CHAPTER XVIII
PANORAMIC VIEW FROM SAINT LAZARE
PANORAMIC VIEW FROM SAINT LAZARE
Vincent lived in Saint Lazare from 1632 1660, that is, from the time he was 50 till he reached the age of 80. All his great projects would be directed from the command post he set up in the old priory. It was there that two generations of Frenchmen would come to know him. His role in society and in the Church was firmly established, and never seemed to alter. This was probably why a famous bishop was heard to exclaim, after paying him a visit, "Monsieur Vincent is always Monsieur Vincent." [1] This was not true. All those long thirty years Vincent's human development had kept pace with the expansion of his works, and the deepening of his, spiritual life.
Portraits of Monsieur Vincent
Something we unfortunately can't know about, is the change in Vincent's appearance over the years. Unlike the great majority of his contemporaries; Richelieu, Bérulle, Mazarin, Descartes and Saint Cyran, Vincent would never agree to sit for a portrait. The only portraits we have of him, (and these were done secretly), were painted when Vincent was an old man. The missionaries thought up a strategy to get round the humble priest's oppostion to having his portrait painted; they commissioned an artist for the work, and he lived at Saint Lazare for a few months. This artist was given a place in the refectory, facing Vincent, so every day he could observe him at his leisure, and perhaps make some sketches on the sly. Then he painted the model's features on canvas, working from memory. [2] This was not a famous artist (which great master would ever have agreed to work under these conditions?); his name was Simon François, and he was a native of Tours. He may have been given this assignment because he had a nephew studying with the missionaries in the seminary of Le Mans. [3]
Simon François may have painted two portraits. In the first one, Vincent is dressed in the soutane, and the second one pictures him in a surplice. We have two portraits that claim to be original works by François, or copies of them. One is kept in the sacristy of the present day church of Saint Lazare, and according to reliable tradition, it used to belong to Anne of Austria. The other portrait is in the house of the Daughters of Charity at Moutiers Saint Jean.
In the first portrait Vincent is wearing his normal clerical garb, and in the second he is in choir rochet. During the seventeenth century, copies of one or other of the two originals, were made by four different engravers, Nicolas Pitau, Pierre van Schupper, Renate Lochon and Gèrad Edelinck. As well as these portraits, we have two other paintings which might be originals, an unsigned miniature which is also preserved at Saint Lazare, and a pencil sketch by Angélique Labory which is dated 1654. This sketch belonged to the Comet family and it is now kept at the Berceau of Saint Vincent de Paul. [4]
Thanks to these eight pictures, we can have a fairly accurate idea of what Vincent looked like when he was an old man.
As far as we can tell, Vincent de Paul's face was neither too fleshy nor too emaciated, and it was attractive if not handsome. His compelling gaze was gentle but penetrating. He had a rather large mouth, with thin lips arching gently into a faint smile, and etched round them were whitish traces of his goatee beard. He had a prominent and broad nose, a wide forehead, and big ears. The black calotte concealed a large head which lent character to the face, and suggested a hidden dynamism in the portrait. It is no ordinary face that looks out on us from the quiet tranquility the artist wanted to capture. Vincent has a gentler expression in the portrait that now hangs in the sacristy of Saint Lazare, while the one in Moutiers Saint Jean gives a greater impression of vitality. So, taken together, the two portraits reveal a personality that combines strength and tenderness. This is how Vincent's contemporaries would have seen him.
Abelly describes Vincent as being, "of medium height and stockily built." [5] His remains were examined in 1830, on the occasion of the solemn translation of the relics. These were found to measure five feet (1.63 m.) [6] so we would consider him rather on the small side, even allowing for the extra 2 or 3 centimetres of height he would have had when alive.
To discover the Vincent who was still a young man when he took over Saint Lazare in 1632 we would need to paint out from the picture the imprint of heavy burdens left by passing years. But if we did this we would not have two authentic portraits. One thing, we know for certain; in spite of the good prelate's remark quoted by Abelly, the years had not left Vincent unchanged.
We must put events in chronological order
Before we begin the story of the fourth period of Vincent's life, we need to give a rapid outline of events in chronological order.
The period 1634 1653, marked the most productive years of Vincent's life. This was a time for organising the management of his works, and it may be subdivided into two periods centering on the years 1642 and 1643. The first period is prior to these dates, and relates to the years 1634 42, a time of expansion. With all his institutions now in good working order, Vincent is becoming increasingly well known. The Congregation of the Mission is spreading throughout every province in France, and the Charities are answering new and pressing needs such as the foundlings (1638), or the sending of aid to war torn Lorraine, (1639). After 1635, his concern for the clergy takes on new dimensions, with the establishment of seminaries. The sending of chaplains to the army (1636), the first mission preached at Court (1638), and the trial of Saint Cyran (1639), would all bring Vincent into contact with the most powerful forces in the land. The internal organisation of his two Congregations is being constitutionally recognised, and the first stage of this will be completed as the procedure for taking vows in settled. (1642).
Between 1642 and 1643, several things happened that are of importance for Vincent's biography. The Congregation of the Mission held its first Assembly in October 1642; in December of that year there was the death of Richelieu; May, 1643, saw the death of Louis XIII and Vincent's appointment to the Council of Conscience. These events belong to that part of Vincent's life when his influence was most marked, and after this period he enters the final stages of his career.
As a member of the Council of Conscience, Vincent is, in a certain sense, at the forefront of the Church in France. The Congregation of the Mission continues to expand and becomes an international force when it is established in Italy, (1642) Poland, (1651) N. Africa, (1645) and Madagascar (1648). There is a similar, but less spectacular development, among the Daughters of Charity. The rules and constitutions of both Congregations are finalised. The Congregation of the Mission drew up what was to be almost the definitive form of their rules and constitutions during the 1651 assembly, which also settled the question of taking vows. The Daughters of Charity are granted recognition for the first time by the Archbishop of Paris in 1646. From 1649 onwards, this decade witnesses another sphere of action; the tremendous outpouring of charitable aid by all the Vincentian institutions working together for the relief of the devastated regions of Picardy, Champagne and Ile de France. Vincent becomes famous throughout the land for his intervention in the serious crisis of the Fronde (1649 1652), and famous throughout the whole church for his stand against the threat of Jansenism.
A certain respite comes in 1653, after years of feverish activity. Mazarin's return, (1653) brought an end to the Fronde, the calamities abated somewhat, and Jansenism was formally condemned in the bull "Cum occasione". All this came as a tremendous relief for Vincent and considerably lessened his responsibilities. His departure from the Council of Conscience, (Oct. 1652), marks an end to his work for the government. Vincent's influence will take on a different form but it will be no less important. He is the great moral authority within the French Church, and Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope, himself, consult him on serious matters. And he will devote himself, with increasing determination, to putting the final touches to the works he has started. But this last endeavour belongs to the final stage of his life, to his clear sighted and hard working old age.
The Century of the Poor
The single and ever constant pivot of Vincent's marvellous human career was the poor. Ever since 1617, when he realised the double misery of physical and spiritual deprivation that the poor suffered, he had devoted all his energies to finding ways of alleviating their plight. Every foundation he accepts, every work he undertakes, and every responsibility he assumes are all centred on the service of the poor. The poor are his whole raison d'être and his obsession, or, as he would say on more than one occasion, "his burden and his sorrow." [7]
There has been much research into the causes of poverty in the 17th century, the century that Henry Kamen has echoed Cervantes in describing as "the iron century". These causes may be briefly classified as structural and politico economic. In the first case, we have to reckon with the nature of society itself under the Old Régime, as well as the state's absurd system of taxation which weighed most heavily on the poorer classes and became a real mechanism for creating poverty. The economic situation of this century had been following a downward trend from 1620 onwards, and a series of short or mid term crises put the heaviest burdens on those who were less wealthy, and this led to their gradual impoverishment. Another contributory factor to this poverty was the war that caused uninterrupted devastation to vast areas of the country. It is very difficult to give statistics for the number of poor people, but it has been estimated that the poor, or those impoverished by taxation, accounted for half the population. The concept of poverty, itself, is difficult to define. In 17th century, everything turned on the concept of ownership. According to Furetière's dictionary, a poor man is defined as "someone who possesses nothing, who lacks the necessities of life, or is unable to maintain his social position." Today socio economists think of poverty in terms of consumer power. Economists and historians both agree that this century was characterised by indisputable and crushing poverty. [8]
Vincent de Paul never attempts to define the poor. It is obvious that he gives different meanings to the word "poor", and he often uses this adjective to describe a situation which for any number of reasons might evoke pity or the need to help. [9] This is particularly the case when he speaks about peasants, and he invariably refers to them as "the poor peasants". We should remember that for people in 17th century, the term peasant, farmer, or villager, was synonymous with poverty. It is with some optimisn that Furetière explains in his dictionary that, "in France the towns are rich and the country areas are very poor". Vincent de Paul had somewhat the same idea, though he would have made more distinctions. In any case, when Vincent uses the phrase "poor man", he is referring to someone who would be an only too obvious and frightening reality for the people of his country and his times, and they would immediately grasp the significance of the term.
