amongst 
others, Vincent had for his scholars two grand-nephews of the 
famous John de la Valette, who had reached the pinnacle of 
glory by defending the island and city of Malta with fifteen 
thousand men against the whole force of the Ottoman Em 
pire. The duke of Epernon, a near relation of these two 
young gentlemen, perceived something so wise and noble in 
the manner in which the new preceptor had trained them, that 
he conceived the greatest esteem for him. He did not confine 
himself to that; but as he was all powerful at court, he 
wished some years afterwards to procure a bishopric for that 
holy priest, whose reputation was then increasing every day. 
Vincent who desired, whatever might be the cost, to finish his 
course, and become well versed in theology, returned to Tou 
louse with his pupils. A teacher and a scholar at the same 
time, to fulfil all with justice, he went to bed late, rose very 
early, and abstained from all those diversions which indolence 
looks upon as a necessary relief. By this prudent manage- 



LITE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 13 

tnent, he was ready for every thins:, and he instructed others 
without ceasing to be instructed himself. He finished a seven 
years course of theology and received the degree of bachelor. 
Mr. de Sainte Marthe, in the list of the Abbes of Saint Leo 
nard de Chaulme, gives him the rank of doctor. Hitherto we 
have found no document which proves his claim to this title; 
but without having the dignity, he had all the merit of it: the 
esteem shown him by Mr. de Berulle, St. Francis of Sales, 
the great Conde, MM. de Lamoignon, in fact, by all the en 
lightened and illustrious men of the age, leaves no room folr 
doubt. 

Great as was the ardor winch our saint evinced for the 
study of theology, he did not give himself up to it, so far as 
to contract that spirit of langor, which offers to piety an injury 
which the most extensive science cannot repair. The desire 
which he had to learn, was always subordinate to his desire of 
sanctifying his soul. Hence, in order to unite himself more 
closely to God, he received the sub-deaconship at Tarbes, on 
the nineteenth of September 1598, and the deaconship three 
months afterwards. The priesthood frightened him on ac 
count of its responsibilities and its duties; he dared not ascend 
to it until a year after his bishop had given him permission. 
His father, who founded upon him his greatest hopes, had 
not even the consolation to see him a priest : God disposed 
of him more than a year before the ordination of his son. 
The latter consoled himself with the hope of soon being able 
to offer up for the repose of his soul, the adorable Victim 
which takes away the sins of the world. We are not able to 
name with certainty either the day or the place where he 
first offered up the august sacrifice. \Ve only know that he 
was so penetrated with the grandeur of that divine action, 
that not having the courage of celebrating in public, he chose, in 
order that he might be less troubled, a retired chapel, where he 
was alone with a priest to assist him according to custom, and 
a person to serve the mass. 

Scarcely had he become a priest, when he was judged capa 
ble of being a pastor; and although absent, he was appointed to 
the parish of Tith by the grand Vicars, who knew better than 
2 



14 T.IFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

any others, his zeal, his piety, and his talents. But a competi 
tor having disputed it with him, Vincent who knew that a 
servant of God should avoid contests, willingly sacrificed his 
right and pretensions. 

Some months after he had finished his course of theology, 
he was obliged to undertake a voyage, which might have been 
considered a great misfortune for him, did not the saints know 
how to find consolation in the execution of the most rigorous 
orders of divine Providence. The circumstances were these. 

A pious person of respectability, who knew how to ap 
preciate virtue, and had for a long time admired that 
of Vincent of Paul, made him her heir. As he found 
that in consequence of this inheritance, there were twelve or 
fifteen hundred livres coming to him from a man who had re 
tired to Marseilles, he went thither, and was satisfied with 
three hundred crowns. 

When he was on the point of returning by land to Toulouse, 
a gentleman of Languedoc invited him to go with him by sea. 
It was in the month of July. The weather was very favora 
ble for the voyage, and they calculated on arriving at Narbonne 
in a day. God had disposed things in a very different manner. 
The riches of Africa and Asia, which the merchants come to 
Beaucaire to exchange for those of Europe, generally attract a 
great number of corsairs from the coast of Barbary into the gulf 
of Lyons. Three Turkish brigantines attacked the vessel on 
which Vincent was, and became masters of it after a fight in 
which courage was forced to yield to numbers. The saint, who 
had received a wound from an arrow, which pained him long 
after, had the grief to see the pilot cut to pieces. His new 
masters chained their prisoners, and after having bound up their 
wounds carelessly, continued their piratical cruise for seven 
or eight days. At last, loaded wth booty, they steered for Tu 
nis, where they exposed their merchandize for sale: under this 
name, men are upon a par with beasts. Vincent was first pur 
chased by a fisherman; but as he soon perceived that the sea 
air was injurious to his slave, he sold him again a month after 
wards to an old chemist. The saint passed from one extremity 
to another. He was every day at sea with the fisherman: with 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 15 

the physician he was obliged to keep up the fire of ten or 
twelve furnaces. Our saint speaks of him as of a man of sur 
prising knowledge, and who possessed above all the important 
secret of curing the gravel and other similar maladies. The 
physician always treated his captive with the greatest hu 
manity. A hundred times he offered to share with him his 
property, and all his knowledge, on condition that he would 
renounce the Gospel, and embrace the law of Mahomet. 
But this worthy priest of Jesus Christ, preferred to wear his 
chains, rather than to be freed at such a price. He redoubled 
his prayers: he endeavored to redouble the tender devotion 
which he had from his infancy towards the Blessed Virgin ; 
and full of confidence in Him who brings back from the gates 
of death, those whom he has led thither, he did not believe 
that he should die in a foreign land. 

He had lived nearly a year in Tunis, when Achmet the 
first, hearing of the talents of his master, gave him an order 
to repair to Constantinople, to be there employed in his ser 
vice. The unfortunate physician, overwhelmed by the weight 
of his own reputation, which forced him to quit his country 
at an advanced age, died of grief upon the voyage. He left a 
nephew at Tunis ; and, as the slaves constitute a part of the 
property of their possessors, Vincent had him for his third 
master. But a report being spread abroad that the ambassador 
of the Most Christian King had obtained from the Grand 
Signer the liberty of all the French slaves, those of the Tunis- 
sians who first received the news, hastened to get rid of their 
captives. Vincent once more changed his patron, and Provi 
dence seemed to treat him with greater rigor than it had 
hitherto done. He fell into the hands of a renegade who 
was originally from Nice in Provence: this expresses in two 
words all that can be imagined most unfortunate. In general, 
the Mussulman does not like the Christians ; but the apostate de 
tests them, because he discovers in their fidelity to God, a per 
petual censure of his infamous desertion. 

This fourth master carried our saint into his tetnar, that is, 
a place which he cultivated as a farmer of the prince. Vin 
cent was there occupied in tilling the earth ; banished to that 



16 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

arid and desert spot, it would appear natural that he should 
have lost even the hope of ever recovering his liberty. But 
there is a God, who changes obstacles into means, and who, 
to break chains, oftentimes employs the very hand that forged 
them. 

The renegade had three wives. The second, who was a 
Turk by birth and religion, was the one who served as the 
instrument of divine mercy. She perceived something great 
to which she was not accustomed, in the modesty and pa 
tience of her slave. As she saw that this unalterable fund of 
peace and meekness could only spring from a principle supe 
rior to the strength of nature, she put a great number of 
questions to him concerning the law of the Christians, their 
customs, and their ceremonies. One day she commanded 
him to sing the praises of the God whom he adored. At this 
unexpected order, he remembered immediately those affecting 
words dictated by sorrow to the children of Israel, when they 
were captives ia Babylon, as he himself was in Barbary : 
" How shall we sing the Song of the Lord in a strange land?" 
This thought, and the tears that followed it, did not prevent his 
commencing the psalm : Super flumina Babylonis, and after 
wards the Salve, Regina. After some hymns of this descrip 
tion, by which the Mahometan was extremely affected, he 
spoke to her of the grandeur and excellence of the Christian 
Religion. 

The woman, returned to her house, surprised and delighted 
with what she had heard. Without giving herself much trou 
ble about the consequences, she laid open her heart to her hus 
band ; and after having related to him the conversation 
which she had had with Vincent of Paul, she told him plainly 
that he had been very wrong in quitting his religion; that from 
what had been told her of it, she found it extremely good ; and 
that the God of the Christians did not deserve to be abandoned. 
A discourse of this nature might naturally have displeased 
the apostate. But if we have it in our power to quit our 
first vocation, we cannot stifle the cries of conscience. The 
renegade filled with confusion made no reply. The next 
morning he opened himself to Vincent; he assured him that 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PACL. 17 

lie would seize upon the first opportunity to escape with 
him, and that he would endeavor to find one in a few 
days. These few days turned out to be ten months: but at 
length the moment chosen by Providence arrived. The mas 
ter and slave went on board a small skiff. The undertaking 
was a most hazardous one: a puff of wind would have been 
sufficient to overset the boat, and bury them in the deep: had 
they been discovered, they could not have avoided the infamous 
and cruel punishment which the Alcoran decrees against those 
who abandon it, or who are the cause of its being abandoned. 
All these dangers could not stop them. They placed their 
fate in the hands of God. They invoked Her to whom the 
Church has given the title of the Star of the Sea, and relied 
upon her protection. Their hope was not confounded ; every 
thing succeeded, and on the twenty-eighth of June 1GOG, they 
arrived at Aigues-Mortes, whence they proceeded to Avignon. 
The renegade was there publicly reconciled in the church 
of St. Peter, by the vice legate Joseph Ferren, arch bishop of 
Urbino. Montorio, his predecessor, who conceived a great es 
teem for Vincent, took him with him to Rome. But before 
entering upon the narration and consequences of this second 
voyage, I cannot avoid making known to the reader the manner 
in which we have become acquainted with the first. If the 
history of the captivity of Vincent of Paul is calculated to 
excite curiosity, the history, if I may use the expression, 
of the singular fact which made it known, is well calculated 
to give us a high opinion of the esteem which that great man 
had for humility, and the of astonishing manner in which he 
put it in practice. 

Before leaving Avignon for Pvome, the saint wrote to the 
brother of that Mr. Comrnet, judge of Pouy, who had loved 
him so tenderly, begging him to send his letters of ordination. 
As an absence, so long as his had been, had alarmed all his 
friends, he gave him a detail of his adventures, such as we 
have related them. His letter was found, more than fifty 
years afterwards, amongst other papers by a gentleman of 
Acqs, a nephew of Mr. de Saint Martin. This gentleman, 
who was acquainted with the strict intimacy between his 



13 LIFE OF 9T. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Uncle and our holy priest, placed it in his hands. Mr. de 
Saint Martin transmitted a faithful copy to his old friend, be 
ing well persuaded that according to the custom of all those 
who are advanced in age, he would grow young again in rea 
ding his early adventures. 

Although Mr. de Saint Martin had a high idea of the virtue of 
Vincent of Paul, he was not acquainted with all its heroism. 
It was now more than forty years, that this great servant 
of God found no consolation but in the contempt of himself, 
and in the rigorous observance of the most profound humility. 
Every thing that called to mind the labors he had undergone 
to promote the glory of God, was insupportable to him. As 
soon as he received the copy of his old letter, he threw it in 
the fire, and he soon afterwards wrote to Mr. de Saint Martin, 
to beg him to send him the original. That pious canon, who 
perceived the object of the request, was not in a hurry to com 
ply with it. Vincent reiterated his entreaties, and six months 
before his death lie made another effort, but so full of energy, 
so pressing, that it would have been difficult to elude it, or to 
help yielding to it, if God who seeks the glory of his saints 
in proportion to their efforts to conceal it, had not deranged 
his measures. "I conjure you," says the saint, "by the 
bowels of Jesus Christ, and by all the favors which it has 
pleased God to grant you, to do me that of sending me the 
miserable letter which makes mention of Turkey." 

The missionary, who wrote under Vincent of Paul, wisely 
judged that a letter which he so ardently desired, must contain 
something which redounded to his praise. On this account, 
he slipped a note into the letter, in which he begged Mr. de 
Saint Martin, to address the one which Vincent claimed, to 
some other person than the saint, if he would not have it ir 
retrievably lost. Mr. de Saint Martin, being convinced that we 
may disobey our friends, in order to manifest the graces which 
God has granted them, followed this advice exactly. He sent 
the letter which was so much desired to the superior of the 
seminary established at the college des Bons Enfans. With 
out this pious artifice, we should have known only in a con 
fused manner the captivity of Vincent of Paul and the glo- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 19 

rious triumph which broke his fetters. In the proces verbal 
of his beatification, only one witness was found who had 
heard him speak of his captivity; and Mr. Daulier, secretary 
of the king, who had known the history from other sources, 
deposed judicially, that he had purposely tried several times, 
to bring Vincent to that point, by speaking of Tunis and the 
Christians who were slaves in the regency, without ever being 
able to elicit a single word, which would tend to show that the 
country was known to him. 

But it is time to return to our saint, whom we have left at 
Rome. He did not there yield to curiosity in any thing; but 
he recompensi d himself by granting to piety every thing that 
could nourish it. lit: visited the churches and the catacombs. 
Thirty years afterwards he could not speak but with tender 
emotion, of the happiness which he enjoyed in walking upon 
a soil consecrated by the blood of an infinite number of 
martyrs. 

Sweet as were these laudable occupations to a heart of such 
tender piety, Vincent did not confine himself to them. As, 
.fter having fulfilled what he owed to religion and decorum, 
he had a great deal of time, he resumed his studies. The 
vice legate lodged him, received him at his table, and fur 
nished his support. He admired him more and more, he 
spoke in his praise, whenever an opportunity offered ; but this 
was the very cause of his losing him sooner than he would 
have wished. 

There were then at Rome several French ministers, who 
were charged near the person of Paul the fifth, with the af 
fairs of the king. Some of them, perhaps all, desired to see 
a man, of whom the vice legate spoke so advantageously. 
He appeared; he had different interviews with them; they 
were pleased with him, and thought they could confide 
in him. He was charged with an important commission, 
which required secrecy, prudence, and a man who, being well 
informed, could confer upon it with the king, as often as the 
prince might think proper. 

The saint arrived in France towards the beginning of the 
year 1609. He had the honor of an interview with Henry the 



20 LIFE OF .ST. VIM KHT Of ?AL"L. 

fourth, which lasted as long as the affair upon which he had 
been sent, required. That great prince, who was perfectly ac 
quainted with men, was very well satisfied with the new en 
voy, and there is no doubt but that, if he had been assiduous in 
paying his court, he would have been soon rewarded. But 
Vincent, although a stranger to the gifts of fortune, was pos 
sessed of the most noble sentiments; and if Louis the thirteenth 
had not prevented it by naming him to the abbey of St. Leon 
ard de Chaulme, he would have preferred to live poor in the 
hands of Providence, than to expose himself to the contagious 
air of the court, in order to obtain a rich and commodious 
situation. 

Whilst he waited for the manifestation of the designs of 
God in his regard, he fulfilled all the duties of Christian 
piety. He carefully visited the sick of the charity hospital ; 
he addressed moving exhortations to them; he waited upon 
them as his brethren with all possible attention. This charity, 
to which persons were not much accustomed at that time, 
served afterwards as a model to the celebrated Mr. Bernard, sur- 
named the Poor Priest, whose zeal and virtues have acquired 
him so beautiful and so just a reputation. 

One of the first acquaintances which Vincent of Paul 
formed at Paris, was that of Mr. de Berulle, who with great 
reason passed for a model of sacerdotal perfection. His ex 
perience in the direction of souls, his success in the conver 
sion of heretics, his aversion for every thing that wore the 
character of novelty, and above all, his tender love for Jesus 
Christ, had gained him the esteem of Caesar de Bus, of Fran 
cis de Sales, indeed, of all those who knew how to esteem vir 
tue. Our saint thought that an intimacy with such a man 
could not but be advantageous to himself. From the time of 
his first visit to him, he esteemed him as he deserved, and 
charity soon formed between those two virtuous priests, 
strict bonds which were never severed. They were nearly of 
the same age.* Their inclinations were the same, and they 

* Pierre de Berulle was born on the fourth or fourteenth of Feb 
ruary, 1575. He was made priest in 1539, cardinal by Urban VIII. 
in H>27, and died on the second of October, 1629. 



LIKE OF ST. VI.NCEN T OF PAUL. 21 

had no other object than the sanctification of their souls, and 
those of their neighbors. Each had already passed through 
the fire of tribulation: thus they were calculated to be a mu 
tual support Vincent was the first, who, after this precious 
intimacy, stood in need of consolation. He had not been a 
year in Paris, when his patience was put to a trial, capable 
of making him regret the chains he had worn in Barbary. 

He lodged in the same room with the Judge of Sore, a 
small place in the neighborhood of Pouy. The judge having 
gone out early one morning, forgot to shut a drawer in which 
he Dad placed his money. The saint, who was going to take 
medicine, had remained in his bed. The person who brought 
it to him, looking around for a tumbler, discovered the money, 
took it, and carried it away, preserving the greatest serenity : 
the sum amounted to four hundred crowns. 

The judge, on his return, being surprised at not finding his 
money, demanded it at once, and soon afterwards in an angry 
tone. Vincent, who had seen nothing of what had passed, 
answered that he had neither taken it, nor seen it taken. 
This was enough to increase the bad humor of his country 
man. His anger knew no bounds. The silence of the saint, 
his patience, were proofs in his eyes. He began by expelling 
him from his society; and this unworthy treatment was only 
the prelude to a vengeance more complete. lie decried him 
every where, even in the house of M. de Berulle, as a con 
summate villain. At a conjuncture so alllicting for a young 
stranger, especially for a priest who depends so much on his 
good name, Vincent never lost the peace of his heart. Calum 
ny, which in the judgment of the Holy Ghost disconcerts the 
wise man, nevered altered his tranquillity. His constant re 
ply was that He, who was one day to judge him, knew his 
innocence. During the course of this affair, which made a 
great noise, he preserved such a perfect equanimity, that 
good people who watched him closely, esteemed more than 
ever his virtue and his singular talent of possessing his soul 
in calm and patience. 

He who admired him most of all, although much later, 
was the very judge who had treated him so cruelly. The 



22 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FAtTL. 

thief, who as well as himself was from near Bordeaux, was 
there put in prison for some new crime. He knew the judge 
of Sore perfectly, and he was not ignorant that the money 
which had been taken belonged to that person. Urgefrby re 
morse of conscience, which usually speaks loudest in the 
time of affliction, he sent to beg that he would come to hun. 
He acknowledged himself guilty of the theft of which Vin 
cent of Paul had been accused, and promised full restitution. 
The magistrate then felt the unworlhiness of his conduct, and 
the liveliest horror for his hasty calumnies. To allay his trouble, 
he besought our saint, in a long letter, to send him his pardon, 
protesting that if he refused him, " he would come in person to 
Paris to throw himself at his feet, and beg it of him, with a 
rope about his neck." These are his own words, which I 
have thought it better to use. The holy priest spared him the 
expense and trouble of so humiliating a step. He had par 
doned him in his greatest excess : could he refuse to do so, 
when he saw .him give such positive proofs of sorrow and 
repentance? 

The good use which Vincent made of the accusation of the 
judge of Sore, did not prevent his perceiving that the society 
of seculars exposes a priest to a great number of inconveni 
ences. This induced him to seek a place of retreat, where 
he could labor more easily for his salvation, and prepare him 
self for promoting that of others. In the interval of which 
we have just spoken, his virtue met with a new occasion for 
displaying, in a most wonderful manner, the liveliness of his 
faith and"the ardor of his charity. To explain it the better, 
we must notice here certain facts which we had no occasion 
to mention before. 

When Vincent arrived in Paris, he took every possible mea 
sure to enable him lo live in obscurity. He substituted for 
his family name, which appeared to him too high sounding, 
that of his baptism, and it is almost the only one by which 
he was known. He passed for a poor scholar, who scarcely 
knew the elements of grammar, although his studies at Tou 
louse had been highly honorable to him. In fine, he did all 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 23 

he could to obscure his virtue, and he only spoke of him 
self as the last of men. 

But even the seculars who examined him closely, pierced 
through the cloud in which he endeavored to envelop him 
self. Of this number was a secretary of Queen Margaret, 
named du Fresne, a man of singular virtue and integrity. 
He soon conceived a great esteem for Vincent, and he gave 
such an advantageous account of him to the princess, that 
she caused him to be placed on the list of her household, in 
quality of her ordinary almoner. It was in this new employ 
ment that our saint furnished a proof of charity of which 
there are very few examples in history. 

Uueeo Margaret, who was fond of the conversation of the 
learned, had near her person an old doctor of theology, who 
had distinguished himself by his zeal and his labors against 
the heretics. His faith, which had been hitherto firm, had 
been shaken by degrees. His heart soon became exposed 
to temptations of infidelity- The name of Jesus Christ, so 
well calculated to reanimate his confidence, gave rise to im 
pressions of fury and blasphemy, which he could scarcely re 
press. So painful a situation I d him to despair. The unfortu 
nate theologian was more than once tempted to throw himself 
out of the window. Nature at last gave way. Trouble of mind 
produced corporal derangement. The more his strength di 
minished, the more violent the temptation became. The evil 
spirit assailed him witli more fury than ever, and he used every 
effort to inspire him with that implacable hatred which he 
himself bears to the Son of God. Vincent was afflicted at 
seeing his friend in this pitiable condition. He feared lest his 
lips should a , length open to blasphemy, and his heart to irre- 
ligion. To obtain the mercy of God, who punished so rigor 
ously the idleness, and perhaps also the self-complacency to 
which the doctor had yielded too much, he had recourse to 
prayer; he imitated in some degree the charity of our Saviour, 
who took upon himself our weaknesses to heal them, and 
he offered himself to the Lord as a victim. In order to satisfy 
Jie divine justice, he consented to bear himself either that 



24 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

species of trial, or any other punishment which God would 
be pleased to inflict. 

So earnest and fervent a prayer,, which so nearly resembled 
the desire ot St. Paul to be anathema for his brethren, was 
heard in its whole extent. The sick man was entirely de 
livered from his temptation. A profound peace succeeded 
the storm. The cloud which obscured his faith was dispersed. 
His tenderness for Jesus Christ was more lively than ever; 
and until the day of his death, he blessed God for having pro 
portioned the consolation to his past rigor. 

But the temptation of the theologian passed into the soul of 
Vincent of Paul, as rapidly as the leprosy of Naarnan attacked 
Giezi. The first impressions of an evil, which is never felt 
so much as when we are personally assailed by it, appeared to 
astonish him. The new Job seemed to be a prey to all the 
furies of the devil: but far from losing courage, he knew 
how to make them useful. For that purpose, he made it a 
law to act always in opposition to what was suggested to him 
by the seducer. During four years that he had to groan under 
the weight of this severe trial, he paid with new ardor to the 
Son of God all the honor that he could render him ; and in 
the hospitals, he served him in the person of the poor, who 
are his members, with a zealous fervor, of which the most 
tranquil faith is scarcely capable. At last God restored him 
to peace, and it was a new effort of charity, that merited it 
for him. One day when he was reflecting upon the vio 
lence of the evil and the means of arresting it, he took a 
firm and inviolable resolution to consecrate all his life to the 
service of the afflicted. Scarcely had he taken this great reso- 
solution, when the temptation vanished; and his heart tasted a 
sweet and perfect liberty. He even received the gift of calm 
ing those who were tried, as he himself had been. A vir 
tuous priest who knew it by experience, gives testimony of 
it. The sequel of his history does not permit us to doubt it. 

To augment the favors with which God recompensed 
his patience and fidelity, Vincent determined on leading a 
more retired life, and joining Mr. de Berulle. The latter was 



l.tFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 25 

at that time entirely occupied in establishing his congregation, 
and in assembling chosen ministers, zealous for the glory of 
the God Man, who being the Eternal Priest, according to the 
order of Melchisedech, is the primitive source of the priest 
hood of the new law. This wise and virtuous director, to 
whom our saint laid open all the avenues of his soul, per 
ceived at once that he was called to something great: he even 
predicted that God would make use of him, to form a new 
company of priests, who would cultivate the vineyard of the 
Lord with great fruit and benediction. 

Some time afterwards, he gave him charge, in spite of his 
repugnance, of the parish of Clichy, a village situated a league 
from the capital. Vincent soon proved how well calculated 
he was for that duty. Sermons, catechism, assiduity in the 
tribunal of penance, were his ordinary occupations. He was 
to be seen visiting the sick, consoling the afflicted, relieving 
the poor, restoring the peace of families, strengthening the 
weak, making himself all to all, to gain all to Jesus Christ. 

The most ellicacious means, and that which gave the great 
est weight to his discourses, was his good example. But as 
extreme regularity has in it something revolting, he tempered 
it by attentions of mildness and affability. lie painted virtue 
in colors so beautiful, that it appeared to be full of attractions, 
and he applied to the crosses with which the road to heaven is 
strewed, all the unction which can mitigate their asperity. 
Such prudent conduct conciliated all minds and hearts. The 
poor, who composed nearly his entire flock, loved him as their 
father ; and the citizens of Paris who had country-seats in his 
parish, respected him as a saint. The neighboring curates con 
ceived the greatest esteem for him. They consulted him in 
their doubts, and took a pleasure in learning from him the 
manner of performing their functions well. In general, it was 
enough to see him, to form the highest idea of him ; and a doc 
tor, who in his time preached at Clichy, repeated more than 
once that his parishioners universally lived like angels. On 
such occasions the eulogium of the flock is always that of 
the vigilance of the pastor and of his labors. 

When he saw his people docile to his regulations, he 
3 



2G LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

formed a design, the execution of which must be very diffi 
cult. His church was falling to ruins: it was without or 
naments ; and his parishioners who were not rich, could not, 
without great inconvenience, contribute to repairs which 
would be very expensive. Vincent himself was poor, and he 
could not be otherwise, for he was in the habit of giving 
all he had to those who were in indigence. These obstacles 
did not stop him; he had his church entirely rebuilt; he sup 
plied it with furniture and ornaments, so that the offices could 
be performed in it with that decency, which contributes so 
much to the dignity of worship and to the edification of the 
people. And what is most singular, none of the expense fell 
upon the parishioners. There was then in Paris a number of 
virtuous men, who employed themselves in works of piety ; 
and it gave them pleasure to second the good intentions of a 
man, who sought nothing but the greatest glory of God. 

To increase it more and more, he established the confrater 
nity of the Rosary, being well persuaded that the honor ren 
dered to the Mother of God, cannot but be very agreeable to 
her Son. Aftenvards, he induced his successor to educate 
several young clergymen, who, being formed early to the 
functions of their state, might perform the ceremonies of the 
church in a manner worthy of Him who is there adored. He 
himself chose in Paris and elsewhere, those whom he judged 
most likely to succeed. Thus, although he was sooner obliged 
than he expected, to quit people so dear to him, he continued 
to fulfil in their regard the duties of a tender and disinterested 
pastor. We shall now give an account of the motives which 
obliged him to separate from his flock. 

Although piety was rare enough at court during the mi 
nority of Louis the thirteenth, there were nevertheless persons 
to be found there, whose regularity might serve as a model in 
happier times. We must place in this number Philip Em 
manuel de Gondi, count of Joigni, general of the gallies of 
France. This nobleman had married Franp oise Marguerite de 
Silly, eldest daughter of the count de la Rochepot, governor of 
Anjou. She was one of the most accomplished ladies of the 
age ; pious, compassionate, generous, she had no other desire 



MFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 27 

than that of honoring God, and causing him to be honored by 
all those whom Providence had committed to her care. But 
as nothing interests a truly Christian mother more than the 
education of her children, Madame de Gondi made it a prin 
cipal point with her. That she might not be deceived in so 
essential and decisive a choice, she begged Mr. de Berulle to 
give her one of his congregation, who would be able to form 
to piety and science three of her children, who, more than any 
one else, stood in need of both, because they were destined by 
their birth to possess the first dignities in church and state, 
which in fact, two of them attained. As to the third, we know 
only enough of him, to regret him. Scarcely had he reached 
the age of ten or twelve years, when God delivered him 
from the corruption of the world, by bestowing upon him a 
more happy portion in heaven, than he could have found 
upon earth. 

Mr. de Berulle, instead of granting one of his priests, cast 
his eyes upon Vincent of Paul, and induced him to enter the 
hou-<e of Gondi, at least upon trial. The saint, who sought 
nothing but obedience, sacrificed to the desire of his director 
his taste for the poor, and his repugnance to mixing with the 
great ones of the world. At the end of 1613, he commenced 
the education of the young Gondis. 

To sanctify himself in this new office, he proposed to him 
self to honor Jesus Christ in the person of Mr. de Gondi, the 
Blessed Virgin in that of his virtuous wife, and the disciples 
of our Saviour in those of the officers and inferior domestics. 
He candidly acknowledged that this manner of acting, which 
appears extremely simple, was of great service to him; and 
that, seeing God alone under different aspects in all the persons 
with whom he was habitually engaged, this obliged him to 
do nothing before men, which he would not have done before 
the Son of God, had he had the happiness of conversing with 
him in the days of his mortal life. 

Although a house, like that of the general of the gallies, 
in which there was a great number of persons, naturally 
abounded in temptations to dissipation, the saint lived partly 
_ . if he had been in the deserts of the Thebaide. He took 



28 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

great care to meddle with nothing except what concerned the 
education of his pupils. His maxim was, that persons do 
not hold out against the dangers with which the houses of the 
great are filled, unless they prepare to resist them by si 
lence and reccollection. Yet he sacrificed without hesitation 
the delights of his retreat to the necessity of his neighbor. 
He established peace among the domestics; he visited them 
when they were sick, and after having consoled them, per 
formed the meanest offices for them. Some days before 
every feast, he assembled them and instructed them in the 
mysteries which the Church was to celebrate. He taught 
them how to sanctify those precious days, which, through 
a misfortune we cannot sufficiently deplore, are generally 
for masters as well as for those who serve them, days of 
libertinism, or at least of idleness. He followed tihe same 
plan in the country; but he there gave his zeal a greater 
range. When the general of tke gallies took him with his 
family to his possessions of Joigny, Montmirel and Vilfepreux, 
he gave all the time he had to spare, to the instruction of 
the villagers, who generally stood in great need of it. He 
preached and taught catechism, he administered the sacra 
ments, and particularly that of penance : in a word, he did 
for them every thing that the most active pastor could do 
for his flock. It may easily be supposed that a man so zeabus 
for the salvation of all those who belonged to the house of 
Gondi, did not neglect those who were at the head of it. He 
did not suffer any occasion to escape him, for keeping up and 
animating the great inclination which they had for virtue. 
His respect for them was not mingled with that base and timid 
complaisance, which causes some to dissemble an evil, which 
firmness tempered by proper management, is able to arrest. 
We will mention an example which is glorious for him. Mr. 
de Gondi received, or imagined he had received a great affront 
from a nobleman of the court. His virtue and delicacy of 
conscience were not proof against a temptation so fatal to 
many others. The glory of his house, the recollection of the 
invincible courage of the Marshal de Retz his father, the 
high rank which he himself held in the kingdom; all these 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 29 

motives presented themselves to his imagination, and deter 
mined him to wash out, in the blood of his enemy, the out 
rage which he thought he had received. Duels, although re 
cently prohibited anew by Henry the fourth, under penalty of 
treason, were then so common, as scarcely to be a matter of 
scruple. We would be almost tempted to believe that some per 
sons looked upon them as acts of virtue. They went commonly 
to the church, before engaging in them; and seriously recom 
mended to God an affair, the thought of which is an abomi 
nable crime in his eyes. 

Mr. de Gondi followed that plan : he heard mass with all 
the devotion of a man resolved to fight immediately afterwards. 
He even remained in the chapel lunger than usual. Vincent 
of Paul took advantage of this moment. "Suffer me, sir," 
said he to the general, at the same time throwing himself at 
his feet, "suffer me to say one word to you in all humility. 
1 know from a good source that you are going to fight a duel. 
But I declare to you in the name of my Saviour, whom you 
have just adored, that if you do not relinquish that wicked de 
sign, he will exercise his justice upon you and upon all your 
posterity." After these words, to which the fire of charity 
gave greater weight, Vincent withdrew like a man over 
whelmed at once with grief and horror ; well resolved how 
ever to take other steps, if what he had done should not 
prove sufficient. But nothing further was necessary. Con 
science spoke, and Mr. de Gondi surrendered his revenge to 
him who has reserved to himself the right of exercising it. 

If this action was very honorable to our saint, the whole of 
his conduct was no less so. His regularity, his modesty, his 
tact in banishing even from table useless conversations, and 
substituting, without any affectation, those which were edify 
ing; in a word, his virtues, gained him every h^art. There 
was but one opinion with regard to him in the whole family, 
and never was the almoner of a great lord more universally 
respected. 

Madame de Gondi knew his value more than any person ; 
and he had scarcely been a year in her house, when she re 
solved to have him for her director. As the perfect knowledge 



30 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

which she already had of his humility, enabled her to judge 
that he would discover a thousand reasons for declining the 
charge, she addressed herself to Mr. de Berulle, and begged 
him to act for her. This was the surest means to overcome 
all obstacles: so that, although the choice much afflicted the 
holy priest, he resisted no longer, after resistance had been 
forbidden. 

Virtuous as this lady was at the time when she placed 
herself under the direction of Vincent of Paul, it was soon 
evident how much a man full of the spirit of God and who 
seeks nothing but his glory, can do in the guidance of souls. 
Madame de Gondi applied herself with new ardor to the prac 
tice of the sublimest virtues. Besides the great alms which she 
distributed, she carefully visited the sick, and thought it an 
honor to wait on them. She employed no officers on her do 
mains, but such as were of acknowledged probity. She set 
tled the disputes of her vassals amicably, as much as was 
possible. In fine, she spared neither expense nor trouble, in 
order to cause God to be honored in every place depending 
on her. Mr. de Gondi was associated in all her good works, but 
his duties, calling him sometimes to the court, and sometimes 
to the extremity of the kingdom, Vincent often took his place 
in a great number of holy projects. He was the soul, the 
counsellor of his virtuous penitent. He labored in his sphere, 
whilst she was occupied in hers. One would have sup 
posed that he had the talent of multiplying himself, so oppor 
tunely was he found in all the places, where he was personally 
required. 

One day, after his recovery from a painful sickness, he 
went with Madame de Gondi to the chateau of Folleville, 
when some persons came to intreat him to go to Gannes, a 
small village about two leagues off. It was to hear the con 
fession of a countryman, who was dangerously ill, and who 
had said that he would die contented, if he could have the ad 
vantage of unbosoming himself to our holy Priest. Vincent 
did not delay a moment. The neighbors of the dying man, 
gave him a very good character. God, who sees the heart, 
judged very differently. The unfortunate man had his cou- 



L1FL OF ST. VINCENT OT PAUL. 31 

science burdened with several mortal sins, which false shame 
had always prevented him from making known. Whilst the 
saint was with him, the thought struck him to induce the 
man to make a general confession. This thought came from 
God. The sick man, encouraged by the mildness with which 
his new director treated him, made an effort, and at last de 
clared those secret crimes, which he had never had the strength 
to discover to any one. This candor, so necessary for a man 
who was on the point of falling into the hands of the Sove 
reign Judge, was followed by inexpressible consolation. The 
penitent found himself relieved from an enormous weight, 
which had oppressed him for many years. But the most re 
markable thing was, that he went from one extreme to the 
other: and during three days that he still lived, he several 
times made a kind of public confession of those disorders, 
which he had so long suppressed, even in the tribunal of pe 
nance. The countess of Joigni having gone to visit him ac 
cording to her custom: "Ah! madam," he exclaimed, as soon 
as he perceived her, "I should have been damned, if I had 
not made a general confession, on account of the many griev 
ous sins which I had not dared to confess." 

This painful acknowledgment edified those who witnessed 
it; but the countess, who, with regard to the affairs of salva 
tion, was possessed of light far superior to that of the multi 
tude, was greatly alarmed. "What is this, sir?" she said to 
Vincent of Paul. " What have we heard ? How much is it 
to be feared that this may be the case with many of these poor 
people! Ah! if this man, who passed for a good man, was 
in a state of damnation, what must it be with others who live 
so badly? Ah! sir, how many souls are lost! Where is the 
remedy for this?" 

In consequence of these reflections, she begged of our 
saint to deliver a discourse to the people of Folleville, on the 
utility of general confessions. He did so on the twenty-fifth 
of January 1017, the day on which the Church honors the 
conversion of St. Paul; and God gave such power to his 
words, that every one hastened to examine his conscience in 
the bitterness of his heart. After having instructed them solidly, 



32 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Vincent set himself about hearing their confessions ; but the 
crowd was so great, that he was obliged to obtain aid from 
Amiens. The zeal of two other priests who joined him, had 
enough to occupy it. The harvest was so abundant, that 
these three laborers, who wished to reap the whole, had 
scarcely a moment to themselves. As soon as they had fin 
ished at Folleville, they commenced in the other villages of 
the same canton. The concourse was similar, and God be 
stowed the most abundant benediction upon their labors. 

This mission of Folleville, was the first that Vincent of 
Paul made. Every year on the twenty-fifth of January, he 
celebrated it with sentiments of the most lively gratitude, and 
he returned to God his humble thanksgiving, that the day of 
the conversion of St. Paul was that on which his congregation 
had been in a manner conceived. Madame de Gondi, charmed 
with this happy essay and with the immense fruits to which 
it gave rise, proposed to herself from that time, to found mis 
sions for all her possessions. We shall see hereafter how this 
design was put in execution. 

The joy which that pious lady experienced at the sight of 
the great good, which our Saint had just effected in a portion 
of her domains, was soon afterwards troubled by one of the 
severest trials she had ever experienced ; and that rigorous 
trial came from the man, who most honored her in the world, 
I mean from Vincent of Paul himself. 

Although that worthy priest had obtained the good will of 
the whole house of Gondi, as soon as he was known; yet his 
virtue, which shone more brightly every day, the visible bene 
diction, which God showered upon the most ungrateful soil, from 
the time he undertook to cultivate it; in a word, his charity, 
his labors, his success, made so great an impression upon 
those with whom he lived, that he was unanimously looked 
upon as the tutelar angel of the family. Although precau 
tions were taken not to alarm his modesty, he was treated 
with such marked distinction, that even strangers immediately 
knew the opinion that all had of him. These sentiments, which 
would have flattered a man less solidly virtuous, were torments 
for him. He feared lest the rock of vain glory would occa- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 33 

sion the same shipwreck to him, which it had occasioned to 
so many others, who appeared to have arrived at the highest 
pitch of virtue. The example of a great number of saints, 
who in conjunctures less perilous, helieved it their duty to re 
treat, presented itself forcibly to his mind, and he resolved to 
imitate them. 

There was still another reason which determined him. God 
had a long time tried Madame de Gondi by interior pains, so 
violent and fatiguing, that she was often reduced to the 
greatest extremities. Vincent, who united a correct judg 
ment to much experience, calmed her uneasiness; and al 
though from time to time her trials revived, she had the conso 
lation of being near a confidential man, who understood her 
even before she spoke. The holy priest performed with joy 
these duties of charity, which he would not have refused to the 
lowest servant; but he could not suffer that Madame de Gondi 
should look upon him as necessary to her. The attention 
which she showed to a miserable being (for this was the name 
he gave himself), afflicted him sensibly. Still it increased 
every day. The lady bore his absence with difficulty ; and her 
alarmed imagination prompted her often to ask herself what 
would become of her, if she had the misfortune of being with 
out him, when God would think proper to call her to himself. 
Vincent looked upon this excess of alarm as an imperfec 
tion, and he endeavored to eradicate it from a soul which was 
so dear to him. In order to succeed in it, he obliged her to ad 
dress herself sometimes to another confessor, and above all to 
a Franciscan friar, with whose wisdom he was acquainted 
He forced her to acknowledge, that she had been satisfied with 
him; and he took advantage of this trial to convince her that 
God would guide her as well by the ministry of another as 
by his, if she knew how to place confidence in his infinite 
goodness. 

But neither her past experience, nor the reasons furnished 
by the saint, could induce that virtuous lady to give up her 
first impressions ; and Vincent, who could not bear that any one 
Rho-ald have the least attachment to his particular guidance 
more and more confirmed in his design of withdrawing 



34 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

As he had gone to the house of Madame de Gondi, only at 
ihe persuasion of Father de Berulle, he was unwilling to leave 
her without informing him of it. But he did not enter into a 
detail of the motives by which he was actuated. lie contented 
himself with saying that he ftlt himself interiorly urged to 
give himself up entirely in some distant province, to the ins uuc- 
tion and service of the poor country people Father de Berulle, 
who knew how upright the saint >vas towards God, concluded 
that so prudent a man would not quit his post but for just rea 
sons: hence he did not oppose this change, which would other 
wise have afflicted him. Seeing then that Vincent s zeal had 
no determined object, he proposed to him to go and labor at 
Cbatillon-les-Dombes. He assured him that he would there 
find employment enough, and he was not deceived. For more 
than a century, that town, surrendered to mercenaries who 
only came thither to collect the revenue, had not had, properly 
speaking, either curate or pastor. 

Vincent accepted this charge; and having left Paris under 
pretext of a small journey, ..e took the road to Lyons. A 
priest of the oratory gave him letters of reccommendation for 
the Sieur Beynier, who, although a calvinist, furnished him 
with lodging for some time, because the presbytery was almost 
in ruins. Beynier received a hundred fold the fruit of his 
charitable care, as we shall see hereafter. 

Some time after his arrival at Chatillon, the saint gave no 
tice of it to the general of the gallies, who was then in Pro 
vence, and begged of him to acquiesce in his retreat. He en 
deavored to persuade him that he had not the talents necessary 
to educate his children, and he acknowledged that he had left 
his house without notifying Madame de Gondi of his intention 
to return no more. 

The general, who loved virtue, and who calculated on 
making new progress in it under the auspices of Vincent, was 
very much afflicted at his retreat, or rather he was inconsola 
ble; and it was in a style of the greatest grief that he wrote to 
Madame de Gondi, begging her to employ every means, to in 
duce him to return to his house. 

It was oa the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, that the 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 35 

countess received the letter. She was as much struck by it, 
as is the traveller by a clap of thunder when he least expects 
it. She shed a torrent of tears, and, for a considerable time, 
she neither ate nor slept; but virtue had a great share in the 
bitterness of her heart, and during this alTair, she acted as a 
truly Christian woman. If she did not neglect the means sug 
gested by human prudence, those which religion furnishes 
had the preference, and it was by these that she commenced. 
She prayed with the utmost fervor, and induced every pious 
person whom she knew, to do the same. She saw Father 
de Berulle several times: she opened her heart to him and 
made known to him the excess of her affliction. Her tears, 
aided by solid reasons, but reasons always in perfect submis 
sion to the will of God, had an effect upon this great servant 
of God. He assured her, that she could, without wounding 
her conscience, do every thing in her power to effect the re 
turn of Vincent to her house; he even gave her hopes that 
he would unite with her in inducing him to do so. 

Upon these principles, the countess wrote several letters to 
our saint, which are so many proofs of her piety and of the 
uprightness of her intentions. " I know," said she, and these 
words show the extent of her virtue, "I know that a life like 
mine, which only serves to offend God, does not deserve to be 
taken care of: but my soul should at least be assisted at death." 
Motives so pressing, entreaties so earnest, would appear suf 
ficient to prevail with Vincent of Paul; but he was not one oi 
those men, who are imposed upon by the appearance of good. 
The first thing he did, after having received the letter of Ma 
dame de Gondi, was to raise his mind to God, and make a 
sacrifice to him of all tlie feelings in which human respect 
might have a share. He weighed a second time the reasons 
for and against in the balance of the sanctuary; and as after 
a new examination, he saw no reason to change his ideas, he 
wrote an answer to the lady, in which he omitted nothing 
that could induce her to submit to the orders of God and to 
enter into all the views of his infinite wisdom. 

This answer grieved the pious countess, but did not dis 
hearten her: she did not discontinue making every effort ima- 



36 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ginable to induce him to alter his mind. A quantity of letters 
went every day from Paris and the neighboring places to Cha- 
tillon. A great number are found from doctors, religious, 
persons of distinguished birth, from Mr. de Gondi, from 
the cardinal de Iletz, bishop of Paris, his brother; without 
speaking of those of the principal officers of the house 
hold, who had known Vincent too well not to regret him. 
Father de Berulle also wrote as he had promised the countess. 
But he did it in a manner conformable to the exalted wisdom and 
eminent virtue by which he was distinguished. He contented 
himself with making known to his friend the excessive desire 
which Mr. de Gondi had of his return, and the terrible blow 
which his absence had inflicted upon the countess. He thought 
however he could not do better, than to constitute him judge 
in his own cause, and to leave to his prudence the care of ex 
amining whether the will of God was sufficiently known to 
him. These new efforts were not more successful than those 
hitherto employed. The countess knew not what to do, when 
she thought of a negotiation which proved effectual. We shall 
speak of it in the course of this history ; it is now time to detail 
a portion of the good which Vincent effected at Chatillon. 
This recital, although abridged, will show beyond doubt, that 
it was a special Providence which led him to Bresse, and that 
his presence was more necessary there than any where else. 

The idea which had been given him of that place, could 
not be more correct. God forbid that we should exaggerate 
evil, for the purpose of honoring him whom God employed to 
arrest its course. On the contrary, we will diminish it, and 
give here but a very moderate extract of the proces-verbal 
made at Chatillon and signed by the principal inhabitants 
of the place. It is from them we learn the pitiable state 
in which that city was, when Vincent arrived. Every one 
gave scandal in his way. Many families, and particularly the 
most considerable ones, had been infected with the principles 
of Geneva. Those who retained their faith, dishonored it 
by the corruption of their morals. Six aged Ecclesiastics, 
who were all the clergy of Chatillon, instead of opposing the 
torrent of disorder, rendered it more rapid and contagious 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 37 

by their bad example. This was all the resource of two 
thousand inhabitants; for there was, at that time, no reli 
gious community at Chatillon. 

As soon as Vincent arrived there, he applied himself care 
fully to know the state of his flock. What he discovered 
both by his own observation and the information of pious per 
sons, terrified him. He concluded at once that he could effect 
nothing solid, unless he was powerfully seconded. With that 
view he went to Lyons to seek aid. A doctor of the name 
of Louis Girard, whose merit and virtue were known in 
Bresse, was willing to become his associate. They both la 
bored from the beginning of the month of August 1017 with 
indefatigable zeal, and that happy concert, without which the 
best laborers can never succeed. Vincent followed at Chatillon, 
the method which had succeeded so well at Clichy. He com 
menced by putting in order the house of the person with 
whom he lived, as he would have done his own. They 
rose at five o clock. They afterwards made half an hours 
meditation. The office and the holy Mass were said at an ap 
pointed time. The pious priests themselves put their chambers 
in order. There were neither girls nor women to wait in 
the house. Vincent had made this regulation with his host. 

The new pastor visited regularly twice a day a portion of 
his flock. He gave the rest of his time to study and the con 
fessional. He had the divine office celebrated with all possible 
decency. He banished dancing and the scandalous excesses 
which dishonored the feasts; and in order to augment a little 
the revenue of his church, he founded two masses in perpe 
tuity ; one for the day of St. Vincent, the other for that of St. 
Paul. 

As the bad example of one ecclesiastic often does more 
harm than the edifying conduct of many others does 
good, Vincent neglected nothing to reform the priests of his 
parish. He prevailed on them to abandon entirely all 
public, amusements. After having retrenched abuses, he 
endeavored to establish the reign of order in the very place 
where confusion had so long existed. He engaged all his 
priests to live in community, and to give more time to piety 



38 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

and labor, than they formerly gave to idleness and iblly. He 
managed all minds and hearts with such po\yer, address, and 
skill, that every thing succeeded. The whole town was sur 
prised and edified at so prompt and perfect a revolution ; and 
the wise concluded that a man to whom the reform of a clergy 
like his had cost so little, would be fortunate enough to gain 
his whole parish to God. 

The event verified the conjecture. After the arrangement of 
which we have spoken, Vincent began to labor for the instruc 
tion of the people and the conversion of sinners. He spoke 
in the pulpit with more strength and unction than ever, and 
in his discourses which were full of fire, he developed all 
that the scripture furnishes best calculated to give rise to a 
fear of the judgment of God, and regret for having offended 
him. 

In order to sustain great truths by great examples, he as 
siduously visited the sick, consoled the poor, made himself poor 
in order to relieve them. He communicated to others, and 
even to children, the sentiments of zeal and affection which he 
had, from his most tender youth, for the suffering members 
of Jesus Christ. His exterior inspired virtue; he was dressed 
very simply, wearing the cassock, and the hair short. He 
was perfectly ignorant of all those profane customs which dis 
orderly ecclesiastics called fashions, and the holy canons 
worldly manners. This is the testimony which the baron de 
Chastenai gives of him; a certain proof that seculars con 
sider as important, many things which ecclesiastics too easily 
look upon as trifles. 

God blessed so many and so wise preparations with 
a success that exceeded the most nattering hopes. Priests, 
people, inveterate sinners, all entered upon the good way, and 
four months had not elapsed, when Chatillon was no longer 
the same. 

Amongst the conversions which God operated by the minis 
try of his servant, the most remarkable was that of two young 
ladies of condition, who, filled with the spirit of the world, had 
hitherto made a bad use of the attractions of their sex and 
of the advantages of fortune. At the first discourse which 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 39 

Vincent delivered in public, they conceived an exalted idea of 
his talents. His vehement style made an impression upon 
them, and they prepared to pay him a visit. The saint, who 
perceived the trouble of conscience, to which he had given 
rise, spoke to them with so much force and unction, that they 
took their determination upon the spot; and without troubling 
themselves about what the world would say of it, they formed 
the resolution to bid an eternal adieu to its amusements, and to 
consecrate themselves without reserve to Jesus Christ, and to 
the poor who are his members. They undertook and executed 
it with a facility at which they were themselves surprised: and 
their zeal rendered them worthy to be at the head of that pious 
association which the saint established some time after in favor 
of the sick, and which under the name of the Confraternity 
of Charity, served afterwards for a model to a great numberof 
others, as we shall see. 

The removal of Vincent, whom those generous ladies 
lost sooner than they expected, did not diminish their primitive 
fervor. It was strikingly visible in a famine which occurred, 
and a short time afterwards, in another dreadful scourge, 
the pestilence, which laid waste Chutillon. The trouble and 
alarm of the public took away nothing of the presence of 
mind, so necessary, yet so rare, on such occasions. Without 
wishing to tempt God, they put all their confidence in him. 
They had cabins erected near the city, and there they lodged. 
It was from thence, as from a salutary and abundant source, 
that llowed nourishment for the poor, and remedies for those 
whom the contagion had attacked. Bresse was moved at the 
spectacle exhibited by two persons, who were so penitent after 
having been so worldly; and the people could hardly refrain 
from tears, when they saw them passing whole days and 
nights in the cottages, where death was seen in its most terri 
fic form. 

The con version of these two ladies contributed greatly to the 
credit of the holy priest, throughout the country ; but there 
was none better calculated to honor his labors, than that of the 
count de Rougemont. That nobleman, who had passed all 
his life at court, had adopted its maxims, and particularly that 



40 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OK PAUL. 

mania of always being ready to draw his sword, either to re 
venge those of his friends who asked his aid, or to terminate his 
personal disputes. He had made himself the terror of the coun 
try, and every one feared him as a demon. The reputation of 
Vincent of Paul being spread throughout all Bresse, the count 
desired to be acquainted with a man, of whom he had heard 
such extraordinary things. He paid him several visits, and 
in conversation he laid himself open without difficulty on the 
subject of excesses of which no one was ignorant. The 
words of the servant of God were for him that two edged 
sword of which the scripture speaks. That man, who had 
caused so many tears to flow, soon began himself to shed tears. 
He was terrified at the state of his conscience ; and to calm it 
as soon as possible, he yielded himself up entirely to the gui 
dance of the holy priest. His return to God, was as perfect 
as it was rapid, and Vincent experienced more difficulty in 
moderating his fervor, than directors generally have in excitin< 
those who are deprived of it. 

He began by selling his property of Rougemont; and of 
more than thirty thousand crowns which he received for it, 
there was not a portion that was not employed, either in 
founding pious monasteries, or in relieving those who were in 
indigence. The chateau of Chandes, his usual residence, was 
a common resort for the religious, and a kind of hospital for 
the poor. Sick or well, they were there treated with all possi 
ble attention. There was none of them on his lands, whom 
he did not go to visit and serve personally; and when he was 
obliged to be absent, which was very seldom, he caused them 
to be visited and waited upon by his domestics. 

He had such an exalted idea of voluntary poverty, that, al 
though he possessed his property, less as a master than as an 
economist whose duty it was to make it profitable for the 
poor, he desired to renounce it entirely. Vincent had occa 
sion for all his authority to prevent him from taking that step, 
and the count stood in need of all his submission, to yield 
to his advice. With a view of replacing without interrup 
tion one good work by another, he obtained from the arch 
bishop of Lyons, the permission to keep the blessed Sacrament 

\?( 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 41 

in his chapel, that he might more frequently animate his faith 
and his charity. There it was, that prostrate at the feet of his 
judge, he wept with tears of blood the loss of so many souls, 
which the love of false glory had caused him to precipitate 
into the abyss. He gave regularly three hours a day, and 
sometimes four, to meditation. He made it always on his 
knees, with his head uncovered, without any support, and 
most frequently on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, his 
God and his Saviour. 

Vincent, from whom he concealed nothing, having one day 
gone to pay him a visit, the count declared to him that in all 
his exercises of piety, he had no other object than a perfect 
detachment from creatures. On that occasion, he told him, 
that travelling one day, and occupying himself with God 
along the road, he began to examine with new attention, 
whether since the time he had endeavored to renounce worldly 
affections, there was not still some one which was not ba 
nished from his heart. He ran over, in his mind, his affairs, 
his connections, and that infinite crowd of amusements, which 
captivate a man without his scarcely perceiving it. During 
this examination, which occupied him a long time, he cast his 
eyes upon his sword. He asked himself why he still carried it. 
His agitated mind supplied him with reasons for and against it. 
He first said to himself that he would be lost should he be 
attacked without having it; but he also thought that the facility 
of using it, might be fatal to him. At this idea he got off his 
horse, and broke the dangerous instrument of his former disor 
ders against a stone. He acknowledged that this sacrifice had 
cost him a great deal; but he also admitted that having made 
it, he experienced a peace, a liberty, and disengagement so 
entire, that he hoped from henceforth to belong to God alone. 

That confidence, which was founded upon the merits of our 
Saviour alone, was not confounded. The count de Rouge- 
mont walked to the last moment in the way in which his di 
rector had placed him. He was tried, towards the end of his 
life, by a long and painful illness, but his love was stronger than 
his pains. At last, when about to enter into eternity, he ear 
nestly begged of the Fathers Capuchins, and received with 
4* 



42 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

respect, the humble habit of "St. Francis. That habit of pen 
ance appeared to him more glorious than all the dignities with 
which he had been invested. No one doubled that his death 
was precious in the sight of the Lord ; every one loaded him 
with benedictions, but not without calling to mind Vincent of 
Paul, to whom the count was, after God, indebted for his con 
version, and without whom he might well -have died, as he had 
so long lived, in disorder and impenitence. 

Vincent did not confine his zeal to those of the faiih, he 
extended it also to those whom the new heresies had separated 
from the Church. One of the first whose conversion he 
undertook, was Mr. Beynier, with whom he had lodged 
when he arrived at Chatillon. This young man, owing to 
his errors and to a considerable fortune, pursued a course of 
life far from edifying. Vincent showed him the danger to 
which his heresy and his disorders exposed his eternal salva 
tion. After having separated him from a crowd of libertines 
who besieged him, he gave him a taste for the truths of faith; 
and notwithstanding the rage of the ministers with whom Cha 
tillon was filled, he hat! the consolation to bring back to the fold 
the sheep that had been doubly a wanderer. Yet he used 
every effort to give the honor of his conversion to others, and 
for that reason he did not wish to receive his abjuration. 

If the return of Mr. Beynier was honorable to the zeal and 
capacity of Vincent of Paul, the regularity of his conduct was 
no less so. He gave himself up entirely and with surprising 
facility, to the practice of the greatest virtues of Christianity. 
He resolved to lead a life of celibacy. He gave up in one 
week two or three farms, which no one demanded, but whose 
acquisition appeared to him doubtful. He was as liberal 
towards God. as he had been prodigal in superfluous expenses. 
In fine, he carried his liberality so far, that in consequence of 
giving, above all in the time of the pestilence which raged 
some years afterwards at Chatillon, he became poor himself. 
We shall remark, more than once, in the life of Vincent of 
Paul, that charity towards his neighbor was his favorite virtue, 
and that he had a singular talent of communicating it to all 
those who had any intercourse with him. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAL L. 43 

The conversion of Mr. Beynit-r was followed by many 
others; but none made more -noise than that of the Messrs. 
Garron, because there was none to whi.:h greater obsta 
cles were opposed. Their father, an old warrior, was one 
of the most zealous partizans of the reformed religion. The 
change of Mr. Beynier, his brother-in-law, had greatly incensed 
him; but when he ,aw that his own children were about to be 
undeceived, he could no longer govern himself. Tears, prayers 
threats, friends, ministers, all was employed, but in vain- 
for no power can prevail against the designs of God. All his 
children were converted. The death of the father which 
soon followed gave new strength to their faith; and they ex 
hibited, some of them in religion, others in the world, great 
examples of virtue. 

The important service which Vincent of Paul had rendered 
to the Garrons, was never effaced from their minds. Nearly 
forty years afterwards, one of them having to consult him upon 
a delicate affair, recalled it to his recollection in the most grate 
ful terms. It was from the same letter that Vincent learned 
that the charitable association of the servants of the poor, still 
continued in existence at Chatillon. This good work requires 
of us that we should say a few words respecting its origin. 

Vincent being one day about to go into the pulpit, one of 
the two ladies, of whom we have spoken before, requested 
him to recommend to the charity of his parishioners, a 
family, which was extremely poor, and the greater part of 
whose members had fallen sick, half a league from the town. 
He aid so with an unction which was natural to him, and 
which appeared to redouble, whenever the interest of those 
who were in poverty, was concerned. God gave such efficacy 
to his words, that after the sermon a great number of those who 
had heard it, went to visit them. Some carried bread, others 
wine, others different eatables. Vincent went himself after 
Vespers, and was much surprised to find a multitude of per 
sons on the road, returning. He praised their zeal, but he did 
not think it sufficiently prudent. "This," said ho, "is great 
charity, but it is not well regulated. These sick persons will 
have too many provisions at one time. Those which will not 



44 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

be immediately consumed, will be spoiled, and these poor peo 
ple will soon be in the same necessity as before." 

This first reflection induced the saint, who possessed a 
spirit of arrangement and system, to examine by what means, 
not only that afflicted family which was actually the object ot 
his zeal, but all those who might thereafter be in similar cir 
cumstances, could be relieved according to rules of order. He 
communicated his observations to some ladies of his parish, 
who possessed both property and piety. Each one was de 
sirous of having a share in so good a work, and the saint, pro- 
fitting by these happy dispositions, drew up the plan of a rule 
which he desired them to try for some time before putting the 
seal to it by the approbation of the ecclesiastical superiors. 
His maxim was that a wiseman should adapt his ideas to ex 
perience, and that there are an infinite number of things 
which, although beautiful in speculation, are neither possible 
nor advantageous in practice. So that, although he never 
undertook any thing, without consulting God and asking 
the advice of the most experienced persons, he took great 
care to resolve upon nothing without a sufficient trial. He 
acted thus with regard to the rule of the new confraternity; he 
did not solicit its approval until three months experience had 
convinced him that there was nothing to risk. It would be 
difficult, says an eye-witness, to give a relation of all the 
good which that holy association has produced, the con 
versions of which it has been the source, the aid which the 
poor have received from it, above all in the time of the conta 
gion of which we have spoken. The inhabitants of Bourg 
and of the neighboring places, who were informed of its ad 
vantages, soon established similar ones. The man of God, 
who was encouraged by this first success, multiplied it during 
his whole life, as much as he could. In a few years he estab 
lished it at.Villepreux, Joigni, at Montmirel, and in more than 
thirty parishes dependent upon the house of Gondi. From 
thence it passed not only to the capital, but into Lorraine, Sa 
voy, Italy, and many other places which we cannot enumerate. 
But we may at least conclude that there are, in a great part of 
Europe, thousands of poor who to this day owe to the charity 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 45 

and prudent industry of Vincent of Paul the temporal and 
spiritual aid which they receive from the piety of their bene 
factors. 

The saint was entirely occupied with the care of his flock, 
and already reaping abundant fruit from his labors, when 
Madame de Gondi, who had never fora moment given up the 
thoughtof persuading him, made a lasteffurt, which provedsuc- 
cessiul. k?he sent to him a gentleman of her house, who was 
distinguished for talents arid prudence, and was moreover his 
particular friend. It was Mr. Du Fresne, the gentleman who 
had caused Vincent to enter into the service of queen Marga 
ret, and whom Vincent in his turn had procured as secretary 
to Mr. de Gondi. He was the bearer of a great number of let 
ters, and those of Mr. de Berulle were not the least conspicu 
ous amongst them. Although completely master of himself, 
Vincent could nut entirely conceal the emotion which this 
last effort produced upon him. Grief and sorrow were painted 
in his countenance. To calm his first emotion, and place his 
mind in a situation that might be fit to obey the voice of God, 
he went to the church, and there threw himself at the feet of 
that great master, whose councils are ever salutary. It was 
his inviolable custom never to take any determination, with 
out consulting him. 

Mr. Uu Fresne, who was afraid of failing, entered into a 
conference with his friend. If he did not convince him en 
tirely, he was at least so happy as to persuade him to leave 
the decision to some wise, virtuous, and disinterested friends. 
These, after a long and serious discussion, decided in favor of 
the house of Gondi, and thus Vincent found himself obliged to 
return to Chatillon only to bid adieu to his beloved parishioners. 
He assured them, in an exhortation delivered on the occasion, 
that when Providence led him to Bresse, he did not believe he 
would ever leave them; but since it had ordained otherwise, 
it was his and their duty to submit to its decision. He did 
not fail to assure them, that they would always be present to 
him before God. He conjured them also, not to forget him in 
their prayers, and he repeated several times that he had great 
need of them. 



46 LIFE OF 8T. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

If a pastor be permitted to enjoy the pleasure of being ten 
derly beloved by his Hock, Vincent must have then expe 
rienced great consolation. He had no sooner announced his 
departure, than tears flowed from the eyes of all present. 
There were many among them, who were so unable to re 
strain their affliction, that it broke out in cries that filled the 
whole church. Each one believed he had lost all, in losing 
the man of God. The heretics alone could not conceal their 
joy. However, although their aversion was already the 
eulogy of the saint, they could not refuse to render justice 
to his virtue and talents; and many inhabitants of Cha- 
tillon have long remembered these words addressed by some 
of them to the Catholics: "In losing your curate, you lose 
the best stone in your religion." 

Every thing we have related, is taken from the two reports 
drawn up at Chatillon, about four years after the death of the 
servant of God. A portion of the second concludes with these 
beautiful words : " In fine the undersigned say that it would be 
impossible to point out every thing done in so short a time by 
Vincent, and they themselves would find difficulty in believ 
ing it, had they not seen and heard it. They have so great 
an esteem for him, that he is spoken of as a saint. They be 
lieve that what he did at Chatillon, would be sufficient for his 
canonization, and they have no doubt, if he acted elsewhere 
as he did here, that he would be one day canonized." 

Whilst a part of Bresse was abandoned to tears, and 
thrown in a state of desolation by the departure of a man 
who was looked upon as its apostle, Vincent proceeded to 
Paris. His return caused as much pleasure to his friends, as 
his sudden departure had been a source of sorrow to the in 
habitants of Chatillon. The pious Madame de Gondi, who, 
during his absence, shed so many bitter tears, received him as 
an angel, whom God had sent back to her, to conduct her in 
the paths of perfection. But that she might not be exposed 
to future alarm, she made him promise that he would assist 
her at the moment of her death. 

The saint, who had only a general inspection of the 
Messrs de Gondi, possessed every possible facility to follow 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 47 

his inclination to labor for the salvation of the people of the 
country. At the beginning of the following year, he gave 
missions at Villepreux and iu the surrounding country. A 
learned doctor of the house of Navarre, two clerical counsel 
lors in parliament, and many other virtuous priests joined 
him. After having relieved the wants of the soul, they en 
deavored to supply those of the body by means of the confra 
ternity of charity. Villepreux was the second parish in the 
kingdom, in which it was established. 

The countess of Joigny saw with incredible pleasure the 
fruits of sanctification, so visibly attached to the labors of her 
holy director. But it must be acknowledged that that lady 
who was possessed of an extraordinary fortitude, notwith 
standing her almost continual infirmities, had a great share 
in all his undertaking. Her presence, the examples of virtue 
which she gave every where, her charities, the gracious air 
with which she prodigally bestowed them, affected the peo 
ple, and rendered their hearts better disposed to receive the seed 
of the word of God. 

The mission of Villepreux was followed by several others, 
which produced the greatest good in the diocesses of Sens, 
Beauvais, and Soissons. The one he made at Montmirel, on 
account of its circumstances, should not be forgotten. Ma 
dame de Gondi, who often resided in that town, knowing 
that there were three Calvinists in the neighborhood, solicited 
the saint to undertake their conversion. He consented wil 
lingly, proved the catholic doctrine in so solid a manner 
and answered the difficulties with so much wisdom, that at 
the end of the first week, two of those gentlemen yielded to 
the truth. 

It was not so with the third : he was a man, who, with 
very moderate talents, had much conceit of himself; he was 
always ready to dogmatise, and although his life was bad 
enough, he made of the bad conduct of some catholics an 
argument in favor of his cause. It was by such means that 
he undertook one day to prove that the catholic church could 
not be led by the spirit of God, "because," said he, "on one 
nand the catholics of the country were abandoned to vicious 



48 LtFJJ OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

and ignorant curates, and left without instruction concerning 
their duties, and on the other, the cities filled with priests and 
monks living in idleness. 

This objection on the part of the heretic, affected the ser 
vant of God very much. It showed him more forcibly than 
ever the spiritual wants of the people, and the necessity ot 
aiding them. Yet, not to leave unanswered a difficulty, in 
which there really was nothing solid, the saint, after having 
replied that, among the religious who resided in the cities, 
some were useful to the public by their preaching, and 
others by their learned works, added, that those who failed ia 
their duty, were, it is true, in the church, because it includes 
the chaff and the good grain; but that they did not constitute 
the church; on the contrary, they resisted the Holy Spirit 
who governs her. So just an answer produced no effect- 
The neglect of the country people had made so great an im 
pression upon the heretic, that he continued to look upon it 
as an invincible argument. 

To remove such objections, as far as was in his power, 
Vincent redoubled his efforts. He returned the following 
year to Montmirel, and overran all the neighborhood with a 
number of zealous priests and religious. These last missions 
were attended with the same success as those of Folleville 
and Villepreux. They soon became a common topic of 
conversation. The same man, whom our saint could not 
win the preceeding year, wished to be an eye witness of what 
was going on. He undertook the examination of the exer 
cises with all the attention of a prejudiced man. He saw, 
he admired in the servants of God, a charity which accom 
modated itself to the weakness of the most illiterate. He was 
witness to the conversion of a great number of sinners, who 
hastened to expiate their former disorders by penance and by 
tears. Struck by what he saw, he went to seek the saint, and 
said to him: "Now I see that the Catholic church is directed 
by the Spirit of God, since care is taken of the instruction and 
salvation of the poor country people. I am ready to enter it, 
whenever you will be pleased to receive me." Notwithstand 
ing, a difficulty concerning the respect paid to holy images, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 49 

a difficulty which the holy priest caused a child to answer, 
still detained him; and Vincent, who was an enemy to any 
thing like precipitation, judged it proper to put him oil . Bui 
at last this man made his abjuration. His return was as sin 
cere as it had been difficult ; and he persevered to his death in 
the faith of the catholic church. 

Although the wants of the poor country people were the 
great object of the zeal and charity of Vincent, he did not 
stop there. Scarcely had he returned from his missions, 
when, to relieve himself from the fatigue attendant on that 
arduous ministry, he visited, like a tender and active father, 
the hospitals and the prisons. .As his inclination always 
leaned to the side where the most evils were to be remedied, 
particularly when those who were alilicted had any connexion 
with the house of Gondi, he was desirous to know how the 
criminals destined to the galleys were treated. The dungeons 
of the state-prisons were opened to him: he expected to find 
in them a great deal of misery, but he found much more than 
he had any idea of. He saw, says his lirst historian, wretches 
shut up in obscure caverns, eaten by vermin, attenuated and 
entirely neglected both for soul and body. 

!Su -h hard treatment, which was so much in opposition to 
the dictates of Christianity, alVectcd him deeply. Without 
losing a moment, and under the impressions he had received 
from that pitiful sight, he addressed himself to the general of 
the gallies. He represented to him that these poor people be 
longed to him, and that, whilst they were waiting to be sent 
to Marseilles, charity made it a duly for him to see that they 
should not be deprived of succor or consolation. He laid 
open all his views, and with the approbation of Mr. de 
Gondi, he hired and furnished with all possible diligence, a 
house in the Faubourg Saint-Honore. He there gathered to 
gether all the galley slaves who were scattered through the 
different prisons of the city. To sustain this good work, 
which had no other funds than those of Providence, he ob 
tained contributions from those of his friends, who had the 
means of furnishing the expense. The bishop of Paris se 
conded his efforts, and by his mandate of the first of June 



50 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

1618, he directed the curates and preachers to exhort the 
faithful to favor so holy and so important an enterprise. After 
having provided for their corporal wants, they were in a state 
to be releived from their spiritual ones. These were great ; 
but assiduity and patience soon overcame every obstacle. 
The saint often visited his dear galley slaves j he spoke to them 
of God with an eloquence full of sweetness ; he made them 
sensible, that, however involuntary their sufferings were, they 
could receive them in such a manner as to make them merito 
rious. He added that such a disposition would diminish their 
bitterness, and that after all, there are no real sufferings but 
those which are to punish crime and impenitence for a whole 
eternity. 

This kind of discourse made a great impression upon men 
who were not accustomed to it, and who were rendered more 
attentive by the kind treatment they received. Marks of sin 
cere sorrow were manifested. General confessions completed 
in the course of time what exhortations had begun, and Vin 
cent had the consolation to see men, who, in many cases, had 
forgotten God for a long series of years, approach the holy 
mysteries with dread tempered by love and gratitude. 

This change, which announced in a sensible manner the 
operation of the Most High, did great honor to our saint, both 
in Paris and at the court. Mr. de Gondi, as much surprised as 
edified at the beautiful order which a single man had estab 
lished among people who had no idea of order before, formed 
the design of introducing it into all the galleys of France. 
He spoke of it to the king; and after having given him a cor 
rect idea of the capacity and zeal of Vincent of Paul, he as 
sured him, that if the court would authorize it, he would cer 
tainly effect elsewhere the same, good which he had already 
effected in Paris. Louis XIII, who was possessed of a 
sincere piety, willingly consented to the proposition ; and by 
a brief of the crown of the eighth of February, he appointed 
our saint, almoner general of all the gallies of the kingdom. 

This new employment, which showed the esteem in which 
Louis the Just held Vincent, was shortly followed by an 
other, which evinced the judgment which St. Francis of Sales 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 51 

had formed of him. This great bishop, whose name alone 
recalls the idea of one of the most worthy pontiffs that Jesus 
Christ ever gave to his church, became acquainted with Vin 
cent, when, after his return from IJres.-e, the saint entered again 
into the house of Gondi. A tender charity soon formed a close 
union between these two great souls. The gift of spiritual 
discernment which they possessed in an eminent degree, dic 
tated the opinion which they should form of eacii other. Vin 
cent acknowledged that the mildness, the modesty, the majesty, 
and whole exterior of Francis of Sales, gave him an idea of the 
Sun of God conversing with men. Francis of .Sales published 
in his turn, that Vincent was one of the most holy priests he 
had ever known, and that be saw no one in Paris who had 
more piety, more prudence, more of those rare qualities which 
are necessary to lead souls to exalted and solid piety. 

These motives determined him to select him the lirst supe 
rior of the religious of the Visitation, whom the blessed 
Jeanne Frances Fremiot de Chantal had a little before estab 
lished in the Hue St. Antoine. This choice made by a pre 
late, who held it for a maxim that even an individual should 
choose a director amongst ten thousand, and that a man 
having charge of a religious house should unite to a great 
virtue, an extensive "knowledge and great experience; this 
choice, I say, will serve with all wise persons, as a proof of 
the merit of Vincent of Paul. But that which serves to exalt his 
piety infinitely more is, that he saw in this honorable employ 
ment only the terrible account by which it was to be followed. 
In order to render this account less severe, for the greatest 
saints have trembled at it, he joined to the practice of the sa 
cerdotal virtues the most severe and painful mortifications. 
Disciplines even to blood, a frightful hair shirt, sharp pointed 
chains, short sleep and always upon straw, an extraordinary 
sobriety in eating and drinking, a number of similar austeri 
ties, had for a long time entered into his plan of life, and he 
never deviated from it. This year he performed the spiritual 
exercises at Soissons with the greatest fervor. It was there 
that weighing himself in the balance of the sanctuary, he dis 
covered in himself a fault, which might have in time, pre- 



52 LIFE OF ST. VJNCKNT OF PAUL. 

sented some obstacle to the sanctification of the people, whose 
salvation and interests God so evidently confided to him. 

His air, naturally grave, had in it something austere, par 
ticularly with regard to persons of rank, and his disposition 
which inclined him to solitude, rendered an intercourse with 
him less easy. The poor, with whom he was in his element, 
did not perceive it; but the great, who look for urbanity even 
in virtue, sometimes noticed it; and the cuuntess uf Joigni 
who, fearing very much to lose him, feared also that he might 
be somewhat dissatisfied in her hou^e, manifested her trouble 
to him from time to time. The holy man, during the retreat 
which he made at Soissons, examined himself seriously upon 
this article, and became better acquainted with its importance 
than he had hitherto been. lie had recourse to prayer and 
to such exact watchfulness, that persons said of him what he 
himself had said of St. Francis of Sales, that it was difficult to 
find a man, whose virtue displayed itself in more amiable 
traits of countenance, or better calculated to gain every heart 
to God. 

The galley slaves experienced it the following year. Vin 
cent performed a journey to Marseilles lor their advantage. 
His object was to examine, whether he could do for them at 
the extremity of the kingdom, what he had already done in 
the capital. The execution of this project was by no means 
easy. It was necessary, at least in part, to reform a multitude 
of wretches who, most frequently, detest nothing of their 
crime, but the punishment by which it is followed ; whom ex 
cessive chastisement renders furious, and who indemnify 
themselves by their blasphemies against God, for the ill-treat 
ment they receive from men. 

The saint did not wish to make himself known when he 
arrived at Marseilles. By that means he avoided the honors at 
tached to the dignity of almoner general, and he took the surest 
way of becoming well acquainted with the true state of things. 
He had his reasons for preserving his incognito, and Provi 
dence had its own. In going from one side to the other 
through the gallies to see how things were managed, he per 
ceived a galley-slave who was in despair, because his absence 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 63 

reduced his wife and children to extreme misery. Vincent, 
terrified at the danger which threatened a man overwhelmed 
by the weight of his disgrace, and perhaps more unfortunate 
than guilty, examined for some moments whether it would be 
possible for him to mitigate the severity of his lot. His ima 
gination, fruitful as it was in expedients, could furnisli him 
none that pleased him. Then, seized upon and carried away as 
by an impulse of the most anlent charity, he conjured the 
officer who had charge of that district, to agree that he should 
take the place of the criminal. God who, when he wishes to 
display the virtue of his saints, well knows the means of ef 
fecting it, permitted the oiler to be accepted. It was only 
some weeks afterwards, that Vincent was recognised; nor 
would he have been known so soon, if the countess of Joigni, 
astonished at receiving no news of him, had not caused a 
search to be made, which the saint could not escape. This 
event was yet remembered at Marseilles, when the priests of 
the mission were established there, that is to say, more than 
twenty years afterwards ; and it was admitted that, since the 
time of St. Paulinus, who sold himself to ransom the son 
of a widow, an example of more surprising and heroic charity 
had not been witnessed. 

Vincent gave all the remainder of the time he spent in that 
city, to the relief of the galley slaves. It is impossible to give 
an idea of their state, without recurring to the idea of hell 
itself. The saint went from rank to rank, like a good father 
who feels all that is suffered by his children whom he tenderly 
loves. He listened patiently to their complaints ; he kissed 
their chains, and washed them with his tears; he joined, as 
much as was in his power, alms and alleviation to his exhor 
tations. He also spoke to the officers and overseers and 
inspired them with sentiments of greater humanity. The 
spirit of peace began to reign, murmurs were hushed, the or 
dinary almoners could speak of God without being inter 
rupted, and it became evident at last, that the galley slaves 
were susceptible of virtue. 

He would have done still more, had not the continual mo 
ving about of the gallies, which, in time of trouble, have no 



54 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

fixed station, obliged him to return to Paris. He travelled 
with great rapidity; but an affair of charity arrested his 
course at Macon. A crowd of beggars having besieged him, 
he learned, from his own customary interrogations, and 
from the report of the inhabitants, that they were ignorant ot 
the very first principles of faith. He also discovered that they 
passed their lives in. libertinism, and amidst vices and a filth 
calculated to inspire horror. He undertook to put a stop to this 
disorder. Nothing, it is true, was more difficult; it was ne 
cessary to establish exact discipline amongst men rendered in 
solent by their number, and to take such measures as to re 
move all danger of sedition. Those who heard the project 
spoken of, looked upon it, without hesitation, as a beautiful 
chimera. Those who were less wise, treated it as folly ; the 
more moderate thought there was much rashness in it: but it 
was not long before they were undeceived. 

