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Cornell University Library 
 BX4700.V6 C69 1866 
 
 Life of St. Vincent de Paul, : founder o 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 426 206 
 
Cornell University 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029426206 
 
Wft 
 
 OF 
 
 StVincentdePaul, 
 
 FOUNDER 
 
 or THE 
 
 Congregation of the Mission, 
 
 AND OF 
 
 The Sisters of Charity. 
 
 'By M. Collet, Priest of the Mission. 
 
 STransIaftlr from % Jfrcnclj bg a f aijjolit CUrjgman. 
 
 J& 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 Published by John Mukpht & Co. 
 
 1S2 Baltimore Street. 
 1866. 
 
H7sr 
 
 .UNIVERSITY! 
 
 7 f<\ \ & * r, £ 
 
 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year eighteen 
 hundred and forty-five, by Louis Begis Deluol, in the 
 Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maryland. 
 
TO THE 
 
 SISTERS OF CHARITY, 
 
 OP ST. JOSEPH'S, 
 EMMITTSBURG, Md. 
 
 T3I3 LIFE OF 
 
 ST. VINCENT OF PAUL, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 AS A SMALL TESTIMONIAL OP ' 
 Admiration and Gratitude. 
 
 ST THE 
 
 TRANSLATOR. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 Pagr 
 
 Birth of Vincent of Paul 9 
 
 Receives holy orders at Tarbes 13 
 
 Made a slave, sold to three masters, and returns to Europe 
 
 ■with the last, whom he had converted 14 
 
 Sets out for Rome, charged with an important mission 17 
 
 On his return to Paris becomes almoner of Queen Margaret. . 23 
 Being charged with the parish of Clichy, he leaves it to live 
 
 with Mr. de Gondi 27 
 
 Leaves the house of Mr. de Gondi, to go to Chitillon-les-Dombes 34 
 
 Establishment of the confraternity of Charity 39 
 
 Leaves Chatillon, returns to Mr. de Gondi, and labors in the 
 
 Missions 45 
 
 Appointed almoner general of the gallies, and superior of the 
 
 Ladies of the Visitation 50 
 
 Takes the place of a galley slave at Marseilles 53 
 
 Establishes a company of missionaries 57 
 
 Leaves the house of Mr. de Gondi, and retires to the college dea 
 
 Bons Enfans 61 
 
 The king authorises his association, and Urban VIII erects it 
 
 into a congregation 62 
 
6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 Page 
 
 Antiquities and revolutions of the house of St. Lazarus 77 
 
 Vincent, after many entreaties, at last takes possession of the 
 
 house 80 
 
 Commencement of the ecclesiastical conferences 85 
 
 Establishment of spiritual retreats 92 
 
 Institution of the Daughters of Charity 99 
 
 God's singular protection of one of them 102 
 
 Company of pious ladies in favor of the Hotel-Dieu 104 
 
 Different missions 107 
 
 Affair of St. Vincent with Mr. de Saint- Cyran. 113 
 
 Miracle worked on one of the Visitation 116 
 
 Establishes his congregation at Richelieu 116 
 
 Adventure of Jacques de la Fosse 119 
 
 Mission at St. Germain-au-Kaye in presence of the whole court 121 
 
 BOOK THIRD. 
 
 Horrible state of Lorraine under the Duke Charles IV 125 
 
 St. Vincent undertakes to succor that province 126 
 
 Procures a place of retreat for a community of Benedictine 
 
 nuns 133 
 
 Forms an association of gentlemen to relieve the necessities of 
 
 the nobility of Lorraine 134 
 
 Prodigious sums of money sent to Lorraine 136 
 
 Effects 'of the divine protection in the one who carried it 137 
 
 Prediction of St. Vincent relative to Mr. Arenthon 142 
 
 Journey of Madame de Chantal to Paris 143 
 
 Congregation of the' Mission established at Rome 147 
 
 Louis XIII dies in the arms of St. Vincent 151 
 
 Vincent is admitted into the council established by the regent 
 
 for ecclesiastical affairs 152 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7 
 
 Page 
 
 Services which he renders the episcopacy 154 
 
 Refuses ten thousand francs 161 
 
 Establishment of his congregation at Marseilles, Sedan, &c. . 163 
 
 Dangerous sickness of St. Vincent 165 
 
 The Catholics of Ireland relieved by St. Vincent 167 
 
 Conduct of the saint in Mr. Olier's affair 167 
 
 Affair of St. Meer and its results 168 
 
 Mission in Ireland 169 
 
 The congregation established at Genoa 174 
 
 Commencement of the affair of the foundlings 176 
 
 The Ladies of Charity take charge of them 177 
 
 During the troubles of the Fronde he proposes to the Queen to 
 
 remove cardinal Mazarin 182 
 
 The house of St. Lazarus pillaged 183 
 
 He visits the houses of the congregation 184 
 
 Runs the risk of his life in leaving Angers 185 
 
 Is recalled to Paris and falls sick 187 
 
 His conduct during the troubles of Picardy and Champaigne. . 191 
 
 His zeal for the interest of the king 198 
 
 BOOK FOURTH. 
 
 Beginning of the affair of Jansenism 206 
 
 St. Vincent's opinion of the book of Jansenius 211 
 
 Induces the bishops to ask the Pope to censure the book 211 
 
 Drives the error from every place committed to his care 218 
 
 Establishment of the hospital of the Name of Jesus 222 
 
 General idea of his occupations 228 
 
 Mission of Metz 232 
 
 Sends Sisters of Charity to Calais, after the battle of Dunes ... 233 
 The house of St. Lazarus loses property which had cost it a 
 
 great deal 238 
 
 Sickness of St. Vincent 239 
 
 Becomes worse every day 242 
 
8 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Pago 
 
 His patience in his sufferings 243 
 
 His death and obsequies 245 
 
 BOOK FIFTH. 
 
 Of his virtues, missions, and veneration 253 
 
 Missions of Madagascar 2SS 
 
 Missions of Barbary 298 
 
 Missions of Corsica and Piedmont 306 
 
 Missions of Ireland and Scotland 316 
 
 History of the Devotion to St. Vincent 328 
 
LIFE 
 
 ST. YINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Book .first. 
 
 France was, under Henry the third, in the most afflicting 
 situation, when God who, even in his anger, is mindful of 
 his mercies, gave to the world in a corner of the Barrens of 
 Bordeaux a man, who, notwithstanding his humble condition, 
 was one day to restore to the Church a portion of her ancient 
 splendor, and to render signal service to the State. This child 
 of benediction was born on the Tuesday after Easter, the 
 twenty-fourth day of April 1576, in a small hamlet of the pa- 
 rish of Pouy, in the diocese of Acqs, towards the Pyrenees. 
 His father- was called William de Paul, and his mother, Ber- 
 trande de Moras. Their fortune was a medium between ex- 
 treme necessity and comfortable mediocrity. Piety, simplicity, 
 and innocence of manners, were a substitute before God, for 
 what 'they wanted in the eyes of men. Assiduous labor joined 
 to a very frugal life, supplied the want of a more abundant 
 patrimony, and afforded them the means of relieving those 
 who were poorer than themselves. 
 
 God blessed their marriage with six children, two girls and 
 four boys. Vincent, whose life we are writing, was the third; 
 and in a family where every thing was turned to profit, he, 
 like his brothers, was employed in the labors of the field. His 
 
10 LIFE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 occupation was that of the young David : like him, he was 
 destined to guard the flock of his father, and we shall often 
 have reason to remark that he never forgot the humility of his 
 first employment. 
 
 As soon as Vincent was capable of manifesting his disposi- 
 tions, he showed that the hand of God directed them to good. 
 That which first discovered itself in him, was a. great love for 
 the poor. It might be said that compassion was born with him. 
 His bread, even his clothing, were not his own, when some un- 
 fortunate being stood in need of them. It is particularly related 
 of him, that having once laid up thirty sous, a considerable 
 sum for him, and much more so at a time and in a country 
 where money was very scarce, he gave it all to a poor person 
 who appeared to him to be in great distress. There can be no 
 doubt that this sacrifice was very agreeable to Him, who re- 
 wards a glass of cold water given in his name; and we may 
 believe that the choice, which God made of him long after- 
 wards, to relieve an almost infinite number of unfortunate be- 
 ings, was the recompense. 
 
 A good heart was not the only quality remarkable in young 
 Vincent. The penetration and quickness of his mind soon 
 shpwed themselves in spite of his want of education. His 
 father, who, as well as others, was struck with this, resolved 
 to afford him an opportunity for study. He was a little dis- 
 couraged at the idea of the expense; but the hope of being 
 one day indemnified, strengthed his determination. He knew 
 in the neighborhood a man of a situation in life similar to his 
 own, who, having become prior, had considerably advanced 
 his relations by means of the revenue of his benefice; he did 
 not doubt for a moment that his son, already so zealous for 
 those who suffered, would pursue the same course. He was 
 much deceived. Vincent never set bounds to his charity: the 
 sequel of his life is an incontestable proof of it; but he always be- 
 lieved it sacrilegious to make use of ecclesiastical property, tore- 
 move relations from a state in which God had placed them, and 
 out of which he does not usually sanctify them. It was upon 
 this principle, from which he never deviated, that when a cu- 
 rate of his country, some years afterwards, solicited him at 
 
LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 11 
 
 Paris, to do something for his family, Vincent, after having 
 made him acknowledge that his brothers could still live by the 
 labor of their hands, showed him that this kind of charity 
 could not draw down the blessing ofGod either upon himself 
 or upon them. He reminded him^ that those of his relations 
 whom the prior before spoken of had enriched with the pro- 
 perty of the sanctuary, after having squandered it all in a short 
 time, had fallen into a more wretched state than that from 
 which they had been relieved. "And it will always be so," 
 continued he, "because there is no house. solidly constructed, 
 except that of which God is the architect." 
 
 Vincent was about twelve years of age, when his father re- 
 solved to make him study. He was sent, as a boarder, to 
 the Cordeliers of Acqs, who being intrusted with the educa- 
 tion of a number of young men formed them both to science 
 and piety. They were surprised at the ardor, with which he 
 encountered the first difficulties of grammar, as well as at the 
 success with which the Lord was pleased to bless his labor. 
 But they admired still more his piety, his wisdom, and the pu- 
 rity of his manners. On all occasions they spoke of him with 
 that self-complacency, so natural to teachers, when they wit- 
 ness the fruits of the labor they have bestowed upon their 
 scholars. In four years this holy young man became capable 
 of teaching others. Mr. Commet, a celebrated lawyer of Acqs 
 and judge of Pouy, was so struck with the testimony in his 
 favor, that he intrusted the education of his two sons to Vin- 
 cent. This situation enabled him to pursue his studies, with- 
 out being a burden to his family. He prosecuted them for the 
 space of five years. His modesty, his prudence, his maturity 
 so far above his age, induced those who had an opportunity 
 of observing him to conclude that a lamp whose light was 
 already so bright, would be very useful in the house of the 
 Lord. They urged him to embrace the ecclesiastical state, in 
 order that he might consecrate himself more particularly to 
 God. He finally consented, and on the twentieth of Decem- 
 ber 1596, received tonsure and minor orders. 
 
