CHAPTER XXVIII
CONSOLIDATION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY
CONSOLIDATION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY
"It was God who started this work"
We must now go back and follow the development of Vincent de Paul's most important creation, the Daughters of Charity. The parable of the mustard seed has been so over used that one hesitates to quote it even in the most appropriate context. The four young women who met together on 29th November, 1633, in the small house belonging to Louise
de Marillac in the rue de Versailles which no longer existsand facing at that time L'Epée Royale, [1] were destined to increase over three centuries and to come to number tens of thousands.
Vincent would repeat ad nauseam that neither he, nor Louise de Marillac, nor M. Portail, nor Marguerite Naseau had ever thought of founding the community.
"Mlle. did not think of it, Fr. Portail and myself had no notion of doing it and neither had that poor girl. St. Augustine used to say that when there was a doubt about who started a particular work then it was God himself who began it. It was God who started this work so it is God's work. Always remember that what was not done by men was done by God." [2]
It is the same old song from Vincent. Perhaps in this case there was more justification for it. The Daughters of Charity started off in a modest way as helpers for the Confraternities of Charity. It was hard to imagine the wonderful way the concept would develop but the original idea was so rich in potentil that it very soon outgrew the narrow limitations that marked its beginnings. It really was Vincent who thought of it.
It was a way of rounding off and perfecting what Vincent had in mind for the confraternities of charity; for every parish to have a small group of women who would be wholly dedicated to the service of the poor, and for all these groups to be united with each other, animated by the same spirit and following the same rules.
"Servants of the poor".
Vincent always had the objectives of this new association clearly in mind.
"The principal end to which God has called and assembled the Daughters of Charity is to honour and venerate Our Lord Jesus Christ as the source and model of all charity; serving him corporally and spiritually in the person of the poor, whether these be sick, children, prisoners or any others who are too embarrassed to make their needs known," [3]
"And so", commented Vincent, "you should aim at honouring Our Lord Jesus Christ, servant of the poor, in the person of children and so honour his infancy; in poor, needy people like those you'll meet at the Nom de Jésus and in the poor people you help when they come to take refuge in Paris because of the wars. You must, then, be ready to serve the poor wherever you may be sent to soldiers, as you have done when sent to the battlefields, to poor criminals and to any other place where you can help the poor; this is to be your aim." [4]
This was the guiding spirit of the new company, a spirit that was reflected in its official title confraternity or society of charity, "servants of the poor". [5] Translation has tended to upgrade the original word "servant" which comes from the Latin word "sierva". In Vincent de Paul's emphatic phrase which reflects his understanding of the demands made by the gospel, they were literally to be servants, the serving maids of those difficult masters, the poor. Wealthy people had plenty of servants but the poor had only the humble, self sacrificing "Daughters of Charity", [6] their other name which was given them by the people and by which they would come to be known throughout the whole world. Vincent was to give a beautiful interpretation of this title." [7]
They were not meant to give just material relief to the poor but they had also to be concerned for their spiritual welfare. This is the counterpart of what Vincent asked of his missionaries. When speaking to the Daughters of Charity he emphasised this different aspect and in this way he achieved, through both communities, a balance between man's material and his spiritual needs.
"It is very important to help the poor in a material way but in fact it was never Our Lord's plan in establishing this company, that you should only look after their bodily needs. There will never be any shortage of people for that. Our Lord's intention in setting up the company was that you should give spiritual help to poor sick people. A Turk or an infidel can give material help. You must be resolved to add spiritual help to the material relief you give." [8]
Missionaries and Daughters of Charity were to be the two arms of Vincent's vocation and so he regarded them as mutually dependent on each other. In spite of all objections he confided the direction of the Daughters of Charity to the priests of the Mission. The words "to have the poor helped either by ourselves or by other people" [9] were most fully lived out by the Daughters of Charity. This is how he explained the matter in depth to Jacques de la Fosse who was always worried and ready to criticise.
"Our little company has given itself to God to serve the poor corporally and spiritually. This has been so from the very beginning, and while we were labouring for souls during the missions we were trying at the same time to find ways of helping the sick through the charity confraternities".
..."The Ladies of Charity, too, are so many witnesses to the grace of our vocation which helps us to contribute, with them, to so many good works both in the city and outside it. With this in mind and remembering, too, that the Daughters of Charity are part of God's providential design since they are to take on works that we cannot do and provide material help for the sick poor, giving them little instructions for their salvation or some words of comfort, we, therefore, are obliged to help them advance in virtue so that they can dedicate themselves to their works of charity." [10]
The great danger, the biggest danger of all, was that the servants of the poor might be taken for a religious order. If wasn't that Vincent shared the aversion that some people felt at that time for the religious state as such. On the contrary, he had an unusually high regard and veneration for it. The danger was juridical and it could have had immediate and practical repercussions. In canonical terms at that time "religious" meant cloistered and the cloister would have spelt death for the works of the community.
"You are not religious in name but you must be so in spirit and you are more obliged to strive after perfection than professed religious are. But if any agitators or wrong minded individuals among you should say, 'It would be much better if you were religious' then, my dear sisters, the community would be ready for extreme unction. That is what you must fear, my sisters, and as long as you have any breath left in you, prevent that happening. You should weep, lament and speak of it to your superior. Because whoever says "religious" means "cloistered" and Daughters of Charity have to be able to go anywhere." [11]
Vincent wanted to avoid terms used by religious orders so in spite of opposition from some sisters [12] he wished the community to be known as a confraternity. But common practice and possible pressure from those who were unhappy with the term confraternity led to their finally being called a "company". When this title was applied to a community of women it meant that these were not nuns.
They didn't wear a religious habit for the same reason. The first sisters continued to wear the costume of their native villages, the long grey gown and white coiffe which was the normal dress of country girls living on the outskirts of Paris. Girls coming from other regions adopted the same form of dress so as to preserve uniformity. This costume soon became distinctive and in quite a number of contemporary documents we find references to "the grey Sisters". Neither Vincent not Louise made any concession to changes in fashion or to individual caprice. The question of whether to allow sisters, even in such distant places as Poland, to use a more serviceable headdress that would cover the neck and ears and give some protection from the cold, was a serious matter that had to be discussed in Council." [13]
Female vanity invented little stratagems for being a bit different; they tried to have their hair showing, to show their chemise sleeves and to have these made from a finer or a whiter linen than others. [14] Vincent unmasked these abuses with a severity that might have been more apparent than real.
"I received a letter only today, telling me about one of your sisters who had bought herself a big mantilla without permission and had gone out in it. Now do you think it's a nice thing to see one sister wearing her usual coiffe and another wearing a mantilla? If we don't come down on this with a firm hand there will be some sisters dressed in one style and some in another, some will wear clothes of finer material, some will want to take more pains with their hair and others will want to have their hair showing. Indeed, if we don't do something about this, uniformity will be lost and that will be the end of the company." [15]
Poor M. Vincent! If only he sould have known how the years would change his daughters' simple costume into an imposing monument of material and starch. And how right it is for our Sisters today, that in line with the thinking of Vatican II, they have gone back to a simpler style of dress which is more in keeping with the garb of our first sisters.