The holy man, with the consent of the magistrates and of 
the bishop] made a regulation by which all these poor people 
were divided into several classes. He afterwards established 
two associations, one of men for the males, another of wo 
men for the females. In these confraternities, every one had 
his employment. Some had care of the sick, others of those 
who were well. These were charged with the poor of the 
town, others with the strangers, whom they lodged for one 
night and dismissed the following morning with a little money. 
The execution of this prudent and natural plan, for which 
Vincent gave the first alms, changed in a few days the whole 
face of the town. The citizens were in security, and the beg 
gars assembled in an orderly manner, at regular hours, in 
places where clothing and food were distributed to them, and 
where they also received lessons of piety and salvation. 

The execution of this project, which at first appeared impos 
sible, inspired the inhahitants of Macon with a great idea of the 
prudence of Vincent of Paul, who, to escape from the honors 
which were paid him by the magistrates, the nobility, and all 
the best people of the country, was obliged to take his depar 
ture without their knowledge. The priests of the Oratory 
alone, with whom he stayed nearly three weeks, were ac- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 55 

quainted with it: and it was on this occasion, that entering his 
chamber at an early hour, they perceived that he slept on straw. 
He concealed this mortification as well as he could; but great 
as was the pain he took to do so, as well as to lade his other 
virtues, it is known that he practised it to the day of his death, 
that is to say, for fifty years. The plan of the confraternity of 
which we have just.spoken, appeared so beautiful to the assem 
bly of the clergy held at Portoise, in 1670, that by a delibera 
tion of the nineteenth of November, 1075, they exhorted all 
ihe bishops of the kingdom to establish it in their diocesses. 

After having completed the business which called him to 
Paris, he formed the design of giving a general mission upon 
the gallies. It was more necessary than ever, at a time when 
France was all in a flame, and when heresy was ever ready- 
to revolt by sea and land. He then set out for Bordeaux, 
where there were ten gallies. The cardinal de Sourdis, arch 
bishop of that metropolis, a prelate whose piety was as en 
lightened as it was fervent, whose zeal for the re-establishment 
of discipline, whose charity for the poor, caused him to be 
looked upon as another St. Charles Borromeo, could not fail 
to support, with all his authority, a man who was vested with 
that of the prince, and whose name had already reached the 
extremities of the kingdom. The saint selected, from the dif 
ferent monasteries of the city, twenty of the best evangelical 
laborers he could find, and distributed them two and two in 
each galley. As for himself, he was every where, and it may 
be said that if the unction attached to his words penetrated 
the hardest hearts, his example animated those who labored 
with him, and supported them in the fatigues of the ministry. 
The consolations of heaven were not wanting to him; and 
amongst others he had that of gaining a Mahometan to God. 
This proselyte, who was called Louis at his baptism, followed 
his benefactor every where. He honored him as his father, 
and a long time after his death, he told all who would listen 
to him, that, next to God, he owed his conversion to Vincent. 

After this mission, Vincent, who found himself in the 
neighborhood of his family, determined, by the advice of some 
friends, to pav a visit to his relations. His design was to 



56 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

strengthen them in virtue, teach them to cherish their humble 
condition, and declare to them once for all, that being able to 
live as they had hitherto done by the labor of their hands, they 
should expect nothing from him. He stopped at the house of 
the curate of Pouy, his friend and relation} he edified him as 
well as the rest of his family by his piety, his temperance, 
his mortification ; he renewed his baptismal promises in the 
parish church; he consecrated himself anew to the Lord in 
this place, where he had received the first impressions of the 
apostolical spirit. On the day of his departure, he went, bare 
footed,, in procession, from the church of Pouy to the chapel 
of Notre Dame de Buglose, a distance of a league and a half. 
His brothers, sisters, and other relations, rich and poor, and 
almost all the inhabitants of the place, assisted at that pious 
ceremony. The saint celebrated a solemn mass in that sanc 
tuary, which was then more venerated than ever, because they 
had replaced in it, a short time before, in 1G20, a statue of 
the Blessed Virgin, which a shepherd had discovered in a 
marsh, where some pious persons had secretly buried it more 
than fifty years before, to save it from the fury of the cal- 
vinists. After this ceremony, the saint gave a frugal repast 
to all his relations. He then blessed them, and bid them fare 
well forever. He conjured them never to abandon the sim 
plicity in which God had placed them. Humiliation for him 
self and for his, was one of the favors of which he was most 
ambitious upon earth. 

Although Vincent had visited his family by the advice of 
his friends, he reproached himself with it for a long time, as 
contrary to the spirit of self-denial so often recommended in 
the scripture to the ministers of the gospel. The trouble and 
affliction, which the sight of the poor and suffering situation, 
in which he had left a great portion of his relations, caused 
him for three months, appeared to his tender piety a species 
of punishment from God; and it was only by fervent prayers 
that he succeeded in calming this new tempest. He had no 
less affection for those whom nature had so closely united to 
him, and it was to afford them proofs of a perfect and reli 
gious attachment, that some time afterwards he engaged vir- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 57 

tuous ecclesiastics to make a mission at Pouy and the neigh 
boring parishes. He soon commenced another himself in the 
diocess of Chartres. The great good which it produced gave 
birth at Jast to a company of priests destined to labor for the 
sanctitication of the people of the country. We will explain 
its origin; the course of years will develop its progress. 

Madame de Gondi, struck by the happy success attending 
the first missions of Vincent, had, since the year 1617, 
formed the design of giving to some community a fund of 
16000 hvres, to have missions made, every five years, 
throughout all her territories. Vincent, to whom she entrusted 
the employment of tins sum, addressed himself to the Jesuits, 
the Fathers of the Oratory, and to the superiors of different 
houses. All excused themselves from accepting it; some, be 
cause they were too few in number; others, because they had 
already suflicient obligations, without contracting new ones. 
Providence, in permitting this general refusal, had its own 
views, and it was the countess of Joigni, who unfolded them. 
She reflected that, as almost every year a number of doctors 
and virtuous ecclesiastics united with her director, to labor in 
the country, a kind of perpetual community might be formed, 
if a house could be procured where they might assemble and 
live in common. The count, her husband, spoke of it to the 
archbishop of Paris, who was his brother. That prelate 
justly thought, that such an establishment could not be but 
very advantageous to his diocess. He approved of it without 
hesitation ; and not being able, at the time, to do better, he es 
tablished Vincent of Paul, with the title of principal, in an 
old college, founded towards the middle of the thirteenth cen 
tury, under the name dcs Bons-Enfans. This college, which 
St. Louis honored with his protection, had at this time a cha 
pel which was extremely poor, some apartments in a bad 
state, and in the neighborhood a certain number of houses 
which were falling to ruins. Such was the cradle which God 
chose for a congregation, which after having spread itself 
throughout a great part of the kingdom, became multiplied in 
Italy and Poland, where, through the mercy of God, it is 
equally dear to the clergy and the people. It was on the first 



58 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

day of March 1624, that Vincent was appointed principal of 
this college, and the Gth of the same month, Antoine Portail, 
one of his first companions, took possession of it in his name. 
I had forgotten to mention that the holy priest had received a 
licentiate in canon law some time before. 

The following year, the general of the gallies and his con 
sort consummated this great affair. They say in substance, 
in the deed of foundation, that having considered that, whilst 
the inhabitants of the cities are well instructed, and the 
country people remain as it were abandoned, they thought it 
a duty to bestow the sum of forty thousand livres, to procure 
for them, all the aid they stand in need of, gratuitously ; that, 
in placing this sum in the hands of Vincent of Paul, in order 
that he may choose in the course of a year ecclesiastics capa 
ble of laboring usefully under his direction, the said persons 
understand that he shall always reside in their house, to con 
tinue to render, both to themselves and their family, the spi 
ritual assistance which he has afforded them for several years : 
that those who wish to associate in this good work, will con 
sider it a main point, that they cannot either preach, or ad 
minister any sacrament in large towns, except in cases of evi 
dent necessity : that moreover they shall be obliged to render 
spiritual assistance to the poor galley slaves to make them 
profit by their corporal sufferings. This is an abridgment of 
the contract. It would be difficult to find one, which exhibits 
in a stronger light the sincere piety and perfect disinterested 
ness of these illustrious founders. They forgot themselves, 
and seemed to be entirely occupied with the care of the poor. 
They gave enough to require much. Yet, for fear of with 
drawing the laborers from their principal object, they did not 
load them with obligations, nor even with prayers to be ap 
plied personally to themselves. The equity of Vincent of Paul 
and the gratitude of his children, have abundantly supplied 
for it; the precious remnants of the house of Gondi now lost 
in those of Lesdiguires and Villeroi, will always have the 
first share in all the good done by the missionaries of the king 
dom, as well as by those who labor in foreign lands. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 59 

Some time after this contract was made, Mr. de Gondi set 
out for Provence, where new movements on the part of the 
rebels, required his presence. Our saint followed him sooner 
than he expected, as the bearer of the most aiilicting news he 
could receive. The countess of Joigni was still in the flower 
of her age, but was already ripe for heaven. Two months 
had scarcely elapsed, since the foundation of the missions, 
when she fell sick. The malady appeared dangerous from the 
beginning. The habitual infirmities of this pious lady, the 
weakness of her constitution, the efforts she had made to es 
tablish the kingdom of God throughout her possessions, led to 
the conclusion, that she would scarcely be able to resist the 
violence of the disease. She felt it herself, at first, but she 
felt it as a true Christian. Spiritually stronger and more fervent 
in proportion as her body was enfeebled, she profited by every 
moment that remained to her. Supported, animated by the 
holy director, whom she had secured for herself particularly 
for these last moments, she waited with a kind of impatience 
peculiar to the elect, for the blow which was to immolate her. 
It was not long delayed : and wl^ilst her family, overwhelmed 
with grief, wept aloud the loss they were about to experience, 
the virtuous dying lady closed her eyes to the grandeur of the 
world, which had never da/zled her, to open them to that im 
mortal glory, which had always been the centre and the ob 
ject of all her desires. 

Thus died, on the twenty-third of June If 25, in her forty- 
second year, the illustrious and virtuous Frances Margaret 
de S,lly, countess of Joigni, marchioness des Isles d Or, &.c. 
The tears which the good, and the poor in particular, shed 
upon her tomb, are suilicient for her eulogy. Great by the 
digniiy of her birth, and by alliances which united her with 
the most noble houses of Europe, she was still greater by her 
piety towards God, by her compassion for the unfortunate, by 
her watchfulness in her family, by her zeal for the salvation 
of all those to whom she could make herself useful ; in fine, 
by the most perfect assemblage of all those rare virtues, which 
the great ones of the world know little, and practice still less. 
Her name will be sufficiently conspicuous in history and will 



60 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL 

subsist as long as those of Luxembourg, Laval, Montmo- 
rency, de la Kocheguyon, and of so many heroes from whom 
she was descended. But we must admit, at the same time, 
that she owed the most beautiful trails of her glory to the 
saint whose life we are writing. Formed by him to the most 
sublime perfection, she will be remembered as long as the 
saint himself. Her virtues, like those of Vincent of Paul, 
-will be traced in indelible characters; and the most distant 
regions will never announce the merit and labors of that 
good man, without praising her, who so generously seconded 
his most glorious undertakings. 

Vincent having paid her the last tribute of respect, set out 
immediately to communicate this afflicting intelligence to the 
general, who was still in Provence. He used all the precau 
tions necessary on such an occasion. He disposed the count 
of Joigni by degrees, to adore all the dispensations of Provi 
dence. He spoke to him at first of all the favors with which 
heaven had loaded him and his family. He added that the 
more God had signalised his mercy towards him, the more 
love and gratitude he owed for it: that man never evinces that 
gratitude better, than when he conforms his will to that of the 
Lord; anil that a perfect submission is the sacrifice the most 
agreeable in his eyes. At last he apprised him of his loss. 
After having left to nature its first emotions, which virtue 
cannot disavow, he made use, to mitigate his grief, of all 
the motives which faith suggests, and which are never 
stronger, than when employed by Christian simplicity. 

It is evident, and it has been often remarked before, that no 
one possessed in a greater degree than Vincent, the gift of 
consoling the afflicted. Madame de Gondi had experienced 
it a hundred times; and in the violent interior pains with 
which it pleased God to exercise her, she never found more 
solid consolation than in the words of the holy priest. Hence, 
arose, in part, that singular esteem which she had for him. 
She gave him sensible marks of it in her will, less by the le 
gacy which she left him, than by conjuring him, in the most 
moving manner, never to abandon either the general of the 
gallies or her children after her death. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OK PAUL. 61 

Such was not, however, the will of God. Vincent who had 
gone to the house of the general, only because lie could not 
avoid it, and who, on the oilier hand, had the greaiest horror 
lor the world, intreated Mr. de (iondi, ij permit him to retire. 
This virtuous nobleman was greatly alllicted at the proposal; 
but as he was accustomed to examine things More God, he 
easily conceived that the rising company of Vincent of Paul 
stood in need of his presence, and that his remaining in the 
house of Giondi would, at least, retard the work of God, if it 
did not ruin it altogether. The general knew well, that, 
however pure the air breathed in the best regulated secular 
houses, it is always very different from that found in solitude; 
hence, a short time after the death of his wife, he himself re 
nounced all human greatness, and entered into the congrega 
tion of the Oratory. It was there, that during upwards of 
thirty-five years that he yet lived, he distinguished himself as 
much by his piety, mortification, and invincible patience, as 
he had been illustrious in the world by his courage and zeal 
in the service of the king. 

Vincent of Paul retired, in 1G <!5, to the college des Rons 
Enfans. He was followed thither by Antoine Portail, a priest 
of the diocess of Aries. The latter had been fur nearly fif 
teen years his declared disciple, and he made, under the di 
rection of the saint, so great progress in humility, that, al 
though a man of much merit, having made very good studies 
in th > Sorbonne, and being an excellent writer, he sought only 
to be unknown, or rather despised. 

As it was impossible that these two priests should long sup 
port the fatigue of the missions, and satisfy the devotion of the 
people, they begged of a third to join tin in for a time. The 
whole three went from village to village, catechising, exhort 
ing, confessing, and performing all the other exercises of their 
institute. They did so with a simplicity, humility, and disin 
terestedness that gaiii"d the hearts of all. Every day the 
harvest became more abundant, and new laborers were soon 
wanted. Providence, which had given birth to the congrega 
tion, took charge of its increase. Six other priests offered 
themselves to share his labors. They were almost all doctors 
6 



62 1 IFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PACL. 

in theology, or disciples of the school of Sorbonne : but al 
though the holy founder esteemed their talents, he esteemed 
much more their humility, and the zeal with which they 
burned for the salvation of souls. 

Louis XIII, to whom the count of Joigm gave an account 
of this happy commencement, authorized the new associa 
tion by letters patent. The public voice sustained it against 
a cabal which sought to stifle it at its birth. The wisest ma 
gistrates supported it. The parliament of Paris placed the seal 
of its authority on it, in 1613; and Urban VIII, delighted that 
under his pontificate the most neglected sheep of the flock of 
Jesus Christ, should find faithful and disinterested pastors, 
erected it into a congregation the following year. His bull, 
which is dated January twelfth 1625, places Vincent at the 
head of all those who are to labor with him, and gives him 
power to draw up rules for the good order of his institute. 
Those who embraced it were to bear the name of Priests of 
the Mission; and this name is so attributed to them by the 
holy see, that it is by it, that the sovereign pontiff distinguishes 
them, even from the other ministers of the word, who labor for 
the salvation of the people. Thus the missionaries and the 
children of Vincent of Paul, will be, in the course of this 
work, synonymous terms. 

Whilst God was thus taking in hand the interests of his 
servant, that holy priest did not forget those of God. He di 
vided his little troop in different bodies: and after having in 
spired them with the holy fervor with which he was himself 
animated, he sent them to the places, where he thought their 
presence was most necessary. His spirit was every where 
with them; but he did not rest satisfied with raising his hands 
upon the mountain like Joshua, he also combatted in the 
plain, and there is every reason to believe that he was always 
found in the most difficult encounters. The province of 
Lyons, the wants of which he knew, fell to his lot. If he did 
great good there, his priests were equally successful in all the 
places in which they labored. We may form an idea of it by 
a letter which he received at the end of the year 1627, from a 
very celebrated abbe. " I have just arrived," says he, " from 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 63 

a long journey which I made into four provinces. In truth, 
I do not believe that there is any thing in the church of God 
more edifying tlian the sweet odor which your holy company 
spreads every where. We must pray to God to give addi 
tional solidity to a design so advantageous for the good of 
souls, to which very few of those who are dedicated to the 
service of God apply as they ought." 

This letter consoled Vincent of Paul very much. But, as 
in extolling the labors of his priests, it reminded him, both of 
the wants of the country people, and of the absence of 
zeal or talents in those who were charged with their salvation, 
he took a new resolution to arrest the course of this double 
torrent, which carried away the flock, only because it had first 
carried away the shepherds. As to the people, as nothing 
better could be done than to procure fur them solid and mov 
ing instructions, he continued to send them fervent missiona 
ries, whose labors were recompensed by God with a success 
which, as we shall see hereafter, astonished a great part of 
Europe. With regard to the pastors, he judged wisely, that 
he would have \ery soon to see the country people a prey to 
their former abuses, or to adopt the plan of forming priests 
better calculated to maintain the reign of virtue, than were 
the greater part of those who were obliged to lead them. 

Vincent had not yet formed so extensive a project ; but 
he could scarcely form one more necessary. Happily the 
state of affairs rendered it a little more practicable, than it had 
been for a long time. La Rochelle, which had been, as it 
were, the centre of the forces of heresy, had just surrendered 
to Louis XIII. The bishops began to breathe, and those who 
had most zeal for the reform of the clergy, urged it with more 
energy than ever. 

Adrien Bourdoise, a man full of ardor for the interests of the 
Lord, was an intimate friend of Vincent of Paul, and as they 
both were acquainted with the most virtuous prelates of the 
church of France, and were both animated by the same spirit, 
they could not but be inspired with the same sentiments. One 
of those with whom they conferred most frequently concern 
ing the wants of the clergy, was Mr. Augustin Potier de 



64 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Gevres, bishop of Beauvais, whose pastoral vigilance and 
love of discipline have acquired for him a very great and very 
just reputation. This prudent prelate, upon the plan pro 
posed to him by our saint, resolved to make of his palace a 
kind of seminary, to receive into it those who were prepar 
ing for holy orders, and to make them discuss, in a regular 
course of conferences, the principal points which it was ne 
cessary for them to know and practice. Vincent approved this 
project very much, and, at the solicitation of Mr. de Gevres, 
he made a distribution of the matters which should engage 
the attention of the ordinands. He opened the exercises ; 
two doctors of Sorbonne shared the labor with him, but he 
was more occupied than any one. lie explained the Deca 
logue; and he did it with so much accuracy, strength and 
unction, that a great number of those who assisted at the ex 
ercises, and even of those who gave them with him, desired 
to make a general confession to him. This was not the only 
benediction which God gave to his journey; for, having found 
some protestants who wished to enter upon a contest with 
him, he showed them so well the weakness, even the ridicu 
lousness, of their pretended reformation,, that three of them 
were reunited to the catholic church. 

About two years after this essay of a retreat given to the 
ordinands, Jean Fran9ois de Gondi, first archbishop of Paris, 
learned from Mr. de Gevres the great fruit which these exer 
cises began to produce in his diocess. That prelate, afflicted 
at seeing the young ecclesiastics of the capital in want of a 
means of instruction, which had been procured for those of 
the provinces, obliged, by his mandate of the twenty-first of 
February 1GG1, all those who were to be admitted to orders, 
to make a retreat of ten days, as a preparation, in the college 
des Bons Enfans. Vincent, in the absence of his priests who 
were almost always in the country, called to his aid those who 
being filled with the spirit of God, were the best suited to 
communicate it to others. Thus, Mr. Hallier, whose virtue 
and science placed him afterwards in the see of Oavaillon, 
gave the instructions for the first ordination in this college; 
and he succeeded perfectly, because, as Mr. Bourdoise re- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 65 

marked, he said nothing that ho did not practice himself. The 
archbishop of Paris was not the only one to acknowledge the 
utility of this new species of exercises. Seculars, even women, 
wondered at the change which took place in the ecclesiastics 
of their parishes. They were found to he more grave, more 
modest, more attentive in performing the ceremonies; and 
persons distinguished the clergymen of Pans, who were ad 
mitted to the retreats of the ordinands, from those of other dio- 
cesses who had not had the happiness to participate in them. 
This induced some pious ladies to propose to the holy priest 
to receive, without distinction of country, all those who as 
pired to holy orders. The lady of the president de Herse took 
upon herself the expense for five years. The marchioness 
of Maignelai, sister of the archbishop, a lady of tender cha 
rity, and who had a very particular esteem for Vincent, fa 
vored him also. Ann of Austria, who, having heard one of 
the discourses delivered by the new bishop of Boulogne, 
Franyoisde Perrochel, felt how important it was for the clergy 
to continue to form young ecclesiastics in this manner, gave 
intimation of a design to make a royal foundation; but as 
princes themselves cannot always do what they wish, the pro 
ject was abandoned; and soon afterwards, the burthen of 
the expense which, as there were at that time six ordinations 
a year, amounted to the nourishment, during two months 
every year, of eighty ecclesiastics, fell upon the society 
alone. 

The saint easily perceived that he would have great diffi 
culty in supporting it, and his friends begged him to pay at 
tention to it. But that great heart, which preferred the glory 
and the utility of the church to the temporal interest of his 
company, far from changing his first design, added, some 
years after, new burthens to the first; and when in 10-16, a 
decree was issued at the archbishopric, that those who were to 
receive the minor orders should make the retreat with those 
who were preparing for holy orders, he received them all 
with a tender and respectful affection. 

He was naturally pathetic ; hut he seemed to surpass him- 
srlf, when it was necessary to animate his companion^ to con- 
6* 



66 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

secrate themselves entirely to the good of the aspirants to or 
ders. He had such lively feelings with regard to the dignity 
of the priesthood and the contempt into which it had iaiien, 
that it is scarcely possible to express them. His grief and his 
tears redoubled, particularly when he saw the church in clan 
ger of sustaining new losses; because, like the holy doctors., 
he laid all to the account of had priests. These sentiments, 
so worthy of a rninist T of the altar, shone forth during the 
troubles by which France was agitated towards the middle of 
the last century, and perhaps still more at the time when the 
formidable Charles Gustavus appeared to announce to Casi- 
mir the loss of his kingdom and to the Roman Church the se 
duction of a considerable portion of her flock. It was then 
that the holy priest, whose humility always induced him to 
believe that he contributed more than any one else to the evils 
which religion suffered, redoubled his efforts to prepare for the 
Lord, ministers capable of appeasing his wrath, and to in 
duce his companions to labor as much as possible for that end. 

He represented to them that the church was ruined in num 
berless places, and that it was so only in consequence of the 
disorders of the priests; that it was to them we should at 
tribute the deplorable decrease which afflicted it in Africa 
and a considerable portion of Europe; that they knew that 
France was not free from the contagion ; and that Poland, al 
ready much infected by error, was, by the invasion of the 
king of Sweden, in danger of being entirely lost to religion; 
that, in fine, it was to be feared, lest God, wearied by our ex 
cesses, would remove his church to strange nations. 

From these principles, the holy man drew two conse 
quences, which equally prove his humility and his zeal. The 
first was, that those of his congregation, and himself more 
than any other, should humble themselves before God at the 
sight of their misery : the second, that, very far from consider 
ing as a burthen the expense and trouble necessary to instruct 
the ordinands, they should look upon it as a special favor; 
"a favor," said he, "which God has granted to us in prefer 
ence to so many others, so much more worthy of it." 

The means which he desired to be used for the success of 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 67 

the retreats of the candidates for orders, corresponded to his 
virtue and to the esteem which he had for the priesthood. 
Persuaded that the success of such enterprises is in the hands 
of God, he earnestly recommended to his whole house prayer, 
fervent communions, mortifications, and every thing that could 
serve to draw down the dew of heaven, hoth upon those who 
labored and those for whom they lab:>red. It was also his de 
sire that, on whatever side the onlinancls should turn, they 
should find examples calculated to instruct and edify them . 
In fine, he gave strict orders that nothing reasonable should be 
omitted to please them. 

With regard to the instructions, which are an essential part 
of these exercises, some of which turned upon the virtues ne 
cessary for a minister who would save himself and save his 
brethren, others upon the principal points of moral theology, 
he required detail and in that detail great simplicity. He could 
not bear to hear those pompous sermons, which seem only 
calculated to please the car. Every discourse which only 
served to gain applause for its author was, in his opinion, not 
only useless but pernicious. He attributed the great success 
of the instructions of the bishop of Sarlat, to the even and 
natural style which he used; and he remarked to his priests 
that others "who thought to do wonders by preaching 
fashionably, spoiled every thing." 

Although exercises so short, so rapid, and with which our 
saint was satisfied only because it was not in his power to 
continue them longer, must naturally have had a limited suc 
cess, God was pleased to give a blessing to them, which we 
must consider as the fruit of the prayers and sighs of his ser 
vant. The bishops of Angouleme, Reims, Noyon, Chartres, 
Saintes &c. to whom he had sent priests to preside at the re 
treat of their candidates for orders, wrote to him to testify their 
gratitude. All their letters said as much as that the towns 
and country blessed God for so great a good ; that the people 
struck by the modesty of the ecclesiastics, shed tears of joy: 
that charmed with the order, decency and piety with which 
the new priests performed the divine offices, they imagined 
they saxv angels from heaven rather than men. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



The fruit produced by similar retreats at Rome was not less 
consoling. Urban VIII had established the priests of the mis 
sion., in 1642, at Monte Citorio. They began, the following 
year, to receive into their house, those who came of their own 
accord to prepare for ordination. The hand of God was with 
them in the capital of the Christian world, as it had been else 
where : and it was there discovered that three cr four priests 
animated by the spirit of God, were sufficient to sanctify a 
great number of others. Alexander VII was so well aware 
of it, that, under his pontificate, assiduity in attending those 
pious exercises became a necessary condition for the holy or 
ders. From, that time, it has pleased God to sustain them. 
Innocent XI, to whose virtues even heresy had rendered jus 
tice, went still further than his predecessors. He extended, 
in part, to all the priests, and even to the curates of Rome, 
what had at first been established for the aspirants to holy or 
ders alone. The capital served, as is almost always the case, 
as a model to the provinces. Cardinal Barbarigo, bishop of 
Bergame, was one of the first who employed the missionaries 
to perform the exercises in his diocess. He sometimes took a 
part iu those which were performed at Monte-Citorio ; and 
afterwards a number of cardinals, prelates, generals of orders, 
were seen there as much affected, as the ordinands themselves, 
at the beautiful discourses of cardinal Albici and cardinal de 
Sainte Croix. The plan of inviting persons distinguished for 
their erudition or their employments to the exercises for ordi 
nation, originated with Vincent of Paul. He knew that, al 
though the word of God is of itself full of power, it never 
theless appears to have more energy in the mouth of those 
whom a great name has made superior to other men. It is 
upon this principle, that Bossuet, Fenelon, and many other 
great bishops, before and after them, have more than once 
given the instructions at St. Lazarus to the candidates for 
orders, with a noble and energetic simplicity. 

If heaven did not always bless immediately the labors of the 
holy priest, it often indemnified him with interest for the de- 
iay. Jean Armand le Bouthillier de Ranee, who has become 
move illustrious for his virtues, than he had been famous by 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. G9 

his disorders, is a striking proof of it. " It was," says a writer 
celebrated for his misfortunes, "it was under the direction of 
the illustr.ous Vincent of Paul, so well known for his piety, 
his zeal, and for so many virtues which he displayed, that 

the young de Ilance made his retreat The holy 

man forgot nothing to inspire him with the dispositions re 
quired in a man who was destined to the first employments 
of the hierarchy. It was necssary to b. gin by reforming his 
exterior. Interior dispositions were the next point. The 
spirit of retreat, separation from the world, mortification, hu 
mility, prayer, were the virtues that Vincent principally en 
deavored to inspire him with, lie afterwards spoke to him 
of the multitude of benefices he possessed against the rules of 

the church. This morality alarmed the young abbot 

but the seed skilfully sown, did not fail to put forth, and pro 
duce fruit in its time." \o\v of how many others may we 
not suppose what Dom Gervais here says of one man? 

The application with which St. Vincent labored to reform 
the clergy, did not cause him to forget the wants of the poor 
country people. He had established, as we have elsewhere 
seen, the confraternities of charity, wherever he could. But 
as neither he nor his priests, overwhelmed by the weight of 
innumerable other labors, could visit them, except very sel 
dom, it was to be feared that the first ardor of an association 
so useful, might cool by degrees, and that the poor would i all 
into the same state, from which he had had so much trouble to 
withdraw them. The holy priest ardently desired that Provi 
dence would raise up some charitable person, who would be 
calculated to visit the country, sustain the persons of whom 
the confraternities were composed, train them to the service 
of the sick, keep up amongst them the spirit of mercy 
which had been the principle of their charitable association. 

It was not long, before God quieted the uneasiness of his 
servant. He had scarcely entered the college des Bons En- 
fans, when the illustrious Madame I,e Gras took, without 
knowing it, a house which was not far from his. This in 
comparable woman, who, in the opinion of five great bishops, 
was granted to the age, to convince it that neither delicacy of 



70 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

constitution, nor the boiuls of society, are invincible obstacles 
to the highest perfection, was Lorn at Paris, on the twelfth of 
August 1591, of Louis tie Alarillac, lord of Fi>rriere.s, and of 
Marguerite Le Camus. The beauty of her mind induced her 
father to make her study philosopy; and whilst still young, 
she was considered capable of the most elevated sciences. 
But grace had taught her lessons, which the greatest masters 
cannot teach; and if the weakness of her constitution, did not 
permit her to enter, as she desired to do, into a very rigorous 
order (the Capuchins), her rnarringe with Antoine Le Gras, 
secretary to queen Mary de Medicis, did not prevent her frora 
deserving in a few years the glorious title of mother of the poor. 
She rendered them all the services of the most humble, ardent, 
and industrious charity. She visited them, without paying 
attention to the quality of their diseases; she herself presented 
them the nourishment of which they stood in need; she made 
their beds with much more affection than a hired servant 
would have done; she consoled them with expressions full of 
tenderness, and she buried them after their death. 

Jean Pierre Camus, bishop of Belley, the great friend of 
St. Francis of Sales, and consequently of Vincent of Paul, 
was the director of Madame Le Gras. This prelate was al 
most as much occupied in moderating her fervor and zeal 
as in calming the interior pains which, for several years, 
had troubled the peace of her soul. But as the obligation of resi 
ding in his diocess, put it out of his power to give her the aid 
which she needed, he was desirous of choosing a director for 
her, who would be capable of helping and strengthening her. 
Vincent of Paul was the one upon whom he cast his eyes. 
God soon made it manifest, that it was himself who conducted 
the whole affair, and that he wished to make use of those two 
great hearts, to give to his church a new company of virgins 
entirely consecrated to works of charity. 

Madame Le Gras, who had just lost her husband, divided 
her time between the exercise of prayer and that of charity. 
She gave to the relief of the indigent, all the time which she 
did not spend in those fundamental duties, which regard God 
more immediately than our neighbor. But her zeal received 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT Of PAUL. 71 

a new impulse on seeing a director, always ready to sacrifice 
himself when he could be useful to his brethren. After his 
example she conceived the design of consecrating her life "to 
the service of the poor, and cooperating with nil her power 
in the great designs which the holy priest was every day 
forming in favor of the poor. Vincent, who wa? on his 
guard against precipitate steps, wished to try her, and the trial 
lasted nearly four years. He directed her to spend a part of 
her time, in consulting God in retreat, and imbibing in the 
frequent reception of the body and blood of our Lord the spirit 
of light and strength which was necessary for her. 

This delay, which was for her a sort of novitiate, only 
served to confirm her in her first design. The activity with 
which she embraced, during this interval, all the occasions of 
practising charity that presented themselves, at last proved 
to her director that it was time to set her at work, and that, 
having all the virtues which St. Paul requires in true widows, 
charity could present no duty, however repulsive, of which 
this truly strong woman was not capable. Upon this prin 
ciple, he proposed to her, in 1029, to undertake to visit a por 
tion of the places where charitable associations had been 
formed, in order to honor the journeys which charity had 
caused the Son of God to perform, and participate in his 
labors, his fatigues and the contradictions which he expe 
rienced in them. 

The pious widow obeyed the voice of the saint, as that of 
God himself. To remove even the shadow of dissipation, 
which insensibly mingles with the most holy journeys, the 
wise director took such proper measures, that the travels of 
Madame Le Gras served to make her more recollected and 
more fervent. She was always accompanied by some pious 
ladies. The most inconvenient conveyance was preferred to 
any other. They were to live very poorly, in order to take 
a greater share in the misery of the poor. Their exercises 
of piety were performed as regularly on the road as in the 
house. The day of their departure they went to communion, 
in order to receive by a closer union with Jesus Christ a more 
abundant fommunicution of his charity, and a surer pledgp of 



72 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

his protection. In the course of the journey they often raised 
their eyes towards the holy mountains to invoke the necessary 
aid. With such precautions, persons may travel a long lime 
without experiencing any diminution of fervor. Thus, far 
from ever perceiving any in Madame Le Gras, she was al 
ways found to return to Paris more virtuous than she had 
left it. 

She applied herself during several years consecutively to 
these exercises of charity. She visited with great i ruit the 
diocesses of Soissons, Paris, Beauvais, Meaux, Senlis, Char- 
tres and Chalons in Champagne. When she arrived in a vil 
lage, she called together the ladies who composed the associa 
tion of charity. She showed them the value of their employ 
ment, by giving them the instructions which they required to 
fulfil it well. When they were too few to bear the burthen, 
she increased the number. She taught them by her example 
to wait upon the sick who were in the most desperate situa 
tion: she supplied by her alms their funds, which were often 
exhausted: and to enable them to continue their good works 
more easily, she distributed, at her own expense, clothes 
and things necessary for the relief of the poor and sick. 
After the example of her director, who made use of the health 
of the body as a means of procuring that of the soul, the 
zealous and holy widow labored for the one only to attain the 
other. Thus, she did not confine herself to allaying the 
sufferings of the dying or the hunger of the indigent; she 
planted the kingdom of God in the hearts of the young per 
sons of her own sex. With the consent of the curates, with 
out which she was forbidden to undertake any thing, she cate 
chised, in some convenient house, the young girls who were 
not sufficiently instructed. If there was a school mistress, 
she taught her, almost without its being perceived, how to 
perform her duty well; if there was none, she endeavored to 
find one who had the necessary dispositions ; and in order to 
train her, she gave the first lessons in her presence. 

Enterprises so holy, and which would have done honor to 
a Paula and a Fabiola, were often censured ; but they were 
more frequently and more universally applauded. It was to 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 73 

caution her against the slightest impressions of pride which 
might arise from such marked esteem, that Vincent prescribed 
to her as a rule, amidst the honors paid her, to raise her heart 
to Jesus Christ loaded with insults. But, to moderate at the 
same time the fire of her activity, which carried her much be 
yond the strength of her constitution, he frequently exhorted 
her, to take care of herself for the love of our Lord and of the 
poor who are his members. He even told her in positive 
terms, that one of the artifices which the devil uses with most 
success to deceive those who belong to God, is to prompt them 
to undertake more, than they are able to perform, in order that 
they may soon be rendered unable to do that of which they 
were capable. 

Whilst Madame Le Gras was practising with a sort of ex 
cess, all the duties of a tender and laborious charity, Vincent 
was not inactive. He was already at the head of all the good 
works which regarded the advantage of his neighbor; and he 
was this year the cause of the success of one, which ran a 
great risk of falling to the ground. The Marchioness of Maig- 
nelai, who willingly seized every occasion of promoting the 
honor of God, had founded in 1018 an asylum, to arrest the 
disorders of the persons of her own sex. In a short time, a con 
siderable number presented themselves, who appeared de 
lighted to find a harbor after their shipwreck. But it was soon 
found, that this institution wanted an essential part, and that 
there was in it no one capable of conducting it. The holy 
priest, to whom they had recourse after twelve years of use 
less efforts, followed his ordinary course. He consulted God; 
and upon his answer, of which he gave an account to the 
archbishop of Paris, he destined four religious of the Visi 
tation to fill the first places in the monastery of the Magde- 
laine. 

This plan, like most of those that relate to the glory of the 
Lord, experienced the greatest opposition. But at last the 
difficulties vanished in the hands of a man, whose great sense 
furnished him with infinite resources. The daughters of St. 
Francis of Sales, who were at first much alarmed at the diffi 
culties of this new employment, acquitted themselves of it 
7 



74 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

with their usual zeal and capacity. They gained every heart 
by the mildness and attention which characterise their insti 
tute. Charity made them absolute mistresses; and they regula 
ted that numerous community so well, that it afterwards pro 
duced those of Rouen and Bordeaux. It is true that the 
saint was of great service to them, either by the wise coun 
sels which he gave them personally, or by his letters, or the 
good confessors whom he procured for them. But the zeal 
and labor of those virtuous ladies is not the less estimable. A 
child loses nothing of his glory, by sharing it with his father. 
The holy joy, with which the happy success of so many 
good works must have filled a heart so sensible to the interests 
of God as was that of Vincent of Paul, was troubled by the 
death of the cardinal de Berulle, who, that very year, 1629, 
expired at the holy altar in the arms of his well beloved. Vin 
cent lost in him a friend and a father; but what afflicted him 
most was, that the church lost in him a model of the priest 
hood. To indemnify it, at least in part, for that loss, he 
opened the doors of his house to ecclesiastics who might wish 
either to reconcile themselves to God after having wandered 
from him, or to resume in solitude the courage they stood in 
need of to walk with new ardor in the arduous paths of the 
ministry. As these retreats never made more noise than after 
Vincent took possession of the house of St. Lazarus, it will 
be proper before entering into further detail, to point out the 
manner in which this establishment was made. This we shall 
develop in. the following book. 



Book Second. 



THOSE who have paid most attention to the history of Pa 
ris agree, that the house of St. Lazarus is very ancient. It 
must have been very considerable in early times, since the 
kings of France, on ascending the throne, made it their abode 
for some weeks, in order to receive the oath of allegiance from 
all orders of citizens. In the course of years, St. Lazarus be 
came the asylum of those who were attacked with the leprosy, 
a terrible disease, and so common until the twelfth century, 
that in Christendom there were found more than nineteen 
thousand hospitals for those who were infected with it. 

The hospital of St. Lazarus had in its constitution some 
thing very singular. They received there only citizens born 
in lawful wedlock and within the four principal gates of Pa 
ris. This rule admitted of no exception but in favor of the 
bakers, who being more subject to this terrible malady on ac 
count of the fire, were admitted from any part of the king 
dom. No one, however, was received without having pre 
viously made a vow of obedience to the first director of the 
house, who enjoyed as his own, all the possessions moveable 
and real, of every sick person after his death. 

In spite of the revolutions which, after having raised com 
munities to a certain point, insensibly degrade them after 
wards, the house of St. Lazarus was still in the time of our 
saint one of the most considerable in Paris. Eight regular 
canons occupied it by commission. Adrien Le Bon, their su 
perior, had with them one of those contests, which, although 
sometimes necessary, are not the less disagreable. After many 
conferences and some regulations which resulted in nothing, 
the prior thought only of leaving a place, where, with the 



76 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

best intentions in the world, he only suffered and caused others 
to suffer. But as he was a pious man, and as he happened 
at that very time to hear of the good that Vincent was doing, 
he thought, that, if he could induce him to take his house, 
he would render an important service to the church. He 
spoke on the matter to Mr. de Lestocq, curate of St. Law 
rence, his neighbor and intimate friend. 

That pious and learned doctor, who having been occasion 
ally associated with our saint in the country missions, had been 
an eye-witness to the services of every kind, which Vincent 
rendered to all, took great care to confirm the prior in his reso 
lution. He told him repeatedly, that it came from the Holy 
Ghost. He spoke to him at length of Vincent of Paul and 
his priests, and said every thing advantageous of them. 

Such favorable information would have been sufficient to 
determine a man not so well disposed as Mr. Le Bon. The 
two friends set out immediately. The prior proposed his plan 
without delay. He told Vincent of Paul in a few words, that 
he had received a very flattering account of his congregation 
and its charitable employments ; that he would be happy to 
contribute to its prosperity ; and that he was ready to yield his 
house and all its dependencies to concur in such an excellent 
work. 

A proposition so advantageous surprised or rather alarmed 
the servant of God; and although he could generally master 
his feelings, yet, his trouble manifested itself in a tremor, 
which the prior of St. Lazarus perceived. He asked of him 
the cause of it. Vincent replied with much modesty, that his 
proposition was so far above his merits and those of his 
priests, that he scrupled thinking of it. He continued to ex 
press himself in a manner so positive, and combatted so 
powerfully the most pressing arguments, that Mr. Le Bon lost 
at first all hopes of making him change his opinion. Yet the 
mildness of the holy priest, the piety, the charm of his con 
versation affected the prior so much, that the desire of exe 
cuting his design, became stronger in proportion to the obsta^ 
cles he met with. This induced him, when he was about to 
retire, to tell the saint that the offer which he was making, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 77 

well merited his attention, and that he gave him six months 
to think of it. 

It was probably in this interval, that our saint gave two 
striking proofs of his humility. The archbishop of Paris, 
who, in many things rested upon him, having called him to 
a great assembly held in his palace, reprimanded him rather 
harshly, on the subject of a mission which he thought Vin 
cent had neglected. The latter, after the example of the Royal 
Prophet, said not a word to justify himself; and although he 
was then more than fifty years old, he went on his knees, 
like a young novice before the master, and he begged his 
pardon lor a fault of which he was not guilty. This con 
duct which at first created surprise, did not fail to give great 
edification; but there was much more cause for admiration, 
when it was known that he had performed, and well per 
formed the mission which the prelate had accused him of 
having neglected. Andre Duval, that famous doctor who 
was always so intimate with our saint, could not help ex 
claiming before the whole assembly, that it was diilicult to 
find one in whom there was more virtue than Vincent. 

The second occasion in which the holy priest showed his 
humility, was furnished him by one of his nephews. The 
servant of God was in his room, when the porter announced 
to him that there was a countryman below, who called him 
self his nephew, and desired to speak with him. Nature suf 
fered a little at this moment. The saints themselves have to 
struggle as long as they are men, and they are men to the 
last breath. Vincent at first begged one of his companions to 
go and receive this relation; but he overcame himself on the 
spot; he even went into the street where his nephew had re 
mained; he embraced him tenderly, took him by the hand, 
and having introduced him into the house, he called all his 
priests and told them that he was the best man of his family. 
He did still more: he presented this poor relation to all the 
respectable persons who came to visit him. 

So complete a victory over the demon of pride did not ap 
pear to him sufficient, and during the first retreat which he 
made with his company, he accused himself publicly of hav- 



78 J.1FE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ing had so much pride as to wish to introduce his nephew se 
cretly into his room, because he was a countryman and badly 
dressed. It is the same Mr. de Saint Martin, canon of Acqs, 
of whom we have already spoken, who preserved this cir 
cumstance so glorious to our saint. He then lived at the col 
lege des Bons Enfans, and was there at the time when this 
happened. However, this poor young man, who, on his ar 
rival in Paris, believed his fortune to be made, was much de 
ceived in his expectations. The holy priest had made a com 
pact with his own heart; and he always kept it on its guard 
against the illusions of flesh and blood. He sent his nephew 
home on foot, as he had come, giving him only ten crowns 
for his journey ; he even begged them as an alms from the 
marchioness of Maignelai; and this is the only time he asked 
aid for any of his family. 

If these virtuous actions came to the knowledge of the prior 
of St. Lazarus, they could not but inspire him with a new 
desire to complete the affair which he had undertaken. How 
ever this may be, he did not fail, at the end of the time he 
had appointed, to visit the college des Bons Enfans and re 
double his efforts. Mr. de Lestocq, who again accompanied 
him, spoke at least as forcibly as he did. The servant of God 
remained firm and immovable. He represented to them that 
an establishment so considerable could not fail to produce 
great sensation; that he had with him only a few priests; that 
his community was but beginning, and that he feared nothing 
more than to be spoken of. 

The dinner hour, which arrived, suspended the contest. 
Mr. Le Bon was pleased to dine with the holy priest and his 
little community. The order preserved at table, the pious 
reading, the modesty and frugality which he observed, 
charmed the prior. He conceived for the priests of the new 
congregation almost as much esteem as for their institutor; 
and more strengthened than ever in his first design, he begged 
Mr. de Lestocq to continue his efforts and to allow neither 
peace nor truce to Vincent until he at last should force him 
to consent to a proposition, which seemed so reasonable. 

The affair could not be trusted to a man more eager for its 



LIFE OF ST. VINCEWT OF PAUL. 79 

execution. The curate of St. Lawrence was a particular 
friend of Vincent of Paul, and he desired nothing more ar 
dently, than to have him for his neighbor. Repaid him more 
than twenty visits in the space of six months, and made use 
of all the motives that piety and reason can suggest. Nothing 
could shake the servant of God. Humility and abjection were 
his favorite virtues. Any arrangement that might have re 
moved him from the situation in which Providence appeared 
to have placed him, seemed to him suspicious and filled with 
danger. At the end of a year, Mr. Le Bon and his friends 
were no faither advanced than on the first day; and entreaties 
repeated more than thirty times, far from conquering the re 
pugnance of Vincent, had not even induced him to go and 
see the house which was offered him. It was because he 
feared lest his heart might become the dupe of his eyes, and 
that the situation and advantages of the new establishment 
might appear to him a sufficient reason for accepting it. 

At last the prior of St. Lazarus, tired at his want of suc 
cess, said one day to the holy priest with some emotion : " you 
are, sir, a very strange man. There is not a person who 
wishes you well that is not desirous of your acceptance of the 
olfer made you. In such matters it is not wise to rely entirely 
upon ourselves. What friend have you in Paris whose coun 
sels you follow most readily ? I will have recourse to him ; 
and provided he thinks as you do, I will cease rny endea 
vors." Vincent, who had nothing to answer to so just a pro 
posal, pointed out Mr. Duval. That pious and learned doc 
tor was, since the death of Mr. de Berulle, the director of our 
saint, and it was very evident, on this occasion, that he did 
nothing of importance without having consulted him. 

Mr. Le Bon was delighted with this discovery. He was 
convinced he would not find the difficulties in the Sorbonne 
Avhich he had encountered at the college des Bons Enfans. In 
fact, every thing succeeded according to his wish. Mr. Duval 
himself settled the conditions of the contract. That article, 
which is commonly so litigious, was not the cause of a mo 
ment s delay. The doctor knew the liberality of the holy priest, 
and perhaps he granted to the prior more than he asked. 



80 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

The affair seemed concluded, when an unforeseen incident 
threatened to break it off . Mr. Le Bon, who was a solidly 
virtuous man, thought that he ought to stipulate that his re 
ligious should lodge in the same dormitory with the missiona 
ries, supposing that the latter would experience no inconve 
nience from it, and that the former, influenced by the good 
example they would have before their eyes, would by degrees 
be induced to imitate it. 

A superior less experienced than our saint, would not have 
hesitated with regard to an article which seemed of so little 
importance and was presented in so advantageous a light. 
But Vincent, who saw principles and their consequences at a 
glance, judged differently. He feared lest the complaisance 
and regard which we naturally have for our benefactors, 
would be an obstacle to the spiritual good of his little flock. 
Hence, without losing time, he begged of Mr. de Lestocq to rep 
resent to the prior of St. Lazarus, that it was the rule of the 
priests of the missions to keep silence from evening prayers un 
til the following day after dinner; that they were then allowed 
an hour for conversation, after which silence was again to be 
kept until the evening; that supper was followed by another 
hour of recreation, after which silence was resumed; that, 
moreover, this silence was very rigorous, and only broken in 
a low voice and in cases of necessity ; that these practices, 
which are often considered trifles, were looked upon by him 
as essential, and that he was persuaded that they could not be 
neglected without introducing disorder and confusion into 
communities. Hence our saint concluded that it was to be 
feared lest the religious of Mr. Le Bon, who had not been ac 
customed to such rigorous discipline, who probably would 
not be able to accustom themselves to it, would by degrees 
teach the missionaries themselves to relax in a point, the de 
struction of which would bring on that of many others. 
The prior, who understood better than any other, the justice 
of these observations, yielded the point. 

In consequence of the agreement, which was completed on 
the seventh of January 1632, Vincent took possession of the 
house of St. La/arus. The archbishop of Paris, Jean Fran- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 81 

ois de Gondi, did him the honor to install him. As they 
had the consent of the provost of the merchants, of the ma 
gistrates, and of all those who might be interested in the af 
fair, it was not thought that they would have any obstacle to 
encounter. But it was just, that Vincent, who during fifteen 
months had almost wearied the patience of Mr. Le Bon, 
should have his own a little tried. 

The king having caused the letters patent for this donation 
to by expedited, a certain religious community, which had a 
great influence and powerful friends, opposed itself to their 
being registered, and pretended that the house of St. Lazarus 
belonged to it. This incident only served to display the ex 
alted virtue of our holy priest, and above all, his disinterested 
ness and charity. Whilst the cause was discussed, he re 
mained in prayer in the chapel, and he begged of God, not to 
make him gain the cause, if he ought to lose; but to preserve 
in his heart a perfect submission to the orders of Providence. 
We must acknowledge, however, that, at the commence 
ment of this opposition, one thing gave him trouble, in case 
he would lose his cause. The reader would not easily ima 
gine it ; for, what afflicts the saints, is not generally a source 
of affliction to others. Mr. Le Bon had received in his house 
three or four insane persons, to the great satisfaction of their 
relatives. Vincent, who considered himself entrusted with 
the care of all the wretched, begged as a favor, on arriv 
ing at St. Lazarus, that they should be confided to him. It 
would be diflicult to express with what charity he caused 
them to be treated and even waited upon them himself. The 
more untractable among them were those to whom he conse 
crated himself with less reserve. The more nature had to 
suffer from these filthy, troublesome, and often dangerous men, 
the better he was satisfied. One day that he was examining 
before God, what would cause him pain, in case he should 
have to leave the house, nothing disquieted him but the fear 
of being unable to render the same services to these poor 
madmen. The convenience of a lordly house situated at the 
gates of Paris, the property annexed to it, the facility it would 
afford nis rising congregation, all these advantages appeared 



82 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

nothing to him in comparison with the pleasure he took in 
honoring our Lord in his infirm members, whom every one 
repels, and who do not find any asylum, even in their own 
houses. 

At last God recompensed the disinterestedness and humility 
of his servant by a favorable sentence. The religious of St. 
Victor did not esteem him the less, and they acknowledged 
with the rest of France, that the house of St. Lazarus, in be 
coming the patrimony of the holy man, had become the pa 
trimony of the poor. 

The criminals condemned to the gallies were the first to feel 
the effect of the charity which this new establishment enabled 
the saint to exercise more extensively. We have already seen 
what he did for them both at Paris and Marseilles. We shall 
now see him do things much more important. But here, as 
on many other occasions, we must be contented with the first 
epochs. Otherwise it would be impossible to avoid confusion 
in a history crowded with events, and in which every week, 
to say no more, saw an astonishing number of glorious enter 
prises arise, which could be fully executed only in the course 
of several years. 

The galley slaves, being now transported by the care of 
Vincent of Paul in the neighborhood of St. Roch, were 
there as well as their situation allowed. But, as they had 
only a rented house, and might be dislodged under various pre 
texts, our saint who was accustomed to prevent inconve 
niences, thought of the means of procuring for them a hospi 
tal which might be theirs for ever. That he might not miss 
his aim, he applied to the king himself, and obtained from him 
for those unhappy men an ancient tower between the Seine 
and the gate of St. Bernard. The care, or rather the charge 
of the spiritual and temporal administration of this new es 
tablishment rested almost entirely upon him alone for many 
years. 

With regard to spiritual matters, he directed those of his 
priests who lived at the college des Bons Enfans, to visit fre- 
quendy the galley slaves, to say mass for them every day, to 
instruct them, hear their confessions, and console them. He 



LIFE OF ST. VINCE.NT OF PAUL. 83 

afterwards yielded up this employment to the priests of the 
parish, with a salary of five hundred livres, which his own 
priests had never received. 

Madame Le Gras, who was always ready to listen to, and 
put in practice, the language of charity, took upon herself 
most cheerfully the care of temporal matters. She often went 
to see them and rendered them every good office. Vincent 
encouraged, by the example of this pious widow, other respec 
table ladies, to contribute to this good work; but he helped it 
along more than any one else, and it was to him principally 
that the galley slaves owed their maintenance and nourish 
ment, during the first eight or ten years they remained in this 
new abode. At last, Providence secured for them permanent 
succors, proportioned in some measure to their wants. A very 
rich person bequeathed them before dying a yearly income of 
six hundred livres; and this legacy, which at first cost our 
saint many contradictions, was finally executed. 

His tenderness for the galley slaves was not satisfied with 
the services of which we have just spoken. He endeavored 
to relieve them in the very point, in which they had most to 
suffer. What afflicted him above all, when he was at Mar 
seilles, was the pitiful state of those who fell sick. Always in 
chains, devoured by vermin, overwhelmed with pains, almost 
eaten up with corruption and infection, these living corpses 
already experienced the horrors of the grave. Vincent could 
not see, without deep emotion, men formed to the image of 
God, Christians redeemed with the blood of Jesus Christ, dy 
ing like brutes. But he was obliged to have patience; for the 
disturbed state of the kingdom did not yet allow him to act. 

When things appeared a little more calm, the holy priest 
addressed himself to cardinal of Richelieu, because in ad 
dition to one of his relations being general of the gallies, he 
shared with the duchess of Aiguillon, his niece, the senti 
ments of esteem which she always had for the institutor of 
the mission. Vincent, with those pathetic expressions which 
could scarcely be resisted, represented to him the horrible con 
dition in which the galley slaves at Marseilles were, when 
sick, and the necessity of forming an hospital for them. Jean 



84 L11K OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Baptiste GaukI, bishop of Marseilles, and the chevalier de 
Simiane, both distinguished by their very rare virtues, united 
with our saint in soliciting the prime minister. Richelieu, 
who was fond of projects in which there was any thing grand, 
obtained the consent of the king; the hospital was built on 
the same spot where Philip de Gondi had laid the foundation 
when Vincent lived in his house. Louis XIV afterwards as 
signed it an annual revenue of twelve thousand livres from 
the taxes of the province. There are three hundred beds, and 
it is one of the most beautiful and commodious houses of the 
kingdom. It was still incomplete., when Mr. de Simiane 
wrote to our saint that the hand of God manifested itself there, 
not only by the conversion of bad Christians, but in that of 
several Mahometans ; and that the latter moved by the charity 
shown them, paid homage to a religion which in Jesus Christ 
makes but one people of all the nations of the universe. 

To enable Vincent and the missionaries better to continue 
the good which they had commenced doing to the galley 
slaves, the young king confirmed to him in 1644 the charge 
of almoner general, and he did so in a style which shows the 
universal esteem in which he v\ as held at court. The duchess 
of Aiguillou took part in so good a work, and by a capital of 
fourteen thousand livres she founded missions for the galleys 
for every five years. Thus it was that a poor priest set in mo 
tion the first persons of the state, in order to procure for 
wretched beings, whom he looked upon as his brethren, all 
the aids of the most tender charity. His zeal, which knew 
neither difficulties nor bounds, soon prompted him to form 
a much more extensive project, by means of which he at 
last discovered the secret of relieving in every part of France, 
and even in foreign countries, an infinite number of unfortu 
nate beings, who had neither resources nor consolation. But 
before entering upon this great event, which forms one of the 
richest portions of his history, I must speak of the service 
which he rendered the church by the establishment of the ec 
clesiastical conferences. To understand well what we have 
to say on this subject, it will be necessary to go back a little. 

Vincent, in his missions, had not confined himself to the 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 85 

salvation of the people; he had also attended to the sanctifi- 
cation of the pastors, who were not all at that time models of 
virtue. When he found some in a district, whose hearts God 
opened to his counsels, he instructed them in the manner of 
preaching the word of God, catechising the children, hearing 
confessions, and administering the other sacraments with fruit. 
These first essays induced the saint to believe, that, if regular 
conferences could he established, they would perhaps have in 
France the success which they formerly had in the deserts of 
Thebai. But as he always distrusted much his own ideas, 
he was contented with praying, and he waited for the mo 
ment which Providence would choose. It arrived sooner per 
haps than he expected. A pious man, who had much pro 
fited by the exercises given to the ordinands, and wished to 
preserve the fruit of his retreat, proposed to him to assemble 
from time to time a number of ecclesiastics, to confer together 
on the means of sanctifying themselves as well as their breth 
ren. 

A proposal so conformable to the ideas of Vincent of Paul 
could not be but agreeable to him. Yet before undertaking 
any thing, he again consulted God for about fifteen days, and 
having been convinced that this new sort of exercises, would 
greatly contribute to the glory of his holy name, he made the 
proposition to the archbishop of Paris, who considered it his 
duty to approve it. Armed with the powers of his superior, 
and soon afterwards with those of the sovereign pontiff, 
whose consent, through the profound respect which he enter 
tained for the holy see, he was always in the habit of asking, 
even when it was not necessary, he thought of nothing but 
of choosing proper subjects to begin the new association. He 
soon found them. Several good priests, who honored him 
as their father, some of whom had just given missions in 
Anjou, or were giving one to a great number of laborers em 
ployed in building the church of the Visitation, entered into 
his views with pleasure; and the first assembly .was held 
shortly afterwards in the house of St. Lazarus. At this mee 
ting, Vincent proposed his plan, the end of which was to 
honor the Son of God, his eternal priesthood, his love for the 



CO LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

poor, and his zeal for the salvation of the people. This pro 
ject, in which every thing was holy, was received with great 
applause. On that very day, the necessity of the ecclesiasti 
cal spirit and the means of preserving it were proposed as the 
subject of the first conference. All spoke with solidity, but 
with great simplicity. The holy priest had foreseen that this 
exercise would become useless to them, should they affect 
to deliver eloquent or studied discourses. It is not that he 
wished them to speak at random; he required on the con 
trary a proper preparation. But simplicity was his rule, and 
he would not suffer any one to deviate from it, except when 
the matter to be treated required particular preparation. Hence 
there have been seen at these conferences the greatest geniuses 
of Europe speaking the simplest language, despising what 
St. Paul calls the vain persuasion of human wisdom, and al 
ways choosing between two expressions that which, being 
less flattering to human pride, was most calculated to edify, 
touch the heart and incline it to God. 

The saint gave them the example; but as he knew the 
scripture very well, and had above all a singular talent for 
selecting the examples and words of the Son of God, which 
had reference to his subject, he developed his sentiments with 
so much grace and unction, that the illustrious Bossuet, who 
heard him at an age naturally disposed to criticism, said forty 
two years after the death of the saint, that he might take our 
Lord to witness, that he had found in Vincent of Paul, that 
rare minister who speaks of God in a manner so full of wis 
dom and so exalted, that God himself appears to speak by his 
mouth.* Such doubtless would be the testimony that would 
have been rendered him by a Godeau, a Perrochel, an Olier, 
a Pavilion and so many others who went from one end of Pa 
ris to the other, to hear him, had they been living when the 
work of his beatification commenced. 

The Tuesday assembly, or the conference of St. Lazarus 

* Aderant plerumque inagni nominis episcopi. Pium costum ani- 
mabat Vincentius, quern cum disserentem avidi audiremus, tune im- 
pleri sentiebauuis Apostolicum illud: Si quis loquitur, tanquam ser- 

mories Dei H.TC corain Deo in Christo loquor. Benig. Bossuel, 

in Epiat. ad Clcmcnteni XI die 2 .dvgusti, 1702. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 87 

(for it was known by these two names), soon became so cele 
brated, that, according to a man who cannot be suspected in 
this matter,* "there was not in Paris an ecclesiastic of merit 
that did not try to belong to it." Every body was speaking 
with rapture of the regularity and indefatigable zeal of those 
who composed it. Cardinal de Richelieu, who was informed 
of it by the public voice, sent for Vincent, and spoke to him of 
it. The holy man gave him an account of the nature of the 
subjects discussed, and of the blessings which God begau 
to give to them. That great minister appeared well satisfied. 
He exhorted the saint to continue his good works. He as 
sured him of his protection, and asked him to come and see 
him from time to time. Before dismissing him, he wished to 
know the names of the ecclesiastics who attended this assem 
bly, and which of them he considered best suited for the epis 
copacy. When the servant of God had retired, the cardinal 
said to the duchess of Aiguillon his niece : "I had already a 
great idea of Vincent, but since our last interview, I have a 
much higher opinion of him." 

What cardinal de Richelieu had begun, Louis XIII com 
pleted after the death of his minister. Father Binet, his con 
fessor, asked, in his name, of the holy priest an exact account 
of the talents of those who assisted at the conferences. Vin 
cent obeyed; but at the same time he did what many others 
would have found some difficulty in doing. It is sufficiently 
evident, and he felt it himself, that if the good dispositions of 
the prince transpired in the slightest degree, some ecclesias 
tics of the first rank might have ranged themselves under the 
banners of fervor. Vincent, who was a declared enemy to 
ambition, took the necessary measures to remove it. He knew 
how to engage a great king to secrecy, after having engaged 
to it a great minister. He observed it himself so inviolably, 
that none of those whose names he had mentioned, ever 
knew the designs which the court had on them ; and at the 
very time that he looked upon them as at the heads of dio- 
cesses, he spoke to them of nothing but the happiness of liv 
ing and dying in obscurity. 

* M^moire dc Lancelot sur Saint-Cyran. t. 1, p. 287. 



88 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

We do not intend to relate all the good of which the con 
ference of St. Lazarus was the origin ; stiii we cannot refrain 
from giving some idea of it. One of the first fruits it pro 
duced, was to people the church with a great number of faith 
ful ministers, who, being tilled with the spirit by which our 
saint was animated, spread it through all the provinces. It 
was also from its bosom that rose, even during the life time 
of the saint, the pious and illustrious founders of the commu 
nities of St. Sulpicius, and of the foreign rnisssions; twenty- 
three archbishops or bishops, who, for the most part, labored 
with as much courage as success in restoring to the church 
her primitive beauty ; and a prodigious multitude of grand vi 
cars, officials, archdeacons, curates, canons, directors of semi 
naries or of religious, all of whom spread every where the 
good odor of Christ. The holy priest made of them a body 
of reserve, which he sent to the right and to the left, accord 
ing as circumstances required. France, surprised and always 
edified, saw them devoting themselves with invincible ardor 
to the most arduous functions of the holy ministry. Some 
joined the children of Vincent of Paul, others undertook im 
portant missions in the large cities, where the saint did not 
wish to send his priests. There was no rank or condition in 
the capital, that did not feel the impression of their zeal. The 
regiment of Guards, the Gluinze-Vingts, the mechanics who 
were ignorant of the very elements of salvation, the beggars 
with whom Paris was then inundated, the hospital of la 
Piete, that which Vincent had procured for the galley slaves, 
and above all, the Hotel-Dieu, that is to say, the domestics, 
the sick, and the virgins who devoted themselves to their ser 
vice; such were the objects that occupied them during more 
than fifty years. 

Although the detail of so much good would certainly be 
most edifying, the nature of a work like this does not permit 
me to give it. I shall even suppress the prodigious success, 
which those truly apostolical men had in a large town, where 
chicanery and iniquity, under the name of justice, held their 
court in taverns, and were there feeding upon the tears and 
the blood of the oppressed client. But as the mission which 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 89 

they made in the suburb of St. Germain, had something sin 
gular in its circumstances, it is proper to speak of it some 
what more at large. 

This suburb was then the sink of the whole kingdom. The 
impious, the libertines, the atheists, all that was most wicked, 
seemed to have conspired to establish their abode there. 
Vice, by becoming multiplied, had made that place its strong 
hold. The guilty, on account of their number, lived with 
impunity; and impunity augmented daily the number of the 
guilty. 

A virtuous lady, terrified at so many abominations, thought 
that a mission would stop their course. As all good people 
spoke to her with admiration of the one that Vincent was then 
giving, she endeavored to persuade him to give one also in 
this suburb. The saint resisted for some time: but this lady, 
who was conducted by a superior light, redoubled her prayers 
with so much earnestness, that he thought at last that the 
spirit of God spoke by her mouth. lie promised her that he 
would think of it, and he did it so seriously, that a few days 
after, he proposed to the ecclesiastics of his conference, to un 
dertake that good work. The just deference which all the 
members of that holy assembly had for the servant of God, 
did not prevent them from exclaiming against his proposition. 
Each one brought forward his reasons: they insisted particu 
larly upon the impossibility of success. The conclusion was, 
that they ought not to think of it any more. 

Vincent however thought of it again. He recommended 
it earnestly to our Lord. An interior answer strengthened 
him in his first opinion: and when these gentlemen assembled 
again, he told them in very strong terms, that he had every 
reason to believe that God required that service of them; that 
his grace was powerful enough to overcome every obstacle, 
and that he was persuaded that the enterprise would succeed 
in spite of the efforts of devils and men. The words of the 
holy priest did not, on this occasion, produce as much impres 
sion as usual; he even perceived that his firmness had given 
pain to some of those who had most strongly supported the 
contrary opinion. His humility was alarmed. He went on 



90 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

his knees before the whole assembly, and asked pardon of the 
company for the vivacity with which he had renewed his 
proposition. He protested that he had done so only because 
he felt himself interiorly urged to do it, and believed that God 
demanded of their zeal this new proof of courage and love. 

The sight of this worthy priest of Jesus Christ, prostrate 
at the feet of a great number of ecclesiastics, who all honored 
him as their father, had more effect upon them than any thing 
that he could have said. The mission was at once unani 
mously resolved upon, and those who had been most opposed 
to it, were now the first to urge it. 

Before commencing they begged him to regulate himself 
every thing they would have to do. They represented to 
him particularly, that the simple and familiar discourses, 
which succeeded in the country, would be found ridiculous in 
a city, like Paris, and that as the enemies they were going to 
attack, were different from those with whom they had hitherto 
contended, it would be necessary to employ other arms than 
those which they had heretofore wielded. 

These remarks, in which human prudence had some share, 
could not please a man who, after the example of the apos 
tle, would have thought it injurious to the power of the cross 
to rely upon purely natural means. He answered them that 
he was persuaded that the method which they had found to 
answer so well in all their other missions, was precisely the 
one which they ought to follow in the mission they were 
about to commence; that the spirit of the world which tri 
umphed in the place, the conversion of which they were to 
undertake, could not be more powerfully assailed than by the 
spirit of Jesus Christ, which is a spirit of simplicity ; that to en 
ter into the sentiments of that divine Saviour, they must seek, 
like him, not their own glory, but that of his father ; and that 
in speaking the language which the Son of God had em 
ployed, they would be at least sure, that it was not they who 
spoke, but Jesus Christ who spoke by them. 

These counsels were received as if coming from an angel. 
Without another moment s deliberation, they set to work. 
They were not long before perceiving that grace worked with 



LIFE OK ST. VI.NCKM OF I AL L. 91 

them. The simplicity and familiar style of their discourses, 
which they had thought would be the cause of their i ailure, 
was precisely that which multiplied the number of their hear 
ers. Their apostolical manner of preaching moved a great 
part of their auditory. They were themselves surprised and 
delighted. They saw every day, and almost at every mo 
ment, inveterate sinners, hardened usurers, barefaced and 
shameless females, libertines who had grown old in the most 
infamous disorders, in line, men who had been heretofore 
without humanity, without honesty, without religion, without 
faith and without God, coming, with their eyes bathed in 
tears, and their hearts pierced with sorrow, to throw them 
selves at their feet, crying aloud for mercy. The finger of 
God was so evidently with them, that it was impossible not 
to see its operation. Conversions so astonishing were made, 
that there was something miraculous in them. Injustice and 
hatred, the passions the most difficult to conquer, laid down 
their arms. In a word, the blessing of God was so abundant 
and so efficacious, that if we were to relate in detail the re 
conciliations, restitutions, and every species of good produced 
by this mission, it would form matter enough for a volume; 
these are the expressions of the contemporaneous author who 
first wrote the life of our holy priest. 

He adds, and nothing is better calculated to confirm his re 
cital, that a citizen of Paris who had followed all the exer 
cises of the mission, and who had been witness of the great 
good produced by it, was so much moved, that going to those 
worthy ecclesiastics, he told them that he had a property of 
seven or eight thousand livres of which he could dispose 
without injury to any one, and that he came to offer it and 
himself to serve them for the rest of his life, provided they 
would engage themselves to continue in other places the ex 
ercises they had just finished in the parish of St. Sulpicius. 
These gentlemen, without accepting his offer, told him very 
affectionately, that they could not unite in the manner which 
he proposed, but that their intention was to spend the re 
mainder of their life, in occupations very similar to those by 
which he had been so much edified, and that God, who knows 



92 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

how to value the dispositions of the heart, would certainly re 
ward his good will. Such was the result of that famous mis 
sion. Bossuet attributed to the prayers of Vincent of Paul 
the prodigious success of those made by his children in the 
diocess of Metz, when he was archdeacon there. The reader 
must judge whether the advantages of the one we have re 
lated, were less the effects of the sighs of the holy priest, 
of than the zeal which he showed to have it undertaken. 

Had the ecclesiastical conferences of St. Lazarus effected 
no other good than that of which we have spoken, they 
would merit the praises of posterity. But they also pro 
moted the glory of God by the manner in which they spread 
themselves throughout France and beyond the mountains. 
Jean Jacques Olier, who alone does so much honor to Vin 
cent of Paul, was the first to establish them in Auvergne and 
and in Velai, and subsequently amongst the canons of Puy. 
Those of Noyon established them of their own accord. The 
ecclesiastics of Pontoise, Angouleme, Angers, Bordeaux, and 
many others, followed their example. All these assemblies 
had the same relation to that of St. Lazarus, that colonies 
have to their metropolis, as appears by the letters of the illus 
trious Mr. Godeau, bishop of Vence, and of the pious foun 
der of the seminary of St. Sulpicius. I will only add that 
those established in Normandy by the abbe of Val Richer 
were attended with the most brilliant success; it is a known 
fact. I will remark also that he was an intimate friend of our 
saint, as well as of Mr. Bourdoise, and that a man formed in 
such a school, must naturally have succeeded, whilst he fol 
lowed the lessons which he had received in it.* 

The good which Vincent had effected among the clergy by 
this pious and learned assembly, did not satisfy the insatiable 
ardor of his zeal : he desired to effect something similar in 
families by the establishment of spiritual retreats. No person 
had as yet undertaken what he executed in this respect; and 
it appears that his immense charity will have but few imita- 



i ov born in Lor ine in 1631, died at Val Richer 
in 1693. His hie has been written by Father Huffier, in 1696. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 93 

tors. The greatest saints had wept over the corruption which 
covered the face of Christianity; they exhorted the faithful to 
build a spiritual solitude for themselves in their hearts, there 
to weigh all their actions in the balance of truth; and to reflect 
deeply on the eternal years which are advancing at a rapid 
pace. But it was reserved for Vincent of Paul to afford them 
a facility to do this, which they had not before enjoyed; and 
to take away from the middling classes, that is, from the 
greater number, the pretexts under which they had been ac 
customed to veil their negligence and insensibility. With 
this view, he resolved to share his house and possessions, 
with those who were willing to profit hy them to become 
reconciled to God. Like the father of the family, of whom 
our Saviour speaks in his gospel, he in a manner forced 
the good and the bad to sit down at his table. All the re 
ward he asked, was that those who were just, should sanctify 
themselves still more; and that those who were not, should 
use every effort to become so. 

The information of such generous conduct spread by de 
grees through Paris and into the provinces. In a few months 
the house of St. Laxarus became more frequented than it had 
been for a century. Vincent himself compared it to Noah s ark, 
into which all sorts of animals, both great and small, were 
well received. In fact, it was a strange enough sight to see 
in the same refectory, gentlemen of the first respectability and 
people of the lowest class; enlightened doctors and poor 
countrymen who had scarcely common sense; great magis 
trates and simple mechanics; men of the world, and solitaries 
accustomed to live in the forests; old men who came to la 
ment the past, and young people who had recourse to God, 
to secure themselves against the perils of the future. 

To execute his design in a manner useful to those who made 
the n treat, and transmit the importance of it to his successors 
from age to age, he endeavored to show to both the price of 
the grace which God placed in their hands. 

He represented to those who made the exercises that the 
only end of the retreat was to destroy the reign of sin, reform 
themselves altogether, destroy their bad habits, their faults and 



94 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OK PAUL. 

even their imperfections: that they ought to employ their time 
in begging of God to make them perfect christians,, each one 
according to his state of life and that it was of great conse 
quence for those who had not as yet embraced any state, to 
consult much with our Lord on that which they were to em 
brace. He desired above all that particular attention should 
be paid to those who thought of quitting the world; but then 
he exacted precautions which amounted almost to scrupu 
losity- And if on the one hand he wished them to be advised, 
in general, to prefer well regulated communities to disorderly 
ones, on the other, he would not allow them to be advised in 
particular; above all, it was prohibited to propose to them his 
congregation. The choice of a house, whether secular, as his 
was, or religious, like most of the others, was, in his opinion, 
an affair to be decided by God alone, and upon which those 
who are consulted should dread very much answering rather 
through views of natural prudence, than according to the 
maxims of Christian simplicity. 

In order that the missionaries might omit nothing that 
could contribute to the success of the retreats, the saint re 
quired two things of those to whom he committed the direc 
tion of them. The first was, that they should speak in a solid 
and affecting manner, that they should take care to banish 
that vain eloquence, which St. Paul reprobated so often, and 
which God does not bless. The second was, that they should 
select for the subjects of their discourses, not those calculated 
to amuse the mind, but the great truths of salvation, our perso 
nal obligations, the resources which Jesus Christ has prepared 
for us in the sacraments, the dispositions required to approach 
them Sec. It is by these means that they are disposed, to make 
good general confessions, or, if they have already made such 
as can be relied upon, to supply by an exact review, whatever 
may have been defective in their late confessions; to prescribe 
to themselves a rule of life to which they must strictly adhere; 
and above all, to take firm resolutions and always in detail, 
not only to avoid sin and the occasions which may lead to it, 
but also to perform all the good works of which each one is 
capable in the state of h fe wherein he is placed by God. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 95 

A plan so well formed must have necessarily been very 
serviceable to those for whom it was made: but as it might 
happen, after the death of the servant of God, and even du 
ring his life, that his priests, worn down by labor, and unable 
to bear the expense of so many gratuitous retreats, might re 
lax by degrees ; to guard them against this sort of temptation, 
the saint repeated several times in his conferences that the 
choice which it had pleased God to make of the house of St. 
Lazarus for the conversion of innumerable sinners, was a great 
grace; that they should dread nothing so much as to become 
unworthy of it; that if they should ever deserve to be de 
prived by God of that employment, it would be to be feared 
that he would deprive them of all others; that a missionary 
who would acquit himself of so glorious a function with re 
pugnance, could only be an object of horror before God and 
man. "Ah!" he exclaimed one day, in finishing a long dis 
course on this subject, "what a shame, what a subject of af 
fliction, if this place, which is now like a beautiful bath, 
whither so many come to cleanse themselves, should become 
one day a corrupted cistern, through the relaxation and sloth 
of those who dwell in it. Let us pray to God, gentlemen, 
that this misfortune may not happe:i. Let us address our 
selves to the Blessed Virgin, that, by her powerful interces 
sion, and through iier immense desire of the conversion of 
sinners, we may avoid such a misfortune." 

It was by these and similar motives that Vincent animated 
his company, never to calculate the trouble or the expense of 
those holy exercises. On this point, as well as on all others, 
he gave them examples more powerful than his words. The 
more he advanced in age, the more, contrary to the cus 
tom with old men, he became piously prodigal; his charity 
knew no bounds. In fine, he went so far, that he received as 
many persons for the exercises as he could possibly receive. 
From a calculation made, during the twenty-five last years of 
his life, nearly twenty thousand persons made retreats in his 
house, that is to say, eight hundred were received in it every 
year. It is true that some of them paid a part of their ex 
pense ; but it is true also that the greater part gave nothing 



gg LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

at all, either because the mediocrity of their fortune did not 
permit, or because they imagined, as some do now, that the 
retreats of St. Lazarus were the object of a foundation, and 
that the collection of strangers received there was less a duty 
purely gratuitous charity, than an obligation of justice. 

As it sometimes happens that pious persons do not always 
think alike, there were some among the children of Vincent 
of Paul, who considered his liberality excessive, and com 
plained of him to himself. Those complaints, which he re 
futed a long time with the arms of charity, recurred so often, 
and it was represented to him in so strong a manner that his 
house was on the point of destruction, that it was thought at 
last that his zeal would be confined within narrower limits. 
Not to resist altogether remonstrances which appeared just, he 
took upon himself the care of receiving all who would come, 
and of making a choice of them. But when he came to the 
point of admitting some and rejecting others, his heart was so 
affected that he could hardly refuse any one. The conse 
quence was that he admitted more on the first day than they 
had ever been accustomed to receive. In vain did they tell him, 
what they had been obliged to repeat to him more than once, 
that there were no more rooms in the house, he calmly an 
swered that he would give his own. 