 The engagement which he had made with God, obliging him 
 to look upon him henceforth as his only inheritance, was not 
 
12 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 for him, a vain ceremony in which the language of the tongue 
 is contradicted by that of the heart. He looked upon the pro- 
 gress which he had hitherto made in learning and virtue, as 
 a mere beginning. To advance more rapidly, he left his coun- 
 try, with the consent of his father who made a new effort to 
 second the designs of so dear a son, and commenced his course 
 of theoIogy_. He studied some time at Saragossa. But as the 
 differences of opinion which existed amongst the professors of 
 that famous university, after having divided their minds, began 
 to embitter their hearts, Vincent, who had a natural horror for 
 all such disputes, in which charity loses much more than is 
 gained by truth, returned to France, and resumed his theologi- 
 cal studies at Toulouse. 
 
 If his success was great, it was not without labor. Instead 
 of allowing himself a little relaxation during the vacations, 
 he used to retire to Buset, there to take charge of the edu- 
 cation of a number of respectable children. Their parents 
 confided them with pleasure to a man, whose virtue and capa- 
 city were publicly acknowledged. In a short time the school 
 became so flourishing, that it was soon composed of all the 
 best and most distinguished youths of the province. Amongst 
 others, Vincent had for his scholars two grand-nephews of the 
 famous John de la Valette, who had reached the pinnacle of 
 glory by defending the island and city of Malta with fifteen 
 thousand men against the whole force of the Ottoman Em- 
 pire. The duke of Epernon, a near relation of these two 
 young gentlemen, perceived something so wise and noble in 
 the manner in which the new preceptor had trained them, that 
 he conceived the greatest esteem for him. He did not confine 
 himself to that; but as he was all powerful at court, he 
 wished some years afterwards to procure a bishopric for that 
 holy priest, whose reputation was then increasing every day. 
 Vincent who desired, whatever might be the cost, to finish his 
 studies, and become well versed in theology, returned to Tou- 
 louse with his pupils. A teacher and a scholar at the same 
 time, to fulfil all with justice, he went to bed lale, rose very 
 early, and abstained from all those diversions which indolence 
 looks upon as a necessary relief. By this prudent manage- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 13 
 
 mentj he was ready for every thing, and he instructed others 
 without ceasing to be instructed himself. He finished a seven 
 years' course of theology and received the degree of bachelor. 
 Mr. de Sainte Marthe, in the list of the Abbes of Saint Leo- 
 nard de Chaulme, gives him the rank of doctor. Hitherto we 
 have found no document which proves his claim to this title; 
 but without having the dignity, he had all the merit of it: the 
 steem shown him by Mr. de Berulle, St. Francis of Sales, 
 the great Conde, MM. de Lamoignon, in fact, by all the en- 
 lightened and illustrious men of the age, leaves no room for 
 doubt. 
 
 Great as was the ardor which our saint evinced for the 
 study of theology, he did not give himself up to it, so far as 
 to contract that spirit of langor, which offers to piety an injury 
 which the most extensive science cannot repair. The desire 
 which he had to learn, was always subordinate to his desire of 
 sanctifying his soul. Hence, in order to unite himself more 
 closely to God, he received the sub-deaconship at Tarbes, on 
 the nineteenth of September 1598,, and the deaconship three 
 months afterwards. The priesthood frightened him on ac- 
 count of its responsibilities and its duties; he dared not ascend 
 to it until a year after his bishop had given him permission. 
 His father, who founded upon him his greatest hopes, had 
 not even the consolation to see him a priest : God disposed 
 of him more than a year before the- ordination of his son. 
 The latter consoled himself with the hope of soon being able 
 to offer up for the repose of his soul, the adorable Victim 
 which takes away the sins of the world. We are not able to 
 name with certainty either the day or the place where he 
 first offered up the august sacrifice. We only know that he 
 was so penetrated with the grandeur of that divine action, 
 that not having the courage of celebrating in public, he chose, in 
 order that he might be less troubled, a retired chapel, where he 
 was alone with a priest to assist him according to custom, aud 
 a person to serve the mass. 
 
 Scarcely had he become a priest, when he was judged capa- 
 ble of being a pastor; and although absent, he was appointed to 
 the parish of Tith by the grand Vicars, who knew better than 
 2 
 
14 LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 any others, his zeal, his piety, and his talents. But a competi 
 tor having disputed it with him, Vincent who knew that a 
 servant of God should avoid contests, willingly sacrificed his 
 right and pretensions. 
 
 Some months after ne had finisned his course of theology, 
 he was obliged to undertake a voyage, which might have been 
 considered a great misfortune for him, did not the saints know 
 how to find consolation in the execution of the most rigorous 
 orders of divine Providence. The circumstances were these. 
 
 A pious person of respectability, who knew how to ap- 
 preciate virtue, and had for a long time admired that 
 of Vincent of Paul, made him her heir. As he found 
 that in consequence of this inheritance, there were twelve or 
 fifteen hundred livres coming to him from a man who had re- 
 tired to Marseilles, he went thither, and was satisfied with 
 three hundred crowns. 
 
 When he was on the point of returning by land to Toulouse, 
 a gentleman of Languedoc invited him to go with him by sea. 
 It was in the month of July. The weather was very favora- 
 ble for the voyage, and they calculated on arriving at Narbonne 
 in a day. God had disposed things in a very different manner. 
 The riches of Africa and Asia, which the merchants come to 
 Beaucaire to exchange for those of Kurope, generally attract a 
 great number of corsairs from the coast of Barbary into the gulf 
 of Lyons. Three Turkish brigantines attacked the vessel on 
 which Vincent was, and became masters of it after a fight in 
 which courage was forced to yield to numbers. The saint, who 
 had received a wound from an arrow, which pained him long 
 after, had the grief to see the pilot cut to pieces. His new 
 masters chained their prisoners, and after having bound up their 
 wounds carelessly, continued their piratical cruise for seven 
 or eight days. At last, loaded wth booty, they steered for Tu- 
 nis, where they exposed their merchandize forsale: under. this 
 name, men are upon a par with beasts. Vincent was first pur- 
 chased by a fisherman; but as he soon perceived that the sea 
 air was injurious to his slave, he sold hirn again a month after- 
 wards to an old chemist. The saint passed from one extremity 
 to another. He was everyday at sea with the fisherman: with 
 
WFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAOl,. 15 
 
 the physician he was obliged to keep up the fire of ten or 
 twelve furnaces. Our saint speaks of him as of a man of sur- 
 prising knowledge, and who possessed above all the important 
 secret of curing the gravel and other similar maladies. . The 
 .physician always treated his captive with the greatest hu- 
 manity. A hundred times he offered to share with him his 
 property, and all his knowledge, on condition that he would 
 renounce the Gospel, and embrace the law of Mahomet. 
 But this worthy priest of Jesus Christ preferred to wear his 
 chains, rather than to be freed at such a price. He redoubled 
 his prayers: he endeavored to redouble the tender devotion 
 which he had from his infancy towards the Blessed Virgin ; 
 and full of confidence in Him who brings back from the gates 
 of death , those whom he has led thither, he did not believe 
 that he should die in a foreign land. 
 
 He had lived nearly a year in Tunis, when Achmet the 
 first, hearing of the talents of his master, gave him an order 
 to repair to Constantinople, to be there employed in his ser- 
 vice. The unfortunate physician, overwhelmed by the weight 
 of his own reputation, which forced him to quit his country 
 at an advanced age, died of grief upon the voyage. He left a 
 nephew at Tunis; and, as the slaves constitute a part of the 
 property of their possessors, Vincent had him for his third 
 master. But a report being spread abroad that the ambassador 
 of the Most Christian King had obtained from the Grand 
 Signor the liberty of all the French slaves, those of the Tunis- 
 sians who first received the hews, hastened to get rid of their 
 captives. Vincent once more changed his patron, and Provi- 
 dence seemed to treat him with greater rigor than it had 
 hitherto done.- He fell into the hands of a renegade who 
 was originally from Nice in Provence : this expresses in two 
 words all that can be imagined most unfortunate. In general, 
 the Mussulman does not like the Christians ; but the apostate de- 
 tests them, because he discovers in their fidelity to God a per- 
 petual censure of his infamous desertion. 
 
 This fourth master carried our saint into his temar, that is, 
 a place which he cultivated as a farmer of the prince. Vin- 
 cent was there occupied in tilling the earth ; bapished to that 
 
16 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 arid and desert spot, it would appear natural that he should 
 have lost even the hope of ever recovering his liberty. But 
 there is a God, who changes obstacles into means, and who, 
 to break chains, oftentimes employs the very hand that forged 
 them. 
 
 The renegade had three wives. The second, who was a 
 Turk by birth and religion, was the one who served as the 
 instrument of divine mercy. She perceived something great 
 to which she was not accustomed, in the modesty and pa- 
 tience of her slave. As she saw that this unalterable fund of 
 peace and meekness could only spring from a principle supe- 
 rior to the strength of nature, she put a great number of 
 questions to him concerning the law of the Christians, their 
 customs, and their ceremonies. One day she commanded 
 him to sing the praises of the God whom he adored. At this 
 unexpected order, he remembered immediately those affecting 
 words dictated by sorrow to the children of Israel, when they 
 were captives in Babylon, as he himself was in Barbary: 
 " How shall we sing the Song of the Lord in a strange land V 
 This thought, and the tears that followed it, did not prevent his 
 commencing the psalm : Super flumina Babyhnis, and after- 
 wards the Salve, Regina. After some hymns of this descrip- 
 tion, by which the Mahometan was extremely affected, he 
 spoke to her of the grandeur and excellence of the Christian 
 Religion. 
 