"Turn the medal over"
Vincent's main preocupation was the suffering that these poor people had to endure. "The poor don't know what to do or where to go. They suffer greatly, and every day their numbers increase. [10] When their meagre harvest is exhausted, there is only one thing left for them to do, and that is to dig their own graves and bury themselves alive." [11] These people are the objectt of all his concern. As a result of the war, the suffering of poor gets worse. [12] These people are the focal point of his compassion and of his charitable works. More than anything else, Vincent was a man who felt himself overwhelmed by the sufferings of the poor. He was, moreover, someone who felt intuitively, the tremendous injustice of that century's hierachical structure of society, though he denounced this injustice in religious, rather than in political, terms. Vincent used to say to his missionaries, "The rich are living off the sweat of the poor; it is the poor who are feeding them by their labours and their fatigue". [13] So they deserve the work and the help of those who live at their expense, and all the more so, since true religion is to be found among the poor, whose patient acceptance of suffering, brings them close to complete confidence in God [14] and to the simple, living, faith of the saints. [15]
Indeed, in the eyes of Vincent, who was religious to the very core of his being, the poor were transformed by suffering, into an image of the patient and poor Christ. This idea is firmly rooted in the gospel and it is not original to Vincent. Obviously, this idea was in circulation in earlier times, but Vincent enriched the ancient symbolism with images and convictions that were highly individual.
"I shouldn't judge a poor peasant or a poor woman by their appearance or by what I take to be their level of intelligence, because very often they appear so gross and earthy that they seem to lack the features and the mind of rational beings. But turn the medal, round and with the eyes of faith you will recognise that these poor people represent, for us, the San of God, who chose the poor. During his Passion, he was scarcely recognisable as a man; the Gentiles considered him a fool, and he was a stumbling block for the Jews, so he describes himself as the "evangeliser of the poor." 'Evangelizare pauperibus misit me.' O my God how beautiful it is to go to the poor when you see them in God, and reflect on the esteem Christ had for them. But if we judge them according to human standards, and the spirit of the world, they will seem contemptible." [16]
The obvious conclusion was that serving the poor meant serving Christ himself. [17] No honour could be compared to that of being chosen to perform this service, and Vincent considered himself blessed because the two companies he founded were destined by God for the spiritual and corporal service of the poor. [18] In Vincent's eyes, the service of the poor was a sort of sacrament, and when the need arose, this service could, and should, supersede not just the observance of Rules or community exercises, but even the obligation to hear Mass on Sundays, because leaving prayer or any other devotion in order to serve the poor, was, in a very real sense, "to leave God for God." [19]
Those who practise charity towards the poor, become, in a very real sense, the servants of the poor who are their "Lords and Masters". The phrase "The poor are your lords and masters" was no mere figure of speech for Vincent [20] and his followers; it was a daily reality.
Again, this idea was not exclusive to Vincent. Others had said it before him but few had lived it with the same intensity.
Vincent knew from experience the right way of serving these masters who could be so demanding at times. This service should be joyful, enthusiastic and consistent; it should be given with the same humility, patience and respect that would be paid to real masters. [21] In short, in Vincent's eyes, service of the poor was just another name for love; effective and authentic love translated into action.
A life given to serving the poor merits the highest reward, because if God has promised to repay a cup of water given to the needy, what will he not give to those who have spent their whole life serving the poor? The poor will intercede for them with God, [22] and since it is the poor who open the gates of heaven, it is they who will lead them into the eternal dwelling places. [23]
But Vincent did not dwell on the promise made to those who are merciful; the mere fact of serving the poor was pure delight for him. "I confess", he used to say, "that I have never felt so much consolation as when I was serving the poor." [24] He thought the same must be true for the Congregation of the Mission.
"God loves the poor, so he also loves those who love the poor, because when you love a person very much, you also show affection to their friends and to their servants. Well, this little Company of the Mission tries to devote itself to serving the poor, with affection, because these people are God's chosen ones, and so we have every reason to hope that God will love us, because of them. So then, my brothers, let us serve the poor with renewed affection, and let us search out the very poorest and the most abandoned; let us recognise before God that they are our lords and masters, and that we are unworthy to render them our paltry services." [25]
"...In the sweat of our brow"
Vincent's reflections on the Gospel, and his understanding of the nature and mission of the Church, are the key to his thinking which we have briefly summarised here, and these were intensified and developed during his lifetime. Vincent had been introduced to the devout life, when he joined the most fervent members of a group that was working to reform the catholic religion in France, at the beginning of the 17th century. He discovered his own personal vocation when he realised that this renewal movement had to return to the basic Gospel message of preaching love. If this proclamation was to be something more than empty words, the work would entail effort and great labour. This is how Vincent explained, in a deep and warmly worded conference, his vision of the role of those who work in the apostolate;
"Let us love God, my brothers, let us love God, but let it be in the strength of our arms and in the sweat of our brow."
This was just the renewal that the Church needed, since the big failing among many of the clergy, and some very learned religious and nuns, was that their apostolic and charitable works lacked precise and effective direction.
"There are many people who are very concerned about looking recollected and having wonderful feelings about God in their hearts, but they stop at this, and whenever an opportunity for action arises, they fall short. They are very pleased with the images conjured up by their lively imagination, and well content withthe pleasant conversations they have with God during prayer; they speak almost as though they were angels, but when it is a question of labouring for God, practising mortification, instructing the poor, going out in search of the lost sheep, being willing to be deprived of something, accepting illness or any other unpleasant thing, ah everything crumbles and they lose heart. Let us not decive ourselves, "Totum opus nostrium in operatione consistit" (All we have to do is to work)."
Vincent was too prudent a man to single out anybody in particular, and he applied all these observations to his own life, and to the members of his two Congregations. But reading between the lines, we can see his sharp criticism of the clergy of his day, and it is easy to understand why he always refused to have his communities identified as religious orders.
"These days there are many people who seem to be virtuous, and indeed they are so, but they are inclined to lead a quiet, easy, life rather than one of solid and active commitment. The Church is like an immense harvest that needs labourers, but labourers who are willing to work. There is nothing more true to the spirit of the Gospel, than gathering light and strength in prayer, and then going out to share this spiritual food with others. This is what Our Lord did, and the apostles followed his example. To do this, we must combine the role of Martha and of Mary; we have to imitate the dove which takes only half its food and feeds the rest into the beaks of its young. This is how we should act, and prove our love for God through our labours. "Totum opus nostrum in operatione consistit." [26]
"A priest should have more work than he can manage"
Vincent de Paul took the active service of the poor as his rule of life, and based it on one of the maxims of his master, M. Duval: "A priest should have more work than he can manage." [27] The amount of work that Vincent did is truly astounding. In 1634, he was Superior of the Congregation of the Mission and of its mother house Saint Lazare; Superior of the Daughters of Charity, Chaplain Royal to the Galleys, Superior of the Visitation nuns in Paris, Director of the Ladies of Charity, President of the Tuesday Conferences, and he also organised and directed the confraternities of charity. In later years he would take on more responsibilities; especially after 1643, when he bacame a member of the Council of Conscience. None of these posts was a sinecure. On the contrary, each one added to his burden of responsibilities. It was his duty to give a mission, or see that one was preached, in all the de Gondi territories and every parish in the diocese of Paris; to welcome and organise the groups who came to the retreats for ordinands; to work for the expansion of his two communities, administer their goods and see to the formation of their members; preside at the weekly conferences for the clergy, look after the spiritual and physical needs of the galley slaves, attend the community chapters of the Visitation nuns and make visitations of their convents, watch over the functioning and good order of the charities, and encourage the Ladies of the Hôtel Dieu to take on ever more ambitions projects.