This was a confraternity, then, of ordinary laywomen. They were not religious; they had no cloister to protect them from the dangers of the world and no distinctive religious habit to set them apart but they were meant to be different so that everyone would recognise them as servants of the poor. Did Vincent have no qualms about the tremendous innovation his company was bringing to the style of women religious? He had no fears because he had discovered the secret of inspiring his daughters with a community spirit that would protect them from danger and make them conscious of the greatness of their vocation which was something new and different. His final summary of what the ideal Daughter of Charity should be is in the classical text that appears in every collection of his writings. All the elements of religious life were to be reinterpreted in secular terms:
"They will have for monastery the houses of the sick, for cell a hired room, for oratory the parish church, for cloister the streets of the city or the wards of hospitals, for cloister obedience, for grille the fear of God and for veil holy modesty. They shall therefore lead as holy a life as they would if they were professed nuns in a convent." [16]
"Providence has brought the twelve of you here."
As happened with the Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity got off to a slow start but as people got to know and appreciate them their numbers increased more rapidly. Eight months after they were founded on 31st July, 1634, they numbered twelve. [17] It has been calculated that between 1645 and 1646 that figure had risen to more than a hundred. [18] In 1660, the year that Vincent died, there must have been more than 200. The number of houses they had would indicate this. A further pointer to the growth of this community is a document relating to the election of sisters to office, dated 8th August, 1655. This list contained 142 names but we have to remember that not every sister was present and this total does not include sisters who had died or left the community. [19]
Most vocation came from among uneducated peasant girls living in the outlying districts of Paris. These were recruited by Vincent during his missions or by Louise de Marillac and other ladies during their visitations of the charities. A fair number of these girls could neither read nor write. [20] There were some who came from a higher social class but Vincent doubted whether girls who had been brought up in refined and comfortable surroundings would be able to cope with the laborious work of the Company. [21] The Company admitted both young, single women and widows who had no small children to look after. [22]
"Solid virtues"
After a probationary period working for the poor in a parish confraternity, the aspirants had a brief training session in the house of Louise de Marillac. This developed later into a formal programme like that of a novitiate and was called a seminary. [23] Vincent was working out the guidelines for such training as he went along and he personally took part in the talks. One thing preoccupied him more than anything else; they were to acquire "solid virtues" and the true spirit of the company. He was very suspicious of virtue that went no further than acts of piety. The real test of a true voaction is every day living.
"You would do well to tell them", he wrote to Louise de Marillac, "what is meant by solid virtue and teach them especially to peform interior acts of mortification of their judgment, will and memory; to practise recollection of the eyes and ears and to exercise control over their other senses as well as their attachment to things that are evil or frivolous, as well as those things which are good in themselves but which they should mortify out of love for Our Lord who acted in this way. You should help them to grow stronger in this practice, particularly with regard to the virtues of obedience and holy indifference. It would be a good thing if you told them that they will need help in acquiring this virtue of mortification and they must be given the opportunity to practise it. I will tell them the same thing so that they will be more ready to act like this." [24]
Vincent pointed to the conduct of young village girls as a model for these solid virtues and this was something that would have been familiar to them. On Sunday, 25th January, 1643, shortly after the feast of St. Genevieve, he devoted the entire weckly conference to this theme. Memories of his country childhood, of his mother and sisters, things he had seen during the hundreds of missions he had preached in French villages, all his priestly experience and his intuitive knowledge of the feminine psyche are all summed up in this talk. The simple girls listening to him would have recognised in this, the story of their own lives touched by divine grace. Holiness was within their grasp; all they had to do was to perfect the good qualities they already had. It wasn't a question of becoming different but of living out in a holy and perfect way what they already were. Even today, after three centuries, Vincent's words are the greatest praise that can be offered to those French peasants whose solid goodness had been nurtured by centuries of christianity.
The spirit of genuinely good village girls and (Vincent was quick to emphasise the word "genuine" because he was by no means naive and he knew that his listeners could have had very different experiences from the idyllic picture he was painting) is that they would be simple, humble, free from ambition, sober, pure, modest, poor, hard working and obedient and he illustrated all this with true examples from country life. He ended by saying,
"Know this, my daughters, that if I have ever told you anything that is true and important it is what you have just heard. You must strive to practise and to keep the spirit of genuinely good village girls." [25]
Do these words suggest contempt for life at court and the greatest praise for rural life? Was it an early and intuitive notion of the good savage? There may be something of that in these words but more importantly, they reflect the early christian concept of rural life even though this description could be more what Vincent wished it to be rather than the real picture. The Daughters of Charity were not the slightest bit interested in the literary origins of the model he was putting before them. The important thing for them was that their lives should correspond to the ideal that their father and founder was presenting to them.
"Our dear mother"
Vincent's key collaborator in the work of training the Sisters was Louise de Marillac. Many different circumstances have helped to obscure the rôle that this extraordinary woman played in the development and consolidation of the company founded by Vincent de Paul. She wrote little, compared with Vincent, not a lot is known about her progress in the spiritual life, and she was always happy to remain in the shadow of her director and spiritual father. Three centuries passed before she was canonised so she did not enjoy the same recognition as other Saints in the Church who are more well known. A contemporary study of St. Louise is throwing increasing light on the hidden figure of Mlle. le Gras who was one of Vincent de Paul's most brilliant masterpieces. Vincent himself moulded the spirit of his closet collaborator but only after a long period of instruction and training.
By the time Louise took over the work of directing the sisters in 1633, she had overcome her main spiritual
difficulties. She was forty two and a mature woman in the best sense of that word. She was beginning to blossom spiritually and the joy she felt in knowing that she was following God's call was more intense than the spiritual trials that still tormented her. Her son's behaviour and worries about his future still caused her much concern. The poor young boy still had no idea what he wanted to do. Sometimes he seemed happy enough and was ready to be ordained [26] but at other times the thought of this filled him with horror and he said that he would only be ordained to please his mother; sometimes he even wished himself and his mother dead. [27] In the end he had to give up the idea of being a priest. Michel returned to ordinary life and was involved in some not very honourable incidents. [28] Vincent appointed him knight commander or magistrate at Saint Lazare [29] and in 1650 he married a young woman of considerable social standing. The girl's uncle procured for him the post of Chancellor in the Finances Tribunal and Vincent gave his blessing to the marriage. [30] But this was not to be the end of his troubles. He became profoundly deaf and had to give up his post as magistrate. [31]
While grieving over so many misfortunes, Louise tried to supernaturalise her maternal feelings. She wanted to reach the stage of regarding her son as just a child of God. She didn't quite achieve this but she did succeed in not letting her personal problems interfere with her duties as superior of the company.