 The woman returned to her house, surprised and delighted 
 with what she had heard. Without giving herself much trou- 
 ble about the consequences, she laid open her heart to her hus- 
 band ; and after having related to him the conversation 
 which she had had with Vincent of Paul, she told him plainly 
 that he had been very wrong in quitting his religion; that from 
 what had been told her of it, she found it extremely good; and 
 that the God of the Christians did not deserve to be abandoned. 
 A discourse of this nature might naturally have displeased 
 the apostate. But if we have it in our power to quit our 
 first vocation, we cannot stifle the cries of conscience. The 
 renegade filled with confusion made no reply. The next 
 morning he opened himself to Vincent; he assured him that 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 17 
 
 ne would seize upon the first opportunity to escape with 
 him, and that he would endeavor to find one in a few 
 days. These few days turned out to be ten months: but at 
 length the moment chosen by Providence arrived. The mas- 
 ter and slave weut on board a small skiff. The undertaking 
 was a most hazardous one: a puff of wind would have been 
 sufficient to overset the boat, and bury them in the deep: had 
 they been discovered, they could not have avoided the infamous 
 and cruel punishment which the Alcoran decrees against those 
 who abandon it, or who are the cause of its being abandoned. 
 All these dangers could not stop them. They placed their 
 fate in the hands of God. They invoked Her to whom the 
 Church has given the title of the Star of the Sea, and relied 
 upon her protection.. Their hope was not confounded ; every 
 thing succeeded, and on the twenty-eighth of June 1606, they 
 arrived at Aigues-Mortes, whence they proceeded to Avignon. 
 
 The renegade was there publicly reconciled in the church 
 of St. Peter, by the vice legate Joseph Ferren, arch-bishop of 
 Urbino. Montorio, his predecessor, who conceived a great es- 
 teem frjr Vincent, took him with him to Rome. But before 
 entering upon the narration and consequences of this second 
 voyage, I cannot avoid making known to the reader the manner 
 in which we have become acquainted with the first. If the 
 history of me captivity of Vincent of Paul is calculated to 
 excite curiosity, the history, if I may use the expression, 
 of the singular fact which made it known, is well calculated 
 to give us a high opinion of the esteem which that great man 
 had for humility, and of the astonishing manner in which he 
 put it in practice. 
 
 Before leaving Avignon for Rome, the saint wrote to the 
 brother of that Mr. Commet, judge of Pouy, who had loved 
 him so tenderly, begging him to send his letters of ordination. 
 As an absence, so long as his had been, had alarmed all his 
 friends, he gave him a detail of his adventures, such as we 
 have relatpd them. His letter was found, more than fifty 
 years afterwards, amongst other papers by a gentleman of 
 Acqs, a nephew of Mr, de Saint Martin. This gentleman, 
 who was acquainted with the strict intimacy between his 
 #2 
 
18 LIFE OF-ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 uncle and our holy priest, placed it in his hands. Mr. de 
 Saint Martin transmitted a faithful copy to his old friend, be- 
 ing well persuaded that according to the custom of ail those 
 who are advanced in age, he would grow young again in rea- 
 ding his early a-dventures. 
 
 Although Mr. de Saint Martin had a high idea of the virtueof 
 Vincent of Paul, he was not acquainted with all its heroism. 
 It was now more than forty years, that this great servant 
 of God found no consolation but in the contempt of himself, 
 and in the rigorous observance of the most profound humility. 
 Every thing that called to mind the labors he had undergone 
 to promote the glory of God, was insupportable to him. As 
 soon as he received the copy of his old letter, he threw it in 
 the fire, and he soon afterwards wrote to Mr. de Saint Marlin, 
 to beg him to send him the original. That pious canon, who 
 perceived the object of the request, was not in a hurry to com- - 
 ply with it. Vincent reiterated his entreaties, and six months 
 before his death he made another effort, but so full of energy, 
 so pressing, that it would have been difficult to elude it, or to 
 help yielding to it, if God who seeks the glory of his saints 
 in proportion to their efforts to conceal it, had not deranged 
 his measures. '-'I conjure you," says the saint, "by the 
 bowels of Jesus Christ, and by all the favois which it has 
 pleased God to grant you, to do me that of sending me the 
 miserable letter which makes mention of Turkey." 
 
 The missionary, who wrote under Vincent of Paul, wisely 
 judged that a letter which he so ardently desired, must contain 
 something which redounded to his praise. On this account, 
 he slipped a note into the letter, in which he begged Mr. de 
 Saint Martin, to address the one which Vincent claimed, to 
 some other person than the saint, if he would not have it ir- 
 retrievably lost. Mr. de Saint Martin, being convinced that we 
 may disobey our friends, in order to manifest the graces which 
 God has granted them, followed this advice exactly. He sent 
 the letter which was so much desired to the superior of the 
 seminary established at the college des Bons Enfans. With- 
 out this pious artifice, we should have kno vn only in a con- 
 fused manner the captivity of Vincent of Paul and the glo- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 19 
 
 rious triumph which broke his fetters. In the proces verbal 
 of his beatification, only one witness was found who had 
 heard him speak of his- captivity; and Mr. Daulier, secretary 
 of the king, who had known the history from other sources, 
 deposed judicially, that he had purposely tried several times, 
 to bring Vincent to that point, by speaking- of Tunis and the 
 Christians who were slaves in the regency, without ever being 
 able to elicit a single word, which would tend to show that the 
 country was known to him. 
 
 But it is time to return to our saint, whom we have left at 
 Rome. He did not there yield to curiosity in any thing; but 
 he recompensed himself by granting to piety every thing that 
 could nourish it. He visited the churches and the catacombs. 
 Thirty years afterwards he could not speak but with tender 
 emotion, of the happiness which he enjoyed in walking upon. 
 a soil consecrated by the blood of an infinite number of 
 martyrs. 
 
 Sweet as were these laudable occupations to a heart of such 
 tender piety, Vincent did net confine himself to them. As, 
 after having fulfilled what he owed to religion and decorum, 
 he had a great deal of time, he resumed his studies. The 
 vice legate lodged him, received him at his table, and fur- 
 nished his support. He admired him more and more, he 
 spoke in his praise, whenever an opportunity offered; but this 
 was the very cause of his losing him sooner than he would 
 have wished. 
 
 There were then at Rome several French ministers, who 
 were charged near the person of Paul the fifth, with the af- 
 fairs of the king. Some of them, perhaps all, desired to see 
 a man, of whom the vice legate spoke so advantageously. 
 He appeared; he had different interviews with them; they 
 were pleased with him, and thought they could confide 
 in him. He was charged with an important commission, 
 which required secrecy, prudence, and a man who, being well 
 informed, could confer upon it with the king, as often as the 
 prince might think proper. 
 
 The saint arrived in France towards the beginning of the 
 year 1609. He had the honor of an interview with Henry the 
 
20 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 fourth, which lasted as long as the affair upon which he had 
 been sent, required. That great prince, who was perfectly ac- 
 quainted with men, was very well satisfied with the new en 
 voy, and there is no doubt but that, if he had been assiduous in 
 paying his court, he would have been soon rewarded. But 
 Vincent, although a stranger to the gifts of fortune, was pos- 
 sessed of the most noble sentiments; and if Louis the thirteenth 
 had not prevented it by naming him to the abbey of St. Leon- 
 ard de Chaulme, he would have preferred tp live poor in the 
 hands of Providence, than to expose himself to the contagious 
 air of the court, in order to obtain a rich and commodious 
 situation. 
 
 Whilst he waited for the manifestation of the designs of 
 God in his regard, he fulfilled all the duties of christian 
 piety. He carefully visited the sick of the charity hospital ; 
 he addressed moving exhortations to them; he waited upon 
 them as his brethren with all possible attention. This charity, 
 to which persons were not much accustomed at that lime, 
 served afterwards as a model to the celebrated Mr. Bernard, sur- 
 named the Poor Priest, whose zeal and virtues have acquired 
 him so beautiful and so just a reputation. 
 
 One of the first acquaintances which Vincent of Paul 
 formed at Paris, was that of Mr. de Berulle, who with great 
 reason passed for a model of sacerdotal perfection. His ex- 
 perience in the direction of souls, his success in the conver- 
 sion of heretics, his aversion for every thing that wore the 
 character of novelty, and above all, his tender love for Jesus 
 Christ, had gained him the esteem of Caesar de Bus, of Fran- 
 cis de Sales, indeed, of all those who knew how to esteem vir- 
 tue. Our saint thought that an intimacy with such a man 
 could not but be advantageous to himself. From the time of 
 his first visit to him, he esteemed him as he deserved, and 
 charity soon formed between those two virtuous priests, 
 strict bonds which were never severed. They were nearly of 
 the same age.* Their inclinations were the same, and they 
 
 * Pierre de Beguile was born on the fourth or fourteenth of Feb- 
 ruary, 1575. He was made priest in 1539, cardinal by Urban VIII. 
 in 1627, and died on the second of October, 1629. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 21 
 
 had no other object than the sanctification of their souls, and 
 those of their neighbors. Each had already passed through 
 the fire of tribulation : thus they were calculated to be a mu- 
 tual support. Vincent was the first, who, after this precious 
 intimacy, stood in need of consolation. He had not been a 
 year in Paris, when his patience was put to a trial, capable 
 of making him regret the chains he had worn in Barbary. 
 
 He lodged in the same room with the Judge of Sore, a 
 small place in the neighborhood of Pouy. The judge having 
 gone out early one morning, forgot to shut a drawer in which 
 he nad placed his money. The saint, who was going to take 
 medicine, had remained in his bed. The person who brought 
 it to him, looking around for a tumbler, discovered the money, 
 took it, and carried it away, preserving the greatest serenity : 
 the sum amounted to four hundred crowns. 
 
 The judge, on his return, being surprised at not finding his 
 money, demanded it at once, and soon afterwards^in an angry 
 tone. Vincent, who had seen nothing of what had passed, 
 answered that he had neither taken it, nor seen it taken. 
 This was enough to* increase the bad humor of his country- 
 man. His anger knew no bounds. The silence of the saint, 
 his patience, were proofs in his eyes. He began by expelling 
 him from his society; and this unworthy treatment was only 
 the prelude to a vengeance more complete. He decried him 
 every where, even in the house of M. de Berulle, as a con- 
 summate villain. At a conjuncture so afflicting for a young 
 stranger, especially for a priest who depends so much on his 
 good name, Vincent never lost the peace of his heart. Calum- 
 ny, which in the judgment of the Holy Ghost disconcerts the 
 wfse man, nevered altered his tranquillity. His constant re- 
 ply was that He, who was one day to judge him, knew his 
 innocence. During the course of this affair, which made a 
 great noise, he preserved such a perfect equanimity, that 
 good people who watched him closely, esteemed more than 
 ever his virtue and his singular talent of possessing his soul 
 in calm and patience. 
 