Each one of these activities had its own organisational structure, with Vincent as leader, but they were all dependent on his spiritual driving force and very often needed his personal intervention in specific matters. Not only was he personally responsible for the spiritual formation of the missionaries and the Daughters of Charity, or for presiding over the assemblies of Ladies and conferences for the clergy, but, in addition, he continued to preach missions into his old age. And, of course, one duty that he could not delegate to anyone else, was his attendance at meetings of the Council of, Conscience. Added to this, there could be extra and unforeseen demands made on him, by ecclesiastical authorities and other important personages.
It was only because he used every available minute to its full advantage that he was able to take on so many tasks. But Vincent was the embodiment of work. To realise this, one has only to cast a glance at the habitual timetable he kept to for nearly 30 years while living at Saint Lazare. This timetable is provided by Vincent, himself, in a letter to St. Jane Frances de Chantal, dated July 1639. [28]
It reads as follows:
a.m. p.m.
4.00..Rise, wash, dress. 12.30...... Private work.
4.30..Meditation. 14.00..... Vespers. Work.
5.30..Recite. Lesser Hours. 17.30..Matins. Particular
5.45..Mass. Thanksgiving. examen.
6.30..Private work. 17.45...... Evening meal.
10.30..Particular examen. Lunch. 18.15........ Recreation.
11.30..Visit to Blessed Sacrament, 19.15.... General examen.
Angelus, recreation. Work.
21.00.... Bed.
Altogether, he devoted 3 hrs. to prayer, 9½ hrs. to work, 4½ to meals, recreation and miscellaneous activities, and 7 hrs. to sleep. But it wasn't always possible to keep to this timetable, and extra work was taken on at the expense of recreation or sleep. He was often prevented from taking part in the community recreation owing to unforeseen commitments, and he was often an hour or two late going to bed because he had to keep his correspondence up to date. In addition, there were weekly engagements that interrupted his routine. After the evening meal on Friday, he would give a spiritual conference to the community of missionaries. He did the same for the Daughters of Charity each Sunday. Twice a week he would have repetition of prayer, before Mass, and on Fridays, there would be the chapter of faults. All these required serious preparation on Vincent's part.
The written word his correspondence
One activity that took up a lot of Vincent's time was his correspondence. As the works and the personnel became scattered over ever widening distances, he had to take on an overwhelming amount of letter writing. It has been calculated that during the final thirty years of his life, Vincent penned some 30,000, letters and that would mean an average of 3 or 4 a day. After 1645, he had a secretary amanuensis, brother Bertrand Ducourneau, and soon he had to take on a second one, brother Louis Robineau. Even so, many of the letters are entirely in Vincent's own handwriting. These letters were addressed to all sorts of people from popes, kings, bishops and Ministers, to humble brothers of the Mission or simple Daughters of Charity, consoling them in some spiritual trial or giving them instructions on how to carry out their office. For a long time he was in the habit of writing a weekly letter to the Superiors of the principal houses of the Mission. His most assiduous correspondent was Louise de Marillac. Some 400 of his letters to her are still in existence. The subjects dealt with are just as varied as his correspondents, and range from serious matters of state to the smallest problem of conscience, from questions of government and administration, to notes of a purely personal nature. Vincent's heart was open to every need. His orders, advice, admonitions, supplications as well as his observations on current events, his praise, and his reservations, are so many reflections of the author's rich, varied and dynamic personality. And all these letters were written in simple, direct, language. There was no seeking after effect in this clear, precise, style. There is no better way of getting to know Vincent de Paul than by reading and studying his letters.
The spoken word: his conferences
A good part of Vincent's life was taken up by his correspondence and also by the talks he gave. He was required to speak in public on an average of 6 times a week. As we have already mentioned, he would speak to the missionaries three or four times a week, once or twice a week to the Daughters of Charity, and he would give a weekly talk to the Tuesday Conferences, not to mention the times he was called on to address the Ladies' Assemblies, the occasional talks he gave to the Visitation nuns, and to meetings and councils of other associations.
His method never altered the conference, or to give it the French name he used, the "entretien" or conversation was on a theme that had been the subject of meditation. Vincent would begin by asking some of his listeners among the missionaries or Daughters of Charity, to speak on the subject they had been notified about earlier. After an informal exchange of views Vincent would make his comments, and this was very much the case with the Daughters of Charity when he would stress the positive aspects of what had been said, and lend his authority to this for the encouragement of everyone present. Sometimes those called upon to speak made the excuse that they hadn't prepared what they were going to say, through laziness, vanity, or false modesty. Vincent would then reproach them. At other times people gave their thoughts spontaneously, and Vincent would have to call a halt to the avalanche of speakers. He would end up by summarising what had been said, and then making his own contribution, which was the basic core of the conference. Towards the end of his life, Vincent's conferences got longer, and other people's contributions were minimal. It was as though Vincent wanted to take full advantage of these last opportunities to talk to his sons and daughters, and bequeath to then the treasure of his teaching on the fundamental spirituality of the two Congregations. He explained the Rules and the virtues proper to missionaries and to Daughters of Charity; the love and service of the poor, the vocation of members of both Congregations, submission to God's will, poverty, abedience, fraternal charity, mutual correction, the virtues and example of deceased missionaries and sisters...
Vincent took the opportunity, during conferences, and especially during repetition of prayer, to share any community news, to commend to God the difficulties his foundations and subjects were experiencing, to correct outstanding misdemeanours and to impose some penance on incorrigible or recalcitrant subjects. His talks thus became a living expression of community experience and everyone felt part of it.
Vincent's language is colourful, and his remarks could be trenchant, and somewhat caustic. When he spoke to the sisters he would give many comparisons and a good sprinking of anecdotes. He had the gift of story telling and was a master of dialogue. Telling the life story of a saint, or describing some incident he had experienced personally, he would spontaneously change into direct speach to let the people in the story tell the event.
He would accompany his words with gestures and mimicry. When he referred to lazy people he would fold his arms or leave them dangling by his side. He would huddle himself together to describe those who wanted to avoid the tiring labours of the apostolate, or who didn't want the company to take on any risky and dangerous enterprises.
But whenever he gave an admonition, he always followed it with an act of humility, acknowledging that he, too, was guilty of the fault he was condemning. He blamed himself for any failings within the community. One day, when speaking about poverty, he exclaimed;
"Oh Saviour! Who am I to be talking about this; I who am wretched enough to have had a horse and carriage, and even now my room has a bed with good curtains; I have a brother to look after me so that I want for nothing. What scandal I must give to the Company by my failings in the vow of poverty, in these and in other matters. I ask pardon of God, and of the Company, and I beg you to put up with me in my old age. May God grant me the grace of making amends at this stage of my life, and help me to get rid of all these things as soon as possible. Stand up brothers." (The Community had all knelt down while he made this act of humility.) [29]
A superior's room
Poor M. Vincent! Anyone listening to him would think that he lived in luxury. The very opposite was true. All his life he had a simple room with a bare floor and bare walls; there was no rug or carpet, and it had only four pieces of furniture a wooden table without a cloth, two cane chairs and a bed that had only a mattress, blanket and pillow. Once, when he was ill, they put a canopy over his bed, but as soon as he was better he ordered it to be removed. He did the same with some holy pictures that his secretary had hung on the walls. When he noticed these he said that one picture was sufficient, so the brother had to take down the others. He had a small office on the ground floor where he could receive visitors. It was so bare that the cold winds of Paris used to blow through chinks in the door. Somebody, probably one of the brothers, made a curtain out of a piece of carpet, and hung it behind the door.Monsieur Vincent ordered it to be removed at once. It was only in the last four or five years of his life, when he was worn out by constant illness, that he consented to have a fire in his room and a canopy over his bed. Even so, he tried to use as little firewood as possible, so as not to was dte the property of the poor. [30]
He practised the same austerity with regard to food. He never took breakfast; it was not customary in those days. However, a few years before his death, they persuaded him to take something. He agreed and asked for an infusion of wild chicory and clear barley, which people said was more like a medicine than a beverage. He fasted, not only in Lent, but twice a week throughout the year. His duties often caused him to arrive at the refectory after the community had dined, so he would sit at the "second" table with the servants, and have exactly the same food as they did. On one occasion, the cook managed to deceive him and served him fresh fish instead of the dried fish that the rest of the community had been given. But this trick soon came to light, and Vincent made it known that in future he would have the same food as everybody else. Only once did he make an exception to this rule. One day, he was served raw eggs by mistake. Without a word he ate these, as though they had been done to a turn. For many years his evening meal consisted of a piece of bread, an apple, and a glass of water with a few drops of wine in it. But he considered himself too well done to. He would often come back from the city after working late, and would go to his room without having anything to eat. And very often when he did go to the refectory, he would say to himself, "Miserable wretch. You haven't earned the bread you are eating." [31]
A community with complications
This was certainly not a boss's life style. And yet his humble room in Saint Lazare was the general headquarters of an extensive apparatus whose invisible wires would influence every corner of the world. Even within the precints of the old priory, Vincent's administrative duties were many and varied. It wasn't just a question of directing the quite considerable numbers of priests, brothers, students and seminarists, who made up this community. There were five or six groups of ordinands every year, private retreats every week, the beggars who came to the door looking for food and alms, the consecration of bishops that took place from time to time in the church there, after 1642 there were the junior seminarists of little Saint Lazare; there were the deranged people who lived in a small asylum in one of the buildings, the unruly youngsters who were kept locked up in another part which was something like a reformatory, and finally, there were visitors of every rank and condition who flocked to Vincent for recommendations, advice, or help. He also had over all responsibitity for the harvests from the priory lands, for maintaining the wine presses, the ovens and the mill, as well as the hiring of stalls for the Saint Laurent fair and appointing Knight Commanders who would see justice administered at all levels throughout the Priory domain.