After 1635 or 1636 her letters begin to take on a different tone. From being the person directed, she has to become directress. The advice that she kept seeking from Vincent was passed on to her daughters with increasing confidence and sureness of touch. Although she was subordinate to the director and founder, her responsibility for training the sisters and her administration and government of the company were not simply delegated tasks. She took decisions, kept records, and guided and directed the sisters. She did all these things with increasing skill and confidence. On one occasion she was bold enough to put forward opinions that were very different from those held by Vincent and her arguments prevailed. We will see an example of this later on. In 1647 she personally took charge of the seminary [32] and this was only a part of the training programme. Through her correspondence she was able to extend her influence to the sisters in the provinces while the sisters in Paris were able to benefit from her talks and admonitions; she participated in Vincent's conferences and, finally, she gave them the example of her daily life which was like a living rule for the company. Vincent even confided to her direction the ladies you used to go to the sisters' house to make a retreat. So it is not surprising that the Daughters of Charity spontaneously began to refer to her as "our dear mother." [33]
She never had good health but this did not prevent her from visiting the charities. [34] In 1639 she travelled to Angers and in 1646 made the journey to Nantes to supervise, like St. Teresa had done for her order, the establishment of the two most important foundations of the Daughters of Charity, [36] and in 1644 she made a pilgrimage to Chartres. [36] Meanwhile, Louise was making progress in the spiritual life and a careful reading of her writings reveals the different stages of her spiritual development. Sometime around the year 1644 she went through a period of spiritual renunciation which might even be called spiritual annihilation and this led her practise still greater self sacrifice. From the year 1651 until her death in 1660 she reaches a state of union with the sovereign Lord of souls which bears all marks of total mystical fulfilment. [37]
"With the help of God you will have your Rules one day."
The process of compiling rules for the Daughters of Charity was similar to that used for drawing up the rules for missionaries. In both cases Vincent wanted a long testing period to check that the prescriptions were both useful and practicable before he promulgated the definitive version.
In 1634 we already have some general regulations written out by St. Louise and Vincent used to explain these to the sisters. [38] These regulations continued to be modified and added to throughout the forties. There was one copy, or two at most, and these were reserved for the superiors. By 1643 it contained 32 points which were divided into two sections. The first section dealt with regulations concerning the order of day and exercises of piety, the second contained the basic norms dealing with the spirit in which the various works were
to be performed, the virtues special to the community and relationships the sisters should have with each other and with externs. [39] The rule was short and simple. The Sisters only knew it from hearing it read aloud and from the explanations given during the weekly conference. It wasn't long before the sisters began to ask for written copies. [40]
Vincent promised to see to it "With God's help you will have your Rules one day" [41] but he was a long time producing them. He foresaw several difficulties, one of which was the need to draw up different regulations for "the variety of poor people" they served, that is for the different foundations and works. [42] The most serious problem was that the community had still not been formally granted ecclesiastical approval. When this approbation was finally granted by the archbishop of Paris in 1655 it included, as we shall see, the basic statutes of the Congregation. Vincent then drew up a set of rules which comprised the basic or Common Rules for every sister and every house, and Particular Rules for sisters working in parishes, hospitals, schools, etc. On 29th September, 1655, Vincent began the systematic reading and explanation of the Common Rules and this went on until 11th August, 1659. [43] During the following months he explained the particular rules for sisters in the parishes.
Even at this point Vincent decided not to have the rules printed. He thought it might be better to have them written out by hand and a copy sent to each house. He was still hesitating about this when death overtook him. So there was no formal ceremony for distributing the rules as happened with the missionaries. Vincent's first successor didn't have them printed either; he just signed a copy of the text, thus guaranteeing its authenticity and preventing any variations being introduced at a later date. It was then that he rearranged Vincent's text, dividing it into chapters and adding footnotes. This meant that we now have 75 points of rule instead of the original 70. There is no substantial difference between the text that Vincent explained in his conferences and the version we have now. All the same we will always regret not having the text that came directly from the pen of Vincent. [44]
"Although you haven't got vows just now"
It was quite soon after this that Vincent began to think of the possibility that the Daughters of Charity, in line with the missionaries, might make some sort of vows. This was no easy matter. A community of women who took vows was automatically classed as a religious community. Vincent's fears for the future of the company might well have been justified. No doubt this was why they were more hesitant and cautious in dealing with this question than they had been in soliciting vows for the missionaries.
The first reference to the vows of the Daughters of Charity is found in a conference given on 5th July, 1640. In a way that is almost subliminal, the text hints at Vincent's intentions.
"The Daughters of Charity although they do not have vows just now, are none the less in that state of perfection if they are living as true Daughters of Charity." [45]
The phrase "just now" is a clear indication that the Founder was thinking that they would make vows. A fortnight later he made the same suggestion and it is obvious that he was looking for a positive response from the sisters.
"My dear sisters I was very consoled one day. I must tell you about it. I heard the vow formula used by nursing religious in Italy and it went like this, 'I promise and vow to God to spend my whole life in poverty, chastity and obedience and to serve our lords, the poor.' My daughters, see how pleasing it is to our good God for his members, the beloved poor, to be honoured in this way."
"Monsieur Vincent read this vow formula with such fervour that some sisters were moved to share what they felt about it. They spoke of the happiness those good religious must have felt in being able to consecrate their whole lives to God and they asked whether sisters in our community couldn't be allowed to do something similar."
After this successful start, Vincent went a step further, and taking it for granted that the sisters would be able to make vows, he told them what this would involve.
"Yes, of course, my daughters, but with this difference; those good religious made solemn vows which cannot be dispensed even by the Pope whereas the bishop could give a dispensation from the vows that you would make. However, if you thought you could get a dispensation whenever you like, it would be better not to make vows at all."
The following question shows that the matter was now considered a fait accompli since it referred to the manner of taking vows and who was to give authorisation for them.
"To the question: Would it not be a good thing for the sisters to make them [vows] in private when they felt moved by grace to do so?" his charity replied that they should be very wary of this. If any sister wanted to do this she should discuss it with her superiors and then be at peace whether the permission was granted or not."
This answer to the query clearly indicates that there was a definite formality about the taking of vows. Although these vows were private ones and only binding in conscience, they could only be taken with the superiors' approval. Vincent had done what he set out to do and he finished with a prayer that was almost an early version of the vow formula.
"Fr. Vincent raised his heart to God and with great fervour spoke as follows:
"Oh my God, we consecrate ourselves entirely to thee; grant us the grace to live and to die in true poverty. I ask this for all our sisters, those here present and those who are far away. Don't you wish this, too, my daughters? Grant us also the grace of living and dying in chastity. I ask this grace for all sisters of charity and for myself, as well as the grace to live in perfect obedience. My God, we give ourselves to you to honour and serve our lords the poor all our life long, and we ask this grace through your holy love. Isn't this what you wish, too, my dear sisters?
All our sisters immediately gave their assent with great fervour and they all knelt down." [46]
The arrow had found its target and Socrates' dialogue had led the sisters to find for themselves the answers to their questions.