 He who admired him most of all, although much later, 
 was the very judge who had treated him so cruelly. The 
 
22 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 thief, who as well as himself was from near Bordeaux, was 
 there put in prison for some new crime. He knew the judge 
 of Sore perfectly, and he was not ignorant that the money 
 which had been taken belonged to that person. Urged by re- 
 morse of conscience, which usually speaks loudest in the 
 time of affliction, he sent to beg that he would come to him. 
 He acknowledged himself guilty of the theft of which Vin- 
 cent of Paul had been accused, and promised full restitution. 
 The magistrate then ielt the unworthiness of his conduct, and 
 the liveliest horror for his hasty calumnies. To allay his trouble, 
 he besought our saint, in a long letter, to send him his pardon, 
 protesting that if he refused him, " he would come in person to 
 Paris to throw himself at his feet, and beg it of him, with a 
 rope about his neck." These are his own words, which I 
 have thought it better to use. The holy priest spared him the 
 expense and trouble of so humiliating a step. He had par- 
 doned him in his greatest excess: could he refuse to do so, 
 when he saw him give such positive proofs of sorrow and 
 repentance? 
 
 The good use which Vincent made of the accusation of the 
 judge of Sore, did not prevent his perceiving that the society 
 of seculars exposes a priest to a great number of inconveni- 
 ences. This induced him to seek a place of retreat, where 
 he could labor more easily for his salvation, and prepare him- 
 self for promoting that of others. In the interval of which 
 we have just spoken, his virtue met with a new occasion for 
 displaying, in a most wonderful manner, the liveliness of his 
 failh and the ardor of his charity. To. explain it the better 
 we must notice here certain facts which we had no occasion 
 to mention before. 
 
 When Vincent arrived in Paris, he took every possible mea- 
 sure to enable him to live in obscurity. He substituted for 
 his family name, which appeared to him too high sounding, 
 that of his baptism, and it is almost the only one by which 
 he was known. He passed for a poor scholar, who scarcely 
 knew the elements of grammar, although his studies at Tou- 
 louse had been highly honorable to him. In fine, he did all 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 23 
 
 he could to obscure his virtue, and he only spoke of him- 
 self as the last of men. 
 
 But evpn the seculars who examined him closely, pierced 
 through the cloud in which he endeavored to envelop him- 
 self. Of this number was a secretary of Queen Margaret, 
 named du Fresne, a man of singular virtue. and integrity. 
 He soon conceived a great eslpem for Vincent, and he gave 
 such an advantageous account of him to the princess, that 
 she caused him to be placed on the list of her household, in 
 quality of her ordinary almoner. It was in this new employ- 
 ment that our saiDt furnished a proof of charity of which 
 there are very few examples in history. 
 
 Q,ueen Margaret, who was fond of the conversation of the 
 learned, had near her person an old doctor of theology, who 
 had distinguished himself by his zeal and his labors against 
 the heretics. His faith, which had been hitherto firm, had 
 been shaken by degrees. His heart soon became exposed 
 to temptations of infidelity. The name of Jesus Christ, so 
 well calculated to reanimate his confidence, gave rise to im- 
 pressions of fury and blasphemy, which he could scarcely re- 
 press. So painful a situation led him to despair. The unfortu- 
 nate theologian was more than once tempted to throw himself 
 out of the window. Nature at last gave way. Trouble of mind 
 produced corporal derangement. The more his strength di- 
 minished, the more violent the temptation became. The evil 
 spirit assailed him with more fury than ever, and he used every 
 effort to inspire him with that implacable hatred which he 
 himself bears to the Son of God. Vincent was afflicted at 
 .seeing his friend in this pitiable condition. He feared lest his 
 lips should at leDgth open to blasphemy, and his heart to irre- 
 ligion. To ontain the mercy of God, who punished so rigor- 
 ously the idleness, and perhaps also the self-complacency to 
 which the doctor had yielded too much, he had recourse to 
 prayer; he imitated in some degree the charity of our Saviour, 
 who took upon himself our weaknesses to heal them, and 
 he offered himself to the Lord as a victim. In order to satisfy 
 .he divine justice, he consented to bear himself either that 
 
84 life of st. vikcekt of pacl. 
 
 species of trial, or any other punishment which God would 
 be pleased to inflict. 
 
 So earnest and fervent a prayer, which so nearly resembled 
 the desire ot St. Paul to be anathema for his brethren, was 
 heard in its whole extent. The sick man was entirely de- 
 livered from his temptation. A profound peace succeeded 
 the storm. Tne cloud which obscured his faith was dispersed. 
 His tenderness for Jesus Christ was more lively than everj 
 and until the day of his death, he blessed God for having pro- 
 portioned the consolation to his past rigor. 
 
 But the temptation of the theologian passed into the soul of 
 Vincent of Paul, as rapidly as the leprosy of Naaman attacked 
 Giezi. The first impressions of an evil, which is never felt 
 so much as when we are perso'nally assailed by it, appeared to 
 astonish him. The new Job seemed to be a prey to all the 
 furies of the devil: but far from losing courage, he knew 
 how to make them useful. For that purpose, he made it a 
 law to act always in opposition to what was suggested to him 
 by the seducer. During four years that he had to groan under 
 the weight of this severe'trial, he paid with new ardor to the 
 Son of God all the hono* that he could render him ; and in 
 the hospitals, he served him in the person of the poor, who 
 are his members, with a zealous fervor, of which the most, 
 tranquil faith is scarcely capable. At last God restored him 
 to peace, and it was a new effort of charity, that merited it 
 for him. One day when he was reflecting upon the vio- 
 lence of the evil and the means of arresting it, he took a 
 firm and inviolable resolution to consecrate all his life to the 
 service of the afflicted. Scarcely had he taken this great reso- 
 solution, when the temptation vanished; and his heart tasted a 
 sweet and perfect liberty. He even received the gift of calm- 
 ing those who were tried, as he himself had been. A vir- 
 tuous priest who knew it by experience, gives testimony oT 
 it. The sequel of his history does not permit us to doubt it. 
 
 To augment the favors with which God recompensed 
 his patience and fidelity, Vincent determined on leading a 
 more retired life, and joining Mr. de Berulle. The latter was 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 25 
 
 at that time entirely occupied in establishing his congregation, 
 and in assembling chosen ministers, zealous for the glory of 
 the God Man, who being the Eternal Priest, according to the 
 order of Melchisedech, is the primitive source of the priest- 
 hood of the new law. This wise and virtuous director, to 
 whom our saint laid open all the avenues of his soul, per- 
 ceived at once that he was called to something great: he even 
 predicted that God would make use of him, to form a new 
 company of priests, who would cultivate the vineyard of the 
 Lord with great fruit and benediction. 
 
 Some time afterwards, he gave him charge, in spite of his 
 repugnance, of the parish of Clichy, a village situated a league 
 from the capital. Vincent soon proved how well calculated 
 he was for that duty. Sermons, catechism, assiduity in the 
 tribunal of penance, were his ordinary occupations. He was 
 to be seen visiting the sick, consoling the afflicted, relieving 
 the poor, restoring the peace of families, strengthening the 
 weak, making himself all to all, to gain all to Jesus Christ. 
 
 The most efficacious means, and that which gave the great- 
 est weight to his discourses, was his good example. But as 
 extreme regularity has in it something revolting, he tempered 
 it by attentions of mildness and affability. He painted virtue 
 in colors so beautiful, that it appeared to be full of attractions, 
 and he applied to the crosses with which the road to heaven is 
 strewed, all the unction which can mitigate their asperity. 
 Such prudent conduct conciliated all minds and hearts. The 
 poor, who composed nearly his entire flock, loved him as their 
 father; and the citizens of Paris who had country-seats in his 
 parish, respected him as a saint. The neighboring curates con- 
 ceived the greatest esteem for him. They consulted him in 
 their doubts, and took a pleasure in learning from him the 
 manner of performing their functions well. In general, it was 
 enough to see him, to form the highest idea of him; and a doc- 
 tor, who in his time preached at Clichy, repeated more than 
 once that his parishioners universally lived like angeh. On 
 such occasions the eulogium of the flock is always that of 
 the vigilance of the pastor and of his labors. 
 
 When he saw his people docile to his regulations, he 
 3 
 
26 LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 formed a design, the execution of which must be very diffi- 
 cult. His church was falling to ruins: it was without or- 
 naments; and his parishioners who were not rich, could not, 
 without great inconvenience, contribute to repairs which 
 would be very expensive. Vincent himself was poor, and he 
 could not be otherwise, for he was in the habit of giving 
 all he had to those who were in indigence. These obstacles 
 did not stop him; he had his church entirely rebuilt; he sup- 
 plied it with furniture and ornaments, so that the offices could 
 be performed in it with that decency, which contributes so 
 much to the dignity of worship and to the edification of the 
 people. And what is most singular, none of the expense fell 
 upon the parishioners. There was then in Paris a number of 
 virtuous men, who employed themselves in works of piety ; 
 and it gave them pleasure to second the good intentions of a 
 man, who sought nothing but the greatest glory of God. 
 
 To increase it more and more, he established the confrater- 
 nity of the Rosary,'being well persuaded that the honor ren- 
 dered to the Mother of God, cannot but be very agreeable to 
 her Son. Afterwards, he induced his successor to educate 
 several young clergymen, who, being formed early to the 
 functions of their state, might perform the ceremonies of the 
 church in a manner worthy of Him who is there adored. He 
 himself chose in Paris and elsewhere, those whom he judged 
 most likely to succeed. Thus, although he was sooner obliged 
 than he expected, to quit people so dear to him, he continued 
 to fulfil in their regard the duties of a tender and disinterested 
 pastor. We shall now give an account of the motives which 
 obliged him to separate from his flock. 
 
 Although piety was rare enough at court during the mi- 
 nority of Louis the thirteenth, there were nevertheless persons 
 to be found there, whose regularity might serve as a model in 
 happier times. We must place in this number Philip Em- 
 manuel de Gondi, count of Joigni, general of the gallies of 
 France. This nobleman had married Franpoise Marguerite de 
 Silly, eldest daughter of the count de la Rochepot, governor of 
 Ahjou. She was one of the most accomplished ladies of the 
 age; pious, compassionate, generous, she had no other desire 
 
LIFE OF ST. -VINCENT OF PAUL. 27 
 
 than that of honoring God, and causing him to be honored by 
 all those whom Providence had committed to her care. But 
 as nothing interests a truly Christian mother more than the 
 education of her children, Madame de Gondi made it a prin- 
 cipal point with her. That she might not be deceived in so 
 essential and decisive a choice, she begged Mr. de Berulle to 
 give her one of his congregation, who would be able to form 
 to piety and science three of her children, who, more than any 
 one else, stood in need of both, because they were destined by 
 their birlh to possess the first dignities in church and state, 
 which in fact, two of them attained. As to the third, we know 
 only enough of him, to regret him. Scarcely had he reached 
 the age of ten or twelve years, when God delivered him 
 from the corruption of the world, by bestowing upon him a 
 more happy portion in heaven, than he could have found 
 upon earth. 
 