The former Prior
Permanent guests at Saint Lazare included the Canons of the former community who would continue living there till the end of their days. Sharing accommodation with them was not easy. The former Prior, Adrian Le Bon, who had shown such detachment and generosity, was not an easy man to live with. As stipulated in the foundation contract, he kept his title and certain prerogatives that went with it. [32] His extreme touchiness bordered on the neurotic. This was particulary so during the first five or six years, when every tiny incident made him regret his decision to relinquish the benefice. Itonly needed the door keeper to be a few minutes late letting him in, or for some visitor to say he hadn't been able to see him, for the Prior to fly off the handle and begin his lamentations. The same thing would happen if any lay person criticised his decision to leave his property to another community. Vincent had to go on his knees, and ask pardon for the real or imagined insults offered him by the community or one of its members. The Prior would then be mollified and his affection for the community would be restored... until the next time. Vincent recalled more than 50 occasions when he had to go on his knees to him. [33]
However, it was Vincent, himself, who provided the most serious cause for complaint. On the Queen's orders, and with Vincent's approval, an abbess from an illustrious family had been shut up in a convent on account of her scandalous behaviour. The Prior had received important favours from this nun. At her insistence, he went to Vincent and asked him to use his influence to have the nun released. Vincent told him frankly tht he couldn't in conscience do this. The Prior's reaction was predictable. At the height of his wrath over this refusal, he exclaimed, "What! Is this the way you treat me after I've put my house in your hands? Is this the way you repay me for the benefice I gave you to help your Company?", "I realise", answered Vincent,"that you have showered honours and benefits on us, and we are as grateful to you as sons would be to their father. My lord, I beg you to take it all back again, since you judge us so unworthy."
The old man was not disarmed by this calm and firm reply and retired to his room, obviously offended. It was only some days later, when he received more detailed reports of the abbess's scandalous behaviour, that he realised his mistake and rushed back to Vincent to apologise and take back what he had said. [34]
Vincent behaved towards Adrian Le Bon as though the Prior was really in charge of the house. When Vincent came back from a journey, the first thing he would do after paying a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, was to greet Adrian Le Bon. Every Sunday they would take their evening meal together. Vincent always regarded him as father of the community, and wanted all the confrères to consider themselves his sons. [35]
On Easter Sunday, 9th April, 1651, Adrian Le Bon gave up his soul to God. Vincent took particular care to repay his generous benefactor. He made the whole community come to the Prior's room to receive his last blessing, and he personally led the prayers for the dying. As soon as the dying man had breathed his last, Vincent gave a very moving funeral oration from beside the death bed, praising the dead Prior's virtues and exhorting all present to prey for the repose of his soul. The funeral ceremonies were carried out with the utmost solemnity. Vincent also wrote a circular to all the houses of the Community enjoining suffrages for the dead man's soul, and he gave orders that the former Prior's remains should be laid to rest in the church of Saint Lazare, in the centre of the chancel. His tomb was decorated with a long and eloquent epitaph, written in Latin, and praising the deceased's virtues. The fine phrases that introduced and concluded this epitaph were the work of the comunity's greatest classicist, the learned, and resourceful, Jacques Corborando de la Fosse. (1621 1674).
Havens of joy
Life at Saint Lazare had a humorous side, too. One of the most amusing incidents that Vincent would often relate to the community concerned Jacques de la Fosse. Shortly after ordination in 1648, he was sent by Vincent to teach humanities in the seminary of St. Charles or Little Saint Lazare. From time to time he would write religious plays and his young students would perform these to great applause. [38] This was the era of Corneille and Racine. Neither St. Lazare nor Vincent could remain completely untouched by the fashions of the day. De la Fosse made a name for himself by writing a prodigious number of Latin verses in elegant renaissance style.
One day he was invited to a famous university college to see a play, which happened to be a tragedy written in Latin. De la Fosse went into the auditorium and sat down in one of the seats reserved for distinguished guests. The Principal of the College didn't know who he was, and he sent one of his servants to ask him to move. But de la Fosse answered in Latin that he was very comfortable where he was, and had no wish to move. When the messenger reported to the Pricipal that the stranger only spoke Latin, he took him to be an Irishman and sent a junior professor to repeat, in Cicero's tongue, the invitation to find another seat. De la Fosse then spoke in Greek and very courteously repeated that he wanted to stay where he was. The junior professor decided that the man must have come from Lebanon, and said this to his Superior. The Superior was getting tired of all this coming and going and he sent the professor of rhetoric to deliver his message but de la Fosse answered this man in Hebrew. Things went on like this till eventually one of the University staff recognised the learned missionary and conducted him, with all due ceremony, to his rightful place of honour.
De la Fosse enjoyed the joke more than anybody and when he got back to Saint Lazare he wasted no time in telling his friends about it. The story passed from mouth to mouth until it eventually reached Vincent's ears. He immediately sent for the joker, and made him see that no humble man would be looking for a place of honour. As a penance, he told him to go and ask pardon of the College principal and the professors for his disedifying conduct. De la Fosse was not only a manof learning, he was also a good missionary, and without trying to excuse himself set off for the college and humbly complied with his Superior's instructions. The College principal was a liberal and understanding man, and he replied that if he had previously appreciated him for his learning, in future he would appreciate him just as much for his virtue. Another incident in the life of Jacques de la Fosse will be related later on, and it will show that the principal was not mistaken in his judgment. [39]
The mentally deranged and the people in custody
As we have already indicated, two other sorts of inmates were housed in buildings that were separate from the community quarters; a small group of mentally deranged people, and another small group of recalcitrant young people who were locked up there on the orders of their family. Vincent was quite content to take on both these works and tried to discharge his responsibilities in the spirit of his community. [40]
As regards the mentally deranged, Vincent declared that the thought of having to abandon these unfortunates was the only argument that influenced him when there was question of Saint Lazare being handed over to the Canons of Saint Victor. [41] Vincent put his best effort into seeing that both groups of inmates were well looked after and he made sure that they were served exactly the same food as the community had. Any occasional negligence in complying with this order brought the gravest reprimand for the brothers. [42]
Vincent zeal in this quarter is all the more to be admired as both the mentally deranged, and the young people in custody, gave him more trouble than satisfaction and at times threatened to compromise the good relations he had with other people. There was, for example, the incident where no less a personage than Jean de Montholon escaped from custody. This young man was the younger brother of Duke Guide François de Montholon, (1601 1679), one of the wealthiest men in the land. The Duke had had his brother and ward locked up for secretly marrying, at the age of 21, a young woman of very much lower station in life. Vincent had to make all sorts of excuses to the nobleman, especially as the young man had made his escape almost under his nose, and almost certainly abetted by one of the former religious of Saint Lazare. [43]
A systematic analysis is needed here.
Governing the mother house of his Congregation was just a small part of Vincent's activities in the 20 year period from 1634 to 1653. During these 20 years of management, Vincent's activities expanded over an ever widening radius. His concerns become more broadly based and diversified, his network of contacts is strengthened; his influence in national decisions of major importance is limitless, and his spiritual life is purified and refined to the point of sanctity.