Almost at the same time as Vincent was skilfully handling the rudder and steering the Daughters of Charity towards introducing into their company the practice of taking vows, Fr. Lebreton was in Rome during July, 1640, to negotiate approval for the missionaries' vows. Nothing like this was done for the Daughters of Charity. In October of the following year the Archbishop of Paris gave his approval to the decree which recognised the vows made by the priests of the Congregation of the Mission. Nothing could have been done because ecclesiastical authorities had not yet given formal approval to the company. However, the actual practice of taking vows developed, strikingly enough, at the same pace for both communities.
On 24th February, 1642, the missionaries made their vows together as a community for the first time. A month later, on 25th March of that same year, the first five Daughters of Charity, including Louise de Marillac, pronounced their vows. We can only be certain that Barbe Angiboust "Big Barbara" was one of these sisters but the others were most probably Isabelle Turgis, Marie Denise and Jeanne Gasseaume. They made perpetual vows. Vincent must have wanted both congregations to have similar vows and that year marked a decisive stage in the incorporation of these into their respective constitutions. [47]
The sisters' vows followed a longer and more tortuous path than those of the missionaries. From all the documentation that is still preserved we can deduce that some sisters made perpetual vows and this practice persisted right until the time of Vincent's death. In 1650 there were quite a number of sisters who had made perpetual vows. [48] Barbara Bailly made perpetual vows in 1656 [49] and by 1659 "all the older members of the company" had done likewise. [50] It was the custom for sisters to make annual vows after being in the company for five years. They did this for a further 5, 6 or 7 years and then took perpetual vows which they renewed periodically out of devotion. [51]
Did Vincent intend to make this practice a general rule? Current research can give no answer to this question. But the fact remains that at the time of the Founder's death, some sisters made perpetual vows while others took vows annually. In either case these were strictly private vows since the company was still not formally approved by the Church. However, sisters still had to have permission from the Superior to make or to renew their vows. After Vincent's death it became the custom to make temporary vows only andthese were renewed each year on 25th March. This was the definitive formula that was approved by the Holy See and it is still adhered to by the Daughters of Charity today. Vincent's intention had led him to create the most original form of making vows to be found anywhere in the Church; he founded a community whose members would be perfectly free each year to renew these vows. The fact that the company has lasted all these years proves just how right their Founder
was. [52]
"You now have your own special identity"
Vincent de Paul was not in the same hurry to seek ecclesiastical approval for the Daughters of Charity as he had been for the Congregation of the Mission. Even as late as 1645 he hadn't made any move to have them accepted even at diocesan level. He did draw up that year, a preliminary petition which must have gone unheeded [53] because the following year he wrote again. [54]
The archbishop wasn't against it. It was in his name that Jean François Paul de Gondi, his nephew and coadjutor, signed a decree on 20th November, 1646, giving canonical recognition within the diocese of Paris to the "confraternity of Charity, servants of the poor." [55]
Some months later, Vincent gave the news to the Sisters during a conference that he was giving to explain the rules and the statutes which were approved at the same time as the Institute was formally recognised. This marks the definitive beginning of the company.
"Up to now you haven't been a separate organisation from that of the confraternity of ladies of charity and now, my daughters, God wants you to have your own special identity and even though you will still be working with the ladies you will now have your own exercises of piety and your own special functions." [56]
The decree of approval granted by the archbishop confided the direction of this new association to Vincent de Paul but placed it "under the authority of and dependent on" the archbishop of Paris. Moreover it wasn't accorded the title "Daughters of Charity". Louise de Marillac was worried. [57] She was particularly concerned that at some later date the sisters might have other directors than the Vincentian superiors. She got the Queen, Anne of Austria, for friendship's sake to petition the Pope to appoint "the Superior General of the Mission and his successors as directors of the confraternity of charity of the servants of the poor in perpetuity." [58] We don't know for certain who it was that suggested this petition to the Queen but all the indications are that it was Louise. [59] Neither do we know anything about how this petition was received in Rome if, in fact, it was ever discussed.
The company needed to be recognised by the civil authorities and for this to happen as soon as possible. They had no difficulty at all in obtaining letters patent from the king but something unforeseen happened when Parlement was to have ratified these. All through April, 1650, they were expecting the approbation to be granted any day. At least this is what Louise de Marillac was given to understand by Blas Méliand, the Procurator General. [60] But shortly after this date the distinguished official died and so did his secretary. The new Procurator General was a gentleman from whom they could expect a very favourable judgmenent because Nicolas Fouquet was the son of one of the Ladies of Charity we mentioned earlier. Negotiations were resumed but when the new Procurator asked to see the documents these had disappeared. They couldn't be found either among the dead man's papers or in the archives of Saint Lazare or anywhere in the sisters' house. [61]
It has been commonly thought that Louise de Marillac was responsible for this loss though she believed them to be in the hands of Vincent's secretary. [62] She had ample opportunity and sufficient motive for engineering the loss. For one thing, she was anxious to suppress the clause that would put the company under the authority of the bishop. And then her friendship with Mde. Fouquet meant that she had easy access to the documents. Perhaps this is stretching things a bit far. The situation could simply have arisen because of the death of Méliand and his secretary. This, at any rate, is the official version of what happened.
So they had to start again from scratch. A second petition was addressed to the archbishop who was formerly the coadjutor; and this was granted on 18th January, 1655. Strangely enough there is only one significant difference between the two letters of approbation. In the second one, and in compliance with Louise's wishes, the government and direction of the confraternity was confided, in perpetuity, "to Vincent de Paul and his successors as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission", and all references in previous clauses to the archbishop's delegate were replaced by the word superior. [63] The king granted the new letters patent in November, 1657, [64] and these were ratified by the Parlement in 1658. [65] The confraternity of Daughters of Charity was at last recognised as a juridical entity." [66]
The archbishop's decree of approbation included some briefly worded statutes concerning the election of the Superioress General and her assitants, as well as a summary of the rules governing the aims and spirit of the company, its order of day and the principal works. Vincent had these rules implemented straight away although, as this was the first time for it to happen, he dispensed with the rules about electing sisters to office. He named these himself and then had the appointments ratified by the sisters. [67] As regards the office of Superioress General, he had already explained in 1646 that the rule stating she should be replaced every three years was not to come into force until after the death of Mlle. le Gras. Louise knelt down and begged that there would be no exceptions but Vincent was adamant.
"Your sisters and I, mademoiselle, must beg God to, grant you many more years of life. It is often the case that God preserves, in an extraordinary way, those who are indispensible for the accomplishement of his works. And when you think about it, mademoiselle, it's a wonder you've been alive at all for the past ten years." [68]
We know for certain that during the last years of his life Vincent sounded out the possibility of having the Daughters of Charity recognised by the Holy See. We know this from a letter he wrote in September, 1659, to his representative in Rome, Fr. Jolly. [69] But if any serious attempts were made to negotiate this, then they weren't successful during the Founder's lifetime. It was only in 1668 that the Daughters of Charity were formally approved by the Pope, in a decree issued by cardinal Louis de Vendôme who was the legate a latere of Clement IX. [70] We can't help but be surprised at Vincent's slowness in this matter which is so different from the vigorous efforts he made to negotiate formal approval for the missionaries. Perhaps he was afraid that the nature of the institute would provoke too much opposition in Rome and that he would rather have it approved at diocesan level than risk its rejection by Rome.