 Mr. de Berulle, instead of granting one of his priests, cast 
 his eyes_ upon Vincent of Paul, and induced him to enter the 
 house of Gondi, at least upon trial. The saint, who sought 
 nothing but obedience, sacrificed to the desire of his director 
 his taste for the poor, and his repugnance to mixing with the 
 great ones of the world. At the end of 1613, he commenced 
 the education of the young Gondis. 
 
 To sanctify himself in this new office, he proposed to him- 
 self to honor Jesus Christ in the person of Mr. de Gondi, the 
 Blessed Virgin in that of his virtuous wife, and the disciples 
 of our Saviour in those of the officers and inferior domestics. 
 ' He candidly acknowledged that this manner of acting, which 
 appears extremely simple, was of great service to him; and 
 that, seeing God alone under different aspects in all the persons 
 with whom he was habitually engaged, this obliged him to 
 do nothing before men, which he would not have done before 
 the Son of God, had he had the happiness of conversing with 
 him in the days of his mortal life. 
 
 Although a house, like that of the general of the gallies, 
 in which there was a great number of persons, naturally 
 abounded in temptations to dissipation, the saint lived partly 
 ag if he had been in tne deserts of the Thebaide. He togk 
 
28 LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUt.. 
 
 great care to meddle witli nothing except what concerned the 
 education of his pupiis. His maxim was, that persons do 
 not hold out against the dangers with which the houses of the 
 great are filled, unless they prepare to resist them by si- 
 lence and reccollectioh. Yet he sacrificed without hesitation 
 the delights of his retreat to the necessity of his neighbor. 
 He established peace among the domestics; he visited them 
 when they were sick, and after having consoled them, per- 
 formed the meanest offices for them. Some days before 
 every feast, he assembled them and instructed* them in the 
 mysteries which the Church was to celebrate. He taught 
 them how to sanctify (hose precious days, which, through 
 a misfortune we cannot sufficiently deplore, are generally 
 for masters as well as for those who serve them, days of 
 libertinism, or at least of idleness. He followed the same 
 plan in the country; but he there gave his zeal a greater 
 range. When the general of the gallies took him with his 
 family to his possessions of Joigny, Montmirel and Villepreux, 
 he gave all the time he had to spare, to the instruction of 
 the villagers, who generally stood in great need of it. He 
 preached and taught catechism, he administered the sacra- 
 ments, and particularly that of penance : in a word, he did 
 for them every thirig that the most active pastor could do 
 for his flock. It may easily be supposed that a man so zealous 
 for the salvation of all those who belonged to the house of 
 Gondi, did not neglect those who were at the head of it. He 
 did not suffer any occasion to escape him, for keeping up and 
 animating the great inclination which they had for virtue. 
 His respect for them was not mingled with that base and timid 
 complaisance, which causes some to dissemble an evil, which 
 firmness tempered by proper management, is able to arrest. 
 We will mention an example which is glorious for him. Mr. 
 de Gondi received, or imagined he had received a great affront 
 from a nobleman of the court. His virtue and delicacy of 
 conscience were not proof against a temptation so fatal to 
 many others. The glory of his house, the recollection of the 
 invincible courage of the Marshal de Retz his father, the 
 high rank which he himself held in the kingdom; all these 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 29 
 
 motives presented themselves to his imagination, and deter- 
 mined him to wash out, in the blood of his enemy, the out- 
 rage* which he thought he had received. Duels, although re- 
 cently prohibited anew by Henry the fourth, under penalty of 
 treason, were then so common, as scarcely to be a matter of 
 scruple. We would be almost tempted to believe that some per- 
 sons looked upon them as acts of virtue. They went commonly 
 to the church, before engaging in them; and seriously recom- 
 mended to God an affair, the thought of which is an abomi- 
 nable crime in his eyes. 
 
 Mr. de Gondi followed that plan : he heard mass with all 
 the devotion of a man resolved to fight immediately afterwards. 
 He even remained in the chapel longer than usual. Vincent 
 of Paul took advantage of this moment. "Suffer me, sir," 
 said he to the general, at the same time throwing himself at 
 his feet, "suffer me to say one word to you in all humility. 
 I know from a good source that you are going to fight a duel. 
 But I declare to you in the name of my Saviour, whom you 
 have just adored, that if you do not relinquish that wicked de- 
 sign, he will exercise his justice upon you and upon all your 
 posterity." After these words, to which the fire of charity 
 gave greater weight, Vincent withdrew like a man over- 
 whelmed at once with grief and horror ; well resolved how- 
 ever to take other steps, if what he had done should not 
 prove sufficient. But nothing further was necessary. Con- 
 science spoke, and Mr. de Gondi surrendered his revenge to 
 him who has reserved to himself the right of exercising it. 
 
 If this action was very honorable to our saint, the whole of 
 his conduct was no less so. His regularity, his modesty, his 
 tact in .banishing even from table useless conversations, and 
 substituting, without any affectation, those wkich were edify- 
 ing; in a word, his virtues, gained him every heart. There 
 was but one opinion with regard to him in the whole family, 
 and never was the almoner of a great lord more universally 
 respected. 
 
 Madame de Gondi knew his value more than any person ; 
 and he had scarcely been a year in her house, when she re- 
 solved to have him for her director. As the perfect knowledge 
 
30 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL,. 
 
 which she already had of his humility, enabled her to judge 
 that he would discover a thousand reasons for declining the 
 charge, she addressed herself to Mr. de Berulle, and bdgged 
 him to act for her. This was the surest means to overcome 
 all obstacles : so that, although the choice much afflicted the 
 holy priest, he resisted no longer, after resistance had been 
 forbidden. 
 
 Virtuous as this lady* was at the time when she placed 
 herself under the direction of Vincent of Paul, it was soon 
 evident how much a man full of the spirit of God and who 
 seeks nothing but his glory, can do in the guidance of souls. 
 Madame de Gondi applied herself with new ardor to the prac- 
 tice of the sublimest virtues. Besides the great alms which she 
 distributed, she carefully visited the sick, and thought it an 
 honor to wait on them. She employed no officers on her do- 
 mains, but such as were of acknowledged probity. She set- 
 tled the disputes of her vassals amicably, as much -as was 
 possible. In fine, she spared neither expense nor trouble, in 
 order to cause God to be honored in every place depending 
 on her. Mr. de Gondi was associated in all her good works, but 
 his duties, calling him sometimes to the court, and sometimes 
 to the extremity of the kingdom, Vincent often took his place 
 in a great number of holy projects. He was the soul, the 
 counsellor of his virtuous penitent. He labored in his sphere, 
 whilst she was occupied in hers. One would have sup- 
 posed that he had the talent of multiplying himself, so oppor- 
 tunely was he found in all the places, where he was personally 
 required. 
 
 One day, after his recovery from a painful sickness, he 
 went with Madame de Gondi to the chateau of Folleville, 
 when some persons came to intreat him to go to Gannes, a 
 small village about two leagues off. It was to hear the con- 
 fession of a countryman, who was dangerously ill, and who 
 had said that he would die contented, if he could have the ad- 
 vantage of unbosoming himself to'our holy Priest. Vincent 
 did not delay a moment The neighbors of the dying man, 
 gave him a very good character. God, who sees the heart, 
 judged very differently. The unfortunate man had his con- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 31 
 
 science burdened with several mortal sins, which false shame 
 had always prevented him from making known. Whilst the 
 saint was with him, the thought struck him to induce the 
 man to make a general confession. This thought came from 
 God. _The sick man, encouraged by the mildness with which 
 his new director treated him, made an effort, and at last de- 
 clared those secret crimes, which he had never had the strength 
 to discover to any one. This candor, so necessary for a man 
 who was on the point of falling into the hands of the Sove- 
 reign Judge, was followed by inexpressible consolation. The 
 penitent found himself relieved from an enormous weight, 
 which had oppressed him for many years. But the most re- 
 markable thing was, that he went from one extreme to the 
 other: and during three days that he still lived, he several 
 times made a kind of public confession of those disorders, 
 which he had so long suppressed, even in the tribunal of pe 
 nance. The countess of Joigni having gone to visit him ac- 
 cording to her custom: "Ah! madam," he exclaimed, as soon 
 as he perceived her, " I should have been damned, if I had 
 not made a general confession, on account of the many griev- 
 ous sins which I had not dared to confess." 
 
 This painful acknowledgment edified those who witnessed 
 it; but the countess, who, with regard to the affairs of salva- 
 tion, was possessed of light far superior to that of the multi 
 tude, was greatly alarmed. "What is this, sir?" she said to 
 Vincent of Paul. " What have we heard ? How much is it 
 to be feared that this may be the case with many of these poor 
 people! Ah! if this man, who passed for a good man, was 
 in a state of damnation, what must it be with others who live 
 so badly ? Ah! sir, how many souls are lost! Where is the 
 remedy for this?" 
 
 In consequence of these reflections, she begged of our 
 saint to deliver a discourse to the people of Folleville, on the 
 utility of general confessions. He did so on the twenty-fifth 
 of January 1617, the day on which the Church honors the 
 conversion of St. Paul; and God gave such power to his 
 words, that every one hastened to examine his conscience in 
 the bitterness of his heart. After having instructed them solidly, 
 
32 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Vincent set himself about hearing their confessions ; but the 
 crowd was so great, that he was obliged to obtain aid from 
 Amiens. The zeal of two other priests who joined him, had 
 enough to occupy it. The harvest was so abundant, that 
 these three laborers, who wished to reap the whole, had 
 scarcely a moment to themselves. As soon as they had fin- 
 ished at Folleville, they commenced in the other villages of 
 the same canton. The concourse was similar, and God be- 
 stowed the most abundant benediciion upon their labors. 
 
 This mission of Folleville was the first that Vincent of 
 Paul made. Every year on the twenty-fiflh of January, he 
 celebrated it with sentiments of the most lively gratitude, and 
 he returned to God his humble thanksgiving, that the day of 
 the conversion of St. Paul was that on which his congregation 
 had been in a manner conceived. Madame de Gondi, charmed 
 with this happy essay and with the immense fruits to which 
 it gave rise, proposed to herself from that time, to found mis- 
 sions for all her possessions. We shall see hereafter how this 
 design was put in execution. 
 
 The joy which that pious lady experienced at the sight of 
 the great good, which our Saint had just effected in a portion 
 of her domains, was soon afterwards troubled by one of the 
 severest trials she had ever experienced ; and that rigorous 
 trial came from the man, who most honored her in the world, 
 I mean from Vincent of Paul himself. 
 