At this point it is impossible to keep strictly to the chronological order of events. To do so would make us lose the thread of the story of how the different works developed and it would entail boring repetition. For this reason we shall have to consider Vincent de Paul's achievements, section by section, in paralled blocks that cut across the vibrant reality of a life story that shows remarkable continuity. The disadvantage of this procedure is that it artificially isolates parts of Vincent's life that were essentially connected. This is the price demanded by all methods of systematic study.
Portraits of Monsieur Vincent
Something we unfortunately can't know about, is the change in Vincent's appearance over the years. Unlike the great majority of his contemporaries; Richelieu, Bérulle, Mazarin, Descartes and Saint Cyran, Vincent would never agree to sit for a portrait. The only portraits we have of him, (and these were done secretly), were painted when Vincent was an old man. The missionaries thought up a strategy to get round the humble priest's oppostion to having his portrait painted; they commissioned an artist for the work, and he lived at Saint Lazare for a few months. This artist was given a place in the refectory, facing Vincent, so every day he could observe him at his leisure, and perhaps make some sketches on the sly. Then he painted the model's features on canvas, working from memory. [2] This was not a famous artist (which great master would ever have agreed to work under these conditions?); his name was Simon François, and he was a native of Tours. He may have been given this assignment because he had a nephew studying with the missionaries in the seminary of Le Mans. [3]
Simon François may have painted two portraits. In the first one, Vincent is dressed in the soutane, and the second one pictures him in a surplice. We have two portraits that claim to be original works by François, or copies of them. One is kept in the sacristy of the present day church of Saint Lazare, and according to reliable tradition, it used to belong to Anne of Austria. The other portrait is in the house of the Daughters of Charity at Moutiers Saint Jean.
In the first portrait Vincent is wearing his normal clerical garb, and in the second he is in choir rochet. During the seventeenth century, copies of one or other of the two originals, were made by four different engravers, Nicolas Pitau, Pierre van Schupper, Renate Lochon and Gèrad Edelinck. As well as these portraits, we have two other paintings which might be originals, an unsigned miniature which is also preserved at Saint Lazare, and a pencil sketch by Angélique Labory which is dated 1654. This sketch belonged to the Comet family and it is now kept at the Berceau of Saint Vincent de Paul. [4]
Thanks to these eight pictures, we can have a fairly accurate idea of what Vincent looked like when he was an old man.
As far as we can tell, Vincent de Paul's face was neither too fleshy nor too emaciated, and it was attractive if not handsome. His compelling gaze was gentle but penetrating. He had a rather large mouth, with thin lips arching gently into a faint smile, and etched round them were whitish traces of his goatee beard. He had a prominent and broad nose, a wide forehead, and big ears. The black calotte concealed a large head which lent character to the face, and suggested a hidden dynamism in the portrait. It is no ordinary face that looks out on us from the quiet tranquility the artist wanted to capture. Vincent has a gentler expression in the portrait that now hangs in the sacristy of Saint Lazare, while the one in Moutiers Saint Jean gives a greater impression of vitality. So, taken together, the two portraits reveal a personality that combines strength and tenderness. This is how Vincent's contemporaries would have seen him.
Abelly describes Vincent as being, "of medium height and stockily built." [5] His remains were examined in 1830, on the occasion of the solemn translation of the relics. These were found to measure five feet (1.63 m.) [6] so we would consider him rather on the small side, even allowing for the extra 2 or 3 centimetres of height he would have had when alive.
To discover the Vincent who was still a young man when he took over Saint Lazare in 1632 we would need to paint out from the picture the imprint of heavy burdens left by passing years. But if we did this we would not have two authentic portraits. One thing, we know for certain; in spite of the good prelate's remark quoted by Abelly, the years had not left Vincent unchanged.
We must put events in chronological order
Before we begin the story of the fourth period of Vincent's life, we need to give a rapid outline of events in chronological order.
The period 1634 1653, marked the most productive years of Vincent's life. This was a time for organising the management of his works, and it may be subdivided into two periods centering on the years 1642 and 1643. The first period is prior to these dates, and relates to the years 1634 42, a time of expansion. With all his institutions now in good working order, Vincent is becoming increasingly well known. The Congregation of the Mission is spreading throughout every province in France, and the Charities are answering new and pressing needs such as the foundlings (1638), or the sending of aid to war torn Lorraine, (1639). After 1635, his concern for the clergy takes on new dimensions, with the establishment of seminaries. The sending of chaplains to the army (1636), the first mission preached at Court (1638), and the trial of Saint Cyran (1639), would all bring Vincent into contact with the most powerful forces in the land. The internal organisation of his two Congregations is being constitutionally recognised, and the first stage of this will be completed as the procedure for taking vows in settled. (1642).
Between 1642 and 1643, several things happened that are of importance for Vincent's biography. The Congregation of the Mission held its first Assembly in October 1642; in December of that year there was the death of Richelieu; May, 1643, saw the death of Louis XIII and Vincent's appointment to the Council of Conscience. These events belong to that part of Vincent's life when his influence was most marked, and after this period he enters the final stages of his career.
As a member of the Council of Conscience, Vincent is, in a certain sense, at the forefront of the Church in France. The Congregation of the Mission continues to expand and becomes an international force when it is established in Italy, (1642) Poland, (1651) N. Africa, (1645) and Madagascar (1648). There is a similar, but less spectacular development, among the Daughters of Charity. The rules and constitutions of both Congregations are finalised. The Congregation of the Mission drew up what was to be almost the definitive form of their rules and constitutions during the 1651 assembly, which also settled the question of taking vows. The Daughters of Charity are granted recognition for the first time by the Archbishop of Paris in 1646. From 1649 onwards, this decade witnesses another sphere of action; the tremendous outpouring of charitable aid by all the Vincentian institutions working together for the relief of the devastated regions of Picardy, Champagne and Ile de France. Vincent becomes famous throughout the land for his intervention in the serious crisis of the Fronde (1649 1652), and famous throughout the whole church for his stand against the threat of Jansenism.
A certain respite comes in 1653, after years of feverish activity. Mazarin's return, (1653) brought an end to the Fronde, the calamities abated somewhat, and Jansenism was formally condemned in the bull "Cum occasione". All this came as a tremendous relief for Vincent and considerably lessened his responsibilities. His departure from the Council of Conscience, (Oct. 1652), marks an end to his work for the government. Vincent's influence will take on a different form but it will be no less important. He is the great moral authority within the French Church, and Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope, himself, consult him on serious matters. And he will devote himself, with increasing determination, to putting the final touches to the works he has started. But this last endeavour belongs to the final stage of his life, to his clear sighted and hard working old age.
The Century of the Poor
The single and ever constant pivot of Vincent's marvellous human career was the poor. Ever since 1617, when he realised the double misery of physical and spiritual deprivation that the poor suffered, he had devoted all his energies to finding ways of alleviating their plight. Every foundation he accepts, every work he undertakes, and every responsibility he assumes are all centred on the service of the poor. The poor are his whole raison d'être and his obsession, or, as he would say on more than one occasion, "his burden and his sorrow." [7]
There has been much research into the causes of poverty in the 17th century, the century that Henry Kamen has echoed Cervantes in describing as "the iron century". These causes may be briefly classified as structural and politico economic. In the first case, we have to reckon with the nature of society itself under the Old Régime, as well as the state's absurd system of taxation which weighed most heavily on the poorer classes and became a real mechanism for creating poverty. The economic situation of this century had been following a downward trend from 1620 onwards, and a series of short or mid term crises put the heaviest burdens on those who were less wealthy, and this led to their gradual impoverishment. Another contributory factor to this poverty was the war that caused uninterrupted devastation to vast areas of the country. It is very difficult to give statistics for the number of poor people, but it has been estimated that the poor, or those impoverished by taxation, accounted for half the population. The concept of poverty, itself, is difficult to define. In 17th century, everything turned on the concept of ownership. According to Furetière's dictionary, a poor man is defined as "someone who possesses nothing, who lacks the necessities of life, or is unable to maintain his social position." Today socio economists think of poverty in terms of consumer power. Economists and historians both agree that this century was characterised by indisputable and crushing poverty. [8]
Vincent de Paul never attempts to define the poor. It is obvious that he gives different meanings to the word "poor", and he often uses this adjective to describe a situation which for any number of reasons might evoke pity or the need to help. [9] This is particularly the case when he speaks about peasants, and he invariably refers to them as "the poor peasants". We should remember that for people in 17th century, the term peasant, farmer, or villager, was synonymous with poverty. It is with some optimisn that Furetière explains in his dictionary that, "in France the towns are rich and the country areas are very poor". Vincent de Paul had somewhat the same idea, though he would have made more distinctions. In any case, when Vincent uses the phrase "poor man", he is referring to someone who would be an only too obvious and frightening reality for the people of his country and his times, and they would immediately grasp the significance of the term.