If it cost him much to bear such a heavy burden, it must 
be acknowledged that he was, even during his life, recom 
pensed a hundred fold for it. As he desired that those of his 
houses which had the means, should imitate the example of 
the mother house in Paris, he saw by himself, or learned from 
undoubted testimony, the inconceivable fruits which the spiri 
tual retreats produced on all sides. He received a prodigious 
number of letters on this subject, all tending to congratulate 
him on the blessing which God gave to his zeal and to that 
of his children. Priests, curates, bishops, and amongst others 
the baron de Renty,* thanked him a thousand times for hav 
ing opened a new way of sanctification to pastors and people. 

* Gaston Jean Baptiste, baron de Renty, born in the diocess of 
Baieux in 1611, died the 24th of April 1618. Dr. Burnet, bishop of 
Salisbury, has clone justice to his virtues. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 97 

But it was not only in France, that God gave his blessing 
to the retreats made by Vincent or his companions: his hand 
was with them in Italy as well as in France. Cardinal 
Durazzo, who did honor to the Roman purple by his alms, 
his zeal and his vigilance, had no sooner established the chil 
dren of our holy priest at Genoa, than he desired to try 
whether they would be of as great advantage to the ecclesias 
tics, as they had been to the country people of his diocess. 
He invited those of the curates in whose parishes they had 
made missions to come to the capital. The greater number 
obeyed with pleasure, and were rewarded for their docility. 
Their modesty, the strict silence which they observed, their 
simplicity in giving an account of their meditations, were 
sensible marks of the renovation operated in them by the Holy 
Ghost. Conversions took place which, if we suppose with 
a holy father that an unfortunate ecclesiastic is scarcely ever 
converted, must appear miraculous in an extraordinary de 
gree. Repentance was manifested more than once by confes 
sions perhaps too public. The spirit of humility and compunc 
tion was so prevalent, that its sallies could not be moderated 
but with difficulty; which occasioned one of those gentlemen 
to exclaim one day: "We are here in the valley of Josaphat: 
every one acknowledges his misery. After all, happy is the 
one who, by this anticipated confession, may be able to avoid 
that of the great day of the Lord!" 

It was the consideration of so much good, of which the 
prelates gave Vincent of Paul an exact account, that rendered 
him so firm in not allowing his house to give up the retreats, 
so long as it was possible to bear the expense. It was through 
the same motive that he examined before God, whether he 
could not procure in some community of religious women, 
the same advantage for persons of the other sex, which they 
could not enjoy in the houses of his congregation. Charity, 
which renders every thing easy, did not long delay giving him 
the means. It was not enough for the father of the poor to 
have established a congregation of priests almost entirely de 
voted to their service, it pleased heaven that he should also 
give rise to a numerous band of virgins, whose zeal had, in 



98 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF VAUL. 

some respects, a more extensive object, and who, without dis 
tinction of age or sex, should perform in favor of the orphan 
and the indigent what the more important occupations of the 
apostolical ministry or the rules of propriety would not allow 
him to do himself. As the formation of this great establish 
ment is essentially connected with the history which I write, 
it is necessary to make known its origin, its functions, and its 
progress. 

Vincent of Paul had now established the confraternities of 
charity in favor of the sick poor about seventeen years. That 
association of mercy, having spread from the country into the 
cities, a great number of ladies of rank had engaged in it. 
But that which rendered these assemblies more brilliant, 
contributed by degrees to make them less useful. The first 
ladies of rank who engaged in them, had done it through 
choice, and piety induced them to serve the poor personally. 
It was not quite so with those who succeeded them. Some 
joined them, because it was the fashion. Others acted, it is 
true, through purer motives ; but their husbands, who feared 
the effects of unwholesome air, would not allow them to 
yield to their zeal. It was necessary then to rely upon ser 
vants; and as the greater part had neither affection nor skill, 
an establishment which required a great deal of both, was 
daily falling to decay. 

To remedy this disorder, it was thought necessary to have 
female servants, whose only occupation should be to distribute 
every day to the sick the nourishment and remedies which 
their sickness required. This project was good ; but before 
carrying it into execution, it was necessary, above all, to find 
persons who would undertake it; and also, after having found 
them, to form them to an employment which requires much 
capacity and virtue, and more virtue than capacity. These 
two things were not easy, and the second was yet less so than 
the first. 

After many efforts, and still more prayers, the saint thought 
at last that he ought to yield to the entreaties of Madame Le 
Gras, who, full of tenderness for the poor, had been waiting 
luring two years for the permission from her director, to con- 



LIFE OF ST. VI.NCENT OF PAUL. 99 

secrate herself to their service by an irrevocable vow. Towards 
the end of the year 1633 lie sent her three or four young girls 
from the country who appeared disposed for the most arduous 
duties of chanty. The great talents which God had given 
to the holy widow for this kind of education, were soon 
manifested. These young girls, whom the urgent necessities 
of the poor did not permit her to cultivate long, edified all the 
parishes into which they were sent. Their modesty, their 
eagerness to serve the sick, the sanctity of their lives charmed 
those who saw them. Such beautiful examples moved seve 
ral young persons of their age and sex, who came to offer 
themselves, to render, like them, their humble services to Jesus 
Christ in the persons of the poor. 

Such was the commencement of that company of Virgins, 
who under the name of Daughters of Charity, have now 
thirty-four houses in the city of Paris. As small in its birth 
as tiie mustard seed, it has now become a great tree. Its roots, 
nourished less by the substance of the earth than by the dews 
of heaven, have extended into every part of France, into Lor 
raine and even into Poland; and we will soon see the orphan 
for so long a time neglected, the desolate widow, the soldier 
covered with blood and wounds, the wretched poor, the sick 
of all kinds, reposing under its healthful brandies, and there 
finding nourishment, vigor and life. 

Vincent and the pious Madame Le Gras had neither fore 
seen nor hoped for such rapid and extensive progress. But 
when they saw that God, satisfied in a manner with having 
drawn the outlines of his work, chose to confide it to their 
care that they might give it the finishing stroke, they both 
endeavored to extract from this precious talent, all that it was 
capable of producing. Their intention had been at first only 
to assist in the parishes those of the sick who were deprived 
of necessary aid. When the designs of God became after 
wards manifest, the holy institutor charged them by degrees 
with the education of the foundlings, and the instruction of 
young girls who were without the means of obtaining it; with 
the care of a great number of hospitals, and even of the cri 
minals condemned to the galleys. As these different occupa- 



100 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

tions form in a manner many communities out of one, the 
holy priest gave them general and particular rules to sustain 
the whole body and the different parts which compose it. 

According to these rules, which have always been con 
sidered a master piece of wisdom, the Sisters of Chanty 
must, above all thing, be well convinced that God united 
them to honor Jesus Christ our Lord, as the source and mo 
del of all charity, by rendering him in the persons of poor 
old people, children, the sick, and the prisoners, all the ser 
vices corporal or spiritual of which they are capable} that, to 
correspond with so holy a vocation, they must join the inte 
rior exercises of a spiritual life with the exterior employments 
of Christian charity; that, although they are not and cannot 
be nuns, because that state is incompatible with their employ 
ments, yet they must lead a life more perfect, if possible, than 
that of the most holy nuns, because they are much more ex 
posed; that, as purity, a virtue hard to preserve and of infi 
nite extent, is indispensibly necessary to them, they must re 
move, by the most severe precautions, every thing that might 
wound the eyes of God or their neighbor, and that watchful 
ness over themselves must redouble, when charity obliges 
them to mingle with the world, treat with persons of a dif 
ferent sex, and take care of the sick, and even of the dying. 

As nothing is better calculated to nourish virtue than the 
mortification of this body of sin which we carry every where 
with us, and an inviolable fidelity to all the exercises of solid 
piety, they have, with regard to both, rules which leave no 
thing to be desired, and which require much whilst they ap 
pear to exact little. Neither hair cloth nor the other austeri 
ties of the cloister are required of them. Their great penance 
is their common life. To rise summer and winter at four 
o clock in the morning, make two meditations a day, live very 
frugally, use no wine except when sick, watch with them by 
turns for whole nights, count as nothing either the infection 
of the hospitals or the poisoned air breathed in them, or the 
horrors of the dead and dying ; this is the kind of morti 
fication which the Sisters of Charity undergo : if it be 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 101 

enough for vigorous men, it is certainly enough for persons 
naturally feeble. 

As regards their exercises of piety, some are prescribed by 
the common rule, others they must refer to their confessor. 
But both are subordinate to the wants of their neighbor. At 
the first cry of the poor they must fly to their succour. But 
whatever zeal they must have for procuring corporal health 
for the sick, they must be much more interested for the health 
of their souls. As the voyage of eternity is performed but 
once, as the main point is to perform it well, and for that end 
great dispositions are required, they must, to prepare the 
minds and hearts of the dying, profit by every moment of life 
that remains to them. In the beginning they must endeavor 
to inspire them with a lively horror of their sins; and if there 
be still time, dispose them in an earnest manner, but in gene 
ral, to make an exact confession of all their miseries; if time 
presses, they must aid them to conceive a sincere sorrow for 
their past disorders, and a firm resolution to die rather than 
fall into them again. 

These rules, after having been practised for more than 
tw nty years, were approved by the cardinal de Retz, arch 
bishop of Paris. The king confirmed the establishment by 
his letters patent, which are an eternal monument of his piety 
and of he esteem in which the Sisters of Charity were 
already every where held. They afterwards merited a still 
greater eulogy, not on account of their duties, which were al 
ways the same, but on account of the persons who fulfilled 
them. Vincent, believing that God would bless more par 
ticularly the poor serving the poor, admitted for a number of 
year 1 ; into the new community, only persons of a middling 
rank. But young ladies of high standing having offered them 
selves to share with the former the abjection and merit of their 
employments, it was thought unjust to close against them a 
door which God himself seemed to open to them. A trial 
was therefore resolved upon, and it turned out most happily. 
The world then saw and still sees young ladies brought up 
delicately and accustomed to dress richly, embracing a state of 
life in which nature has much to suffer, honoring as their 
9 



102 LIFK OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

masters unfortunate beings, who would not have been allowed 
to wait upon them in the world, and wearing with greater 
joy a poor coarse habit, than the followers of the world ex 
perience in their worldly and often scandalous attire. 

I do not know whether this change took place during the 
life of the holy institutor: it is however certain that whatever 
may have been the condition of the Sisters of Clmrity in 
his lime, he had always a particular respect for them. The 
very name of Servants of the Poor melted the heart of this 
father of all the afflicted. The protection which God grants 
to those who serve him in his members, was a guarantee to 
him against the innumerable dangers to which their virtue is 
exposed. He sent them sometimes to the armies, to take care 
of the wounded or sick soldiers, sometimes even to Poland, 
through Germany, amidst a multitude of heretics, without 
appearing to fear for them what he would have apprehended 
for others. He sometimes seemed to promise them, that hea 
ven would rather work miracles in their favor, than abandon 
them: and heaven has more than once justified his predic 
tions. There is an example to which all Paris was witness, 
and in which even incredulity would find it hard not to ac 
knowledge the finger of God. 

One of the sisters of charity having gone to wait upon a sick 
person in a house in the suburb of Saint-Germain, had scarcely 
entered it, when the edifice fell. Of thirty persons who were 
in it, every one was buried under its ruins, with the excep 
tion of a small child which was wounded, and the sister of 
whom we speak, who was not even touched. During this 
terrible accident she was on the corner of a floor, which did 
not fall, although all the other parts of the same floor fell in. 
She remained there motionless with a porringer which she 
carried in her hand. A shower of stones, beams, joists, 
chests and presses, which fell from the upper stories, grazed 
the place where she was; but they appeared to respect her: 
she came forth unharmed from this heap of ruins, amidst the 
acclamations of an immense body of people who had been 
attracted by this terrible accident. 

The service which Vincent of Paul rendered the poor by 



LIFE OK ST. VINCEJfT OF PAUL. 103 

procuring a community which had no other object in view 
but their relief, was soon followed by a new establishment, 
which was for those very poor a source of advantage, of 
which the most vivid imagination can form but a very im 
perfect idea. 

On his return from a journey in which, by order of the 
bishop of Beauvais, he made the visitation of the nuns of St. 
Ursula, the effects of Avhich still subsist in the wise regula 
tions which he left them, the lady of the late president Gous- 
sault proposed to him a good work which she had long had 
in contemplation. She was a lady eminent for her charity. 
Rich and beautiful, the world was offering to her in a second 
marriage every thing that was capable of flattering a young 
person of her condition. But grace was stronger than na 
ture. Jesus Christ, poor and suffering in the poor, was the 
only spouse whom she desired to choose. She lost nothing 
and the poor gained a great deal. 

The persons whom she most frequently visited, were the 
sick of the Hotel-Dieu of Paris, and they were the principal 
subject of the conversation whi -h she had with Vincent of 
Paul. She represented to the holy priest with great power, 
that this vast hospital merited particular attention; that nearly 
twenty- five thousand patients were received in it every year, 
of every age, sex, country, and religion; that consequently 
an immense harvest could be reaped there, if it were well 
regulated; that, however, things wen far from being so, and 
that slu> knew, from being an eye-witness of it, that the poor 
there were much neglected both for spiritual and temporal 
wants. 

Vincent knew well that the best order did not prevail at the 
IIotel-Dieu : but he also knew that there are evils which 
must be tolerated, for fear, in trying to correct them, to occa 
sion greater ones. He was therefore content to reply to the 
lady, that the house of which she spoke was governed by ad 
ministrators whom he thought very wise, and that he had no 
authority to correct the abuses which might exist there as 
well as any where else. This reply was very judicious, and 
manifested miKh circumspection. Yet, ns it afforded no 



104 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

remedy for any thing, the zeal of Madame Goussaultwas not 
satisfied with it. She made new efforts, but she always re 
ceived nearly the same answer. 

What the love of the world does in the heart of a woman 
who is its victim, the love of God does still more easily in 
those virtuous ladies who think of nothing but his glory. 
Madame Goussault followed up her project; that is to say, 
she persisted in her desire that it should be put in execution, 
and what is more, that, Vincent should be the one to take it 
in hand, because she would then be certain that it would suc 
ceed. With this view, she paid a visit to the archbishop of 
Paris : she spoke to him in so striking and pressing a manner, 
that the prelate signified to the holy priest, that it would give 
him pleasure if he would undertake that good work. 

Vincent, who had no longer any doubt of the will of God, 
invited some ladies of rank to assemble, on a certain day, at 
the house of Madame Goussault. The ladies de Ville-Savin, 
tie Bailieul, du Mecq, de Sainctot, and de Pollaillon met accor 
dingly. The saint opened the assembly with a discourse so 
energetic, and developed so well the importance of the con 
templated undertaking, that all resolved to engage in it. The 
affair was airain brought forward at a second assembly, which, 
owing to the cares of the servant of God, was more numer 
ously attended than the first. Elizabeth d Aligre, wife of the 
chancellor of France, was there with Anne Petau de Tra- 
versi, and the illustrious Marie Fouquet de Belle-Isle. The 
last has obtained an immortal name by her attachment to God, 
her tenderness for the poor, and her submission to the most 
rigorous decrees of Providence ; and never will it be forgotten 
that at the moment when she learned the humiliating disgrace 
of her son, the superintendent of finances, she pronounced at 
the feet of her sovereign master these words which will con 
stitute her eulogium forever: "I thank thee, O my God. 
have begged of you the salvation of my son : this is the road 
toil." 

At this assembly they proceeded to the election of three offi 
cers, that is, a superior, an assistant, and a treasurer. Ma 
dame Goussault deserved to be and was in fact the superior 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 105 

of the new company; and Vincent was appointed perpetual 
director. In a few years it became so flourishing, that it 
numbered two hundred ladies, some of whom, as the duchess 
of Mantua, were born to wear a crown. The more they tes 
tified their good will and ardor, the more our saint perceived 
the importance of guiding their zeal. It was on this account 
that he prescribed rules for them, from which they made an 
agreement never to depart. As his first glance at things was 
admirable, and as he saw objects in their whole extent, he re 
marked that the point was, first, to do guod, without reproach 
ing those who were at the head, with having neglected it ; 
2dly, to do it in sight of all who were willing to be wit 
nesses of it; 3dly, to do it for the sick, whose souls were of 
tentimes more to be pitied than their bodies. 

This project was successfully executed in every point. 
Those ladies, by their amiable and respectful manners, gained 
the hearts of the religious of the house. They had every 
liberty to visit the halls for the consolation of the sick, to 
speak to them of God, and encourage them to make a good 
use of their infirmities. They disposed them to make good con 
fessions, by merely relating to them the manner in which they 
prepared themselves. They procured them enlightened di 
rectors, who were acquainted with different languages, a help 
of which they had hitherto been deprived. They banished the 
abuse of requiring of the sick to go to confession on entering 
the house; an abuse which occasioned a multitude of sacri 
leges, and in consequence of which the calvinists, for fear of 
not being so well treated, went to confession like the others. 
To these aids for the soul, were added, I do not say food, but 
comforts for the body. Every day, the Sisters of Charity, 
in a house rented expressly in the neighborhood, were pre 
paring for a thousand sick persons, biscuits, preserves, jellies, 
even fruits, according to the season and their state of convales 
cence. It is impossible for such attentions to be paid, except 
by those who look upon the poor as their children; but we 
can only look upon them as such, when a lively faith makes 
us consider them the images of a God loaded with our mise 
ries and infirmities. 



106 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

The sight of a number of ladies of the first respectability, 
who by turns performed the duties of charity with an atten 
tion and grace of which servants are not capable; this sight, 
I say, melted the hearts of the people and the nobility. The 
poor, who had the greatest share in these advantages, were 
extremely affected; and if we are permitted to judge of the 
change of morals by the conversions made in point of reli 
gion, we can yield to the most favorable conjectures, since in 
the course of a single year, the one in which the good work 
commenced, there were more than seven hundred and sixty, 
Turks, Calvinists, and Lutherans, of whom many had been 
wounded and captured at sea, who embraced the catholic 
faiih. It was even so much the persuasion in Paris, that 
there was a particular blessing attached to the new society, 
that good citizens begged and obtained their reception into the 
Hotel-Dieu, by paying very liberally for their expenses, on 
condition that they should be attended precisely as the poor 
of the house were. 

Although the expenses which this assembly incurred for 
the sick, amounted to at least seven thousand livres a year, 
we must only look upon them as a prelude to the efforts 
which it made, some years afterwards, in favor of an innu 
merable multitude of the poor of the kingdom and the neigh 
boring states: even these efforts, prodigious as they may ap 
pear, are but a portion of the immense good of which it has 
been the source. It was that society which, under the gui 
dance of Vincent of Paul, laid the first foundations of the 
general hospital of Paris, and of that of Sainle Reine. It 
opened an asylum for foundlings and a safe retreat for many 
decent young women, by the establishment of the house 
of Providence. In fine, it was that society, whose charity 
extended itself even into Asia, Africa and America, where, 
by abundant alms, it contributed to the support of the min 
isters of the gospel, to sustain the new converts, to the re 
demption of captives, to the erection of many churches, and 
to the apostolical journeys performed in China and Tonquin 
by the bishops of Heliopolis, Berite, and Metellopolis. Such 
a number of splendid actions require greater detail; but we 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 107 

must wait until the order of time permits us to speak of them 
more extensively. 

Notwithstanding these occupations and many others which 
the archbishop of Paris added to them, Vincent always 
pursued his two principal projects, the sanctification of the 
clergy and the instruction of the country people. He 
w is not satisfied with what he had heretofore done for the as 
pirants to orders; but, as he could do nothing hetter, he pru 
dently thought that if ecclesiastics were formed early to the 
virtues of their state, the first pastors would find in these 
young plants cultivated or a long time, the surest resources 
against disorder. With this view he established, at the col 
lege des Bons Enfans, a seminary according to the plan 
of the council of Trent; he received a number of young 
clergymen, from the age of twelve to fourteen, to whom his 
priests taught the chant, the ceremonies, and still more the 
gravity, recollection, and all the virtues becoming the holy 
ministry. Iut he afterwards perceived, as did also the bish 
ops, that this plan, beautiful as it was, would be very difficult 
in its execution. This forced him, six or seven years after 
wards, not to abandon his enterprise, it is true, but to add 
something to it, by establishing, with M. Bourdoise his riend, 
seminaries on the same footing as they now exist in most of 
the diocesses France, as we shall mention in its place. 

As to the instruction of the country people, the saint mul 
tiplied his missions in proportion as (lod multiplied his com 
pany. By degrees his priests visited a great part of our pro 
vinces. Those which were most exposed to the contagion of 
heresy were commonly preferred to others, because their 
wan .s were more pressing. It was for this reason that he 
wished that two of his missionaries should labor two whole 
years in the diocess of Montauban ; and although they had 
been sent principally to strengthen the catholics who were in 
danger of losing their faith, God gave them the grace to con 
vert twenty-four calvinists. They had no less success in the 
diocess of Bordeaux. As they avoided in their sermons every 
thing like controversy, many of the pretended reformers were 
always amongst the numbers of their hearers: but as they 



108 LIFE OF ST. vi.Nc;;.vr OF I-AUI,. 

took care to place in a strong light the beauty of our holy re 
ligion,, there were always some, returning to the unity. 

It would seem that such success, of which the prelates, 
the curates and the nobility gave the holy priest an exact ac 
count, could not fail to console him; yet they more than 
once alarmed the truly Christian friendship which he nour 
ished for his children. He feared lest the benedictions which 
were showered upon them by pastors and people, might at 
last weaken their humility. After the example of holy Job, 
he sanctified himself for them; and he offered every morn 
ing the victim of expiation for the faults they might have 
committed. This precaution did not satisfy his tenderness. 
He took care, in congratulating them on their spiritual con 
quests, to direct their minds to Him who was the author of 
them. Nor did he fail to share in their functions, whenever 
the important affairs with which he was intrusted, left him a 
little respite ; and he then chose the most laborious missions. 
It is probably for this reason that he formed the design of put 
ting himselt at the head of his priests, to commence one in the 
Cevennes, which we ought not to omit here. 

Every one knows that the Cevennes are a chain of high 
mountains, which extend for nearly thirty leagues in the dio- 
cesses of Alais, Uzes, Mende, and in a part of Vivarais. It 
is also known that as they are difficult of access, heresy and 
that spirit of revolt which follows in its train, had made a ram 
part of them, which was more than once the stumbling block 
of our troops. Calvinism, at the time of which we speak, 
had, as it were, its head quarters there. Its ministers, like fu 
rious wolves, made frequent excursions into the neighboring 
plains, from whence they always carried away some of the 
flock of the Son of C4od. The fear of still greater ravages in 
duced Sylvester de Marcillac, bishop of Mende, to expose his 
situation to the servant of God. Vincent gave him aid as soon 
as he was able; and by the conduct he held at this time with a 
man of whom we are going to speak, he showed, that, in his 
opinion, there was no science nor erudition to be put in com 
petition before God with the labor of a simple country mission. 

Our saint had at Rome one of his priests, named Du Coudrai, 



LJFE OF f-T. Vl.NCENT OF PAUL. 109 

who was perfectly acquainted with the Syriac and Hebrew 
languages. Some persons of distinction, who were well dis 
posed towards Vincent of Paul and his institute, begged Du 
Coudrai to give a new Latin version of the Syriac text. They 
were persuaded that a work of this nature would do honor to 
n rising congregation, and would not be useless to the church. 
They also wished him to write against the Jews, and in order 
to contend more successfully with them, that he should make 
use of their own books, which he understood better than their 
most learned rabins. Du Coudrai listened willingly to these 
two propositions; but before giving his consent, he wished to 
know what his superior would think of it. Vincent, the hum 
ble and charitable Vincent, entreated him not to think of it. 
He represented to him, that such works nourished the curiosity 
of the learned, but contributed nothing to the salvation of the 
poor people, for which Providence had chosen him; that a 
more urgent necessity called him elsewhere; that there were 
actually in France thousands of souls, stretching out their 
hands to him, and telling him in the most moving manner: 
"Alas! sir, you have been chosen by God, to contribute to 
our salvation; have pity on us. We have fora long time 
been buried in sin and ignorance. To be relieved from them 
we need neither Syriac nor Latin versions. Your zeal and 
the miserable jargon of our mountains, will be sufficient for 
us. Without that, we are in danger of perishing." 

This letter, which was in the same spirit as the one which 
the apostle of the Indies once wrote to the university of Pa 
ris, concluded with entreaties still more urgent. The saint 
protested that he could not resist the solicitations of the bishop 
of Mende ; and that he would himself go into the Cevennes, 
if he could find no other person to go in his place. 

New embarrassments and a dangerous fall which he met 
with at that time, did not permit him to put his design in exe 
cution. Two of his priests took his place. They labored for 
nearly two years in that awful country, and had a good share 
of the chalice of the Lord. But at last God blessed their pa 
tience. The bishop wrote to our saint, that he had already re 
ceived the abjuration of thirty or forty Huguenots; that there 
in 



HO LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

were as many more who, in a few days, would renounce 
their errors, and that the last mission had produced incredible 
fruit. 

Some time after, the king proposed another mission to Vin 
cent. The terrors of war, after having laid waste the ex 
tremities, were penetrating gradually into the very heart, of 
the kingdom. The Spaniards, led on by the famous Jean de 
Wert and Prince Thomas, took in a few days la Capelle, le 
Catelet and Corbie. The loss of the last place threw Paris 
into such consternation, that a great number of inhabitants 
left it, with their most valuable effects. The cardinal of Riche 
lieu, who had entered the capital to remove fear, caused twenty 
thousand men, mostly servants arid apprentices, to be levied 
there immediately. The terrified Parisians gave more than 
was necessary for the sustenance of this body of military. 
The house of St. Lazarus, whose members were tiien in their 
annual retreat, was used as a place for exercise, and in the 
space of eight clays, seventy-two companies were trained 
there. The king, who believed that he would succeed against 
his enemies, if he could succeed in obtaining the favor of the 
God of Armies, wished that great attention should be paid to 
the sanctification of the troops ; and it was according to the 
direction of this religious prince, that the chancellor requested 
Vincent of Paul to send twenty of his missionaries to the 
camp. A report but too well founded that a contagious dis 
ease had broken out amongst the troops, was a motive for 
these worthy laborers to hasten their departure; and Vincent 
calculated so much upon their zeal, that to induce them to set 
out with greater diligence, he contented himself with writing 
to them that the plague was in the army. 

Fidelity to the wise regulations which the saint gave them, 
according to his custom, drew down the blessing of heaven 
upon those worthy ministers and upon their labors: and on 
the twentieth of September 1636, four thousand soldiers had 
already approached the tribunal of penance, shedding abun 
dant tears. That mission, which encamped and moved almost 
every day, served, not only for the troops of the king; it was 
also useful to a great number of parishes in which the army 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. Ill 

remained, and which, with the permission of the bishops, 
profited by the occasion which God furnished them to become 
reconciled to him. Many, as w.-ll of the military as of the 
inhabitants of the country, died in an edifying manner. More 
over, as experience teaches that those who carry arms, are 
never more intrepid than when they are in friendship with 
God, that army, although composed in part of new troops, 
did wonders. Corbie, which the Spaniards had fortified as 
well as they could, capitulated eight days alter the siege was 
opened. Its surrender spread alarm throughout Flanders. 
Picardy breathed again, and the inhabitants of Paris thought 
themselves safe. The priests of the mission returned thither 
completely worn out. Some of them had been attacked with 
the contagious disease; but God preserved them for his 
church, and it was not long before they rendered new ser 
vices in many missions, and above all in those which were 
made at the entreaties of Mr. Noel Brulard, better known by 
the name of the commander of Sillery. 

This distinguished person had gained great reputation in 
several important negotiations. P,y means of the commandery 
with which his order had invested him, he made a great figure 
in the world, and a very small one before God. Grace touched 
his heart; and in consequence of that idea of an ancient Fa 
ther, that we are very miserable in living only for others, 
when we have to die for ourselves alone, he determined to 
give to his salvation all the remainder of his life. He began 
by quitting his hotel of Sillery and all its sumptuous apart 
ments, lie rid himself of the greater part of his don^estics, 
after having rewarded them in proportion to their services. 
He sold his richest furniture, and gave very considerable 
sums for different charitable works. 

Time only redoubled his fervor; and that fervor caused him 
to be thought worthy of the priesthood. His zeal was not 
confined to his own person. He undertook to provide for the 
spiritual wants of those of the curates of his order, who de 
pended on him; and after having conferred about it with our 
saint, in whose hands he was like a child in the hands of its 
father, he obtained from the grand master of Malta, a com- 



11Q MFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

mission as visiter, with power to re-establish discipline. To 
give success to this important visit., it was determined that 
missions should be united to it, in order to reform at the same 
time the people and those who were at their head. The former 
were taught the great truths of Christian morality; instruc 
tions were given to the latter on subjects proper to their state 
of life. The wisdom and zeal of the laborers drew down 
from heaven the most abundant benedictions upon their la 
bors : they soon became that land which the Lord has blessed. 
A commencement so happy encouraged the pious comman 
der. To keep the streams in good order, he desired to purify 
the source, and for that end, to establish at Paris, in the house 
of the Temple, a kind of seminary, where those who wished 
to devote themselves to religion, might qualify themselves to 
do, in the benefices of the order, all the good which could be 
justly expected of them. But this excellent design succeeded 
badly, because it was too much hurried. Our saint made 
some stay in the Temple. He wished to act in accordance 
with his ordinary maxim, which was, not to do things has 
tily. Unfortunately, he appeared too slow for those who la 
bored with him. They wanted to do every thing in a day; 
they did nothing at all. The commander who perceived it, 
although a little too late, redoubled his esteem and affection for 
the servant of God; and he gave him real proofs of it, by con 
tributing to the foundation of the seminary of Annecy, and to 
the subsistence of the house of St. Lazarus, which the mis 
fortunes of the times reduced some years afterwards to the 
greatest extremity. 

These good offices, which will always be gratefully remem 
bered in the congregation, and which are only a part of the 
holy actions of Mr. de Sillery, merited for him abundant 
graces, both during his life, and at his death which was pre 
cious in the sight of God. Vincent of Paul rendered him, 
during his last moments, all the services of which the most 
sincere gratitude is capable. The great example of faith, firm 
ness and submission which lie saw in this virtuous com 
mander, indemnified him fully, for all the trouble he had ta 
ken for his order. The knights of Malta, than whom none 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 113 

are better acquainted with the rules of politeness and respect, 
were very sensible of his attention : and, on the seventh of 
September 1(537, the grand master Paul Lasearis, a descen 
dant of the counts of YinlLmille and of the ancient emperors 
of Constantinople, wrote to Vincent to return him his thanks. 

About three weeks after the date of this letter, our saint re 
ceived another from Mr. de Saint-Cyran, which was not alto 
gether so polite. As this famous abbe is necessarily con 
nected with the history we arc writing, we must, in order to 
give a correct idea of the singular contests, which the holy 
priest had with him, retrace our steps a little. 

Jean du Verger de Hauranne, abbe de Saint-Cyran, an inti 
mate friend of Jansenius, after having spent some years in Poi- 
tou, came to Paris; and he there exhibited an air of austerity 
and zeal, which, although he performed no miracles, caused 
him to be looked upon as a new Elias. The bishop of Ypres, 
alarmed at his own system upon grace, sought protectors for 
it, and looked upon it as a point of importance to gain over 
some religious community. The abbe de Saint-Cyran made 
every exertion to help him in this matter. Tin- marks of de 
ference repeatedly paid him by our saint, led him to believe 
that he might at last speak to him mure openly. He began to 
introduce some of his maxims: but he did it, at first, with so 
much artifice, that a man less attentive than our saint, would 
have been caught. 

Every conversation, however, improved upon the preceding 
one. One day, having fallen upon some point of the doctrine 
of Calvin, the servant of God was much astonished to hear 
the abbe de Saint-Cyran take the part of that heresiarch. He 
represented to him that this doctrine had been condemned by 
the church. The abbe answered, That Calvin had not had 
so bad a cause; but had defended it badly. Bcne seiisit," ad 
ded he, "mak locutus est."* 

Another time, as Saint-Cyran grew warm in defending a 
point of doctrine condemned by the council of Trent, Vincent 

* I follow hero Mr. Abelli, bishop of Rhodes, author of the first 
life of St. Vincent of Paul, on account of the importance of the 
subject. 

10 



1 14 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

said to him : " Sir, you go too far. Would you have me 
believe a private doctor like yourself, in preference to the 
whole church, which is the pillar of truth? . . . How do you 
presume to prefer your judgment to that of so many holy 
prelates assembled in the council of Trent, and who have de 
cided those points 1" " Do not speak to me of that council," 
replied the Abbe de Saint-Cyran ; " it was a council of the 
pope and of the scholastics, which was nothing but faction 

and cabal." 

" Another day," it is still the bishop of Rhodes who speaks, 
" Mr. Vincent having said with his accustomed mildness to 
the abbe, who was coming out of his cabinet: Acknowledge, 
sir, that you have just written something of what God has 
imparted to you in your morning meditation. Saint-Cyran 
answered: I confess that God has imparted and imparts to 
me great light. He has made known to me that there is no 

longer a church Five or six hundred years ago, the 

church was like a great river, the waters of which were clear ; 
but now what seems to us a church, is but a muddy stream, 
&c. What, sir, replied Vincent, would you prefer your 
own private opinions to the word of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who promised to build his church upon the rock, and that 
the gates of hell should not prevail against her ? The church 
is his spouse, and he will never abandon her. " 

This argument was simple, but it was strong. To get rid 
of it, the abbe answered him : " It is true that Jesus Christ 
has built his church upon the rock ; but there is a time to 
build and to destroy. She was his spouse ; but she is now 
an adultress and a prostitute : it is for this reason he has re 
pudiated her, and will substitute another in her place, who 
will be faithful to him." At these words, our saint, stunned 
and sei/ed with horror, stood in need of all his moderation. 
He confined himself, then, to replying to the innovator, that 
he ought to mistrust himself, and that he lost sight of the 
respect which was due to the church. Saint-Cyran who 
easily lost his patience, replied in an angry tone : " And you, 
sir, do you know yourself what the church is ?" Vincent 
Cave merelv the definition found in the catechism for the 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 115 

children. He answered that the church was the assembly of 
the faithful under the guidance of its lawful pastors, &c. 
" You understand nothing but high Dutch," answered the 
abbe, in a rage; "you are an ignorant man: far from being 
at the head of your congregation, you should be expelled 
from it ; and I am surprised that they suffer you in it." " I 
am more surprised at it than you, sir," replied the man of 
God; "and 1 know well that if justice were done me, they 
would not fail to dismiss me." Thus ended this interview, 
in which Vincent of Paul and Saint-Cyran maintained their 
characters admirably ; the one by his unalterable humility ; 
the other by a gloomy pride, whick knows neither equity nor 
decency. From that time the holy priest broke off with him, 
as has been attested by M. de Montmorin, archbishop of Vi- 
enne, and the illustrious Abbe de Rochechouard de Chandenier, 
who had learned it from Vincent himself. 

However, as many excellent persons, and above all the 
Ilev. Father de Condren, complaint*! more and more of the 
perverse opinions of Saint-Cyran, Vincent, who would have 
done any thing to save him from the precipice in which he 
was on the point of falling, resolved to make another trial. 
Having paid him a visit, he endeavored to dispose him to re 
ceive favorably the advice he had to give him. He then 
spoke to him of the obligation of submitting his judgment to 
that of the church, and of having more respect for the coun 
cil of Trent than he had evinced. He showed to him par- 
tioularly, that some of the propositions which he had main 
tained in his presence, were contrary to the doctrine of the 
church. He represented to him that he was losing himself 
in a labyrinth of errors, and that, above all, he had been very 
wrong in trying to engnge him and his congregation in them. 
The saint became animated in the course of the interview, 
and he spoke with so much force and solidity, that the abbe 
was silenced, and did not answer a word. 

The good works which occupied Vincent of Paul at the 
time of the event which we have just related, did not make 
him forget the daughters of St. Francis of Sales. During the 
same year, 1G37, he visited two of their houses. There he 



l\Q LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

beheld with great pleasure all that piety, peace and harmony 
could afford most pleasing and consoling. It must, however, 
be acknowledged that he found once an object calculated to 
move a heart like his, and to cause him to wonder at the 
rigorous trials, through which God is pleased from time to 
time to lead his elect. 

A religious of great merit became all at once the victim of 
a temptation as violent, at least, as that of the doctor whom 
our saint had relieved, when he was almoner to Ciueen Mar 
garet. This Sister, who, till that time, had been filled with the 
love of God, felt nothing hut horror for the august sacrament 
of our altars, and an indexible aversion for all the exercises 
of religion. When exhorted to bless the name of the Lord, 
the spirit of blasphemy sei/ed upon her, and made her break 
out in imprecations. In the excess of her fury, she was 
sometimes tempted to kill herself, that she might, as she said, 
be sooner in hell, there to taste the pleasure of cursing God 
during all eternity. The superior of the house, after having 
uselessly exhausted all the remedies of art, and a part of those 
furnished by religion, applied to her with the liveliest confi 
dence and devotion a small piece of the rochet of St. Francis 
of Sales ; but that expedient did not succeed until some days 
afterwards, when Vincent having joined to it, in the course 
of his visit, the most fervent prayers, applied the relic him 
self, as if the holy bishop had wished to make it known, after 
his death, that he accepted the services which a priest whose 
virtue he had honored during his life, was pleased to render 
him in the person of his daughters. 

However desirous our saint was, not to multiply the estab 
lishments of his company, he found that he could not long 
resist the solicitations of a number of respectable persons, 
who, charmed with the good done by his missionaries, asked 
for them with the most earnest entreaties. The diocess of 
Toul had just obtained them. Marie de Wignerod, who al 
ways honored Vincent as we honor the saints who are still 
upon earth, begged some also for her duchy of Aiguillon. 
The cardinal minister, whose requests amounted to orders, 
wished them both for the city of Richelieu, and the diocess 



LIFE OF 8T. VINCENT OF PAUL. 117 

of Luf on, of which he had been bishop. To fill the vacuum 
made in consequence of these new establishments, our saint 
determined to form an internal seminary, where he would 
receive, not only priests already formed to the functions of 
the ministry, as had been done heretofore, but also young 
men less advanced, and who stood in need of being cultivated 
for a longer time. 

An employment of such importance required a virtuous, 
capable, and experienced director; mild without weakness, 
firm without harshness, watchful without affectation, capable 
of humbling others without discouraging them, of managing 
the wavering without infringing on the rule, of strengthening 
those entrusted to him as much by his example as by the 
unction of his discourses; of distinguishing what is true and 
solid, from what has only the appearances of it, and who, 
above all, should possess the great art of the discernment of 
souls. Vincent found all these qualities in the person of 
Jean de la Salle, one of his three first associates. He charged 
him with the care of this young and precious band, destined 
to combat one day for the salvation of the people ; and besides 
the advice which he gave him, he desired him to consult those 
who, at that time, had the reputation of being the most succes- 
ful in forming youth to the apostolical functions. 

The servant of God always hoped that Providence, which 
had given birth to his congregation, would furnish subjects 
capable of fulfilling all the duties of it. His grand maxim 
was. that it belonged to God alone to choose his ministers; 
and that the vocations to which artifice gives rise, and which 
a kind of dishonesty nourishes, dishonor the flock in multi 
plying it. 

To avoid the first of these faults, he made it an inviolable 
rule never to say a word to any one to induce him to enter 
into his congregation, and he strictly forbade his children ever 
to solicit any one. He would not even suffer them to bias 
any who might appear to have an inclination that way ; 
and when a person hesitated between another company and 
his own, he was no ways backward in deciding against the 
latter. "O Sir!" said he, "we are not worthy to be con> 



118 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

pared with that other holy community. Go to it, in the name 
of the Lord, you will be incomparably better off there than 
with us." 

With regard to those who, having already taken their final 
resolution, begged admission of him, he did not receive them 
but with the greatest circumspection. lie examined into their 
motives, dispositions, talents, and family. He represented to 
them, with a sort of exaggeration, the difficulties attached to 
the state which they desired to embrace. He asked them 
whether they would have fortitude enough, to bid an eternal 
adieu to their parents, to their most intimate friends, even to 
their country, should it become necessary to send them to 
foreign lands. The most precise answers on their part, did 
not satisfy this wise institutor. He required them to return 
several times, that he might be better acquainted v> ith them ; 
and whatever trial he might have made of their dispositions 
and perseverance, he never gave them his last word, until 
after they had made a retreat to consult the will of God. 

To avoid the second fault, which is a part of what the laws 
call fraud and unfairness, the saint most carefully avoided to 
present youth only with flowers during the time of their trial, 
waiting to show them the thorns, for the time when they should 
have taken the last step. The plan of his seminary has no 
thing in it, it is true, which can overcharge nature; but it has 
all that is necessary to make every one feel the weight of the 
obligations that are to be contracted. Neither hair-cloth, nor 
mortifications, nor other fasts than those which oblige all the 
faithful, are prescribed ; but in place of them, that is required 
which commonly costs much more, a complete separation 
from the world, an interior life, great fidelity to all duties, and, 
if possible, an inexhaustible fund of that holy unction, which 
must one day sustain men engaged in their state, in the most 
laborious functions of the ministry. It is with that view that 
they have always been accustomed to a painful and laborious 
life. To rise exactly at four o clock in the morning during 
the most rigorous season ; to make two meditations a day, 
and always in common ; to nourish themselves by the reading 
of books best suited to young ecclesiastics; to pass no day 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 119 

without reading, and even committing to memory some por 
tion of the New Testament; to purify themselves by fre 
quent confessions, strengthen themselves by holy commu 
nions, render to themselves at the end of each month, in a 
little retreat, an account of the progress which they have 
made in virtue, or rather of that winch they have failed to 
make. These are a portion of the occupations of the internal 
seminary. 

From this career, when they have completed it well, they 
pass to that of study. They espouse the opinions of no par 
ticular school : Plato and Aristotle are there esteemed, but 
truth is valued more than Aristotle and Plato. The great 
rule is, never to look upon any thing as true which the church 
has condemned, and to reprobate whatever she has thought 
proper to proscribe. This was the rule of Vincent of Paul, 
and it will always be that of his true children. 

]!ut if this holy man required that his company should be 
thoroughly instructed, as well in the dogmas which they 
were obliged to announce to the people, as in the morals ne 
cessary to guide them properly, his humility which nothing 
could escape, induced him to take extraordinary measures to 
remove from them that conceit and vanity, which are too fre 
quently the companions of talents and knowledge. When 
he was charged with the direction of the seminaries, he proved 
by a long and judicious written argument, that, with the ap 
probation of the bishops, it would be sufficient to explain 
a printed author, by pointing out the places where he had 
gone astray from the truth. He would have taken in very 
bad part, that any of the members of his company, when as 
sisting at public disputes in the university and elsewhere, 
should not have looked upon themselves as the last of all, in 
every respect ; and much more so, should they have shown 
a disposition to appear the first. I will give a singular and 
very striking exam; le of it. 

Jacques Corborand de la Fosse, an orator, a philosopher, a 
theologian, and so good a poet that Santenie looked upon him 
as his rival and often as his master, went one day to a tragedy 
which was to be represented in a famous college of Paris, 



120 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

and took a seat which was destined for other persons. The 
principal sent him word by a servant to take another place. 
La Fosse, whom the spectacle had enlivened, said in good La 
tin to the servant who did not understand him, that he was 
well where he was, and did not think proper to change. The 
principal, hearing the answer, took him for a foreigner, and 
sent him a young regent, who paid him in Latin the same com 
pliment that had already been paid him in French. La Fosse 
who possessed the language of Demosthenes perfectly, re 
turned in Greek, compliments which tended to express that 
he did not like to change his place. The professor not being 
able to answer, returned to the principal and gave him an ac 
count of the bad success of his mission. The principal, fa 
tigued at the delay, deputed to him the regent of rhetoric; but 
La Fosse spoke Hebrew to him. It was then, that a learned 
man of the company recognised him, and had him placed ac 
cording to his merit and with great distinction. 

As he was quite full of this adventure, he had no sooner 
returned to St. Lazarus, than he related it indiscreetly to his 
friends with all the fire of his imagination. Vincent was soon 
informed of it; and although he saw well that this was only 
a joke on the part of this young priest, he thought that he 
should mortify him a little. After having represented to him 
that a truly humble man does not seek the first places, nor to 
make himself known in public by his talents, he directed him 
to go and ask pardon of the principal and of the two regents 
whom he had disedified. La Fosse, who was never inflated 
by his talents, obeyed without saying a word. As he had to 
deal with persons who knew how to esteem merit, he was 
received with the greatest respect: it is even said that he was 
so well pleased with them, that, under a new impulse of his 
enthusiasm, he returned them his thanks in French, Latin, 
Greek, and Hebrew; but fearing another lesson, he did not 
boast of it. 

With this talent for keeping his priests in humility, the ser 
vant of God had also that of encouraging them in their la 
bors. Without ever praising them in their presence, he knew 
how to keep up a holy emulation in them, by his example, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 121 

by the unction of his words, and by the care he took to make 
known to them the blessings which God bestowed upon the 
labors of their brethren. On the other hand, they were all 
well persuaded of the affection which he had for them. A 
father could not love his children more tenderly than he loved 
them. His tenderness manifested itself in the reprimands 
which he was sometimes obliged to give them. In him they 
lost all that bitterness which seem inseparable from them. 

It was above all in the persecutions which they had to un 
dergo, or in their sickness, that they experienced his affection. 
He was not one of those devout persons who, always full of 
attention for themselves in their sickness, are satisfied with 
giving vague orders for the comfort of others, without seeming 
to care much about the execution of them. Vincent exam 
ined personally whether they were treated, as became men 
who often suffered from excess of labor; and he gave such 
express orders, that no one would have dared infringe them. 
Hence they could be seen flying instantly to the most barba 
rous Countries, or to provinces where pestilence and death 
reigned; because they were sure to receive from him the best 
treatment, or from God the crown which he has prepared for 
those who combat to the end. 

At the commencement of the following year, they gave 
him a new proof of their obedience, in a celebrated mission, 
which cost them a great deal. It was performed at Saint- 
Germain, where the king was with all his court. Vincent 
would have desired it to be made by other persons. His 
priests, destined to the salvation of the poor country people, 
seemed to him little calculated to evangelize the great ones of 
the world. But Louis XIII, having insisted on having his 
missionaries, he was obliged to obey. The commencement 
was trying. The firmness with which, in the sacred tribunal, 
they wished to oblige worldly females to observe modesty, 
produced a great commotion. They complained aloud of the 
pretended severity of the confessors, and ridiculed them in 
every way. But those men, who were accustomed to walk 
straight forward, continued to preach the gospel in all its pu 
rity, and to exclude from the participation of the holy mys- 
11 



122 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

teries, those persons, who, sometimes without passions, them 
selves, appear in such a manner as to excite them in others, 
and occasion the loss of multitudes. 

IIo\vever the cairn soon succeeded the tempest. The unc 
tion of the spirit of God touched those who made the most 
noise. They even became so fervent, that having joined the 
charitable confraternity, of which we have so often spoken, 
they served the poor in person, and procured them most abun 
dant help. There was scarcely a person in the house of the 
king, who did not endeavor to profit by the graces which hea 
ven showered with so much abundance. That religious 
prince was very much affected by it, and he had the goodness 
to say to one of these worthy ministers, that he was very 
well satisfied with the exercises of the mission; that it was 
the proper manner to labor successfully, and that he would 
bear this testimony every where. 

The cardinal of Richelieu, laborious as he was, found the 
labors of the missionaries excessive. He directed the holy in- 
stitutor to give them a day of relaxation every week. Thus 
it is to the attention of that great minister that they still owe 
their weekly day of rest. 

The queen was at that time in the early stage of preg 
nancy, and she gave a dauphin to France, that very year, 
after being married twenty-two years. To testify her gratitude 
to God, she displayed a great and pious liberality. The es 
teem in which she held Vincent of Paul did not allow her to 
forget the house of St. Lazarus. She made a present to the 
sacristy which was very poor, of a beautiful ornament of 
silver cloth. It seemed to have come in good season for the 
feast of Christmas. However, the humility of the saint would 
not permit him to use it. It was absolutely necessary to give 
him one of a more common quality. 

Ann of Austria knew so well, by the effects of the first 
mission of Saint-Germain, what a truly apostolical zeal is ca 
pable of, that, four years afterwards, she asked a second mis 
sion for the same city. It is true she had principally in view 
the salvation of a great number of laborers who were working 
at the buildings of the chateau : but the whole court profited 



LIFE OF ST. VINCEXT OF PAIL. 123 

by it. The queen assisted every evening, with great fervor 
and devotion, at the sermons of a missionary distinguished by 
his talents and his apostolic zeal. Another gave every day 
in the chateau itself instructions of piety to the ladies of the 
queen. What was most singular, the dauphin, who was 
scarcely three years old, had, in his way, a share in the bles 
sings of the house. Ann of Austria absolutely insisted that 
he should be taught his little catechism; and it was a young 
ecclesiastic of the congregation that was charged with this 
honorable duty. 

It was probably this year that Vincent of Paul had the con 
solation of seeing Mr. (iueriolet, that man who, from being a 
decided and scandalous libertine, hail b( come a model of pen 
ance, but of a pennive so frightful, that antiquity itself scarcely 
affords any thing to be compared with it. Mr. IVrnard, sur- 
named the poor priest, who was like himself, a rensible proof 
of the power of the gnve of Jesus Christ, accompanied him 
in the visits which he paid to some persons of eminent virtue. 
The reverend Father de (. ondren and Vincent of Paul were 
of the number. Mr. de (iueriolet had with each of them, a 
private conference, of which historians have not preserved the 
details, but which doubtless tended to animate his perseve 
rance. It was at the sight of these perfect Christians, that 
Vincent sometimes cried out: " I alone, a miserable sinner, 
do nothing but evil upon earth; I ou^ht to desire that God 
would be pleased to remove me soon from it." 

Yet this man, who looked upon himself as the most useless 
servant, was so much occupied and in so holy a manner, 
from morning till night, that his liie was only a train of good 
works. We cannot even now conceive how a man so infirm, 
and who never omitted his exercises of piety, could attend so 
many different occupations, answer exactly such a prodigious 
number of letters received from all quarters, and form with 
so much care the two companies which he instituted. But 
these good works, which would suffice to exhaust others, 
cost him little. The remainder of his history will afford us 
some of greater importance. 



Book 



ALTHOUH Vincent of Paul has hitherto afforded us proofs 
of a virtue the most exact, and a charity the most extensive, 
we must acknowledge that his career, in his advanced age, is 
yet much more brilliant. Let us forget then, if possible, every 
thing he did during more than forty years ; we shall still find 
enough to place him on a level with those men of mercy, 
who did honor to the church in her most splendid days. Com 
passion for the wretched and zeal for the salvation of sinners, 
will here, as elsewhere, constitute the primary trait in his 
character; but as the occasions will be more urgent than ever, 
we shall see him deserve in a more striking and distinguished 
manner the glorious name of Father of the Afflicted, which 
his age attributed to him. The aid which he is about to fur 
nish to the indigent and suffering, will not be confined to some 
families, or parishes, or to a particular class of poor; it will 
extend to vast provinces, and in these provinces it will have 
for its object, persons consecrated to God as well as secu 
lars ; the nobles as well as the people. All these different 
conditions will come under the jurisdiction of his tender 
charity, because all will be found smitten by the hand of God, 
and reduced to the most humiliating necessity. 

Lorraine and the duchy of Bar were the first theatres of 
his zeal. These two provinces, once so populous, so fertile, 
had, for the last thirteen years, for their sovereign Charles 
IV, a valiant, intrepid prince, eager for glory, strong enough 
to give uneasiness to his neighbors, too weak to contend 
against them, always ready to come to an accommodation, and 
still more so to break through his arrangements. A hero of 
this stamp had every thing that is necessary to wicked princes 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OK PATI.. 125 

for the desolation of their own dominions; and he could 
scarcely count upon the protection of the God of armies, par 
ticularly since, weary of his wife to whom he seemed to owe 
his crown, he had contracted a second ;md scandalous mar 
riage with Beatrix de Cusance, princess of Cantecroix. 

It was ahout the time that he was occupied with this crimi 
nal design, that Lorraine became a theatre of horror. The 
Imperialists, the French, the Spaniards, the Swedes, and the 
inhabitants of Lorraine themselves, laid it waste by turns, 
and sometimes all at the same tim.>. The- duke of Yeymar, 
at the head of his troops, who were rendered furious by the 
diversity of religion, did the most damage. His soldiers acted 
in this unhappy country, almost like furious wolves, when 
falling upon a ilock of sheep. There was no longer security 
for virtuous females, even in the seclusion of the monasteries ; 
no travellers were found on the high roads ; no flocks were 
seen ; no laborers in the fields ; there was no rest for the man 
who slept beside another, through the fear of being murdered. 

The greater part of the cities, towns, and villages were de 
serted ; others were reduced to ashes. Those of which the 
soldiery had not gained possession, suffered all the horrors of 
pestilence and famine. Their livid, ghastly, disfigured in 
habitants found themselves happy when they could eat in 
peace the herbs and roots of the fields. Acorns and wild 
fruits were sold in the markets for the nourishment of men. 
The animals that died, the most infectious carrion, were sought 
for w;th an avidity approaching to madness. A mother made 
an agreement with another to eat her own child, provided her 
companion would grant the like favor. A man was hung at 
the gate of Nancy, who was convicted of having killed his 
own sister for a loaf of bread. All the horrors of the famines 
of Samaria and Jerusalem did not come up to what was 
seen there. We do not read that, during the siege of the 
holy city, the children devoured those from whom they had 
received life; these horrors were reserved for Lorraine; and I 
would not dare to relate them, if I had not before my eyes, 
cotemporary authors, who have transmitted to us the ac 
count of them. Hence the expression of Father Caussin 



11* 



\2G LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

the confessor of Louis XIII : " Sola Lotharingia Jcrosolyinam 
calamitate vincii." 

The cities which the king had taken, or which were already 
under his dominion, as Nancy, Bar, Toul, Pont-a-Mousson, 
and some others, breathed a little longer ; but they shared, at 
last, the fate of the rest of the province, and at the time to 
which our history now refers, were, like the others, reduced 
to the last extremity. 

It was very difficult to relieve them. Five armies which 
France was keeping at the same time, consumed a part of 
the aid, which charity, in a less stormy period, would have 
consecrated to the wants of the indigent. Every one com 
plained, as they complain in public calamities. They were 
terrified at the present, and the future was not less dark. 

Things were in this condition, when Vincent, animated 
with the spirit of the first priest of the old law, undertook to 
place himself between the living and the dead, arrest the 
flames which consumed the multitude, and raise the standard 
of charity in a country where mercy was unknown, and 
where the laws emitted a sound as dying as those who had 
enacted them. 

The servant of God rekindled, by the heat of his discourses, 
the spirit of compassion, so necessary, yet so rare in similar 
circumstances. He set in motion the pious ladies of his as 
sembly. He had recourse to the duchess of Aiguillon, and 
even to the queen herself, although she had no reason to be 
contented with the country for which his solicitations were 
made. He always gave first the example of a holy and gene 
rous liberality. He preferred, in some measure, to see those 
of his congregation suffer, than to behold any longer the 
misery of the poor of Jesus Christ. From the time of the 
siege of Corbie, he had already retrenched something from their 
table ; but at the time of the miseries of Lorraine, he reduced 
the community to brown bread. His children did not mur 
mur, because he followed, more rigorously than any one 
else, the rule which he imposed on others. 

The pains which he took were not without fruit. He found 
himself in a condition to save the life, and often the honor, of 



LIFE UF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 127 

the inhabitants of twenty-live cities, and of an immense num 
ber of towns and villages, which were at the last extremity. 
He caused the sick, who were often lying in the public 
places, to be furnished with all the help, which they could 
expect from the most tender charity. He clothed many, not 
only those of the lowest order of the people, of every age and 
sex, but also a number of young ladies of respectability, who 
were upon the point of perishing in more senses than one, 
of religious consecrated to God, who, more disfigured than 
those spoken of by Jeremiah, had hitherto announced use 
lessly to all Europe their allliction and poverty. 

As a wise economy in the distribution of alms, is one of the 
best means to spare those who bestow them, and make them 
useful to those who receive them, Vincent took measures 
of the most consummate prudence in the distribution of those 
with which he was entrusted. lie sent twelve of his mis 
sionaries, full of zeal and intelligence, into different parts of 
the country ; he associated with them some brothers of his 
society, who were acquainted with medicine and surgery. 
He drew up for them long and wise regulations, by the ob 
servance of which they could neither give offence to bishops, 
governors, or magistrates. He prescribed to them to consult 
the curates, and when there was none, as it often happened, 
the most remarkable persons in the place, in order to avoid 
being deceived, and to proportion the aid to the wants, the 
number, and the condition of the sufferers. Although the 
ladies of his assembly left absolutely to him the employment 
of the great sums which they placed in his hands, he never 
did any thing without taking their advice, and often the or 
ders of the queen, in order that he might follow in every thing 
the intention of the benefactors. 

It was by pursuing this plan, that he was able to satisfy 
every body, and especially the poor, who are often intractable, 
almost always disposed to murmur, not thinking so much of 
the good done them, as of that which they have a right to 
exact. It is true that the holy ardor which he communi 
cated to the best families of Paris, sustained them in the 
efforts which they made, and which posterity will scarcely 



l%& LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUt. 

believe; but as the evil was almost universal, and in the high 
est conceivable degree, it was necessary, in a manner, to 
multiply, by attention and good order, the help, which, al 
though considerable in itself, would have been very insufficient 
for the necessities to be relieved. 

The city of Toul was the first which experienced the bounty 
of Vincent of Paul. His missionaries rendered there the 
most important services to a great number of sick, poor, re 
ligious, and above ali, to two French regiments which had 
suffered much in an encounter with the troops of Jean de 
Wert, near Gondreville. 

But this was trifling, when compared to the succors he pro 
cured for the inhabitants of Metz. That city was in much 
greater affliction than Toul. The crowds of poor who be 
sieged it, both inside and out, had something frightful. It 
was like an army of wretches of every age and sex, which 
amounted sometimes to four or five thousand persons. Every 
morning ten or twelve were found dead, without counting 
those who, being caught rambling, became the prey of de 
vouring beasts ; for furious wolves were one of the scourges 
with which God afflicted this miserable people. The towns 
and villages were infested with them ; they entered them du 
ring the night, by the breaches in the walls, and carried off 
every thing that could gratify their inappeasable hunger. It 
was but the expression of that of the inhabitants. La Riviere, 
the surgeon of Marshal de Fabert, wrote to him from the 
chateau of Variye, that they had just brought to him a pot in 
which were, half-cooked, the feet, hands, and head of a girl, 
which a widow had prepared for a meal for her children, who 
had eaten nothing for several days.* 

Such was the situation of Metz and its environs ; but this 
was only a portion of the misfortunes of that unhappy coun 
try. The honor of the most chaste and virtuous persons was 
in danger. Famine, the mother of every excess, was upon 
the point of forcing several communites of religious women 
to leave their cloister, at a time when the strongest walls were 

* Life of Marshal de Fabert, by Father Barre, vol. i, p. 255. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 129 

but a feeble rampart against licentiousness. Every resource 
was closed up; but Vincent knew how to find resources in 
abundance. He dispatched, with all diligence, some of his 
priests, to bring consolation to the afflicted, to preserve the 
lives of some, the honor of others, and endeavor to save 
all. The face of things changed soon, and Metz began to 
breathe. The eschevins, and the thirteen magistrates of the 
city, moved by this tender charity, returned the most humble 
thanks to the holy priest. But their letter, as well as those 
which he received at that time from the magistrates of all the 
other cities, was less to thank him for the past, than to solicit 
his aid for the future. 

Great as was the desire of the servant of God to relieve at 
the same time every part of Lorraine, and the Barrois, it was 
impossible for him to do so. The first alms which he had 
sent to Toul and Metz ; those which he soon after sent to 
Nancy and Verdun, where his priests remained at least three 
years ; these alms, I say, amounted to so much, that they ex 
hausted, from the commencement, his house, which he al 
ways taxed first, and those of a great number of pious ladies, 
to whom he had recourse when he wanted to relieve the 
poor. It was only at the end of the same year, 1639, that he 
was able to send some of his priests to Bar-le-Duc, and some 
months afterwards to Saint-Mihiel, and Pont-a-Mousson. 

Those who were sent to Bar, found in that city about eight 
hundred poor, citizens and strangers. The latter were, for 
the most part, during the rigor of winter, lying upon the 
pavement in the streets, or before the doors of the churches. 
It was there that, overwhelmed with misery, consumed by 
hunger, and shivering with cold, they waited for, and received 
death, at almost every moment. In a few days two hundred 
and ;$ixty of them, who were almost naked, were clothed. 
The hospital, by means of a regular monthly sum, was put 
in a condition to receive a greater number of sick. But as 
amongst these last, there were about eighty suffering much 
more than the others, our missionaries took them entirely 
under their care. Notwithstanding so much expense, the 
greatest was that incurred for receiving strangers, who, find- 



130 LIFE OK ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ing no resource, either in the country which was no longer 
cultivated, or in the cities which they were often forbidden to 
enter, were withdrawing into France in crowds. The mis 
sionaries of Nancy directed them to those of Toul, the latter 
sent them to those of liar ; and in each of these places they 
gave them some money to continue their journey. 

But, however great was the good of which we speak, 
the services rendered by the same priests in the order of sal 
vation, were far superior. They taught the people to weep, 
not for their temporal misfortunes, but for their sins, which 
were the origin of them. Every one endeavored to recover 
the grace of God. But they all desired to be indebted for the 
life of their soul, to those alone to whom, they owed their cor 
poral life. One of these laborious ministers heard at Bar, in 
the space of one month, upwards of eight hundred confes 
sions, many of which were general ones ; and he had the 
consolation to nourish with the bread of angels those very 
persons, to whom he had so often distributed terrestrial food. 
Nature was at length exhausted. The two priests, who la 
bored at Bar, were attacked by a violent disorder. One of 
them, who was young, and never spared himself, was car 
ried off by the force of the disease. * He was buried in the 
church of the college of the Jesuits. Father Roussel, who 
was then rector of that institution, was so struck with the in 
vincible zeal of this worthy missionary, that he inserted the 
history of it in the Journal of his Rectorship. 

Vincent had not been able, as yet, to do any thing for the 
city of Pont-a-Mousson. It was only towards the month of 
May, 1G40, that his priests carried thither their first alms. 
However accustomed to the misery of Lorraine, they were 
terrified at that which this unfortunate district offered to iheir 
eyes. They found there four or five hundred poor, so hide 
ously disfigured, that they resembled skeletons more than 
men. There were in addition, a hundred sick, fifty or sixty 
persons who, though reduced to the last extremity, were 

* His name was Germain de Montevit. He was of the diocess of 
Coutance. He died the itli of January, 1610, at the age of twenty- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 131 

ashamed to beg, nuns placed in circumstances of extraordi 
nary necessity, and some persons of quality, who felt doubly 
the weight of the most cruel indigence.* Hunger amounted 
to rage ; and the proces verbal drawn up by the authority of 
the ordinary, makes mention of a child who, having ap 
proached some young men of a more advanced age, was torn 
to pieces by them and devoured. 

The missionaries followed, at Pont-a-Mousson, the same 
method as in the other cities of Lorraine ; that is to say, to 
profit by the good sentiments which had been inspired into 
this afllicted people by the succors they had received, a mis 
sion was begun. It was attended with all the success that 
could be expected in such a favorable conjuncture. But alms 
ami instruction were not the only favors which Vincent pro 
cured for the two duchies. As a great number of parishes 
wen; destitute of pastors, and children often died without hav 
ing received baptism, the servant of God, whose charity was 
attentive to every thing, sent two priests there, who began 
imm diatcly to visit the diocess of Toul, baptise all who had 
not participated in that benefit, and teach the most intelligent 
persons of each canton, the manner of administering this sa- 
cram>TU to children who might be born afterwards, during 
their absence. 

The accounts which our saint received from Saint-Mihiel, 
exhibited the same misery as in Pont-a-Mousson. The priest 
he had sent there, wrote to him that he had found in that 
small city such a quantity of poor, that he could not give to 
all; that there were more than a hundred whose skins were 
so dried up, that they could not be looked at without horror; 
that in general it was the most horrid spectacle that could be 
witnessed ; that at the last distribution of bread, there were 
eleven hundred and thirty-two poor, without counting the sick, 
who were very numerous ; that charity so well applied, moved 

* I learned from the Abbe 1 Teryenus, curate of St. Rock, at Nancy, 
that a young girl of good condition having found at the door of a 
surgeon the blood of a sick person, which had been thrown out 
seized upon it with a kind of fury. That respectable pastor, who 
died at a very advanced aw. had this fact from his mother, who was 
witness to it. 



132 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

even the rich, who wept through tenderness j that a Swiss, 
who was a Lutheran by profession, had been so affected by 
it, that, after having abjured his heresy, he received the sacra 
ments, and died in a very edifying manner. He added that 
the priests of the country, who lead an exemplary life, had 
neither bread nor other provisions, so that a curate of the 
neighborhood had been reduced, to support life, to follow the 
plough with some of his parishioners. 

These letters, and several similar ones, induced Vincent to 
continue his aid to Saint-Mihiel ; and although the very name 
of that city was hateful to France, because, some years be 
fore, a cannon-shot from the ramparts, had broken the car 
riage in which the king was, our saint acted with so much 
energy, both with the king, in inducing him to diminish the 
garrison, and with many charitable persons, that the place 
was always comprised in the distribution of alms which 
flowed into Lorraine. The number is surprising, but the 
reader would be much more surprised, were I to show, by 
entering into a detail, that they are but a part of the good done 
by our saint in that unfortunate country. 

It was not, however, in their own country alone, that the 
natives of Lorraine experienced the charity of Vincent of 
Paul. A great number had proofs of it in Paris. The saint 
having been informed by some of his company, that there 
were in that province many young girls, even of high rank, 
who, being deprived of their relations, and of every other help, 
found themselves exposed to the insolence of officers and sol 
diers, he caused one hundred and sixty of them to come to 
Paris, at various times ; and one of his priests defrayed their 
expenses during their journey. A great number of young 
hoys who were perishing, were also sent to Paris. Vincent 
shared immediately with Madame Le Gras, the care of this 
new colony. The pious widow received those of her sex into 
her house, and by degrees placed them in situations suited to 
their condition. The servant of God took care of the boys ; 
he received and supported them, until such time as he could 
find employment for them. 

It was not long necessary to invite the inhabitants of Lor- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 133 

raine to come to France. The hand of God continued to 
afflict that province to such a degree, that those of the people 
who were not under the dominion of the king, were seen 
leaving the province in caravans, escaping through the ar 
mies of the enemy, and risking every thing to seek an asylum 
in Paris, or in the cities of the kingdom. A great number of 
these poor refugees came straight to St. Lazarus, where they 
were sure to find a man, with whom all nations were as one 
in Jesus Christ, and who, when the duties of charity were in 
question, took care of the stranger without prejudice to the 
citizen. It required a heart as vast as his, not to be wearied 
with such an endless concourse. But holy liberality was the 
basis of his disposition. He found the means to supply the 
wants of all ; and as he perceived that many of them, for the 
want of priests, some being dead, and others having retired, 
had not, for a long time, approached the holy mysteries, he 
caused missions to be made for them for two successive years, 
in the parish of La Chapelle, a small village at the gate of 
Paris. The ecclesiastics of the province there distinguished 
themselves by their assiduity in labor, and the ladies of his 
assembly by their alms. 

It was about the same time that the holy man took upon 
himself the charge of a community of Benedictine nuns, who 
were on the point of dying with hunger. They had come 
from Rembervilliers to Saint-Mihiel to make an establishment. 
This was now out of the question ; the only point was to 
save their lives. The saint, who was informed of the pitiful 
situation in which they were placed, caused them to come to 
Paris; they were fourteen in number, and they were received 
with all the attention due to virgins consecrated to God. The 
Countess de Chateau- Vieux, and the Marchioness de Baune, 
who had for a long time desired the establishment of a mon 
astery destined to repair by perpetual adoration the outrages 
offered to Jesus Christ in the holy eucharist, thought them 
calculated for that object, and they were consecrated to it by 
Ann of Austria. It is to this day one of their first duties, 
and they fulfil it day and night, with great fervor and edifica 
tion. 

12 



134 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

As the misfortunes of Lorraine still continued, and Charles 
IV, more eager for sieges and battles than attentive to the 
tranquillity of his people, seemed to have determined on his 
ruin, a number of persons of rank gathered what they could 
of the wreck of their fortune and came to Paris. But after 
having exhausted every thing there, the greater part of them 
found themselves reduced to want, which they felt the more 
severely, as they dared not make it known. An honorable 
person gave notice of it to the holy priest, and proposed to 
him to lend them some assistance. Vincent, who, for several 
years had laid his house and his best friends under contribu 
tion, would naturally find himself more embarrassed by such 
a proposition ; he, however, received it, not only with joy, 
but with gratitude : "Oh! sir," replied he, " what a pleasure 
you afford me; yes, it is just to lelieve these poor noblemen, 
to honor our Lord, who was most noble and most poor at the 
same time." 

In order to execute this new project, the saint resolved to 
form an association of noblemen, full of faith and feeling, 
who should consider it a happiness to render to persons of 
their rank, all the services which they would wish to receive 
in similar circumstances. He assembled seven or eight of 
this character, at the head of whom was the Baron de Renty. 
He spoke to them in so moving a manner, that it was deter 
mined that all should tax themselves to relieve these afflicted 
noblemen. Vincent knew so well how to keep up their first 
fervor from month to month, that the work continued nearly 
twenty years. We may without hesitation rank this illustri 
ous assembly amongst the great works promoted by our saint. 
It required the more courage in him, not to abandon Lorraine 
and its inhabitants, as at this very time the attention of the 
servant of God was called to other persons, who yielded nei 
ther in birth nor necessity to the former. 

England, destined, as it would seem, to be the theatre of 
the most surprising revolutions, had taken up arms against 
its king. Oliver Cromwell, to whom eloquence, intrepidity, 
dissimulation, a consummate hypocrisy, and the most vindic 
tive disposition, afforded every qualification to be one of those 



LIFE OF ST. V1.VCF.XT OF PAUL. 135 

cool and ferocious tyrants, who seem reserved for crimes of 
the first order; Cromwell, I say, under the pretext of re-es 
tablishing the purity of the gospel, accustomed insensibly 
the people and the upper house of parliament, to abhor their 
lawful sovereign; and he was showing, at a distance and 
gradually, to the unfortunate Charles, the disgraceful scaf 
fold, upon which, a few years afterwards, his very subjects 
were to cause him to be shamefully beheaded. It is easily 
supposed, that, during the course of such terrible commotions, 
the Catholics had every tiling to fear from the rebels. This 
determined a considerable number of (Scotch and English 
lords to retire into France, the ordinary asylum of all those 
persecuted for religion s sake. It was resolved in the as 
sembly, lately Conned by Vincent among the French nobility, 
that they would do for the English noblemen, what had been 
done for those of Lorraine. Death, which carried off Mr. de 
llenty in the (lower of his youth, rendered the continuation 
of this aid much more difficult; but it did not diminish it, and 
Vincent continued it during almost all the rest of his life. 

Although the holy priest would have contributed to so 
many good works, only by his exhortations and the continual 
efforts lie was obliged to make during so many years, nothing 
more would be required to make his memory dear to all those 
acquainted with true merit and perfect Christian charity. For 
who does not know how much it costs to beg incessantly, 
even when we do not beg for ourselves. But the servant of 
God did not confine himself to words. " lie was always the 
first to give. He opened his heart and his purse ; so that, in 
order to finish the good work which u as begun, lie deprived 
himself of what was even necessary for his support." These 
are the very words of one of the first noblemen of that illus 
trious assembly. But what would he not have said, had he 
known that the holy man had given the last cent that he 
possessed in the world; nay more, that he was compelled to 
borrow money for his own sustenance, and in order to relieve 
the wants of the poor. But he never stopped to calculate 
the enormous expense which he was obliged to incur. That 
which most grievously afflicted him during the continuance 



136 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

of a protracted and sanguinary war, was the blasphemy and 
licentiousness, the sacrileges, profanations, and unheard of 
cruelties so frequently committed, sometimes even against in 
nocent persons who were exposed to suffer most ; besides the 
complete ruin of a great number of families that were left 
destitute of every earthly comfort,, and consequently exposed 
to all the temptations which privation and poverty bring in 
their train. 

The reflections which he made upon all these evils deter 
mined him to risk a step, the success of which was more than, 
doubtful. He went to visit cardinal Richelieu, and after 
having represented to him with all possible delicacy the 
misery of the people, the injury offered to God, and all the 
disorders commonly consequent upon an envenomed war, he 
threw himself at his feet, and said to him, in a tone of voice 
expressive both of grief and charity: "Restore peace to the 
people, have pity on us." The minister answered him with 
much kindness, that he was seriously laboring for the pacifi 
cation of Europe; but that it did not depend upon him alone, 
and that there were a great many persons both in the king 
dom and out of it, whose concurrence was necessary to at 
tain that object. Thus the distress continued more or less 
in Lorraine ; and our saint, without arresting the course of 
his alms, found other means to send frequent supplies to 
Chateau-Salins, Dreuze, Marsal, Moyenvie, Remiremont, 
Epinal, Mircourt, Chatel-sur-Moselle, Stenai, and Rember- 
villiers. 

It is difficult to make an exact calculation of all the money 
which St. Vincent distributed in Lorraine and le Barrois. The 
person who was entrusted with its conveyance made it amount 
to one million six hundred thousand livres of French money, 
a sum with which as much could be done then, as with three 
millions now, and which although very considerable in itself, 
was still more so, at a time when the distress was extreme, 
and when the wealthiest families found themselves embar 
rassed. Yet this was only a part of what the holy priest did 
in favor of the two duchies : he sent thither, moreover, at 
different intervals, nearly fourteen thousand ells of cloths of 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PACL. 137 

different qualities, for the nobility, the citizens, the persons 
consecrated to God, and often whole families, who were in 
extreme want. If to this prodigious expense be added that 
which he incurred to procure linen and ornaments for the 
churches which had been stripped, to bring to Paris the young 
persons of whom we have spoken, maintain in that place 
those who came thither of their own accord until they could 
obtain situations, in fine, to support during several years so 
many respectable families which were in the most deplorable 
state, the very enemies of a saint, who should have only 
admin-rs, are agreed that what he did in favor of Lorraine 
amounts to a miracle; and that it is impossible not to perceive 
therein the operation of the most generous and persuasive 
charity. 

I must not omit a circumstance here which was then, and 
must be still, regarded as a sensible proof of the protection of 
God. In this time of distress and carnage, travelling in Lor 
raine was attended with great danger. Every place was full 
of soldiers, robbers and banditti, who overran the country, the 
most moderate of whom were those who were satisfied with 
plundering travellers. It was through the midst of so many 
dangers that a brother of the mission, charged by St. Vincent 
with the transportation of the alms, made as many as fifty- 
four trips without meeting with any accident. He n^ver car 
ried less than twenty thousand francs : he often carried ten or 
eleven thousand gold crowns, and on one occasion he had as 
many as fifty thousand livres. It is true that he was both 
cunning and intelligent; but he always experienced, so as 
to admit of no doubt, that the God of Vincent of Paul was 
with him, and that he kept him in all his ways. 

Sometimes he would join a convoy of armed men, who 
were attacked, defeated, and taken prisoners; but still the bro 
ther always found some means to escape the assailants. At 
other times going in company with some travellers, he 
would withdraw from them, for a moment, by a secret order 
ot Divine Providence, and at that very moment they would be 
stripped and plundered by the robbers, who fortunately had 
not perceived him. lie often passed through woods filled 
12* 



138 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

with disbanded soldiers : as soon as he would discover them, 
he would take care to hide either in some bush or even in the 
mud his purse which he always carried in a wallet like the beg 
gars, then he would advance to meet them like a man who had 
nothing to fear. He would continue his journey with them 
for some time, and when they would have left the place free, 
he would return and take his money. One day when he had 
thirty-four thousand livres, he found himself attacked on a 
sudden by a man well mounted, who, pistol in hand, obliged 
him to advance before him, that he might plunder him in a 
private place. The brother, who watched him closely, seeing 
him turn aside his head, let fall his purse. Having gone about 
a hundred steps farther, he began to show marks of the most 
profound respect to the horseman, which marks being deeply 
imprinted upon the ploughed ground, might serve to guide 
him buck to his treasure. In fact he found it again after he 
had undergone a rigorous search, in which he lost nothing 
but his knife, because he had nothing else to lose. 

As it became known by degrees throughout Lorraine that it 
was he who carried the alms, it became very difficult for him 
to conceal his movements. But God armed in his favor even 
those whom he had most to fear, or rendered harmless all the 
snares that were laid for him. A captain in ambuscade near 
Saint-Mihiel s made him known, without any evil design, to 
his soldiers; but seeing that they were about to fall upon him, 
he cocked his pistol and declared in a resolute tone that he 
would blow out the brains of any one who should be so 
mad," to use his own words, as to injure a man who was 
doing so much good. Some Croets who knew that he was at 
Nomeni, having in his possession a good deal of money, 
placed scouts in every direction that they might not miss him. 
On going out of the chateau, which by entreaties he succeeded 
in leaving by a concealed door, he took at break of day, a by 
path, in which he did not meet a soul. The marauders be 
lieved him to be still at. Nomeni, when he had already arrived 
at Pont-a-Mousson. They would scarcely give credit to those 
who assured them of his arrival in the latter city. They 
swore as usual, but their imprecations only served to show 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 139 

that we are well taken care of when we belong to God him 
self. The people in fine were so well persuaded that there 
was something miraculous in it, that they thought themselves 
in security, when travelling with this good brother. The 
Countess of Montgomery, whom the passports of these sove 
reigns had not been able to secure against pillage, and who, 
for fear of some new accident, could not resolve to go from 
Met/ to Verdun, having learned that the brother had the same 
journey to perform, begged him to take a seat in her carriage, 
being persuaded, as she said, that his company would be a 
greater security than all the passports in the world. The 
event justified her confidence : she arrived at Verdun without 
meeting witli either soldiers or robbers. 