 Although that worthy priest had obtained the good will of 
 the whole house of Gondi, as soon as he was known; yet his 
 virtue, which shone more brightly every day, the visible bene- 
 diction, which God showered upon the most ungrateful soil, from 
 the lime he undertook to cultivate it; in a word, his charity, 
 his labors, his success, made so great an impression upon 
 those with whom he lived, that he was unanimously looked 
 upon as the tutelar angel of the family. Although precau- 
 tions were taken not to alarm his modesty, he was treated 
 with such marked distinction, that even strangers immediately 
 knew the opinion that a!l had of him. These sentiments, which 
 would have flattered a man less solidly virtuous, were torments 
 for him. He feared lest the rock of vain glory would occa- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 33 
 
 sion the same shipwreck to him, which it had occasioned to 
 so many others, who appeared to have arrived at the highest 
 pitch of virtue. The example of a great number of saints, 
 who in conjunctures less perilous, believed it their duty to re- 
 treat, presented itself forcibly to his mind, and he resolved to 
 imitate them. 
 
 There was still another reason which determined him. God 
 had a long time tried Madame de Gondi by interior pains, so 
 violent and fatiguing, that she was often reduced to the 
 greatest extremities. Vincent, who united a correct judg- 
 ment to much experience, calmed her uneasiness; and al- 
 though from time to time her trials revived, she had the conso- 
 lation of being near a confidential man, who understood her 
 even before she spoke. The holy priest performed with joy 
 these duties of charity, which he would not have refused to the 
 lowest servant; but he could not suffer that Madame de Gondi 
 should look upon him as necessary to her. The attention 
 which she showed to a miserable being (for this was the name 
 he gave himself), afflicted hfm sensibly. Still it increased 
 every day. The lady bore his absence with difficulty ; and her 
 alarmed imagination prompted her often to ask herself what 
 would become of her, if she had the misfortune of being with- 
 out him, when God would think proper to call her to himself. 
 
 Vincent looked upon this excess of alarm as an imperfec- 
 tion, and he endeavored to eradicate it from a soul which was 
 so dear to him. In order to succeed in it, he obliged her to ad 
 dress herself sometimes to another confessor, and above all to 
 a Franciscan friar, with whose wisdom he was acquainted. 
 He forced her to acknowledge, that she had been satisfied with 
 him; and he took advantage of this trial to convince her that 
 God would guide her as well by the ministry of another as 
 by his, if she knew how to place confidence in his infinite 
 goodness. 
 
 But neither her past experience, nor the reasons furnished 
 by the saint, could induce that virtuous lady to give up her 
 first impressions; and Vincent, who could not bear that any one 
 should have the least attachment to his particular guidance, 
 became more and more confirmed in his design of withdrawing. 
 
34 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF paui- 
 
 As he had gone to the house of Madame de Gondi, only at 
 the persuasion of Father de Berulle, he was unwilling to leave 
 her without informing him of it. But he did not enter into a 
 detail of the motives by which he was actuated. He contented 
 himself with saying that he felt himself interiorly urged to 
 give himself up entirely in some distant province, to the instruc- 
 tion and service of the poor country people. Father de Berulle, 
 who knew how upright the saint was towards God, concluded 
 that so prudent a man would not quit his post but for just rea- 
 sons : hence he did not oppose this change, which would other- 
 wise have afflicted him. Seeing then that Vincent's zeal had 
 no determined object, he proposed to him to go and labor at 
 Chatillon-les-Dombes. He assured him that he would there 
 find employment enough, and he was not deceived. For more 
 than a century, that town, surrendered to mercenaries who 
 only came thither to collect the revenue, had not had, properly 
 speaking, either curate or pastor. 
 
 Vincent accepted this charge; and having left Paris under 
 pretext of a small journey, ..e took the road to Lyons. A 
 priest of the oratory gave him letters of reccommendation for 
 the Sieur Beynier, who, although a calvinist, furnished him 
 with lodging for some time, because the presbytery was almost 
 in ruins. Beynier received a hundred fold the fruit \>f his 
 charitable care, as we shall see hereafter. 
 
 Some time after his arrival at Chatillon, the saint gave no- 
 tice of it to the general of the gallies, who was then in Pro- 
 vence, and begged of him to acquiesce in his retreat. He en- 
 deavored to persuade him that he had not the talents necessary 
 to educate his children, and he acknowledged that he had left 
 his house without notifying Madame de Gondi of his intention 
 to return no more. 
 
 The general, who loved virtue, and who calculated on 
 making new progress in it under the auspices of Vincent, was 
 very much afflicted at his retreat, or rather he was inconsola- 
 ble; and it was in a style of the greatest grief that he wrote to 
 Madame de Gondi, begging her to employ every means, to in- 
 duce him to return to his house. 
 It was on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, that the 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 35 
 
 countess received the letter. She was as much struck by it, 
 as is the traveller by a clap of thunder when he least expects 
 it. She shed a torrent of tears, and, for a considerable time, 
 she neither ate nor slept; but virtue had a great share in the 
 bitterness of her heart, and during this affair, she acted as a 
 truly christian woman. If she did not neglect the means sug- 
 gested by human prudence, those which religion furnishes 
 had the preference, and it was by these that she commenced. 
 She prayed with the utmost fervor, and induced every pious 
 person whom she knew, to do the same. She saw Father 
 de Berulle several times: she opened her heart to him and 
 made known to him the excess of her affliction. Her tears, 
 aided by solid reasons, but reasons always in perfect submis- 
 sion to the will of God, had an effect upon this great servant 
 of God. He assured her, that she could, without wounding 
 her conscience, do every thing in her power to effect the re- 
 turn of Vincent to her house ; he even gave her hopes that 
 he would unite with her in inducing him to do so. 
 
 Upon these principles, the countess wrote several letters to 
 our saint, which are so many proofs of her piety and of the 
 uprightness of her intentions. " I know," said she, and these 
 words show the extent of her virtue, "I know that a life like 
 mine, which only serves to offend God, does not deserve to be 
 taken care of: but my soul should at least be assisted at death." 
 
 Motives so pressing, entreaties so earnest, would appear suf- 
 ficient to prevail with Vincent of Paul ; but he was not one of 
 those men, who are imposed upon by the appearance of good. 
 The first thing he did, after having received the letter of Ma- 
 dame de Gondi, was to raise his mind to God, and make a 
 sacrifice to him of all the feelings in which human respect 
 might have a share. He weighed a second time the reasons 
 for and against in the balance of the sanctuary; and as after 
 a new examination, he saw no reason to change his ideas, he 
 wrote an answer to the lady, in which he omitted nothing 
 that could induce her to submit to the orders of God and to 
 enter into all the views of his infinite wisdom. 
 
 This answer grieved the pious countess, but did not dis- 
 hearten her: she did not discontinue making every effort ima- 
 
3C LIFE OF ST. VIKCEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 ginable to induce him to alter his mind. A quantity of letters 
 went every day from Paris and the neighboring places to Cha- 
 tillon. A great number are found from doctors, religious, 
 persons of distinguished birth, from Mr. de Gondi, from 
 the cardinal de Retz, bishop of Paris, his brother; without 
 speaking of those of the principal officers of the house- 
 hold, who had known Vincent too well not to regret him. 
 Father de Berulle also wrote as he had promised the countess. 
 But he did it in a manner conformable to the exalted wisdom and 
 eminent virtue by which he was distinguished. He contented 
 himself with making known to his friend the excessive desire 
 which Mr. de Gondi had of his return, and the terrible blow 
 which his absence had inflicted upon the countess. He thought 
 however he could not do better, than to constitute him judge 
 in his own cause, and to leave to his prudence the care of ex- 
 amining whether the will of God was sufficiently known to 
 him. These new efforts were not more successful than those 
 hitherto employed. The countess knew not what to do, when 
 she thought of a negotiation which proved effectual. We shall 
 speak of it in the course of this history; it is now time to detail 
 a portion of the good which Vincent effected at Chatillon. 
 This recital, although abridged, will show beyond doubt, that 
 it was a special Providence which led him to Bresse, and that 
 his presence was more necessary there than any where else. 
 
 The idea which had been given him of that place, could 
 not be more correct. God forbid that we should exaggerate 
 evil, for the purpose of honoring him whom God employed to 
 arrest its course. On the contrary, we will diminish it, and 
 give here but a very moderate extract of the proces-verbal 
 made at Chatillon and signed by the principal inhabitants 
 of the place. It is from them we learn the pitiable state 
 in which that city was, when Vincent arrived. Every one 
 gave scandal in his way. Many families, and particularly the 
 most considerable ones, had been infected with the principles 
 of Geneva. Those who retained their faith, dishonored it 
 by the corruption of their morals. Six aged Ecclesiastics, 
 who were all the clergy of Chatillon, instead of apposing the 
 >orrent of disorder, rendered it more rapid and contagious 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL 37 
 
 by their bad example. This was all the resource of two 
 thousand inhabitants ; for there was, at that time, no reli- 
 gious community at Chatillon. 
 
 As soon as Vincent arrived there, he applied himself care- 
 fully to know the state of his flock. What he discovered 
 both by his own observation and the information of pious per- 
 ons, terrified him. He concluded at once that he could effect 
 othing solid, unless he was powerfully seconded. With that 
 view he went to Lyons to seek aid. A doctor of the name 
 of Louis Girard, whose merit and virtue were known in 
 Bresse, was willing to become his associate. They both la- 
 bored from the beginning of the month of August 1617 with 
 indefatigable zeal, and that happy concert, without which the 
 best laborers can never succeed. Vincent followed at Chalillon 
 the method which had succeeded so well at Clichy. He com- 
 menced by putting in order the house of the person with 
 whom he lived, as he would have done his own. They 
 rose at five o'clock. They afterwards made half an hours' 
 meditation. The office and the holy Mass were said at an ap- 
 pointed time. The pious priests themselves put their chambers 
 in order. There were neither girls nor women to wait in 
 the house. Vincent had made this regulation wiih his host. 
 
 The new pastor visited regularly twice a day a portion of 
 his flock. He gave the rest of his time to study and the con- 
 fessional. He had the divine office celebrated with all possible 
 decency. He banished dancing and the scandalous excesses 
 which dishonored the feasts; and in order to augment a little 
 the revenue of his church, he founded two masses in perpe- 
 tuity; one for the day of St. Vincent, the other for that of St. 
 Paul. 
 