"Turn the medal over"
Vincent's main preocupation was the suffering that these poor people had to endure. "The poor don't know what to do or where to go. They suffer greatly, and every day their numbers increase. [10] When their meagre harvest is exhausted, there is only one thing left for them to do, and that is to dig their own graves and bury themselves alive." [11] These people are the objectt of all his concern. As a result of the war, the suffering of poor gets worse. [12] These people are the focal point of his compassion and of his charitable works. More than anything else, Vincent was a man who felt himself overwhelmed by the sufferings of the poor. He was, moreover, someone who felt intuitively, the tremendous injustice of that century's hierachical structure of society, though he denounced this injustice in religious, rather than in political, terms. Vincent used to say to his missionaries, "The rich are living off the sweat of the poor; it is the poor who are feeding them by their labours and their fatigue". [13] So they deserve the work and the help of those who live at their expense, and all the more so, since true religion is to be found among the poor, whose patient acceptance of suffering, brings them close to complete confidence in God [14] and to the simple, living, faith of the saints. [15]
Indeed, in the eyes of Vincent, who was religious to the very core of his being, the poor were transformed by suffering, into an image of the patient and poor Christ. This idea is firmly rooted in the gospel and it is not original to Vincent. Obviously, this idea was in circulation in earlier times, but Vincent enriched the ancient symbolism with images and convictions that were highly individual.
"I shouldn't judge a poor peasant or a poor woman by their appearance or by what I take to be their level of intelligence, because very often they appear so gross and earthy that they seem to lack the features and the mind of rational beings. But turn the medal, round and with the eyes of faith you will recognise that these poor people represent, for us, the San of God, who chose the poor. During his Passion, he was scarcely recognisable as a man; the Gentiles considered him a fool, and he was a stumbling block for the Jews, so he describes himself as the "evangeliser of the poor." 'Evangelizare pauperibus misit me.' O my God how beautiful it is to go to the poor when you see them in God, and reflect on the esteem Christ had for them. But if we judge them according to human standards, and the spirit of the world, they will seem contemptible." [16]
The obvious conclusion was that serving the poor meant serving Christ himself. [17] No honour could be compared to that of being chosen to perform this service, and Vincent considered himself blessed because the two companies he founded were destined by God for the spiritual and corporal service of the poor. [18] In Vincent's eyes, the service of the poor was a sort of sacrament, and when the need arose, this service could, and should, supersede not just the observance of Rules or community exercises, but even the obligation to hear Mass on Sundays, because leaving prayer or any other devotion in order to serve the poor, was, in a very real sense, "to leave God for God." [19]
Those who practise charity towards the poor, become, in a very real sense, the servants of the poor who are their "Lords and Masters". The phrase "The poor are your lords and masters" was no mere figure of speech for Vincent [20] and his followers; it was a daily reality.
Again, this idea was not exclusive to Vincent. Others had said it before him but few had lived it with the same intensity.
Vincent knew from experience the right way of serving these masters who could be so demanding at times. This service should be joyful, enthusiastic and consistent; it should be given with the same humility, patience and respect that would be paid to real masters. [21] In short, in Vincent's eyes, service of the poor was just another name for love; effective and authentic love translated into action.
A life given to serving the poor merits the highest reward, because if God has promised to repay a cup of water given to the needy, what will he not give to those who have spent their whole life serving the poor? The poor will intercede for them with God, [22] and since it is the poor who open the gates of heaven, it is they who will lead them into the eternal dwelling places. [23]
But Vincent did not dwell on the promise made to those who are merciful; the mere fact of serving the poor was pure delight for him. "I confess", he used to say, "that I have never felt so much consolation as when I was serving the poor." [24] He thought the same must be true for the Congregation of the Mission.
"God loves the poor, so he also loves those who love the poor, because when you love a person very much, you also show affection to their friends and to their servants. Well, this little Company of the Mission tries to devote itself to serving the poor, with affection, because these people are God's chosen ones, and so we have every reason to hope that God will love us, because of them. So then, my brothers, let us serve the poor with renewed affection, and let us search out the very poorest and the most abandoned; let us recognise before God that they are our lords and masters, and that we are unworthy to render them our paltry services." [25]
"...In the sweat of our brow"
Vincent's reflections on the Gospel, and his understanding of the nature and mission of the Church, are the key to his thinking which we have briefly summarised here, and these were intensified and developed during his lifetime. Vincent had been introduced to the devout life, when he joined the most fervent members of a group that was working to reform the catholic religion in France, at the beginning of the 17th century. He discovered his own personal vocation when he realised that this renewal movement had to return to the basic Gospel message of preaching love. If this proclamation was to be something more than empty words, the work would entail effort and great labour. This is how Vincent explained, in a deep and warmly worded conference, his vision of the role of those who work in the apostolate;
"Let us love God, my brothers, let us love God, but let it be in the strength of our arms and in the sweat of our brow."
This was just the renewal that the Church needed, since the big failing among many of the clergy, and some very learned religious and nuns, was that their apostolic and charitable works lacked precise and effective direction.
"There are many people who are very concerned about looking recollected and having wonderful feelings about God in their hearts, but they stop at this, and whenever an opportunity for action arises, they fall short. They are very pleased with the images conjured up by their lively imagination, and well content withthe pleasant conversations they have with God during prayer; they speak almost as though they were angels, but when it is a question of labouring for God, practising mortification, instructing the poor, going out in search of the lost sheep, being willing to be deprived of something, accepting illness or any other unpleasant thing, ah everything crumbles and they lose heart. Let us not decive ourselves, "Totum opus nostrium in operatione consistit" (All we have to do is to work)."
Vincent was too prudent a man to single out anybody in particular, and he applied all these observations to his own life, and to the members of his two Congregations. But reading between the lines, we can see his sharp criticism of the clergy of his day, and it is easy to understand why he always refused to have his communities identified as religious orders.
"These days there are many people who seem to be virtuous, and indeed they are so, but they are inclined to lead a quiet, easy, life rather than one of solid and active commitment. The Church is like an immense harvest that needs labourers, but labourers who are willing to work. There is nothing more true to the spirit of the Gospel, than gathering light and strength in prayer, and then going out to share this spiritual food with others. This is what Our Lord did, and the apostles followed his example. To do this, we must combine the role of Martha and of Mary; we have to imitate the dove which takes only half its food and feeds the rest into the beaks of its young. This is how we should act, and prove our love for God through our labours. "Totum opus nostrum in operatione consistit." [26]
"A priest should have more work than he can manage"
Vincent de Paul took the active service of the poor as his rule of life, and based it on one of the maxims of his master, M. Duval: "A priest should have more work than he can manage." [27] The amount of work that Vincent did is truly astounding. In 1634, he was Superior of the Congregation of the Mission and of its mother house Saint Lazare; Superior of the Daughters of Charity, Chaplain Royal to the Galleys, Superior of the Visitation nuns in Paris, Director of the Ladies of Charity, President of the Tuesday Conferences, and he also organised and directed the confraternities of charity. In later years he would take on more responsibilities; especially after 1643, when he bacame a member of the Council of Conscience. None of these posts was a sinecure. On the contrary, each one added to his burden of responsibilities. It was his duty to give a mission, or see that one was preached, in all the de Gondi territories and every parish in the diocese of Paris; to welcome and organise the groups who came to the retreats for ordinands; to work for the expansion of his two communities, administer their goods and see to the formation of their members; preside at the weekly conferences for the clergy, look after the spiritual and physical needs of the galley slaves, attend the community chapters of the Visitation nuns and make visitations of their convents, watch over the functioning and good order of the charities, and encourage the Ladies of the Hôtel Dieu to take on ever more ambitions projects.
Each one of these activities had its own organisational structure, with Vincent as leader, but they were all dependent on his spiritual driving force and very often needed his personal intervention in specific matters. Not only was he personally responsible for the spiritual formation of the missionaries and the Daughters of Charity, or for presiding over the assemblies of Ladies and conferences for the clergy, but, in addition, he continued to preach missions into his old age. And, of course, one duty that he could not delegate to anyone else, was his attendance at meetings of the Council of, Conscience. Added to this, there could be extra and unforeseen demands made on him, by ecclesiastical authorities and other important personages.