AVhen lie returned to Paris, tiie queen, who had heard of 
his dexterity, desired to see him. .She listened several times, 
with great pleasure, to the recital of his stratagems, and to the 
ingenuity with which he varied them when the first became 
common. For his owu part, he was well persuaded, and he 
frequently repeated this conviction, that such a visible protec 
tion of God was but the effect of the faith and of the prayers of 
the holy man who had sent him. It was to those same prayers 
that those of his priests who distributed the alms, attributed 
more than once the multiplication of them in their hands, and 
without which they could not conceive how, with sums 
which, when divided into twenty-five or thirty parts, became 
very moderate, they could relieve so many poor persons, and 
supply the wants of such a variety of necessities. 

The embarrassment which the deplorable condition of 
Lorraine caused our saint, did not suspend the spiritual 
services which he had engaged himself to render to the poor 
country people. His priests, during the three first years in 
which that province required most attention, performed seventy 
missions. At the beginning of the year 1640, he sent a colo 
ny of them to Annecy, where Mr. Juste Guerin, the blessed 
Mother de Chantal, and Messrs. Hillery and Cordon, both 
commanders of the order of Malta, had established them. 
This good work was one of the best which Mr. de Sillery 
pprforrnpd on earth. His dpath corresponded with the beauli- 



140 LIFK OK ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ful and holy life which he led for several years. " He is gone 
to heaven," said Vincent in one of his letters, " like a mon 
arch who woes to take possession of his kingdom, with a 
strength, a confidence,, peace and meekness, which cannot be 
expressed. 

The pious bishop of Geneva, who only thought of preserv 
ing the great good which St. Francis of Sales had effected in 
his diocess, prudently judged that the best means of success 
was to labor in the formation of good ecclesiastics, whilst he 
would labor at the same time to sanctify the people also. He 
proposed to effect these two objects through the priests whom 
Vincent of Paul had sent him. As to what concerned the 
people this was attended with no difficulty; all that was 
wanted was to make good missions : they took place at An- 
necy and in the country parishes. But the establishment of a 
seminary for the education of holy priests required much 
more deliberation. 

The difficulty was to know whether in the erection of this 
seminary they should follow the plan of the Council of Trent, 
by admitting only young boys who, preserved in a holy re 
treat from the corruption of the world, should early imbibe the 
sweets of virtue and of ecclesiastical science, or whether they 
should only receive young clergymen who, having already 
arrived at an age sufficiently mature to choose a state of life, 
would appear to afford more certain and nearer hopes. The 
reasons for and against, were carefully weighed, but the rea 
sons against the former and for the latter prevailed on account 
of the circumstances of times and places. The bishops of 
France, after many trials, came to the same conclusions ; and 
it is notorious that in all, or almost all the seminaries of the 
kingdom, they only received young men who had completed 
their course of philosophy, and frequently even had com 
manded that of theology. 

As soon as the servant of God saw the bishop of Geneva 
determined on theerection of a theological seminary, he reflected 
seriously on the means of making it a sacred and learned acad 
emy. He believed that all could be trained up to solid piety, 
to that plenitude of the sacerdotal spirit, and to that science 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 141 

which embraces not only the dogma, but more particularly 
moral divinity. He wished that the conferences which were to 
be held twice a week upon the ecclesiastical virtues, should be 
moving and instructive; that without neglecting the chant and 
the ceremonies of religion, there should be a fixed time for 
teaching the manner of administering the sacraments, and of 
instructing the people, and teaching the catechism ; that the ex 
planations should be both clear and precise; that they should 
embrace every thing which might contribute to the direction 
of the people, and that those metaphysical questions, which 
a half instructed pastor sometimes knows better than is re 
quired, should be looked upon as of little consequence. 

lie was persuaded that th^ greatest genuises are not always 
those who succeed best in training youth, either because being 
pulled up with their own talents, they sometimes treat them 
with too much severity, or because they know not how to 
proportion their institutions to the capacities of their disciples. 
He feared above all things lest the director of a seminary 
should be persuaded that he had discharged every duty, when 
he had taught his class well. It is true that he looked upon 
science as essential, because an ignorant priest is a blind man 
who leads others into the precipice ; but he gave the prefe 
rence to piety. Hence he wished that all those who had 
charge of young ecclesiastics, should labor by their good ex 
ample, by their continued watchfulness, and by a perfect de 
tachment from the things of this world, to be duly imbued 
with the virtues of their state. But he thought at the same 
time, that to derive fruit from a seminary, it was necessary to 
pass a considerable time in it, and at least one year before re 
ceiving holy orders ; that a bishop ought not to dispense any 
one from it, not even those who have most virtue, because 
they support the weak, and when the rule is general, no one 
asks to be exempted. The virtuous bishop of Cahors, Alain 
de Solminihac, followed these two principles invariably, and 
Vincent proposed his example more than once to the prelates 
who consulted him. 

Filled with these luminous maxims and many others which 
the saint communicated to them, his priests did considerable 



142 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

good, unostentatiously, and in every direction. The pious 
prelate of whom we have just spoken, that is to say, a man 
most reserved in bestowing praise, and who found nothing 
good but what was really so, wrote some years before his 
death to the servant of God, in these terms: " You would be 
delighted to see my clergy, and you would bless God a thou 
sand times, did you know the good which your children have 
done in my seminary, and which is spread throughout the 
province." Thus spoke also more than twenty-five years after 
the death of Vincent of Paul, Jean d Arenthon d Alex, one of 
the most worthy bishops that has succeeded St. Francis of 
Sales." His commendation is inserted in his will. What 
state is better calculated to banish every idea of false praise 
than that of a man who considers himself about to appear 
before God. 

The occasion which presents itself to say a word of this 
great bishop, obliges me to relate a fact which does him much 
honor, and perhaps so much the more as Jean d Arenthon was 
yet young, and had not even received the tonsure, when Vin 
cent saw him for the first time. He conceived a great affection 
for him, begged him to come and see him, and often repeated 
these words : "God wishes to make use of you, and I assure 
you that you will be one day the successor of St. Francis of 
Sales. He repeated the same prediction to the Abbe de la 
Perouse, a nephew of Mr. d Arenthon. If he had before his 
death, the consolation to see that he was not mistaken about 
the episcopacy of the uncle, he now sees in heaven, as all 
the diocess has witnessed, that he was not deceived with re 
gard to his virtues. 

I shall not speak here, either of the services which Vin 
cent rendered to the priests of Saint-Germain 1 Auxerrois, and 
of whom, at the request of their venerable curate, he made a 
very edifying community, nor of the second visit which he 
paid to the Ursulines of Beauvais ; but I cannot pass over in 
silence what happened between him and the blessed Mother 
de Chantal, the last time she came to Paris. She expected to 
see him, the year before, at Anneci, where the bishop desired 
him to regulate the affairs of the seminary. But the necessi- 



LIFE. OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 143 

ties of the foundlings, which already engaged his time, did not 
permit him to go thither. Thus this interview, so much de 
sired on both sides, did not take place until more than fifteen 
months afterwards. Madame de Chantal then made ample 
amends. The holy priest saw her several times at the mo 
nastery in the street Saint Antoine. She asked his advice 
with regard to her own particular conduct and that of her 
order, and she acknowledged with great gratitude that the 
advice of that great servant of God had been of much service 
to her. These are the words of the Abbe Marsolier in his his 
tory of the venerable mother. 

The spiritual advantages with which God favored her 
through the assistance of our saint, were graces of preparation 
for her last sacrifice. Five weeks after her departure from 
Paris, she finished, by a most holy death, a life which she had 
passed in the exercises of Christian and religious piety.* God 
revealed at the same time to his servant both the death and 
glory of Madame de Chantal, by a vision which has some 
thing in it of the majesty of those of the ancient prophets. 
We shall give the faithful account of the event. 

When Vincent had learned by public intelligence that Ma 
dame de Chantal was at the point of death, he prostrated him 
self to pray lo God for her: and according to his custom, he 
began by an act of contrition. He had scarcely finished, when 
he perceived a small globe, as if of fire, which, rising from 
the earth, went to join, in the upper region of the air, another 
larger and more luminous globe. These two globes, which 
after their junction made but one, rose still higher, and were 
lost in a third, which was infinitely more extensive and more 
brilliant than the others. Whilst the holy priest was occu 
pied with this vision, an interior voice told him in a very dis 
tinct manner, that the first globe was the soul of Madame de 
Chantul, the second that of the blessed bishop of Geneva, and 
the third the divine essence : and that these two great souls, 
after being re-united, were, in a manner, swallowed up in the 
immense bosom of the divinity. 

* She died at Moulins, on Friday, 13th December, 1G41, at the agu 
of sixty -nine 



144 LIFE OT ST. VINCKNT OF PAUL. 

Vincent learned some days afterwards that God had been 
pleased to take his servant. As particular revelations are still 
more suspected by truly wise persons than by those who have 
less knowledge, the holy man, without relying too much on 
what he had seen, followed the customary practice, and would 
pray for Madame de Chantal at the memento of the mass. 
The very moment he b?gan to do so, he had the same vision 
as before. The same globes, the union of the first with the 
second, and of those two with the third, were presented to 
him, but accompanied by so vivid an impression and so per 
fect a conviction of the eternal happiness of that holy woman, 
that from that time he could not think of her, without repre 
senting her to himself as surrounded with the glory of the 
blessed souls. It was not, however, until after a conference 
with the archbishop of Paris and religious men well acquainted 
with the operations of God, that the holy priest made known 
this circumstance to some ladies of the Visitation, who, being 
overwhelmed at the loss which their whole order had sus 
tained, stood in need of that consolation. A few days after, 
he drew up a relation of it, in which he renders to the sublime 
virtues of the illustrious deceased the justice due to them. 
As the church has solemnised this judgment by her own, it 
would be useless to say any thing more of it. 

The happy death of the Mother induces us to say some- 
thins: of the services which Vincent endeavored to render to the 
daughters. In the frequent visits which he paid them, after 
St. Francis of Sales had made him their superior, his great, 
his only rule was to bring all the sisters in general, and each 
one in particular, to look upon their vocation as a peculiar 
grace ; to lead a life conformable to their institute, and to sus 
tain themselves by the spirit of faith so much recommended in 
the new law; to have a singular esteem for their constitutions 
and even for the counsels contained in them. He removed 
from their houses every thing that might have introduced in 
them the spirit of the world. Neither the contempt which he 
had to undergo, nor the losses which he had to fear, could 
induce him to relax on this capital point. He always refused 
with holy and generous firmness the entrance in these monas- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 145 

teries to ladies of the highest rank, and even to princesses 
who asked it, either to satisfy their curiosity or through an ill- 
directed devotion. Sometimes he did more. The queen had 
appeared to desire that one of her ladies of honor might retire 
into one of the houses of the order. A priest of the court had 
made the first proposition ; Vincent used every eflbrt to ward 
off tiie blow, and without failing in the respect which he had 
for that august princess, he prevailed on her to induce the 
lady to choose some other place for her retreat. It was be 
cause this truly enlightened director feared lest the air of the 
world might enter into the cloister in the train of those females 
who are often so full of it, and the intercourse which they 
wouid have with them, partly through politeness, partly 
through necessity, might by degrees inspire persons born for 
austere virtue, with those soft manners, those superfluous at 
tentions, of which certain devout persons of the world do not 
always rid themselves. 

He was .--till more on his guard against those who had a 
taste for the errors of the times. It was by his orders that 
Mother Angelique 1 Huillier, superior of the first monastery 
of Paris, refused a considerable sum, which a lady, who 
thought of retiring there, offered to her house, provided she 
had permission of speaking occasionaly with some jansenists 
at the grate. With the exception of these occasions, which 
required so much the more virtue as the saint always took 
upon himself all the odium of this apparently severe conduct, 
the ladies of the Visitation always found in him a most com 
passionate father. In his reprimands, he spoke to them with 
so much mildness, that he removed every thing bitter from the 
correction. According to the testimony given by them after 
his death, "he had an extraordinary deference and respect for 
all sorts of persons. His care to speak well of every body 
was equal to that which he always took to despise himself and 
publish every where that he was a great sinner. His cha 
rity redoubled towards the sick and afflicted; and he might 
with great truth say witli St. Paul, that he made himself all 
to all to gain to Christ the strong and the weak. His for 
bearance with regard to the infirmities of the neighbor had 
13 



146 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

something prodigious; and although his presence inspired 
great respect, that respect opened the heart of those who had 
to speak with him. No person possessed more than he did, 
the talent of inspiring others with confidence ; and the diffi 
culty attached to the acknowledgment of the most humili 
ating weaknesses vanished in discovering them to him ; he 
bore them with kindness, he excused them as a tender mother 
excuses those of her child." 

One of the sisters whose capacity and talents were univer 
sally esteemed, after having remarked that to avoid repetition, 
she preferred being silent, rathar than speaking again of admi 
rable things of which the whole earth was witness, adds that 
she was often struck with the depth of his mind, and that she 
scarcely ever left him without a deep impression of the lit 
tleness of her own, which made known to her the immense 
disproportion between them. We shall hereafter see this 
judgment confirmed by that of an illustrious first president 
of the parliament of Paris. 

It can easily be imagined that the ladies of the Visitation 
were much attached to their director. Yet they were, more 
than once, in danger of losing him; at length he found him 
self so enfeebled by age and labor, that he was no longer able 
to give them his services. Multiplied letters, pressing solici 
tations, the interference of many persons of rank, were all 
useless. But the archbishop of Paris having intreated him to 
continue towards those ladies so worthy of his care, the ser 
vices which, he had rendered them so happily, the saint, for 
whom the voice of the prelates of the church was always the 
voice of God, was forced to obey. But in order that his ex 
ample might not serve as an authority, he made a rule by 
which all his missionaries are prohibited from directing, or 
even visiting, religious females. 

It was then against the law established by that wise supe 
rior, that one of his most worthy successors* accepted, about 
the end of the last century, the direction of the royal house 
of SaimvCyr. But that establishment was presented by hands 

* Edme Joly, in 1692. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OK PACI-. 147 

so respectable and so much respected throughout the world, 
that he could nut well refuse it. Besides religious piety, the 
union of hearts, humility combined with elevated sentiments, 
the most attentive zeal tor the education of the nobility, who 
are to carry the odor of innocence into every portion of the 
kingdom ; all these virtues which m;ike of the house of Saint- 
Cyr a model capable of exciting emulation in the most regu 
lar communities, demonstrate, that rules the most prudently es 
tablished may have exceptions, which God himself authorises. 

It was in the following year, li>4 J. that the congregation had 
at last a permanent establishment at Koine. Urban VIII en 
trusted those whom Vincent sent thither, with the care of giv 
ing missions, forming the aspirants to orders, and visiting the 
hospitals. The success was every where the same; and that 
rising colony produced others, which cave in Italy two con 
siderable provinces to the children of Vincent of Paul. 

God recompensed by these blessings, and many others, the 
charity of his servant, winch was increasing every day ; for 
it was at that time, that, to honor the humiliations of Him 
who took the form of the last of men, he began, on Christmas 
day, to cause two old men, sometimes filthy, to eat at his 
side. They were served before him, and before all his com 
munity. Vincent treated them with much respect ; he never 
spoke to them with his head covered; his successors have 
followed his example; and of twelve poor men taken from 
the neighborhood, t\vo eat, in turn, every day, at the side 
of the general, and remind him by their presence, that he 
must be the father of the poor, like the one whose place he 
holds. 

The saint had believed that this act of charity would be the 
la^t he should perform in quality of superior. Although his 
congregation had as yet but ten establishments, including 
those of Rome, still he convoked a general assembly. It was 
opened on the 15th of October, IGlvi, and several regulations 
were then drawn up, worthy of the wisdom of those who com- 
pos( d it. Each one calculated on returning home with the 
consolation which affectionate children experience in having 
seen the best of fathers, when Vincent, who had hitherto 



148 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

given no one cause of affliction, plunged them all into grief. 
This great servant of God, fully persuaded that there was no 
member in his community who was not better fitted to govern 
it than he, threw himself on his knees before his priests, 
and after having very humbly asked their pardon for the 
faults he had committed during his administration, he begged 
them, with a voice interrupted by sobs, to proceed to a new 
election for a superior. He then retired to afford them the 
liberty of a choice which he ratified in advance. 

The deliberation soon terminated. Scarcely had they re 
covered from the surprise which such an unforeseen action 
caused, when they sent deputies to the holy priest to inform 
him that the assembly was very far from accepting his re 
signation, and they now conjured him to return and take 
his place. These deputies found him, at last, in a chapel, 
prostrate at the feet of the Son of God, where, with tears, he 
supplicated him to place at the head of his company, a man 
according to his own heart. In spite of every entreaty which 
they made use of, he protested that he was no longer supe 
rior, and he conjured those gentlemen to substitute another in 
his place. 

On receiving this reply, those who composed the assembly 
went forth in a body, and entreated him to sacrifice his incli 
nation to the wants of his children. The humble Vincent 
told them every thing he thought calculated to change their 
determination ; they did the same thing on their part. As 
this contest, which had for its foundation the true virtue of 
both parties, was likely to continue, the assembly cried out, 
in concert: "You wish that we should choose a superior ?" 
Vincent, who thought himself successful, renewed his en 
treaties. "Well!" they replied, "we elect yourself; and 
you may depend upon it, that so long as your life shall be 
preserved upon earth, we will have no other." The saint 
made still further efforts ; but seeing, at last, that they suc 
ceeded no better than the first, he bowed his head and again 
took up the burthen which God laid upon his shoulders. He 
earnestly begged of the assembly the aid of their prayers, as 
suring them that it was the first act of obedience he required 



LIFE OF 8T. VINCENT OF PA0L. 149 

of them. The company promised never to forget him, when 
in the presence of God, and renewed, of their own accord, 
the promise of obedience which they had made to him. 

His congregation, which for greater stability in doing good 
had just bound itself by a vow of perseverance, lost, a few 
months afterwards their powerful protector in the person of 
d Armand Jean Duplessis, cardinal, duke of Richelieu.* That 
minister, who had so often made Europe tremble, at length 
reached that awful moment when neither the splendor of the 
Roman purple, nor treaties, nor nil the refinements of policy 
could avail him. It has been remarked several times in the 
course of this history, that he had always a great esteem for 
the virtue of our holy priest and for his institute. He gave 
the spiritual care of the city which bears his name to the 
children of Vincent of Paul. He thought of placing twenty 
of his priests there, when he received the blow which carried 
him off. Not long before, he had given our saint one thou 
sand crowns, to supply the necessaries of a number of ecclesi 
astics who had been educated in the seminary. He continued 
in the same sentiments until his death, and by a clause in his 
last will, he left considerable property to the house which he 
had established at Richelieu. 

Louis XIII did not survive his minister six months. For 
nearly four years, this prince, who was engaged during al 
most all his reign with heresy on one side, and Austria on 
the other, saw death advancing towards him gradually. But 
he was threatened, in a manner not to be mistaken, about the 
month of April. A slow fever and a marked decay made 
him feel that his last hour was near at hand. After having 
taken every possible step to remove troubles inseparable from 
a long minority, he thought of nothing but the affairs of his 
conscience. 

As courtiers are but very weak and imperfect resources at 
such a moment, this religious prince caused St. Vincent of 
Paul to be called to Faint Germain-en-Laye, where the dis- 

* M. de Richelieu died on the 4th of December, a^ed fifty-three 
years. His life has been written several times, and lastly bv M. le 
Clerc. But it is less a history than a condemnation of Louis XIII 
and his minister. 
13* 



150 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ease had attacked him. The servant of God, to inspire him 
with confidence, and at the same time to disclose to him his dan 
ger of death, which human policy keeps as much as possible 
out of the sight and mind of the dying, said to him at once : 
" Sire, with him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the 
latter end. Timenti Dominum bene erit in extremis." This 
address did not surprise a king accustomed for a long time to 
store his mind with the most beautiful maxims of the Scrip 
ture : he answered by finishing the verse : " et in die defimc- 
tionis SUCK benedicetur. " 

Vincent passed, this first time, about eight days at court. 
He was often in private with his majesty, who found in him 
the words of salvation, and always listened to him with par 
ticular satisfaction. Two things appeared to occupy him 
most : the conversion of the Protestants, which had always 
been one of his principal objects, and the nomination to ec 
clesiastical dignities, which, during life, is esteemed an honor, 
but which sometimes costs very dear at the moment of death. 
It was on this occasion that he exclaimed: "Oh! Mr. Vin 
cent, if God restored me to health, I would not appoint a 
person to the episcopacy who had not passed three years with 
you." 

The saint, as well as all the court, admired the spirit of 
piety and resignation with which this great prince was filled. 
He beheld in his own body, nothing but a victim which was 
about to fall at the feet of the sovereign Master of kings ; and 
it was to make himself worthy of acceptance, that, after being 
better for a very short interval, he sent new orders to Vincent 
to come to him. The saint scarcely ever lost sight of him 
during the last days of his life. He aided him frequently in 
raising his soul to God, in forming acts of contrition for his 
sins, of confidence in the mercy of the Lord, of submission to 
his holy will, and of all those virtues best calculated to pre 
pare a soul for that last and awful moment upon which an 
eternity depends. If sometimes this prince looked upon death 
with dread, he soon afterwards considered it with the firmness 
of a truly Christian king ; and when his physician told him. 
that he had but very few moments to live: "Well, my God!" 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 151 

he exclaimed without the least alteration, " I consent with 
ail my heart." Some minutes afterwards, he expired in the 
arms of our saint. 

Vincent, who saw that the queen was not to be comforted 
by men, endeavored to procure for her the consolations of re 
ligion. He went to Paris the same day, in order to have 
prayers offered for their majesties. Besides a solemn high 
mass, each priest of the mission offered the divine sacrifice 
for the soul of the late king. But in praying for Louis XIII, 
they did not forget the queen, who was entering upon a re 
gency attended with troubles unexampled in our annals. 

As Vincent of Paul, during the first years of the reign of 
Louis XIV, occupied an elevated station at court, one which 
he by no means sought for; as he had to share in the misfor 
tunes of the new ministry ; and as, in fine, his history is found 
connected with the principal events of that period, I cannot 
avoid giving a general idea of the conduct which Ann of Aus 
tria thought necessary to pursue, when she took the reins of 
government. 

That princess, who had not escaped her share of suffering 
under the administration of Cardinal Richelieu, was at first 
disposed to remove all those who could be looked upon as the 
creatures of that minister. Julius Mazarini, who, since the 
siege of Cazal, where he succeeded in arresting and charming, 
as it were, two armies about to engage in battle, had found 
means to insinuate himself into the good graces of Richelieu, 
looked upon himself as one of the first to be sacrificed. Mr. 
de Beringhen and Vincent of Paul prevented it, each in his 
own way : Beringhen by telling the queen that she could not 
do without Mazarin who was acquainted thoroughly with 
the state of affairs ; and Vincent by the general principle of 
pardoning our enemies. The cardinal was therefore retained 
in his post: and that skilful, subtle, witty, and industrious 
man, made himself so necessary that he obtained no less au 
thority under Louis XIV, than Richelieu had possessed under 
Louis XIII. 

To this first step, the regent added another which mortified 
our saint very much. Ann of Austria, who was trulv zeal- 



152 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ous and full of piety, formed a council, in which religious af 
fairs were to be examined, as well as the good and bad qualities 
of those who had any pretensions to the dignities of the church. 
Mazarin, chancellor Seguier, Charton, the grand penitentiary 
of Paris, and Vincent of Paul formed this council. A favor 
ite of that princess* says that Vincent was the president. 

This dignity which procured for him the empty homage of 
a crowd of persons who were panting for the good things of 
the sanctuary, filled his soul with horror and confusion. He 
made every effort to get rid of this office ; but the queen knew 
his capacity and rare virtue too well to give her consent. He 
had recourse to God, when he found that he could not succeed 
with men. Divine Providence thus disposing of him so as 
present him a spectacle both for men and angels, did not listen 
to his prayers. It was, in fact, during more than ten succes 
sive years, in which he held this elevated station, that his 
virtue appeared in all its splendor. His humility triumphed 
over the fickle applause of the world ; his equanimity and 
patience were never exhausted amidst the shafts of envy, 
malice, and injustice which were hurled against him. His 
firmness in upholding the interests of God and of the church 
was superior to all the assaults of human respect. It was 
upon this great theatre that his inviolable fidelity in the ser 
vice due to the king, his profound respect for the bishops, his 
love for all orders of the church, his tender charity for all reli 
gious and secular communities shone forth with new splendor. 
His own congregation was the only one which he forgot, al 
though he had every opportunity to ask and obtain favors, as 
the queen entertained the greatest consideration for him ; Car 
dinal Mazarin loved him ever since the life time of Richelieu, 
and thus he might have asked and obtained many favors, 
which would have been considered as of much consequence; 
still he never for a moment thought of asking the least favor, 
either for himself or for his friends. 

From the beginning, he felt that, determined as he was to 
give his support only to true merit, he was going to raise a 

" Madame de Motteville. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 153 

crowd of powerful enemies. But he would have counted all 
that as nothing, if he could have removed from the sanctuary 
those who were only called to it by interest, cupidity, and am 
bition. The misfortune was, and this thought filled his soul 
with sorrow, that he could not reasonably hope to succeed. 
Cardinal Mazarin who was now raised to the summit of 
power, for before the end of the year 1643 he was appointed 
prime minister, appeared to be influenced by maxims dia 
metrically opposed to those of Vincent of Paul. Mazarin 
considered all those as the friends of God who were his own 
friends. Vincent judged of the tree by its fruit. He was 
guided in judging of the true qualifications required in a bishop 
by those which, in accordance with the apostle of the Gen 
tiles, are prescribed by the sacred canons ; and although he 
did not doubt that a man of rank might, when possessed of 
virtue, be more useful to the church than another of humble 
station, still he was far from being persuaded that a man had 
all the necessary qualifications to govern the flock of Jesus 
Chnst, merely because he was the son or the relative of some 
one, who had been distinguished for taking cities and gaining 
battles. 

It was with this germ of opposition that these two men 
entered the ecclesiastical council. Vincent went thither in 
the same simple dress and manner, as when he went to in 
struct the poor country people. He did not transgress the 
bounds of decency, and much less those of simplicity. Dis 
tinctions gave him more pain than they afford pleasure to the 
martyrs of ambition. The prince of Conde wishing, at the 
commencement of these favors, to make him sit near him: 
"Your highness," he replied, "does me too much honor in 
admitting me to your presence ; are you not aware that I am 
the son. of a poor countryman." " Good manners and a good 
life," answered this great prince, " constitute a true nobleman." 
He added that his merit was known and appreciated long be 
fore the present day. Yet, in order that he might have an 
opportunity to form a more correct judgment of it, he caused 
the conversation to turn upon some controverted points of 
canon law. Vincent of Paul treated them with so much 



154 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

clearness and precision, that the prince gave him a kind of 
reprimand for the very contemptuous manner in which he 
had spoken of himself; and afterwards going into the queen s 
apartment, he congratulated her on the choice she had made 
of a man so well calculated to assist her in carrying into 
effect her good designs. 

In the first councils at which the holy man assisted, he 
presented a plan of reform with regard to pensions, co-adju- 
torships, the age necessary for every sort of benefice, and 
taose which had fallen into lapse, the abuse of which was 
carried as far as it could go. If this plan had been followed 
in all the other articles, as it was in the last, with which our 
saint alone was charged, there is every reason to believe that 
all the orders of the Gallican church would have gradually 
recovered their ancient splendor. It is at least sure, as the 
illustrious Feuelon said in his letter to Clement XI, that there 
would not have been seen in the episcopacy some subjects 
who were not very edifying. Lut it was difficult for things 
to remain long on so good a footing. The queen, who was 
too diffident of her own strength, soon believed that Mazarin 
was necessary to her ; and the cardinal easily penetrated the 
dispositions of the princess. Hence the council of conscience 
subsisted in its integrity, only during the time that this minis 
ter thought necessary to strengthen his new-born authority ; 
and that he might not find in Vincent of Paul a rigid censor, 
who might disapprove of his choice, he endeavored to make 
himself master of the principal nominations. 

There was one in which our saint did himself eternal honor. 
The court being out of Paris, Cardinal Mazarin wrote to Vin 
cent, that the queen, to acknowledge in the son the services of 

the father, had just named Mr. to a bishopric which had 

become vacant a few days before; and that her majesty desired 
him to give the necessary instructions to that ecclesiastic. 
This letter embarrassed the holy priest very much. On one 
side, he had great respect for the orders of the queen and her 
first minister ; on the other he knew that the ecclesiastic in 
question was not capable of filling a see which had been long 
neglected, and required an edifying, zealous, and resident 



LIFE CF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 155 

pastor. As every way on the side of the court was closed, 
the brief of nomination having been expedited, and a revision 
of couise precluded, Vincent adopted a plan, the idea of which 
cculd only originate with a saint devoured with zeal for the 
house of God. He went to the father of the clergy man. and 
without fearing to lose an old friend, he ventured to represent 
to him the eminent virtues required for the episcopacy, and 
how much his son was destitute of them ; but from these 
principles, already so alarming in themselves, he drew a still 
more alarming consequence, viz., that the father was obliged to 
send hack to the court the nomination he had received for his 
son, if he would not expose both himself and his son, and 
perhaps his whole family, to the indignation of Him who 
curses the pastors whom he has not chosen. 

A compliment so different from those which this gentleman 
had begun to receive on the new dignity of his son, must 
have astonished him. Yet, as he was possessed of a fund of 
religion, and could not doubt that a remonstrance, so painful 
to natuie, was the effect of the purest charity, he listened to 
the saint with attention. lie even went so far as to thank 
him for his good advice, and promised to think very seriously 
of it. llis pretended reflections resulted in nothing. But 
God soon spoke in a stronger voice than his servant had done; 
and death, which carried off the new prelate a short time after 
his consecration, left the father nothing but the deepest regret 
of having preferred in vain his own interest to the interest 
of God. 

The zeal which the holy priest displayed to keep back from 
the sanctuary those who were not worthy to be admitted to it, 
or who would force an entrance by the arms of simony, ex 
posed him to the blackest calumny. Efforts were made to 
destroy him in the mind of the queen, of the minister, and of 
all good people in the kingdom. One of those men, who are 
capable of any thing, dared to report through Paris, and even 
to a person of the first distinction, that he, who was appa 
rently so great an enemy to simony, accommodated himself 
perfectly to it in practice ; and that a short time before, he had, 
for a library and a sum of money, procured a benefice for an 



156 LIFK OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ambitious man. This report was, at first, circulated covertly, 
and with all the precautions which accompany imposture ; 
by degrees it became public enough. One of the friends of 
Vincent informed him of it. However accustomed the holy 
priest was to suffer, such an atrocious imputation moved him 
a little ; and on the first impulse he commenced a letter in his 
justification. But he had scarcely written two lines, when 
he reproached himself with his sensibility, and animated by 
the spirit of St. Francis of Sales, who found himself dishon 
ored in a much more infamous manner, he said to himself: 
" Miserable wretch ! what were you going to do ? What ! 
you want to justify yourself, and you have just heard that a 
Christian, falsely accused at Tunis, passed three days in tor 
ments, and died at last without a word of complaint! . . . and 
you wish to excuse yourself! No, it shall not be so." At 
these words, he threw down the pen, and suffered the public 
to think freely whatever they pleased. God took his vindica 
tion upon himself. Those who had been tempted to suspect his 
virtue, soon abandoned their unjust prejudices; and the speedy 
death of the one who had outraged him so unworthily, was 
looked upon by many as a chastisement from that watchful 
hand, which, to discredit calumny, often strikes the calumniator. 

In fact, the injustice was so much the more crying, as the 
disinterestedness of the holy priest was generally known. 
Without referring to his immense alms, which so often ex 
hausted his purse, he proved, even at the time of which we 
speak, that, so far from abusing the credit which he had at 
court, to procure what did not belong to him, he would not 
even have entered, at that price, upon the possession of what 
was his own. 

One of the principal magistrates of the kingdom, a man 
who was powerful and esteemed, gave himself a great deal 
of trouble to procure an abbey for his son, who was not wor 
thy of it. Justly fearing that he would be opposed by Vin 
cent of Paul, he made an effort to gain him over; and to 
obtain his object, he let him know that if he would not op 
pose his views, the house of St. Lazarus would be put in 
possession of rights and property which had been alienated 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 157 

from it. The reply of the saint was brief, and comprised in 
these few words : " I will never do any thing against God or 
my conscience for all the possessions of earth. The company 
will never perish through poverty : I rather fear that it will 
perish when it ceases to be poor." If these words be pro 
phetic, the congregation is still at a distance from its de 
struction. 

Notwithstanding the contradictions which the holy man 
met with, he did not exert himself less to be as useful as he 
could to all orders of the church. The bishops, whom he al 
ways honored so much as to throw himself at their feet when 
he appeared before them, found in him a respectful and zealous 
protector at court. He was never tired of recommending them 
to the queen, the cardinal minister, and to such of the magis 
trates as had the greatest authority. It was he who, by caus 
ing Mr. Cupif to be appointed bishop of Dol, terminated a long 
and unpleasant dispute which he had with Mr. de Rieux, 
bishop of Leon. It was he also, who, to establish and con 
solidate the true faith in a city which had long been the bul 
wark of heresy, caused the bishopric of Maillezais to be 
transferred to La Rochelle. It was he who, in several inter 
views with President Mole, endeavored to prevent appeals from 
producing, by the intrigues of bad priests, an effect at variance 
with the object for which they had been established. It was he 
who ventured to represent to virtuous bishops, that mildness, 
patience, even humiliation, were their proper arms ; and that 
these should be exhausted, before recourse was had to excom 
munication. It was he who, that there might be in the epis 
copacy no one self-intruded, brought to a holy and perfect 
indifference, sometimes, an almoner of the king who grew 
weary of being forgotten ; at other times, a religious who, se 
duced by an appearance of good, thought that a bishopric in 
partilius would enable him to continue the services he ren 
dered to the church. In fine, it was he who, holding a secret 
council with the queen, after she had perceived that her min 
ister was not scrupulous enough, gave so many good bishops 
to the church, that the celebrated Fiechier did not doubt that 
the clergy of France owed to him their splendor and glory. 
14 



158 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

The services he rendered to the religious communities were 
no less important. His first historian assures us, and he has 
reason to do so, that of all those in France, there is not one 
which does not owe him much, either for the whole body, or 
for some of its members. Jean de Montenas, abbot of St. Ge- 
nevieve, and the regular canons of his congregation acknow 
ledge with pleasure in their letter to Clement XI, that Car 
dinal de la llocliefoucault, being commissioned by the holy 
see to reform them, found, in the execution of that important 
project, great assistance in the credit and counsels of Vincent 
of Paul. Henry de Briqueville de la Lucerne, after having 
Avritten that Alain de Solminihac, one of his most worthy 
predecessors, never did any thing of consequence without 
having consulted the holy priest, adds that it was the latter 
who aided that virtuous prelate to re-establish the ancient dis 
cipline in the monasteries of the diocess of Cahors, and who 
sustained him at Rome and in France in the reformation of 
the order of Chancelade, of which he was abbot and first 
superior. Henry de la Marche, abbot of Grand-Mont, con 
fesses that Vincent rendered to all his community services 
which could not be forgotten without ingratitude. The abbot 
of Bonfay and Rangeval, of the order of Premontre, acknow 
ledge in concert, that the re-establishment of discipline, which 
they desired to introduce into some of their houses, was so 
violently thwarted by enemies, that if the holy priest had riot 
employed in their favor all his credit with the king, there is 
every probability that the excellent work could not have suc 
ceeded. He supported with the same ardor the reforms 
which took place in the orders of St. Anthony and St. Bene 
dict. I shall say also that he was the particular friend of 
Dorn Gregoire Tarisse, first superior general of the congrega 
tion of Saint-Maur ; and that this perfect religious always 
honored him as a model of piety and virtue. 

What Vincent did amongst religious communities of 
men, he did with still greater ardor to re-establish and preserve 
exact discipline in the monasteries of females, who stand 
in greater need of being supported against their own weak 
ness. He always endeavored to procure for them abbesses 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 159 

and superiors who owed their vocation neither to flesh, nor 
blood, but to the will of God alone. 

When the abbeys had the right of (-lection, ha vigorously 
opposed the intrigues of certain nuns, who, having no hope 
of obtaining the first place by that means, endeavored to reach 
it by the influence of their relations and the authority of the 
king, lie acted in the same way with regard to those who, 
being elected for three years according to the custom of their 
community, solicited briefs of continuation, being persuaded 
that young females, who are naturally less firm in good, may 
forget themselves more easily in great charges, when they are 
to be continued in them for life. Win-never there was a va 
cancy in the abbeys of which the king had the nomination, he 
was inflexible in placing in them only ladies of known capa 
city and constant regularity. lie removed from the govern 
ment of a monastery, a niece whose aunt had made it a plea 
sure house for her family, where she was sumptuosly en 
tertained at the expense of what was necessary for the reli 
gious. It is true that on that occasion he underwent a deluge 
of insulting words, and more insulting threats : but instead 
of complaining to the queen, who would have avenged him 
in a striking manner, lie loaded the one who had treated him 
so ladly with politeness, and redoubled his prayers for her. 

lie never admitted coadjutorships, which were only founded 
upon human tenderness, and by means of which a religious 
possessed of little virtue and zeal, often succeeded another 
who had very little more. In resignations, he paid much less 
attention to the certificates, often obtained by solicitation, of 
capacity and piety, than to the information which he secretly 
obtained concerning the merit and virtue of the persons, in 
whose favor the resignation took place. 

One of his principal cares was to banish all troubles and 
divisions from the monasteries of females, those fatal flames 
which, as an apostle says, often spring from a small spark. 
He re-established tranquillity and discipline in the abbey of 
Estiwal, by sending thither, under the order of the queen, 
four religious of Val-de-Grace. Ho did the same thing in the 
abbey of La Perrine, by means of Mother Louise Eugenie de 



160 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Fontaine, who, with the meekness and unction of St. Francis 
of Sales, restored peace and harmony in it. 

But nothing appeared more essential to him than to re 
move from the cloister every thing that bore the impress of 
novelty. Before there were any question about Jansenism, he 
stifled an error somewhat resembling that of the fanatics, who, 
at the end of the preceding century, had made so much noise 
in Spain. Some fanatics had found out new means of salva 
tion, which antiquity never knew, and by which they flattered 
themselves with reaching the most sublime perfection. In 
their opinion St. Paul himself had never walked in the great 
roads which exalt and edify the soul. St. Paul had not pene 
trated the mysteries of devotion and spirituality. They alone 
had been chosen by God to give lessons upon this matter, and 
even to reform the church. These enthusiasts, whom Louis 
XIII thought had been dispersed, took advantage, particu 
larly in the diocesses of Paris and Bazas, of the commotions 
which disturbed the ministry of Louis XIV. The monas 
teries of nuns, as usual, were the first conquests these inno 
vators attempted. They thus surprised a good number of 
persons of every sex and condition. Happily the evil had not 
yet struck very deep roots when the servant of God was in 
formed of it. He sent to the infected communities learned 
and virtuous persons who showed the danger of these false 
maxims. They also watched so closely and claimed so power 
fully those who were suspected of dogmatising, that they 
hastened to return to their primitive obscurity. 

As it is impossible to enter into a detail of the other services 
which Vincent of Paul rendered to the church and to the state 
during the regency of Ann of Austria, we shall only remark 
that he undertook every kind of good work of which an ac 
tive and watchful zeal is capable. It was he who, to exter 
minate blasphemy and to abolish the horrid practice of duel 
ling, promoted the publication of those excellent edicts, by 
which Louis XIV commenced his reign. It was he who 
caused measures to be taken against that licentiousness, in 
which men void of faith and virtue indulged, by publishing 
and spreading about dangerous or rather nefarious works, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 161 

which the demon of libertinism and impiety alone could sug 
gest. It was lie who, being unable to abolish comedies, 
caused at least those indecent scenes, which render plays 
doubly dangerous, to be suppressed. la fine it was he who, 
knowing that the prisoners of state confined in the Bastile had 
no one to teach them how sanctity their sufferings, induced the 
queen to appoint a fervent ecclesiastic of his conference to 
give them pious exhortations ; and by disposing them to be 
reconciled with Gud, to dispose them also for the favor of the 
king. 

That which was most admirable in the ministry of St. Vin 
cent, was his exercising it at ail tunes with a nobleness, a 
disinterestedness, a wisdom of which few examples are found. 
His houses were almost all poor enough, and most of them 
very much burdened by the law they had prescribed to them 
selves to labor gratuitously in their principal functions. As 
he had been commissioned to distribute a great number of 
benefices, he would easily have found the means of uniting 
some of them to his congregation : of this he would never 
think. More than once persons attempted to corrupt his 
virtue by the allurement of money, which is generally so 
powerful. Without repeating the story of that magistrate 
who desired in a manner to purchase his silence, one of his 
most intimate friends offered him ten thousand francs, to in 
duce him to cause some propositions in which there was noth 
ing injurious to the people, to be proposed and admitted in the 
counsel of the king. But besides that the holy priest did not 
think that he could sell the credit which he had at court, he 
observed to his friends that th system to which he was solici 
ted to lend his aid, might injure the interests of the clergy; so 
that raising his eyes to heaven, he made no other answer than 
this : "God preserve me from it: 1 would rather die than say 
a single word on the sulject." Far from profiting in his own 
favor by the power which his employment gave him at the 
court and in all the kingdom, he always exerted himself to cause 
the favors which the queen intemhd for him, to fall upon 
Others. She had so marked a respect for him, that, by the 
acknowledgment of all the courtiers, there was nothin" that he 
11* 



162 LIKE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

might not look for from the good will of that princess. It was 
even said, and the report was spread abroad, that she wished 
to ask the honor of the Roman purple for him. But the 
manner in which he received those of his friends, who has 
tened to congratulate him about it, dispensed others with pay 
ing him the same compliment. A man so perfectly dead to 
himself, was still more so to all earthly grandeur. To live 
and not to be humbled, was a martyrdom for him. 

To perfect disinterestedness, the saint added consummate 
prudence and wisdom. Born an enemy to precipitation, 
which, in the opinion of Titus Livius, engages men in the 
most erroneous steps, he never decided on any thing without 
having reflected on it maturely : he attentively weighed all 
the reasons for and against, he examined the circumstances, 
he foresaw the consequences. But when he had once made 
up his mind, he was as prompt in the execution of his plans, 
as he had been circumspect in the examination ; and then, 
whether it succeeded or not, he remained in peace ; being 
well assured, with an ancient father, that wisdom does not 
judge of tilings by their success, and that God sometimes in 
spires designs of which he wishes us to make a sacrifice to him. 

With regard to secrecy, the neglect of which destroys every 
day the best concerted projects, Vincent was invulnerable. 
When he returned from court, he was so strict in the obser 
vance of silence with regard to state affairs, that one would 
have thought he was returning from the cell of a carthusian. 
But it was not so much the nature of the important affairs 
transacted in the cabinet of kings, as his own virtue that 
made him so circumspect. A man who had been for a long 
time inviolably faithful to the great number of persons who 
came from every direction to lay themselves open to him, 
was very far from revealing secrets, which, according to the 
advice of the Holy Ghost, should be concealed in the heart, 
never to escape thence. 

W e cannot too often repeat that all these great qualities of 
the holy priest, arose from one principle, his attachment to the 
rules of the gospel. It was from that source that he drew all 
his light; and, notwithstanding the prejudices of human 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF 1 AUL. 163 

policy, we must acknowledge that it is there alone that we 
can learn how to reconcile what was then seen in our saint; a 
favorable access to the sovereign, and a perfect disengagement 
from all wordly interests; great activity in external affairs and 
a most intimate union with God ; opportunities, as easy as 
frequent, of making friends at the expense of good rules, and 
an uprightness of heart which nothing could alter; a con 
tinual intercourse with all kinds of persons, good or evil in- 
tentioned, and an equanimity of mind always constant, always 
uniform : in fine, an understanding capable of answering all 
that his prince cocld desire, and a heart as deeply penetrated 
with his own nothingness, as it was full of piety and love for 
God. 

It was to spread abroad this divine love more and more, 
that he sent, this very year 1613, many of his priests into 
different cities of the kingdom. Three of them began to form 
the seminary of Cahors under the auspices of Mr. de Solmi- 
nihac. Others spread themselves through different diocesses, 
to give missions. The most important was made at Mar 
seilles on the first seven galleys. The duchess of Aiguillon, 
who had solicited it, was so moved by the account which the 
pious bishop, Jean Baptiste Gault, gave her of it, that, m 
order to perpetuate the good work, she established four mis 
sionaries in that city. 

To this establishment was added that of Sedan. The Duke 
of Bouillon, who had entered into the conspiracy of Cinq- 
Mars, had no sooner restored that place to Louis XIII, 
than this religious monarch caused missions to be made there, 
to strengthen the Cathdirs whom a constant intercourse with 
the self-styled reformed had exposed to the danger of losing 
their faith. After the death of that prince, Vincent, at the 
solicitation of the queen, sent six priests there, who were 
placed in possession of the parish by Eleonor d Estampes, 
archbishop of Reims. Their chief "was Mr. Gallet, a 
learned man, of acknowledged probity, disinterested, religious 
without superstition, extremely careful to say and do nothing 
which might bring upon himself exterior distinction, always 
a model and never a spectacle in the missions. He began the 



164 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

great work of the conversion of the people of Sedan by study 
ing their character, in order to accustom himself to their 
ways, and accommodate himself in some measure to their dis 
positions." This is the account of him given by Marshal 
Fabert to our saint, in his very words, lie added that the 
method of the priests of the mission and their ability gained 
many Calvinists to the church, and nothing is more certain. 
When these gentlemen arrived at Sedan, there were bu* 
fifteen hundred Catholics. The face of things altered by 
degrees through their care, and that of other communities 
which were established there at the solicitation of the servant 
of God. Of more than ten thousand inhabitants that are in 
that city, not one-third persevere now in heresy; and that not 
in consequence surely of the talents by which they are upheld 
in it. 

It was also in this year, 1614, that Franfois Mallier, bishop 
of Troyes, established the missionaries in the little city of 
Montmirel, at the invitation of Pierre de Gondi, Duke of Retz. 
The inhabitants of the place and neighborhood saw with plea 
sure the children of our saint in a country, where they had so 
often admired his own virtue and apostolical zeal. Time 
which effaces every thing, has not yet diminished their first 
sentiments of respect and veneration. Fathers have trans 
mitted them to their children ; and the striking miracle which 
God worked there some years ago through the intercession 
of his servant, is a proof that if Montmirel continues to pay 
a just homage to the memory of the saint, the saint continues 
to cherish and protect Montmirel. 

If Vincent felt great satisfaction in seeing that his priests 
were in a situation to be useful to the church in a number of 
diocesses, he felt more so on finding that they multiplied 
without losing any thing of their primitive spirit. "Never," 
says he in one of his letters, "have more regularity, more 
union and cordiality prevailed than at present. But, adds he, 
a great calm is always the forerunner of some storm." 

His prognostic was found correct, and the congregation 
saw itself on the point of experiencing in the death of its 
holy institutor, the greatest loss it could sustain. His 



LIFE OF ST. VI.NCr.NT OF PALL. 165 

domestic and exterior occupations ; the great pain he felt iu 
being placed in the royal council; the continual embarrass 
ment caused him by this employment which was always a 
martyrdom for him ; the want of rest for a man advanced in 
age, and who rising exactly at fi;ur o clock every morning, 
went sometimes to bed at midnight ; so much fatigue ex 
hausted nature at last. His sickness caused alarm at the 
commencement. The holy priest, to dispose himself for 
death which he believed to be near, received communion 
every day. The love of God engrossed his whole heart; and 
in a delirium which lasted for some time, they remarked 
nothing in him, as formerly in .St. Francis Xavier, except 
emotions full of ardor, tender sighs for heaven, inflamed de 
sires of soon seeing the dissolution of this house of clay, 
which impedes the union of the soul with its adorable principle. 

The news of his illness being circulated, all his friends, and 
particularly Father J. B. de Saint-Jure, were much alarmed 
at it; but no one felt it more deeply than a young priest who 
was then sick himself. As soon as he heard that the respec 
table superior was in danger of death, he begged God to ac 
cept his life in exchange for that of a man, who was more 
than ever necessary to the church, the state, and his own 
congregation. Vincent began from that time to grow better, 
and the priest to sink so visibly that he died a short time 
afterwards. The saint recited the olfice of the dead for him 
with one of his clergy, before any one had apprized him of 
his death. This is not the only time that he was acquainted 
with things, which he could know only by a lieht from above. 
"He predicted to me," said a celebrated advocate in the par 
liament of Paris (Mr. Ilusson), secret and hidden things 
which did not happen until two years afterwards, and which 
he could not then foroee but by a particular illustration, or 
rather by a spirit of prophecy." 

As soon as the holy priest was a little recovered, he re 
commenced his exercises and labors with as much fervor and 
assiduity, as if they had not brought him to death s door. 
After having performed the obsequies of the virtuous Cardi 
nal de la Roehefoucault, who, like Louis XIII, died in his 



166 LIFE OF 6T. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

arms,* he went to Richelieu, where he was occupied from 
morning till night. By order of the queen, he commenced a 
mission at Fontainebleau. He sent new colonies to Saintes 
and Mans. He was even on the point of sending one to 
Babylon, when the death of Urban VIII, who had directed 
him to do it, defeated his design. He formed one which was 
more successful, to procure for the slaves of Barbary that aid 
which was wanting to him in the time of his captivity. 
Julien Guerin, born in the diocess of Baycux, a man who, 
before his association with Vincent of Paul, had known how 
to sanctify himself in the profession of arms, was the person 
to whom he gave the department of Tunis. 

It would have been difficult to make a better choice. Mr. 
Guerin united to an unction calculated to soften the most 
hardened heart, a zeal which might be compared to that of the 
greatest apostles. The bishop of Saintes, in whose diocess 
he had labored, openly declared that he knew no person in the 
world, in whom the divine operation wns more manifest, and 
who had a greater grace for exhibiting to advantage the truths 
of the gospel. Although it is said of him, as of the holy 
Precursor, that he lived without eating or drinking, he labored 
so continually and with so much ardor, that it required a kind 
of miracle to preserve his life. He had always desired to die 
amongst the captives and barbarians. The idea alone that he 
should have it in his power to be so happy as to endure for 
one day what the martyrs suffered, transported him with joy. 
Some one having told him on the eve of his departure, that 
"he was going to get himself hanged in Barbary :" " this is 
too little," replied he in a transport of love for Jesus Christ, 
" I earnestly hope that God will grant me the favor to be im 
paled or to suffer something worse." 

He persevered in these heroic sentiments at Tunis : the 
apostolical man produced by his invincible patience pro 
digious fruits, of which we shall speak elsewhere. If God 
did not grant him the crown of martyrdom,, he honored him 

* Francis de la Roc.hefoucanlt, who was constantly employed with 
much x.eal in the reformation of the orders of St. Benedict and St. 
Augustine, died on the Hth of February, 1C45, at the age of 87. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 167 

at least with that which is due to the most eminent charity. 
He had net been yet four years in Barbary, when, on account 
of his assiduous intercourse with the slaves alliicted with the 
plague, he was attacked himself, and terminated a holy lilt- 
by a death precious in the sight of the Lord. Happily for the 
Christians of Africa, he had, the preceding year, obtained per 
mission from the Bey, to bring another priest from France to 
aid him in reaping a harvest winch was too abundant fur 
one man : and Vincent who thought nothing too much 
when the relief of the poor wa^ in question, had directly tent 
him Jean le Vacher, a priest of the tliocess of Paris. It is this 
incomparable man who, after having labored more than 
thirty-three years for the salvation of the slaves, and even of 
the Turks of Algiers and Tunis, had finally the happiness to 
be the first of the children of Vincent of Paul, to shed his 
blood for the faith of Jesus Christ in that infidel and barba 
rous country. 

The servant of God did not neglect in France those duties 
of charity, which his priests so generously performed in 
foreign lands. He gave, that very year, all possible help to a 
great number of sacred ministers, whom the persecution ol 
the pitiless Cromwell had obliged to leave; their country, lie 
procured support and lodging, at little expense, lor a crowil 
of priests, who degraded themselves by the indece>nt manner 
in which they sought alms, and by a necessary consequence 
degraded the priesthood of the Son of God. He; boldly 
defended his old friend Air. Oiier, and after having sus 
tained him in a popular commotion, in which that worthy 
pastor came ne ar being burned alive in his own house, IK; 
bore, on his own account, at court, reproaches which neither 
of them had merited . 

But there are few things which caused him more pains 
than the establishment of his priests in the diocess of Saint- 
Malo. Achilles de Harlai de Sancy, who was bishop of it, 
had obtaine-d some of them by earnest entreaty, and put in 
the monastery of Saint Meen, of which he was superior and 
abbot. They had scarcely occupied it, when a decree of the 
parliament of Brittany obliged them to leave it. Vincent, 



168 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

who had written some months before to one of his priests, 
"that it was much better to lose than to go to law," wanted 
immediately to withdraw his missionaries, of whom he had 
need elsewhere. But the bishop strongly opposed it. He 
represented to him that he had done nothing but in conse 
quence of the letters patent of the king, that there were only 
two aged monks in that house, whose consent he had obtained, 
and that they were neither reformed nor willing to be so ; that 
the abbey which had been constantly subject to the jurisdic 
tion of his predecessors and of himself belonged to no congre 
gation ; and that being independent of every other body, it 
had never received any visits, except from the bishop. Vin 
cent permitted his priests to remain with him, with orders to 
obey him ; but he took great care not to enter into their suit, 
nor did he ever engage in it, either personally or by any of 
those connected with him. It would be useless and disagree 
able to repeat that the bishop of Saint Malo had recourse to 
censures ; that the parliament of Rennes opposed new decrees 
to them ; that these were annulled by the council of state of 
the king; that it was necessary to obtain a new bull from the 
Holy See ; and that in the informations which preceded its 
publication, the clergy, nobility, even the judges of the neigh 
borhood, rendered to the children of Vincent of Paul, who by 
their zeal and labors had already sanctified four diocesses, the 
most glorious testimony they would receive. But it will 
not be useless to add that if the affair of Saint Meen caused a 
passing difference in the minds of those concerned, it did not 
alter that charity which ought to unite hearts ; that at the 
very time of the crisis, Vincent employed, as he had hitherto 
done, all his credit in favor of the reform ; that Dom Gregoire 
Tarisse loudly proclaimed the merits of the holy priest ; that it 
was in some measure to follow his views, that his pious and 
learned congregation was one of the first to ask of the holy 
See to render justice to his virtues, and that, some time after, 
the children of St. Benedict consecrated the memory of his 
virtues in a monument which virtue alone can erect to virtue. 
But the servant of God erected for himself more durable 
ones than those made of marble and bronze. As each year 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 169 

of his life furnished a great number of events precious in the 
eyes of religion, we can do no more than merely point them 
out. It was at this very time that, having heard that one of 
his benefactors had lost his fortune, he wished to return 
what he had received from him, as he had already done to 
the curate of Vernon. It was also at the same time that seve 
ral ladies of rank having offered him sixty thousand livres to 
build a church, he constantly refused the gift and begged them 
to distribute the sum amongst the poor, who were beginning 
to suffer. In fine, it was at this time that, in spite of the 
enormous expense which it would have been necessary to 
incur, he was on the point of sending some of his priests to 
Sale and to Persia, and that, as he often repeated, with a 
view to indemnify the church for the losses which it had sus 
tained within two centuries, and those which the growing 
irreligion of the day made him consider as inevitable. 

But he soon undertook in Ireland what he could not effect 
in the East. Innocent X having inado known to him that 
the Catholics of that kingdom, almost destitute of pastors, 
lived in profound and dangerous ignorance of the truths of 
faith, Vincent chose in his congregation eight laborers capable 
of making every effort for the sanctih cation of their brethren. 
Five of these virtuous priests having been brought up in the 
islands of Great Britain, were perfectly acquainted with their 
manners and language : the others, with a little labor, could 
make themselves understood by the people. All, before their 
departure, threw themselves at the feet of the saint, and asked 
his blessing. Vincent prayed the God of mercy to be pleased 
to bless them himself. "Be united," said he to them, "and 
the Lord will bless you. But be united by the charity of 
Jesus Christ. Every union which is not cemented by the 
blood of this divine Snviour, cannot subsist. God calls you 
to labor in his viney;i;-;i, go to it; but go to it, as having but 
one heart and one intention in him, and by this means you 
will bring forth fruit." 

He afterwards directed them, how to act during the voyage, 
and when they should have arrived at the place of their des 
tination. He did it with so much prudence, that on their re- 



170 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

turn they acknowledged that the salutary counsels of that 
judicious superior had been for them a source of benediction. 
France, which they were about to leave, gathered the lirst 
fruits of their zeal. During the stay which they were 
obliged to make at Nantz, they instructed the poor, served 
and consoled the sick in the hospitals. They learned in the 
spiritual conferences which they had with the ladies of cha 
rity of the parishes, the manner of visiting and assisting the 
sick in that spirit of compassion and tenderness, of which a 
God-Man has left us the example. 

At Saint-Nazaire, whilst waiting for the day of their de 
parture, they gave a kind of mission to all the passengers who 
wished to profit by it. An English gentleman who had the 
curiosity to listen to them, could not resist the Holy Ghost 
who spoke by their mouth. His eyes were opened : he re 
turned to the church, from which his fathers had so unhap 
pily separated. It was very evident that God had designs of 
salvation with regard to him. Three days afterwards, I know 
not by what accident, he was mortally wounded. It was 
then that he felt all the value of the grace which God had 
just granted him. His mouth could not sufficiently express 
his gratitude. He made nil shed tears who were witnesses 
of those which he poured forth for his former errors. 

Our missionaries at length departed; and, before arriving at 
Limerick, they experienced such violent tempests and dan 
gers that they were more than once snatched, as if by miracle, 
from the very jaws of death. We shall speak elsewhere of 
the great but arduous victories which they gained over the 
enemy of salvation. 

Whilst they were so usefully occupied in Ireland, an occa 
sion presented itself to the holy priest, to be associated in 
France in a portion of their labors. Ann of Austria having 
taken the king into Picardy to revive the spirit of his troops, 
who had been intimidated by various defeats, Vincent of Paul 
profited by the absence of their majesties to resume his 
apostolical labors in the country. He gave a mission at 
Moni, in the diocess of Beauvais ; and at the entreaty of the 
princess of Conti, he there established the confraternity of 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 171 

charity, which is still considered one of the most flourishing 
in the kingdom. Great as was his inclination for this kind of 
employment, he could not continue it long. So many people 
stood in need of him in Paris, that his absence was soon felt. 
His counsels and protection were at that time much re 
quired by the community of the daughters of Providence, of 
which he was superior. It was only four years since it had 
been established by Marie de Lumague, the widow of Fran 
cois Pollalion, counsellor of the king and his agent at Ragusa. 
That pious lady, brought up a long time in the school of 
the saint, had there learned to practise the most solid virtues 
of Christianity, and particularly confidence in God and zeal 
for the sanctification of souls. It was with these happy dis 
positions that, although she had scarcely any funds save those 
of Providence, she undertook to allbrd an asylum to young 
persons of her own sex, for whom beauty, want, and the bad 
example of their parents might be, and too often are, the oc 
casions of their loss Letore God and man. Franfois de 
Gondy, archbishop of Paris, wished to know what our saint 
thought of this establishment, before approving it. By his 
order, Vincent paid two regular visits to it ; and out of thirty 
young women who then composed it, he chose seven who 
appeared to him best calculated to serve as a foundation to 
the whole edifice. He gave them counsels worthy of them 
and worthy of himself. lie transferred to their hearts a por 
tion of the (ire which consumed him ; and there is every rea 
son to believe that it was he who, four years afterwards, in 
1051, obtained for them, from Ann of Austria, the hospital 
de la Suntc, which is still the place of their residence. That 
virtuous queen entertained great hopes from this new founda 
tion, and the evfnt justitied them. The house of Provi 
dence has always been edifying. The spirit of Vincent of 
Paul, who was the first superior, has been perpetuated in it. 
They make it an honor and a duty to imitate his virtues, and 
although gratitude is not the virtue of the age, they there 
acknowledge with pleasure, that the daughters of Providence 
do not owe less to the holy priest, than to the pious lady who 
instituted them. 



172 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

In order to recur less frequently to communities of this 
nature, which had a greater share in the prayers and ser 
vices of the man of God, we shall here speak of two or three 
others, which are under a special obligation to him ; but we 
shall do so without paying much attention to the order of time. 

Besides that of the Christian Union, and the Propagation 
of the Faith, which he united in one body, he evinced the 
liveliest interest for the house of the orphans, established by 
Mademoiselle de 1 Etang. He aided it in its greatest need. 
He directed the foundress to select from the community, which 
was then composed of two hundred young women, three or 
four of the most intelligent, to share with her the burden of 
affairs, and above all to consider the desire of doing every 
thing herself as a temptation. 

Vincent had also a share in the foundation of the daughters 
of St. Genevieve. Three young ladies, who had a desire to 
live in community, and associate to themselves those per 
sons of their sex, who might be animated with the same feel 
ings, believed it necessary, to avoid taking a false step, to 
do nothing without having consulted the servant of God. 
He, after many prayers, told them, in a tone of certainty, 
that God desired to make use of them to give a new com 
pany to his church ; that it would be for the glory of our 
Lord, and very useful to the public. Time has proved that 
God spoke by the mouth of his minister. These young ladies, 
who were afterwards united to those of Madame de Miramion, 
have been earnestly engaged with them in advancing in 
virtue. In such a pursuit there is nothing but gain. 

But there are few establishments which owe more to our 
saint, than that of the daughters of the cross. The insolence 
of a teacher, who had dared to attempt the honor of one of 
his scholars, showed that young females are never secure 
but in the hands of persons of their own sex ; and a proposal 
was made to unite some females who would have virtue and 
courage sufficient to undertake that good work. Four pre 
sented themselves at Roie, in Picardy, where the scandal had 
taken place. But the war and their own affairs having 
obliged them to retire to Paris, Marie I Huillier de Villeneuve 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 173 

received them kindly, and made a trial of their talents. Vin 
cent, whom she did not i ail to consult, encouraged her, and 
showed her how to instruct young women jn such a manner 
that they might be able to form others afterwards. The arch 
bishop of Paris approved their constitutions, and they took 
the name of Daughters of the Cross, on account of the con 
tradictions they had already experienced. 

But what they had suffered was only a prelude to the triaJs 
reserved for their virtue. Madame de Villeneuve, whose long 
infirmities had not permitted her to establish them sufficiently, 
was taken from them on the 13th of January, 1G50. This 
occurred at a very unfortunate moment; and the persons who 
had heretofore taken the greatest interest in them, were of 
opinion that they should be suppressed, or at least united to 
some other community. Vincent of Paul, who was com 
monly rather slow in his determinations, and who, in such 
matters, did not resist the multitude, contended, however, that 
every means should be used to insure the subsistence of this 
holy establishment. " It is the work of God," said he to Mr. 
Abelly; "it must not be destroyed; that community is com 
posed now of only five females; but their number will multi 
ply. The stream is small, but it will receive water to make 
it abundant." 

These words, and the circumstances in which Vincent pro 
nounced them being taken into consideration, appeared so im 
probable, that it could hardly be believed that the event would 
correspond to them. It was not long, however, before they 
were verified. The saint, who, by upholding this new estab 
lishment against every body, found himself more charged with 
it than any one else, engaged Madame de Traversal to take 
part in the good work. The holy widow gave herself up en 
tirely to it. She surmounted by her patience, her credit, and 
the aid of the man of God, the obstacles which she met at 
every step. By degrees it was perceived that this tree, too 
long battered by the winds, would produce fruits of justice 
and salvation. The Daughters of the Cross contribute still 
daily to the sanrtification of a great number of souls, and 
15* 



174 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF 1 AUI... 

they enter with zeal upon those apostolical functions which 
the law of God has not interdicted to their sex. 

Before finishing with this matter, I may be permitted to 
make two reflections concerning it. The first, which is fur 
nished me by one of the sisters of the Cross, that the saint, in 
sustaining them, in some measure wronged the Sisters of 
Charity, since he might have obtained for them the advan 
tages which he procured for the others. The second, which 
does great honor to the foundations of which we have spoken, 
is, that in general, Vincent was on his guard against new es 
tablishments. This appears by a long letter which he wrote 
that very year to the archbishop of Paris, and in which, after 
having acknowledged that it was himself who, in the council 
of the king, had prevented a religious female under the pro 
tection of that prelate from making an establishment at Lagny, 
he proves by six or seven very recent examples, that he had 
reason for being generally opposed to new congregations, a 
certain proof that the appearance of good did not impose upon 
him, and that he would only authorise those which, by the 
nature of their institute, and by a true spirit of virtue and fer 
vor, gave him just and solid hopes. 

It was towards the end of the same year, 1647, that his 
priests established a house at Genoa. They were indebted 
for it to three noble Genoese, who concurred in that good 
work with Cardinal Durazzo, then archbishop ; but they 
owed it still more to their labor and indefatigable zeal. The 
prelate, who could not see without the deepest sorrow the 
pitiful state of his diocess, kept them for two years in such a 
continual succession of retreats and fatiguing missions, that 
Vincent, enemy as he was to inaction, was often alarmed at 
it. The prayers which he offered for them, and the great ex 
ample of the cardinal, supported them. We shall endeavor 
to give in its proper place some idea of the innumerable ad 
vantages, which these fervent missionaries procured for the 
territories of the republic. 

The joy which the holy man experienced at the good ac 
counts from Genoa and all the places where his children were 
established, was moderated by the death of some of them. He 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 175 

was, above all, much afflicted at that of Mr. Nonely, who 
was still very young, and had been laboring only a year at 
Algiers, when he contracted, by attending the slaves who had 
the plague, the disorder which carried him oil in a few days. 
His death was felt by the Turks almost as much as by the 
Christians. There was not a person in that barbarous coun 
try that was not touched by the zeal which he manifested for 
the relief of the poor, and particularly for the sick. The most 
desperate, those whose disorders inspired the greatest horror, 
were his cherished children. In fine, he was the victim, the 
martyr of his own charity. Seven or eight hundred Chris 
tians, of every nation, attended his funeral. Even the Turks 
and Moors seemed to forget that he was the enemy of their 
sect, and mingled with the others. The tears shed over his 
grave were too general not to be sincere. 

These losses followed some others which must have af 
flicted St. Vincent still more, because less in the order of Pro 
vidence. Notwithstanding the necessity of filling up these 
different vacancies, our saint formed, at the same time, the 
project of planting the faith in the island of Madagascar. 
We shall hereafter see that this project cost him a great deal; 
that it mowed down a considerable number of aposlolic men, 
and was for him, during the last twelve years of his life, the 
source of a torrent of tears and of great affliction. 

The very year, in which he entered upon the affair of Mada 
gascar, he realized a project which had occupied him a long 
time, and the success of which merited for him the blessings 
of the capital, and of all the provinces of the kingdom. To 
give a just idea of it, we must go back to its origin. 

The city of Paris, the immense extent of which embraces 
near.y a million of inhabitants, contains within it every ex 
treme of conditions. Opulence there walks by the side of 
misery ; virtue and vice are there to be found ; the amusements 
of the theatre and the tears of penance ; the most austere pu 
rity and the most daring libertinism have their residence there. 
From this libertinism, and sometimes from poverty alone, a 
multitude of children are born, who, in the time of our saint, 
lost their lives before they became conscious of existence, 



176 LIFE OF ST. VINCHNT OF PAUL. 

or became conscious of it only to undergo every hardship. 
Their mothers often sacrificed them on the very day they had 
brought them into the world. They were exposed at the 
door of the churches, or in the public places. It is true that 
the commissaries of the Chatelet took them away by order 
of the police; but this service was almost the only one ren 
dered to these children. 

They were taken to a widow in Saint Landri street, who, 
with two female servants, was charged to bring them up. 
But as they were very numerous, and alms were not abun 
dant, this woman, for want of nourishment and means, 
suffered them to die through weakness. Often the servants, 
even, in order to be relieved from the importunity of their 
cries, put them to sleep by means of a beverage which shor 
tened their days. Those who escaped this danger were given 
to any one who would have them, or sold at so low a price, 
that twenty sous were sometimes sufficient to procure- one. 
Nor had compassion any thing to do with the bargain. Some 
had them suckled by diseased women, from whom they often 
imbibed contagion and death ; others substituted them to chil 
dren whom they had suffered to perish. It has even been 
discovered that many children were inhumanly killed for ma 
gical operations, or for those bloody baths which a madness 
for prolonging life has sometimes invented. That which was 
still more deplorable was, that many died without baptism, 
the widow of Saint Landri having acknowledged that she 
had never baptized any, nor caused any 1o be baptized. 

Such a pitiable state of things sensibly afllicted the heart 
of our holy priest. The difficulty was to remedy it. Vincent 
was charitable enough to attempt it, and he was happy enough 
to accomplish it. He at first entreated some ladies of his assem 
bly, to go to the place and see whether so great an evil could 
not be stopped, or at least diminished. Those ladies were 
terrified at the spectacle presented to their eyes by that multi- 
tude of children almost abandoned. They could not take 
charge of all, but they Avished to take charge of some, in order 
to save their life. To honor Divine Providence, whose de- 
si^ns were unknown, they drew lots for twelve. They rented, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 177 

in 1638, a house for their accommodation, at the gate of St. 
Victor, and Madame Le Gras, who joined all the good works 
of her director, took care of them with the Sisters of Charity. 

To the first children, these virtuous ladies added others from 
time to time, according to their devotion and means. The dif 
ference which was soon discovered between the latter and those 
who remained at Saint Landri, excited their pity in favor of 
those whom they were obliged to leave there. In the mean 
time they begged of God to open the treasure of his mercy, 
and to prepare the way for an undertaking which appeared 
still more necessary than difficult. 

At last, after many prayers and conferences, a general 
meeting was held at the beginning of the year 1G1U. The 
saint then explained in so pathetic a manner, the wants of 
these poor children, and the glory which would be procured 
to God from the Christian education which might be given 
them, that all the ladies present resolved to assume the charge 
of them. But the servant of God, who foresaw that it would 
require much more than twelve or fourteen hundred livres, 
which formed all the funds upon which they could calcu 
late, was unwilling they should undertake any thing, except 
by way of a trial. In this manner he prevented the murmurs 
of families, and removed from those virtuous females all oc 
casion to repent of having too easily obeyed the first impulse 
of fervor. 

In order to spare them a part of the expense, besides the 
money which he himself furnished according to custom, he 
laid before Ann of Austria a sad and faithful picture of those 
children; and through that august princess, who regarded 
every day on which she had done no good work as lost, he 
obtained from the king twelve thousand livres, the revenues 
of five large farms. With this help the establishment con 
tinued for some years. But the necessities of Lorraine; the 
fear of a revolution in the state, strong symptoms of which 
were now manifested in murmurs and factions; the number of 
these children, which increased every day, and the support of 
whom exceeded forty thousand livres, all these considerations, 
which were but too well founded, staggered the courage of 



178 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

the ladies of Charity. They declared, as of one accord, that 
so enormous an expense exceeded their means, and that they 
could no longer bear it. 

It was to come to a final determination respecting this im 
portant affair, that Vincent convoked a general assembly, 
in 1G48. The Marillacs, the Traversais, the Miramions, 
and all those venerable persons whose names God has 
written in the book of life, were present. The saint pro 
posed as a matter of deliberation, whether the good work 
which was begun, should be continued. He laid down the 
reasons for and against it. On one hand he represented that 
the association had contracted no obligation, and that they 
were at liberty to decide on what seemed most proper. On 
the other he showed that by these charitable provisions they 
had hitherto preserved the lives of a large number of children, 
who would otherwise have perished here, and perhaps hereaf 
ter; that those innocent beings in learning to speak, had learned 
to know and serve God ; that some of them were beginning 
to work, and to relieve others from the expense of their main 
tenance, and that such a happy beginning was a presage of 
still greater advantages. 

It was then that the holy man, who was no longer master 
of his sighs and scarcely of his expressions, assuming a more 
tender and animated tone, concluded in these words : " Re 
member, ladies, that compassion and charity have caused you 
to adopt these little creatures as your children; you have been 
their mothers according to grace, since their natural mothers 
have abandoned them: determine now whether you also 
will abandon them. Cease to be their mothers, that you may 
be their judges; their life and death are in your hands : I am 
going to take the votes ; it is time to pronounce their sen 
tence, and to know whether you will no longer have pity on 
them. They will live if you continue your charitable care of 
them ; on the contrary, they will infallibly die if you abandon 
..them : experience does not allow you to doubt it." 

These words, which a great master of eloquence often ad 
mired, were answered only by the tears of the assembly. 
The unction of the Holy Spirit had insinuated itself into every 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 179 

heart. It was determined at once that, whatever it might 
cost, the good work should be continued. They no longer 
deliberated upon its perpetuation, but only the means of ef 
fecting it. 

It was in consequence of a resolution so worthy of those 
who formed it, that the king was aMced for the chateau of Bi- 
cetre, designed by Louis X11I, as a hospital for invalid soldiers. 
Thither they conveyed such of the children as had no need 
of nurses. But as it was found that the air was too keen for 
them, two houses were purchased in Paris; one in the fau 
bourg Saint Antoine, where the queen mother laid the first 
stone of their church ; the other, which is now a palace, along 
side of the cathedral. Their revenue was afterward augmented 
by the liberality of Louis XIV. But their number, far ex 
ceeding their revenue, increased so much that one hundred 
and fifty thousand livres were not sufficient for their support.* 
It is thus the abbe de Choisi spoke of it more than fifty years 
ago. What would he have said in our days, when misery 
and debauchery render their number incalculable? 

We must hope that time which gradually effaces the re 
membrance of ordinary benefits, will never obliterate in the 
foundlings the recollection of the signal service which St. 
Vincent has rendered them ; that they will early learn to lisp 
his name and his glory ; that ijrateful for the Christian educa 
tion afforded them by his daughters in Jesus Christ, they will 
from age to age cry out with a prophet: "Those who gave 
me life abandoned me : I was about to share the rigorous 
fate of innumerable others, hut the God of children, by means 
of his tender and charitable servant, has taken me under his 
protection, and his liberal hand has given me much more than 
I lose."f 

It was time that the arrangements for the foundlings should 
be completed; the least delay would have been utter ruin. 
The kingdom was soon in such a situation that the best fami- 



* The expenses of tho foundlings amounts now to more thftn five 
hundred thousand livres. 

f Pater incus, t inatcr men derelinqucrunt ii.c- ; Dominus autein 
assumpsit me. P- xxvi. ]<>. 



180 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

lies had reason to fear for their safety. Famine, pestilence, 
and civil war, a more terrible scourge than the two others, 
caused the most frightful ravages. Cardinal Mazarin, who 
found himself master of the favor and authority of his 
sovereign, must have made, and did in fact make many 
persons jealous ; and as from jealousy to the most violent 
hatred there is but one step, and sometimes less, he soon had 
upon his hands as many enemies as he had rivals. The 
aversion of the great soon reached the people. All took part 
in this famous quarrel. They gave the name of Frondeurs to 
those who were opposed to the minister; those who were 
neutral, or in the interest of the court, were called Mazarins, 
and sometimes Royalists. 

The barricades of Paris, the violent liberation of those who 
had been arrested by order of the court, the factions which 
daily increased, induced the queen to take steps at variance 
with her natural mildness. She resolved to starve out the 
capital, which appeared for some time not to pay sufficient 
respect to her authority. For that purpose she left it on the 
day of the Epiphany, at three o clock in the morning, with her 
son, the king, and the greatest part of the court, which followed 
her to Saint Germain-en-Laye. Vincent did, during this dif 
ficult time, all that a good citizen could do, and he suffered 
all that a faithful subject could endure. As he thought that 
the poor would be reduced to the greatest extremity, he en 
deavored to secure a resource in the provisions which were 
destined for the support of the house of Saint Lazarus, and 
that of Saint Charles, where many youths were educated ac 
cording to the plan of the holy council of Trent. Violence 
and injustice frustrated in part these good designs ; but as 
they had all their merit before God, they must have all their 
value in the eyes of men. 

He afterwards formed a project which may be looked upon 
as one of the most splendid monuments of his courage, 
disinterestedness, and disposition to sacrifice every thing 
rather than resist the dictates of conscience. Ann of Austria 
honored him with particular kindness; it is certain that under 
her regency, he always possessed greater fervor than he de- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 181 

sired to have. On his part, he entertained for the person and 
the eminent virtues of that great princess all the repect which 
a subject could have, and he would have given his life a thou 
sand times for her and for the interests of the king. Yet, as 
the conduct she pursued towards her people appeared to him 
to be too rigorous, and as he was terrified at the horrors of 
every kind which civil war always brings in its train, he 
thought it necessary to have an interview with her and 
tell her openly what he thought. He was well aware that 
in the present state of the agitation of the public mind, the 
liberty he was going to take might be naturally followed by 
exile, or some other disgrace; but he feared no disgrace nor 
exile, when his object was to prevent God from being out 
raged, and the people from being reduced to extreme misery. 