 As the bad example of one ecclesiastic often does more 
 harm than the edifying conduct of many others does 
 good, Vincent neglected nothing to reform the priests of his 
 parish. He prevailed on them to abandon entirely all 
 public amusements. After having retrenched abuses, he 
 endeavored to establish the reign of order in the very place 
 where confusion had so long existed. He engaged all his 
 priests to live in community, and to give more time to piety 
 4 
 
38 LIFE OF ST. VISCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 and labor, than they formerly gave to idleness and folly. He 
 managed all minds and hearts with such power, address, and 
 skill, that every thing succeeded. The whole town was sur- 
 prised and edified at so prompt and perfect a revolution; and 
 the wise concluded that a man to whom the reform of a clergy 
 like his had cost so little, would be fortunate enough to gain 
 his whole parish to God. 
 
 The event verified the conjecture. After the arrangement ol 
 which we have spoken, Vincent began to labor for the instruc- 
 tion of the people and the conversion of sinners. He spoke 
 in the pulpit with more strength and unction than ever, and 
 in his discourses which were full of fire, he developed all 
 that the scripture furnishes best calculated to give rise to a 
 fear of the judgment of God, and regret for having offended 
 him. 
 
 In order to sustain great truths by great examples, he as- ' 
 siduously visited the sick, consoled the poor, made himself poor 
 in order to relieve them. He communicated to others, and 
 even to children, the sentiments of zeal and affection which he 
 had, from his most tender youth, for the suffering members 
 of Jesus Christ. His exterior inspired virtue; he was dressed 
 very simply, wearing the cassock, and the hair short. He 
 was perfectly ignorant of all those profane customs which dis- 
 orderly ecclesiastics called fashions, and the holy canons 
 worldly manners. This is the testimony which the baron de 
 Chastenai gives of him ; a certain proof that seculars con- 
 sider as important, many things which ecclesiastics too easily 
 Jook upon as trifles. 
 
 God blessed so many and so wise preparations with 
 a success that exceeded the most flattering hopes. Priests, 
 people, inveterate sinners, all entered upon the good way, and 
 four months had not elapsed, when Chatillon was no longer 
 the same. 
 
 ' Amongst the conversions which God operated by the minis- 
 try of his servant, the most remarkable was that of two young 
 ladies of condition, who, filled with the spirit of the world, had 
 hitherto made a bad use of the attractions of their sex and 
 of the advantages of fortune. At the first discourse which 
 
LTFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 39 
 
 Vincent delivered in public, ttiey conceived an exalted idea of 
 his talents. His vehement style made an impression upon 
 them, and they prepared to pay him a visit. The saint, who 
 perceived the trouble of conscience, to which he had given 
 rise, spoke to them with so much force and unction, that they 
 took their determination upon the spot; and without troubling 
 themselves about what the world would say of it, they formed 
 . the resolution to bid an eternal adieu to its amusements, and to 
 consecrate themselves without reserve to Jesus Christ, and to 
 the poor who are his members. They undertook and executed 
 it with a facility at which they were themselves surprised : and 
 their zeal rendered them worthy to be at the head of that pious 
 association which the saint established some time after in favor 
 of the sick, and which under the name of the Confraternity 
 of Charity, served afterwards for a model to a great number of 
 others, as we shall see. 
 
 The removal of Vincent, whom those generous ladies 
 lost sooner than they expected, did not diminish their primitive 
 fervor. It was strikingly visible in a famine which occurred, 
 and a short time afterwards, in another dreadful scourge, 
 the pestilence, which laid waste Chatillon. The trouble and 
 alarm of the public took away nothing of the presence of 
 mind, so necessary, yet so rare, on such occasions. Without 
 wishing to tempt God, they put all their confidence in him. 
 They had cabins erected near the city, and there they lodged. 
 It was from thence, as from a salutary and abundant source, 
 that flowed nourishment for the poor, and remedies for those 
 whom the contagion had attacked. Bresse was moved at the 
 spectacle exhibited by two persons, who were so penitent after 
 having been so worldly; and the people could hardly refrain 
 from tears-, when they saw them passing whole days and 
 nights in the cottages, where death was seen in its most terri- 
 fic form. 
 
 The conversion of these two ladies contributed greatly to the 
 credit of the holy priest, throughout the country; but there 
 was none better calculated to honor his labors, than that of the 
 count de Rougemont. That nobleman, who had passed all 
 his life at court, had adopted its maxims, and particularly that 
 
40 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 mania of always being ready to draw his sword, either to re- 
 venge those of his friends who asked his aid, or to terminate his 
 personal disputes. He had made himself the terror of the coun- 
 try, and every one feared him as a demon. The reputation of 
 Vincent of Paul being spread throughout all Bresse, the count 
 desired to. be acquainted with a man, of whom he had heard 
 such extraordinary things. He paid him several visits, and 
 in conversation he laid himself open without difficulty on the 
 subject of excesses of which no one was ignorant. The 
 words of the servant of God were for him that two edged 
 sword of which the scripture speaks. That man, who had 
 caused so many tears to flow, soon began himself to shed tears. 
 He was terrified at the state of his conscience ; and to calm it 
 as soon as possible, he yielded himself up entirely to the gui- 
 dance of the holy priest. His return to God, was as perfect 
 as it was rapid, and Vincent experienced more difficulty in 
 moderating his fervor, than directors, generally have in exciting 
 those who are deprived of it. 
 
 He began by selling his property of Rougemont; and of 
 more than thirty thousand crowns which he received for it, 
 there was not a portion that was not employed, either in 
 founding pious monasteries, or in relieving those who were in 
 indigence. The chateau of Chandes, his usual residence, was 
 a common resort for the religious, and a kind of hospital for 
 the poor. Sick or well, they were there treated with all possi- 
 ble attention. There <was none of them on his lands, whom 
 he did not go to visit and serve personally; and when he was 
 obliged to be absent, which was very seldom, he caused them 
 to be visited and waited upon by his domestics. 
 
 He had such an exalted idea of voluntary poverty, that, al- 
 though he possessed his property, less as a master than as an 
 economist whose duty it was to make it profilable for the 
 poor, he desired to renounce it entirely. Vincent had occa- 
 sion for all his authority to prevent him from taking that step, 
 and the count stood in need of all his submission, to yield 
 to his advice. With a view of replacing without interrup- 
 ' tion one good work by another, he obtained from the arch- 
 bishop of Lyons, the permission to keep the blessed Sacrament 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 41 
 
 in his chapel, that he might more frequently animate his faith 
 and his charity. There it was, that prostrate at the feet of his 
 judge, he wept with tears of blood the loss of so many souls, 
 which the love of false glory had caused him to precipitate 
 into the abyss. He gave regularly three hours a day, and 
 sometimes four, to meditation. He made it always on his 
 knees, with his head uncovered, without any support, and 
 most frequently on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, his 
 God and his Saviour. 
 
 Vincent, from whom he concealed nothing, having one day 
 gone to pay him a visit, the count declared to him that in all 
 his exercises of piety, he had no other object than a perfect 
 detachment from creatures. On that occasion, he told him, 
 that travelling one day, and occupying himself with God 
 along the road, he began to examine with new attention, 
 whether since the time he had endeavored to renounce worldly 
 affections, there was not still some one which was not ba- 
 nished from his heart. He ran over, in his mind, his affairs, 
 his connections, and that infinite crowd of amusements, which 
 captivate a man without his scarcely perceiving it. During 
 this examination, which occupied him a long time, he cast his 
 eyes upon his sword. He asked himself why he still carried it. 
 His agitated mind supplied him with reasons for and against it. 
 He first said to himself that he would be lost, should he be 
 attacked without having it; but he also thought that the facility 
 of using it, might be fatal to him. At this idea he got off his 
 horse, and broke the dangerous instrument of his former disor- 
 ders against a stone. He acknowledged that this sacrifice had 
 cost him a great deal; but he also admitted that having made 
 it, he experienced a peace, a liberty, and disengagement so 
 entire, that he hoped from henceforth to belong to God alone. 
 
 That confidence, which was founded upon the merits of our 
 Saviour alone, was not confounded. The count de Rouge- 
 mont walked to the last moment in the way in which his di- 
 rector had placed him. He was tried, towards the end of his 
 life, by a long and painful illness, but his love was stronger than 
 his pains. At last, when about to enter into eternity, he ear- 
 nestly begged of the Fathers Capuchins, and received with 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 respect, the humble habit of St. Francis. That habit of pen- 
 ance appeared to him more glorious than all the dignities with 
 which he had been invested. No one doubled that his death 
 was precious in the sight of the Lord ; every one loaded him 
 with benedictions, but not without calling to mind Vincent of 
 Paul, to whom the count was, after God, indebted for his con- 
 version, and without whom he might well have died, as he had 
 so long lived, in disorder and impenitence. 
 
 Vincent did not confine his zeal to those of the faith, he 
 extended it also to those whom the new heresies had separated 
 from the Church. One of the first whose conversion he 
 undertook, was Mr. Beynier, with whom he had lodged 
 when he arrived at Chatillon. This young man, owing tc 
 his errors and to a considerable fortune, pursued a course of 
 life far from edifying. Vincent showed him the danger to 
 which his heresy and his disorders exposed his eternal salva- 
 tion. After having separated him from a crowd of libertines 
 who besieged him, he gave him a taste for the truths of faith; 
 and notwithstanding the rage of the ministers with whom Cha- 
 tillon was filled, he had the consolation to bring back to the fold 
 the sheep that had been doubly a wanderer. Yet he used 
 every effort to give the honor of his conversion to others, and 
 for that reason he did not wish to receive his abjuration. 
 
 If the return of Mr. Beynier was honorable to the zeal and 
 capacity of Vincent of Paul, the regularity of his conduct was 
 no less so. He gave himself up entirely and with surprising 
 facility, to the practice of the greatest virtues of Christianity. 
 He resolved to lead a life of celibacy. He gave up in one 
 week two or three farms, which no one demanded, but whose 
 acquisition appeared to him doubtful. He was as liberal 
 towards God, as he had been prodigal in superfluous expenses. 
 In fine, he carried his liberality so far, that in consequence of 
 giving, above all in the time of the pestilence which raged 
 some years afterwards at Chatillon, he became poor himself. 
 We shall remark, more than once, in the life of Vincent of 
 Paul, that charity towards his neighbor was his favorite virtue 
 and that he had a singular talent of communicating it to all 
 those who had any intercourse with him. 
 
LITE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 43 
 
 The conversion of Mr. Beynier was followed by many 
 others; but none made more noise than that of the Messrs. 
 Garron, because there was none to which greater obsta- 
 cles were opposed. Their father, an old warrior, was one 
 of the«nost zealous partizans of the reformed religion. The 
 change of Mr. Beynier, his brother-in-law, had greatly incensed 
 him; but when he saw that his own children were about to be 
 undeceived, he could no longer govern himself. Tears, prayers 
 threats, friends, ministers, all was employed, but in vain ; 
 for no power can prevail against the designs of God. All his 
 Ohildren were converted. The death of the father which 
 soon followed gave new strength to their faith ; and they ex- 
 hibited, some of them in religion, others in the world, great 
 examples of virtue. 
 