It was only because he used every available minute to its full advantage that he was able to take on so many tasks. But Vincent was the embodiment of work. To realise this, one has only to cast a glance at the habitual timetable he kept to for nearly 30 years while living at Saint Lazare. This timetable is provided by Vincent, himself, in a letter to St. Jane Frances de Chantal, dated July 1639. [28]
It reads as follows:
a.m. p.m.
4.00..Rise, wash, dress. 12.30...... Private work.
4.30..Meditation. 14.00..... Vespers. Work.
5.30..Recite. Lesser Hours. 17.30..Matins. Particular
5.45..Mass. Thanksgiving. examen.
6.30..Private work. 17.45...... Evening meal.
10.30..Particular examen. Lunch. 18.15........ Recreation.
11.30..Visit to Blessed Sacrament, 19.15.... General examen.
Angelus, recreation. Work.
21.00.... Bed.
Altogether, he devoted 3 hrs. to prayer, 9½ hrs. to work, 4½ to meals, recreation and miscellaneous activities, and 7 hrs. to sleep. But it wasn't always possible to keep to this timetable, and extra work was taken on at the expense of recreation or sleep. He was often prevented from taking part in the community recreation owing to unforeseen commitments, and he was often an hour or two late going to bed because he had to keep his correspondence up to date. In addition, there were weekly engagements that interrupted his routine. After the evening meal on Friday, he would give a spiritual conference to the community of missionaries. He did the same for the Daughters of Charity each Sunday. Twice a week he would have repetition of prayer, before Mass, and on Fridays, there would be the chapter of faults. All these required serious preparation on Vincent's part.
The written word his correspondence
One activity that took up a lot of Vincent's time was his correspondence. As the works and the personnel became scattered over ever widening distances, he had to take on an overwhelming amount of letter writing. It has been calculated that during the final thirty years of his life, Vincent penned some 30,000, letters and that would mean an average of 3 or 4 a day. After 1645, he had a secretary amanuensis, brother Bertrand Ducourneau, and soon he had to take on a second one, brother Louis Robineau. Even so, many of the letters are entirely in Vincent's own handwriting. These letters were addressed to all sorts of people from popes, kings, bishops and Ministers, to humble brothers of the Mission or simple Daughters of Charity, consoling them in some spiritual trial or giving them instructions on how to carry out their office. For a long time he was in the habit of writing a weekly letter to the Superiors of the principal houses of the Mission. His most assiduous correspondent was Louise de Marillac. Some 400 of his letters to her are still in existence. The subjects dealt with are just as varied as his correspondents, and range from serious matters of state to the smallest problem of conscience, from questions of government and administration, to notes of a purely personal nature. Vincent's heart was open to every need. His orders, advice, admonitions, supplications as well as his observations on current events, his praise, and his reservations, are so many reflections of the author's rich, varied and dynamic personality. And all these letters were written in simple, direct, language. There was no seeking after effect in this clear, precise, style. There is no better way of getting to know Vincent de Paul than by reading and studying his letters.
The spoken word: his conferences
A good part of Vincent's life was taken up by his correspondence and also by the talks he gave. He was required to speak in public on an average of 6 times a week. As we have already mentioned, he would speak to the missionaries three or four times a week, once or twice a week to the Daughters of Charity, and he would give a weekly talk to the Tuesday Conferences, not to mention the times he was called on to address the Ladies' Assemblies, the occasional talks he gave to the Visitation nuns, and to meetings and councils of other associations.
His method never altered the conference, or to give it the French name he used, the "entretien" or conversation was on a theme that had been the subject of meditation. Vincent would begin by asking some of his listeners among the missionaries or Daughters of Charity, to speak on the subject they had been notified about earlier. After an informal exchange of views Vincent would make his comments, and this was very much the case with the Daughters of Charity when he would stress the positive aspects of what had been said, and lend his authority to this for the encouragement of everyone present. Sometimes those called upon to speak made the excuse that they hadn't prepared what they were going to say, through laziness, vanity, or false modesty. Vincent would then reproach them. At other times people gave their thoughts spontaneously, and Vincent would have to call a halt to the avalanche of speakers. He would end up by summarising what had been said, and then making his own contribution, which was the basic core of the conference. Towards the end of his life, Vincent's conferences got longer, and other people's contributions were minimal. It was as though Vincent wanted to take full advantage of these last opportunities to talk to his sons and daughters, and bequeath to then the treasure of his teaching on the fundamental spirituality of the two Congregations. He explained the Rules and the virtues proper to missionaries and to Daughters of Charity; the love and service of the poor, the vocation of members of both Congregations, submission to God's will, poverty, abedience, fraternal charity, mutual correction, the virtues and example of deceased missionaries and sisters...
Vincent took the opportunity, during conferences, and especially during repetition of prayer, to share any community news, to commend to God the difficulties his foundations and subjects were experiencing, to correct outstanding misdemeanours and to impose some penance on incorrigible or recalcitrant subjects. His talks thus became a living expression of community experience and everyone felt part of it.
Vincent's language is colourful, and his remarks could be trenchant, and somewhat caustic. When he spoke to the sisters he would give many comparisons and a good sprinking of anecdotes. He had the gift of story telling and was a master of dialogue. Telling the life story of a saint, or describing some incident he had experienced personally, he would spontaneously change into direct speach to let the people in the story tell the event.
He would accompany his words with gestures and mimicry. When he referred to lazy people he would fold his arms or leave them dangling by his side. He would huddle himself together to describe those who wanted to avoid the tiring labours of the apostolate, or who didn't want the company to take on any risky and dangerous enterprises.
But whenever he gave an admonition, he always followed it with an act of humility, acknowledging that he, too, was guilty of the fault he was condemning. He blamed himself for any failings within the community. One day, when speaking about poverty, he exclaimed;
"Oh Saviour! Who am I to be talking about this; I who am wretched enough to have had a horse and carriage, and even now my room has a bed with good curtains; I have a brother to look after me so that I want for nothing. What scandal I must give to the Company by my failings in the vow of poverty, in these and in other matters. I ask pardon of God, and of the Company, and I beg you to put up with me in my old age. May God grant me the grace of making amends at this stage of my life, and help me to get rid of all these things as soon as possible. Stand up brothers." (The Community had all knelt down while he made this act of humility.) [29]
A superior's room
Poor M. Vincent! Anyone listening to him would think that he lived in luxury. The very opposite was true. All his life he had a simple room with a bare floor and bare walls; there was no rug or carpet, and it had only four pieces of furniture a wooden table without a cloth, two cane chairs and a bed that had only a mattress, blanket and pillow. Once, when he was ill, they put a canopy over his bed, but as soon as he was better he ordered it to be removed. He did the same with some holy pictures that his secretary had hung on the walls. When he noticed these he said that one picture was sufficient, so the brother had to take down the others. He had a small office on the ground floor where he could receive visitors. It was so bare that the cold winds of Paris used to blow through chinks in the door. Somebody, probably one of the brothers, made a curtain out of a piece of carpet, and hung it behind the door.Monsieur Vincent ordered it to be removed at once. It was only in the last four or five years of his life, when he was worn out by constant illness, that he consented to have a fire in his room and a canopy over his bed. Even so, he tried to use as little firewood as possible, so as not to was dte the property of the poor. [30]
He practised the same austerity with regard to food. He never took breakfast; it was not customary in those days. However, a few years before his death, they persuaded him to take something. He agreed and asked for an infusion of wild chicory and clear barley, which people said was more like a medicine than a beverage. He fasted, not only in Lent, but twice a week throughout the year. His duties often caused him to arrive at the refectory after the community had dined, so he would sit at the "second" table with the servants, and have exactly the same food as they did. On one occasion, the cook managed to deceive him and served him fresh fish instead of the dried fish that the rest of the community had been given. But this trick soon came to light, and Vincent made it known that in future he would have the same food as everybody else. Only once did he make an exception to this rule. One day, he was served raw eggs by mistake. Without a word he ate these, as though they had been done to a turn. For many years his evening meal consisted of a piece of bread, an apple, and a glass of water with a few drops of wine in it. But he considered himself too well done to. He would often come back from the city after working late, and would go to his room without having anything to eat. And very often when he did go to the refectory, he would say to himself, "Miserable wretch. You haven't earned the bread you are eating." [31]
A community with complications
This was certainly not a boss's life style. And yet his humble room in Saint Lazare was the general headquarters of an extensive apparatus whose invisible wires would influence every corner of the world. Even within the precints of the old priory, Vincent's administrative duties were many and varied. It wasn't just a question of directing the quite considerable numbers of priests, brothers, students and seminarists, who made up this community. There were five or six groups of ordinands every year, private retreats every week, the beggars who came to the door looking for food and alms, the consecration of bishops that took place from time to time in the church there, after 1642 there were the junior seminarists of little Saint Lazare; there were the deranged people who lived in a small asylum in one of the buildings, the unruly youngsters who were kept locked up in another part which was something like a reformatory, and finally, there were visitors of every rank and condition who flocked to Vincent for recommendations, advice, or help. He also had over all responsibitity for the harvests from the priory lands, for maintaining the wine presses, the ovens and the mill, as well as the hiring of stalls for the Saint Laurent fair and appointing Knight Commanders who would see justice administered at all levels throughout the Priory domain.