He left Paris before day, and took the road to Saint-Ger 
main. Like a wise politician, he made no one acquainted 
with his design. However, not to give umbrage to the par 
liament, which might have thought it wrong that a man like 
him should leave the city without saying any thing, he sent 
to his first assistant a letter for Mr. de Mole, who was at the 
head of that great body. He told him in a few words, that 
God urged him to go to the court, and that if he had not the 
honor to pay him his respects before his departure, it was 
only that he might have it in his power to assure the queen 
that lie had concerted with no one what he had to say to her. 

As Paris was under arms, and there were advanced guards 
in all the suburbs, he was obliged to make a long circuit. 
It was not completely light when he entered Clichy, and the 
obscurity had like to be fatal to him. The inhabitants, who 
had been pillaged the evening before by a troop of cavaliers, 
had laken up arms to repel them in case of another attack. 
At the noise of two persons who were approaching on horse 
back, an alarm was given, some advanced with pikes, others 
with their muskets cocked and ready to fire. The companion 
of the saint, who was not very warlike, quaked with fear, 
according to his own account; " but," adds he, " I thought 
at the same moment that God would not permit the country 
people to illtreat a man who had consecrated his life, his con- 
It) 



182 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



gregation, and his possessions to their service." In fact, one 
ot them having recognised and made him known to the others 
the name of their former pastor awakened the sentiments of 
veneration which they had formerly entertained for him. 
They pointed out to him the route which he ought to take, 
and those which he should avoid, to escape falling into the 
hands of the enemy, who were scouring the country. 

At Neuilly, he ran a new risk; the waters had overflowed 
and covered a part of the bridge. He was advised not to at 
tempt crossing it, hut his courage supported him, and God pro 
tected him. To return him thanks on the very spot by an 
act of charity, he sent his horse to a poor man who was on 
the other side of the bridge, and who could not otherwise have 
continued his journey. He at length arrived at Saint Ger 
main, and in a long interview whicli he had with the queen, 
he said every thing he could imagine most forcible to dissuade 
her from the siege of Paris. He represented to her that it 
was not just to occasion the death of a million of persons by 
famine, to punish twenty or thirty guilty ones. In fine, he 
even presumed to advance that, as the presence of the cardi 
nal appeared to be the source of all these disorders, he thought 
it proper to sacrifice him for a time. 

Although he did not lose sight of the respect due to the 
most virtuous princess in the world, he then spoke with so 
much force that a moment after, he was surprised and afflicted 
at it. He calculated less on the success of his negociation on 
that account. " For," said lie, two days afterwards "never 
have harsh words succeeded with me; and 1 have always re 
marked, that to move the mind, we must not exasperate the 
heart." He corrected himself on the spot for an air of viva 
city which was not to his taste, and having gone from the 
apartment of the queen to that of her minister, he spoke to 
him in a tone of mildness which affected the cardinal. Yet 
he told him in that tone all he had said to the queen, and 
he afterwards exhorted him to cast himself into the sea, in 
order to still the tempest. Mazarin answered him kindly : 
"Well, my father! I will go, if Mr. le Tellier is of your 
opinion." 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 183 

That very day the queen hold a council ; the motives pro 
posed by our saint were discussed. Mr. le Tellier opposed 
them through reasons of state, as lie afterwards declared to 
the servant of God, and it was determined that the cardinal 
should remain. 

It was almost thought that Vincent would be disgraced ; 
but the court, which knew the attachment of Vincent of Paul 
to the interests of the kin:;, and the purity of his intentions, 
did not look upon his honesty as a crime. Le Tellier, from 
whom he had asked a passport, on the following day sent 
him one, signed by the hand of the king; that young prince 
was also good enough to furnish an esoort, which conducted 
him as far as Villepreux. 

Had these circumstances been known in the capital, the 
people, who, without exactly knowing why, were furious 
against the Mtzariit, would have looked upon Vincent as one 
of the most /ealous Froiuieurs ; but that worthy priest, con 
vinced that obedience is the first virtue of subjects, did not 
suffer the propositions he had made, and the answers he had 
received, to transpire. Thus was lie treated as a Royalist, 
that is to say, a declared enemy. The hatred of those whom 
he had excluded from eccli siaMi .-al dignities awoke and be 
came extreme. A counsellor, who pretended to be acting by 
the authority of the parliament, took possession of the keys 
of the hou:;e of SaiiU La/arus. lie placed guards at all the 
doors, and sei::cd all the grain that was in the house. Eight 
hundred soldiers were lodged in the building. They made a 
horrible waste everywhere; and finding nothing else upon 
which to exercise their fury, they set fire to the wood piles 
and reduced them to ashes. The parliament being informed 
of it, was much displeased that such shameful violence 
should have been exercised in iis name. The rabble sol 
diery were ordered to withdraw. Iut the damage which they 
caused during three days was not repaired. 

To complete this misfortune, a farm at a short distance 
from Versailles, which was then the principal resource of 
Vincent of Paul and his companions, was so completely 
pillaged by the disbanded soldiers, that there was neither 



184 LIFE OF ST "VINCENT OF PAUL. 

grain, furniture, nor cattle left. The saint, who from Ville- 
preux had gone to Freneville, near Etampes, learned there 
every day some news of this description. But he never in 
dulged in murmuring or impatience; and amidst such severe 
trials, particularly when multiplied and close at hand, he al 
ways repeated : " God be blessed, God be blessed." 

Notwithstanding these enormous losses, he did not cease to 
relieve many unfortunate persons and every day during three 
months, bread was furnished by his orders to two thousand 
poor. Yet, to disarm the anger of God, and teach those as 
sociated with him to do the same thing, Vincent preached to 
them by word and example the necessity of doing penance. 
Badly warmed during a severe winter, fed with bread made 
of rye and beans, eating so little that he had enough time 
left to finish himself the reading at table, distributing to the 
country people whom he made eat with him the best that was 
served up, he did not labor with less zeal for the salvation of 
the inhabitants of Valpiuseau ; and by a discourse which par 
took nothing of the weakness of age, he made them so sensible 
that a satisfaction proportioned to their faults, was the only 
means of appeasing or turning to good account the storm with 
which they were threatened, that his sermon alone did more 
good than those of a whole lent preached by others. The 
greater part of the parishioners wished to be reconciled with 
God ; and as the curate could not satisfy their eagerness, our 
saint and one of his priests joined in the labor. 

The affairs of state becoming more and more complicated, 
he resolved to visit the houses of his congregation. He ar 
rived at Mans in a dreadful season. His children, who did 
not expect such happiness, received him as an angel from 
heaven. He had calculated upon passing only five or six 
days with them ; but the news of his arrival having spread 
in spite of him, all the best people in the country came to 
pay him their respect, and he was so overwhelmed with 
visits, that he was obliged to remain eight days longer than 
he had anticipated. 

I should not omit here the embarrassment in which the 
holy man found himself, on account of Mr. de Beaumanoir 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PU I,. 185 

do Lavardin, the very same in regard to whoso ordinations 
so many ridiculous stories have hern told. He was informed 
that Vincent had been opposed to his nomination; he knew 
it, and had often complained of it. The servant of Cod was 
surprised to learn that the prelate, who had not yet received 
his bulls, was already in his dioce-s. It was not easy to pro 
ceed correctly in so delicate a conjuncture. It was unbecom 
ing to remain in his seminary without seeing him, dangerous 
to see him without giving him previous notice, uncivil to a^k 
whether lie would receive his vibit. The humility of the saint 
removed the difficulty. In the morning lie sent two of his 
priests to inform him that he had arrived in his diocess the 
preceding evening ; that he would not remain in it without his 
permission; arid that he begged to be allowed to pass seven 
or eight days in the seminary. 

This compliment un the part of a man, whose uprightness 
was well known to Mr. de Lavardin, disarmed him. lie 
answered the saint that he was al liberty to remain at Mans 
as long as lie thought proper: and that, if he had no house. 
it would give him pleasure to offer his own. f- o obliging an 
answer required an acknowledgment. Hut at the very mo 
ment that our saint was starting to make it, lie learned that 
the party of the Fronde having prevailed in the town, the 
bishop and the commander had been obliged to quit the 
place. 

From Mans the servant of Cod took the read to Angers, 
where the Sisters of Charity had a considerable establish 
ment. At half a league from Durtal, his horse fell into the 
river, where he would have been drowned, but for the speedy 
assistance of one of his priests who accompanied him. This 
accident did not trouble him : he immediately, although quite 
wet, mounted his horse again, and afterwards dried his gar 
ments as well as he could in a poor hut; and as it was then 
the time of Lent, he remained without eating until the even 
ing, when he arrived at the inn. 

As his first nourishment was the instruction of the poor, 
this holy old man. fasting and wearv, Iwjrar. to rati-rhise the 
servants of the house. The hostess, edified and surprised at 



186 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

his charity, ran into the village and gathered all the children, 
and without having said any thing to him, sent them up to 
his chamber. Vincent thanked her very kindly. He divided 
the children into two bands ; he gave one to instruct to his 
companion, and he instucted the other in that style of unc 
tion and kindness which gained him every heart. After the 
catechism he gave them alms, for they were as poor as ig 
norant. 

After having spent five days in fortifying the Sisters of 
Charity in the virtues of their state, he departed for Rennes. 
Providence, who was pleased that on each day of his journey 
he should be subjected to some new trial, exposed him to the 
greatest danger in which he had ever found himself. As he 
was crossing a wooden bridge between a mill and a very 
deep pond, his horse, frightened at the motion and noise of 
the mill, jumped back so suddenly, that one foot was off the 
bridge, and he was upon the point of falling into the pond. 
Vincent thought himself lost, and those who were with him 
were exceedingly frightened ; but God stretched out his hand 
to him. The horse stopped short, and the saint crossed the 
bridge without having received any injury. He instantly 
returned thanks to the Lord, and caused his companion to do 
the same for a protection so visible and so necessary. In the 
evening he arrived at a poor tavern : they gave him a room 
which, although represented to be the best in the house, was 
very uncomfortable. But some friends of the host having 
arrived, they were not ashamed to dislodge him, and place 
him in a room much worse than the first. He paid well 
every where, and he paid still better in these kinds of places. 
Having had once to sleep near a room, where a crowd of 
countrymen spent the night in drinking and talking, instead of 
complaining of the little respect shown to him, he gave on 
his departure a most beautiful Agnus to his host, one which, 
without a breach of propriety, might have been presented to 
the duchess of Aiguillon herself. It is to be desired that the 
theology of the saints had not grown so old in our own age, 
and that it was better known. 

Vincent, who was in the habit of paying no visit of mere 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



187 

civility, thought he could remain iiicn^tiito at Rennes, as he 
had done at Orleans and Angers; but he was recognised on 
entering the city. Every thing was in commotion there as 
well as at Paris, and the royalists were badly received. He 
had scarcely halted, when a person in otlice told him, that the 
visit of a man like him who was of the council of the queen 
and in her interests, was suspicious to the inhabitants ; that 
it was intended to have him arrested, and that he was in 
formed of it, in order that he might quit the city immediately. 

He prepared to depart at once, when a gentleman, who 
lodged in the same inn having recognised him, said to him 
aloud in a transport of anger : Mr. Vincent will be very 
much astonished if two leagues from this a pistol is fired at 
his head." This brutal compliment did not much disturb 
the calm of his soul ; but the prebendary of St. Brieu, who 
had come to meet him, prevented him from setting out, and 
begged him to see the tirst president. That magistrate was 
touched by the wisdom and gravity of the respectable old 
man ; he well understood that his arrival was entirely pacific, 
and lie was not urged to depart. 

Vincent of Paul departed however the next morning. As 
he was about mounting his horse, he saw the same gentle- 
who had threatened him on the evening before; and it was 
believed with sullicient reason, that he had been to wait for 
him on the road to effect his design. The prebendary of St. 
Brieu, who had the most tender respect for Vincent, wished 
to share the danger with him, and in spite of every entreaty, 
he accompanied him to Saint-Meen Our saint passed there 
fifteen days in the manner of apostolical men ; after having 
ended his visit, during which he established rules replete with 
prudence and piety, he gave the rest of the time to the con 
fessional, and he performed during the holy week all the 
functions of a zealous missionary. 

He was on his way to Guienno, when the queen sent 
him an order to repair immediately to Paris, whither the king 
had returned. But the fatigue and occupations of such a 
long and pauiful journey for a man of his age, caused him to 



188 MFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

fall sick at Richelieu, and it became necessary for him to stop 
there. 

The news of his illness having reached Paris, his infirma- 
rian was sent to him from St. Lazarus, who knew better than 
any other person how to treat him. Vincent, who looked 
upon himself as the most miserable of men, could not help 
testifying some uneasiness at the attention paid to him. But, 
as after the example of holy Job, he scrutinized severely 
all his actions, he was afraid that the kind of displeasure 
which he had evinced, might he a cause of uneasiness to the 
one who had been sent to him. To repair this imaginary 
fault, which the inh rmarian had not perceived, he humbly 
threw himself at his feet, and asked his pardon both at Riche 
lieu and at Paris when he reached the latter place. One of his 
assistants, who was present at this second humiliation, was 
more edified than surprised at it. They were so accustomed to 
see this great man humble himself to the very earth, both 
before inferiors and strangers, that whatever he did of that 
nature was nothing new. 

In the mean time the duchess of Aiguillon having learned 
his sickness, sent him a little carriage to bring him home so 
soon as he would be able to undertake the journey. The 
history of this new equipage, which so much alarmed the 
humility of Vincent of Paul, deserves a place here. 

The ladies of his association, who, seeing him very infirm 
and very badly mounted, feared some accident would befall 
him, had a carriage made for him. As they knew his extreme 
aversion for every think like show, they had it made so plain, 
that it could not be more so. Nevertheless, the holy priest, in 
whatever need he stood of it, would never make use of it, 
and it grew old in some respect from disuse. This was the 
very carriage which Madame d Aiguillon sent him to Riche 
lieu. The weak state in Avhich he then was, and the orders 
of the queen which obliged him to set out, rendered it neces 
sary for him to take it as far as Paris. As soon as he had 
arrived, he sent the horses back to the duchess of Aiguillon 
with a thousand thanks. She, in her turn, sent them back to 
him, beseeching him to pay attention to the need he had of 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 189 

them. But this man, ever humble, refused them a second 
time, and protested that it the swelling in his legs, which in 
creased daily, would not permit him to travel on foot or on 
horse back, he was resolved to keep to the house for the 
remainder of his life, rather tiian be drawn in a carriage. 
To put an end to this dispute which lasted some weeks, 
the duchess had recourse to the queen and the archbishop of 
Paris, both of whom decided in her favor. Vincent obeyed, 
because he must do so, but with great confusion. He called 
his carriage " his reproach and Ins ignominy." One day when 
he was paying a visit to some priests of the oratory, four of 
them having conducted him to the door, he said to the reve 
rend Father Senault, and to those who were with him: 
"See, my fathers, I am the son of a poor peasant, and I 
presume to use a carriage." Many others would have added 
that it was only through obedience. However, this carriage 
and its accompaniments were for the public use, as well as 
for his. He made the first old man whom he met, get up 
with him ; and sometimes he took in it the sick to the Hotel 
Dieu. This trifling service has enabled him to render, during 
the ten years more which he lived, very important services 
to the church, and to complete affairs of the greatest conse 
quence, which he could not have even commenced, had he 
been deprived of it. 

As soon as he had paid his respects to the king, and to the 
queen mother, he thought of the means of repairing a part 
of the evils which the troops had caused in the neighborhood 
of Paris; and because the holy mysteries had been unworthily 
profaned at Chatillon, at Clamart, and in some other parishes, 
he wished that every one in his house should weep upon the 
very spot for the cruel outrages which this divine victim had 
suffered in the most august sacrament. 

la the mean time, the house of St. Lazarus, which the 
Frondists had abused, and which had made, notwithstanding 
this, prodigious efforts to feed a multitude of poor people 
during the war of Paris, found itself at length in a pitiable 
situation. Destitute of money, provisions, and resources, it 
was in want of every thing. Although the saint wished that 



190 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

his companions should be well supported, and he loudly re 
prehended those interested procurators, who seem to think that 
priests overwhelmed with labor are well enough off, when 
not worse treated than servants ; he found himself reduced to 
the necessity of feeding his children upon barley bread, and 
some time afterwards, upon oat bread. The example which 
he set them in this particular, as well as in every other, and 
still more his tenderness for them, whicli they never doubted, 
removed every shadow of a murmur : so that he had no un 
easiness on that score. "The poor," said he in a letter to 
Mr. Almeras, " who know not whither to go nor what to do, 
who suffer already, and who increase every day, are my bur 
den and my grief." 

This burden was soon augmented, and in a few months it 
became so weighty, that perhaps any other person would 
have yielded under it. The spirit of discord which agitated 
France, was more powerful than ever, Mazarin, who had 
always many enemies, made new ones by causing the arrest 
of the princes of Conde and Conti with the duke of Longue- 
ville. By this action he separated from the party of the king 
the viscount de Turenne and a number of brave men who 
would have served their country well. lie ruined himself for 
a time, having been obliged the following year to leave the 
kingdom. Our enemies profited by these intestine divisions ; 
and the Spaniards, after having seized upon Saint Venant and 
Ypres, crossed our frontiers, and took Catelet, Capelle and 
Rhetel. Their armies, and those which were opposed to 
them, laid waste a great part of Picardy and Champagne. In 
a little time these two provinces were nearly in the same 
condition as we have represented Lorraine. 

The first news of the excess of the evil came from Guise, 
which the Marquis of Spondat was not able to take, but the 
environs of which he had laid waste. Some persons who 
came from that place to Paris, related that they had seen a 
great number of soldiers sick, pining away, destitute ^f every 
aid, dying in the roads, without sacraments or even human 
consolation. 

This misery made little impression even upon such of the 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 191 

Parisians as were delighted at the retreat of the enemy. It 
was not so with Vincent of Paul, to whom God had given 
the most tender mercy. He immediately despatched two of 
his missionaries with a horse loaded with provisions and 
almost 500 livres in money. 

These gentlemen saw at the iirst glance that their scanty 
supply hore no proportion to the magnitude of the evil. 
They found along the hedges and upon the roads so great a 
number of wretched people, some of whom were worn out 
with suffering, and others only waiting for death, that their 
provision were consumed in an in.-tant. They hastened to the 
neighboring towns to purchase m re ; but how great was 
their surprise at finding those very places in as deplorable a 
state as the country. They were in want of every thing. 
Death, famine, the most humiliating necessities reigned uni 
versally. In so terrible a conjuncture these two priests has 
tened to write to St. Vincent, that the desolation was general 
throughout all the country, nnd that these unfortunate people 
would perish, if they did not speedily receive aid. 

At this news the saint resolved to use all possible means to 
relieve his brethren. Exhausted as the ladies of the associa 
tion were, whether by the alms sent to Lorraine, or by the 
enormous expense at which they had been | nr twelve years 
for the foundlings, he knew how to excite them to new efforts. 
But in order to spare them as much as the pressing circum 
stances would allow, he begged m ,, archbishop of Paris to 
recommend tie necessities of those two provinces to the faith 
ful. The Christian pulpits soon re-echoed their tears and 
lamentations. The preachers had no need of hyperbole ; the 
suffering far exceeded their expressions. 

As the evil was pressing, and as a quarter of an hour s 
delay might render the remedy useless for many of the sufier,- 
ers, Vincent, with jhe first aid he could procure, dispatched 
at different intervals as many as sixteen of his missionaries; 
and after them some Sisters of Charity, who, always secure 
from insult under Jthe protection of their own virtue, fulfilled 
in a most edifying manner all the duties of their profession. 
It was only after then- arrival that the extent of the misery 



192 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

which desolated that unfortunate country was fully known. 
The Vermandois, Thierache, a great part of the inhabitants of 
Soissonnois, the Remois, the Laonois, and the Retelois were 
in that pitiful state in which God puts those countries which he 
visits with his wrath. The famine was such, that men were 
seen eating the earth, tearing off the bark of trees, and devour 
ing the rags with which they were covered. " But, 7 wrote 
some of these missionaries of Vincent of Paul, "what inspires 
the greatest horror, and what we would not relate had we not 
seen it, they eat their arms and hands and die in despair." 
The excess of the evil had stifled even the feelings of nature 
in a people always humane ; and when the first assistance 
arrived from Paris, the inhabitants of Saint Quentin, op 
pressed by the concourse of their neighbors, and not knowing 
what to do, in their fear of being besieged, had resolved to 
throw over the walls of the town the strangers, who to the 
number of seven or eight thousand had sought a refuge there. 

Such was, during nearly ten years, that is, until the peace 
of the Pyrenees, the condition of two large provinces, and 
four or five diocesses included in them. It is true that after 
the first three or four years the evil had its variations, and, as 
it were, intermissions ; but, it is also true, that it often com 
menced again where it seemed to have ceased ; and there 
were always some cantons which stood in need of assistance, 
which, if moderate for each one singly, became immense 
for all collectively. 

The places which experienced most the charity of the holy- 
priest, were the cities of Guise, Noyon, Chauni, la Fere, 
Riblemont, Ham, and seven or eight others of Thierache ; 
those of Arras, Amiens, Peronne, Saint-Quentin, Catelet, and 
some one hundred and thirty villages of the neighborhood. 
We must add Basoches, Brenne, Fisme, and near thirty 
parishes of the same valley. As for Champagne, succor was 
given particularly to Reims, Rhetel, Chateau-Porcien, Neu- 
chatel, Lude, Saint-Etienne, Rocroi, Mezieres, Charleville, 
Doncheri, Sedan, Vaucouleurs, and a great number of towns 
and villages in the vicinity of these places, which were all 
in extreme misery. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



193 



During the first years tin- expense amounted to fifteen, 
twenty, and sometimes thirty thousand livres per month ; 
and even then great economy was requisite on account of the 
high price of provisions, and the numerous and great wants 
of the poor. 

As in a country, where the churches had been profaned, 
the body of the Son of God trampled under foot, the chalices 
and sacred vestments carried oil , the priests massacred or put 
to flight, the spiritual necessities must have been equal to those 
of the body, the missionaries had not a moment of respite ; and 
it is still a mystery how they were able to undergo for so many 
years a fatigue so severe and overwhelming. In fact, charity 
often induced them to undertake what galley slaves would 
not have done except for tear of punishment. One of them, 
more than eight weeks niter the battle of Khetel, had two 
thousand Spaniards buried, whose scattered limbs emitted a 
stench, which would in a short time have spread contagion 
throughout the neighborhood. Another, whose name was 
Donat C ruoly, did for the poor, what the heroes of the world 
would not do for glory. He crossed rivers, walked bare 
footed, made perilous journeys through the troops, astonished 
friends and enemies by his intrepid countenance, and carried 
off from the gendarmes the cattle which the latter had just 
taken from some poor people and which was their only 
resource. 

So many and so important services rendered to these 
two provinces, merited for St. Vincent the eulogium and 
benediction of pastors, magistrates, and people. The curate 
of Ham, a regular canon, the priest of Khetel, the lieutenant 
general of Saint (luentin, arid innumerable others wrote to 
him letters filled with expressions of gratitude. The city of 
Reims did something more. It was decreed that a mass 
should be celebrated daily before the tomb of St. llemi for 
him and the ladies of his association; and in order that all 
the inhabitants of the place might once at least display their 
gratitude with one accord, a general procession took place on 
Whit-Monday, 1651, from the Metropolitan church to that 
of the holy Pontiif, to beg of God, to show ample mercy to 
17 



194 LITE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

those who had so generously exercised it in favor of his 
afflicted people. All the corps of the city attended this pious 
ceremony, and they were followed by such a numerous 
crowd, that Reims, although accustomed to great spectacles, 
had never beheld so prodigious a concourse. 

Indeed, neither the inhabitants of Picardy nor those of 
Champagne could do too much for their benefactors. The ex 
penses incurred for them and their churches finally amounted 
to more than a million of francs, and what adds a new 
value to the charity of Vincent is, that at the time he made 
such efforts in favor of these Uvo provinces, he was also 
obliged to furnish aid to places which were no less afflicted. 

The first cries that came to his ears were those of a con 
siderable number of Irish Catholics, who forced by Cromwell 
to quit their country, had entered the service of the king, and 
had been very badly treated during two campaigns. They 
less resembled men who had contributed to raise the siege 
of Arras, than fugitives who had escaped a rout. The 
widows of their comrades and about fifty orphans by whom 
they were followed, were, like themselves, in a frightful con 
dition. They walked barefooted amidst the snow; and when 
arrived at Troyes, which had been assigned them for their 
winter quarters, they had br>en nine days without tasting 
bread. Their entrance into that city presented to the inhabi 
tants the most pitiful spectacle they had ever seen. Some of 
them lay in the square before the church of St. Peter, others 
gathered in the streets what the dogs would not eat. 

Scarcely had Vincent of Paul become acquainted with their 
situation, when he sent to them one of his priests, who, being 
an Irishman himself, was better calculated to enter into all 
their necessities. By means of six hundred livres which he 
distributed at once, and which inspired emulation into the 
citizens of Troyes, the severity of their lot was greatly miti 
gated. But as in the estimation of the servant of God, the 
relief of the body was only a means to arrive at the reforma 
tion of the heart, and as a people who had come from a country 
almost destitute of pastors into a kingdom the language of 
which they did not understand, had need of instruction,, the 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 195 

same missionary preached for them twice a week during 
Lent; and he had the happiness of preparing them to partake 
of the body of our Lord at Easter. I have spoken here of 
the Irish at Troves, that I may not be obliged to return to 
Champagne. The centre of the kingdom will furnish us 
with objects nearer home and scarcely less interesting. 

The siege of Etainpes, the battle of the suburb Saint An- 
toine, so many inarches, countermarches, encampments, bat 
tles at the gates of Paris, and in a manner, in Paris itself, had 
introduced famine, and soon after disease into all the places 
where the armies had halted. Estampes, t orbeil, Palaiseau, 
Saint-Cloud, Gonesse, Saint-Denis, Lagni, and, what we 
must always suppose, all the villages around, presented the 
aspect of a country which a tremendous storm of hail had 
mowed to the very earth. Nothing was to be seen but the 
dead and dying in every direction. Wives wept for husbands, 
mothers fur children, who in many cases had finished their 
days in horrible torments, some having been cast into hot 
ovens, others torn with thorns, and some, after an infamous 
mutilation, having had their bowels laid open, that they might 
be forced to declare where the ornaments of their churches 
were. 

Vincent, who could not suflice to every thing, engaged 
different communities to join in his labors, and they did it 
with great xeal. His missionaries, divided into two principal 
bands, had for their portion Etampes, Lagni, and all the 
country contiguous to these two cities, without speaking of 
Palaiseau, and some other similar places where the soldiers 
had committed great excesses. 

Etampes furnished them with sufficient employment. It was 
filled with shrivelled, livid, disfigured spectres, to whom the dead 
bodies which they found heaped up within the walls, pointed 
out what they might expect tor themselves. These were the 
first objects of horror, which our priests, by means of money 
and labor, removed from before their eyes. They afterwards 
perfumed the houses, to make them fit to dwell in. The 
children who had lost their parents were gathered together, 
kept and fed in a common house. The convalescents were 



196 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

strengthened. Those who were sick from fatigue and inani 
tion began to recover. 

A source of much affliction to these poor people was to 
have recovered their health at the expense of the life of some 
of their benefactors. The poisonous air which the mission 
aries often breathed, the miserable food which they used in 
order to spare the means of the poor, the continual motion in 
which they were day and night, caused nature to sink at last. 
Four or five fell victims. "Happy," said Vincent, notwith 
standing the grief with which he was penetrated, " happy 
have they been to die with their arms in their hands, and to 
have gathered upon the field of battle the palrn prepared for 
those who combat to the end." Many Sisters of Charity who 
had a share in their labors, merited also a share in their crown. 

It was soon necessary to begin at Atis, Juvisy, and above 
all, at Palaiseau, where the troops had remained during twenty 
days, what had not yet been finished at Lagni and Etampes. 
Vincent stood in need of all his courage to bear so many 
assaults of misery made daily upon him. The ardor of his 
charity sustained him. He made the sighs, the dying cries 
of an unhappy people, a prey to famine, speak. God who 
had placed him in the world to be the prodigy of his age, 
enabled him to find favor with many people, who would per 
haps have repulsed another. Many seculars, often of rank 
and always of virtue, united with him. Mr. du Plessis-Mon- 
bart, who possessed both, successfully established a kind of 
pious bank, to which those who could not furnish money 
were requested to send the furniture, clothes, and provisions 
they could spare. The duchess of Aiguillon, who honored 
Vincent more than the saints are usually honored whilst 
upon earth, never allowed herself to be asked a second time 
for what she could grant at the first solicitation.* The servant 



* To have a more just idea of the immense liberalities and the 
profound humility of this illustrious lady, our readers should peruse 
the funeral oration pronounced in the chapel of the seminary of 
Foreign Missions the 131h of May, 1675, by Mr. de Erisacier. He 
says "that she sold twenty-live thousand livres worth of her plate, 
to procure a decent place in all the desolate parishes, for the legiti 
mate object of the only true worship." 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OK IVVVJ.. 197 

of God, who had given liirth to tin se happy dispositions, ren 
dered them useful by cninmenciiig at Paris, what was still 
continued in Picardy and C hampa.rnp, and in all the other 
places of which we have spoken above. 

The blockade of that great city, the premature harvest made 
by the troops, the scarcity of labor which in less than a week 
reduced a crowd of workmen to hedging, the influx of forpi^n- 
ers Avho thought they could not be worse oil than in their 
own country, all these circumstances, one of which would 
have been alone sullicient to famish that immense capital, 
concurred in its desolation. The , v il wa- creat: the remedy, 
although expensive, was proportioned to it. Vincent him 
self remarks in a letter which he wrote at the time to a doctor 
of Sorbonne, that soup was furni-hi ! daily in Paris to four 
teen or fifteen thousand poor pii ;>)., who without it would 
have died of hunger ; that eight or nine hundred young girls 
had been placed out of the reach of dang< r, by being collected 
in the houses of pious individuals: and in tine, that a monas 
tery was in actual preparation tor the reception of a great 
number of religious who were scattered throughout the city, 
some of whom had been obliged i> live in suspected places. 
The saint docs not speak of the mvat share he had in all these 
good works; and it was only after his death that the services 
he had rendered to the inhabitants of Palai-eau were known, 
He rendered one at the same time to the people of Genevil- 
liers, which should remind the children of ins attention and 
charity for their fathers. 

The Seine having overflowed to a great extent, Vincent 
who spent a part of his meditation in lamenting the suf 
ferings of the poor, thought that so considerable an inun 
dation might be fatal to that village, the low situation of 
which naturally exposed it to the violence of iioods. No one 
had spoken to the holy priest of it : but his heart said enough 
to him. Without inquiring any farther about what might be 
the state of things, lie had a large cart loaded with bread, 
which he immediately sent thither with two of his mission 
aries. 

This succor, which was looked upon as the effect of a par- 
17* 



198 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ticular inspiration, camp in very good timo. Hunger had begun 
to be felt sharply at Genevilliers. The inhabitants, half under 
water in their houses, uttered useless cries ; no one went to 
their aid, and it was even dangerous to attempt it on account 
of the rapidity of the stream. Our missionaries unloaded their 
provisions into a boat ; and rowing from one side to the other, 
distributed their bread through the windows, because all the 
doors were under water. The different currents, which 
alarmed the boatmen, carried them into danger more than 
once; but they continued this charitable office until this 
little deluge had subsided. When it was over, the poor peo 
ple, moved at the service which our saint had rendered them, 
deputed some of the principal inhabitants to him, to return 
him thanks in the name of the others. He received them 
kindly ; but it was easy for them to understand that the honor 
of serving Jesus Christ in his suffering members, was the 
only reward of which he was ambitious. 

In thus fulfilling the duties of a good citi/en, the servant 
of God never forgot those of a faithful subject. Persuaded 
that obedience to the king was the only moans of caiming the 
troubles, he did all that depended on him to stifle the seeds 
of revolt which had sprung up all around. lie first induced 
to strict residence several prelates whose affairs called them to 
Paris, but who could not absent themselves from their dio- 
cesses without injury to the authority of the prince, which 
was maintained by their presence. He dealt rather with God 
than with men. He invited a great number of virtuous per 
sons to prevail with his mercy, by prayer, fasting, alms, and 
all the practices of solid penance. Although the life of his 
missionaries was only a tissue of hard labor, he would every 
day have three of them, that is, one of each order fast for the 
peace of the kingdom. He, although infirm, and more than 
seventy years old, was the first to submit to the law. No 
rule had any exception for him. 

He inspired several persons of distinguished birth with the 
same sentiments of penance : and we know, said a virtuous 
priest, that ladies of very delicate constitutions spared their 
bodies neither haircloth, nor discipline, nor other similar mor- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 199 

tiftcations, in order to unite before Cod their austerities to his 
and those of his congregation. It is true that the saint was 
inexhaustible on this point. Kvery day at morning prayer, he 
repeated twice these words of the litany. Jesus, d tid cf pt-ncc. 
and he pronounced them in a tone so moving, that it was im 
possible riot to recognise the voice and sighs of his heart. The 
proximity of the enemy s troops who sought to come to an 
engagement, the fear of an action, or the news of a battle 
fought, penetrated him with sorrow. As lie saw every thing 
in the lisrht of faith, the conquest of the whole universe was 
not worth one of those souls which the victory plunges into 
the abyss. During the battle of the suburb i^aint Antoine, 
whose noise reached his very ears, this worthy priest, pro 
strate between the vestibule and the altar, offered himself as a 
victim to the justice of God, and conjured him by the bowels 
of his mercy to withdraw the hand which dealt such terrible 
blows upon his people. 

During these difficult times, he, as well as all good people, 
and those who adhered to the party of the king, were often 
insulted. At the door of the conference hall, IK; was loaded 
with insults, struck, and threatened with death; but he revenged 
himself only by begging pardon for the guilty from the magis 
trate who wished to punish them. He was still more ill- 
treated at a short distance from his house. A furious man, 
under pretext that the saint had jostled him in passing, gave 
him a blow, adding by the blackest calumny, that he was the 
cause of the taxes with which the people were loaded. Vin 
cent, instead of having him arrested, as he might have done, 
went on his knees before him, offered to him his other cheek, 
and publicly confessed, not that he was the author of the sub 
sidies the imposition of which was not his province, but that 
he was a great sinner, and asked pardon of that man for any 
cause he might have given him for such treatment. The 
profound humility of the venerable priest touched the heart 
of the offender. He came the next day, to offer, in his turn, 
the most humble apology to the servant of God. Vincent re 
ceived him as a good friend, begged him to spend seven or 
eight days with him, and profited by that time to engage him 



MFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

in the exercises of a retreat ; and after having gained him to 
himself by his meekness, he afterwards gained him to God 
by his charity and affection. 

Whilst he was so unjustly accused of being the author of 
the public calamities, he was occupied night and day in en 
deavoring to find the means to put a stop to them. So many 
alms, fasts, mortifications and labors on his part and that of 
his missionaries, are incontestable proofs of it. Yet, as he 
saw this was not sufficient, he thought it his duty to do what 
had been done before him by many saints, whose state of life 
engaged them to more strict solitude than his did. 

After their example, he endeavored to unite again to the 
party of the king those of the princes who had abandoned it. 
But as he was impenetrable above all in regard to affairs 
which might render him prominent, all that we can learn of 
his negotiation is, that a little time before the peace was con 
cluded, he had long interviews with the queen, the duke of 
Orleans, the prince of Conde, and Cardinal Ma/arin. Would 
it be rashness to believe that the. peace, which soon followed 
these first steps, was the fruit of them, and that God granted 
it at last to the prayers and efforts made by the holy priest to 
effect it ? 

It was then represented to him that the civil war being hap 
pily terminated, it was just to retrench the extraordinary mor 
tifications, which he had established on occasion of it; but he 
had them continued, because the war with Spain was still 
carried on. He had at last the consolation to witness the ter 
mination of that war which had lasted twenty-five years, and 
which, together with the intestine broils, had exhausted the 
kingdom. Alas! what ravages would not so many combined 
evils have caused, if the man of mercy had not opposed to them 
a patience incapable of repulse, an invincible courage, and an 
inexhaustible charity ! Let us resume some facts of his his 
tory which the course of our recital has prevented us from 
placing in their proper order. One of the most considerable 
is the establishment of the missionaries of Warsaw, which 
has given birth to so many others in Poland. 

Louisa Maria Gonzaga, daughter of Charles, duke of 



LIFE OF 8T. VIWCKNT OF PAUL. 201 

Mantua, had known Vincent of Paul in Paris, where she 
had lived a long time. She had often attended those famous 
assemblies of ladies, whose liberality and zeal we have so 
often praised. Ladislaus Sigismond IV, king of Poland, hav 
ing asked a wife of Ann of Austria, received from her this 
princess, who was possessed of great qualities, but had not 
that of pleasing him. Happily she married after his death, 
Casimir V, who soon succeeded ^igismond. It was then, 
that having become more the mistress of her actions, she fol 
lowed her inclination for doing good. As she knew that kings 
do not reign in a manner worthy of God, unless God reigns 
by them, she desired to establish his empire in the hearts of 
her subjects, and particularly those who had been most ne 
glected. It was with this view that she asked some priests 
of our saint s congregation, in 10,31. Vincent could send her 
only a small number. But Mr. 1/imbert, one of his first 
companions, was equal to many. He united with the most 
excellent health, consummate wisdom, indefatigable zeal, 
and a humility so profound, that he would have been the 
most eminent man of the age in this virtue, had not Vincent 
lived. 

The saint could not make a greater sacrifice than that of 
Mr. Lambert. lie was, after Mr. Portail, his principal re 
source in innumerable allairs, and he acknowledged himself 
that by his absence he was in the situation of a man who 
has lost one of his arms. Yet, so soon as he believed that 
God required him elsewhere, he did not hesitate to make the 
sacrifice, and assuredly it cost a great deal to him who was 
the victim. 

The arrival of these two missionaries gave great pleasure 
to tueir majesties, and they were received by them with every 
possible demonstratron of kindness. Lambert was esteemed, 
cherished, and respected by the great and the people, as soon 
as he was known, and it was not long before he became so. 
But this short time of consolation was well paid for by the 
sufferings which followed it. Casimir, notwithstanding his 
victories, could not banish from his kingdom either famine or 
pestilence which follows close in its train. Both caused great 



202 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

havoc in Warsaw, where the people were entirely neglected. 
Lambert flew to the aid of the wretched, with the consent 
of the court; and the queen directed that lie should be lodged 
in the king s own chamber. Warsaw stood in need of such 
a man. As soon as any one was afflicted with the disease, 
those of his own house placed him in the street, where he 
must die of hunger, and soon afterwards be devoured by the 
dogs. Lambert restored order in the city, and our saint, who 
learned it from the queen, was greatly consoled by it. But 
God, who was always pleased to try him like gold in the fur 
nace, soon caused bitterness to succeed that joy of which he 
alone was the object. On leaving Warsaw, the queen, who 
had the greatest confidence in this worthy missionary, desired 
him to follow her into Lithuania. Although by the orders of 
that princess every possible attention was paid to him, he soon 
fell a victim to his zeal and labors. The confessor of the 
queen, the queen herself, wrote to Vincent in a style which 
marked how sensible they were of this loss. Vincent felt it 
more than any one, and he was the more afflicted as he learned 
at the same time the loss which the seminary of Annecy had 
sustained by the death of one of the most prudent and most 
virtuous priests of his congregation. But on this occasion and 
many similar ones, he only said with the most afflicted and 
the most patient of men : " God gave him to me, and God 
has taken him away, blessed be his holy name." 

Some months before the establishment at Warsaw, Vincent 
had interred the ancient prior of the religious who served the 
house of Saint Lazarus, the same who had made so many 
exertions to get him to accept it. Never had a benefactor 
greater reason to rejoice at his liberality. He always expe 
rienced the most perfect gratitude from his adopted children. 
But the attention which our holy priest paid him, had nothing 
of that weakness which is sometimes discovered in human 
friendships. I will give an example which is too honorable 
to both to be omitted. 

An abbess of high rank was, for scandalous faults, impri 
soned by order of the queen. Mr. Le Bon, who was under 
great obligations to her, was requested to use all his influence 



LIKE OF ST. VINCENT OK PAUL. 203 

in her favor. As he knew the absolute power he had over the 
mind of the servant of (<>d, lie did not doubt that he would 
obtain whatever lie should think proper to ask. lie was de 
ceived: the saint answered him that hi.- was sorry be could 
not comply with his wishes, but that his conscience would 
not permit him. The prior was much hurt at the refusal. 
Happily, the weight which he had upon his heart, did not op 
press him long. He learned from a sure source that the 
lady for whom he had interested himself deserved no favor. 
From that moment he did justice to the firmness of the holy 
priest, arid having thrown himself at his feet, he asked pardon 
for the ha^ty judgment he had formed of him. Vincent, 
who had also fallen on his knee<, wa-; charmed with this ex 
planation ; and alter this momentary coolness, he pave him 
on every occasion proofs of the most humble and sincere 
deference. 

His tenderness appeared to redouble when he found him 
self on the point of losing him. In his last sickness he ren 
dered him every service of the most ardent charity. \Vhen 
he saw him approaching his last end, he made all his HUE 
sionaries go on their knees around him; and during his la^t 
agony, which was Ion:, , he iec ited the prayers appointed by 
the church for that last moment. 

When this good old man. who wa< more than seventy-five 
years of ape. had breathed his last, and they had recommended 
his soul, Vincent, after having besought (.iod in a very affect 
ing manner to be pleased to apply to the dear deceased the 
little cood which his congregation had heretofore been able to 
do, begged bis companions in the most humble terms never 
to forget that great Ix-nefactor. lie caused his funeral to be 
performed in a most honorable manner; and to perpetuate 
the remembrance of the services which his congregation had 
received from him, he hail them engraved upon the marble, 
with the epitaph of the deceased. He also desired that a so 
lemn service should be performed every year on the 9th of 
April, the day of his decease. Besides this, his house per 
forms two others every year for the repose of the souls of the 
former religious. 



204 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Some months after the death of Mr. Lc Eon, the holy 
priest held a kind of general assembly, in which, amongst 
other good regulations, one was made to exert a proper firm 
ness in the tribunal of penance : for it is well to remark that, 
if Vincent of Paul did not approve that extreme rigor which 
condemns every body, he was a great enemy to laxity in 
morals. He more than once congratulated the bishops and 
the Sorbonne on their having censured those monstrous pro 
positions of which enlightened pagans would have been 
ashamed. He wished that his congregation should attach 
itself inviolably to that truly Christian practice, which is 
founded upon the gospel, the writings of the holy doctors, 
and the decisions of the apostolic see. But if he had true 
zeal for the purity of morals, he had not less for the integrity 
of dogmas. His labors and combats against the too real here 
sy of Jansenius, are an incontestible proof of it. But to 
place it in its full light,, we must necessarily go back to the 
source of the evil. 



Book .fourtl). 



CORNELIUS JANSSEN, so well known by the name of Janse- 
nius, after having completed his humanities in Holland, stu 
died theology under Jacques Janson, a man very much at 
tached to his own opinions, and who greatly preferred the 
doctrine of Baius, to that of the sovereign pontiffs who had 
censured it. It was in the school of this doctor, that Janse- 
nius imbibed the first principles of his system on grace. To 
strengthen him in it, Abbe Saint-Cyran, who had known him 
in Paris, caused him to come to Bayonne, where he procured 
employment for him. They both applied themselves to the 
reading of the Fathers, and particularly St. Augustin. This 
last was the one for whom Jansenius had all his life a decided 
preference. Although his health was rather weak, he read 
the works of the holy doctor ten times, and those which he 
composed against the Pelagians, nearly thirty times. 

Such continued study did not prevent him from trying his 
pen upon matters which had not much connection with grace 
and charity. His ^lars Crdllicus, in which the French nation 
and its monarchs are very badly treated, is an incontestible 
proof of it. This extravagant satire merited the bishopric of 
Ypres for its author ; and it was in that see, that Jansenius, 
after twenty-two years labor, finished his Atg-ustiniis. How 
ever right his system may have appeared to him, he himself 
was sensible of its rigor. lie did not fail to put it under the 
protection of Saint-Cyran. He was particularly desirous that 
some congregation would adopt it, being persuaded, as he 
told his friend, that " such people, when they once espouse 
a cause, go beyoud all bounds." 
18 



206 LJFE OF ST. V1NCEKT OF PAUL. 

The bishop of Ypres proposed to himself nothing less than 
to reform the ideas which the Catholic schools of his time 
held with regard to grace. This project was doubtless great, 
but corresponded to the views of him who had formed it, 
Jansenius thought that not only the Dominicans and Jesuits 
were a hundred miles from the truth, but lie also believed that 
for five hundred years the ancient doctrine was unknown both 
to people and pastors; that it no longer subsisted, except in 
prayers, of which those who used them understood nothing ; 
that the scholastics appeared to know "neither faith, nor hope, 
nor sufficient grace, nor efficacious grace, nor vice, nor virtue, 
nor actual sin, nor original sin, nor the liberty of man, nor 
his slavery ; in a word, and this will be saying every thing, 
neither the Old nor the New Testament." 

So many blind persons stood in need of being enlightened ; 
it was necessary to put into their hands the thread of tradi 
tion which they had lost for five centuries. Jansenius under 
took it, and we shall soon see in what manner. 

He lays it down as a principle that from the sin of Adam, 
pleasure is the only spring which sets the will in motion ; 
that without an attraction inclining it to good, it cannot do 
good, as it cannot do evil without an attraction to evil ; that 
these two attractions act by degrees, so that the stronger over 
comes the weaker, and so invincibly overcomes it, that it is 
as impossible for man to act against a superior attraction, as 
it is impossible for him to act without any attraction, or even 
without knowledge. 

From this principle of a delectation, which man cannot 
procure for himself when he possesses it not, because it is in- 
deliberate; and which he cannot conquer, when he possesses 
it, because it is irresistible; from this principle, I say, which 
Jansenius without ceremony places to the account of St. Au- 
gustin, he concludes, 1. that there is no more liberty upon 
earth ; or if there be any, it must be compatible with the 
most powerful necessity ; 2. that grace has not, nor can have 
any other effect than that which is actually produced in a 
heart captivated by concupiscence; 3. that the just man him 
self, when he is in want of a grace superior to concupiscence, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 207 

cannot, whatever pains he may take, whatever efforts he may 
make, accomplish the law imposed upon him; 4. that since 
God wills the salvation of tlio.se only, to whom he renders 
salvation possible, the Redeemer, whose will was always con 
formable to that of his Father, did not shed his blood for the 
salvation of those who perish. Jansenius is so violent on this 
last article, that, to be a Catholic, according to him, it becomes 
necessary to publish upon the house tops, that Jesus Christ 
died no more for the salvation of so many unfortunate men 
who are every day lost, than he died for the salvation of the 
devil.* Such is, in substance, the system of the bishop of 
Ypres, and we are ready to show that we have not changed it. 

That prelate had been carried oil by pestilence two years, 
when his book made its appearance. This posthumous fruit 
was soon a cause of trouble and discord. Although Saint- 
Cyran found blemishes in it, he spoke of it as a third gospel 
upon grace, and his judgment gave the tone to that of Port 
Royal. But this favorable prejudice was balanced by an un 
fortunate counterpoise. The Augustinus had but just ap 
peared, when Urban VIII branded it on the Gth of March, 
K>11. It underwent the most violent attacks in the capital 
of this kingdom, but it also found there the most vigorous de 
fenders. Isaac Ilabert, prebendary of Paris, combatted it pub 
licly in three sermons preached in the cathedral. Antoine 
Arnauld opposed three apologies to these three sermons. On 
both sides they wrote, but each one became more confirmed 
in his first opinion. 

Many sensible persons, who lamented these divisions, 
thought that the most imposing authority should be substituted 
to disputes. It was with this design that Nicholas Cornet, 
syndic of the faculty of theology, made from the book of Jan- 
seuius an extract which he reduced to five propositions, which 
since that time have become so famous in the church. This 
summary, which the great Bossuet always looked upon as 
the most beautiful abridgment that could be made of so largo 
a volume as that of Jansenius, was presented to the Sorbonne 

* Jansenius, lib. 3, de Gr. chr. cap. 21. 



AlO LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

on the 1st of July, 1049. It was determined by a plurality 
of voices that the propositions should be examined. 

The defenders of Jansenius, who did not like this kind of ex 
amination., except when they calculated upon its being entrusted 
to them, parried the blow by an appeal to the parliament. 
What was to be done in such a conjuncture? After many 
deliberations, it was thought that the shortest way was to beg the 
common Father of the faithful to pronounce upon a difference, 
which began to exasperate the mind more and more. Mr. Ha- 
bert, who from being prebendary of Paris had become bishop of 
Vabres, drew up a letter to Innocent X, who was then in 
the chair of St. Peter. The principal bishops of the assembly 
of the clergy signed it separately, and it was sent into the 
provinces, in order that the pope, being urged on all sides, 
should not defer the judgment which was asked of him. St. 
Vincent of Paul, under whose eyes and in whose house this 
letter was composed, neglected nothing to multiply the signa 
tures, and his solicitude was not useless. 

Whatever might be the contempt entertained for Vincent by 
a party which spared only those wedded to its interests, it is 
certain that, even after the death of Saint-Cyran, great efforts 
were made to win him to Jansenism. But, had he not been 
disgusted with the horrors which that desperate system inspires, 
he must have been so with the caprices and variations of its 
defenders. At a time when they should have acted with cau 
tion, unexpected propositions escaped them, which revealed a 
disposition for innovation. The Abbe de Barcos, without any 
reason, foisted one into the preface of a book on Frequent Com 
munion, in which he taught that " St. Peter and St. Paul are 
two heads of the church, making but one." This proposition 
was censured at Rome, and Vincent had a great share in its 
condemnation. 

It appears from several of his letters that he would not 
have been sorry, had the book on "Frequent Communion" 
experienced the same fate. That in which he expresses him 
self most at large, is addressed to Jean d Horgni, one of his 
first seven companions. D Horgni had talents, zeal, and a 
certain taste for reforms, which itself stood in need of being a 



LIFE OF ST. TINT EXT OF PAUL. 



209 



little reformed. As he had for Vincent of Paul all that re 
spect with which the holy man in.-pircd those who knew him, 
he thought it his duty to propose to him the difficulties which 
he had with regard to the book of Jansenius as well as that 
of Mr. Arnauld. He did so in two letters, but in such a 
manner as to create a fear that he had already taken his deter 
mination. Vincent answered him likewise in two letters, and 
although I have read many of the kind, 1 have met with none 
of his, in which there is so much fire and vivacity. Both 
of them, but particularly the last one, speak of the book on 
"Frequent Communion." 

Vincent says there in substance, that it may be that some 
persons have profited by that work ; but that, " if it has been 
of service to a hundred by inspiring them with greater re 
spect for the sacraments, there are at least ten thousand whom 
it has injured by keeping them away from them altogether;" 
that we no longer see the holy communion frequented, even 
at Easter, as it formerly was ; that many curates in Paris 
complain of it; that it is true there an- but too many who 
abuse the holy Eucharist, " and wretch that I am," says he, " I 
more than all;" but we must not correct one abuse by another; 
and it is a great one, to keep away from the holy table, not for 
eight or ten days, but for five or six months, good religious per 
sons who lead very pure lives, as it is known that " these new 
reformers" are in the habit of doing; that St. Charles was very- 
far from this excess, when he recommended nothing so 
much in his councils as frequent communion, and decreed 
severe penalties against preachers who should dissuade the 
faithful from it, directly or indirectly. 

As in order to defend the book and the author, D Horgni 
repeated what was then said, that the doctor Arnauld only 
designated those who admit sinners too easily to the partici 
pation of the holy mysteries, Vincent acknowledges that it is 
an evil which St. Charles deplored ; but he contends at the 
same time that the book on " Frequent Communion " goes far 
ther, since it highly extols in the preface, page 3G, the piety 
of those who wish to defer communion till the end of their 
lives ; that it asserts, in the second chapter of the third part, 
18* 



210 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



lhat it is speaking in an unworthy manner of the King of 
heaven, to say that lie is honored by our communions ; and 
that when it contends, as it does without any modification, 
that those alone are permitted to communicate who are en 
tirely purified from the images of their past life by a divine 
love which is pure and without mixture, who are perfectly 
united to God alone, entirely perfect and entirely irreproacha 
ble; we would have to conclude with it, that those who, ac 
cording to the practice of the church, communicate with the 
ordinary dispositions, are dogs and antichrists. No, continues 
he, with such principles, communion is no longer suited to 
any one but Mr. Arnauld, who, after having placed his dis 
positions at so high a point, as to terrify a St. Paul, does not 
fail to boast several times in his apology, that he says mass 
every day. 

The saint combats with the same force all the objections 
of Mr. d llorgni, particularly one in which he undertook to 
justify certain texts of Arnauld, by other texts which were 
opposed to them. He shows him by the example of Calvin, 
that it is customary with innovators to sow contradictions in 
their works, and procure an issue which may answer their pur 
pose. " I heard the late Mr. de Saint-Cyran declare," con 
tinues he, "that if he had pronounced truths in a room where 
there were persons capable of understanding them, and from 
thence should go into another place where there were persons 
incapable of it, he would tell them the contrary." He even 
pretended that our Lord did so, and he recommended the 
practice of it. 

As d llorgni had not adduced the authority of the prelates 
and doctors, who had approved the book on " Frequent Com 
munion," the servant of God did not speak of it. Had he 
been urged on this point, he would, no doubt, have answered, 
as others then did, first, that more than eighty bishops, al 
though earnestly solicited to approve the work, had constantly 
refused ; secondly, that amongst those whose names are still 
seen at the head of the book, there were some who had never 
read it. Of this I have an incontestable proof under my eyes.* 

* See the large life of St. Vincent, vol. i, p. 532 



LIFE 01" ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 211 

The other letter is almost entirely devoted to the Ixwk of 
Jansenius. The saint therein says very wisely, that the as 
siduous perusal which that prelate had made of St. Augustin, 
proves no more in favor of his followers, than it would prove 
in favor of Calvin; that the council of Trent understood the 
holy doctor hetter than the bishop of Ypres and his adherents ; 
in a word, that St. Auirustin must he explained by the coun 
cil, and not the council by St. Augustin, because the first is 
infallible and the second is not. He adds, that in the present 
affair, we have nothing to do with Molina, nor with the mid 
dle science, whiHi is not an article of faith ; that if this doc 
trine is new, it is not so with the one establishing that Jesus 
C hrist died for all; that it is that of St. Paul, of the apostle 
St. John, of St. Leo, and of the last general council. He 
reasons in the same manner on the possibility of the observ 
ance of the commandments of toil, and on sufficient grace. 
He proves both by texts which error may elude, but can 
never destroy. 

With regard to the advice which d Horgni hn<! jjiren him, 
to suffer each one of his congregation to think as he pleased 
on these matters, he contends powerfully against it ; and after 
having indicated in two words, the fatal effects which diver 
sity of opinion would produce in a community, he concludes, 
that if any one of his company should adopt the new opinions, 
lie would do well to 1< ave it, and the company would do 
well to beg him to do MI. 

However severe these last words may appear, the saint did 
not come to such a painful extremity, until after having ex 
hausted all the means which charity and prudence furnished. 
He prayed much, made his companions pray, and did not 
adopt his last resolution, until he had consulted those whose 
knowledge and experience enabled them to give him good 
ad\ ice. 

Such violent remedies, which he perhaps used but once, 
cost his tender heart a great deal : he feared nothing more 
than to find himself forced to use them frequently. Night 
and day he hoped that authority would settle this dispute, 
which had already produced so much excitement in the 



212 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

clergy, both secular and regular. As his respect for the vicar 
of Jesus Christ led him to believe that his decision would 
again unite all minds, he used every endeavor to engage as 
many bishops as he could, to subscribe the letter which was 
to be sent to the pope. He told them in substance that they 
could not too soon arrest an evil, which was making addi 
tional progress every day ; that it was believed at Rome that 
the greater part of the bishops of France professed the new 
opinions, and that it was proper to show that there were 
very few ; that as the situation of Europe did not permit to 
assemble a general council, recourse must be had to the first 
See, to which the Church refers us in the council of Trent ; 
that although some persons of Saint Cyran s party might 
not yield to the decision of the pope, since that abbe did 
not believe even the councils, as he knew from frequent 
intercourse with him ; still it would not be so with the greater 
number, as it appeared from the prompt conclusion of the 
affair of the two heads making but one. The saint did not 
fail to adduce the number and authority of the prelates who 
had already subscribed. He insisted particularly on the ex 
ample of the virtuous and penitent bishop of Cahors who 
had recognised, in a libel which the party had just scattered 
abroad, the spirit of imposture which accompanies heresy, and 
had made it a motive for taking up arms against the enemies 
of the church. 

If Vincent had reason to be satisfied with tb.3 answers given 
him by almost all those whom he had invited to sign the letter 
to the holy Father, he must have been afflicted at the one 
given him in common by his two great friends the bishops 
of Aleth and of Pamiers. Under pretext that minds were two 
much agitated, they proposed a middle term, which would 
not have failed to sanction error, by placing it upon a level 
with truth. They wished that the holy see, instead of decid 
ing the affair fully, should prohibit under several penalties 
the agitating of the question both in the schools and in the 
pulpit. Vincent thought it his duty to reply to their letter. 
He did it forcibly, but in a respectful manner. He repre 
sented to them that, if to condemn the dogmas of Luther and 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 213 

Calvin, delay had been used until their partisans had been in 
a disposition to submit, the heresy of those two innovators 
would have seduced a much greater number of persons ; that 
it is true that in the present affair each one believed he had rea 
son on his side; but that all in-retirs had said the same: that 
there was this difference between the two parties, that the one 
asked for judges and the other did not want them ; that the 
defenders of Jansenius declined the judgment of the holy see, 
because they knew it possible; and they pretended to ask that 
of a council, because they believed it impossible in the present 
state of things; and if they thought it possible, they would 
reject it, as they rejected the other; that, moreover, the ques 
tion was not about a point confined to theory ; that the 
faithful could not live much longer uncertain whether Jesus 
Christ died for them or not ; for there had been some found 
who seeing that the dying were exhorted to put their confi 
dence in the goodness of our Lord, who died for them, told 
the sick not to trust to that, because Jesus Christ did not die 
for all. 

If this letter did not produce all the effect which Vincent of 
Paul expected, it at least disposed these two bishops to submit 
to the judgment of the apostolic see. The bull by which 
Innocent X condemned the five famous propositions, met 
with no contradiction at Aleth ; it was there received and 
published as it has since been throughout all the kingdom. 
The author of the life of Mr. Pavilion remarks it. This pre 
late held still many years afterwards the same opinions. I 
know, says the illustrious and pious de Kane* -, that he 
changed them afterwards, but I know also what address and 
what artifices were made use of, to bring him to it. 

Vincent, who was no longer upon earth, had not the grief 
of witnessing the fall of a man who was dear to him. But 
if it would have surprised, it would not have shaken him. 
He continued always to believe that it was of the greatest 
consequence that the common Father of the faithful should 
make them hear his voice, and he had the consolation to see 
in a short time eighty -eight bishops soliciting his judgment. 
On their part, the defenders of Jansenius, who feared nothing 



214 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

more than the decision of the pope, did not forget themselves. 
Desperate at seeing that a writing in the form of a circular 
letter, which they had addressed to the bishops, had not pre 
vented many from signing the address, they resolved upon, 
movements at Rome itself, and by multiplying obstacles, they 
endeavored to avert, at every cost, the blow which threatened 
them. They had already an agent in that city, who neglected 
nothing to protect their doctrine. Fearing that one man alone 
could not calm the storm, they sent him a reinforcement of 
three other doctors. Mr. de Saint-Amour, furnished with a 
letter from ten bishops who did not think with the rest of their 
colleagues, was at the head of the deputation. St. Amour was 
full of zeal for the doctrine of Jansenius, and would have 
given his life, to prove that it was perfectly conformable to 
that of St. Augustin. Had he read carefully the works of 
that doctor on grace? This I know not; but I do know, 
what I could not have believed, had he not himself written it, 
that he had never read the book of Jansenius. 

Vincent of Paul had no sooner been informed of the ma 
noeuvre of these gentlemen, than lie thought that, what had 
been done for error, should be done lor the truth. Messrs. 
Hallier, Joisel, and Lagault, who were all three doctors of 
Sorbonne, offered to undertake the journey ; and our saint, 
with whom these three respectable men were strictly united, 
promised them not to abandon them either in France or Italy. 
Hallier rendered on this occasion great services to the Church; 
and we shall see in a moment that the holy see did not forget 
him. 

These deputies soon perceived that their journey was ne 
cessary. The doctor Saint-Amour, whom letters from Rome 
described as one of the most artful men, endeavored to 
persuade the Dominicans that the efficacious grace of the 
Thomists was no less attacked than that of the new Augus 
tin, and to impress the cardinals with the belief that he 
was neither a Jansenist nor a defender of Jansenius. "For 
our parts," said Mr. Lagault, "we loudly proclaim, that we 
only aim at Jansenius, who has been troubling the Church 
for ten years ; that if these gentlemen are unwilling to defend 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 215 

him, we have nothing to do with them, and that notwith 
standing we will not fail to urge one point." They did it in 
fact, hut with infinite trouhle. No one can read without 
emotion the obstacles which they had to encounter. Their 
letters, the originals of which are still extant, state in sub 
stance that every means were employed to spin out the affair, 
that it was to be feared that the end cuuld not be reached in a 
court which advances at so slow a pace and under a pontiff 
who was very old; that these delays exposed them to very con 
siderable fatigue; that they had daily to undergo, on the part 
of the Jansenist ambassadors, numerous contradictions, suppo 
sitions, and black calumnies; that they were astonished how 
persons who made a profession of piety, could resolve to quib 
ble so grossly in point of religion and to lie so insolently; and 
that no one but a sacrilegious man would, in order to re 
tain people in a false doctrine, employ the horrible lies 
which had been circulated throughout France and Italy by 
the emissaries of a party which boasted of its sanctity. 

This information, which could not but greatly afflict a 
man so sensible to the evils of the Church as Vincent of Paul, 
was almost always mingled with something well calculated to 
console him. He learned from the beginning that Innocent 
X was resolved to settle the affair ; that notwithstanding his 
advanced age, he labored with indefatigable zeal in the exami 
nation of the live propositions ; that it was an admirable thing, 
which could only come from God, that his holiness, at the 
age of eighty-one, should, contrary to his disposition and the 
custom of the country, assist with inexpressible attention at 
the congregations which often lasted four hours, and which 
were held sometimes thrice a week ; that the cardinals, ani 
mated by such an example, abandoned (very thing to occupy 
themselves in this affair. Vincent, on his side, encouraged the 
deputies by frequent letters. "I hope," said he in one of 
those which he wrote to Mr. Hallier, " that the divine good 
ness will soon restore peace to his Church, and that by the 
aid of your proceedings, the truth will be recognised, and 
your zeal exalted before God and man." We might take these 



216 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

last words as a prophecy, when we behold, some years after 
wards, Mr. Hallier appointed bishop of Cavaillon by the pope. 

The censure of the five propositions for which the servant 
of God Availed with so much confidence, was soon announced 
to him in a more precise manner. The letters which he re 
ceived from the anti-Jansenist envoys, stated that in the 
audience which the ambassador of France had procured for 
the two new deputies of the opposite party,* instead of saying 
a single word of the matter in question, they had amused them 
selves in railing against the Jesuits, and in offering to prove 
that they were the authors of more than fifty heresies ; that 
the holy Father, who had granted them eight or nine audi 
ences, although he had granted but one to Mr. Hallier and 
his companions, had declared to them that he was ready to 
hear them if they had any thing new to produce ; that for a 
whole year they had been entirely at liberty to instruct the 
cardinals and consultors personally or by writing ; that they 
had refused four or five hearings which had been offered them ; 
that they acknowledged that the writings of their adversaries 
had been communicated to them ; that in fact it was useless 
to hear them any more than their antagonists, since the only 
question was a book, which was alone to pronounce its own 
apology or censure ; and that in fine after twenty-five congre 
gations, besides ten others which the pope had caused to be 
held before him, he had given his bull; that those gentlemen, 
with tears in their eyes, had promised perfect obedience to 
this decree, but that there was reason to doubt of their sin 
cerity, since they had told confidents, that their sense, which 
was that of Jansenius, still subsisted. 

Vincent of Paul, after having returned thanks to God for 
the protection, which he had just given his Church, thought 
of nothing but of the means of procuring a prompt submis 
sion to the apostolical rescript. His first care was to prevent 
those who had the advantage in this kind of combat, from 
exhibiting towards their adversaries those airs of triumph 

* These last deputies were Father Desmare s and Doctor Ma- 
nessier. They came to the aid of Mr. de la Lane, and Angran and 
de Saint- Amour. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 217 

which are looked upon as insults by vexed minds. Full of 
zeal against error, and chanty towards those who had been 
its victims, all his attention was directed to smooth the way 
for their return to unity. With this design he paid visits to 
superiors of communities, doctors in theology, and several 
other persons who had embraced Jansenism. He represented 
to them modestly, and with his usual prudence, that to re-unite 
minds, it was necessary to keep within the bounds of the 
most exact moderation, to advance nothing either in sermons 
or private conversations, which might humble those who 
had supported the proscribed dogma, to show them a real 
friendship in a conjuncture so humiliating for self-love, and 
to gain, by the most respectful treatment, persons who would 
be shocked by any other method. 

It was with these feelings, so prudent and so Christian, that 
he paid a visit of civility to such of the disciples of Saint-Cyran 
as had retired to Port Royal. The report having been circu 
lated that they submitted without restriction, he congratulated 
them on it; and during two or three hours which he passed 
with them, he gave them particular evidences of his esteem, 
affection, and confidence, lie afterwards went to see some 
persons of distinction, who held a considerable rank in the 
party. All promised entire submission to the apostolic de 
cree. Home, at the head of whom appeared the pious and 
learned Thomassin, were faithful to their word: unfortunately 
it was not so with the greater number. 

In fact, it was soon known both in Paris and Rome, that 
their beautiful protestations were in no ways sincere. The 
famous writing in three columns, which these gentlemen 
distributed in public, proved that, under pretence of rejecting 
a purely Calvinistical sense, which was not in question, 
they continued to maintain the whole error of the sense 
of Jansenius, which alone was in question, and the only 
one which the Pope intended to condemn. This Dr. Hal- 
lier explains much at length in a letter, in which he tells 
St. Vincent that the Jansenists have no solid ground, when 
they endeavor to cover themselves by such ridiculous ter 
giversations ; that the propositions being clear, they eudea- 
li) 



218 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

vored to render them ambiguous by explanations remote from 
the natural sense of the words and from the sense of Janse- 
nius ; that Innocent X had testified that he condemned them 
in as much as they contained the opinions of Jansenius, which 
are the same as those of the Jansenists, as appears by their 
apologies of Jansenius and the rest of their books ; that the 
pope had given in his bull a sense to the fifth proposition, be 
cause it was not contained in the words, but only in Janse 
nius, and that he has condemned it in that sense, which is 
that of the book and its defenders, &c. 

After having proved that, by following the method of these 
new doctors, there is no bad proposition that may not escape 
censure, Hallier demonstrates by a great number of facts, that 
there can be no doubt of the intention of the sovereign pontiff. 
" If it bo true/ says he, " that the sense of Jansenius is pro 
tected, why did the pope refuse bulls to a man, whose only 
crime was his having signed the Augustinus of that prelate? 
Why did he cause a general of an order who favored the 
Jansenists to be disposed? Why, without any other reason, 
did he banish another religious to Malta ? Why did he give 
a bishopric in the kingdom of Naples to an Augustinian who, 
in the congregations, had defended the Catholic faith against 
the Jansenists, and even against his own superior? Why did 
he offer me the bishopric of Toul," &c. " In fact," adds he, 
" The Jansenists know better than any one, that it is they 
who are aimed at ; and it is for this reason that they fled 
shamefully from Rome, without taking leave of any of the 
cardinals of the congregation," &c. 

It appears from subsequent letters, that it was feared at Rome 
lest Vincent, accustomed to judge of the uprightness of others 
by his own, might surfer himself to be caught by theequivocal 
marks of submission given by the party. But the deputies 
had time to be convinced that they had taken the alarm too 
easily. Without transgressing the bounds of a just modera 
tion, our saint knew so well how to combine his arrangements, 
that he removed the error from all the places, the guardian 
ship of which had been committed to his care. His congre 
gation, was, as it ought to be, the first object of his attention. 



LIKE OF ST. VIMT.NT OF PAUL. 219 

He studied the inclinations of all his priests, well resolved 
to rid himself of those who, being duly warned, should prefer 
their own judgment to that of the first pastors. He endeav 
ored above all to give to young people, only such masters as 
had openly declared their opinion; and to begin by an exam 
ple calculated to make an impression, he dismissed one ot the 
professors of St. La/arus, Ijerau.-e he found him to be one 
of those men of eijuivocal submission, who never explain 
themselves with embarrassment, except when iaith is to Ije 
explained. He told another, wlio had through inadvertence 
expressed himself in a manner somewhat favorable to the in 
novators, that Jansenism was one of the most dangerous er 
rors that had ever troubled the church, and that he could not 
thank God too much, for not having permitted its first defend 
ers, who were his friends, and had taken inconceivable pains 
to seduce him, to sue -e d in their und< rtakine. 

"What the holy man did for h:s children, he did likewise 
for a yreat number of n l.u ious .md secular communities of 
which he was the superior. It was thus that, as we have al- 
riady observed, he prevailed upon the ladies of the Visitation 
to refuse a considerable sum, with which error would not have 
failed to insinuate itself amount them. Thus it was also 
that lie taught the Sisters of Charity, whose establishment 
was his favorite work, to be satisfied with lamenting the evils 
of the church, and to reduce all their science to that general 
submission which requires neither reasoning nor discussion. 
lie infused the same sentiments into the secular congrega 
tions of Providence, of the Christian Union, of the New Ca 
tholics; and the first of these communities acknowledges to 
this day the greatest obligation it owes to St. Vincent of Paul, 
for having inspired its members, from the beginning, with a 
perfect submission to the church, and a profound respect for 
those who govern it. 

Although the holy priest was not ignorant that in all ages 
error has counted amongst its defenders such men as Tertullian, 
Origen, Theodoret; yet lie was more sensible to the fall of those 
who believed they were paying an homage to Ciod by combat 
ting his church. It was for this reason that he labored so much 



220 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

to bring back the famous Jean Deslions, dean of Senlis. He 
procured for him answers from Rome, and letters from the 
bishop of Pamiers. He saw him shaken several times. 
It even appeared that lie deferred declaring himself more 
openly only to bring back the duke and duchess of Liancourt. 
But his engagements with Arnauld detained him. He was 
ill requited for his complaisance, and every one knows that in 
the affair of Perette Deslions, his niece, no one spared him 
less than Arnauld. 

I shall conclude this matter with a reply which the holy 
priest made to a pious individual who, being dazzled by 
the alms distributed by certain people of the party, made a 
scruple of condemning them. In a visit which he paid to 
Vincent, he asked him if there was no means of moderating the 
warmth, with which the gentlemen of Port Royal were per 
secuted. " Would it not be better," said he, " to come to an 
accommodation ; they are disposed for it, if treated with more 
moderation, and there is no one better suited than you to 
mitigate the irritation on both sides, and to effect a good re 
conciliation." 

Without stopping to reply, that, if the devil has his virgins 
and martyrs, he may well have persons who fast and give 
alms, Vincent went directly to the ground of the difficulty. 
His reply was, that when a difference is judged, there is no 
other agreement to make, than to submit to the judgment pro 
nounced ; that these gentlemen, who had taken the highest 
tone before the decree of the holy see, had labored since its 
publication only to elude it, even at the time when they pre 
tended to submit to it ; that in matters of faith all accommo 
dation is reduced to a true and perfect obedience; and until 
the party should come to this, there was nothing to be done 
but to pray to God for their conversion. 

Such was the language, such the conduct which Vincent 
of Paul held in the course of this unfortunate affair. He had 
feared all his life that some new error would arise in his time. 
The evil which he dreaded had arrived. He had the grief to 
see the most consoling dogmas of religion attacked by his 
friends. Flesh and blood never restrained him, and his zeal 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 221 

did not hurry him away. He was not willing to judge rashly of 
any person ; or through a charity ill understood, to judge, favora 
bly persons who should be considered as heretics or suspected of 
heresy. It is very remarkable that he never believed that a real 
Catholic could remain in a kind of indifference, and neutrality. 

Although lie was much pleased to see the learned conse 
crate their time to the defence of truth, he always believed 
that prayer was the best remedy that could be opposed to 
heresy. lie knew that, when nothing is required but wri 
ting, the most desperate innovators have never kept silent, 
and have given even to the worst systems an air and a color 
calculated to deceive. It was in Hod that Vincent put his 
confidence. He begged him, and he wished his friends 
to beg him, not to permit persons able to serve him to go 
astray, and that the faithful might not continue exposed to 
the efforts of the spirit of fal>ehood. lie said that the best 
arms to light against error, are prayer and the exact prac 
tice of the virtues opposed to the faults of those who support 
it; that we must oppu.-e a profound humility to their self- 
esteem on account of their talents ; a sincere love of con 
tempt and abjection, to that frivolous praise which they lavish 
on ea -h other: i:reat uprightness and perfect simplicity of 
heart, to the artifices, disguise, imposture which they employ 
to cover their error and hide its deformity ; in line, ardent 
charity to the inflexible hatred and outrages with which they 
are accustomed to pursue those who oppose their opinions. 

In spite of the trouble which the new heresy caused Vin 
cent, he was able to continue the good works which had hith 
erto occupied him. Besides tlie mission at Rueil, at which 
he labored that same year as a man of forty years of age 
would have done, he kept up in the diocess of Paris alone 
four bands of apostolical men ; and whilst in conformity 
with the wishes of the Propaganda, he consented to send 
for the third time some worthy priests into the Hebrides, he 
cultivated at Paris a numerous nursery of young Scotchmen, 
who were one day to perpetuate in their own country the 
good which those of his company could only commence. 

But the most beautiful action that signalised his seventy. 



222 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

eighth year, was without doubt the establishment which he 
made of an hospital for a great number of old persons. As 
this action, although considerable in itself, was still more so 
on account of its consequences, it will not be improper to 
enter into it somewhat more at length. 

A citizen of Paris, who knew the prudence and charity 
of the holy priest, came to him in 1653, and told him that he 
felt himself interiorly urged to do something for the service of 
God ; that in order not to resist a motion of the Holy Ghost, 
he had the intention to sacrifice a considerable sum ; that hav 
ing nothing particular in view, he ratified beforehand the pious 
use which he might think proper to make of it: that the ouly 
condition he required of him was, that, wishing to be known 
to God alone, he should never be mentioned. This last arti 
cle was promised at once, and it has been faithfully executed. 

Vincent of Paul, after having consulted the Lord, thought 
tnat if a place could be established for the retreat of a num 
ber of poor mechanics, reduced in their old days to beggary, 
and forgetful of the affair of their salvation, it would be very 
pleasing to God. The benefactor liked the idea, but he re 
quired that the saint and his successors should take upon 
themselves the direction of this little establishment. 

Without any delay Vincent purchased two houses and con 
siderable ground in one of the suburbs of Paris. There he 
fitted up a small chapel, and furnished it with ornaments. 
As soon as all was ready, he received into this new retreat 
forty poor persons of both sexes. He placed them in two 
separate parts of the same building, but so well arranged 
that men and women all heard the same offices, and the same 
lecture at table, without seeing one another. He appointed 
Sisters of Charity to wait on them, and one of his priests to 
distribute to them the bread of life, and administer the sacra 
ments. He was himself one of the first to instruct them, to 
recommend peace and union to them, form them to tender 
piety, lead them to bless with their dying breath the adorable 
hand which, in acknowledgment of its mercies, only asked 
of them the sacrifice of their last years. 

When the house of the Name of Jesus, for this was the 



LIFE OF ST. VINCF..VT OF PAUL. 223 

title given it, had assumed a proper form, many of the ladies 
of the famous assembly of the holy priest, went to visit it. 
They wished to see every thing, examine every thing, and 
hear an account of every thin::. The more they examined 
it, the more they were edilied. Forty aged persons, who lived 
in the most perfect union, who knew nothing of murmuring 
or scandal, who, at the first sound of the bell, went to their 
little employments, and more willinaly still to their exercises 
of piety, who all testified by their words, and sometimes by 
their tears, that they had never been so contented ; in a word, 
forty old people who had more the air of a religious commu 
nity than of a dwelling of seculars, appeared very affecting and 
consoling in the eyes of faith. A comparison almost imper 
ceptibly suggested itself between poor people so well regulated, 
and that multitude of vagabonds, without shame, without re 
ligion, who walk the streets of Paris, crowd the churches, 
and often with a sword at their side, demand alms in such a 
tone, as to leave to the liberality of the faithful but little merit. 
So much fervor on the one hand, such libertinism on the other, 
made a contrast which gave rise to many reflections. 