We must now go back and follow the development of Vincent de Paul's most important creation, the Daughters of Charity. The parable of the mustard seed has been so over used that one hesitates to quote it even in the most appropriate context. The four young women who met together on 29th November, 1633, in the small house belonging to Louise
de Marillac in the rue de Versailles which no longer existsand facing at that time L'Epée Royale, [1] were destined to increase over three centuries and to come to number tens of thousands.
Vincent would repeat ad nauseam that neither he, nor Louise de Marillac, nor M. Portail, nor Marguerite Naseau had ever thought of founding the community.
"Mlle. did not think of it, Fr. Portail and myself had no notion of doing it and neither had that poor girl. St. Augustine used to say that when there was a doubt about who started a particular work then it was God himself who began it. It was God who started this work so it is God's work. Always remember that what was not done by men was done by God." [2]
It is the same old song from Vincent. Perhaps in this case there was more justification for it. The Daughters of Charity started off in a modest way as helpers for the Confraternities of Charity. It was hard to imagine the wonderful way the concept would develop but the original idea was so rich in potentil that it very soon outgrew the narrow limitations that marked its beginnings. It really was Vincent who thought of it.
It was a way of rounding off and perfecting what Vincent had in mind for the confraternities of charity; for every parish to have a small group of women who would be wholly dedicated to the service of the poor, and for all these groups to be united with each other, animated by the same spirit and following the same rules.
"Servants of the poor".
Vincent always had the objectives of this new association clearly in mind.
"The principal end to which God has called and assembled the Daughters of Charity is to honour and venerate Our Lord Jesus Christ as the source and model of all charity; serving him corporally and spiritually in the person of the poor, whether these be sick, children, prisoners or any others who are too embarrassed to make their needs known," [3]
"And so", commented Vincent, "you should aim at honouring Our Lord Jesus Christ, servant of the poor, in the person of children and so honour his infancy; in poor, needy people like those you'll meet at the Nom de Jésus and in the poor people you help when they come to take refuge in Paris because of the wars. You must, then, be ready to serve the poor wherever you may be sent to soldiers, as you have done when sent to the battlefields, to poor criminals and to any other place where you can help the poor; this is to be your aim." [4]
This was the guiding spirit of the new company, a spirit that was reflected in its official title confraternity or society of charity, "servants of the poor". [5] Translation has tended to upgrade the original word "servant" which comes from the Latin word "sierva". In Vincent de Paul's emphatic phrase which reflects his understanding of the demands made by the gospel, they were literally to be servants, the serving maids of those difficult masters, the poor. Wealthy people had plenty of servants but the poor had only the humble, self sacrificing "Daughters of Charity", [6] their other name which was given them by the people and by which they would come to be known throughout the whole world. Vincent was to give a beautiful interpretation of this title." [7]
They were not meant to give just material relief to the poor but they had also to be concerned for their spiritual welfare. This is the counterpart of what Vincent asked of his missionaries. When speaking to the Daughters of Charity he emphasised this different aspect and in this way he achieved, through both communities, a balance between man's material and his spiritual needs.
"It is very important to help the poor in a material way but in fact it was never Our Lord's plan in establishing this company, that you should only look after their bodily needs. There will never be any shortage of people for that. Our Lord's intention in setting up the company was that you should give spiritual help to poor sick people. A Turk or an infidel can give material help. You must be resolved to add spiritual help to the material relief you give." [8]
Missionaries and Daughters of Charity were to be the two arms of Vincent's vocation and so he regarded them as mutually dependent on each other. In spite of all objections he confided the direction of the Daughters of Charity to the priests of the Mission. The words "to have the poor helped either by ourselves or by other people" [9] were most fully lived out by the Daughters of Charity. This is how he explained the matter in depth to Jacques de la Fosse who was always worried and ready to criticise.
"Our little company has given itself to God to serve the poor corporally and spiritually. This has been so from the very beginning, and while we were labouring for souls during the missions we were trying at the same time to find ways of helping the sick through the charity confraternities".
..."The Ladies of Charity, too, are so many witnesses to the grace of our vocation which helps us to contribute, with them, to so many good works both in the city and outside it. With this in mind and remembering, too, that the Daughters of Charity are part of God's providential design since they are to take on works that we cannot do and provide material help for the sick poor, giving them little instructions for their salvation or some words of comfort, we, therefore, are obliged to help them advance in virtue so that they can dedicate themselves to their works of charity." [10]
The great danger, the biggest danger of all, was that the servants of the poor might be taken for a religious order. If wasn't that Vincent shared the aversion that some people felt at that time for the religious state as such. On the contrary, he had an unusually high regard and veneration for it. The danger was juridical and it could have had immediate and practical repercussions. In canonical terms at that time "religious" meant cloistered and the cloister would have spelt death for the works of the community.
"You are not religious in name but you must be so in spirit and you are more obliged to strive after perfection than professed religious are. But if any agitators or wrong minded individuals among you should say, 'It would be much better if you were religious' then, my dear sisters, the community would be ready for extreme unction. That is what you must fear, my sisters, and as long as you have any breath left in you, prevent that happening. You should weep, lament and speak of it to your superior. Because whoever says "religious" means "cloistered" and Daughters of Charity have to be able to go anywhere." [11]
Vincent wanted to avoid terms used by religious orders so in spite of opposition from some sisters [12] he wished the community to be known as a confraternity. But common practice and possible pressure from those who were unhappy with the term confraternity led to their finally being called a "company". When this title was applied to a community of women it meant that these were not nuns.
They didn't wear a religious habit for the same reason. The first sisters continued to wear the costume of their native villages, the long grey gown and white coiffe which was the normal dress of country girls living on the outskirts of Paris. Girls coming from other regions adopted the same form of dress so as to preserve uniformity. This costume soon became distinctive and in quite a number of contemporary documents we find references to "the grey Sisters". Neither Vincent not Louise made any concession to changes in fashion or to individual caprice. The question of whether to allow sisters, even in such distant places as Poland, to use a more serviceable headdress that would cover the neck and ears and give some protection from the cold, was a serious matter that had to be discussed in Council." [13]
Female vanity invented little stratagems for being a bit different; they tried to have their hair showing, to show their chemise sleeves and to have these made from a finer or a whiter linen than others. [14] Vincent unmasked these abuses with a severity that might have been more apparent than real.
"I received a letter only today, telling me about one of your sisters who had bought herself a big mantilla without permission and had gone out in it. Now do you think it's a nice thing to see one sister wearing her usual coiffe and another wearing a mantilla? If we don't come down on this with a firm hand there will be some sisters dressed in one style and some in another, some will wear clothes of finer material, some will want to take more pains with their hair and others will want to have their hair showing. Indeed, if we don't do something about this, uniformity will be lost and that will be the end of the company." [15]
Poor M. Vincent! If only he sould have known how the years would change his daughters' simple costume into an imposing monument of material and starch. And how right it is for our Sisters today, that in line with the thinking of Vatican II, they have gone back to a simpler style of dress which is more in keeping with the garb of our first sisters.