The former Prior
Permanent guests at Saint Lazare included the Canons of the former community who would continue living there till the end of their days. Sharing accommodation with them was not easy. The former Prior, Adrian Le Bon, who had shown such detachment and generosity, was not an easy man to live with. As stipulated in the foundation contract, he kept his title and certain prerogatives that went with it. [32] His extreme touchiness bordered on the neurotic. This was particulary so during the first five or six years, when every tiny incident made him regret his decision to relinquish the benefice. Itonly needed the door keeper to be a few minutes late letting him in, or for some visitor to say he hadn't been able to see him, for the Prior to fly off the handle and begin his lamentations. The same thing would happen if any lay person criticised his decision to leave his property to another community. Vincent had to go on his knees, and ask pardon for the real or imagined insults offered him by the community or one of its members. The Prior would then be mollified and his affection for the community would be restored... until the next time. Vincent recalled more than 50 occasions when he had to go on his knees to him. [33]
However, it was Vincent, himself, who provided the most serious cause for complaint. On the Queen's orders, and with Vincent's approval, an abbess from an illustrious family had been shut up in a convent on account of her scandalous behaviour. The Prior had received important favours from this nun. At her insistence, he went to Vincent and asked him to use his influence to have the nun released. Vincent told him frankly tht he couldn't in conscience do this. The Prior's reaction was predictable. At the height of his wrath over this refusal, he exclaimed, "What! Is this the way you treat me after I've put my house in your hands? Is this the way you repay me for the benefice I gave you to help your Company?", "I realise", answered Vincent,"that you have showered honours and benefits on us, and we are as grateful to you as sons would be to their father. My lord, I beg you to take it all back again, since you judge us so unworthy."
The old man was not disarmed by this calm and firm reply and retired to his room, obviously offended. It was only some days later, when he received more detailed reports of the abbess's scandalous behaviour, that he realised his mistake and rushed back to Vincent to apologise and take back what he had said. [34]
Vincent behaved towards Adrian Le Bon as though the Prior was really in charge of the house. When Vincent came back from a journey, the first thing he would do after paying a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, was to greet Adrian Le Bon. Every Sunday they would take their evening meal together. Vincent always regarded him as father of the community, and wanted all the confrères to consider themselves his sons. [35]
On Easter Sunday, 9th April, 1651, Adrian Le Bon gave up his soul to God. Vincent took particular care to repay his generous benefactor. He made the whole community come to the Prior's room to receive his last blessing, and he personally led the prayers for the dying. As soon as the dying man had breathed his last, Vincent gave a very moving funeral oration from beside the death bed, praising the dead Prior's virtues and exhorting all present to prey for the repose of his soul. The funeral ceremonies were carried out with the utmost solemnity. Vincent also wrote a circular to all the houses of the Community enjoining suffrages for the dead man's soul, and he gave orders that the former Prior's remains should be laid to rest in the church of Saint Lazare, in the centre of the chancel. His tomb was decorated with a long and eloquent epitaph, written in Latin, and praising the deceased's virtues. The fine phrases that introduced and concluded this epitaph were the work of the comunity's greatest classicist, the learned, and resourceful, Jacques Corborando de la Fosse. (1621 1674).
Havens of joy
Life at Saint Lazare had a humorous side, too. One of the most amusing incidents that Vincent would often relate to the community concerned Jacques de la Fosse. Shortly after ordination in 1648, he was sent by Vincent to teach humanities in the seminary of St. Charles or Little Saint Lazare. From time to time he would write religious plays and his young students would perform these to great applause. [38] This was the era of Corneille and Racine. Neither St. Lazare nor Vincent could remain completely untouched by the fashions of the day. De la Fosse made a name for himself by writing a prodigious number of Latin verses in elegant renaissance style.
One day he was invited to a famous university college to see a play, which happened to be a tragedy written in Latin. De la Fosse went into the auditorium and sat down in one of the seats reserved for distinguished guests. The Principal of the College didn't know who he was, and he sent one of his servants to ask him to move. But de la Fosse answered in Latin that he was very comfortable where he was, and had no wish to move. When the messenger reported to the Pricipal that the stranger only spoke Latin, he took him to be an Irishman and sent a junior professor to repeat, in Cicero's tongue, the invitation to find another seat. De la Fosse then spoke in Greek and very courteously repeated that he wanted to stay where he was. The junior professor decided that the man must have come from Lebanon, and said this to his Superior. The Superior was getting tired of all this coming and going and he sent the professor of rhetoric to deliver his message but de la Fosse answered this man in Hebrew. Things went on like this till eventually one of the University staff recognised the learned missionary and conducted him, with all due ceremony, to his rightful place of honour.
De la Fosse enjoyed the joke more than anybody and when he got back to Saint Lazare he wasted no time in telling his friends about it. The story passed from mouth to mouth until it eventually reached Vincent's ears. He immediately sent for the joker, and made him see that no humble man would be looking for a place of honour. As a penance, he told him to go and ask pardon of the College principal and the professors for his disedifying conduct. De la Fosse was not only a manof learning, he was also a good missionary, and without trying to excuse himself set off for the college and humbly complied with his Superior's instructions. The College principal was a liberal and understanding man, and he replied that if he had previously appreciated him for his learning, in future he would appreciate him just as much for his virtue. Another incident in the life of Jacques de la Fosse will be related later on, and it will show that the principal was not mistaken in his judgment. [39]
The mentally deranged and the people in custody
As we have already indicated, two other sorts of inmates were housed in buildings that were separate from the community quarters; a small group of mentally deranged people, and another small group of recalcitrant young people who were locked up there on the orders of their family. Vincent was quite content to take on both these works and tried to discharge his responsibilities in the spirit of his community. [40]
As regards the mentally deranged, Vincent declared that the thought of having to abandon these unfortunates was the only argument that influenced him when there was question of Saint Lazare being handed over to the Canons of Saint Victor. [41] Vincent put his best effort into seeing that both groups of inmates were well looked after and he made sure that they were served exactly the same food as the community had. Any occasional negligence in complying with this order brought the gravest reprimand for the brothers. [42]
Vincent zeal in this quarter is all the more to be admired as both the mentally deranged, and the young people in custody, gave him more trouble than satisfaction and at times threatened to compromise the good relations he had with other people. There was, for example, the incident where no less a personage than Jean de Montholon escaped from custody. This young man was the younger brother of Duke Guide François de Montholon, (1601 1679), one of the wealthiest men in the land. The Duke had had his brother and ward locked up for secretly marrying, at the age of 21, a young woman of very much lower station in life. Vincent had to make all sorts of excuses to the nobleman, especially as the young man had made his escape almost under his nose, and almost certainly abetted by one of the former religious of Saint Lazare. [43]
A systematic analysis is needed here.
Governing the mother house of his Congregation was just a small part of Vincent's activities in the 20 year period from 1634 to 1653. During these 20 years of management, Vincent's activities expanded over an ever widening radius. His concerns become more broadly based and diversified, his network of contacts is strengthened; his influence in national decisions of major importance is limitless, and his spiritual life is purified and refined to the point of sanctity.
At this point it is impossible to keep strictly to the chronological order of events. To do so would make us lose the thread of the story of how the different works developed and it would entail boring repetition. For this reason we shall have to consider Vincent de Paul's achievements, section by section, in paralled blocks that cut across the vibrant reality of a life story that shows remarkable continuity. The disadvantage of this procedure is that it artificially isolates parts of Vincent's life that were essentially connected. This is the price demanded by all methods of systematic study.