One of the most important was, that it was necessary to en 
gage Vincent of Paul, to do fur all the poor found in the capital, 
what he had done for those of the Name of Jesus ; that God 
was visibly with him, and that provided he would put his 
hand to the work, it would succeed. The first ladies who 
had this thought, communicated it to others. It did not ap 
pear too much for persons who had served their apprentice 
ship in the school of the holy priest. They returned a second 
and a third time to the house of the Name of Jesus. They 
caused those who had not been there before to admire the 
order that reigned in it. The project which they had al 
ready formed, appeared more beautiful than ever. It was 
determined that on the first assembly they should propose 
it to the holy priest ; and they were so well assured that the 
thing was done, if he would only put his hand to it, that they 
thought of nothing but of persuading him to consent to it. 
At the very outset, one of the ladies promised fifty thousand 
livres, and another a revenue of three thousand livres. 



224 



LIFE OF ST. VhVCEXT OF PACL. 



However accustomed the servant of God was to great un 
dertakings,, the plan of a general hospital for an arrny of forty 
thousand beggars who were then in Paris, filled him with 
astonishment. Pie bestowed great praise upon those who had 
formed it, but he represented to them at the same time that 
an affair of such importance deserved to be maturely examined, 
and that it should be earnestly recommended to G!od. Eight 
days afterwards it was examined again. The deliberation 
did not last long. Not a voice voted in the negative, not 
even for a longer delay. The saint was obliged to yield to 
the torrent; and as it required an immense place for such a 
prodigious multitude of poor, he asked and obtained from the 
king the vast house of the Salpetriere. 

Such a happy commencement inspired courage, indeed al 
most more than was necessary. Some of the ladies, whose /eal 
was most active, would have wished every thing to be done in 
a day. The saint whose steps were marked by more discre 
tion, thought it necessary to moderate an ardor which might 
insensibly introduce trouble and division into his assembly. 
To manage persons whose fault was an excess of good will, 
he saw them individually, and told them with that gravity, 
replete with mildness, against which well regulated souls 
never held out, that the works of God have their progress : 
that when he wished to save Noah and his family, he ordered 
him to construct an ark which might have been finished in a 
few months, the construction of which, however, took up a cen 
tury ; that he did not bring the children of Israel into the land 
of promise, but at the end of forty years ; that to give a Re 
deemer to the world, he awaited the plenitude of time. From 
all these examples the holy man concluded, that they ought to 
go on leisurely, pray to God a great deal, act in concert, and 
be on their guard against the temptation to do every thing at 



once. 



After having calmed their minds, he proposed his own idea 
to them; it was to make only a trial at first, to limit them 
selves in the beginning to one or two hundred poor persons, 
and only to take those who should of their own accord ask to 
be received. He added that people who would find them 



MFE OF ST. VIXCF.NT OF PAUL. 225 

selves well treated, would induce others to come to share 
their good fortune, and that then the number would increase 
in proportion as Providence would augment their funds. 
Thus thought Vincent, and he thought correctly. He was 
soon obliged to temporise himself, perhaps more than lie 
would have wished. 

As, after much reflection, it w;is discovered that an affair 
of such importance could not be carried into execution without 
the authority of the magistrates, it was resolved to present to 
the parliament the letters patent of the king, and cause them 
to be registered. In sreat bodies, as elsewhere, every one has 
his own way of considering tilings. There were judges oi 
weight to be found, who, struck by the great number of vaga 
bonds wandering through the stn-t ts. and embarrassed by the 
difficulty of placing all these vile nnd audacious characters 
under the same roof, looked upon this project, as a beautiful 
and chimerical speculation. All the prudence of Vincent of 
Paul, all the zeal of the ladies of his assembly, all the credit 
of the first president, Pompone de IVllievre, were necessary to 
surmount this unexpected obstacle. After many conferences 
the matter was settled. But it was resolved, against the first 
opinion of the holy priest, that all the beggars should be 
obliged, either to labor for their support, or to enter the Sal- 
petriere, which from that time took the name of General 
Hospital. The greater part of those men, who were enemies 
to order, retired into the provinces ; and of that class of peo 
ple accustomed to do nothing, there were only, as Vincent had 
foreseen, four or five thousand who profited by the good will 
manifested towards them. 

It was, however, a great consolation for the servant of God 
ami for his assembly, to see this great work sustained by pub 
lic authority. He mentioned it to a confidential person, and 
there is nothing wanting to his recital but what could redound 
to lus own glory. He did not say that it was himself who 
gave occasion to the first idea of this glorious undertaking, 
who removed the principal difficulties, who got the neces 
sary articles of furniture made by the laborers of his house, 
and who found so manv resources in the ladies of the assem- 



226 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

bly, only because he had taught them for nearly twenty years, 
to attempt what seemed impossible, and to succeed in it. 

The king, by the advice of the duchess of Aiguillon, had 
confided the spiritual direction of this great hospital to the 
missionaries. Vincent of Paul, after deliberating on it with 
his priests, renounced it by an authentic act. But lest his 
refusal might stop the work of God, he gave it in charge to 
one of the most wise ecclesiastics of his conference, who, by 
prudent missions, spread gradually throughout it the spirit of 
order and penance. 

It was thus that Vincent executed in Paris what St. Chry- 
sostom had formerly tried in vain for the city of Constantino 
ple ; what Henry IV had unsuccessfully projected; and what 
Mary of Medicis would have considered one of the most 
splendid monuments of her regency, could she have executed 
it in a solid and permanent manner.* In order to do justice 
to some of tho^e who, after Louis XIV, had the greatest 
share in this prodigious establishment, we will add that Car 
dinal Mazarin contributed to it one hundred thousand livres in. 
one day, and sixty thousand livres at his death, and that Mr. 
de Pompone, who at first gave to it twenty thousand crowns, 
bequeathed still more by his will. 

Whilst the institutor of the mission labored with so much 
ardor to procure the glory of God, God labored, it would 
appear, to purify him more and more by sufferings and afflic 
tions. 

Without speaking of the impotent fury of a crowd of 
beggars, who preferred a wandering and dissolute life to the 
honest retreat which the holy man had procured for them, 
and who broke out in abusive language against him, he ex 
perienced in the space of two years and a half very consider 
able losses by the death of several excellent subjects of his 
congregation, whom various diseases carried off one after 
another in Madagascar, in Poland, and in France. He found 
himself defamed, in a manner, by a young German Lutheran, 
who, in the dress of a missionary, which he had purloined, 

* Mary of Medicis began in 1612 a sort of General Hospital, but it 
only subsisted six years. 



LIFE OF ST. VIXCLXT OF PAUL. 227 

went to the meeting house of Charentun, and gave tne 
honor of his conquest to the minister Drelineourt. HP was 
obliged to withdraw from Rome those of his priests who were 
Frenchmen, because they hail Driven, by order of Innocent X, 
an honorable retreat to Cardinal de lletx, to whom Ma/arin 
was pleased to show that Ins po\\vr could hi- felt beyond the 
Alps. A short time afterwards, lie had the grief to learn that 
a man, whom he had sent into Kngland to visit his brethren 
from whom he had received no ne\vs, had been obliged to 
escape by flight the pursuit of Cromwell ; that three others 
whom he had despatched to Madagascar, far from being able to 
reach it, had only escaped perishing with their ship, through 
a singular protection of (Jod ; and that one of his company, 
who performed the functions of consul at Algiers, was daily 
exposed to perish in torments. 

It is true that God sometimes tempered this bitterness with 
a share of consolation ; and that our saint had that of seeing 
some of his children solidly established at ( ienoa through the 
beneficence of the illustrious Marquis de I iane/e. his institute 
confirmed by Alexander \ "11, with a prohibition against taking 
solemn vows, and, what perhaps all ected him more, a brave 
and virtuous nobility, guided by his advice, and animated by 
the example of Marquis de 1-Y iielon and of the intrepid 
Marshal Kabert, renouncing all duelling by an oath taken 
with much solemnity in the seminary of Saint Sulpice. But 
these moments of joy passed quicker than the rays of the sun 
in winter. An item of favorable information was accompanied 
by twenty occurrences which could not but alllict him. The 
pestilence which besran to desolate Italy, and threatened more 
than other persons, priests as laborious as his were, made him 
tremble for them : and soon the reality of the evil succeeded 
to the alarm. It is true that ( iod divided his victims; but if he 
was pleased to spare him whose loss would have been most 
sensibly felt by the holy man, it must be acknowledged that his 
mercies cost him very dear. Of eight priests at (.ienoa, that is 

* Tbis was Mr. Edme Joly. of whom the saint liad predicted to 
the duchess of Akillon, that he would be one day superior general 
of the congregation. 



228 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

to say, of eight apostles whose labors had so often moved 
Cardinal Durazzo to tears, death removed seven in less than 
twenty days, and there remained only one who returned as 
soon as he got well to the service of the sick. In giving this 
information to his community, the saint afflicted them as 
much as he was afflicted himself. But as his love was greater 
still than his grief, he taught his companions rather to bless 
Him who is and will always be, than to regret those who 
were no more. 

He blessed him himself by such assiduous labor, that it can 
not be conceived how he bore it at such an advanced age. 
We have but a very small portion of the letters which he 
wrote in France, to Barbary, and to more distant countries : 
yet those we have are so numerous, that we are terrified at 
their multitude and the variety of matters upon which he 
was obliged to write. Here it is a bishop, an abbe of great 
rank, a director who consult him on delicate and important 
matters. There princesses who beg him either for missions 
for their territories, an aid which he never refused, or per 
mission to visit the monasteries of which he was superior, 
a permission which he almost always withheld. At one 
time, it is the congregation of the Propaganda which conjures 
him to send some of his children to Grand Cairo; at another, 
it is Mr. de la Meilleraie, who, after some coolness asks them 
for foreign countries. One day, it is an afflicted mother who 
from the extremity of the kingdom where his charity had 
made her acquainted with him, begs him to interest himself 
for a son, who, being a captive in Algiers, is in danger of 
losing his life or his faith; another day, it is a renegade, who 
addresses him from Algiers, to discover in his charity the 
means of repairing his apostasy. To-day, it is an abbess, 
who discouraged at the difficulties of governing, knows not 
what to do; to-morrow, it will be a young lady, who after 
some months of noviciate, is tempted to go back. Often it is 
the nuncios Bagrin and Piccolomini, who wish to have, by 
word or letter, his advice upon some difficult points which 
relate either to the particular advantage of some diocess, or to 
the general good of the church ; mere frequently it is some good 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 229 

rrligious who have recourse to him, as to ;i fatlior always 
ready to aid them, either in tlic reformation of their orders, 
or in other allairs almost as dillicult. In the morning, it will 
be the illustrious house de hi Muthe l- enelon, to whom he 
predicts, to prevent opposition to a marriage, that it will give 
birth to a son" who will Iv the glory i his name; in the 
evening, and there is no exaggeration in all this, it will be the 
head of a great company, coming to concert with him some 
oJ those judgments, which policy may disapprove, but which 
equity and religion will always acknowledge. Sometimes it 
is a missionary who needs being encouraged or brought back 
to his original fervor; at o;h>T times, virtuous priests who know 
neither relief nor repos>\ and whose xeal must be moderated 
in order that it may last linger. 

As long as he lived, the hoiis - of Saint-Lazarus was 
always what the house of the Seeing was in the time of the 
judges of Israel. It was like an emporium, whither every 
person who had the intention oi doing some good work 
flocked from Paris and the provinc< s, to derive trom the coun 
sels of the man of (.Jo I the light of which they stool in need. 
I esules the conferences ol his own house, ol the ecclesiastics, 
and of the ladies of his assembly which amounted to live 
every week, he was often called l> the deliberations of pre 
lates, doctors, superiors of communities, either to put a stop to 
some disorder, or to establish good government. So that, ex 
cepting the time which he gave every year to his spiritual 
retreat, he went out almost every day, sometimes even twice 
a day, for the allairs of charity, which tore him from his soli 
tude. As soon as he leturned to the house, after having reci 
ted his office on his knees, a practice which lie never omitted 
unt 1 his infirmities compelled him to do so, he listened with 
admirable patience to those within or from without who had 
bus, ness with him. If to his great ami serious occupations 
we join those given him by the different houses of his con 
gregation, those of the Sisters of Charity, and the ladies of 
the Visitation, who, until the day of his death, would never 

* Mr. (in l-Vni -lon, archbishop of Cnmbray. It was from a lady of 
his family that v\u learned this prediction. 
20 



230 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

have any other superior, can we help acknowledging that his 
years were full, and that with him there were none of those 
vacant months condemned by the scripture. 

That which always gave a great price to the labors of our 
saint, was the peace and confidence Avhich accompanied them. 
At the time when death deprived him of so many virtuous 
priests, he always calculated that Providence would be pleased 
to replace them by others who would be worthy of them ; and 
heaven did not disappoint his expectations. Italy furnished 
him an internal seminary, which under the direction of Mr. 
Joli was a nursery of apostolical men. That of Paris was 
always well filled. Vincent even received into it towards the 
close of his life some subjects, who although incapable of 
performing the functions of his company on account of their 
advanced age, proved the esteem which the great ones of 
the world had for it. The first was Charles d Angennes, 
ancient count of la llochepot, brother-in-law of Madame de 
Gondi, who had been formerly ambassador in Spain. This 
gentleman, who found in the simplicity of our saint a light 
which the most brilliant portion of the world does not possess, 
not being able to obtain of him his reception as a boarder, 
placed himself amongst his children, and continued to edify 
them greatly to the time of his death. The second was Rene 
Almeras, the father of the second superior general of the con 
gregation. This respectable old man, the head of an illustrious 
family, and eighty years of age, forced Vincent of Paul by his 
importunity to receive him into his congregation. His sacri 
fice did not last long; and God granted him at the end of 
twenty-two months the recompense which he has promised 
to those who become children through the love of him. The 
third was Louis de la Rochechouard, abbot of Tournus, so 
well known by the name of Mr. de Chandenier. As he only 
took the habit of the mission on the eve of his death, and as 
that death was for our saint one of those great trials by which 
God disposed him to sanctify his own, we shall speak of it 
more at length hereafter. 

Vincent rendered himself worthy of so many graces, by 
the exact practice of that virtue which costs human nature 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 231 

the most. Ills house suffered, and he was forgetting its 
wants, to occupy himself with those of the daughters of 
Providence, whom the death of their pious foundress would 
soon have annihilated, if, by a letter in which he used the 
pious artifice found in that of St. 1 aul to Philemon, he had 
not interested in their favor the duchesses of Liancour and 
Ajguillon. 

After all, this noble disinterestedness, this spirit of libe 
rality, which so many le.-sons cannot teach to the rich of the 
world, was, as it were, the basis of the disposition of our holy 
priest. He was often accused of carrying it to an excess. 
Far from opposing, as some of ins friends begged him to do, 
the establishment of some new companies, the rules of which 
were in some measure copied from his own, lie offered to 
abandon the very name which the ecclesiastical and civil pow 
ers had given to his congregation, because these companies 
wished to appropriate it to themselves, which might have 
been a source of confusion, disputes, and scandal, lie was on 
the point of making, the following year, a sacrifice no less 
generous. It is well known that the mission of Madagascar 
had cost him a great deal, both in money and subjects. It is 
not less known, that he had not engaged in it of his own 
accord. The company carrying on the trade with that part of 
Africa, had urged him to it; Cardinal Bagny, who was then 
nuncio in France, had begged him to make that new effort 
for religion ; the congregation of the Propaganda had autho 
rised it; and he had just incurred new expenses for the only 
one of his priests who was left in that land. It was in these 
circumstances, that he found himself on the point of being 
dispossessed of that mission. Marshal de la Meilleraie, who 
had got himself substituted to the ancient company, thought 
that Vincent betrayed his interests; and, as on occasions of 
riva ship, to have plea.-ed one party is almost a reason for 
displeasing the other, the report was spread abroad that this 
gentleman, to exclude the priests of the mission, had made 
arrangements with the Capuchins, and that on the first 
voyage he would send twenty-four of them to the island oi 
Saint Lawrence. 



232 LIFE OF ST. VINCEJiT OF PAUL. 

The holy priest was not without resources. lie had 
credit at court : he was respected in Koine, which does 
not like to have his work overturned. He could at least re- 
preseni his rights and titles to those whom they wished to 
send in the place; of his priests, and who, as they were full 
of equity, would have been the first to acknowledge that 
those who had sowed, should reap the harvest. Me did, 
however, nothing of all this. "If the marshal prefers these 
good religious," said he in a letter to one of his company, " I 
shall recall ours from Madagascar. Our maxim is always 
to give place to others, believing that they will do better than 
we." It must be acknowledged that this philosophy, if it 
ever could be in vogue, would spare the public and the 
church many scandalous scenes. 

Vincent was not obliged to make the sacrifice which he 
meditated, and which would have exempted him from many 
others much more severe. La Meilleraie, either having got rid 
of his prejudices, or being persuaded that his proceeding would 
do him no honor, informed Vincent of the day of embarca- 
tion. The saint sent him four of his priests, upon whose 
virtue and zeal he greatly calculated. But the vessel expe 
rienced, the day after sailing, such a violent storm, that they 
were all, during eight days, on the verge of destruction. At 
last, having refitted at Lisbon, they again set sail: but soon 
afterwards they were attacked and captured by the Spaniards; 
and it was only after a sort of captivity that the missionaries 
were released in Galicia, and succeeded in returning to France. 

Whilst the servant of God formed such unsuccessful pro 
jects for the salvation of Madagascar, he made for the sancti- 
fication of the people of Metz preparations which had a hap 
pier result. The court being in that city in 1657, Ann of 
Austria saw with grief that God was not well served there, 
and that there were abuses which required reformation. 
On her return to Paris she told our saint, that having wit 
nessed the good results of the missions, she intended to have 
one made at Metx. Vincent, instead of his priests, whom the 
laws of his institute did not allow him to employ for missions 
in large towns, when others could be found, chose out of the 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 233 

great number of those who formed his conference, forty eccle 
siastics of merit and good will. lie placed at their head the 
Abbe de Tournus, a man who>e name and virtues were of a 
happy presage. But a general and awful inundation gave to 
the pious band and to him \\ho sent them, the most serious 
uneasiness. Twenty days elap>ed without his receiving any 
news of them. At length he learned that they had reached 
their destination. lie blessed (Jod tor it with the persuasion 
that Irs merry having been pleased to preserve them, they 
would labor efiicanously fur his glory. ]]< was not deceived. 
The mission of Met/ succeeded perfectly , and the queen, to 
whom the Abbe de Tournus gave an account of the labors and 
success of the mission, was so much edified that she resolved 
to establish the priests of St. Vincent in that city, that they 
might do at lea-t in the country, what they could not do else 
where, except in case of necessity 

The servant of CJod, during the inundation of which we 
have just spoken, rendered fur the third time to the village of 
Genevilliers a service similar to that which we have described 
more at large, lie had some time before relieved the neces 
sities of the inhabitants of Boulogne in Picardy. Shortly 
afterwards, he sent a band of Sisters of Charity to the aid 
of live or six hundred soldiers, who had been transported to 
Calais, alter the famous battle of the Dunes : but were we to 
detail all the good he did or caused to be done, we should 
never finish. 

There is, however, one good work, which he did this same 
year, which essentially belongs to his history. I mean the 
rules which he at length save to his congregation. It had been 
established more than thirty years, and as yet had no writ 
ten rules. It is true that his companions had heretofore found 
in him a perfect model : but this modi- l could not last much 
longer; and it was proper to prevent, by clear and precise 
regulations, the very shadow of the doubts to which the 
restlessness of the human mind might thereafter give birth. 
Vincent, notwithstanding his great occupations, thought of it 
daily, and he thought of it solidly. Although three or four 
hours reading would be sufficient to peruse entirely the con- 
20* 



234 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

stitutions he gave to his company, there are discovered in 
them maxims so wise, means so well proportioned to the end, 
such sure ways of arriving at Christian and sacerdotal per 
fection, such efficacious remedies against the corruption of 
the world, such prudent counsels for the sanctification of the 
people, that a great bishop to whom our saint made a present 
of them, carried them always about him, as the most beauti 
ful abridgment that could be made of the Gospel. 

The principle with which he sets out is, that the little con 
gregation of the mission purposes, as much as is in its power, 
to take Jesus Christ for a model: he concludes from this, that 
after the example of that divine Saviour, its members must 
do and teach; labor first for their own sanctification; then 
announce the gospel to the poor, and above all to those of the 
country; at last, aid the ministers of the Son of God in acquir 
ing the science and virtues proper to their state. 

To attain this threefold end, the wise founder requires that his 
children should be attached to our Lord s maxims, to his pover 
ty, his obedience, his charity for the infirm, his modesty, his 
manner of living, acting, treating the neighbors, his conduct 
in the functions which he fulfilled with regard to the people. 
He desires above all that simplicity, humility, mildness, mor 
tification, zeal for the salvation of souls, should be, as it were, 
the seal of his congregation, and that each of their actions 
should bear its impress. To these virtues he joins those of 
which the Son of Gad made use to combat the devil and 
overthrow his empire, that poverty which did not afford him 
a place of rest, that perfect purity which even envy never 
attacked, that obedience which led him to die, and to die 
upon the cross. 

Vincent resumes these three last virtues, and treats of them 
at some length. Although those of his congregation, formin^ 
only a secular body, cannot be deprived of their right to their 
property, he directs them to live as if they possessed none. 
In their furniture there must be nothing curious, nothing 
superfluous. 

With regard to chastity, a virtue so much the more neces 
sary to the priests of the mission, as they are exposed, by 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 235 

their calling to many dangerous occasions, he enjoins the 
most severe precautions. It is not sufficient for him that 
they should possess that virtue in a certain degree above me 
diocrity, he requires that they should be out of the reach of 
the slightest suspicion, being persuaded that a suspicion alone, 
however unjust, would do more injury to the congregation, 
than the idea of any other crime with which calumny could 
charge it. 

As to obedience, the saint gives it a more extended object. 
The pope, the bishops, the superiors of the company, must 
rely upon a ready, holy, reasonable docility. If there be rea 
sons for thinking differently from those who govern, they 
are to be exposed with simplicity, and the remonstrants are 
not to think hard, when their obervatioi.s are not acquiesced in. 

A man so full of chanty ha^ nut omitted the sick. .Ser 
vants, strangers, and above all the poor in the missions, must 
be visited, consoled, edified, relieved, both for soul and body. 
If the mtirmarian lias his rules tlnTe are some also for the 
sick. The bed of pain upon which they lie, is a pulpit irom 
which they must preach at least by example, patience, and 
entire submission to those who are appointed to take care of 
them. These must u.-e every endeavor to give proofs of a 
prompt and ardent charity. 

Although in all this there is nothing which the holy canons 
do not prescribe to ecclesiastics who do not live in commu 
nity, the servant of Clod was too well acquainted with human 
weakness, to hope thru, without a special grace, a road of 
itself painful to nature could be long persevered in. To 
obtain this precious grace, Vincent prescribes a number of 
pious exercises calculated to obtain that spirit which gives and 
preserves life. His children must make everyday in common 
an hour of mental prayer, confess at least once a week; the 
priests must celebrate every day, if nothing prevents them; 
those who do not, must receive communion on Sundays and 
festivals; all must read a chapter of the New Testament, and 
make a spiritual lecture ; give every year eight days to a 
spiritual retreat; have a spiritual director; adore by frequent 
acts of faith the unspeakable mysteries of the Trinity and In- 



236 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

carnation ; honor with particular veneration the august sacra 
ment of our altars ; have a tender devotion to the queen of 
virgins. 

The saint concludes by proposing to his brethren sure means 
of sanctifying the functions of their state of life. He desires 
that, at the beginning of each action, and above all, those 
which are most important, they should propose to themselves 
nothing but to please God alone- that they should stifle even 
the first risings of a desire to satisfy themselves or please men ; 
that when they have been any ways successful, they should 
renounce that vain complacency which affords aliment to 
self-love; that when unsuccessful, they should humble them 
selves without being discouraged. After any public action, 
he equally disapproves of praise which flatters pride-, ami in 
discreet censure which discourages uselessly. Simplicity, the 
first of the five virtues which constitute the spirit of the congre 
gation, must shine particularly in the discourses addressed to 
the people, and even to the ecclesiastics. They must be free 
from those soft and studied expressions, those lar- fetched 
thoughts, those vain subtilities which the Saviour never em 
ployed, and which his lirst disciples held in horror. The holy 
founder insists on what is true and solid throughout. He 
wishes neither mere opinions, nor singular ways, nor vain 
curiosity ; still less tiie ambition to excel others. Each of 
his company should wish with Moses that all were prophets, 
become participant in the good done by other companies, by 
the joy which he ought to feel at their success, rejoice at 
being despised, whilst they are loaded with praise. If, with 
all this, a missionary should be more tenderly attached to his 
own state than to any other, it is because a good son loves his 
mother, although covered with rags, more than the most 
beautilul princess in the universe. 

Such is an abridgment of the constitutions or rules of the 
institutor of the mission. Although written with simplicity, 
they have in the original a character of light and unction, of 
which a summary is incapable. Vincent of Paul, before dis 
tributing them, represented to his companions, that, although 
the congregation had been established nearly thirty-three years, 



LIFE OF ST. VIXCKNT OF PAUL. 237 

there had as yet been no written rules, because precipitation 
in this matter would have been subject to many serious incon 
veniences ; that it had U-en proper to try by Ion? experience 
what would suit and what would not; that ii God had been 
pleased to make use of the company to effect some good in 
the church, it was only because they had preserved the order 
and customs prescribed in the constitutions which he now 
placed in their hands. " What then remains for me to do ?" 
continued he, " but to imitate Muses, who, after having given 
the law of God to the people, promised every kind of bles 
sings to those who would observe it. (Jive yours, O Lord, to 
this little book; accompany it with the unction of your spirit, 
that it may operate in the souls of those who read it, estrange 
ment from the world, the practice of virtue, and union with 
you." 

Vincent pronounced this discourse in a moderate tone of 
voice, but with so much meekness and humility, that the feel 
ings of his heart were communicated to tiie hearts of those 
who listened to him. The assistant of the house having cast 
himself at his feet, to beg him to bless the company once 
more, the saint exclaimed witli redoubled affection and ten 
derness; " O Lord ! who art the eternal and immaculate law, 
who dost govern the whole universe by thy infinite wisdom; 
thou, from whom all laws and regulations for living well 
emanate as from their source, be pleased to bless those to 
whom thou hast given these rules, Give them, O Lord, the 
grace necessary to observe them inviolably until death. It is 
with that confidence, and in your name that, miserable sinner 
that [ am, I am going to pronounce the words of benediction." 

Tl.us ended this day, which the man of God must have 
considered one of the most beautiful of his life. Whatever 
desire he had to die, to tie with Jesus Christ, he had always 
feared being taken away before his congregation had a form 
of government which could be no more changed. If his fre 
quent infirmities made him run the risk of leaving his work 
incomplete, it was that he had for a constant maxim to ad 
vance towards what was better, when not absolutely obliged 
to be satisfied with what was good. 



238 LIFE OF ST. VIXCf.NT OF PACI,. 

In consequence of having seen in the life of our saint, 
sufferings following so close upon consolations, we are almost 
ready to expect that the joy which he experienced at seeing 
his institute cemented as well as it could be, would be soon 
mingled witli bitterness. It was, in fact, a short time after, 
troubled by one of the most unfortunate affairs of his life. 
The fact will not detain us long ; but here as elsewhere, the 
sentiments of Vincent of Paul deserve all our attention. 

We have said more than once, that he had great regard 
for the former prior of St. La/arus. The latter took advan 
tage of it, to engage him in an ail air to which he had a great 
repugnance. A proposition had been made to him for two 
years of a life annuity; but the annuity was so great, and the 
times so bad, that Vincent would not listen to it. Mr. Le 
Bon, at the solicitation of the interested parties, caused him to 
change his mind ; and the saint signed the contract, after hav 
ing consulted persons of experience who assured him he had 
nothing to fear. Never did property cost him dearer; he paid 
punctually the rent stipulated in the agreement ; and caused 
considerable improvements to be made on the property which 
he had acquired. He saw it more than once reaped by the 
Fronde, just as he was on the point of gathering the fruits; 
and to complete his misfortune, after the death of the one who 
sold it, he was deprived of it by a judgment. 

It is seldom we meet with a man, who, when a stroke of 
the pen deprives him of fifty thousand livres in his most 
pressing necessity, remains as calm as if he had obtained 
them. It is still more rare for him to continue to possess 
himself, when on one hand he has every thing to fear from 
the adverse party, and on the other he finds a division of sen 
timent with regard to the judgment given against him. But 
that which is but seldom met with amongst the rest of men, 
was abundantly found in our holy priest. On the first news 
which he received of the loss of his suit, he begged Mr. de 
Bordes, auditor of the chamber of accounts, a man who had 
always loved the congregation, to unite with it in thanking 
God for the favor he had just done it, in visiting it by so sen 
sible a trial. He inspired with the same feelings many of his 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 239 

friends who conjured him to right himself by a civil petition, 
and one of whom, though in other respects not prodigal, 
would take upon himself the expenses of the new proceeding. 
Above all he tried to inspire his children with the spirit of 
submission with which he was tilled. " It is you, O my 
God," said lie, in one of his conferences, where his sim 
plicity aided by his unction gained every heart; "it is you 
who have pronounced the sentence; it shall be irrevocable; 
and that the execution of it may not be deferred, we now 
make a sacrifice of this property, and of all that we possess 
to your divine majesty. O my brethren!" continued he, " if 
it pleased (Joel that this temporal loss should be recompensed 
by an increase of confidence in his providence, abandonment 
to his guidance, detachment from the things of earth, renun 
ciation of ourselves, ho\v happy should we be! I presume 
to hope that h;s paternal goodness will grant us this favor." 
The loss uf a considerable revenue afllicted the holy mis 
sionaries less than their fear of losing their holy institutor. 
lie had now passed that term, when, according to the expres 
sion of the royal prophet, life is naught but pain and infirmity. 
To a swelling of the le^s, of which In- had an attack at a less 
advanced age, were added ulcers, which, followed by a slow 
fever, excited fears for him. It appears that he was one of 
the first to condemn himself. At least he took the precau 
tions of a man who calculates no longer upn life. His first 
care was to write to the Rev. Father de Gondi and to the 
Cardinal tie Ret/, his son. He gives them the most humble 
thanks for all that he had received from them. He asks par 
don lor the pains which a man so rude as he pretends to 
to be, could not fail to give them. lie assures the father and 
son tnat if (Jod, in his infinite mercy, is pleased to give him 
a place in his kingdom, he will redouble his prayers for them 
and for their illustrious family. The cardinal in his time 
experienced the eflicacy of his prayers. After having a long 
time wandered through the neighboring kingdoms, where the 
hand of God and that of the king pursued him, he was at 
length so alarmed at the irregularity of his former conduct, 
that he would have renounced the Roman purple, had not the 



240 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

pope and the sacred college been opposed to it. He sold his 
land of Commerci to liquidate a part of his debts, and paid 
three millions of them. As penitent as a solitary, he wished 
to be treated in the refectory of Saint-Mihiel as a simple 
religious. A general acknowledgment of his faults, which 
he confided to the breast of an enlightened director, was one 
of the first steps which he took to return to God; and that 
step was followed by a great many others which cannot be 
suspected. Happy was he to have been able towards the end 
of his life to remember the important lessons which Vincent 
of Paul had given him during his infancy, and to acknow 
ledge at last that the frivolous phantom of glory, after which he 
had so long run, was nothing but vanity before God, and af 
fliction of spirit before men. The same happened, but much 
sooner, with the celebrated Armand Jean le Bouthilier de 
Ranee, who, in the retreat which he made at St. Lazarus 
under the direction of the servant of God, conceived an idea 
of privation and perfection which astonished his age, and 
which future ages, if Christian, will never be tired of admiring. 
But let us return to our history. 

The holy priest did not recover perfect health ; we shall see 
that the rest of his life was but a train of sufferings; but God 
gave him sufficient strength to do many tilings which should 
not be forgotten. 

He had for a year procured a considerable sum i or a Capu 
chin Father, who had come from mount Libanus to Paris, to 
seek a remedy for the vexation which the Maronite Christians 
experienced from the Turks. 

This affair, which was a long time and maturely dis 
cussed, was not yet finished when another, no less important, 
arose. The waters of Sainte-Reine, and the frequent miracles 
which God works at the tomb of that illustrious martyr, 
drew thither from Burgundy and many other provinces, a 
great number of poor, who came to seek the cure of their dis 
orders. Vincent learned from a pious citizen, named Des 
Noyers, that these unfortunate people, reduced to the neces 
sity of sleeping in a barn, or upon the pavements of the 
streets, died deprived almost as much of spiritual as of corpo- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 241 

ral aid. He saw very well that a large hospital would be a 
great resource, but he saw at the same time that this project, 
uselessly tunned by the Baron de Kenty at a less un propitious 
time, would he very ililiicult oi execution in a tune of war 
and storms. However, after having spoken much concern 
ing it with God, who was always his first oracle, he con 
firmed Des IXoyers in the plan he had formed of undertaking 
it. But he warned him to be patient, because he would have 
violent assaults to sustain, even from those who would sup 
port him. The event justified the prediction. Envy and 
false policy crossed the work of God. But, by means of a 
hundred thousand livres which Vincent procured, it was hap 
pily terminated ; and the following year the pilgrims began to 
lodge in it. More than twenty thousand pass there yearly; 
and those who, by entering into the Piscina, thought only of 
recovering transient health, have more than once recovered 
that which is infinitely more precious. It is upon this ground 
that, when Gabriel de llwjuette, bi>hop of Autun, wrote to 
Clement XI lor the beatification of the servant of God, he 
assured that pontiff, that Vincent of 1 aiil had rendered t\vo 
important services to his diocess. one by using the credit which 
he had in the ecclesiastical council to establish reform in the 
celebrated abbey of Benedictines at Autun. the other in pro 
curing tor the pilgrims of Sainte-Keine an hospital, for the 
want of which a great number had perished every year. 

As the holy priest saw that his death could no longer be 
very distant, one of his cares was to inspire those who could 
protect religion and the poor, with the feelings which God 
had given him on these two great objects. It was with this 
view, that he wrote to the queen of Poland to felicitate her on 
the services she had herself rendered to the sick in the hos 
pitals, and that, to prolong the life of Cardinal Durazzo and 
of the bishop of Toulon, who were wearing themselves out 
by immoderate labors, he bogged them to spare their health 
for the good of religion, which calculate*! upon finding in 
them what she had just lost in the holy bishop of Cahors.* 

* M. Alain <lo Solminihnr \\lin dird in odor of sanctity, on the 3rd 
of December, Hi. .!). 
21 



242 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Finally, it was for this reason that, to promote in the person 
of St. Francis of Sales the honor of one of the most beauti 
ful models that the priesthood ever had, he wrote in favor 
of his beatification a letter in which each word is an eulogy, 
and each eulogy an homage to the truth. 

Hitherto he had lived in such a manner as to deserve, that 
the same eulogy should he one day given to him that had just 
been given to his former friend. God, who wished to add to his 
crown that of the most heroic patience, was pleased to make of 
Vincent of Paul, during the last years of his pilgrimage, a victim 
to pains and afflictions. To arrest the course of a fever which 
returned very often, he was obliged, during the greatest heat 
of summer, to make of his chamber a kind of sweating room. 
Then there was no rest for him, no sleep, no truce to the agi 
tation produced by almost stifling heat. His mattrass, his 
sheets, his quilt were all soaked. The day which succeeded 
such bad nights did not indemnify him; he did not repair by 
any voluntary repose that which he had lost. At last, the af 
fliction in his legs became so great, that to bear it required all 
the patience of the saints. Ulcers were formed in them ; 
during the day a stream of watery matter flowed from them, 
which, stopping in the joints during the night, caused him 
redoubled pains, the continuance and violence of which con 
sumed him by degrees. In so painful a situation, which, 
however, did not prevent him for a considerable time from 
rising at four o clock in the morning, making his meditation 
with his community, nor from presiding at the ecclesiastical 
conferences which were held every Tuesday; nor sometimes 
from the meetings of the ladies of his assembly, who preferred 
to go from one end of Paris to the other, rather than be de 
prived of the consolation of hearing him ; in this situation, I 
say, the holy man had no need of new trials. But because 
he was just, it was necessary for him to be filled with tribula 
tions. In less than four months death carried off from him four 
persons who were the support and consolation of his old age. 

Antoine Portail, a priest of real merit, profound humility, 
exemplary charity, and who, united with our saint for 
nearly fifty years, aided him on numberless occasions, was 



L1FK OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 243 

the first of whom God required the sacrifice. His death was 
followed, one month after, by t!i;it o! .Madame LeGras. She 
had always feared lest she couM not be assisted by her pious 
director in her last moment- ; and MI it happened, for when 
she was attacked by in-r laM sickness, Vincent was no longer 
al/le to be up. I iut one of tin- severest crosses which our 
saint had to bear in the course t,f Ins last year, was the loss 
of the Abbe ile Tournus. This wortliv nephew of Cardinal 
de la Hochefouc-ault had such a tender affection for the man 
of God, he had rendered such important services to the con 
gregation, that they could not refuse him a small apartment 
in the house of St. La/arus. He lived there with Abbe 
de Moutier-Saint Jean, his brother, in the practice of the most 
austere virtue. For a long time he had conjured Vincent of 
Paul to receive him into the number of his children ; hut 
his birth and reputation, titles which elsewhere would have 
facilitated his object, c; instituted an almost invincible obstacle 
to his desires. It was only at the last extremity that his per 
severance forced the barriers winch virtue opposed even to 
virtue. Having fallen sick at Chambery, he received the 
habit of the congregation from a missionary who had accom 
panied him to Home. This little change of condition filled 
him with a holy joy, and he praised God for it to his last 
breath. Vincent rendered, and caused to be rendered to the 
illustrious deceased all the duties prescribed by piety and grati 
tude. He recommended him to the prayers of all his houses, 
as a benefactor and a missionary. His body was brought 
from Savoy to the church of St. Lazarus. The example of 
his virtues still lives, and his memory will always be in bene 
diction there. 

So many severe, and closely succeeding blows, did not sat 
isfy the justice of Him whose penetrating eye discovers what 
is weak in the most beautiful works. Our saint found him 
self in danger of again losing the first man of his congrega 
tion, Rene Alrneras, son of that srood old man, who, as we 
have said, became a missionary and died a seminarist. God 
at last restored him to his prayers; and after a long and se 
rious illness by which he was attacked at Richelieu, he had 



244 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

him brought to Paris in a litter. It was time for him to arrive ; 
three days afterwards Vincent died. 

The state in which we left this worthy priest, before enter 
ing upon the recital of the crosses which he experienced in 
his last year, showed evidently enough that the end of his 
course was drawing near. Although on the score of his 
mind and natural qualities, no decay nor alteration was per 
ceptible ; although those from without and within found him 
at all hours of the day with a serene countenance, with that 
tone of voice, those manners, replete with mildness, which 
evince perfect tranquillity; although by a sort of prodigy, 
of which, taking his situation in view, there are few exam 
ples, he still governed from his retirement his company, that 
of the Sisters of Charity, and a great number of communities 
of which he was the superior, with as much presence of mind 
as if he had been in the days of his best health ; yet it was 
evident that he could not last long. The information reached 
Italy, and whilst Alexander VII, to spare a person so dear to 
the church, dispensed him by an apostolical brief from the 
recitation of the breviary, Cardinals Durazzo, archbishop 
of Genoa, Ludovizio, the grand penitentiary, and Bagni, 
formerly nuntio in France, wrote him separately to beg him 
to moderate his labors. These letters, and the favor of the 
pope, arrived only after his death. It was discovered by 
chance that, for eighteen years he had prepared himself daily 
to render his account to the Great Judge, in case he should be 
pleased to call him. To dispose himself more immediately 
for it in his last sickness, he recited every day after mass the 
prayers for those in their agony, and he at length found him 
self on the eve of reaping the fruite of them. On the 25th 
of September, 1GGO, towards midday, the drowsiness caused 
by a want of sleep, became heavier than usual. Notwith 
standing this, he heard mass the following day, which was a 
Sunday, and received the communion as he had done every 
day, since he was unable to celebrate. As soon as he was 
in his chamber, his drowsiness returned. He was awakened 
several times. Always like himself, the virtuous sick man 
answered with a smiling and affable countenance. But his 



LIFE OF ST. VINTENT OF PAIT,. 245 

tongue soon refused its office to the tender emotions of his 
heart; after a few words it was silent. At these alarming 
prognostics, the physician recommended extreme unction. 

Then it was that his children knew without any doubt, 
that they were on the point of losing the best of fathers. 
They hastened to profit by his last moments ; one of them 
begged his blessing for all the rest. The holy man made an 
efl ort to raise his head ; he cast upon the missionary a look 
full of kindness and tenderness, and having commenced 
aloud the words of benediction, finished them in a voice so 
low as to be scarcely audible. 

He passed the night in a sweet and almost continual appli 
cation to God. When he dozed more than they would have 
wished, it was sufficient, to awaken him, to mention the name 
of his Divine Master. He appeared to be particularly fond of 
those words so suitable to the condition of a dying man : " In 
cline unto my aid, O God!" and he immediately answered by 
those which follow : " () Lord ! make haste to help me." 

About a quarter alter lour in the morning, an ecclesiastic 
of the Tuesday conference, who wa* then making Ins annual 
retreat in the house, having learned that the sight of the saint 
was failing, entered his room and begged him to bless his bre 
thren for the last time, that the company might not degenerate. 
Vincent contented himself by answering with his usual hu 
mility : "Qf/1 c(r}>it <ijis litnunn, ipxe ptrflciet." Shortly af 
terwards, he expired like a lamp which has no more oil; and 
without fever, without efl ort, without the least convulsion he 
gave up to God one of the most beautiful souls that ever ex 
isted. It was at the hour when his spiritual children com 
menced their meditation ; that is to say, at the very moment 
on which during forty years he had invoked the Holy Spirit 
upon himself and his companions. His countenance did not 
change, and his body remained as pliable as it had been 
before. The surgeons who opened him, reasoned a great 
deal upon a bone which had been formed in his spleen, and 
which did not a little resemble an ivory counter. Many 
persons who had studied the servant of God closely, attributed 
this unusual production to the violence which he did himself, 
21* 



246 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FAUT,. 

to combat a severe and melancholy disposition which he na 
turally possessed. 

He remained exposed on Tuesday, the 28th of September, 
1660, until midday. His obsequies were honored by the pre 
sence of the Prince of Conti, the archbishop of Ccsarea, nun- 
tio of the pope, many prelates and a great number of ecclesi 
astics, regulars, and seculars, of different orders. The duchess 
of Aiguillon, who was of his assembly, was there also, and 
with her many gentlemen and ladies of distinguished birth. 
The people and the poor, for whom he had done so much, 
ran thither in crowds. His heart was enclosed in a silver 
vase, and his body was interred in the middle of the choir, 
with this epitaph, which corresponds with the simplicity of 
the father and the children. 

Hie jacet venerabilis vir Vincentius 
A Paulo, Presbyter, Fundator, sen Institutor, 
Et primus Superior Generulis Congregationis 
Missionis, necnon Puellarum Charitatis. 
Obiit die 27 Septembris anni 1600, actatis 
Vero suac 85. 

The death of this great man afflicted the most virtuous 
people of the whole kingdom. Never perhaps, from the 
throne to the poorest of the nation, were the suffrages so 
unanimous. The queen-mother exclaimed that the church 
and the poor had met with a great loss. Mr. Picolomini, 
nuntio in France, made use of the same expressions, and they 
were those which arose most naturally in the public mind. 
The queen of Poland, the marquis of Pianeza, the illustrious 
first president, Mr. Lamoignon, the bishops of Farmers and 
Aleth, and numberless others, spoke in the same manner. 
The prince of Conti, whose judgment was very correct, pro 
nounced this beautiful eulogium of the deceased: "I have 
never known a person in whom there appeared so great 
humility, so great a detachment, such generosity of heart 
as in Mr. Vincent. The church has lost in him a man 
filled with every virtue, and above all, a charity which reached 
every where." Even those who did not like him, spoke like 
the rest ; and a writer, who, under pretext of pronouncing 



LIFE OF ST. VINfF.NT OF I ATI.. "J4/ 

his culogy/ endoavors to diminish liis glory, does not hesitate to 
acknowledge that " the piety of this virtuous priest was extraor 
dinary;" that " kindness, simplicity, uprightness, charity, and 
oilier virtues, are gifts which every .me knows lie possessed." 
He looks upon him, and we a!-o look upon him, as a man 
whose public reputation is ;-o well established, that it will be 
sufficient, in the cours" of ages, " to destroy every tiling 
that envy or calumny may advance against him." 

Although all were persuaded that this worthy priest of 
Jesus Christ had, on leaving tins world, found a place of 
peace and refreshment, yet as the first of the apost es teaches 
us that even the just are saved with difficulty, the victim of pro 
pitiation for the- sins of the world, was offered for him in evety 
direction. A multitude of priests, secular and religious, of 
communities, even of cathedrals, paid him this duty of charity 
and gratitude. The celebrated metropolis of Rheims, which 
was indebted to him for the numberless benefits conferred 
upon Champagne, was among the first to show him this 
mark of gratitude. Hut the ecclesiastics of his conference 
distinguished themselves in this point, as well as in others. 
They performed in the church of Saint CJcrmaiu I Auxerrois, 
a solemn funeral service. Henry de Man pas du Tour, who 
was then bishop of Puy, and afterwards of Kvreux, delivered 
the funeral oration. His auditory was composed of a great 
num ner of prelates, ecclesiastics, religious, and an incredible 
number of people. The orator, who had known the r.aint 
perfectly, spoke of him with so much xeal, piety, and feeling, 
that he edified, and was admired. His discourse lasted more 
than two hours, yet he did not finish it. Indeed lie acknow 
ledged that the matter was so abundant, that it would have 
been sufficient for a whole lent. This expression was strik 
ing ; but it will appear just to those who, after having fol 
lowed the great actions of the holy priest, will follow us in 
the detail of his virtues, of which we shall speak, after baring 
sketched his portrait according to custom. 

Vincent of Paul was of a middling size, but well propor 
tioned. He bad a large head, somewhat bald; a broad fore 
head j eyes full of fire, but of a fire tempered by mildness; a 



248 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

grave and modest carriage ; and an air of affability for which 
he was less indebted to nature than virtue. That simplicity 
which announces calm and uprightness of heart, reigned in 
his manners and countenance. He was of a bilious and san 
guine habit; but his constitution was strong. His sojourn 
at Tunis had affected it, and after his return to France, he 
was always very sensible of the changes in the air, and con 
sequently very subject to attacks of fever. 

He possessed a comprehensive mind ; he was circumspect 
and fit lor great things, and was with difficulty taken by 
surprise. When an affair was confided to him, he applied 
himself seriously to it, discovered all the circumstances, pene 
trated all its relations, and foresaw all the inconveniences 
and consequences of it. When he could avoid giving 
his opinion at once, he delayed it until he could weigh the 
reasons for and against. Before giving a final decision, he 
consulted God in prayer, and conferred with those whose pru 
dence arid experience enabled them to enlighten him. This 
character, absolutely at variance with precipitation, prevented 
his ever taking a false step, and did not hinder him from 
doing "more good than twenty other saints have done;" 
these are the expressions of a very respectable person, Mile, 
de Lamoignon. His history, in which however we have 
suppressed so many things, is an incontestable proof of it. 

If he did not hurry matters, he was not alarmed by their 
number, nor by the difficulties he met with. He perse 
vered with a strength of mind superior to every obstacle. 
He bore the burthen and delays with a tranquillity, of which 
only great souls are capable. W T hen in an assembly any im 
portant matter was treated, he listened with great attention to 
those who spoke, without ever interrupting any person. If 
any one interrupted him, he stopped short ; and as soon as 
the person had ceased, he resumed the thread of his discourse 
peaceably, and with an admirable presence of mind. His 
reasoning was just, nervous, always very precise; he ex 
pressed himself in good language, and with a certain natural 
eloquence, not only calculated to develop his thoughts, but 
also to move, persuade, and entice, particularly when he en- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF I AUL. 249 

deavored to incline others to virtue. When he spoke first, 
he laid down the question in a manner so profound, and at 
the same time with such order and clearness, that it astonished 
the most expert. Deeply skilled in the great art of making 
himself all to all, and accommodating himself to every mind, 
he lisped with the child, and spoke the language of the most 
sublime reason to the perfect. " In discussions of little im 
portance, the common man would think himself upon a level 
with him ; in the management of the greatest affairs, the 
proudest geniuses never found him below them." This is 
the testimony of Chretien Kraneo:s de Lamuignon, president 
of the parliament of Paris, and what a testimony from a ma 
gistrate so capable of appreciating merit! 

Vincent was an enemy to all duplicity, he spoke as he 
thought; but in his sincerity, there never was any thing impru 
dent. He knew how to In- silent, when silence was proper, 
or, what was the same tiling with him, when it was useless to 
speak. Above all, he was extremely attentive that nothing 
should escape him that savored of anger, or showed too little es 
teem, respect, or charity even for the vilest and most at jpct man. 
[n general his character was at variance with singularity. 
One of his principles was, that when things are well, we 
ought not to change them, under pretence of making them 
better. lie mistrusted every new proposition, whether in 
speculation or practice. He said: "that the human mind 
was quick and active; that the most active and enlightened 
minds are not the best, if they are not the most discreet; and 
that we walk in security, when we do not go aside from the 
road in which the bulk of the wise have travelled." These 
few words are wortli a hook. 

One of his most beautiful gifts was that of the discern 
ment of characters, lie seized with so much penetration the 
good and bad qualities of those of whom he was obliged to 
render an account, that Mr. le Tellier, the chancellor of 
France, never spoke of him hut with admiration, and as the 
best head in the council of the king. 

The qualities of his mind seemed to yield to tho-e of his 
heart. That heart was noble and generous, liberal, tender, 



250 MFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

compassionate, firm in sudden events, intrepid when duty- 
was in question, always on its guard against the seductions 
of favor, always open to the voice of indigence, which never 
experienced from him that first coolness which disconcerts it, 
and which, at every moment of the day, found him as acces 
sible, as it he hail lived for it alone. 

It was this kindness of heart that bound him so perfectly 
to those who professed to love virtue. Yet he had so abso 
lute an empire over his inclinations, that it could scarcely be 
perceived. Being a good father, still wise and orderly in his 
tenderness, each of his children was satisfied with the place he 
thought he possessed in his heart; and in his family, although 
numerous, there was no Joseph, who furnished cause of jea 
lousy to his brethren. 

Finally, although it cannot be said that he was without fault, 
since, by their own acknowledgment, even the apostles were 
not free from it, we may say that there scarcely ever were 
seen men engaged as he was in all sorts of affairs, obliged to 
deal with an immense number of persons of all kinds and 
conditions, exposed incessantly to the most dangerous occa 
sions of taking some false step, whose life has been not only- 
more above suspicion, but more universally esteemed. It 
has been also remarked that the Son of God was always so 
present to his eyes, that he submitted to him all his actions 
and all his words. 

It is true that he has been reproached with two things, one 
that he was too slow in making up his mind in business, the 
other that he said too much good of his neighbor, and too 
much evil of himself. 

We will acknowledge without difficulty that he was a little 
singular in these two points, and particularly in the latter. 
But that singularity, in which he will have very few imita 
tors, might give occasion to say of him, what a father of the 
Church, St. Jerome, said of St. Paul, that his faults would 
have been virtues in others. 

As to the dilaloriness of which he was accused, it is evi 
dent, and I have said it already, that he was an enemy to 
precipitation. But we must only place this to the account of 



LIFE OF ST. VJNCL.NT OF PAUL. ^251 

his virtue and the abundance of his knowledge. lie dis 
covered in affairs, and above all, in such as he had to manage, 
many windings which escape those who wish to be short 
with matters. Hence lie often said, that he saw nothing 
more common than the bad success of hurried affairs. Thus 
virtue had a great share in his slowness, or rather in the 
maturity of his deliberations. "lie dreaded," as he was 
used to say, " to encroach upon the designs of Providence. 
On the other hand he had such a low opinion of himself, 
that lie thought he was only calculated to hinder good, 
or to mingle great imperfection with it, or diminish it. 
However, God has fully justified the conduct of his saint; 
and the true children of wisdom have made an apology for 
theirs, by agreeing that he commenced and finished in less than 
forty years, what a great number of others would not have 
completed, nor perhaps ever attempted in whole centuries. 
With regard to the manner in which he spoke of himself 
on every occasion, it is very certain that it is contrary to com 
mon custom. True humility is very rare, and religion has 
scarcely an exercise which costs nature more. Vincent 
possessed it in so eminent a degree, that Cardinal de la 
Ilochefoucault has often been heard to say, that if true humi 
lity was to be sought upon earth, it must be found in that 
holy priest. In fact, although it is saying a Great deal, we 
can assert that this faithful imitator of our humble God, never 
suffered an occasion of humiliation to escnpe him. lie was 
so full of the idea of his wretchedness, that he saw in himself 
nothing but the impression of vice and corruption. This was 
his whole excess ; for he was not one of those morose devo 
tees, who are almost as much dissatisfied with others, as they 
are with themselves. lie shut his eyes to the faults of his 
neighbor, particularly when he was not charged with his 
direction. He esteemed greatly the character of those good 
souls, who in the order of charity and prudence, think always 
advantageously of their brethren, and who cannot see virtue 
without loving those who profess it. This was his practice; 
but wisdom and discretion always ruled him. If he will-mgly 
rejoiced with others for the graces which God had bestowed 



252 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

on them, he was more reserved with regard to his own chil 
dren. He loved them tenderly ; but he rarely praised them in 
their presence, unless the glory of God and their own good 
obliged him to act otherwise. We repeat it then confidently : 
those to whom conduct so holy seems a kind of fault, must de 
sire that tliese pretended faults may be multiplied, and honestly 
agree that they very much resemble the most sublime virtues. 

To finish his portrait, it will tie sufficient to add that Jesus 
Christ was his only model. He had him so deeply imprinted 
upon his heart, that he showed it iu his thoughts, in his con 
versations, in all his actions. It was in him that he sought 
his morality and all his policy. He had contracted a pleasing 
habit of honoring him in all men, and all men in him. He 
considered him as head of the Church in the successors of 
St. Peter, as prince of pastors in the bishops, as the only 
teacher in the doctors, as judge of the judges of the earth in 
magistrates, as the son of a mechanic in those who live by 
their labor, as infirm in the sick, as agonising in the dying. 
In fine he was so filled with him, that those who have 
studied him most, have considered those beautiful words 
which escaped him once in a transport of love as his device : 
" Nothing pleases me but in Jesus Christ." 

But in him love was not confined to affection and feelings: 
he wished it to be effective, active, always ready to declare 
itself by works. He loved much, and he often repeated those 
words of a great servant of God : " Totum opus nostrum in 
operatione consistit." He considered as nothing, or as trifling 
what is called ravishments and extacies when they are 
separated from works. With such principles, the office of 
Martha is united to that of Mary ; and it was this that our 
holy priest did with an activity which neither the greatest 
persecution, nor the frost of age could even suspend. The 
history of his virtues upon which we are about to enter, will 
prove more and more that he did it with a degree of perfec 
tion, which must place him upon a level with the greatest 
saints; and that it was not without reason that a wit of the 
age said, "that we have only to read his life to be convinced 
that he was not too easily canonised." 



Book Jiftl). 



OF THE VIRTUES, THE MISSIONS, AND THE VENERATION OF 

ST. VINCENT OF PAUI,. 

IT has been remarked at all times, that the saint whose his 
tory I continue, gave himself up most willingly to the practice 
of those virtues which, like humility, patience, and the support 
of the neighbor, recur every day. But it has also been remarked 
that he practised them in a manner far superior to the gene 
rality of the just, and that he possessed in an eminent decree 
those of which the exercise is most rare and most difficult. 
The details upon which we are about to enter, will oblige 
even his enemies to admit the justice of these two observa 
tions, if they can resolve to follow us without passion and 
prejudice. 

As faith is the foundation of Christian virtue, Vincent, like 
a wise architect, looked up to it as the stone upon which he 
was to erect the edifice of his salvation; and it was for that 
reason, that he always guarded it with the greatest care. He 
kept it at Tunis against the most flattering promises of a 
master who had almost absolute power over him. He pre 
served it without diminution, whilst a chaplain to Margaret, 
in spite of the terrible temptation to which he was exposed. 
He preserved it amidst the troubles caused him by a rising 
heresy, by which efforts were made more than once to seduce 
him, and which would have been more prodigal of its eulo 
gies than it had been of its outrages against him, could it have 
succeeded in gaining him, or making him hesitate. In fine, 
22 



254 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

he removed from his company and from those who depended 
on him, that spirit of curiosity which agrees so ill with pro 
per submission ; and he preferred to see his cherished daugh 
ters of the Visitation, remain poor than to be enriched by a 
boarder who, in bestowing property upon them, might have 
deprived them of the treasure of faith. 

The exalted idea which he had of that important virtue, in 
duced him to .spread it as much as was in his power. Hence 
the catechisms and instructions which he gave, even in travel 
ling, to the children and to the poor, who are commonly most 
neglected. Hence the establishment of his congregation, that 
is to say, of a body of evangelical laborers destined to sow 
and cultivate faith in the most sterile lands. Hence the holy 
pleasure with which he published the good performed by 
companies, which a jealous eye would have considered as 
rivals, but which his faith looked upon as models. 

If he possessed the firmness and purity of faith, he had 
also its plenitude. It animated his actions, his words, his 
thoughts : it was with the level of faith that he regulated his 
judgments, formed and executed his most laudable projects. 
A design supported by reasons of wise policy, was only pleas 
ing to him, when it was conformable to the maxims of the 
gospel. He was persuaded, and he oflen repeated that the 
affairs of God succeeded so badly, only because those who 
urged their execution, were guided too much by natural mo 
tives. It was for this reason that he incessantly recalled him 
self and his children to the light of faith. By the aid of that 
light which pierces the most obscure places, he saw in a sim 
ple countryman the image of a God who became poor, and 
who seems only to have come upon earth to be the evan 
gelist of the poor. "O God!" cried he on this occasion, 
"how worthy of contempt do the poor appear when they are 
only considered with the eyes of the flesh and of the world! 
But how beautiful are they when considered, in God, and 
according to the esteem which Jesus Christ had for them!" 

Such was the faith of the holy priest. To be well ac 
quainted with the nature of it, we have only to cast our eyes 
upon his other virtues. By the excellence and multitude of 



LIFE OF ST. VIIfCEXT OF PAUL. 255 

the fruits, we can know the strength of the root to whiek they 
owe their origin. 

Confidence, in God was so eminently the virtue of St. Vin 
cent of Paul, that we may say that, after the example of the 
father of helievers, he often hoped against hope itself. A poor, 
simple individual as he was, he executed innumerable pro 
jects which even princes would not have dared to imagine. 
He supported establishments which appeared desperate. He 
calmed disquietness which appeared unappeasable. But in 
all this he did not rely upon himself, nor upon ar. arm of 
flesh, whatever it might he. God alone was his resource; 
and that God, always attentive to the cry of those who hope 
in him, did not fail him. Twenty times did they represent to 
him, that the expense to he incurred for the nourishment of 
the candidates for orders, and for the great number of persons 
who, (.-very week, made a retreat in his house, exposed him 
to ruin ; twenty times did he answer that the treasures of 
Providence are inexhaustible, that want of confidence dis 
honors God, and that riches were more to be feared for his 
congregation than poverty. One day, the eve of an ordina 
tion, the procurator came enjrerly to tell him. that he had not 
a cent to defray the expense: "Oh! what good news!" cried 
the holy priest: "now we shall see whether we have confi 
dence in God." 

It was not that heaven ever performed miracles in his favor, 
and that it came at a fixed moment to the aid of his indigence, 
for we have seen him and his company reduced to the neces 
sity of eating oat and barley bread. But he looked upon these 
parsing accidents, as trials without which we cannot know 
whether we have true and entire confidence in God. Thus 
lie was always the same in these occasions doubly painful 
for a man who is at the head of a numerous community. 
It has been constantly remarked that the serenity of his 
countenance increased in proportion to the afilictions which 
befel him personally, or his children. To the innumerable 
objections with which human prudence assailed him, he 
made no other reply than that of the royal prophet : Qtn 



256 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

timent Dorninum spcrcnt in co ; adjutor eorum et protector 
eorum cst. 

1 do not know whether the saint, who was called to 
many houses, had perceived that perfect confidence is not 
always the most perfect virtue of communities. It is however 
incontestable, that he recommended it on a multitude of occa 
sions, both to his missionaries and to the Sisters of Charity, 
who, on account of the dangers of every kind to which they 
are often exposed, have more need of diffidence in themselves 
and dependence upon God alone. He often announced to 
them the protection of heaven in a tone so decisive, that one 
would have thought he had secret reasons for calculating 
upon it; and his predictions were more than once justified by 
the event. We have said elsewhere, that one of those virtuous 
young ladies came forth safe and sound from amidst the ruins 
of a building which fell in entirely; we will here add that a 
joist of their principal house having broken and drawn the 
floor with it, Providence permitted that there should not be a 
single person there, although a moment before there were 
several, and the foundress had but just gone out. "O my 
daughters!" said the holy priest at the time, "be assured that, 
provided you keep a holy confidence in your hearts, God will 
preserve you in whatever place or danger you may be." 

This treasure of hope, with which the Lord had enriched 
Vincent of Paul, served him at one time to sustain Ma 
dame le Gras against the dread which she had of losing him; 
at another, to pacify those who were tempted to despair, 
from an idea more or less confused, of reprobation ; Some 
times also to interdict a too continual view of death to those 
in whom it might weaken confidence. For, although the 
thought of the last day was one of the practices which he 
recommended to ward off the darts of the enemy, he was un 
willing for any one to occupy himself with it, to the prejudice 
of a holy and well founded hope; because without a firm hope 
there can be no true love, and love is the fulfilling of the law. 

Our saint was so inundated with it, that it could be seen 
at the first glance, that he was entirely under the empire of 
holy charity. Hence, those vivid and tender aspirations 



LIFE OF ST. VIXrENT OF PAUL. 257 

which, like a fire too much confined in the bosom of the 
earth, escaped him at frequent intervals: "O my Saviour! 
O my God! when will you grant me the grace to he entirely 
yours, and to love you alone ?" Hence, that ardent desire 
which he always had, that God should IK? more and more 
loved, blessed, and glorified at all times and in all places. 
Hence, in fine, that capital maxim, which was always his, 
that, to please God in great things, we must form the habit 
of pleasing him generously in the most trifling ones; that the 
Latter commonly are more surely done for his glory ; the 
former on the contrary often vanish in smoke, because self- 
love and reference to ourselves corrupt or weaken them. 

As real purity of intention which seeks God alone is im- 
cornpatible with human respect, the holy priest could not 
bear that his children should act with the view of pleasing 
men. The aversion he had for mere human motives dis 
played itself one day in one of those sudden emotions, which 
evince the habitual dispositions of the heart. One of his 
rompany having humbled himself before the others for having 
acted through human considerations, Vincent, in affliction, 
exclaimed, "that it was better to be cast, bound hand and 
foot, upon burning coals, than to perform an action to please 
men. 1 

His conversation was simple, but the love with which he 
was inflamed, gave it a warmth of which those who listened 
to him. did not fail to feel the impression. Hence, of so great 
a number of bishops who attended his conferences, there 
was none, who did not feel confused, when asked to con 
clude : and on" of them told him one day publicly, that one 
word from his month had a greater effect than all they could 
sav. There was but one opinion about it throughout the 
whole kingdom. Armancl de Monttnorin, Archbishop of 
Vienna, says in his letter to Clement XI, that there was no 
sermon, nor pious reading, that made so lively an impres 
sion as the discourses of the servant of God. The great Bos- 
suet, in the letter which he wrote to the same pontiff, takes 
Jesus Christ to witness that in hearing this holy priest, one 
was reminded of the words of the prince of the apostles : 
22* 



258 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Si quis loquitur, quasi sermon es Dei. Francis de Lomenie 
de Brienne, bishop of Coutances, remembered more than 
forty-five years after the death of Vincent, the pleasure he 
had experienced, on hearing him in his family with which 
he had been very intimate. Victor de Melian, who was 
afterwards bishop of Aleth, gives the same testimony of him ; 
and we can confirm it by that of the most illustrious ladies of 
his time, although in matter of style and conversation, they 
may not always be the most indulgent. The wife of Presi 
dent de Lamoignon was so penetrated by an exhortation 
which he made to the ladies of his assembly, that turning 
towards the duchess of Mantua, who was afterwards queen 
of Poland, she said: "Well! Madam, may we not say, like 
the disciples of Emmaus, that our hearts were burning with 
the love of God, whilst he spoke to us ? For my part," 
added she with her accustomed humility, " although I am 
very little sensible to the things which relate to God, I 
acknowledge to you, that my heart is completely penetrated 
with what that holy man has just said to us." "You must 
not be astonished," replied the princess, "Mr. Vincent is like 
an angel of the Lord, who carries upon his lips the burning 
coals of the divine love which inflames his heart." 

But it was not only to such cultivated souls, it was to hearts 
more than insensible, that our saint communicated a por 
tion of the sacred fire which uninterruptedly consumed him. 
One of his priests having presented to him a hardened sinner 
with whom he could do nothing, Vincent spoke to him, effec 
tually moved him, and filled him with holy confusion. At 
this very moment, the first fruits of the new man began to be 
perceived. The child of iniquity groaned at his chains. He 
begged the favor of a spiritual retreat, to free himself from 
his sins : he performed it with fervor, and adhered firmly to 
his first engagements. He published every where, that the 
mildness and charity of the saint had gained his heart, and 
that he had never heard any one before speak like him. 

But the love of Vincent was not confined to words, it ex 
pressed itself in actions. He wished, according to his own 
saying, that God should be loved by the sweat of the brow. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 259 

His whole life is a proof of it, and the rest of his virtues 
will confirm it. 

One of the most important, and at the same time one of the 
most painful to nature, was his great and perfect submission 
to the whole will of God. lie undertook nothing, he gave no 
counsel, without having previously consulted Him, to learn 
what he required of him. Liberty and slavery, sickness and 
health, life and death, were all alike to him, provided God 
was pleased. He saw himself, and more than once he saw 
his dear children, like the just of whom St. Paul speaks, 
under oppression, in misery, in chains. Yet his tranquillity 
was always unalterable. This word alone, God wills it, 
calmed his mind, and cut short useless reflections. 

Some time after the pestilence had taken away from him 
six or seven of his companions who labored at Genoa, that 
house, where tears were still flowing, lost a very important 
suit. The new superior wrote about it to Vincent of Paul. 
Here is the answer of that incomparable man ; I know not 
if the life of the greatest saints would furnish any thing more 
beautiful : "Long live justice ; you must believe, sir, that it is 
found in the loss of your suit. The same God who gave 
you property, has taken it away from you; blessed be his 
holy name. Property is an evil, when it is where God does 
not wish it to be. The greater our resemblance to our Lord 
stripped of every thing, the greater also will be our share in 
his spirit. Let us then be led by our Father who is in hea 
ven, and let us try upon earth, only to will and not will 
with him." This last expression was very familiar to the 
man of God. It was because he was persuaded, and he said 
so one day from the abundance of his heart, " that to conform 
in all things to the will of the Lord, is to live upon earth the 
very life of Jesus Christ." 

From this perfect submission arose in him that spirit of 
indifference, which, by a tie which grace alone can ex 
plain, is closely united to tenderness, and servos to rectify it. 
He loved his congregation, and he had just reason to love it. 
Yet he never took one step to increase or enrich it. He 
loved all his children like a true father : but as he loved them 



260 LIFE OF ST. ATNCKNT OF PAUL. 

as an eminently Christian man, he only prayed for their health 
or life under the good pleasure of God and for his greater 
glory. We have seen how much he was affected by the 
death of the Abbe de Tournus, and by that of Messrs. Lam 
bert and Portail. He supposed with reason, that all those 
of his company would be also very sensible of such losses. 
" Yet," says he, in his circular letters to them, " I do not 
doubt that you have praised God for this privation, and that you 
have said to him, that you would not wish him to have done 
otherwise, since such was his good pleasure." How much 
murmuring would be banished, how much thanksgiving would 
be substituted to useless complaints, if the sentiments of the 
servant of God were those of the generality of the faithful. 

To be so constantly submissive to the whole will of God, 
it is necessary to have him incessantly before our eyes. The 
holy love with which Vincent was penetrated, taught him 
early such a fruitful maxim; and he practised it to the end. 
A virtuous priest, who observed him for several years, found 
him always like Abraham, in the presence of his Master. 
Pie saw nothing but him ; the multitude of affairs, unforeseen 
reverses, afflicting news, all this only served to remind him 
of that Supreme Being, who rules at will the universe and all 
events. When he was consulted, and it was often the case, 
on affairs of every description, he scarcely ever answered, 
until he had himself consulted God; and it was for this reason 
that between the question and the answer, he commonly 
made a little pause ; and he also began generally by these 
words: In nomine Domini. 

For fear that his imagination might withdraw him from 
the presence of God, he recalled himself to it at least four 
times in an hour, that is, whenever the clock struck; and 
then, whether alone or in company, he uncovered himself, 
made the sign of the cross, and raised his mind to God. 
When he entered his room, or that of one making a spiritual 
retreat, he went on his knees to invoke the Holy Ghost; 
and he did the same, on going out, to return thanks for his fa 
vors. He has bequeathed these practices to his congregation, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCr.>T OF PAUL. 261 

and they are certainly neither the most distinguished for tal 
ents or virtue, who neglect them as trifles. 

The beauty of the country, the brilliancy of the flowers and 
the various fruit?, enabled him to ascend without effort to their 
first principle. \Vhen he found himself at the court, in those 
superb apartments where crystal and glass multiply an object 
a thousand times, he said: " O Lord! if men have skill to 
prevent the slighest motion from escaping their sight, how 
can 1 withdraw myself from yours? " 

It was only because it is scarcely possible to have the eyes 
always cast down, that Vincent perceived in travelling the 
verdure of the country, and the enamel of the fields. We 
shall find hereafter that he carried his mortification so far as 
to refuse himself the innocent pleasure presented by the riches 
of nature. Whilst walking in 1 aris, he occupied himself with 
God, almost as if he had been alone in that city, where the 
tumult and noise may excuse detractions. When he was 
obliged to make use "of a carriage, his eyes were generally 
closed ; and most frequently, to be less distracted, he drew the 
curtains, so that he could neither see nor be seen. Perhaps, 
also, humility had a share in this ; for I know from the Rev. 
Father Fleuriau, who was a witness of it, that the scholars 
pointed out the servant of God, and said one to another: 
" There is the saint going by." 

A man so constantly united to God could not fail to be a 
man of prayer. Hence, whatever he had to do, or wherever 
he was, an hour of meditation was always with him the 
morning oblation ; and that oblation he made with such lively 
emotion, that, unable to support its ardor, he often broke out 
in sighs which were perceptible to every one except himself. 
Although he spoke well concerning God at all times, some- 
thin- more was perceived in him, when he spoke immediately 
after prayer. Independently of words, it was only necessary 
to take a glance at the whole of his conduct, to be convinced 
that prayer was his support and nourishment. 

As he knew by experience the groat fruits produced by 
that exercise, he made it an inviolable law with his , 
dren being well persuaded that his congregation woi 



2G2 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

subsist before God, in proportion to its fidelity in this respect. 
lie would not even have the sick dispensed from it. But the 
method he proposed to them, was so well suited to their con 
dition, that it could not fatigue them. To unite themselves 
to God by tender ailections, to form acts of confidence in him, 
of resignation to his will, of repentance for faults committed 
against his law, was all he required of them, and this did 
not exceed their strength. 

It was not only his own companions, that Vincent in 
spired with the spirit of prayer, he endeavored to communi 
cate it to strangers, both ecclesiastics, who without it are no 
thing but salt without savor, and seculars, because he had no 
doubt that if they would contract the habit of it, they would 
execute the good resolutions taken during their retreat. 

He went still farther; for he not only made the ladies of his 
assembly so many women of prayer, but he induced many 
to establish in their families those kinds of repetition, which 
are only in use in the most holy communities. It was on 
such an occasion that a servant, giving an account of his 
meditation, said in substance that he was occupied in it with 
the duties which the iSon of God prescribes to us with 
regard to the poor; that in consequence he thought him 
self obliged to do something for them ; but having nothing to 
give them, because he was poor himself, he had taken the 
resolution to uncover his head in passing by them, and to 
speak with kindness to those who should address him. How 
many young ecclesiastics have never made so good a medi 
tation. Idea ipsi judiccs vestri erunt (Matt, xii, 17). 

After the example of the Saviour, who, from time to time 
retired apart to pray, Vincent, notwithstanding his important 
duties, did not fail every year to give at least eight days to a 
spiritual retreat, an exercise of which prayer and similar 
acts constitute the principal part. It was there that sepa 
rated from the world, and alone with God, he called himself 
to an account for the past, lamented the present, and took 
new resolutions for the future. On this subject I will add 
that the saint wished, that, however unfaithful a person may 
have been to his resolutions, he should always continue to 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 263 

take them. " But," said he, in order not to take them in 
vain, we must mistrust our own strength, pray a great deal, 
ask of God the grace to know and overcome the obstacles 
which have been fatal to us ;" not to be discouraged either at 
the faults which human weakness makes us commit, or at 
the dryness and disgust which we sometimes experience in 
meditation. " It is, -a:d he airain, " an exercise which God 
sends us to try us, and I know virtuous persons who, by the 
good use which they make of it, have advanced a great deal 
in virtue." 

To give some idea of the devotion of St. Vincent, and of 
hLs piety towards God, it will be sufficient to follow him in 
the practice of the duties which are the object of that import 
ant virtue. 

Although he always went to bed late, and often could not 
sleep more than two hours. In- rose regularly at four, and 
with so much fervor, that the second stroke of the bell, never 
found him in the position in which he was at the first. He 
made an offering of himself and all his actions to ( Jod ; and after 
having tenderly besought him through Jesus Christ, not to 
permit him to have the misfortune to offend him, he repaired 
to the church to make his meditation with the community. 
This pious exercise was followed either by confession, for he 
could not bear the appearance of sin, or by a new preparation 
for the tremendous sacrifice which h" was going to offer. It 
may be said that in this ^reat action he was a model for the 
most accomplished prieMs. In his manner of pronouncing, 
performing the ceremonies, turning towards the people to 
announce the peace and benediction of God, there was 
discovered something so holy, so majestic, that persons who 
did not know him. have been heard several times to say to 
one another: " How well that priest says mass! He must 
be either a saint or an angel." 

With the exception of the three first days of his annual re 
treat, he celebrated mas* every day without ever failing. Some 
times, and it has been seen when he was more than seventy- 
five years of age, he served a second mass after his own. After 
the example of the zealous Mr U .-mluise. he could nnt o/~ 



264 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

without real pain, a clergyman yield to seculars the right 
which he has to serve the priest in this function, which an 
gels would glory in taking upon them, if they could do so. 

He performed the public offices in a most moving and af 
fecting manner; but he did not acquit himself of them in a 
less becoming manner in private. He always recited his bre 
viary on his knees and with his head bare. He never gave 
up that attitude of respect, until within the two or three last 
years of his life, because he could not do otherwise. 

He had so marked a veneration for the mysteries of the 
Holy Trinity and Incarnation, that he begged of the sovereign 
pontiff to make it a strict obligation for all the members of 
his congregation to honor them with a particular respect. 
But to give a proper idea of his piety towards the sacrament 
of the love of Jesus Christ, it would be necessary to feel a 
portion of it. When his employments afforded him a little 
respite, he profited by it to go and throw himself at the feet 
of his Saviour. He there forgot himself sometimes, and re 
mained for hours. He read there, and always on his knees, 
the letters which he judged to be important; and he never 
read them until he had offered to the God-Man their good 
and evil results. He avoided speaking there, and if any one, 
were it a prince, wished to say a word to him, he endeavored 
to lead him out; but he did it with so much grace, that no 
one could be offended at it. 

In his travels, he had the troublesome, but holy custom of 
dismounting, when he passed a village, the church of which 
was open, and he entered it to pay his respects to the hidden 
God who honors it by dwelling in it. If it was closed, he 
did it interiorly; but open or shut, he always approached to 
the door, when he was to dine or pass the night in the place. 
The saints resemble one another, and I have remarked with 
great pleasure, that the celebrated archdeacon of Evreux, 
Henri Marie Boudon, had exactly the same practice. 

When his infirmities became such, that he could no longer 
celebrate, he received the communion every day ; but he did 
it with so much fervor, that, in coming from the holy table, he 
might have been taken for a man transported out of himself. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 265 

It was in consequence of the great effects which the bread of life 
produced in him, that he urged his children and strangers to 
keep themselves in a condition to receive it frequently. He 
grieved to see so solid a devotion growing cool amongst Chris 
tians. He attributed it partly to natural indolence, for which the 
watchfulness necessary for frequent communion is a burthen 
from which it willingly discharges itself; and partly to the false 
zeal of innovators, who, in this point as well as many others, 
have carried every thing to excess, and who, as he proved one 
day by the example of a respectable lady, instead of establishing 
piety by that species of voluntary excommunication, have 
only introduced the spirit of pride, contempt for others, and 
revolt against lawful authority. 