This was a confraternity, then, of ordinary laywomen. They were not religious; they had no cloister to protect them from the dangers of the world and no distinctive religious habit to set them apart but they were meant to be different so that everyone would recognise them as servants of the poor. Did Vincent have no qualms about the tremendous innovation his company was bringing to the style of women religious? He had no fears because he had discovered the secret of inspiring his daughters with a community spirit that would protect them from danger and make them conscious of the greatness of their vocation which was something new and different. His final summary of what the ideal Daughter of Charity should be is in the classical text that appears in every collection of his writings. All the elements of religious life were to be reinterpreted in secular terms:
"They will have for monastery the houses of the sick, for cell a hired room, for oratory the parish church, for cloister the streets of the city or the wards of hospitals, for cloister obedience, for grille the fear of God and for veil holy modesty. They shall therefore lead as holy a life as they would if they were professed nuns in a convent." [16]
"Providence has brought the twelve of you here."
As happened with the Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity got off to a slow start but as people got to know and appreciate them their numbers increased more rapidly. Eight months after they were founded on 31st July, 1634, they numbered twelve. [17] It has been calculated that between 1645 and 1646 that figure had risen to more than a hundred. [18] In 1660, the year that Vincent died, there must have been more than 200. The number of houses they had would indicate this. A further pointer to the growth of this community is a document relating to the election of sisters to office, dated 8th August, 1655. This list contained 142 names but we have to remember that not every sister was present and this total does not include sisters who had died or left the community. [19]
Most vocation came from among uneducated peasant girls living in the outlying districts of Paris. These were recruited by Vincent during his missions or by Louise de Marillac and other ladies during their visitations of the charities. A fair number of these girls could neither read nor write. [20] There were some who came from a higher social class but Vincent doubted whether girls who had been brought up in refined and comfortable surroundings would be able to cope with the laborious work of the Company. [21] The Company admitted both young, single women and widows who had no small children to look after. [22]
"Solid virtues"
After a probationary period working for the poor in a parish confraternity, the aspirants had a brief training session in the house of Louise de Marillac. This developed later into a formal programme like that of a novitiate and was called a seminary. [23] Vincent was working out the guidelines for such training as he went along and he personally took part in the talks. One thing preoccupied him more than anything else; they were to acquire "solid virtues" and the true spirit of the company. He was very suspicious of virtue that went no further than acts of piety. The real test of a true voaction is every day living.
"You would do well to tell them", he wrote to Louise de Marillac, "what is meant by solid virtue and teach them especially to peform interior acts of mortification of their judgment, will and memory; to practise recollection of the eyes and ears and to exercise control over their other senses as well as their attachment to things that are evil or frivolous, as well as those things which are good in themselves but which they should mortify out of love for Our Lord who acted in this way. You should help them to grow stronger in this practice, particularly with regard to the virtues of obedience and holy indifference. It would be a good thing if you told them that they will need help in acquiring this virtue of mortification and they must be given the opportunity to practise it. I will tell them the same thing so that they will be more ready to act like this." [24]
Vincent pointed to the conduct of young village girls as a model for these solid virtues and this was something that would have been familiar to them. On Sunday, 25th January, 1643, shortly after the feast of St. Genevieve, he devoted the entire weckly conference to this theme. Memories of his country childhood, of his mother and sisters, things he had seen during the hundreds of missions he had preached in French villages, all his priestly experience and his intuitive knowledge of the feminine psyche are all summed up in this talk. The simple girls listening to him would have recognised in this, the story of their own lives touched by divine grace. Holiness was within their grasp; all they had to do was to perfect the good qualities they already had. It wasn't a question of becoming different but of living out in a holy and perfect way what they already were. Even today, after three centuries, Vincent's words are the greatest praise that can be offered to those French peasants whose solid goodness had been nurtured by centuries of christianity.
The spirit of genuinely good village girls and (Vincent was quick to emphasise the word "genuine" because he was by no means naive and he knew that his listeners could have had very different experiences from the idyllic picture he was painting) is that they would be simple, humble, free from ambition, sober, pure, modest, poor, hard working and obedient and he illustrated all this with true examples from country life. He ended by saying,
"Know this, my daughters, that if I have ever told you anything that is true and important it is what you have just heard. You must strive to practise and to keep the spirit of genuinely good village girls." [25]
Do these words suggest contempt for life at court and the greatest praise for rural life? Was it an early and intuitive notion of the good savage? There may be something of that in these words but more importantly, they reflect the early christian concept of rural life even though this description could be more what Vincent wished it to be rather than the real picture. The Daughters of Charity were not the slightest bit interested in the literary origins of the model he was putting before them. The important thing for them was that their lives should correspond to the ideal that their father and founder was presenting to them.
"Our dear mother"
Vincent's key collaborator in the work of training the Sisters was Louise de Marillac. Many different circumstances have helped to obscure the rôle that this extraordinary woman played in the development and consolidation of the company founded by Vincent de Paul. She wrote little, compared with Vincent, not a lot is known about her progress in the spiritual life, and she was always happy to remain in the shadow of her director and spiritual father. Three centuries passed before she was canonised so she did not enjoy the same recognition as other Saints in the Church who are more well known. A contemporary study of St. Louise is throwing increasing light on the hidden figure of Mlle. le Gras who was one of Vincent de Paul's most brilliant masterpieces. Vincent himself moulded the spirit of his closet collaborator but only after a long period of instruction and training.
By the time Louise took over the work of directing the sisters in 1633, she had overcome her main spiritual
difficulties. She was forty two and a mature woman in the best sense of that word. She was beginning to blossom spiritually and the joy she felt in knowing that she was following God's call was more intense than the spiritual trials that still tormented her. Her son's behaviour and worries about his future still caused her much concern. The poor young boy still had no idea what he wanted to do. Sometimes he seemed happy enough and was ready to be ordained [26] but at other times the thought of this filled him with horror and he said that he would only be ordained to please his mother; sometimes he even wished himself and his mother dead. [27] In the end he had to give up the idea of being a priest. Michel returned to ordinary life and was involved in some not very honourable incidents. [28] Vincent appointed him knight commander or magistrate at Saint Lazare [29] and in 1650 he married a young woman of considerable social standing. The girl's uncle procured for him the post of Chancellor in the Finances Tribunal and Vincent gave his blessing to the marriage. [30] But this was not to be the end of his troubles. He became profoundly deaf and had to give up his post as magistrate. [31]
While grieving over so many misfortunes, Louise tried to supernaturalise her maternal feelings. She wanted to reach the stage of regarding her son as just a child of God. She didn't quite achieve this but she did succeed in not letting her personal problems interfere with her duties as superior of the company.