It is easily imagined, that a man so full of love and respect 
for the sacrament of our altars, was extremely sensible to the 
outrages committed against it in his time by heresy and the 
licentiousness of arms. IVnaiu-. S. sighs, considerable pre 
sents of chalices, ciboriums and vestments, pilgrimages, fer 
vent communions upon the spots, missions dictated by zeal 
and sustained by good exampl", all was put in practice to 
repair as much as possible these sacrilegious insults, and 
restore to Jesus Christ a portion of the honor of which he had 
been robbed. The name alone of that God Saviour made an 
impression upon him, which is only known to those who 
love truly and perfectly. Indeed he copied him so perfectly 
in all his conduct, that " the imitation of the Word incar 
nate" was looked upon as his distinctive virtue. It was 
the book he opened to the learned as well as to the ignorant; 
to kines and subjects ; to those whom God nourished with 
delicious milk and those whose portion was gall. Louis 
XI H asked him in his last sickness, which was the best 
manner to prepare for death. li Sire," replied Vincent, "it 
is to imitate the preparation of Jesus Christ: nonmeavoluntas, 
scd tuafmt." Marie de Meaupeou Foucquet, so well known 
for her piety and her love for the poor, suffered dreadful un 
easiness about the salvation of her son ; and she communi 
cated it to the holy priest. " Give," said ho, " the child and 
the mother to our Lord, and he will render you a good ac- 
23 



266 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

count of both. Study that great model, and conform your 
self to his will." She did so, and was relieved. The whole 
world has been acquainted with the disgrace of the superinten- 
dant of the finances, and the resources which he found in the 
zeal of the celebrated Pelisson; but, few persons know as I do, 
and by as sure ways, that in his prison he became a model 
of mildness, patience, and above all, of humility. 

To piety towards Jesus Christ, Vincent of Paul always 
united a tender devotion to his most holy mother. To cele 
brate her feasts worthily, he fasted on the eve, together with 
all his house. The day of the solemnity he celebrated with 
every possible devotion. lie proposed to his brethren the ex 
amples of virtue presented by the mystery which the church 
honored. Wherever he heard l\\c , ln^cl/isrmg, if he were even 
with a prince, he knelt down to recite it. lie visited often, 
and always through devotion, the temples erected in honor 
of that august Virgin. The moving title of Comforter of the 
Afflicted, which experience and the piety of the faithful have 
given her, was for him a motive to have recourse to her, 
amidst the sufferings and storms by which his life was so 
ol len beset. It was by the aid of that protection, that, in a frail 
vessel, he went from Tunis to Europe with a renegade, whom 
he had converted, and that, (hiring the troubles of the Fronde, 
he escaped the dangers which the demon of discord raised 
up in his path. In a \vord, if ibllowed from his infancy to 
his death, it will be found that he was one of the most de 
voted and faithful servants that the mother of God had in 
latter times. 

To her he united by a necessary consequence, St. Joseph, 
her worthy spouse, whom he gave as a patron to his young 
seminarists; St. Peter, the liveliness of whose faith and love 
placed him at the head of the flock; St. Paul, whose in 
defatigable labors he admired; St. Vincent, martyr, under 
whose protection he had been placed at his baptism. Nor 
did he forget the apostle of the Indies, whom he always pro 
posed as a model to those whom he sent into infidel or hereti 
cal countries ; nor St. Francis of Sales, who had loved him 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 267 

KO tenderly, nor in fine, Mr. Olier, whose last breath he had 
received, and whom lie invoked as a saint. 

To increase the number of those who triumph in glory, he 
endeavored to break by his pray ITS the bonds of fire, which 
keep the souls in purgatory. lie placed the benefactors 
of his congregation at the head. Three times every day, 
his children still say that psalm which the church has judged 
most lit to obtain for them a place of peace and refresh 
ment. 

Such Christian sentiments arose in Vincent of Paul from 
the zeal, which he always had for the giory of God : this zeal, 
which knew no hounds, was the principle of that with which 
hf labored both for his own ^alvation and that of others. Let 
the reader recall to his memory what we have said of him in 
the body of his history, and he will see, that (luring his long 
career upon earth, he had no other end, than to form a perfect 
people for the Lord. ."Nor will it b less evident, that the zeal 
with which he labored for that end, had all the conditions 
which it should have, that is to say, it was prudent, enlight 
ened, invincible, and disengaged from every interested motive. 
His zeal was prudent, never impetuous, never precipitate. 
The traits of father and friend always predominated in the re 
primands which he was obliged to address to others. In his 
missions he thundered against sin; but after having terrified 
the guilty, he inspired them with confidence and gained them 
by tenderness. When speaking to the great of the world, he 
never altered the truth ; but that truth, so often odious, was 
well received on account of the respect, and still more of the 
hi^h idea they entertained of his uprightness and probity. 
In the seminaries he wished the young students to be formed 
with patience ; that they should first be made good Chris- 
tiai.s, and afterwards c"od ecclesiastics; above all, that they 
should not he overwhelm* d with advice, which is always of 
fensive when caustic, always useless when too much multi 
plied. 

1 1 is zeal was enlightened. The light of the gospel, the de 
cisions of the church, the authority of the most celebrated 
doctors were its rules. In his doubts he had recourse to 



268 LIFE OF ST. VINOT.NT OF PAUL. 

Messrs. Ysambert and Duval, the first of whom was his peni 
tent, and the second his director after Mr. de Berulle. Great 
sense and good studies, in a word, nature and grace guided 
him by the sure road, which is properly distant from all ex 
tremes. He was very far from Jansenistical novelties; he 
was very far from the relaxation of the bad Casuists; and 
when their infamous apology had received at Rome the con 
demnation which it deserved, he informed his priests of it, as 
he had before informed them of the censure of the book of 
Jansenius. With regard to penances, he would adhere to the 
maxims of the holy council of Trent; that is to say, that al 
though by apparent rigor a pretence is furnished some persons 
to keep at a distance from the sacraments, the penance should 
be proportioned to the grievousness of the sin. " It is," said 
he, " because the holy severity, so much recommended by the 
canons of the church, and renewed by St. Charles, produces 
incomparably more fruit than too great indulgence." 

His zeal was inviolable. Nothing was difficult to him, 
when the glory of God and the salvation of souls were in 
question. What must not have been the courage of a man, 
who succored vast provinces, the wants of which were 
always reviving, during a long course of years ! A man, 
who to procure for the indigent the hospitals of Bicetre and 
Salpetriere had obstacles of every kind to surmount! A man, 
who in the council of the king, dared to speak before a for 
midable minister, as if he had spoken at the judgment of God! 
One would say, that in the expedition to Madagascar, he was 
like Jacob, strong with God. Heaven and earth, men and 
the elements appeared to be in arms against him. Of his 
children, some were buried in the deep, others fell into the 
hands of the enemy; some died on arriving in port, others on 
the point of reaping an abundant harvest. These painful 
accidents did not move him, as they have not moved his 
successors ; and Madagascar would still have its missiona 
ries, had they not been forced to leave it, when Louis XIV 
gave it up. 

Finally, the zeal of Vincent of Paul was pure and free from 
all views of interest. Far from traversing the seas, over- 



T.IKE OF ST. V1NCK.NT OF PAl L. 269 

running rnnntri. s to reap the temporal goods of the people, 
lie never rendered them any service, hut at his own expense. 
If in the mission;- a rirli curate (tie red his table, it was forbid 
den to accept it. It wa- not even permitted to receive the 
honorary of masses said for the faithful. The saint had it 
taken to the sick by the \, ry p- rsons who presented it. 

To this first decree of disinterestedness, of which I shall he 
obliged to speak elsewhere, Yim- -nt added another more 
dillicuh and much le-s common. Free, from that spirit of 
jealousy a_ r ain-t uhirh tho->e who pursue the same career 
are not always eno .iir u on their cniard, he beheld the success 
nf others with the holy jo\ of the rhildren of God. lie pub- 
hslied it at home airl abroad, and he has more than once 
rendered them services which mo^t of them never knew. 
He did still more; for !o exalt the labors of others, he went so 
far as to depreciate his own and those of Ins missionaries, in 
whom he saw only a small number of persons of little skill, 
whose weak labors could not find favor with God, but when 
coupled with the great harvest of others. Such was his zeal; 
and let us say at the same tune. Mich was his humility. For 
a great deal of it was required \<> l-e si-ht of the uniform testi 
mony given to the merit and virtue of his priests by the most 
illustrious pastors of the first and second order, the most vir 
tuous magistrates, often even by crowned heads. 

His chanty toward* iiis neighbor, was as extensive as his 
zeal. Obliged to compress a matter which his piety ren 
dered so vast, I will not here relate what he suffered for the 
interests of the king during the troubles of the Fronde, nor the 
danger to whi -h he exposed his life to save that of the chan 
cellor of France, nor the justice done him more than once by 
Ann of Austria in -peaking of him as the most faithful servant 
of his prince. .\or will 1 speak of the tender respect which 
lie always had for the apostolical See, a respect so profound, 
that neither Paulmus, nor Meletius, nor the whole universe 
could ever have detached him from the chair of Saint Peter. 
I will not even speak of his devotedness to the episcopal 
order, a devotedness which induced him on every occasion 
to support at the court and in parliament the just undertak- 
23" 



270 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ings of the bishops ; to receive them as angels of the living 
God, to honor as his masters prelates who honored him 
as their father, and who, in the troublesome care of their 
diocess, had no surer resource than that of his credit and 
light. It seems as if the charity of the saints, where it takes 
a less lofty flight, has in it something more touching and 
admirable. 

To commence by the inferior clergy, whoever bore its 
mark, was always sure to find with him consolation in their 
troubles, and a hand ever ready to wipe away their tears. 
A strange priest who was sick, asked aid of him j Vincent re 
ceived him with kindness, lodged him, fed him, caused him 
to be taken care of, and kept him until he had recovered his 
strength. Another, Avho was making his retreat at Saint- 
Lazarus, fell sick there; the saint caused every imaginable 
attention to be paid to him. "When this poor man recovered, 
Vincent gave him a cassock, a breviary, several little things, 
and ten crowns. A third, to whom he had given hospitality, 
carried away a cassock and a long cloak. They wanted to 
go after him : "Well," said Vincent, "provided it be to take 
to him what he is in want of, and not to demand what he has 
taken : he must be in great want, to have resorted to such 
conduct. " 

I suppress here a hundred other similar traits, and in say 
ing a hundred, I reduce things to nothing. The simple 
detail of the aid, which he distributed or procured for the 
ecclesiastics of Ireland, persecuted by Cromwell, would be 
enough to exhaust the patience of the reader. It was so well 
known throughout the kingdom and in the neighboring states, 
that Vincent was the asylum of ecclesiastics who were in 
want, that although in consequence of the evil times, a pro 
digious multitude flocked to Paris, almost all came straight to 
Saint-Lazarus. But what was singular in this sacerdotal 
charity was, that it never cooled, and that, although in orna 
ments, sacred vessels, linen, and repairs of churches, it ex 
ceeded a million of livres, our saint thought he had never 
done enough. Thank God, he was the only one who thought 
so. There were few provinces where he was not looked upon 



MFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 271 

as the father both of pastors and people. His memory was 
there in benediction ; and when a country curate, showing 
the coat which he wore, applied to him the words of Jesus 
Christ to .St. Martin, " tt hdc me vcste contexit," he said no 
more, than a thousand priests could have said. 

He had also a very tender love for all communities. He 
was sometimes badly recompensed fur it; and on one impor 
tant occasion, he was opposed at Home by a society to which 
he had rendered signal services in France. He revenged 
himself no otherwise than by say in::, "that even if the ***** 
were to tear out his two eyes, he would never cease to love 
and serve them ;" and he did so all his life. His veneration for 
religious was so profound, that, when any one of them paid 
him a visit, he threw himself at hi< feet, and forced him hy 
perseverance to give him ins b!es>ing. lint he did something 
more for them; and the reforms of Grandmond, Premontre, 
Sainte-Genevieve, and ( hancel.i ! will be an eternal monu 
ment of the activity and extent of his charity in their regard. 
What he did for the whole body, he did more than a hundred 
times for the individuals themselves, either to reconcile them 
to their superior, or to prevent them from passing from one 
order to another, a line of conduct which he never approved, 
except when founded upon very solid reasons. 

A man so full of charity for strange communities, could 
not fail to have much for those which he had himself 
formed. A more tender father for each of his children than a 
natural father would be for an only son, there was none 
amongst them, who had not reason to believe that they were 
tenderly loved by him. His words, his letters, even his 
reprimands bore the impress of charity. lie anticipated 
their wants, supported them in their difficulties ; he did not 
judge, much less did he condemn without hearing. Artful 
reports, disguised and subtle detractions, found no access to 
him. He gave his children, as many as seven conferences 
against that miserable vice, which sows trouble every where. 
It is probably to his lessons, that the pious Madeleine de 
Lamoignon owed both her admirable mildness and her in 
flexible aversion for detraction. 



272 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

However ardent his charity was at all times it redoubled 
towards the infirm. Far from looking upon them as a bur 
then, he considered them the benediction of the houses where 
God tries them. He gave good directions, that they should be 
well treated ; and what is more certain, he examined in per 
son, to see that his orders were faithfully executed. In their 
convalescence, he enlivened them with relations of facts, in 
which, instruction was so well blended with amusement, that 
the mind and heart were equally benefitted. 

If he earnestly recommended the love of neighbor to his 
missionaries, he did not fail to do as much to the Sisters of 
Charity, whose very name alone reminds them of the pains 
they should take to cultivate that important virtue. "Alas! 
my dear sisters," said he to them, "you have already so much 
to suffer from abroad and from your employments. What 
would it be if you were to make for yourselves new crosses 
at home, which are always the most severe? Your houses 
would become a true purgatory, whilst charity should make 
them a paradise." He held the same language to the reli 
gious of St. Mary, and to the daughters of Providence. The 
constitutions which he drew up for these with Madame de 
Pollaillon, tend principally to establish in their hearts the em 
pire of charity and humanity. This is the idea, which a late 
writer furnishes, and it is as just as precise. 

Although it is easy to conclude from what we have said 
in the course of this history, that charity towards the poor 
was the predominant virtue of St. Vincent, the reader might 
find it strange, did we say nothing of it here. If we consider 
him from his infancy to the time of his death, almost all his 
life was passed in relieving the unfortunate. So many asso 
ciations formed to take care of the sick, so many tears shed 
over the foundlings, so many hospitals founded by his care, 
so much aid procured for immense provinces, so many and 
such large sums distributed amongst the Barbary slaves, so 
many glorious establishments which still subsist, announced 
for more than a century how much he was actuated by mercy. 
It was for the poor he established a company of virgins who 
glory in being their servants. It was for them he gave a new 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 273 

congregation to the church, and that he often reduced it to be 
in want of what was necessary, fur fear that what was neces 
sary might be wanting to the poor. It was for them, that 
after having obtained from an august queen even her jewels, 
he in a manner gave away himself, by borrowing considerable 
sums in his own name. In fine, it was for them that he 
gave so prodigiously during his life, that in the opinion of 
Franfois Hebert, bishop of Agen, who knew him better 
than any one else, the total amount of his alms exceeds 
twelve hundred thousand Louis. Let those who study to 
obscure his glory, show us any thing in their heroes which 
approaches this! Yet this is only a sketch of his charity 
towards the poor. The perusal of his large life, although re 
stricted in that respect, will give a better and more impressive 
idea of it. 

That which it will give of the love he had for his enemies, 
will not be less consoling. As it is out of our power to 
furnish a detail here, it will be sufiicient for us to say, that 
Vincent, when ready to go to the altar, took off his vest 
ments to reconcile himself with a man by whom he had been 
offended ; that he petitioned for the recall of a gentleman, 
who almost under the eyes of Ann of Austria had shamefully 
ill-treated him; that far from triumphing in the misfortunes 
generally experienced by those who abandon their first voca 
tion, he obtained by his tears the revocation of the sentence 
of death pronounced against a thoughtless man, who after 
having deserted from his congregation, had deserted from his 
regiment; and finally, instead of abandoning to her miserable 
fate a woman, who had killed a brother of his house, almost 
under his eyes, he gave her money to effect her escape. If 
this was not giving his soul for those of his enemies, it was 
at least doing what we meet with only in the lives of the 
greatest saints. 

Meekness, that virtue so well calculated to gain hearts, 
was perhaps that which cost St. Vincent most. But at last 
by the power of watchfulness and prayer, he acquired it in so 
exalted a degree, that he would have been in this respect the 
first man of his ase, had not that age beheld the holy bishop 



274 LIFE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 

of Geneva. He had to treat, and often on the same day, 
with persons of elevated minds, and with people of neither 
education nor understanding. Every one who saw him 
believed he saw fc>t. Paul conjuring the Christians by the 
meekness and modesty of Jesus Christ. * He every where 
awakened the idea of the Saviour conversing with men. 
There was never any sign of displeasure on his countenance, 
any asperity in his words, or impatience in his gestures. 

It was above all with heretics and with the poor coun 
try people, that mildness appeared to him most necessary. 
lie had the consolation to gain three Protestants to the church 
on the same day. It was by the solidity of his proofs, but 
much more by his unction and mildness, that he effected this 
conquest. On this subject he recollected the expression of 
Cardinal du Perron, that he could convince the Calvinists, 
but it belonged to the bishop of Geneva to convert them. 

As to the people of the country, who were always the great 
object of his zeal, he was persuaded that it is only by patience 
and mildness, that any thing can be done with them. In his 
opinion, which was always very correct, that oracle of the 
Scripture, "make thyself affable to the congregation of the 
poor," should be the rule of every priest. He was the first 
to put it in practice; and if the missions he made amongst 
the galley slaves, were attended with a success which aston 
ished all France, it was in a great measure to the extreme 
mildness with which he treated them, that it was to be attri 
buted. Indeed, that virtue which charms every where, had 
in him something so natural, so prudent, that it was difficult 
to resist it. A gentleman, accustomed to swearing, having 
once said before many other persons, that he wished the devil 
had him ; the saint kindly embraced him, and said with a 
smile : "And I, sir, will keep you for God; it were a pity his 
enemy should have you." These few words edified the com 
pany very much : he to whom they were addressed was 

* It is from the letter of Mr. Fdm lon, archbishop of Cambray, 
that I take this beautiful expression. He had it from Mr. Tronson, 
the celebrated superior of St. Sulpice. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 275 

more struck than the rest. lie acknowledged his fault and 
promised to correct himself. 

The mildness of our saint pursued that just medium, which 
knows neither deficiency nor excess, lie detested llattery, so 
far as to say that nothing was more unworthy of a truly 
Christian heart; but he did not less detest that servile defe 
rence, which to avoid displeasing men, oiten causes us to 
displease God. Ilis constant rule was to imitate him, who, in 
advancing resolutely to his object, will do so by ways full of 
sweetness and mildness, .iliin^ d it fine usque ud Jinemfarti- 
ter, et disponil oinuui suuviter. ^ap. v s . 1. 

But Vincent knew how to unite the firmness necessary to 
one in authority, with the most wonderful humility. At first 
it would appear as if we could imitate him in his other virtues; 
but when we consider his ardor lor contempt, we must yield; 
it appears inimitable. It is surpri>inu r , that he began very 
early to nourish those sentiment-, so much opposed to nature; 
and that, in spile of the praise heaped upon him throughout 
Europe by the cirri; y and the laity, he never lost them. 
The reader has not forirotf n, tliat, on his arrival in I aris, he 
abandoned his own name, for fear of being taken ior a man 
of food family; that, although he had performed good studies, 
he gave himself out a-< but a poor sdiol-ir ; that, on the occa 
sion of that poor nephew, who canif to see him in Paris, 
he gained one of the most complete victories over self- 
love; that he improved upon the odious compliment paid him 
by the abbe ^aint-Cyran, when he treated him as an ignorant 
man, unfit to lie at the head of his congregation; and that, 
in fine, at court, where birth is sometimes the principal merit, 
he commenced by publishing that he was the son of a poor 
countryman. 

I add, what has been said more than once, and said 
without fear of exaggeration, t l, a t he always seized upon 
all the occasions of humbling himself, or rather that he 
sought them, when they did not present themselves. A 
son of a cood family wrote to him from Acqs, that he had 
the honor of heinu his relation, and on that ground besought 
his protection. The saint assured him of his good will ; but 



276 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

he did what he could, to persuade him that being the son of a 
poor husbandman, he could not be of so good a family as he. 
A Portuguese nobleman, the Count de Obidos, wrote to him 
a letter full of esteem and respect. Vincent, being afflicted 
because there was still some one who did not look upon him 
as the last of men, did all in his power to make him change 
his opinion ; and, as usual, he forgot neither his spiritual 
poverty, nor the humility of his birth. Peter J. F. de Mont- 
gaillard, bishop of Saint-Pons, happened to mention to him a 
chateau of his own family. " I know it," replied the holy 
priest: "For I look care of cattle in my youth, and I often 
led them in that direction." This quick trait of humility 
struck the prelate so much, that he repeated it a hundred 
times in his life, and he never did so without shedding tears. 

But nothing in my opinion shows better the humility of our 
saint, and the idea generally conceived of it, than a circum 
stance which took place at Marseilles, when they wished to 
commence the process of his beatification. The commis 
sioners having visited the halls of the magnificent hospital, 
which the convicts owe to the charity of the holy priest, an 
old galley slave who was blind, and who heard more noise 
than usual, asked what was the matter. "They want to 
know," replied some persons, "whether you knew Mr. Vin 
cent." "Yes, to be sure," replied he, "I made my general 
confession to him ; he was a very holy man. But why do 
they want to know that?" "Because," said they, "they 
wish to canonize him." " It is trouble thrown away," cried 
he, " Mr. Vincent was too humble, he will never allow it." 
Would to God that this answer, which so many distiuguished 
persons have admired, would induce them, and myself more 
than they, to say with truth what our saint so often said 
through an excess of humility: "I am not a man, but a 
poor worm that crawls upon the earth, who knows not 
whither he goes : but who seeks only to hide himself in you, 
O my God ! who art all my desire. I am a poor blind 
thing, the most useless, the most miserable of men, and one 
who most of all stands in need of the mercies of the Lord." 

And this very man, who places himself below the devils; 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 277 

who, at the college des bons Enfans went so far as to acknow 
ledge before his priests the most grievous faults he had ever 
committed ; who found no difficulty in going on his knees 
publicly before a wretch who dared to strike him ; who de 
based himself; I find difficulty in saying it, but why should I 
not do so, after the example of a great bishop? who debased 
himself so far as to clean the shoes of a candidate for orders; 
in a word, that man so vile, so abominable in his own eyes, 
was as firm as a rock, when the interests of God and his 
church were in question. He then showed that contempt for 
himself was not incompatible with true greatness of soul. We 
have seen him, notwithstanding his just deference for his 
most signal benefactor, oppose the re-establishment of a scan 
dalous abbess ; close the entrance of the house of the Visita 
tion to Princesses accustomed to obtain whatever they wished; 
reject from the sanctuary those powerful men who could not 
edify the church, but who well knew how to take revenge; 
in fine propose to the prim" minister to sacrifice himself to 
the public cood, and to a ^reat queen to lend her hand to the 
sacrifice. To judi^e whether in such critical cases a man 
without birth has need of courage, we need only examine 
whether, in his place, those who hold the first rank in the 
state, would often dare to imitate him. 

In learning from the Son of ( iod to b<> meek and humble of 
heart, our saint learned from him to be obedient on all occa 
sions in whu-h religion commanded or permitted him to be so. 
He was in the hands of his director, like ;\ child who has no 
will. It was through obedience that he entered the parish of 
Clichy and the house of the general of the galleys; that he be 
came the director of Madame de (Jondi; that he afterwards 
accepted and resumed the charge of first superior of his con 
gregation ; that, without ever seeking privileges, which he 
might have obtained more easily than many others, he de 
sired that his priests should depend absolutely upon the ordi 
nary in what concerned their exterior functions, and that he 
at last accepted in the council of the king, a place to which 
he would have undoubtedly preferred the chains with 
which he had been loaded at Tunis. 
24 



LIFE Of ST. VINCENT Of PAUL. 



A man who so well knew how to practice obedience had a 
right to prescribe it to others. And this he did perfectly with 
regard to the communities which Providence had confided to 
his care. He told them that this virtue combined with regu 
larity, was the soul, and as it were the substance of religion ; 
that all the good of the creature consists in fulfilling the de 
signs of God, and that they are not fulfilled but by the faith 
ful practice of obedience ; that in fine those who are disu 
nited from the heart of their superiors, who murmur against 
them, who contradict them, become guilty of interior apos 
tasy. He added that obedience, to be perfect, must be volun 
tary, because it should spring from the heart and from affec 
tion; prompt, because true obedience admits no excuse or de 
lay ; courageous, because it should not be arrested by the sight 
of obstacles ; persevering, because it is necessary to obey like 
Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ obeyed even unto death. 

The example of that God Saviour was the first motive, 
which the holy priest employed to give animation to the 
practice of that important virtue. But he joined to it another 
well calculated to excite dread and compassion for those who 
are in authority, the terrible account which they will have to 
render at the tribunal of the sovereign Judge. Intoxicated 
during life with their trifling grandeur, they frequently do not 
think, either of fulfilling their duties well, or of causing them 
to be fulfilled by others. At their death their soul must first 
account for itself, and then for those of inferiors. Is it just 
to add to a weight, which of itself is already so enormous ? 

Such perfect obedience supposes a great deal of candor and 
simplicity. That of Vincent of Paul was admirable; the 
great Bossuet did him as much justice on this score, as the 
Cardinal de la Rochefoucault had done to his humility. Pie 
never knew the equivocal steps, or the tortuous routes of 
the prudent of the world. Always ingenuous, afways up 
right, if he did not always tell every truth without distinction, 
because there were mysteries in the state which were for him 
self alone, he never saiJ nor insinuated any thing contrary to 
truth. A simple man, said he, looks only at God, and wishes 
to please him alone. If he does not discover all his thoughts, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 279 

for simplicity is a discreet virtue, he takes care to avoid what 
ever may lead to believe that he has in his mind and heart 
what lie really has not. In a word, he is simple in every 
thing; simple in his instructions, simple in his manner of 
acting anil speaking. 

That simplicity in speaking, and above all, in the instruc 
tions civen to the people, was a point which our saint was 
never tired of inculcating. His fear, his great fear, was that 
his children would have, like many others, the misfortune to 
wish to acquire a name by showy discourses. "Men wish 
to shine," said be, " wish to be spoken of, wish to haar it 
said that they have succeeded well. Cursed pride, how much 
good dost tbou corrupt! Thou dost cause men to preach 
themselves, and not Jesus ( "nrist ; and instead of edifying they 
destroy and rum." To words, Vincent added examples of 
which he had been witness. One day he threw himself on 
his knees, at the feet of one of bis priests, to conjure him to 
make his instructions to the candidates for orders in a simple 
manner, lie could produce no effect upon a man full ot his 
own merit, who wished to follow his taste, who in fact did so, 
but absolutely without anv fruit. Another on the contrary, 
who was guided by the advice of the saint, charmed in such 
a manner a whole province, the inhabitants of which were 
considered very acute, that they offered him a very handsome 
settlement 

But as simplicity without prudence becomes indiscretion or 
stupidity, the servant of CJod always took great care to unite 
these two virtues. Hut he united them so well that up to the 
time of his death, he was looked upon as the wisest man of 
his age. Ilishops. magistrates, curates, doctors, religious, su 
periors of communities, all came to him as to the oracle of 
the ace. " I speak from what 1 have seen." says an eye-wit 
ness, as I myself accompanied the prince of Conti, and 
Messrs. DTrfe and I Y-nelon on a visit which they paid him 
to have hit. advice on different matters. 

It was the \i\a\\ and just esteem in which his prudence 
was held, that induced St. Francis of Sales to make him 
accept the oflice of superior of his first monastery of Pans ; 



280 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Ann of Austria to place him at the head of her council, the 
illustrious Guiliaume de Lamoignon, the first president of 
the parliament, to consult him as " a superior mind, not only 
in matters of conscience, hut also in secular affairs;" the 
house of Fenelon to give consent to a marriage which it did 
not approve, and which, according to the prediction of the 
saint, gave to the church the great archbishop of Cambray. 

But why should we seek for the opinions of individuals 
on a subject where public facts speak so loudly ? Let us re 
member the great establishments which he formed , the means 
he made use of to succeed in them, the wise regulations which 
he gave them, the manner in which he appeased the bishop 
of Mans, and which the most refined policy will always envy 
him: in a word, let us examine his conduct in Africa and in 
Europe, and we will acknowledge without difficulty, with 
Messrs, le Tellier, chancellor of Franco, and Claude le Pelle- 
tier, minister of state, that Vincent of Paul conducted him 
self in every thing with so much prudence and wisdom, that 
those to whom justice and reason compelled him to be most 
opposed, could not complain of him. 

These last words lead us to say a word of the justice of 
St. Vincent. To prove that he possessed it, like the other 
virtues, in a heroical degree, I shall not follow him, either in 
the manner in which he rendered to Caesar what belonged 
to Caesar, or in the always enlightened choice he made of 
the officers for whom he had occasion as lord of the terri 
tory of St. Lazarus, or in the attention which he paid, not 
withstanding his mildness, to maintain the severity of the 
laws, when the stronger law of the pardon of injuries did not 
compel him to act otherwise. ! shall content myself with 
pointing out his conduct in the lawsuits which the spirit of 
chicanery or surprise sometimes brought upon him. I can as 
sure my readers beforehand, that it was as becoming a Chris 
tian, as it is little imitated by the most part of Christians. 

His maxim was to prefer sacrificing something of his 
rights to giving an improper example to his neighbor by going 
to law. But as there are characters incapable of adopting 
measures of compromise, he never engaged in the defence 



LIFE OF ST. VINCF.VT OF PAUL. 281 

without having consulted, at home and abroad, all that was 
most wise and judicious. If sometimes he was mistaken in 
such matters, as it appears to me he was in an important 
case, through the celebrated Andrew Duval, at least he had 
prudence on his side. 

When the affair was commenced, and when he saw the 
judges, it was less to recommend his cause to them, than to 
beg them earnestly to have nothing but equity in view. He 
was neither for or against any person. He was equally so 
licitous lor plaintiil and defendant. He exposed and laid 
stress upon the reasons of the adverse party, as well, and per 
haps better than that party could do. He even considered so 
licitations as steps that were little conformable to justice. He 
said that a magistrate who fears God pays no regard to them ; 
and that, when he was in the council of the queen, he con 
sidered them as nothing : and that he was satisfied with ex 
amining whether the thing in question was just or not. 

He was obliged to have a lawsuit with the inhabitants of 
Valpuiseau. When they came to Paris, in quality of parties 
in the cause, he could not have received them better. He 
lodged them, made them eat in the refectory, at his side, and 
paid their travelling expenses. When the affair was about to 
be decided, he caused notice of it to be given them, that if any 
thing new could be produced, they might do it in time. They 
came to him at once, as to a man who protected them. He 
went with them himself to the judge. Notwithstanding all 
these good offices they were condemned ; but the saint paid 
the expenses of the suit ; in the evening, he again gave them 
their supper, lodged them, and did not send them away the 
next morning, without furnishing each one with the means 
of going home. 

The examples of gratitude which he has left are no less 
touching. Without Speaking of that which he entertained 
towards God, and which extended not only to the benefits 
which he personally received, but also to those which all 
creatures daily receive; that which he manifested towards 
men, went so far that it is almost impossible to convey a just 
idea of it. A man who assisted him to mount his horse, a 



282 MFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

child who showed him the road, a stranger who paid him a 
visit, often troublesome, was sure of thanks, and even of lib 
erality. If any thing were calculated to make him forget 
the austerity of the rules he had prescribed for himself, it 
would have been the spirit of gratitude, the weight of which 
bore him down. The priest who, as we have said, plunged 
into the water to bring him out, having lost his first fervor 
and quitted his state of life, wished to return to it. He wrote 
letters upon letters ; but, seeing that the saint, who feared that 
his volatile disposition might soon make him repent of his very 
repentance, turned a deaf ear to him, he attacked him in the 
most sensitive part, I mean, on the score of gratitude. The de 
cisive words of his last letter were these : " Sir, I once saved the 
life of your body, save that of my soul." On reading these 
words, the saint was moved. The opportunity of exercising 
a precious virtue, joined to the perseverance of the person in 
whose favor it was to be exercised, overcame him at last. 
" Come, sir," replied he, " and you shall be received with 
open arms." He would have been, in fact, had not God, 
satisfied with the preparation of his heart, taken him off at 
the time he was preparing to set out. 

Never did man experience the effects of a well timed ser 
vice, more than Adrien Le Bon. No; never did the most 
tender son do for his father, what Vincent did for the former 
prior of St. Lazarus. But, under the name of this excellent 
benefactor, we must also comprise all those connected with 
him. For two or three years, the saint fed a person, who, 
full of fantastical notions, was running about all day, passed 
a part of the night in writing his ravings, and was unwilling 
to do any thing. Vincent, to whom complaints were brought 
of him more than once, only replied : " He is to be pitied ; 
but he has served one of our principal benefactors : will God 
find fault with us for acknowledging in the person of the 
servant, the feelings which we entertained towards the 
master?" 

But what was the result of such persevering, such Chris 
tian patience? Something miraculous. That poor domestic 
became the example and consolation of the whole commu- 



LIFE OK ST. \ I.N( t.NT OK PAUL. 283 

nity. He waited on the sick with a respect and affection 
which cannot be expressed. Being asked by a person how 
he would serve our Lord, if lie were still upon earth, he re 
plied : " I would serve him as I serve you ; for I serve you 
as I would wish to serve him." See, says the author of the 
memoir from which we extract this, one of the fruits of the 
gratitude of Mr. Vincent. It was admirable ; it was just that 
it should produce admirable effects. 

But the effects of the saint s gratitude were not always so 
happy. His priests at Rome were near being driven from 
thence at the instigation of Mazarin, for having helped the 
Cardinal de Retz, who had sought an asylum there. "Let 
the will of God be done," said the holy man ; " but it is bet 
ter to lose every thing, than the virtue of gratitude." 

These last words show us how much Vincent of Paul was 
detached from the goods of this earth. This testimony is fur 
nished by every one, who paid a little attention to his character. 
" In quality of secretary of state," said M. le Tellier, "I had 
great intercourse with Mr. Vincent. He has done more good 
works in France lor religion and the church, than any person 
I have known. Hut I remarked particularly, that in the 
council of conscience, of which he was the principal agent, 
his own interest, or that of his congregation, was never brought 
in question." 

This great detachment was the first virtue which appeared 
in him; and, what does not always happen, it continued to 
his extreme old age. It will be remembered that he was yet 
a child, when he gave all his little treasure to a poor person; 
that he had nothing, when he left his abbey to labor in the 
country ; that a year of entreaty could not determine him to 
accept the house of St. Lazarus, and that he would have 
abandoned it, when the gentlemen of St. Victor contested it, 
had he not been assured that he could not do so in conscience. 

This was known to the public before the publication of 
this history. But it was not known that Mr. Le Blanc, 
one of his priests, wishing to leave an annual revenue to the 
house of St. La/arus, the man of God begged him to be 
queath it to his family, which he did. It was not known, that, 



284 



LIFE OT ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



although reduced to extreme necessity, Vincent once refused 
five hundred crowns, saying that two thousand poor, who 
were sick at the Hotel Dieu, had still more need of them than 
he. It was not known, that the attorney of the king in a large 
city, having given him property of which he was the entire 
master, Vincent restored it to his relations, because they were 
not pleased at the donation. Finally, it was not known, that 
he refused sixty thousand pistoles which were offered him to 
build a church, because by accepting them, he might have done 
an injury to the poor of Jesus Christ. 

This detachment from the goods of this earth gave rise in 
him to so great a love of poverty, that his age has scarcely wit 
nessed ecclesiastics who carried it so far. His dress was as 
common as it could be. His food corresponded to his cloth 
ing. The only distinction between him and his companions 
was his more austere penance. As to his lodging, it was the 
most pitiful thing that can be imagined. A chamber without 
fire-place, a bed without curtains, a pallet without a mattrass, 
two straw bottomed chairs, and a wooden crucifix constituted 
all his furniture. " I acknowledge," says Jean Baptiste 
Chomel, the first physician of the king, in his deposition, 
" that I was completely astonished, when I saw a man of 
such merit and reputation, lodged so miserably, and hav 
ing only such furniture, as he could not absolutely dispense 
with." 

It may be well imagined that this great lover of poverty, 
endeavored to inspire his children with the love of it. " It is 
true," said he to them, " that we are not religious, because it 
was not thought proper that we should be so, nor are we 
worthy to be so ; but it is not less true that poverty is the bond 
of communities and particularly of ours. It is this bond, 
that, separating them entirely from the things of earth, will 

unite them perfectly to God A man who has the true 

spirit of poverty, fears nothing; he can do every thing; he 
goes every where. He thinks himself happy in following 
the example of the Saviour, who began by a manger and fin 
ished with the cross." 

It was from this love of the cross that sprung up in Vin- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 285 

cent the spirit of mortification, no\v-a-days so little known. 
But with him that mortification had for its object every thing 
that could serve as matter fur it. The judgment, the will, the 
inclinations of the heart, the senses, in a word, body and soul, 
all were immolated. He had an air naturally severe ; he re 
formed himself so much, that from his retreat at Soissons he al 
ways passed for a model of mildness and affability. He related 
facts with much grace, and a person who relates well, and 
knows much, is willing to speak ; however, he knew so well 
how to keep silence, when circumstances did not require him 
to speak, that a secretary of the king, who had been a slave at 
Algiers, and who knew very well .hat Vincent had been so at 
Tunis, led him more than twenty times towards the subject, 
without ever being able to draw from him one word in relation 
to his captivity. He loved his family so tenderly, that having 
seen with his own eyes the poor state in which it was, three 
months of reflection could not mitigate the trouble he felt. Yet 
he overcame it so far as to say to his brethren, according to the 
Scripture: " I know you not," because he knew poor persons 
more to be pitied than they, and he looked upon a middling 
fortune as a germ of sanctih cation. In fine, he had so well 
buried the old man with his desires, that Mr. Almeras, his 
successor, who had studied him a great deal, could discover 
neither inclination nor bent in him. 

It was not altogether so with his exterior mortification. 
Whatever precaution he took to conceal one portion of it, 
and disguise the other, it has been sufficiently known, to give 
him a distinguished place amongst the most illustrious peni 
tents. The following was his invariable course during more 
than forty years. 

He seldom went to bed till towards midnight, for the great 
affairs with which he was loaded, did not permit him to repose 
sooner. A miserable pallet was his bed, and five years before 
his death he had the sheets taken off. Whether he had slept 
or not, whether he was in good health, or had the fever, which 
often happened to him, he always rose at four o clock in the 
morning, and took the discipline. To it he joined, particu 
larly in times of public calamity, the hair shirt, and pointed 



286 LIFE OF ST. VIXC KXT OF TAUI,. 

copper bracelets and cinctures. 1 1 is hair shirt, which still ex 
ists, makes even those accustomed to mortification tremble. An 
enemy and almost a murderer of his body, in the most severe 
weather he kept his hands exposed to the cold, to the impres 
sions of which he was very sensible. His food was of the 
coarsest kind ; and what was least palatable in his portion 
was always chosen by him; he sprinkled on it from time 
to time bitter powders which made it very disagreeable. 
He generally fasted twice a week ; and neither old age or his 
infirmities could make him lose the habit. At upwards of 
eighty years, he fasted throughout lent more rigorously than 
a robust man in the flower of his age. Yet, this is but a 
part of his mortification ; and he carried it so far that the 
Cardinal of la Rochefoucault, to preserve a life so precious 
to the church, begged him to moderate it. 

A man, who bore so continually in his body the mortifica 
tions of Jesus Christ, must naturally have had a great command 
over himself, and be eminently pure. Neither error, or cal 
umny which serves it as a guard, have ever undertaken to 
assail him on the score of the amiable virtue of which we 
here speak. It is true that to remove even the shadow of 
danger, he always took the strictest precautions. He never 
paid a visit to any woman, not even the ladies of his assem 
bly, but when the glory of God required him to do it ; in this 
respect Madame Le Gras was treated like the rest. In the 
conversations which he was obliged to hold with females, he 
was very precise, and so modest, though without affectation, that 
he would rather be taken for an angel than a man. Though 
sick, and more than eighty years of age, he always had a 
companion who did not lose sight of him. This person hav 
ing once retired through respect for the lady of Marshal de 
Chombert, the saint recalled him instantly and made him sen 
sible of his fault. Although he often had to deal with per 
sons who stood in need of consolation, he was always unac 
quainted with those affectionate expressions which heal one 
evil only by another. Such were his maxims ; and he repeated 
them so often, both to his missionaries and to the Sisters of 
Charity, that, did we not know that purity resembles those 



Ulft Of SI . MM i:.M UK 1 AUL. 287 

costly mirrors which a light breath will sully, we would be 
lieve that his precautions were excessive. 

But what he did to preserve spotie.-s purity fur his children, 
he did at all tunes to preserve it lur innumerable persons who 
were in immediate danger of losing it. It is to him that Lor 
raine, where his name should never die, is indebted for its 
vircins, whom he preserved from shipwreck. It was under 

O * * 

his auspices, that two holy and lilu.-trious widows, de Po- 
laillon and Le (Jra-s, opened their houses to thousands, who 
were at the la^-t extremity, and the loss of whose inno 
cence would have been caused by one day s delay. It was 
he wiio, in establishing by his lessons and credit, good order 
among the Daughters of Magdalen, made of a seat of mur- 
murings a place uf sweet and peaceful tears. In line it was 
he who, when almost at the end of his career, formed a still 
more extensive project, which was executed after his death. 
If these glorious undertakings prove his love for purity, 
they do not le.-s prove his strength and courage. Hence the 
great Lamoignon, who admired him in every thing, was par 
ticularly struck by his firmness, which he compared to that 
of die apo-t!es; and the like justice was rendered him by Victor 
de .Mehan and the celebrated archbishop of Cambray. But 
what need is there of witnesses in a matter where one glance 
at the facts, becomes an incontestable proot / In fact, that 
a man who belongs to no one, has no other support than 
his virtue, in an age when virtue is littl" valued, and seeks on 
every occasion to vilify himself; that a man whose only po 
licy is that of faith, who is charged with a rising congrega 
tion, still is incapable of availing himself either of the favor 
of the sovereign, or the employments which his merits have 
obtained for him ; that a man who would sacrifice every thing 
rattier than fail in the duties of gratitude, and who, far from 
disobliging through a principle of natural insensibility, never 
found himself more happy than when he could oblige; that a 
man of this character should spenk truth even amidst the 
court ; that he should not promise what his conscience would 
not permit him to fulfil ; that lie should withstand the most 
powerful solicitations, threats, and injuries ; that neither dan- 



288 LITE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

ger or persecution should ever induce him to take a false step ; 
that the most justly grounded tenderness should find him in 
exorable ; in a word, that in the course of a long life, it should 
never happen to him to say yes, when his duty obliged him 
to say no; is in the eyes of reason and faith, a prodigy of 
firmness, of which the heroes of the world are incapable, ex 
cept when they are Christian heroes likewise. 

To be convinced that Vincent was the man whose portrait 
we have just drawn, it is sufficient to recollect the manner in 
which he acted, either with regard to Mr. Le Bon, when he 
endeavored to interest him in favor of a guilty abbess, and with 
regard to the queen herself in the affair of her first minister ; 
or the intrepidity with which he refused, to avoid compromi 
sing his conscience, high and proud ladies, sometimes magi 
strates, to procure benefices for their children ; or the courage 
with which he visited an old friend, not to congratulate him 
on the nomination of his son to a bishopric, but to conjure 
him to exclude him from it, because he was not worthy of it. 

But what is this, in comparison with the strength which he 
stood in need of, to procure for ruined Lorraine and so many 
other provinces, assistance which could not possibly be pro 
cured but by the most invincible charity ; to sustain in spite of 
every one the establishment of the foundlings ; to send, and 
almost always at his own expense, into every part of the 
kingdom, and a great number of other countries, those endless 
colonies of missionaries, who watered them with their sweat, 
and more than once, with their blood ? We have given else 
where the detail of those glorious missions; but notwithstand 
ing the monotony inseparable from it, piety is nourished by it. 
Being now limited within very narrow bounds, we shall only 
speak of those of Madagascar, Algiers, and two or three 
others. 

MISSIONS OF MADAGASCAR. 

Madagascar is one of the largest islands in the world, and 
the most extensive of those in Africa. Francis Gauche makes 
it eight hundred leagues in circumference ; and it had more 
than four hundred thousand inhabitants, when the first priests 



LIFE OK ST. VIXCF.NT OF PAUL. 289 

of the mission arrived there. Of these inhabitants, some are 
black and natives of the island, others who are white and 
rule the country, are said to have come from Persia. Circumci 
sion, which they call l- ulasciru, prevails throughout the island. 
They have no temple. However, they admit a superior 
Bern s, whom they consider the master of the universe and 
the author of every good ; but the devil to whom they attri 
bute all the evils of life, is much more honored, because more 
feared. They always name him before God, and he has the 
greater portion of their sacrifices. 

The priests, or those who approach nearest to them, are 

called Ombiasses. The people fear them on account of their 

books, or rather on account of certain figures which they have 

put in them, and by means of which they pretend to cure 

diseases, foretell the future, find lost things, and even restore 

ihe mind when disordered, lint of all the superstitions of 

the country, the most dillicult to root out is the worship they 

pay to the o/yj/a, that is to say, to certain idols rudely fabri.-a- 

i-i by the Ombiasses, some of which represent men, and 

others grotesque figures. They belteved these little pagods to 

be animated by a familiar spirit, and they ask of them what- 

rver the Christians ask of the true God, health, good weather, 

virtory over their enemies, above all, that they may not be 

devoured by the crocodiles, with which their rivers are m- 

focted When any one is caught by them, the only reason 

they give, is that "his Obys was good for nothing. Happy 

would they be, if they were to pronounce the same judgmen 

on all the others ; but they are so head-strong on this point, 

that they can scarcely suffer any one to undeceive them. 

I do not know that any nation carries the superstition of 
times, as far as they do. March and April, the eighth day 
and last week of each month, are unlucky times. Every child 
born then, runs a great risk of its life; and to prevent the 
dusters which would not fail to fall upon it and the family, 
they hasten to expose it under a hedge, where it is often the 
prey of wild beasts. If a woman dies in child-birth, the living 
child is buried with her. Those who have a very painful 
delivery cause the child to be strangled, because, having s. 



290 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

early caused the mother to suffer so much, it would necessa 
rily have a very had disposition. A female slave whose mas 
ter neglects the children, buries them, or throws them into 
the river, to save herself the trouble of nourishing them. 

Such were the people, with whom the missionaries sent to 
Madagascar by our saint, had to deal. It is true, that the 
country was not then so well known as it was afterwards. 
A pretty advantageous opinion of those islanders was enter 
tained at Rome and in France; and when Vincent first wrote 
ot them, he spoke as of a people who lived, it is true, 
in ignorance of the true God, but who were simple, upright 
and skilful. He had been deceived. There is not in the 
whole world a nation so crafty and perfidious. With the 
exception of the inhabitants of the province of Antongil, who 
believed themselves descendants of Abraham, and who are 
less inclined to betray, all the rest are acquainted with nothing 
but fraud, atrocity, and the most cruel vengeance. They give 
no quarter to their enemies. They satisfy upon the children 
the rage with which they were possessed against the fathers, 
and when they fall into their bands, they cut them in two 
without mercy. If they are pardoned an injury, their constant 
rule is to do still worse than before. Perhaps they would 
have been less vicious, and their old habits might by degrees 
have been eradicated, had they not found in the Christians of 
Europe the worst models of injustice and corruption. 

In order to clear this Avretched land, Vincent chose two 
excellent laborers, Charles Nacquart de Campmartin, of the 
diocess of Soissons, and Nicholas Gondree, of the diocess 
of Amiens. He gave them excellent advice, and begged 
them earnestly to form their conduct upon that of the holy 
apostle of the Indies. To walk at a distance at least in the 
footsteps of that great man, they made successful trials of 
their talents and vocation at la Rochelle, where they were 
obliged to remain for a month. With the consent of the 
bishop, they employed the best part of the time in catechising 
the poor, hearing their confessions, and serving every way the 
prisoners and the sick of the hospitals. 

Finally, on the 21st of May, Ascension day, they set sail. 



LIFE OK ST. VI.NCKNT OF PAUL. 291 

They had scarcely left the port, wivm. a r t"r the gospel of the 
mass which was celebrated at sea that very day, Mr. Xacquart 
addressed a solid exhortation to all t IP crew, lie represented 
to them that thev would have nothing to fear from the fury 
of the ocean, it t>v a h< ly ii.e tiiey wcuid procure the favor 
of him, who commands th" sea and the tempe-n 

To dispose them to a life worthy of Cod, the zealous mis 
sionary commenced the jubilee which Innocent X had just 
granted to the faithful, to obtain that heaven would put an 
end to the frightful discord, which reined amongst Christian 
princes, and by which the great er.< my of the Christian name, 
the grand Turk, was desirous of profiting. Cundr-V and Nac- 
quart caused twenty-six persons who were in the ship to 
make general confessions, and they admitted those who were 
found worthy, to the participation of the divine mysteries. 
The passengers of a small v ;sel (if Dieppe which was in 
their company, and had anchored with them at Cape- Vert, 
benged a participation in the -race which they had just 
granted to the others. They tailored for that purpose on the 
eve of ,<t. John tin- Haptist. :d li:ll! llit! consolation to recon 
cile a considerable number; but they were so unhappy as 
not to be able, to render the same service to twelve black Por 
tuguese, on account of not understanding their language. 
As soon as they hail re-embarked, the exhortations, cate 
chisms, and pious readings re-commenced. The spirit of 
God showed itself so powerfully, that the ship appeared like 
a regular communitv. All swearing, every indecent word 
was banished. Whoever indulged in either, underwent on 
the spot a species of punishment which had been agreed upon. 
Hitherto every -iiing had prospered wonderfully ; hut when 
they were near ill- line, the winds became so contrary, that 
the captain and his mariners thought at last they had no 
choice but to seek a harbor. Nacquart, who was looked upon 
by the whole crew as a saint, was opposed to it. He had 
recourse to Him who draws the winds from his treasures. 
After his example all those in the vessel made a public vow 
to approach the sacraments about .he time of the Assumption, 
to build a church at Madagascar under the invocation ot the 



292 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



queen of heaven, and to give alms. Such Christian senti 
ments found favor with God : the wind changed; and after a 
voyage of six months and a half, they discovered Madagascar. 

As soon as they landed, Nacquart went on his knees to 
ofier the island to God, and to take spiritual possession of it in 
his name. He said mass at fort Dauphin, where, for want 
of matter for consecration, it had not been said for five months. 
The next day he said a solemn mass of thanksgiving. It was 
followed by a. Te Dcum: and the governor, who had come 
with them, assisted to it with those belonging to the vessel. 

The missionaries began their labors by the domestics of the 
faith. They endeavored to dispose the soldiers of the fort, to 
gain the indulgence of the jubilee. But it would appear that 
their success did not correspond to their good intentions. 
With the exception of some officers who feared God, there 
was neither order nor justice in the quarter of the Europeans. 
The most atrocious robberies were committed with impunity. 
The cattle of the natives was taken by force : they were 
massacred without mercy, when they did not give it cheer 
fully: they treated as an outrage upon temporals, the repre 
sentations and complaints of a conduct so contrary to justice 
and humanity. 

A manner of proceeding so violent, joined to the bad inclina 
tions of the natives, must naturally have done, and in fact did 
much harm to the propagation of the gospel. It must how 
ever be acknowledged, that the commencement furnished some 
hopes apparently well founded. Some months after landing, 
Nacquart learned that a diam, that is, one of the lords of the 
island, had lived at Goa in his youth. He paid him a visit, 
hoping that a man, who had seen the Christian religion, 
would be less averse to it than another. His conjecture was 
found sufficiently grounded. Andiam Ramach, for this was 
the name of this lord, acknowledged that he had been a Chris 
tian, and willingly permitted the missionary to instruct his 
vassals. To enable himself to dispense with an interpreter, 
the apostolical man began to study with all his might the 
language of the country, and made considerable progress in it 
in so short a time, that the islanders were surprised at it. He 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 293 

afterwards made excursions into the neighboring country, and 
into more distant provinces. Notwithstanding the pride of the 
blacks of that island, who, because they have the religion of 
die Alcoran, in some of the provinces, think themselves far 
superior to the negroes, Nacquart, who had already the con 
solation to see whole cantons render justice to the beauty of 
the Christian religion, thought himself on the point of reaping 
the fruits ot his labors, when an unforseen accident set bounds 
Jo his zeal, and dissipated a portion of his hopes. 

Gondree having, through obedience, followed some French, 
officers on a journey, they paid so little attention to him, 
either as regarded the travelling or food, that he fell sick, and 
was obliged to retrace his steps; nor did they even think of 
contributing any thing to his comfort on his way back. Soon 
after his arrival at the fort, Nacquart, who never lost sight of 
him, except when his functions called him elsewhere, was 
obliged to administer to him the last sacraments. The 
virtuous priest received them with all possible piety; and 
after having twice repeated to his associate, that he would 
have much to suffer in that miserable country, he expired in 
sentiments of perfect submission to the will of God, and a 
Jively gratitude for the favor which Vincent of Paul had done 
him, in choosing him before so many others to announce the 
gospel to the infidels. 

Such a mournful separation was a terrible blow for Mr. 
Nacquart. From that moment he looked upon himself as 
a victim, whom allliction and excess of labor was about to 
immolate gradually. However, as his sorrow was tempered 
by religion, lie did not yield to it so far as to forget his duties. 
To procure for those who labored with him a facility, which 
he had not found on arriving in Madagascar, he translated 
into the language of the country an abridgement of the Chris 
tian doctrine. Although he could scarcely absent himself five 
or six days, as he had to perform the office in the fort on Sun 
days and festivals, he overran the valley of Amboul, the coun 
try of Anos, and a chain of mountains which were not very 
distant. During the day he instructed those who remained in 
the villages, and in the evening by moonlight those who re- 



294 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

turned from labor. He pictured to them in so vivid a manner 
the judgment, and hell which is the consequence of it for the 
wicked, that the people and the lords cried out in concert : 
"Where then is that water which washes the soul, and 
which you have promised us ?" 

These words, and the dispositions which seemed to accom 
pany them, moved him more than once to tears : but he 
stopped short, when he considered that these people, natu 
rally volatile, changed their ideas almost as quickly as their 
habitations; that the bad Christians injured them more by 
their example, than he could benefit them by his preach 
ing; and that he being alone and liable to succomb at every 
moment, men still tender in the faith would be in danger of 
soon returning to their superstitions, if abandoned to them 
selves. Thus during more than eighteen months, he scarcely 
baptized more than fifty persons. Of those, a very old woman, 
who was dangerously sick, gave him much consolation. 
Scarcely had she received baptism, when her faith, her love, 
and gratitude for God redoubled. She died some days after 
wards, and she was the first islander buried in the French 
cemetery. 

Hence, a judgment may be formed of the ardor with which 
this worthy priest called for aid. "Alas!" cried he with St. 
Francis Xavier, "what are so many doctors now doing, who 
lose their time in the academies, whilst so many poor infidels 
ask for bread, and find no one to distribute it to them ? May 
the sovereign master of the harvest provide for it ; for unless 
there be a number of priests here to instruct, and preserve 
the fruit of the instructions, but little progress can be ex 
pected." These are the expressions of the letter which this 
perfect missionary wrote in 1650 to Vincent of Paul, to 
apprise him of the death of Mr. Gondree. 

That news afflicted the servant of God very much. Besides 
his losing an excellent laborer in the person of the deceased, 
he saw himself in danger of losing Mr. Nacquart also, who 
would naturally fall under the weight of such excessive labor. 
After having adored the designs of God, which although 
terrible are always just, he thought of supplying the loss 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 295 

of Mr. Gondree. Jacques Monnier, who burned with the 
desire of giving his blood for the salvation of the infidels, and 
Toussaint Bourdaise, a man full of nooJ will, were those to 
whom lie gave the preference. But the troubled state of the 
country detained them in France until 1054. In order to 
spare men of such merit, Vincent u hose charity redoubled 
with age, caused three others to depart the following year. 
They were Messrs. Dufour, Priivot, and De Belleville, 
three priests of great capacity and tried virtue. They did 
good; but, O the depths of the judgments of God! they 
scarcely commenced that for which they had been destined. 
The first letter which our saint received from Mr. Bourdaise, 
a letter which breathed sorrow in every line, related in sub 
stance that on arriving at Madagascar, he found nothing but 
the ashes of Mr. Nacquart de Champmartin ; that six months 
afterwards lie had lost Mr. Monnier; that Mr. de Belleville, 
with whose name and virtues alone he was acquainted, had 
died on the voyage ; that Mr. Prevot had followed him, after 
having survived the fatigues of the passage; that he had only 
seen Mr. Dufour to he acquainted with the value of that which 
he was to lose. " In fine," said Mr. Bourdaise, "all those of 
your children whom you sent to Madagascar are dead, and I 
am the wretched servant left alone to tell you of it. However, 
alHicting as it may be, you will not fail to be consoled at 
knowing the holy lives which they led, as well at sea as on 
shore, and the great blessings which God granted to their 
labors from the time they left France. " 

Bourdaise then relates that the passengers had given him 
an account of the zeal and virtues of these worthy missiona 
ries. This was opening a new source of tears for the holy 
priest, at a time when he had too much reason to shed them. 
For some months back, all the letters which he had received 
bore the impress of grief and death. He had just lost seven 
of his company, in the city of Genoa, who had fallen victims 
to their labors in the pestilence. lie believed himself on the 
point of seeing all those who labored in the Hebrides, fall 
under the blows of the pitiless Cromwell. Of so many priests 
sent successively to Madagascar, Bourdaise alone remained, 



296 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

or rather Bourdaise remained no longer, for he was dead at 
the time his letter was received announcing the death of all 
his brethren. Such multiplied inflictions, so sensible at an 
age, when the vigor of man is quite exhausted, should natu 
rally have hrought him to the grave. But he found in his 
submission to the orders of God, resources superior to the 
laws of nature. It was in vain they sought to persuade him 
that the time of rnercy was not yet come for Madagascar; he 
replied " that God often givee to perseverance the success 
which he has refused to the first efforts ; that six hundred of 
those islanders, who had already received baptism from the 
hands of a single missionary, sufficiently proved that these 
people were disposed to receive the light of the gospel ; that 
finally it would be violating all the laws of charity and reason, 
to abandon a servant of God who cried out for help and a 
people who asked only to be instructed. 

Actuated by these motives, the saint resolved to send a new 
colony to Madagascar. But the career of his zeal opened a 
very vast one to his patience. The two first priests whom he 
sent to Nantos could not embark there, because the vessel in 
which they were to go was lost. Some time after he sent four 
others ; but the Spaniards having captured the ship, they 
were obliged to return to France. Finally, the servant of 
God, about a year before his death, caused five to depart, 
who, in spite of the dangers of so painful a mission, had con 
jured him in every possible manner, to destine them for it. 
When they had arrived at Nantes, they learned that they 
would have to embark at La Rochelle : three of them went 
thither by land; the superior, whose name was Mr. Estienne, 
wished to go by sea with a brother; but the vessel, when 
about to enter the river of Bordeaux, lost her masts and sails 
in a terrible storm which arose. A young parisian who, 
seeing her on the point of striking on a rock, found means to 
save himself, wrote to his mother that he saw her swallowed 
up by the waves. Different letters from Nantes and other 
places confirmed the accident, and the three missionaries who 
learned it on arriving at La Rochelle, imformed Vincent of it. 

Accustomed as was that holy man to the strangest revolu- 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 297 

tions, this must have struck him, and more than any other. 
He could not have met with a greater loss. Estienne, though 
very young, had all the qualifications of an apostle. He 
knew no other happiness upon earth, than that of extending 
the faith of Jesus Christ. And to effect that object, particu 
larly in infidel countries, he had already sacrificed nearly 
forty thousand livres of his property. On the other hand, 
Philip de Money, counsellor of state, his hrother-in-law, and 
his other relations, did not fail to complain of an expedition 
so fatal to a man whom they cherished. All these reflections 
lacerated the heart of the holy priest. But his firmness did 
not abandon him. lie did not show a dark and sorrowful 
countenance ; and as he wished to take time, to announce 
such afflicting news to his community, no one perceived his 
grief in the interval which preceded the day he had chosen to 
speak of it. 

In the mean time, to profit by the embarcation, he secretly 
disposed another priest, to take the place of the one he so 
much regretted. At the time when this new superior was 
ready to set out, Vincent received by post several packets of 
letters, and amongst them two the address of which very much 
resembled the hand writing of Mr. Estienne. They were 
really from him. Both concurred in saying that the vessel 
in which they sailed from Nantes, had been for fifteen days 
in danger of perishing; that the captain and the sailors look 
ing for nothing but death, had thrown themselves at his feet, 
and asked absolution ; that after having given it to them, 
they trusted that they would not perish ; that on the day of 
the octave of the immaculate conception, they had all made a 
vow to approach the sacraments, to say or cause to be said 
twelve masses, to clothe twelve poor persons in honor of the 
Blessed Virgin ; that in fine, struggling against the winds 
and hunger, they had arrived at Saint Jean de Luz, whence 
he would make haste to be at La Rochelle before the departure 
of the vessels. 

A father who had become acquainted with the resurrection 
of his only son, could not be more afTected than Vincent was 
at such unexpected news. But accustomed as he was to see 



298 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

God alone in all the events of life, he passed without sensible 
emotion from one extremity to the other. His joy was silent 
before men, as his sorrow had been. He cast himself at the 
feet of his divine master, and blessed him for life witii as great 
peace as he had blessed him for death. 

Estienne hastened immediately to La Rochelle to embark 
with his brethren. But as Vincent was no longer upon earth, 
when his first letters were received, and, as on the other hand 
the labors of Mr. Estienne and the crown of martyrdom which 
God granted to his desires, deserve a particular history, I 
shall say nothing more of him. It will be sufficient to know 
that Louis XIV having abandoned that unfortunate island, in 
1674, all the French were obliged to leave it; that of the four 
missionaries who were there at the time, one was killed by 
the negroes, another burned alive in his own dwelling, that 
the two others returned to France, and one of them, named 
Michael Montmasson, replaced in every sense, at Tunis, the 
illustrious Mr. le Vacher, that is to say, that he did infinite 
good, and that as a martyr, he was placed at the mouth of 
the canon, after having been loaded with insults and indigni 
ties. This naturally leads us to the missions of Barbary. 
We shall give but a very slight idea of them; but that idea 
will not fail to edify and console those who love religion. 

BARBARY MISSION. 

Vincent who knew by his own experience all that the 
Christian slaves at Tunis sulFered, and the danger they were 
in of denying their faith to mitigate their sufferings, lamented 
before God his want of power to aid them, when Louis X11I 
made a proposition to him to that effect. The saint, who saw 
in that disposition the accomplishment of his desires, dis 
patched without delay Louis Guerin, a man who to an 
eloquence truly solid and full of unction, united all the 
virtues of an apostle, and above all, an ardent desire to suffer 
all that they suffered for the propagation of the gospel. Gue 
rin having perceived, after two years labor, that one man was 
not sufficient for the work, begged the Bey, or prince of the 
country, to permit him to call another priest to his aid. The 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 299 

Mussulman granted his request cheerfully, and assured him 
of his protection. " For/ added lie, " 1 well know that you 
do evil to no one, but that on the contrary you do good to 
every body." 

This worthy minister profited by this good will; and Vin 
cent of whom he asked a companion, sent him Jean le 
Vacher, whose labors and glorious death did as much honor 
to religion, as the piety and erudition of the celebrated Andre 
Duval, his relation, had done to his family. Le Vacher 
arrived in very good time, because the pestilence, more violent 
than usual at Tunis, carried oil every day a great number of 
Turks and slaves. Tnese mo prit MS labored on this pressing 
occasion with all imaginable zeal. 15ut Mr. Le Vacher, seized 
by the disorder, soon found himself at the gates of death. 
(.Jod who had destined him to sanctify lor more than thirty- 
live years the captives of Tunis and Algiers, restored him to 
the prayers of the Christiana "The joy we experienced at 
Ins recovery," wrote Mr. Uue.rin in lbi>, " has made us as 
strong as the lions of our mountains." 

Tnat strength did not last long. Mr. L- Vacher had 
s-arcelv recovered, wh -n his companion was attacked by 
the pestilence. He met death rather with cheerfulness 
than patience. If any tiling atllicted him, it was that he 
should die in his bed, whilst he had always flattered himself 
with the happiness of being impaled or burned alive for the 
glorv of his master. His death was shortly followed by that 
of tiie consul. The IVy, who loved Mr. Le Vacher, directed 
him to perform his functions, until the king of France should 
have appointed another. 

This additional embarrassment did not make him forget the 
principal obj.-ct, for which he ha.l been sent to Tunis. His 
occupation, like that of his brethren, consisted in maintaining 
in the faith, those whom prayers, threats, and the weight of 
th -ir chains were likely to withdraw from it; in bringing 
back, when possible, tl,<- renegades who had been so unfortu 
nate as to lose it; in consoling atilicted persons, who, 
although most innocent, were treated as state criminals; in 
teaching them to sanctify their cross by uniting it to that of 



300 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Jesus Christ, and finally in administering the sacraments both 
in the city and the country. 

That the reader may know how to appreciate such great 
benefits, it is proper to give him some idea of the situation of 
the Barbary slaves, and of the continual risks which those 
run who labor for their salvation. 

As to the slaves, that is, the great number of Christians of 
every age, sex, and condition, who being captured by the 
Corsairs, are sold in open market, as beasts are elsewhere, it is 
certain that all are riot equally ill-treated. There are some, 
whose condition nearly resembles that of the lowest domes 
tics in France. Rut in addition to this being yet very hard 
for persons not accustomed to it, one who has to-day a 
reasonable master, may be sold two days hence to a furious 
tiger; whence it is evident that the greatest number of these 
poor captives are worthy of compassion. 

Those who labor in the country are condemned to a de 
structive climate, to cut wood in the forests, to bum coal, or 
haul stone in the quarries, without a moment of relaxation. 
"At Biserte," said Mr. Le Vacher, "I found forty shut up in 
a stable so small that they could scarcely move. They were 
all chained in pairs, and obliged to grind day after day, with 
a small hand mill, a stated quantity of flour, which surpassed 
their strength." 

Those of the cities serve sometimes on shore, and some 
times on sea. On shore, they are made to saw marble, but 
with so much fatigue that their tongues hang out like dogs . 
At sea, they are obliged to row almost naked, in spite of the 
burning heat of the sun in summer, and the severe cold in 
winter: and upon the most trifling pretexts, they are loaded 
with blows by infamous renegades who perform the office 
of drivers. In such a cruel situation, the facility of break 
ing their chains, either by injuring their faith, or yielding to 
the abominable desires of a corrupted master, is a long and 
dangerous temptation ; and how many during more than a 
century would have fallen, if the children of Vincent of Paul 
had preferred the tranquillity of Europe, to the often reiterated 
persecutions and infinite labors which awaited them in Africa? 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 301 

Obliged to pay debts which they have not contracted ; loaded 
with irons and placed in the rank of slaves, when they cannot 
do it; subjected to cruel bastinadoes; placed at the mouth of 
the canon ; such is often the mournful but glorious recompense 
of their ministry. The poisoned air of the bagnios, the pes 
tilence attached to the climate, oppnsMon on the part of an 
inhuman people; these are the Ih Wers which those who are 
best treated, have to gather: thanks to heaven, these flowers 
have never failed to produce fruit. Although obliged to sup 
press a great portion of it, 1 shall say enough to edily those 
who have the courage of limling well done some things they 
have not dune themselves. 

As amongst those who are destined for those painful mis 
sions, there is alway^ one who lias the honor of being vicar 
apostolic, the priests and religious who are slaves, and are 
sometimes found in 2 vat uum!.. r-. are subjected to his 
authority. Tins canonical subordination prevents a mul 
titude (it evils. The seculars who are in slavery, having the 
goodness to pay to the masters of these ecclesiastics the month 
ly tax, the latter, who had scarcely any thing to do except to 
say their oiiice, found themselves more at their own disposal 
in the midst of captivity, than they would have been under 
the eyes of their superior. Hence arose disorders, and some 
times scandals calculated to terrify both Jew and Mahometan. 

The (irst good done in Harb.iry by the disciples of Vincent 
of Paul, was to put a stop to a licentiousness, odious every 
where, but much more so in an infidel country. Their 
good example, the wise regulations they published in the 
name and by the authority of the holy see, tiie censures 
which they even sometimes pronounced, but always with the 
proper precaution; these means, sometimes mild, at others 
more rigorous, reestablished order and discipline. The gen 
tile no longer blasphemed (iod on account of his ministers, 
and the simple ( hristian found nothing in his guides, to 
authorize apostasy. 

I know not whether this good, great as it is, can be com 
pared with that which our missionaries did for all the cap 
tives. God alone knows the number they strengthened in 
26 



302 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

the faith and in the practice of the most exalted virtues; 
but every one is aware that before their arrival, the slaves, 
abandoned to themselves and to their cruel reflections, were 
in the most deplorable situation. Weighed down by the 
prospect of an endless captivity, the bitterness of which 
was assuaged by no one, some cut their throats or strangled 
themselves ; others, in a paroxysm of fury, fell upon their 
masters to kill them, and in punishment of their revolt, 
were burned alive; a large number denied their faith, and 
to rid themselves of temporal sufferings, precipitated them 
selves into those of eternity. The priests of the mission ar 
rested these excesses by moving discourses, by alms prudently 
distributed, and above all, by the administration of the sacra 
ments, which are the sources of strength and salvation. If 
the new church of Africa was less numerous than the ancient 
one, it gave, and still often gives to the Son of God, confessors 
and martyrs, whom the most holy bishop of Carthage would 
have looked upon as his joy and his crown. 

What is most surprising, is, that the exterior pomp of 
religion, its chaunt and its ceremonies, never cease there. 
Twenty five bagnios, or thereabouts, which are in Algiers, 
Tunis, and Biserte, have become, by the voluntary savings 
of the poor captives, so many little temples, where those af 
flicted Christians have the consolation of hearing mass and 
participating in the divine mysteries. Jesus Christ is there 
night and day with his suffering members. The tabernacle 
where he reposes, is never without a lighted lamp. Every 
year, on Corpus Christi, and during the whole octave, he is 
exposed to public veneration ; he is even carried procession- 
ally in the chapels, and is there followed by a crowd of peo 
ple, whose rags do him more honor than purple and the dia 
dem. Thus is verified, even in our days, in an infidel coun 
try, that expression of the royal prophet: "The Lord said to 
my Lord, . . . rule thou in the midst of .thy enemies." 

The forty hours devotion and the jubilee are also known in 
Barbary, and produce there, as elsewhere, the usual miracles. 
There have been seen, in those days of salvation, hardened men 
who had lived for twenty and thirty years in the forgetfulness 



LIFE OF ST. VINCF.NT OF PAUL. 303 

of God, entering seriously into themselves, and becoming at 
last models of penance. Deserters of the faith, Frenchmen, 
Spaniards, and Italians, have then been seen detesting their 
apostacy arid taking eiiiracious measures to repair it. 

Although the Mahometans are not the main object for which 
our priests are sent to Barbary, it is however certain that some 
have been gained ; but they have been much more happy 
with regard to Protestants. A single one of those worthy 
missionaries converted eighteen, and there is much reason to 
believe that his colleagues, who possessed no less zeal and 
talents, have been as successful, if not more so. 

Amongst these conversions, there was one more remarka 
ble tkan the others. It was that of a child who, being cap 
tured by the Corsairs on the coast of England, was sold at 
Tunis : we shall give an account of it, nearly in the terms in 
which Mr. Guerin wrote it to St. Vincent, in 16-10. "Two 
Englishmen have been converted to our holy faith, and they 
are an example to all the other Catholics. There is a third, 
only eleven years old ; he is one of the most amiable chil 
dren, and one of the most fervent Christians. He continually 
invokes the Blessed Virgin, that through her he may obtain 
the grace to die rather than deny Jesus Christ. This his master 
uses every means to make him do. He has been twice beaten 
unmercifully on that account. On the last occasion he said to 
his master, whilst he was beating him : Cut off my head, 
if you will, for I am a Christian, and will never be any thing 
else. He has protested to me several times that he would 
expire under the blows sooner than deny his divine Saviour. 
He might be ransomed with two hundred piastres, and he 
would be a second Bede, so great are his talents and virtue." 

What Mr. le Vacher wrote to our saint, in 1618, is no less 
consoling. We shall give the substance of it. 

There were at Tunis two children, about fifteen years old, 
one born in France, the other in England. Both had been 
carried away from their country, and sold to two masters 
who lived near each other. Age, neighborhood, and simi 
larity of fortune, united them so closely, that two brothers 
could not love each other more. The English child was a 



304 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

Lutheran ; the French, who was a Catholic, excited in him 
doubts about his religion. Mr. le Vacher completed the work ; 
but he did it so perfectly, that he declared in presence of the 
merchants of his nation, who had come to Tunis to ransom 
the captives of their sect, that he preferred to live and die a 
slave, rather than renounce the true religion. 

These two young friends saw each other as often as possi 
ble. Their conversations usually turned upon the happiness 
of suffering a thousand deaths, rather than to deny their faith. 
Providence had great designs with regard to these two chil 
dren, as was soon evident. Their masters took it into their 
heads, to force them to deny Jesus Christ. In the absence of 
reasoning, to which a good Mussulman does not pretend, they 
had recourse to bad treatment, and without regard either for 
their age or virtue, they carried their inhumanity to the last 
excess. 

The young French lad, having been one day overwhelmed 
with blows, and left for dead upon the spot, his companion, 
who often stole away to console him, found him in this 
pitiable situation. He called him by his name, to ascertain 
whether he was still alive. The sound of his voice awoke 
him from his insensibility ; but as he was not perfectly con 
scious of what had happened, and did not know why he 
was called, his irst words were a profession of faith : " I am 
a Christian for life," replied he. At these words the little 
English boy threw himself at his feet, and bruised and bloody 
as they were, kissed them with respectful tenderness. Some 
Turks who surprised him in the act, having asked him what 
he was doing there : " I honor," replied he, like a man pre 
pared for every event, " I honor the members which have 
just suffered for Jesus Christ, my Saviour and my God." 
This answer, which they did not expect, caused him to be 
injuriously driven away. It was a real affliction for the 
French lad, who was much consoled by his presence. 

As soon as he was able to walk, he paid a visit to his friend. 
He found him in the same condition in which, a short time 
before, he had himself been found; that is to say, stretched 
upon a mat, half dead from the blows he had received, 



LIFE OF ST. VINCF.NT OF PAUL. 



305 

and surrounded by Turks, who feasted their eyes upon the 
cruel spectacle. At the sight, his courage and faith were re 
animated, he approached his friend, and asked him, in pre 
sence of the infidels, which he loved better, Jesus Christ or 
Mahomet. " Jesus Christ," replied the English boy aloud ; 
" I am a Christian, and I will die a Christian." 

A Turk, who had two knives in his belt, becoming desperate 
at this discourse, threatened the French lad to cut off his ears. 
He had already advanced to do it, when the young hero 
showed him that he could not be frightened at such a trifle. 
Without deliberating, he flew to the instrument with which he 
was threatened, himself cut off one of his ears, and asked those 
barbarians if they would have him cut oil the other. They 
then learned that neither sword nor torment could separate 
from the Son of Cod, a Christian who truly belongs to him. 
Astonished and confused, they left these two youths in peace, 
and no longer spoke to them either of Mahomet or of the 
Alcoran. He who from the high heavens had been witness 
of their combats, did not delay crowning them. The follow 
ing year a contagious disorder carried them both off : " Furti- 
ares lennilms, in inortc quocjric non mint divisi" ( 2 Reg. i). 

To these moving examples, I might add those of a new Jo 
seph, who, being calumniated by his lewd mistress, suffered 
the most rigorous torments; and of two other slaves, one of 
whom was impaled at Tunis, and the other burned alive at 
Algiers, for being unwilling to yield to a passion still more 
abominable ; and of a fourth, who, after having been circum 
cised to avoid the galleys of the grand signior, from which 
there is no egress, trampled under his feet, in presence of the 
bashaw who had seduced him, the turban which he had re 
ceived , and being reconciled a moment before his death by 
Mr. Le Vacher, suffered with heroical intrepidity the torment 
of fire. But what we have said, is enough to show that 
Vincent of Paul procured for Barbary advantages, which, to 
be rightly esteemed, need no pompous expressions, much less 
exaggeration. A man who, by the means of three or four 
priests, knows how to restrain a great number of ecclesiastics, 
seculars or regulars; to strengthen twenty or twenty-five thou- 



30G LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

sand slaves in the faith; to cause, in spite of the most fright 
ful torments, those who had abjured Christianity, to renounce 
Mahomet ; to recall to the unity of the church those whom 
the prejudices of education had separated from it ; a man of 
this character, and that man was Vincent of Paul, would 
merit the respect of the Christian world, even if he had done 
nothing more. 

Yet this was not the limit of his zeal. I do violence to 
myself in suppressing the missions which he made at the so 
licitation of Louise Mane de Gonzaga, in every part of Po 
land, where his priests had to struggle against the horrors 
of war, pestilence, famine, arid the Socinian heresy, which 
had established its seat in these regions, and which., notwith 
standing the great number of seductive volumes it produced, 
subsists there no longer. Yet, I believe, I must say a word 
of those which lie caused to be undertaken in the territories 
of the republic of Genoa, in Ireland, and in Scotland. We 
shall see that these may be put in competition with those 
of which we have already spoken. 