After 1635 or 1636 her letters begin to take on a different tone. From being the person directed, she has to become directress. The advice that she kept seeking from Vincent was passed on to her daughters with increasing confidence and sureness of touch. Although she was subordinate to the director and founder, her responsibility for training the sisters and her administration and government of the company were not simply delegated tasks. She took decisions, kept records, and guided and directed the sisters. She did all these things with increasing skill and confidence. On one occasion she was bold enough to put forward opinions that were very different from those held by Vincent and her arguments prevailed. We will see an example of this later on. In 1647 she personally took charge of the seminary [32] and this was only a part of the training programme. Through her correspondence she was able to extend her influence to the sisters in the provinces while the sisters in Paris were able to benefit from her talks and admonitions; she participated in Vincent's conferences and, finally, she gave them the example of her daily life which was like a living rule for the company. Vincent even confided to her direction the ladies you used to go to the sisters' house to make a retreat. So it is not surprising that the Daughters of Charity spontaneously began to refer to her as "our dear mother." [33]
She never had good health but this did not prevent her from visiting the charities. [34] In 1639 she travelled to Angers and in 1646 made the journey to Nantes to supervise, like St. Teresa had done for her order, the establishment of the two most important foundations of the Daughters of Charity, [36] and in 1644 she made a pilgrimage to Chartres. [36] Meanwhile, Louise was making progress in the spiritual life and a careful reading of her writings reveals the different stages of her spiritual development. Sometime around the year 1644 she went through a period of spiritual renunciation which might even be called spiritual annihilation and this led her practise still greater self sacrifice. From the year 1651 until her death in 1660 she reaches a state of union with the sovereign Lord of souls which bears all marks of total mystical fulfilment. [37]
"With the help of God you will have your Rules one day."
The process of compiling rules for the Daughters of Charity was similar to that used for drawing up the rules for missionaries. In both cases Vincent wanted a long testing period to check that the prescriptions were both useful and practicable before he promulgated the definitive version.
In 1634 we already have some general regulations written out by St. Louise and Vincent used to explain these to the sisters. [38] These regulations continued to be modified and added to throughout the forties. There was one copy, or two at most, and these were reserved for the superiors. By 1643 it contained 32 points which were divided into two sections. The first section dealt with regulations concerning the order of day and exercises of piety, the second contained the basic norms dealing with the spirit in which the various works were
to be performed, the virtues special to the community and relationships the sisters should have with each other and with externs. [39] The rule was short and simple. The Sisters only knew it from hearing it read aloud and from the explanations given during the weekly conference. It wasn't long before the sisters began to ask for written copies. [40]
Vincent promised to see to it "With God's help you will have your Rules one day" [41] but he was a long time producing them. He foresaw several difficulties, one of which was the need to draw up different regulations for "the variety of poor people" they served, that is for the different foundations and works. [42] The most serious problem was that the community had still not been formally granted ecclesiastical approval. When this approbation was finally granted by the archbishop of Paris in 1655 it included, as we shall see, the basic statutes of the Congregation. Vincent then drew up a set of rules which comprised the basic or Common Rules for every sister and every house, and Particular Rules for sisters working in parishes, hospitals, schools, etc. On 29th September, 1655, Vincent began the systematic reading and explanation of the Common Rules and this went on until 11th August, 1659. [43] During the following months he explained the particular rules for sisters in the parishes.
Even at this point Vincent decided not to have the rules printed. He thought it might be better to have them written out by hand and a copy sent to each house. He was still hesitating about this when death overtook him. So there was no formal ceremony for distributing the rules as happened with the missionaries. Vincent's first successor didn't have them printed either; he just signed a copy of the text, thus guaranteeing its authenticity and preventing any variations being introduced at a later date. It was then that he rearranged Vincent's text, dividing it into chapters and adding footnotes. This meant that we now have 75 points of rule instead of the original 70. There is no substantial difference between the text that Vincent explained in his conferences and the version we have now. All the same we will always regret not having the text that came directly from the pen of Vincent. [44]
"Although you haven't got vows just now"
It was quite soon after this that Vincent began to think of the possibility that the Daughters of Charity, in line with the missionaries, might make some sort of vows. This was no easy matter. A community of women who took vows was automatically classed as a religious community. Vincent's fears for the future of the company might well have been justified. No doubt this was why they were more hesitant and cautious in dealing with this question than they had been in soliciting vows for the missionaries.
The first reference to the vows of the Daughters of Charity is found in a conference given on 5th July, 1640. In a way that is almost subliminal, the text hints at Vincent's intentions.
"The Daughters of Charity although they do not have vows just now, are none the less in that state of perfection if they are living as true Daughters of Charity." [45]
The phrase "just now" is a clear indication that the Founder was thinking that they would make vows. A fortnight later he made the same suggestion and it is obvious that he was looking for a positive response from the sisters.
"My dear sisters I was very consoled one day. I must tell you about it. I heard the vow formula used by nursing religious in Italy and it went like this, 'I promise and vow to God to spend my whole life in poverty, chastity and obedience and to serve our lords, the poor.' My daughters, see how pleasing it is to our good God for his members, the beloved poor, to be honoured in this way."
"Monsieur Vincent read this vow formula with such fervour that some sisters were moved to share what they felt about it. They spoke of the happiness those good religious must have felt in being able to consecrate their whole lives to God and they asked whether sisters in our community couldn't be allowed to do something similar."
After this successful start, Vincent went a step further, and taking it for granted that the sisters would be able to make vows, he told them what this would involve.
"Yes, of course, my daughters, but with this difference; those good religious made solemn vows which cannot be dispensed even by the Pope whereas the bishop could give a dispensation from the vows that you would make. However, if you thought you could get a dispensation whenever you like, it would be better not to make vows at all."
The following question shows that the matter was now considered a fait accompli since it referred to the manner of taking vows and who was to give authorisation for them.
"To the question: Would it not be a good thing for the sisters to make them [vows] in private when they felt moved by grace to do so?" his charity replied that they should be very wary of this. If any sister wanted to do this she should discuss it with her superiors and then be at peace whether the permission was granted or not."
This answer to the query clearly indicates that there was a definite formality about the taking of vows. Although these vows were private ones and only binding in conscience, they could only be taken with the superiors' approval. Vincent had done what he set out to do and he finished with a prayer that was almost an early version of the vow formula.
"Fr. Vincent raised his heart to God and with great fervour spoke as follows:
"Oh my God, we consecrate ourselves entirely to thee; grant us the grace to live and to die in true poverty. I ask this for all our sisters, those here present and those who are far away. Don't you wish this, too, my daughters? Grant us also the grace of living and dying in chastity. I ask this grace for all sisters of charity and for myself, as well as the grace to live in perfect obedience. My God, we give ourselves to you to honour and serve our lords the poor all our life long, and we ask this grace through your holy love. Isn't this what you wish, too, my dear sisters?
All our sisters immediately gave their assent with great fervour and they all knelt down." [46]
The arrow had found its target and Socrates' dialogue had led the sisters to find for themselves the answers to their questions.
Almost at the same time as Vincent was skilfully handling the rudder and steering the Daughters of Charity towards introducing into their company the practice of taking vows, Fr. Lebreton was in Rome during July, 1640, to negotiate approval for the missionaries' vows. Nothing like this was done for the Daughters of Charity. In October of the following year the Archbishop of Paris gave his approval to the decree which recognised the vows made by the priests of the Congregation of the Mission. Nothing could have been done because ecclesiastical authorities had not yet given formal approval to the company. However, the actual practice of taking vows developed, strikingly enough, at the same pace for both communities.