MISSIONS IN THE ISLAND OF CORSICA AND IN 
PIEDMONT. 

The island of Corsica belonged to the republic of Genoa. 
Its inhabitants had always been looked upon as a people 
without morals, faith, or honesty. Brave to excess, they 
were furiously quarrelsome and vindictive, unwilling to par 
don, or listen to terms of accommodation. They must be 
revenged. Every relation of their enemy, even to the third 
degree, through a fiction of right, was thought to be guilty 
of the injury they had received. Thus there was no security 
for a family, one of the members of which had committed a 
fault. All had to be on their guard. Wo to the first who 
was surprised ! his ignorance, even his absence, did not ex 
cuse him ; and one who, on leaving his house in the morning, 
was on good terms with every body, became guilty by sleep 
ing in the house of the offenders, and was consequently as 
sassinated in the evening, before he returned home. To merit 
this cruel treatment, those atrocious injuries which push pa- 



LIFE OF ST. VIXCKNT OF PAUL. 307 

tience to extremity, were not necessary ; a word stronger than 
usual was sufficient; a word badly received was a crime worthy 
of death ; and it was to be in a condition to take prompt ven 
geance, that the Corsicans always went armed, as if they had 
been in a state of war. 

Ferocity, or rather barbarity, was not the only vice which 
reigned in this unfortunate country, when the children of 
Vincent of Paul were called thither. Ignorance, impiety, 
concubinage, incest, robbery, perjury, prohibited marriages, 
the most scandalous divorces, were so many monsters which 
laid it waste. 

For a long time the cry of so many crimes had been heard 
at (Jenoa, upon which those island. -rs were dependant. But 
mine had so Wrongly intrenched itself, that it seemed very 
difficult to attack it. The good whi- li the priests of the mis 
sion were actually doing in the territory of the republic, in 
duced the principal members of the senate to think that these 
apostolic men would not be useless in Corsica, and that if 
they could not plant all the virtues in that soil, they might at 
least root out many vices. With that view, these prudent 
magistrates begged Vincent of Paul, in a letter replete with 
piety, to have compassion on a people, who, criminal as they 
were, had cost the Saviour his blood and his death. The 
glory of Cod, and the salvation of souls were in question; 
the saint did not hes.tate. He sent seven of his priests, and 
although of the seven bishoprics of Corsica, only those of 
Mariana and Nebbio were suiVragans of C.enoa, Cardinal Du- 
ra/zo joined with these seven missionaries, eight oilier eccle 
siastics four of whom Were religious, the other four seculars. 
As soon as these fifteen evangelical laborers had landed, 
they et to the work. Hard as it was, they made four mis 
sions ; the first at Campo Lauro. where the bishop of Alena 
usually resides; the second at Cotone ; the third at Carte, 
which is in the middle of the island, and the fourth at N olo. 
As there is something more interesting connected with the last 
we shall speak of it particularly, after having given a g( 
account of the three others. 

The first fruit which they produced, was the conver: 



308 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

a number of ecclesiastics, who were worth but little,, and 
consequently were worse than the people. Every day, after 
the sermon, they were assembled m the church. The su 
perior of the mission instructed them in the duties of their 
state. His discourse was followed by a meditation, when, 
each one entering into his own heart, found there sufficient 
subject for lamentation. This self-examination, which, when 
well conducted, leads to the reformation of manners, produced 
salutary effects. The clergy, as well as the people, made 
general confessions. All took a firm resolution to acquit them 
selves thenceforward, with all possible fidelity, of their duties 
to God and their neighbor. Several curates publicly asked 
pardon for the scandal they had given. A chapter in a body 
thought that the same edification should be given by them, and 
they deputed one of the canons to do it in the name of all the 
others. 

The second fruit of these exercises was the extinction of 
hatred and animosities. Sacrifices were carried in this respect 
as far as they could go. One pardoned the death of his fa 
ther, another that of his son ; this one the murder of his bro 
ther, that the massacre of her husband. Calumnious accu 
sations were also forgiven, but in so Christian a manner, that 
people who had been menaced with the loss of reputation or 
life, wished neither the reparation of their honor nor indemni 
fication. Nor were these important reconciliations to be counted 
by tens or twenties ; there was not a village in which they 
did not amount to fifty, and in some they amounted to a 
hundred. 

The cessation of criminal intercourse was another effect 
of these missions. Not only women, whose disorderly con 
duct was notorious, asked pardon publicly, but there were some 
who could only be reproached with what worldlings are every 
day guilty of, who thought, without being spoken to on the 
subject, that they ought to humble themselves before God and 
men for the freedom of their conduct, and their unguarded 
manners. This kind of general confession, whether indiscreet 
or not, which I shall not examine, caused the witnesses to 
shed abundance of tears ; they served, moreover, to inspire 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



309 



young persons with a just horror of crime, and of every thing 
that wears the appearance of it. 

The last fruit of these missions was the establishment of the 
confraternity of charity, which, by procuring temporal and spi 
ritual aid for a great numlrer of poor sick persons, furnished 
those who ministered to them the means of redeeming their 
former iniquities. 

The mission of Niolo was attended with circumstances which 
oblige us to speak somewhat more at large of it. We can do 
so with the greater confidence, as we have as security for the 
facts, a man replenished with virtue, who relates nothing but 
what happened under his own eyes. 

" Niolo," he says, " is a lone valley of nearly three leagues, 
and surrounded by mountains so difficult of access, that 1 have 
seen nothing equal, either in Savoy or in the Pyrenees. It is 
the difficulty of the roads that makes of Niolo the retreat 
of all the banditti of the island. Under cover of the rocks, 
they exercise with impunity their murders and robberies, fear 
less of the officers of justice. 

" There are several small villages in this valley, and it con 
tains about two thousand inhabitants. 1 have never seen, and 
I do not know that then- are throughout Christianity, people 
more abandoned than these. When we arrived, their whole 
faith consisted in saying that they had been baptized, and all 
their religion amounted to their attending some churches 
which were very badly kept. They were so profoundly ig 
norant of the things of salvation, that it would have been very 
difficult to find there one hundred persons, who knew the com 
mandments of God and the Apostles Creed. Vice passed with 
them for virtue, and revenge was so rife, that the children, m 
learnino- to talk, learned also never to suffer the least offence 
to go unpunished. It was useless to preach the pardon of in 
juries to them ; example and bad advice had made such deep 
impressions upon their minds, that they were not capable of 
receiving contrary ones. 

"There were many who passed seven or eight months 
without hearing mass ; others who had been three, four, eight 
or ten years without going to confession ; and some at the age of 



310 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

fifteen or sixteen had never approached the tribunal of penance. 
With these vices, they necessarily had many others. They 
were much inclined to theft. They knew nothing of absti 
nence during lent, or on the other days on which it is com 
manded. They persecuted each other like barbarians; and 
when they had an enemy, their ordinary method was to lay 
some great crime to his charge, and have him brought to jus 
tice. False witnesses were never wanting ; as many could 
be had for money at Niolo, as were needed. If the deposi 
tions of these were rendered useless by others obtained at the 
same price, the accuser and the accused took justice into their 
own hands; they killed one another on the first occasion, 
with the most astonishing facility. 

" In that valley alone," continues the author of the relation 
which I abridge to spare the imagination of the reader; "we 
found one hundred and twenty persons living in concubiaage, 
about eighty of whom were in some degree guilty of incest. 
Forty of these had been excommunicated by name on that ac 
count. But the fear of censures did not prevent them from fol 
lowing their ordinary course. They lived and conversed with 
every body. Thus in this canton, a great portion of the in 
habitants were excommunicated, some directly, others indirectly. 

" This is the deplorable state in which these poor people 
were found, when the mission commenced, and these are the 
means which we took to remedy so many disorders. 

" 1. We used all possible diligence in instructing them in the 
things necessary for salvation ; and for that purpose we em 
ployed nearly three weeks. 

" 2. We separated those living in concubinage who were 
upon the spot ; and on the day of St. Peter, the patron of the 
church in which we were, all those miserable persons who ac 
knowledged at length the wretched condition in which they had 
lived, having knelt down at the end of the sermon, publicly 
asked pardon for the scandal they had given, and promised 
with an oath to separate, which they in fact did, before ap 
proaching the tribunal of penance. 

"3. After having thus separated those who were under 
censures for their crimes, they presented themselves with all 



UKE OF ST. VI.NCF.NT OF I AUL. 311 

the marks of a contrite an, I humble heart at the door of the 
church, to receive absolution, it was solemnly imparted to 
them; but it was not given, until they had engaged by a pub 
lic oath never to see one another on any pretence. 

" The most arduous part of our labor was yet undone; we 
had to re-establish pi ace in a ferocious nation, the greater part 
of which was living in enmity : Hoc opus, hie labor. Our 
first efforts were entirely useless ; and for fifteen whole days, 
we could gain but one young man, who pardoned another 
for having wounded him in the head by a pistol shot. All 
the others remained inflexible; and all that we could say pro 
duced no effect on any one. Notwithstanding these bad dis 
positions, there was always a great crowd at the discourses 
which we delivered every day, morning and evening. Never 
was there a more alarming auditory. All the men attended 
in their customary dress; that is, with a sword at their side, 
and a gun on their shoulder. But besides these arms, the 
banditti and other criminals had likewise two pistols, and two 
or three daggers in their belts. The spirit of vengeance so 
strongly possessed them, that the most moving instruction 
made no impression upon them. Many, indeed, when we 
spoke of the pardon of injuries, left the church. 

" At length, on the eve of the day on which the general 
communion is usually made, as I was about to finish preach 
ing, I again exhorted that unfortunate people to pardon. God 
then inspired me to take in my hand the crucifix which I car 
ried about me, and to tell the assembly, that those who were 
willing to show merry to their enemies, should come to kiss 
the feet of it. I conjured them to do so, on the part of a dy 
ing (iod, who stretched out his arms towards them; and I told 
them that this homage rendered to the Saviour, would be a 
proof of their will to be reconciled with those who had of 
fended them. At these words, they began to look at each 
other; but as no one moved, I made a motion to retire, after 
having complained bitterly of their wonderful insensibility. 
A religious of the reform of St. Francis, who was present, 
was moved: arid filled with a just and holy indignation, he 
begun to cry out: U iNiolo! unfortunate. Niolo! you will 



312 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

perish then ? you will be cursed by God ? You are unwil 
ling to receive the grace which he sends you by means of 
these missionaries who have come so far for your salvation. 
He was still speaking, when a curate, whose nephew had 
been killed, came forward, prostrated himself on the ground, 
and asked to kiss the crucifix ; then calling by name the mur 
derer who was present, he said aloud, Let such a one ap 
proach that 1 may embrace him. After this, another priest 
did the same with regard to some of his enemies ; and these 
two were followed by such a multitude, that for the space of 
an hour nothing was to be seen but reconciliations and em 
braces. For greater security, the most important things were 
reduced to writing, arid the notary authenticated them. O 
Lord!" exclaims the pious missionary to whom we owe this 
detail, "what edification for the earth, what joy for heaven 
to behold fathers and mothers pardoning for the love of God 
the death of their children; children that of their parents, 
wives that of their husbands, brethren and relations that of 
their nearest friends! What a consolation to behold implaca 
ble enemies embrace and shed tears over eac,li other! In 
other countries, it is usual to see penitents shed tears at the 
feet of their confessors, but in Corsica it is a kind of miracle." 
Thus terminated the important mission of Niolo. If, ac 
cording to the maxim of the apostle of the Indies, a man who 
takes the trouble to go to the end of the world should not re 
gret that step, if he be so happy as to prevent one mortal sin, 
what must we think of those who have the happiness to ar 
rest or to suspend, at least for a time, the frightful disorders 
of which we have spoken. What gives new splendor to the 
mercy of God, is, that a little delay would have destroyed all. 
The next day the missionaries had orders to go to Bastie, where 
a galley sent expressly by the senate awaited them. They how 
ever deferred embarking for two days, and those two days were 
employed in putting a finishing hand to some reconciliations 
which had only been commenced. On Tuesday, one of them 
delivered a discourse on perseverance. There was so great a 
crowd of people, that it was necessary to preach outside of the 
church. There the pardon of injuries seemed no longer impos- 



LIFK OK -T. VINCENT OF PAUL. 313 

sible. All renewed the protections which tlioy had already 
made, to lead a truly Christian lit .-, and to persevere to the end. 
The pastors, who had much to reproach themselves with, pro 
mised aloud to be more faithful in fulfilling their obligations. 
A rain which tell, prevented the missionaries from settin^ 
out the same day. It would appear as if this obstacle were 
interposed by Providence. At a league from Niolo there were 
two men whose brother had hem killed. Both had so cruel 
a thirst for revenue, that, like the impious man spoken of in 
the book of Job (xv, vjf)), their souls were strengthened against 
the Almighty. For fear that grace would induce them to 
pardon, they had kept from all the exercises of the mission. 
All that their curate could obtain (nun them was, that they 
would suspend the effects of their resentment, untd they had 
spoken to the director of the missionaries. The bad weather 
gave opportunity for that interview, which the orders of the 
senate would have prevented. It was completely successful. 
Those haughty spirits yielded to the holy /eal which was in 
starch of them. They consented to forgive, and thus placed 
the seal on the public joy. A -reat number of ecclesiastics, 
and the principal inhabitants of .\iolo conducted the mis 
sionaries to the place of their embarkation. The latter dis 
charged their h re arms several times, as a mark of gratitude. 
It was a long time since they had put them to so moderate 
and so lawful a use. 

I do not doubt that the pious reader would follow with plea 
sure those virtuous disciples of the humble Vincent in their 
expeditions into Piedmont, where He who is pleased to make 
use of the weakest instruments to confound the wisdom and 
strength of the heroes of the world, gave to their labors a 
benediction which he never bestows upon vain and frivolous 
eloquence. But a detail so consoling for those who love the 
gli.ry of Jesus Christ, a detail which is amply furnished in 
the large life of our saint, could not, any more than many 
others, enter into such an abridgment as this. Therefore, 
without saying any thing of the success of these virtuous 
priests at Schalenghe near Pignerol , in the environs of Lu- 
zerne, where the largest churches could not contain their 
n 



314 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

hearers ; at Raconi, where they had the grief and the joy to 
behold poor people, who during a rigorous winter, were wait 
ing lor them at the doors of the church, daring a portion of the 
night ; at Savigliano, where the people, the nubility, the secu 
lar clergy, and the religious of live or six convents profited 
with equal urdor by their instructions ; I shall he contented 
with speaking of the celebrated mission which they made at 
Bra, a large town of thirteen or fourteen thousand souls. 

This place which is but a day s journey from Turin, was 
in a state of disorder equal to civil war, if it did not go beyond 
it. The streets were fortiiied, the houses filled with armed 
men, some of whom fired upon the passers by, others stood a 
siege against those who assailed them. The churches which, 
in Piedmont, as in the rest of Italy, serve as asylums for cer 
tain criminals, sheltered no one from the vengeance of his 
enemy: the citizen killed his fellow-citizen in the very temple 
of the Lord: in a word, Bra contained a mob of furious 
wretches who destroyed one another. 

The time of such violent commotion was not suited for 
a mission. It would even have been very dangerous to 
commence it at that time : no one could have attended, with 
out running the risk of his life: and five or six strangers, who 
had nothing but peace to announce, would have certainly 
been driven away by a desperate people breathing nothing but 
war. Christina of France, duchess of Savoy, who governed 
the state during the minority of Charles Emmanuel, her son, 
saw these obstacles. To overcome them, she sent her princi 
pal ministers to Bra, in order to induce to a suspension of 
arms those wretched inhabitants whom she could have de 
stroyed by force, but whom she preferred to gain by mildness. 
Those ministers assembled the multitude; they spoke with pru 
dence and reason, and that was enough to render them un 
successful. 

The regent, the daughter of Henry the Great had firm 
ness as well as mildness. After having spoken as a mother, 
she threatened as a sovereign. The hearts of the people were 
not softened, but hostilities were a little less active. It was 
by the feeble glimmer of this diminution of animosity, that 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 315 

the missionaries entered Bra. They were at once so happy 
as to induce the two parties to lay aside their arms, which 
they had not as yet dune. So soon as they could go abroad 
with safety, and enter the church, the people flocked thither 
in crowds. Their assiduousness at the sermons and cate 
chism consoled the prints of the mission very much. They 
were stiil more consoled, when they saw their hearts softened 
and disposed to peace. They were not long before concluding 
it. Those people, who a few months before, were animated 
fov a spirit of vengeance, embraced one another in the pre 
sence of the blosed sacrament, alter having asked pardon, 
both in the church, and m the public places; but in so tender, 
so affectionate a manner, that it was impossible to doubt the 
sincerity of their reconciliation. 

This lirst step being taken, they went into the confessional. 
The crowd was there so greut, that although all the priests 
and all the n-li-ious of the place united in their aid, the mis 
sion lasted seven weeks. There wen; from nine to ten thou 
sand general confessions made. The spirit of piety breathed 
in alfhcarts, and ellen, d every where that interior renovation 
which can only be its work. The time of the carn.val, 
which is generally spent in folly and excesses, was there a 
time of penance, and bke a continual feast of the greatest 
devotion. I eace was so solidly established, that the inhabi 
tants d.d not remember even to have witnessed such umon 
and cordiality. Her royal highness had already congratulated 
the missionaries in a very kind letter on the happy success of 
the.r labors; but when at the end of the mission the direc 
tor rendered her a more detailed account of it, she was so 
much affected, that she could not restrain her tears. To com- 
ploi,. *o many advantages, she gave the inhabitants of Bra 
full pardon for all the cmnes and excesses into which they 
had fallen during their divisions. 

It is diilicult to quit a subject so full of interest for religion 
as this is. Hut we must necessarily sacrifice a part, that we 
may not sacrifice another entirely. Let us then go from 
Italy into Ireland and Scotland. The scene is about to 
change. We shall not find the people armed against the peo- 



316 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

pie. But piety will find enough to weep for on one side ; and 
on the other, enough to praise the infinite mercies of the Lord. 

MISSIONS IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 

It was at the solicitation of Innocent X, that St. Vincent 
sent missionaries into Ireland. As the circumstances of the 
times rendered this succor more necessary than ever, the 
saint, without delay, sent eight of his priests, some of whom 
on their arrival labored in the diocess of Limerick, the others 
in that of Cashei. The people of the country, who languished 
in profound ignorance, were made acquainted with the obli 
gations which Christianity imposes upon its professors. They 
were vested with that spirit of strength which breaks the 
chains of sin, and teaches us to die for the faith in the time of 
persecution. The change of heart was so general and so 
sudden, that the bishops of Ireland could scarcely believe it. 
The nuncio whom the pope had still in that kingdom, con 
gratulated those truly apostolical men on their zeal. The 
parish priests and other ecclesiastics, who were always the 
first to follow the exercises of the missionaries, seized so well 
their manner of catechising and instructing, that they pre 
served in their parishes the fervor of which those worthy 
priests had laid the foundation. 

Never was fervor more necessary both for pastors and peo 
ple. Oliver Cromwell, after having planned and executed the 
impious scheme which brought the king of England to the 
block, taught Ireland, which had proclaimed the prince of 
Wales under the name of James II, that his will was not to 
be opposed with impunity. Although the Catholics were not 
the only ones who detested the enormous crime of Cromwell, 
they had a greater share than any other persons in the mis 
fortunes of the royalists. But there was not a single one of 
the pastors where the mission had been made, who abandoned 
his flock. All without exception remained, until banishment 
or a violent death separated them. It is known that one of 
the most fervent of those worthy pastors, after having made 
his annual confession to a missionary who was lodged in a 
poor hut at the foot of a mountain, was the night afterwards 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 317 

taken and massacred by heretical soldiers, whilst administer 
ing the sacraments to the sick. His glorious death crowned 
a most innocent life. For a long time he had desired to shed 
his blood for the faith and for charity ; God thought him 
worthy of it, and his prayers were heard. 

As the flames of persecution spread more and more 
throughout Hibernia, and it was no longer possible to make 
missions there, Vincent of Paul, who was informed of it, 
gave orders to five of his priests to recross the sea; and to the 
other three, to remain at Limerick. The bishop proposed to 
them to make a mission in that city. The undertaking was 
pretty considerable. Limerick had then twenty thousand 
communicants, because a number of Catholic villagers had 
taken refuge in it. But of what are not three priests capable, 
when, assembled in the name of the Lord, they can calculate 
upon his being in the midst of them ? Sustained by his grace, 
and encouraged by the prelate who placed himself at their 
head, these gentlemen announced judgment and mercy. The 
spirit of dread and compunction was at first insinuated 
amongst the people. Kach one thought seriously of his con 
science ; and of twenty thousand persons capable of profiting 
by the mission, not one failed making a general confession. 
People who had grown old in sin, gave marks of true conver 
sion ; and a numerous people was seen in a situation to serve 
as a model of the most exact penance. 

Such holy dispositions could not have been manifested at a 
more proper time. The contagion soon reached Limerick ; 
and in a little time it was so violent, that it carried off nearly 
eight thousand persons. Of this number was the brother of 
the bishop, who had exposed himself with the missionaries 
ant! like them, in consoling the sick and supplying their 
necessities. It was admirable to behold the patience, or rather 
the peace with which this afflicted people received the scourge 
with which God visited them. They died contented, " because, 
said they, " the Lord has sent us angels who have reconciled 
us to him." The pious bishop of Limerick, who, as a good 
father, knew better than any one else how to appreciate such 
holy dispositions, could not contain his tears. "Alas!" said 



318 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

he a hundred times, " had Mr. Vincent done for the glory of 
God only the good which he has done for these poor people, 
he ought to think himself happy." 

To the horrors of the contagion succeeded those of war. 
Ireton.the son-in-law of Cromwell, besieged Limerick, and at 
the end of four or five months became master of it. The 
army of the parliamentarians, inflated with their success, 
which, however, it owed to famine, naturally stained its vic 
tory : it made it a point of religion to do so. Many of the 
inhabitants were put to death, precisely because they preferred 
the ancient faith of the Roman church to the new faith of 
the English tyrant. Four of the principal citizens were of 
this number, at whose head was Thomas Strick, mayor of 
the city. These brave men went to the place of execution, 
like warriors to a triumph. Before execution they harangued 
the people according to the custom of the country ; but they 
did it in so moving a manner, that the heretics themselves 
were melted to tears. They declared in the face of heaven 
and earth, that they died for the faith ; and by that glorious 
acknowledgment they taught the Catholics who were present, 
that there was no death or torment that should separate them 
from the religion of their fathers. 

Of the three missionaries who had remained in Ireland, 
only two returned to Paris, after having passed at Limerick, 
through all the terrors of pestilence and war. The third 
finished his career there; the others disguised themselves and 
escaped as they could. One of them retired to his own coun 
try with the grand vicar of Cashel. The other found in the 
mountains a pious woman who concealed him for two months. 
A brother who waited on them was less fortunate, or rather 
more so. The heretics having discovered his retreat, massa 
cred him under the eyes of his mother. They broke his 
head, after having cut off his feet and hands; an inhuman and 
barbarous treatment, which taught the priests what they 
would have to expect, should they be seized. 

These missionaries labored in Ireland, nearly six years ; and 
with the exception of some help given them by the duchess 
of Aiguillon, it was the house of St. Lazarus, which through 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 819 

the inexhaustible charity of its superior, supported the rest of 
the expense. Vincent, although reduced to extremity, did not 
regret it. More than eighty thousand general confessions, 
and ether innumerable advantages, were ample indemnifica 
tion for him. We should have been acquainted with much 
more, had his humility permitted it. But when the superior 
of these painful missions, on his return to Paris, asked him if 
it would not be proper to furnish a little relation of them, he 
answered, " that it was suflicient that God knew all that had 
been done ; and that the humility of our Lord required of the 
little company of the mission, that it should keep hidden in 
God with Jesus Christ. He added that the blood of those 
martyrs would not be forgotten before God, and that sooner 
or later it would be the seed of new Catholics." Indeed that 
blood must have been very efficacious; for Ireland, although, 
always oppressed by the most unjust persecution, still counts 
so great a number of zealous Catholics. 

The saint was yet ignorant of the destiny of his missiona 
ries in Ilibernia, when lie formed the design of sending others 
to the Hebrides. "When we reflect, that at the same time he 
sent priests into Poland, P.arhary, and Madagascar, and I 
know not how many other countries ; that by the acknow 
ledgment of the friends and even the enemies of his congrega 
tions, those worthy laborers had the most astonishing success 
every where; that the immense expenses of their voyages 
and their support fell principally upon him, can we well help 
saying what has been said, or rather what could not be said 
by illustrious historians, of the first of the Grsars ? What a 
man was that Vincent of Paul! what courage! what great 
ness of soul! what /eal for God! what detachment from 
every temporal interest! what talent for forming in a few 
years, sometimes in a few months, ministers ready to do every 
thing, and to sufier .every thing under his orders! Those 
whom we have hitherto eulogised, appeared such to us ; but 
their brethren, who are going to appear in their turn, will not 
appear to us less great, or less worthy of the choice which 
their first superior made of them. Let us begin by giving 
some idea of the country which they had to overrun. 



320 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

The Hebrides are situated to the West of Scotland. There 
are but forty-four which merit attention. It appears that the 
greater part of them are barren, and generally speaking, that 
the inhabitants are very poor. This extreme indigence did 
not prevent their having Catholic priests before the English 
schism. The preachers who were substituted to them, soon 
became disgusted with their situation, as it was not sufficient 
for them to preach reform, but necessary to practice it. Hence 
the inhabitants by degrees had neither true nor false pastors. 
The exercise of all religion was insensibly abolished. Igno 
rance became so rife, that the necessity of baptism, or at least 
the manner of administering it was unknown: and, at the 
time of which we speak, old men were to be found in this 
unhappy country, of eighty and even of a hundred years, who 
had not been baptised. 

As soon as Vincent was informed of the melancholy situa 
tion of these islanders, he made a proposition to two of his 
priests, one of whom was of that country, the other was an 
Irishman, to fly to their aid. The undertaking was a most 
hazardous one, in consequence of the violence of Cromwell 
and the troubles of the three kingdoms. The proposition was 
however accepted with joy and gratitude. Germain Duiguin 
and Franpois le Blanc, upon whom the holy priest had fixed 
his eyes, disguised themselves as merchants, and took the route 
of Holland, from whence their departure would be less liable 
to suspicion. They met with a Scotch nobleman of the name 
of Clangary, a man illustrious for his birth and virtue, and 
who had lately embraced the Catholic religion. He took them 
at once under his protection, and always rendered them every 
good office. 

They were scarcely in Scotland, when they believed them 
selves lost; for a priest who had become a minister, having 
recognised them, spread the news of their arrival by a circu 
lar letter which went the rounds ot the whole kingdom. 
They argued nothing but what was sinister from this com 
mencement ; but God knew how to make it redound to his 
glory. The apostate, who was visited by a dangerous sick 
ness acknowledged that the hand of God punished his 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 321 

desertion and ill will. lie deplored his error, promised God 
to atone for his fault, set out as soon as his strength would 
permit him, made a long journey in search of Mr. Duiguin, 
and received from him absolution of the censures which he 
had incurred by his apostacy. 

Vincent of Paul was more than eighteen months, without 
receiving any accounts from these missionaries. At last a 
letter from Duiguin partly calmed his uneasiness. We shall 
give it somewhat abridged. 

"God lias granted us the favor, since our arrival in Scot 
land, to co-operate in the conversion of the father of Mr. 
Changary. lie was an old man of ninety years of age, 
brought up in the heresy from his youth. We instructed 
him, and reconciled him to the church during a sickness which 
soon brought him to the crave, after however receiving the 
sacraments and manifestinir unspeakable joy at dying a 
Catholic. I also reconciled, but secretly, several of his 
domestics and some of his friends. This being done, I left 
my companion in the mountainous parts of .Scotland where 
the spiritual wants are SP at and much guod can be done. 
I transported myself to the Hebrides, where God, through his 
all- powerful merry, has effected wonders beyond every ex 
pectation : for he disposed the hearts so well, that Mr. Clan- 
renald, lord of a good part of the island of Vista, was con 
verted together with his wife, his son and all their family, 
and the example has been followed by all the gentlemen, 
their vassals and families. 

" I went afterwards to the island of Egga and Canna. God 
has there converted eight or nine hundred persons who were 
so little instructed in religious matters, that there were not 
fifteen acquainted with any mystery of the Christian faith. 
I nope that the remainder will soon give glory to God. 1 
found thirty or forty persons of seventy, eighty, and a hun 
dred and more years of age, who had never received holy 
baptism. I instructed and baptised them : they died shortly 
after, and without doubt they are now praying to God for 
those who procured them so great an advantage. A great 
portion of the inhabitants lived in concubinage, but thanks to 



322 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



God we have remedied that. We have taken nothing from 
these people for the services we rendered them ; hut I must 
employ two men, one to help me to row when I go from one 
island to another, and to carry my vestments and my little 
baggage by land ; fur sometimes, before celebrating, I am 
obliged to travel four or five leagues on foot in bad roads; 
the other assists me to teach the paler, arc, and credo; and 
serves mass, he being the only one who can do it. 

" Generally we eat but one meal a day, and that consists of 
oat or barley bread with cheese or salt butter. Sometimes 
we pass whole days without eating, because we find nothing, 
particularly when we have to cross deserts and uninhabited 
mountains. It would doubtless lie rendering a great service 
to God to send to this country good evangelical laborers who 
knew the language of the islands well, and who moreover 
knew how to hear hunger, thirst, and to lie upon the around." 
In another letter winch this worthy son of St. Vincent 
wrote to him in ID";-!, he to!d him in substance, that he had 
visited the islands of Vista, Canna, Kirira, and Skia, and 
several parts of the continent; that the part of the island of 
Vista, which belonged to Captain Clanrenald, was entirely 
converted, with the exception of two men, who, to sin more 
at their ease, wanted no religion ; that there was in the other 
part a minister who invited him to a controversy by letters, 
but feared a public discussion; that for himself he hoped 
to meet with good success. lie added that in almost all the 
other islands many had been reunited to the church. 

What he says of the island of Barra is somewhat singular. 
He found the people there so eager for instruction, that it was 
enough for a child of each village to learn the paler, arc, and 
credo, for the whole village to know them in two days. " I 
have received," continues he, "the principal persons of the 
place into the church, and amongst others the younff lord 
with his brothers and sisters. In the number of these new 
converts, there is a son of a minister; his devotion edifies 
very much the whole country where lie is known. I gene 
rally put off the communion for some time. Amongst those 
who approached, there were five who had not the necessary 



I.lfF. OK ST. VINCENT OK PAUL. 



323 



disposition^, and < Jod mad" it known; fur having advanced 

tneir tonu U - tu n-ct-ivr tv sa.-n -.1 ho-t, tht-y rould not draw 

it hark. Th -y \v.-nt a_ r ain t > r.inffSMon, and th- n received 

that br< ad <! li!<- witii >u any dilU< iilty. We baptise a 

fip-at iiiiinlvr )! r: e\vn adults of thirty , lurty, 

sixlv, and t ;L;!I \ \- I :> are some amongst 

th -in, wi.o, !ia\in_- . with phantoms and 

-vil spirits, havr I, after receiving bap- 

tlMIl." 

1 lnis it w.i- t.. :1 1 v/ithout human 

v ,,,,.,., , ., . !. whi!.-t ( romwell 

and Ir.s I" 11 -w -: it on h- other. Such a 

b-aut.! .il :-- MI - " " Carrying 

,- fa, tu tut r. " ; - llllits " a 
stran-- an | - " ! : - " " li " h "l" which 

\v- i.av.- of bi-i:;. "i 1 " th " ( " uitl :uul 

cunti :, :! in o rs :i:l ^ tlr:ul1 

us. 1: . 1 !.. i - > "" 

( ;,.<! \\ i-, -at - . - s ~ rv;ult :llal il 

j,;i-,sj,ult Wli;, -11 h- i. :: - L T oViTIlor of 

1 abbi \\.i- i - :tls - " tr " Mrli - 

H.,,1 f.c.il. h.i 1 ; " :ini1 l! " l l i u t:olls 

of li,.- hoU 1111:1 -try, Iv. H*- ii.-d on tl..- 

I7ih of M.iv. 1 " 7. I :. ls((1 > " s loss was :1S 

R ,-n-ral. as ins hibo ilapj.y wa< tie in liavm- 

fini-lit valiantly, an i ^ ll llllls - 

Whilst t!i> ini- in - lhp I1 " t)rill s 

Mr. !- 15. an.-, h.s o , . x> n i i himsi-lf at on- tune 

upon in- M-a .-. IMS. ,untains of Scotland. 

\V.th the.xr, T t,,,:i cfthi- W( r( IIU " h - n at(>r 

in tln- -ounirv win.- ., i.ati la ,, I, b,s life and latx;rs 

werev.-ry Mii.uir l-. t!.,. ->f I " Alm-M without 

any nounshinrnt, ,-x,- pt , a: vivt.nl the towns and 

viliacps, MP-n-th.-n.-l ih- < a , onfounded and ron- 

v.-rtpd a conMd-rabl.- n-.im* -r : s-.-tarians. ll.-.iv.-n appeared 

U, authoris,- his mis- !> v-nt- hi- h *,., d m.rarulous. 

Tii.- i. i- f th.-s. 
thev w.i. ltdl .wrd, u-nMif.l the I mfstant ininibt-TS. They 



324 LIFK OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

had recourse to the lord protector, the name given to Crom 
well, and in 1G55, they obtained from him an order, by whicn 
the English magistrate who held the office of praetor in Scot 
land, was directed to make an exact search ibr all Roman 
priests, to labor without delay to bring them to trial, and to 
condemn them to death. The order was punctually executed; 
and as it gave to the prator a right to enter wherever he 
pleased, lie searched so well every nook and corner of Hunt- 
ley, that he discovered there three Catholic priests. Le Blanc 
was one of them. He had done much good, hence they 
must naturally have been badly disposed towards him. He was 
carried to the prison of Aberdeen, where it was supposed he 
would not languish long. Vincent, who heard ihe news soon 
afterwards, looked upon that dear brother as a victim destined 
to death, and he had no doubt that death would be preceded 
by very ill treatment. 

That ill treatment was reduced, by a singular providence 
of God, to five or six months imprisonment. To condemn 
a priest to death, it was necessary, according to the laws of 
the time, that he should be convicted of having said mass, or 
performed some other function of the ministry. Le Blanc had 
taken his measures so well, that there was not in all Scotland 
a single man who had surprised him in this pretended crime. 
There was indeed one witness who deposed against him; but 
in addition to his testimony being so ambiguous that the 
judges, although prejudiced, could not rely upon his deposi 
tion, he retracted, when confronted with the prisoner, being 
unwilling, as he afterwards acknowledged, to be the cause of 
the ruin of an honest man. In consequence, this good priest 
was set at liberty, but with the strange condition, that if he 
should preach, instruct, or even baptise any one, he should 
be hung upon the spot, without any other form of trial. 

This terrible sentence was for this apostolical man like that 
of the synagogue against the first disciples of the Saviour. 
After their example, the virtuous missionary left that canton 
to go into another; he retired into the mountains of Scotland, 
and labored there as he had done before. 

His detention had not absolutely arrested the progress of the 



LIFE OK ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 325 

gospel in that country. St. Vincent, whose zeal redoubled in 
proportion as the strength of his body decayed, had correctly 
judged that in a region where the hour of darkness had ar 
rived, his two first priests could only labor at intervals. For 
this reason he had sent them a reinforcement in lG5o. Tin s 
second choice was no less happy than the first. The reader 
can judge by the following letter. It is from Mr. Lunsden, 
who, being born in Ireland with good dispositions, had in 
creased them very much under the guidance of our saint. 
This letter, which Vincent received in 1G54, and consequently 
preceded the rigorous edicts of which we have just spoken, 
was conceived in these terms : 

" < iod gives a very great blessing to the mission which we 
make m the low country, and I can say that the inhabitants, 
rich as well as poor, have never been, from the time they fell 
into heresy, so well disposed to receive the truth, and to be 
converted to our holy faith. We every day receive many 
who come to abjure their errors, and some even of very high 
rank. In addition to this, we labor to confirm the Catholics 
by the word of G!od and the administration of the sacraments. 
On Raster day, I was in the house of a nobleman, where 
more than fifty persons went to communion, amongst whom 
tin re were twenty new converts. The success of our mis 

SIPII* is a cause of ^reat jealousy to the ministers But 

we place our confidence in the goodness of the Lord." 

Three years afterwards, the same priest wrote to our saint 
thai the northern pans of Scotland were much better disposed 
to r-reive the true faith, than they had been before; that ho 
had undertaken a voyage to the Orkney islands, had already 
visiied Moravia. Rosso, Suther, Candia, and Cathanisia, where 
there had not been a priest for a long time, and scarcely a 
Catholic : that, at the solicitation of an excellent man, he was 
upon the point of establishing himself for some time in the last 
place, when the rigorous orders of Cromwell were published ; 
that the preacher, who was much opposed to him, sought his 
destruction ; and that fear had forced him to seek an asylum until 
he could see how the persecution would end. "I cannot," 
adds he in conclusion, " write to you more in detail the situ- 
28 



326 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



ation of our affairs, lest my letters should, (all into the hands 
of our enemies." 

Vincent already knew the extreme danger in which his 
missionaries were placed after the edicts of the protector. His 
tenderness for them induced him to send a person to London, 
to confer with the ambassador of Louis XIV, and open by 
his credit and counsel some route into Scotland. The cir 
cumstances were unfavorable. Cromwell made all tremble 
upon sea and land ; and he was more than ever embittered 
against the Catholics, by whom he could be considered only 
as a detestable usurper. Hence the ambassador was the first 
to urge this missionary, in whose favor the most distinguished 
persons had written to him, to quit immediately a city, in 
which a moment s delay might cost him his life. Our saint 
offered himself to God for his priests. He redoubled his 
prayers for their preservation, and caused others to do the 
same. And there is reason to believe, that, if in spite of the 
emissaries of the tyrant of Great Britain, a hair of their heads 
was not lost, it was owing to the sighs and prayers of Vin 
cent of Paul. 

HISTORY OF THE DEVOTION TO ST. VINCENT. 

Notwithstanding the precautions which our saint always 
took to conceal his virtues, they have transpired ; and a writer 
who improperly accuses the children of having been ashamed 
of the glory of their father, takes pleasure in acknowledging 
that " few persons of his condition have acquired a greater 
reputation." Time did not weaken a reputation so justly 
merited, and miracles of every description confirmed it every 
year. This first gave rise to the thought of his beatification. 
The news, which soon spread through the provinces, gave 
delight to all those who loved the church. Kings and princes 
united with their subjects in soliciting Clement XI to com 
mence that great work. Plence, in a few years, letters were 
written by the king of France, the king and queen of Eng 
land, the duke of Lorraine, the grand duke of Tuscany, the 
doge and the republic of Genoa, and a number of cardinals. 
As to the bishops, as they were too numerous to give their 



LIFE OF ST. YJNCK.vr OF I AL I>. 327 

names here, I shall be contented with saying, that to almost 
all those of the kingdom were added those of Poland, Spain, 
Italy, and Great Britain; and that those who had not always 
agreed well in other matters, such as BossueL, Fenelon, Mont- 
(raillard, celebrated with one concert the hope and charity 
of the servant of God. The assembly of 1705, at which the 
Cardinal de Noailles presided, did in a body what the other 
prelates had done in their dioceses. The chapters of Notrc- 
Dame and Saint-Germam-l Auxerrois followed the same ex 
ample. The city of Pans, represented by its proved and ma 
gistrates, wrote also, and in a manner worthy of itself and 
of the great man whose glory it wished to promote. To these 
letters were added those of the first superiors of the Christian 
Doctrine, th Oratory, and St. Sulpice ; of the abbots of St. 
tienevieve, Grandmont, iVmontre, St. Antoine, Rengeval, 
and of Bonfay ; of the generals of the congregations of Saint- 
Maur, Saint-Vanne, the Minerva, the Minims, the Carmel 
ites, ik.c. 

It would be an error to imagine that those letters were but 
common place, which contained a great deal in general 
without saying any tiling in particular. Of all those which 
remain, and which the pope had printed at Rome in 1709, 
there is scarcely one that does not relate facts connected 
with the writers. Thus it was that the king of England 
backs his entreaties by the services which Vincent ren 
dered to his kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland in the most 
stormy times. And he might have added, that of those 
who rendered these important services, one languished for a 
Ion- time in pri-on, by order of the parricide Cromwell; the 
other was barbarously killed under the eyes o4 his own mo 
ther It was thus also that the duke of Lorraine said that 
tVe memory of this great servant of God was in very great 
veneration amongst the people of h,s states, in gratitude for 
the temporal and spiritual succor which they received from 
him in Ae most dreadful times." Finally, it was thus that 
the magistrates of Paris, whose letter is one of the most beau 
tifully written on the subject, after having spoken of the he- 
zoical virtues which Vincent of Paul practised for more than 



328 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

fifty years in the capital, the sweet odor of Jesus Christ which 
he spread in so many ways, the reputation of sanctity in which 
he died, continues in these terms : " Is there, holy father, a 
species of wretchedness for which Vincent of Paul has not 
provided a remedy ? The Sisters of Charity, of whom he 
was the institutor, and who have more than thirty-five houses 
in Paris, and nearly three hundred in and out of the kingdom, 
instruct the children of the poor, and render them the most 
humiliating services in their own huts or in the hospitals, 
with a charity, a modesty, an address by which the rich are 
as much edified as the poor are instructed and relieved. Poor 
families have a sure resource in those confraternities, the plan 
of which he laid, and which are established in almost all the 
parishes of this city, and what is more, not only in most cities, 
but also in almost all the towns and many of the villages of 
the kingdom. Has a fire caused devastation ? a flood or ste 
rility desolated a province? A regular assembly of ladies 
most distinguished by their birth, and still more by their piety, 
formed by the exertions of this most charitable priest, and 
guided by the general superiors of the mission, his successors, 
consecrate one day of the week to examine into and relieve 
their necessities. It is he who continues to be a father 
to an infinite number of poor, abandoned and exposed chil 
dren, a number truly prodigious in this city, in consequence 
of the compassion which he had, and with which he in 
spired others for them. That compassion, of which the 
poor beings condemned to the galleys every day experience 
the effects. We tell you, holy father, only a part of what 
we see." 

The letter of the clergy of France was still more spirited. 
The Cardinal de Noailles, after having remarked that it be 
longs to the apostolic see to take information on the life and 
morals of those who are sought to be placed in the number 
of the saints, says in direct terms, that Vincent of Paul is one 
of those whose canonization the general assembly thinks it 
can loudly and fearlessly ask : Ilhimque vobis expendendum 
non timide proponimus. He adds that the life of this holy 
priest was a prodigy, vita pro ostento fitit, and that all France 



LIFE OF BT. VINCENT OF PAUL. 329 

was filled with the fame of his sanctity ; that there is great 
difficulty to prevent the people from paying him a veneration 
which would DP blameable if it were precipitate: Sanctitatis 
fnma (jullias late iniplcl, tantnqne. cdebritatc percrebuit, ut iin- 
maturi piorwn hominum cultus, rix ac ne vix quidem possint co- 
hibcri. He concludes with these beautdul \vords, so expres 
sive of esteem and veneration. Be pleased then, holy father, 
to listen to our wishes and those of the people. Decree for 
Vincent the honors which he so well merited. Erect altars to 
him, it is erecting them to religion. JNos<m ergo ac populo- 
riini precibiis <i]>t(itisfjiiK annuc, Leatissime paler, debitos Vin- 
ccntio dccerne honores, ct triumphwn impera religionis. 

Whilst these letters were writing, the commissaries ap 
pointed in 1701, by his eminence, were laboring at the pro 
cess of information ; and this task occupied them more than 
eighteen months. Although Vincent had been dead forty-five 
years, one hundred and eighty-eight witnesses were found, 
who did justice to his memory; and those witnesses, joined 
to the bishops who wrote in his favor, and who had known 
him, either themselves, or through those who had conversed 
with him, formed such a complete budy of proof, that it was 
thought that the affair would be finished almost as soon as 
it was commenced. But precipitation is not a fault of the 
court of Home. Multiplied solicitations seemed to redouble 
its vigilance. It replied that what is well done, is done soon 
enough. 

It was only in 1708, that the process verbal was sent to 
Rome. To it was added another, de non cnltu, in which it 
was proved that the church of France, great as was her zeal 
lor the canoni/ation of Vincent of Paul, had not anticipated 
the judgment of the holy see, and that neither the priests of 
the mission, nor any person in office had paid him the honors 
which are rendered to canonized saints. These two docu 
ments, which, according to the usase of the congregation of 
rites, should not be opened till after the lapse of ten years, 
were examined the same year. To this favor, which the 
holy father granted, no doubt, to the entreaties of so many 
sovereigns, cardinals, and bishops, who begged him to crown 
28* 



330 



LIFE OF ST. VI.VCEKT OF PAUL. 



the merits of one of the most holy priests that the church 
ever possessed, he added another, which was to name as re 
porter of the cause, Cardinal de la Trernouilles. 

As these documents, drawn up by the ordinary, only serve 
to induce an examination at Rome, as to whether the cause 
deserves to be undertaken; as soon as the holy see had judged 
that that of Vincent of Paul could be entered upon, Cardi 
nal Carpini expedited in the name of the sovereign pontiff, 
remissorial and compulsory letters.* They were addressed 
to Cardinal de Noailles, to Artus de Lionne, bishop of Ro 
salia, and Humbert Ancelin, former bishop of Tulles. By 
these letters, the three prelates, of whom at least two must 
always act together, were charged to draw up, in the space 
of a year, the process in <renere. 

Although this process in genere, decides little fundamen 
tally, it serves to prove that the reputation of the subject in 
question is still maintained, and that from the time of the 
first proceedings, nothing has occurred to prevent their 
continuation. Only fourteen witnesses were heard, at the 
head of whom were Caesar d Estrees, cardinal of the holy 
church, and Jean Baptiste Chevalier, subdean of the great 
chamber of parliament, &c. Their depositions, which were 
only to be general, were unanimous. All declared upon oath 
that the eminent virtues of Vincent of Paul had conciliated 
the respect of the city, the court, and all France; that the 
noise of his miracles was more and more spread abroad, and 
that his tomb was honored by a great concourse of people. 

For fear of losing sight of witnesses of such weight as Mr. 
de Lamoignon, permission was obtained from the pope to 
receive detailed depositions of old persons arid valetudinari 
ans. The commission was given to the three before mentioned 
prelates. They had but six months for this new process, and 
it became necessary to ask for six more. Sixty-one witnesses 
presented themselves, of from sixty to eighty years of age, 

* Remissorial letters are those of the commission. Compulsory 
letters permit a recourse to the process made by the authority of the 
ordinary, when the witnesses who have deposed are dead. This death 
must be proved by certificates in form : otherwise it would be sup 
posed that the witnesses h.ul changed their minds. 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



331 



and each one had such a beautiful relation, that great labor was 
necessary to avoid asking a further delay from the holy see. 
The first of these two documents having been received at 
Rome with a kind of applause, the three commissioners re 
ceived orders to draw up, during the course of a year, the 
process in specie. Tliey were directed at the same time, to 
terminate the proceeding by opening the tomb of the servant 
of God, and by examining carefully all the detached portions 
of his body that could be found in the city and diocess of Pans. 
After having again heard fifty-four witnesses, amongst 
whom was the archbishop of Vienna, Armand de Montmorin, 
the Cardinal de Nouill.-s proceeded, on the Ifth of February, 
171-2, to the opening of the tomb. It may be well supposed, 
that the moment when the holy body was to be brought to 
liht was expected with mixed sentiments of fear and hope. 
lt had been in the earth more than fifty-one years, and that 
in a church where a whole body had never been found. God 
mi-ht have permitted it to decay like the others; he might 
have preserved it. This latter conjecture was found true, 
and the examiners one of whom was a physician and regt 
in medicine, the other a surgeon in the armies of the king, 
after a most exact scrutiny, finished their juridical report with 
these words: -Finally, we can testify, as we do that we 
found a bodv completely whole and without any bad smell. 
I had for-o.ten to say that Mr. Jean Bonnet, who, in quality 
of superior general of the congregation, was present on tb 
occasion, was so amazed at it, that he retired m alarm, and 
only returned when ordered by the cardinal archbishop to 
contemplate fixedly the body of his good father. This was 
the expression of Mr. de Noailles. 

After closing the process, that prelate wrote to the pope, to 
give him an account of the manner in which he and the two 
other commissaries had acted. He first declares to his holi 
ness and to the sacred congregation of rites, that they had ob- 
served in the course of the proceeding, all the rules prescribed 
by Urban VIII, Innocent XI; and that all that had been de 
led concerning the virtues and miracles of the servan of 
God was bv witnesses entitled to credit, in whom ne.ther 



332 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

he nor any one had remarked any cause for suspicion. He 
afterwards continues in these words : " Thus, holy father, 
not satisfied with the solicitations which I have offered at the 
throne of your holiness, in conjunction with the clergy of 
France, in the letter which 1 signed, I confidently address you 
again. Those entreaties are the greatest, the most lively, and 
the strongest that can emanate from a heart, which, in this 
affair, seeks nothing but the glory of God and the honor of 
his servants." 

The bishops of Tulles and Rosalia wrote also to Clement 
XI, a letter in common, which, although much shorter, said 
the same thing in substance. The two sub-promoters, Achille 
and Francois Thomassin, wrote to Prosper Lambertini, pro 
moter of the faith, whose merit afterwards raised him to the 
chair of St. Peter. Their letter does justice to the honesty 
and religion of the witnesses whom they officially cited : 
Omnes, say they, omni exceptions majores, d pietate ac rcligi- 
onis zelo conspicuos. All these letters are of the 1st of March, 
1712. 

After the examination of this process, and of the rules 
which the holy priest had given to the three establishments 
of which he was the institutor, it was finally necessary to pro 
nounce on the heroical degree of his virtues. This capital 
point is always treated in three congregations. In the first, 
which is called ante-preparatory, the promoter makes his ob 
jections. In that which follows, and is the preparatory, the 
consultors propose all they think proper, and ordinarily sus 
pend their judgment until their difficulties are cleared up. 
In the last, which is called definitive, they must necessarily 
make up their minds, and decide for or against. This last, 
notwithstanding the entreaties of the clergy of France, who 
had written for the third time, of Louis XV and his august 
queen, who also wrote, was not held until twelve years after 
the first. And it was then at last, that Benedict XIII decided 
solemnly that it was proved that the venerable servant of God, 
Vincent of Paul, had possessed in a heroical degree, both the 
theological and cardinal virtues, and those which are annexed 
to them. The bishop of Cavaillon, who was one of the con- 



LIFK OF ST. VIXCKXT OF PAUL. 



333 



suitors, said that there had scarcely ever been examples of 
such unanimity. 

The decree which decides the sanctity of a person, does not 
decide on the public veneration. It is necessary that God 
should make known that it is his will that the veneration 
should be decreed, and it is by miracles that lie is supposed 
to make it known. Of the great number of wonders worked 
at the tomb of Vincent of Paul, or by his intercession, sixty- 
four of the most striking ones were at first chosen. But the 
fear of exposing themselves to the interminable discussions of 
a council, winch for the sake of the church, does not admit 
always what the enemies of the church would admit, in 
duced the proposal of only eight, which the public voice had 
declared to be miraculous. Two well attested are enough; 
the ho .y see approved four. 

The tirst was worked upon Claude Joseph Compom, who, 
having entirely lost his sight at the age of ten, recovered it 
the instant after commencing a novena at the tomb of the 
servant of God. 

The second took place in the person of Ann 1 Huilher, a 
little girl eight years old. She was dumb from her birth, and 
so paralytic in "her legs that she had never been able to walk 
a step. Her mother who, whether right or wrong had never 
been willing to apply any remedy, made two novenas for 
her. A double miracle, to say nothing more, was the fruit of 
her perseverance. The little 1 Huillier walked firmly, and 
spoke distinctly. 

The hand of God was not less visible in the third miracle. 
Mathurine Guerm, a Sister of Chanty and of great merit, 
having been attacked by a horrible ulcer in the leg, which 
physicians call phagedcniqiie, because it eats to the very bones, 
said at last to herself, after suffering three years, that a daugh 
ter of the holy priest might find at his tomb the same aid 
which so many strangers found every day. Her confidence 
was not vain. On the ninth day, her leg was as sound as 
it had ever been. The corrosive humours which had been 
the cause of the evil did not quit one part to afflict other?. 



334 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



Her recovery was complete; and for six years that she lived 
afterwards, she continued to serve the poor as actively as ever. 
The last cure was that of Alexander Philippe Le Grand. 
This young man who had been carried to the Foundling 
Hospital at his birth, became there so far deprived of the use 
of his arms and legs, that he could neither walk, nor carry his 
hand to his mouth. Florent Franchet, one of the most skil 
ful surgeons in Paris, who attended that house for twenty- 
years, having found that all possible remedies were ineffec 
tual, gave at last his decision, that as Le Grand could not he 
cured, he should be carried to the general hospital, where 
there is a ward for the incurables of his age. Before taking 
this step, Elizabeth Bourdois, a Sister of Charity, was desf- 
rous of trying superior remedies. She caused a novena to be 
commenced at the tomb of Vincent of Paul. It was not yet 
finished when Alexander recovered what four years of reme 
dies could not procure him. They passed the same judgment 
at Rome upon this event, as had been pronounced at Paris, 
and it was sustained against the attacks of the promoter of 
the faith. 

This person, in a court where often of ninety miracles not 
one is admitted, has a list of objections which he sets in 
m a strong light. In his replies there is not to be found vain 
declamation, or a confused mass of words which means 
nothing. Whatever the most learned physicians, from Hy- 
pocrates to our own days, have said of all imaginable diseases, 
serve him as principles. Whatever nature alone, either in 
the judgment of masters of the art, or by the relations of his 
torians, has effected in cases nearly similar, comes to his aid. 
A skilful person of consummate science is interrogated; his 
doubt alone is decisive against any thing supernatural in the 
operation. If he is forced to admit the hand of Omnipotence, 
he may be, and is often combatted. A second experienced 
person is charged with a new examination; his report, like 
that of the first, is made before an intelligent assembly, and 
of so many persons respectable for their honesty and virtue, 
there is not one who, like the apostle, does not take God to 
witness at the risk of his soul and his eternal salvation, that 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 335 

truth and justice are the only rules which he has consulted. 
If to tins be added the prayers, communions and sacrifices 
which are offered in so many places, to attract the holy spirit 
and his light, it will be admitted that the Roman church takes 
every possible measure to avoid mistake and error. 

Benedict XIII, alter having heard the cardinals and the 
c onsultors, and taken again time to implore the aid of heaven, 
at lust published the decree, on the loth of August, 1729, 
which places Vincent of Paul in the number of the blessed. 
The applause with which this decree was received in all parts 
of the world, was as honorable to the worthy priest, as the 
magnificence with which his feast was celebrated in the 
superb basilic of the Vatican, on the 21st of August. There 
were present eighteen cardinals of the congregation of Rites, 
a -.id twentv-^Mght prelates and consultors of the same congre 
gation. The pope came there in the afternoon; and after 
having adored the blessed sacrament, he went to place him 
self oil In- knees before the representation of the new saint. 
On that day of triumph, Vincent of Paul was as great in the 
v\ t s of religion, as he had appeared little in his own eyes 
whilst he lived upon earth. 

The same feast was celebrated in Paris on the 27th of 
September; and although the body was no longer entire, as 
,t had no bad smell, and was also one of the most precious 
relics in the kingdom, it was exposed to the veneration of the 
people. Charles Gaspard Guillaume des Comtes de Vinti- 
m.lle du [AM: celebrated pontifically. The church was neatly 
decorate,!, but without magnificence. Twelve pictures in 
cama.eu on an azure ground perhaps recalled as much the 
simplicity of the saint, as the memory of his principal 

actions. 

There were very few diocesses in France, in Bologna and 
Italy that were not in motion to show him marks of their 
respe ct. The prelates of the orders made it a duty for them 
selves to open the solemnity of his veneration, and often to 
publish in person his virtues from the chair of truth. Kings, 
princes, first magistrates, humbly bent their knees before the 
image of this poor priest, who had so often bent his own to 



336 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

the very dregs of the people. Heaven afterwards confirmed 
the judgment of the holy see by other prodigies, which in 
duced it to decree new honors to this great servant of God. 
It was thus, that in consequence of new remissmial letters, 
of the 5th of May, 1731, the delegates, who were the arch 
bishop of Paris, the bishop of Bethleem, and the ancient 
bishop of Vence, heard, in the space of nearly two years, a 
hundred and thirty-five witnesses, who all deposed to a ffreat 
number of facts which were judged supernatural. The three 
prelates rendered an account to Clement XII, who then occu 
pied the chair of St. Peter. They added that whilst they 
were examining the first miracles, new ones had taken place 
almost under their eyes, particularly in the persons of two 
young English women ; and that of all those Avho had been 
healed by the intercession of blessed Vincent, not one had 
those senseless convulsions, which had made so much noise 
in Paris. 

Although for the canonization of a saint but two miracles 
are required, seven were presented to the sacred congregation. 
I shall give only three of them. 

The first was worked upon Marie Therese Pean de Saint 
Gilles, a benedictine religious at Montmirel, where she was 
called sister saint Basile. From her infancy a fruitful germ 
of disease had been perceived in her. Being admitted with a 
great deal of difficulty to take her vows, she was two years 
afterwards most violently attacked with apoplexy. The power 
ful remedies which she had been obliged to take increased her 
infirmities : from that time she could only walk with the aid 
of a stick, and with much inconvenience. Nothing was 
neglected to restore her. She took the baths at Bourbonne, 
she tried a change of air. Her relations took her to the most 
skilful physicians of Paris during her stay with them. Here 
is, in a few words, the result of these different trials. 

In 1720, Mother saint Basile experienced a much 
greater increase of fever. A retention of urine reduced her to 
the necessity of using the probe. Two large ulcers were 
formed, of which we give but a weak idea, when we say 
that they were most frightful. The flesh which was carried 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 337 

away in pieces, finally evinced that the whole mass of the 
blood was infected. Add to this a swelling that extended to 
the stomach, a complete paralysis of that part of the body, 
which had been weak from infancy, a devouring thirst, con 
tinual sleeplessness, crises which weakened without relieving 
her ; from this the. reader may have some idea of a very 
small portion of the pains winch she suffered for nearly 
eleven months. 

Such and worse still was the condition of this religious of 
Montrnirel, when Jean Joseph Languet de Gergy, then 
bishop of Soissons, arrived in that little place, to celebrate 
the feast of the Beatification. He desired, that before being 
enclosed in a case, the relic of the blessed priest should be 
carried to sister saint Basile. She kissed it with respect, 
begged those present to touch with it a cloth which she 
applied to her body, and feeling her confidence increased, 
asked as the only favor from that former father of the alllicted 
that he would be pleased to obtain from God the cure of her 
ulcers. 

She had scarcely finished her prayer, when she felt that 
she was heard. The ulcers and the immoderate pains which 
accompanied them, disappeared. There was no more reten 
tion, no more fever, no restlessness, not a vestige of that in 
satiable thirst, which nothing could allay. 

Some days after, on hearing the life of the servant of God 
read, she reflected that if he would heal her of her paralysis, 
she would be better able to imitate some of his sublime vir 
tues, and to contribute by her voice to the beauty of the office. 
In consequence of that idea, she commenced a novena ; and, 
although it results from her deposition that this new favor 
affected her less than the one she had obtained, she did not 
fail to ask it with fervor. Her patience was not put to a long 
trial. The third day she felt strongly inspired to go out of 
her bed and walk. The attempt was completely successful; 
she had no need of support, and perhaps had never walked 
so firmly. At the report of so striking a miracle, the religious, 
the out-sisters and boarders ran together ; all wished to see 
with their own eyes, what they could not believe on the word 



338 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



of another. It was the same with the magistrates and the 
principal inhabitants of the place, who, hearing continu 
ally of the cruel situation of that child of affliction, hastened 
to see and congratulate her. I had the same happiness some 
years afterwards, and ! found her full of health and of grati 
tude to the saint, to whose mediation her cure was to be 
attributed. 

The second miracle, of which I shall say but a word, was 
worked upon Franpois Richer, a merchant of Paris. In at 
tempting to lift a heavy bale, he broke the peritoneum, from 
whence the most complete descent of the artestine resulted. 
In spite of the assistance of a skilful surgeon, who placed 
every thing in its natural situation, they often fell again, and 
then Richer was so sick as to lose almost his senses, and some 
times he even voided his excrement by his mouth. He re 
lapsed on the morning of the day on which the tomb of our 
blessed priest was to be opened. One of his friends, to 
whom the merchant related what he suffered, took him to the 
church of St. Lazarus. Richer prayed at the grave of the 
saint. He did not do it long on account of the ceremony 
which was going to begin, but he did it so earnestly, that I 
know not by what revolution which he then experienced, he 
thought, without hesitation, that he was cured. On return 
ing to the house, he began, without examining, to throw his 
bandage into the fire, in presence of his wife, whom he 
wished to surprise, and whom he surprised so effectually, 
that she was tempted to believe he had lost his senses. From 
that moment he worked without any precaution in his store, 
and always went about in perfect security. But whilst he 
put the work of God to proofs which suited his fancy, God 
in his turn put him to a trial which he did not look for. One 
evening as he was flying precipitately from some people who 
intended him no good, he fell into a quarry the height of t\vo 
stories. Such a violent shock, so well calculated to injure a 
man who had always been well, did not open his wound 
again, and the surgeon found things in the state to which it 
had pleased God to restore them. 
The third event regarded a more considerable person, and 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 339 

on that account it made more noise in Paris. We give the 
details, extracted, like the preceding from the most authentic 
acts. 

Louise Elizabeth Sackville, a young English girl of a very 
respectable family, after four or five months fever, lost abso 
lutely the use of her right leg. II she attempted to rest it the 
least on the ground, she experienced such sharp pains in the 
hip, as to produce fits of weakness. Neither the remedies 
prescribed by the most learned physicians of Paris, nor the 
pump and baths of I ourbon 1 Archatnbaud could mitigate the 
pain. On the contrary, she found herself exhausted after 
the journey, so that she received the sacraments twice in the 
same year. It was impossible to behold, without being moved 
with compassion, a person so young, obliged to use crutches, 
and dragging after her a limb which hung from her body, as 
a branch which receives no more motion or life hangs from 
a tree. 

Two daughters of the community of St. Thomas of Ville- 
neuve, having related that one of their sisters had been 
recently, by the intercession of the blessed Vincent, cured 
of a complaint very much like hers, she at last determined to 
begin a novena. That course was very painful for the sick 
person. She was transported in a carriage, and taken out of 
it, like an inanimate body. To arrive at the place where she 
was to hear mass, the aid of her crutches was not sufficient; 
she was obliged to be assisted by two servants. A priest of 
the house having learned that after her novena she was no 
bef.er than the first day, made her kiss the reliquary in 
Yfchich was the heart of the saint, and exhorted her to perse 
verance. 

She was nearer than was thought to the moment when the 
mercy of God was to be manifested towards her. The next 
day she felt that her leg, hitherto as cold as marble, began to 
recover its natural heat : she immediately said to Theresa 
Xavier, her sister, that she thought she could walk without 
assistance. In fact she did so, and with as much ease as 
before her sickness. Young Miss Sackville, out of herself, 
quickly carried the news to the women of the house ; they 



340 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

assembled together ; and at the sight of such an astonishing 
revolution, many tears were shod. 

The two sisters lodged with Mrs. Hayes, who was a Pro 
testant. They deliberated on the manner in which they 
should announce to her an event which must strike her very 
much. The lady who was cured arranged herself in such a 
manner as to cause the least possible surprise. She begged 
of the lady to come to her apartment where siie would hear 
some good news. But in the first moments of great joy, we 
are not always masters of ourselves. Elizabeth Sackville did 
so much violence to herself as to keep from going to meet the 
lady, she received her sitting as usual. But when asked for 
the good news she had to tell: "Madam," replied she, "I 
have made a novena to the blessed Vincent of Paul, I am 
cured and I walk." She instantly arose and walked like a 
person who bad never suffered. 

Mrs. Hayes did not then enjoy the spectacle long. Her 
emotion was more violent than desirable. She fainted so 
completely, that she recovered with difficulty at the end 
of a whole hour. She spoke afterwards of the miracle as a 
zealous Catholic would have done, and testified to it by a 
certificate written by herself, with permission to her friend to 
make what use of it she pleased. Her husband who beheld 
all that was great in the court and city, almost forgot at the 
time be belonged to a sect accustomed to look upon the mira 
cles performed in the Catholic church, as fables. He related 
the event as a thing surpassing nature, and it was in that 
sense that he spoke of it to Cardinal Fleury. 

Such was the prodigy which, although divested of every 
circumstance that might have obscured it, still appeared too 
weak in the eyes of the congregation of rites. It is a new 
proof of what others have said before us, that there is more 
rigor in the examinations of the holy see, than in those of its 
most declared enemies. To be convinced of it, it will be 
sufficient to compare the judgment pronounced at Rome with 
that of Mrs. Hayes. She, after having testified before God 
that she only speaks to bear witness to the truth, declares that 
Miss Louisa Elizabeth Sackville fell dangerously sick at her 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 341 

house, about the month of March, 1730; and that amongst 
other circumstances of her sickness which several times re 
duced her to extreme danger, she became entirely paralytic in 
:ie right leg, winch was as cold as ice. I testify moreover, con- 
she, that during t | 1( . SJ)acP o f m , ar i y three years< j haye 
seen her dragging her leg without having the ieast use of it 
which continued until the 2 Jth of December, 1732, when she 
recovered the use of it in a moment, although for a long time 
she had made use of no remedy, and had been pronounced 
incurable by Mr. Chirac, and all those who had attended her, 
that so sudden and complete a cure can be attributed to 
God alone, and I was so surprised at it, that at the time when 
t took place. Miss Sackville having sent for me to tell me 
some good news, I fainted on seeing her walk, and remained 
lor a long time in that situation. I passed a great part of the 
night without sloping ; and desiring to be certain that the cure 
was perfect, 1 got up in the morning to see if she would easily 
descend the staircase, and whether she would get into a car 
riage without help, to go to tiie tomb of the blessed Vincent 
of Paul, to whom she had recommended herself: I saw her 
with my eyes go down the stairs, and get into the carriage 
without help, and I reminded her to have her crutches carried 
to the tomb by a servant. I moreover testify that since, she 
has continued to walk with as much ease as another person, 
without having cither crisis, sweat, or making use of reme 
dies, either before or after her cure. Given at Paris, the 3d 
of February, 1733. 

Signed, CATHARINE SORACOLE HAVES. 
Vincent of Paul is perhaps the only one, after the apostle 
of the Indies, to whom our separated brethren have given the 
name of saint. When we walk so closely in the steps of 
great men, we have some right to their prerogatives. 

It was not until the 21th of June, 1736, that Clement XII 
approved the two first miracles which we have related. On 
the 10th of June in the following year, he issued the bull of 
canonization. I shall not speak of the trifling disturbance 
which it excited. But I may say that when Pierre Gilbert de 
Voisins asked its suppression, he spoke of Vincent of Paul 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 

nearly as De Mole, Lamoignon, Le Pelletier and so many 
other illustrious magistrates had done, both during his life 
and after his death; that is to say, he announced the new 
canonization, as that of a saint so much the more to be vene 
rated in this kingdom, as alter having edified it by his exam 
ple, lie leit in it lasting monuments of his piety and zeal. 
The parliament also declared in its remonstrances to the 
king, that it wished in no way to reflect on the veneration 
which all France entertained for this holy priest; that, to 
authorise his veneration, it only wished to have a bull drawn 
in the forms usual in the state. 

During these agitations, which lasted some time, the saint 
continued to perform miracles of every kind; and his feast 
was celebrated in Europe, in Africa, in America, and even in 
the extremity of Asia, with all possible solemnity. Rome 
commenced according to custom, and the ceremony took 
place in the Lateran basilic. The decoration was magni- 
licent, and did not yield to those of which sovereigns bearall 
the expense. The cost would have been excessive for an in 
dividual body, if the same pomp which served lor Vincent 
of Paul had not served at the same time for Francis Regis, 
Juliana Falconieri, and Catharine Fieschi, whom the pope 
had lately placed in the number of the saints. 

In France, things went on as well as could be expected. 
The archbishop of Paris, at the head of his metropolis and 
the four churches which usually accompany him, began the 
solemnity of the octave, and it was terminated by Cardinal 
de Polignac. The most holy communities sent deputies, 
and the duke of Richelieu, who came expressly from Fon- 
tainbleau to assist at it on the last day, had the pleasure to 
find, in presence of a brilliant and numerous assembly, that 
the eulogium of the charity of Vincent of Paul could not be 
well pronounced, without extolling the immense liberality of 
the duchess of Aiguillon. 

The example of the capital was soon followed by all the 
provinces of the kingdom. To avoid the repetitions insepara 
ble from the detail, and relieve the reader by some more in 
teresting traits, we will say that the feast being celebrated at 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 343 

Fontainbleau whilst the king was there, the parish served by 
the missionaries was, by order of that prince, spread with a 
double row of the most beautiful tapestry of the crown ; that 
their majesties came there to pay their devotion to the new 
saint; that their example was followed by all that was great 
at court; that the queen who was a subject of edification every 
where, was moved by the piety of a young girl of nine years, 
who being cured in her infancy by the intercession of St. 
"Vincent, of a confirmed paralysis, profited by the new solem 
nity, after the examination of the ordinary, to return those 
thanks to her liberator from which her age had dispensed her. 
We will add that the counts of Lyons, with the view of 
honoring a man who did so much honor himself to the 
choice of their predecessors, were anxious to lend one of their 
three churches tor the ceremony ; that in presence of their 
archbishop, whose great age did not permit him to celebrate, 
they performed the oilice of the first day with that ancient 
majesty which is the admiration of all strangers; that more 
than one hundred and twenty curates of the diocess went in 
procession to pay their respect to a priest who was at once 
their brother and their model; and that finally more than six 
thousand communions made during the octave, gave, in the 
first city of the diocess, an idea of the fervor winch Vincent 
bad formerly communicated to his people of Chatillon. 

That people, to whom the memory of Vincent of Paul is 
as dear as they themselves were to Vincent of Paul, merit by 
their tender respect for their former pastor, the second place 
in his history. As soon as that city, in which it had been 
once predicted that he would be placed in the number of the 
saints, had heard the news, it was filled with ecstasy and 
transports of joy. The relics of the servant of God were 
received there, as if it were himself who came in person to 
visit his flock once more. All looked upon him as a new 
protector, who was ready to do for them what Jeremias did 
after his death for the people of God. The event has not 
belied such just expectations, and the offerings suspended 
in the chapel where he is honored, prove no less the tender- 



344 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 



ness which he continues to show towards his ancient cradle, 
than his power with God. 

But it was above all, in the diocess in which he was born, 
and under the eyes of the august parliament in whose juris 
diction his province was, that the new saint triumphed. As 
soon as Louis Marie de Suarez d Aulan, the worthy bishop 
of Acqs, had, by a pastoral letter replete with dignity and wis 
dom, given on the 10th of June, 1738, announced to his people 
the feast of St. Vincent of Paul, a native of the parisli of 
Pouy, every thing was in motion as far as Beam and Basse- 
Navarre. The concourse was so prodigious, that notwith 
standing the precautions taken by the police, even respectable 
people were reduced to the coarsest bread. The prelate, 
moved and affected to see all his flock assembled together, dis 
tributed to them once or twice a day, the spiritual nourishment 
which most of them had come so far to seek. The confessors, 
during the whole octave, had not a moment to spare ; and 
every day it was at least four o clock in the evening, and 
sometimes six, before they had finished giving communion. 
The governor, the president, the seneschal, the elections, all 
the communities did their very best to honor their holy coun 
tryman. The family of Vincent of Paul, always poor, but 
always virtuous, distinguished themselves only by their mo 
desty and the innocence of their manners. 

The spectacle which the city of Bordeaux presented was 
grander and no Jess edifying. Misery and the dignities of the 
world were united. At the head of a well regulated procession 
which went from the cathedral by a long circuit to the hos 
pital where the feast was to be celebrated, walked the found 
lings, an innocent body, which, wherever it be, owes much 
to the servant of God, because the zeal which he manifested 
for that description of persons in Paris, served as a rule for 
the provinces. Between the two banners of the saint which 
preceded the clergy of the seminary and the cathedral, ad 
vanced, with a torch in his hand, the young de Savignac, 
son and brother of the first order of magistrates. As he was 
born during the ceremony of the beatification, he had received 
the name of Vincent of Paul ; and it was to teach him early to 



LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 345 

walk in the footsteps of his holy patron, that a virtuous mo 
ther wished that lie should pay him from his infancy all the 
honor lie could. The archbishop, primate of Aquitaine, led 
the march of his numerous clergy. Alter him appeared the 
parliament, in red robe*, preceded by their illustrious first 
president and two others, at the head of nearly lifty counsel 
lors, one of the king s advocates, and the procurator general. 
The court of aids, aJso in robes, came afterwards, with their 
first president. This body was followed by the treasurers of 
France; then came the officers of the seneschal, who were 
followed by the secretaries of the treasury. 

It was thus that a city for which Vincent of Paul had never 
an occasion to do the thousandth part of what he had done 
for so many others, gave him such striking proofs of respect 
and devotedness. IV or did it show less fervor and piety. 
During the whole octave, the church in which the feast was 
kept, was always full. All Bordeaux seemed in a holy com 
motion. There were every day more than nine hundred com 
munions. The nobility appeared rich in faith as well as the 
people. The eight panegyrics delivered there, as in several 
other places, were justly applauded ; and were the more liked, 
as every thing like show and eloquence was banished from 
them. It was perceived in the provinces, as it had been in 
Paris, that in an eulogium, as abundant as that of Vincent 
of Paul, to be an orator, it was sufficient to be a historian. 

It was not only in France, that the name of the holy priest 
was celebrated. Savoy, Piedmont, Tuscany, the republic of 
Genoa, the kingdom of Naples, Poland, and a great number 
of other countries, honored him with a sort of emulation. 
Lisbon did not yield to any other part of the world. To say 
that the king of Portugal, John V, paid the expenses of the 
solemnity, is to say that it was done with the greatest mag 
nificence. 

One singular thing is, that there is not perhaps a diocess 
where the virtue of our saint is better known, his name more 
cherished, his veneration more general, than that of Ypres. 
We have seen persons in office come from that city to Paris, 
to have the happiness of praying at his tomb; return imme- 



346 LITE OF ST. VINCENT OP PAUL. 

diately afterwards to their country without having seen any 
of the things which arrest the eye of the stranger in that su 
perb capital, and say with a simplicity truly religious, that 
they thought they had seen every thing, when they saw the 
precious remains of a man so powerful in works and words. 
From Ypres his devotion has been carried to Lorraine, where 
the celebrated university knows so well how to ally erudition 
and virtue. 

Since the decree of the holy see, the veneration of the man 
of God has been constantly extending. North America 
joined him with its other holy protectors, and the first parish 
which was erected after his canonization, was called by the 
name of Vinoent of Paul. Of so many places where his 
feast was celebrated, I do not know that there was one where 
prodigies did not take place, and in many there were several. 
No doubt many persons have read with pleasure the edifying 
relation of that which took place at Sens, in the person of 
Marie Antoinette Robbe, and which was authentically certified 
by persons whose prejudices would rather dispose them to 
weaken it ; or another which the bishop of Amelia has pub 
lished, and by which the Benedictine nuns, upon one of whom 
it was worked, were so much struck, that, to perpetuate the 
memory of it, they obtained from the holy see the permission 
to recite, like the missionaries, the proper office of St. Vincent, 
and to make his a solemn feast of the first class, with an octave. 
But an abridgment does net admit of this detail; it will be 
found in the large life of the saint, and how many other facts 
full of interest and piety are to be seen there. 

But whatever idea these great works may give of the saint, 
it must be admitted to his glory, that the eminent holiness of 
his life will always be the greatest of his miracles. In peru 
sing even slightly what we have related : Where," says the 
bishop of Rodez in his pastoral letter, " where do we find more 
innocence of manners, a more tender piety, a more lively faith, 
stronger hope, more perfect charity, more heroic patience, 
more active zeal, wiser conduct, more complete disinterested 
ness, more profound humility. " 

So long as the church of Christ shall subsist, and in spite 



LIFE OF ST. VINCtJNT OF PAUL. 347 

of the efforts of hell, it will subsist to the end of ages, will 
men announce throughout the world, " the continual sacrifice 

which he made of his body and all his senses, his mildness, 
his evenness of mind, his angelical purity, his respect for the 
prelates of the church, his prompt and sincere obedience to 
their decisions, his indefatigable labor to instruct the people 
in the truths of salvation ; his zeal and attention to arrest new 
errors, to annihilate them, if he could, as soon as they made 
their appearance; to keep them away from the companies he 
had founded, or which Providence had placed under his di 
rection " (.Mr. d Angers Pastoral, April IxJ). 

IJut since, as one of the greatest doctors of the church has 
observed, the veneration of the saints " essentially consists in 
imitating them here below, and as the life of St. Vincent of 
Paul has been nothing else than the gospel, or rather the per 
fection of the gospel put in practice by that faith which works 
by charity; it is for those who study his conduct to be his 
imitators, as he was of Jesus Christ. His example should 
convince them of the necessity of walking in his footsteps. 
He so fully possessed every virtue, that in whatever situation 
Providence judges proper to place them, they will always 
find something to imitate" (Pastoral of Mr. d Acqs, July 10). 



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