On 24th February, 1642, the missionaries made their vows together as a community for the first time. A month later, on 25th March of that same year, the first five Daughters of Charity, including Louise de Marillac, pronounced their vows. We can only be certain that Barbe Angiboust "Big Barbara" was one of these sisters but the others were most probably Isabelle Turgis, Marie Denise and Jeanne Gasseaume. They made perpetual vows. Vincent must have wanted both congregations to have similar vows and that year marked a decisive stage in the incorporation of these into their respective constitutions. [47]
The sisters' vows followed a longer and more tortuous path than those of the missionaries. From all the documentation that is still preserved we can deduce that some sisters made perpetual vows and this practice persisted right until the time of Vincent's death. In 1650 there were quite a number of sisters who had made perpetual vows. [48] Barbara Bailly made perpetual vows in 1656 [49] and by 1659 "all the older members of the company" had done likewise. [50] It was the custom for sisters to make annual vows after being in the company for five years. They did this for a further 5, 6 or 7 years and then took perpetual vows which they renewed periodically out of devotion. [51]
Did Vincent intend to make this practice a general rule? Current research can give no answer to this question. But the fact remains that at the time of the Founder's death, some sisters made perpetual vows while others took vows annually. In either case these were strictly private vows since the company was still not formally approved by the Church. However, sisters still had to have permission from the Superior to make or to renew their vows. After Vincent's death it became the custom to make temporary vows only andthese were renewed each year on 25th March. This was the definitive formula that was approved by the Holy See and it is still adhered to by the Daughters of Charity today. Vincent's intention had led him to create the most original form of making vows to be found anywhere in the Church; he founded a community whose members would be perfectly free each year to renew these vows. The fact that the company has lasted all these years proves just how right their Founder
was. [52]
"You now have your own special identity"
Vincent de Paul was not in the same hurry to seek ecclesiastical approval for the Daughters of Charity as he had been for the Congregation of the Mission. Even as late as 1645 he hadn't made any move to have them accepted even at diocesan level. He did draw up that year, a preliminary petition which must have gone unheeded [53] because the following year he wrote again. [54]
The archbishop wasn't against it. It was in his name that Jean François Paul de Gondi, his nephew and coadjutor, signed a decree on 20th November, 1646, giving canonical recognition within the diocese of Paris to the "confraternity of Charity, servants of the poor." [55]
Some months later, Vincent gave the news to the Sisters during a conference that he was giving to explain the rules and the statutes which were approved at the same time as the Institute was formally recognised. This marks the definitive beginning of the company.
"Up to now you haven't been a separate organisation from that of the confraternity of ladies of charity and now, my daughters, God wants you to have your own special identity and even though you will still be working with the ladies you will now have your own exercises of piety and your own special functions." [56]
The decree of approval granted by the archbishop confided the direction of this new association to Vincent de Paul but placed it "under the authority of and dependent on" the archbishop of Paris. Moreover it wasn't accorded the title "Daughters of Charity". Louise de Marillac was worried. [57] She was particularly concerned that at some later date the sisters might have other directors than the Vincentian superiors. She got the Queen, Anne of Austria, for friendship's sake to petition the Pope to appoint "the Superior General of the Mission and his successors as directors of the confraternity of charity of the servants of the poor in perpetuity." [58] We don't know for certain who it was that suggested this petition to the Queen but all the indications are that it was Louise. [59] Neither do we know anything about how this petition was received in Rome if, in fact, it was ever discussed.
The company needed to be recognised by the civil authorities and for this to happen as soon as possible. They had no difficulty at all in obtaining letters patent from the king but something unforeseen happened when Parlement was to have ratified these. All through April, 1650, they were expecting the approbation to be granted any day. At least this is what Louise de Marillac was given to understand by Blas Méliand, the Procurator General. [60] But shortly after this date the distinguished official died and so did his secretary. The new Procurator General was a gentleman from whom they could expect a very favourable judgmenent because Nicolas Fouquet was the son of one of the Ladies of Charity we mentioned earlier. Negotiations were resumed but when the new Procurator asked to see the documents these had disappeared. They couldn't be found either among the dead man's papers or in the archives of Saint Lazare or anywhere in the sisters' house. [61]
It has been commonly thought that Louise de Marillac was responsible for this loss though she believed them to be in the hands of Vincent's secretary. [62] She had ample opportunity and sufficient motive for engineering the loss. For one thing, she was anxious to suppress the clause that would put the company under the authority of the bishop. And then her friendship with Mde. Fouquet meant that she had easy access to the documents. Perhaps this is stretching things a bit far. The situation could simply have arisen because of the death of Méliand and his secretary. This, at any rate, is the official version of what happened.
So they had to start again from scratch. A second petition was addressed to the archbishop who was formerly the coadjutor; and this was granted on 18th January, 1655. Strangely enough there is only one significant difference between the two letters of approbation. In the second one, and in compliance with Louise's wishes, the government and direction of the confraternity was confided, in perpetuity, "to Vincent de Paul and his successors as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission", and all references in previous clauses to the archbishop's delegate were replaced by the word superior. [63] The king granted the new letters patent in November, 1657, [64] and these were ratified by the Parlement in 1658. [65] The confraternity of Daughters of Charity was at last recognised as a juridical entity." [66]
The archbishop's decree of approbation included some briefly worded statutes concerning the election of the Superioress General and her assitants, as well as a summary of the rules governing the aims and spirit of the company, its order of day and the principal works. Vincent had these rules implemented straight away although, as this was the first time for it to happen, he dispensed with the rules about electing sisters to office. He named these himself and then had the appointments ratified by the sisters. [67] As regards the office of Superioress General, he had already explained in 1646 that the rule stating she should be replaced every three years was not to come into force until after the death of Mlle. le Gras. Louise knelt down and begged that there would be no exceptions but Vincent was adamant.
"Your sisters and I, mademoiselle, must beg God to, grant you many more years of life. It is often the case that God preserves, in an extraordinary way, those who are indispensible for the accomplishement of his works. And when you think about it, mademoiselle, it's a wonder you've been alive at all for the past ten years." [68]
We know for certain that during the last years of his life Vincent sounded out the possibility of having the Daughters of Charity recognised by the Holy See. We know this from a letter he wrote in September, 1659, to his representative in Rome, Fr. Jolly. [69] But if any serious attempts were made to negotiate this, then they weren't successful during the Founder's lifetime. It was only in 1668 that the Daughters of Charity were formally approved by the Pope, in a decree issued by cardinal Louis de Vendôme who was the legate a latere of Clement IX. [70] We can't help but be surprised at Vincent's slowness in this matter which is so different from the vigorous efforts he made to negotiate formal approval for the missionaries. Perhaps he was afraid that the nature of the institute would provoke too much opposition in Rome and that he would rather have it approved at diocesan level than risk its rejection by Rome.