 The important service which Vincent of Paul had rendered 
 to the Garrons, was never effaced from their minds. Nearly 
 forty years afterwards, one of them having to consult him upon 
 a delicate affair, recalled it to his recollection in the most grate- 
 ful terms. It was from the same letter that Vincent learned 
 that the charitable association of the servants of the poor, still 
 continued in existence at Cha'illon. This good work requires 
 of us that we should say a few words respecting its origin. 
 
 Vincent being one day about to go into the pulpit, one of 
 the two ladies, of whom we have spoken before, requested 
 him to recommend to the charity of his parishioners, a 
 family, which was extremely poor, and the greater part of 
 whose members had fallen sick, half a league from the town. 
 He did so with an unction which was natural to him, and 
 which appeared to redouble, whenever the interest of those 
 who were in poverty, was concerned. God gave such efficacy 
 to his words, that after the sermon a great number of those who 
 had heard it, went to visit them. Some carried bread, others 
 wine, others different eatables. Vincent went himself after 
 Vespers, and was much surprised to find a multitude of per- 
 sons on the road, returning. He praised their zeal, but he did 
 not think it sufficiently prudent. "This," said he, "is great 
 charity, but it is not well regulated. These sick persons will 
 have too many provisions at one time. Those which will not 
 
44 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 be immediately consumed, will be spoiled, and these poor peo- 
 ple will soon be in the same necessity as before,." 
 
 This first reflection induced the saint, who possessed a 
 spirit ot arrangement and system, to examine by what means, 
 not only that afflicted family which was actually the object ot 
 his zeal, but all those who might thereafter be in similar cir- 
 cumstances, could be relieved according to rules of order. He 
 communicated his observations to some ladies of his parish, 
 who possessed both property and piety. Each one was de- 
 sirous of having a share in so good a work, and the saint, pro- 
 fitting by these happy dispositions, drew up the plan of a rule 
 which he desired them to try for sometime, before putting the 
 seal to it by the approbation of the ecclesiastical superiors. 
 His maxim was that a wisemau should adapt his ideas to ex- 
 perience, and that there are an infinite number of things 
 which, although beautiful in speculation, are neither possible 
 nor advantageous in practice. So that, although he never 
 undertook any thing, without consulting God and asking 
 the advice of the most experienced persons, he took great 
 care to resolve upon nothing without a sufficient trial. He 
 acted thus with regard to the rule of the new confraternity ; he 
 did not solicit its approval until three months' experience had 
 convinced him that there was nothing to risk. It would be 
 difficult, says an eye-witness, to give a relation of all the 
 good which that holy association has produced, the con- 
 versions of which it has been the source, the aid which the 
 poor have received from it, above all in the time of the conta- 
 gion of which we have spoken. The inhabitants of Bourg 
 and of the neighboring places, who were informed of its ad- 
 vantages, soon established similar ones. The man of God, 
 who was encouraged by this first success, multiplied it during 
 his whole life, as much as lie could. In a few years he estab- 
 lished it at.Villepreux, Joigni, at Montmirel, and in more than 
 thirty parishes dependent upon the house of Gondi. From 
 thence it passed not only to the capital, but inio Lorraine, Sa- 
 voy, Italy, and many other places which we cannot enumerate. 
 But we may at least conclude that there are, in a great part of 
 Europe, thousands of poor who to this day owe to the charity 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT 01 PAUL. 45 
 
 land prudent industry of Vincent of Paul the temporal and 
 spiritual aid which they receive from the piety of their bene- 
 factors. 
 
 The saint was entirely occupied with the care of his flock, 
 and already reaping abundant fruit from his labors, when 
 Madame de Goudi, who had never for a moment given up the 
 thought of persuading him, made a last effort, which proved suc- 
 cessful. She sent to him a gentleman of her house, who was 
 distinguished for talents and prudence, and was moreover his 
 particular friend. It was Mr. Du Fresne, the gentleman who 
 had caused Vincent to enter into the service of queen Marga- 
 ret, and whom Vincent in his turn had procured as secretary 
 to Mr. de Gondi. He was the bearer of a great number of let- 
 ters, and those of Mr. de Berulle were not the least conspicu- 
 ous amongst them. Although completely master of himself, 
 Vincent could not entirely conceal the emotion which this 
 last effort produced upon him. Grief and sorrow were painted 
 in his countenance. To calm his first emotion, and place his 
 mind in a situation that might be fit to obey the voice of God, 
 he went to the church, and there threw himself at the feet of 
 that great master, whose councils are ever salutary. It was 
 his inviolable custom never to take any determination, with- 
 out consulting him. 
 
 Mr. Du Fresne, who was afraid of failing, entered into a 
 conference with his friend. If he did not convince him en- 
 tirely, he was at least so happy as to persuade him to leave 
 the decision to some wise, virtuous, and disinterested friends. 
 These, after a long and serious discussion, decided in favor of 
 the house of Gondi, and thus Vincent found himself obliged to 
 return to Chatillon only to bid adieu to his beloved parishioners. 
 He assured them, in an exhortation delivered on the occasion, 
 that when Providence led him to Bresse, he did not believe he 
 would ever leave them; but since it had ordained otherwise, 
 it was his and their duty to submit to its decision. He did 
 not fail to assure them, that they would always be present to 
 him before God. He conjured them also, not to forget him in 
 their prayers, and he repeated several times that he had great 
 need of them. 
 
46 LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 If a pastor be permitted to enjoy the pleasure of being ten- 
 derly beloved by his flock, Vincent must have then expe- 
 rienced great consolation. He had no sooner announced his 
 departure, than tears flowed from the eyes of all present. 
 There were many among them, who were so unable to re- 
 strain their affliction, that it broke out in cries that filled the 
 whole church. Each one believed he had lost all, in losing 
 the man of God. The heretics alone could not conceal their 
 joy. However, although their aversion was already the 
 eulogy of the saint, they could not refuse to render justice 
 to his virtue and talents; and many inhabitants of Cha- 
 tillon have long remembered these words addressed by some 
 of them to the Catholics : "In losing your curate, you lose 
 the best stone in your religion." 
 
 Every thing we have related, is taken from the two reports 
 drawn up at Chatillon, about four years after the death of the 
 servant of God. A portion of the second concludes with these 
 beautiful words : "In fine the undersigned say that it would be 
 impossible to point out every thing done in so short a time by 
 Vincent, and they themselves would find difficulty in believ- 
 ing it, had they not seen and heard it. They have so great 
 an esteem for him, that he is spoken of as a saint. They be- 
 lieve that what he did at Chatillon, would be sufficient for his 
 canonization, and they have no doubt, if he acted elsewhere 
 as he did here, that he would be one day canonized." 
 
 Whilst a part of Bresse was abandoned to tears, and 
 thrown in a state of desolation by the departure of a man 
 who was looked upon as its apostle, Vincent proceeded to • 
 Paris. His return caused as much pleasure to his friends, as 
 his sudden departure had been a source of sorrow to the in- 
 habitants of Chatillon. The pious Madame de Gondi, who, 
 during his absence, shed so many bitter tears, received him as 
 an angel, whom God had sent back to her,' to conduct her in 
 the paths of perfection. But that she might not be exposed 
 to future alarm, she made him promise that he would assist 
 her at the moment of her death. 
 
 The saint, who had only a general inspection of the 
 Messrs de Gondi, possessed every possible facility to follow 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 47 
 
 his inclination to labor for the salvation of the people of the 
 country. At the beginning of the following year, he gave 
 missions at Villepreux and in the surrounding country. A 
 learned doctor of the house of Navarre, two clerical counsel- 
 lors in parliament, and many other virtuous priests joined 
 him. After having relieved the wants of the soul, they en- 
 deavored to supply those of the body by means of the confra- 
 ternity of charity. Villepreux was the second parish in the 
 kingdom, in which it was established. 
 
 The countess of Joigny saw with incredible pleasure the 
 fruits of sanctification, so visibly attached to the labors of her 
 holy director. But it must be acknowledged that that lady 
 who was possessed of an extraordinary fortitude, notwith- 
 standing her almost continual infirmities, had a great share 
 in all his undertaking. Her presence, the examples of virtue 
 which she gave every where, her charities, the gracious air 
 with which she prodigally bestowed them, affected the peo- 
 ple, and rendered their hearts better disposed to receive the seed 
 of the word of God. 
 
 The mission of Villepreux was followed by several others, 
 which produced the greatest good in the diocesses of Sens, 
 Beauvais, and Soissons. The one he made at Montmirel, on 
 account of its circumstances, should not be forgotten. Ma- 
 dame de Gondi, who often resided in that town, knowing 
 that there were three Calvinists in the neighborhood, solicited 
 the saint to undertake their conversion. He consented wil- 
 lingly, proved the catholic doctrine in so solid a manner 
 and answered the difficulties with so much wisdom, that at 
 the end of the first week, two of those gentlemen yielded to 
 the truth. 
 
 It was not so with the third: he was a man, who, with 
 very moderate talents, had much conceit of himself; he was 
 always ready to dogmatise, and although his life was bad 
 enough, he made of the bad conduct of some catholics an 
 argument in favor of his cause. It was by such means that 
 he undertook one day to prove that the catholic church could 
 not be led by the spirit of God, "because," said he, "on one 
 Hand the catholics of the country were abandoned to vicious 
 
48 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL,. 
 
 and ignorant curates, and left without instruction concerning 
 their duties, and on the other, the cities filled with priests and 
 monks living in idleness. 
 
 This objection on the part of the heretic, affected the ser- 
 vant of God very much. It showed him more forcibly than 
 ever the spiritual wants of the people, and the necessity of 
 aiding them. Yet, not to leave unanswered a difficulty, in 
 which there really was nothing solid, the saint, after having 
 replied that, among the religious who resided in the cities, 
 some were useful to the public by their preaching, and 
 others by their learned works, added, that those who failed in 
 their duly, were, it is true, in the church, because it includes 
 the chaff and the good grain; but that they did not constitute 
 the church; on the contrary, they resisted the Holy Spirit 
 who governs her. So just an answer produced no effect. 
 The neglect of the country people had made so great an im- 
 pression upon the heretic, that he continued to look upon it 
 as an invincible argument. 
 
 To remove such objections, as far as was in his power, 
 Vincent redoubled his efforts. He returned the following 
 year to Montmirel, and overran all the neighborhood with a 
 number of zealous priests and religious. These last missions 
 were attended with the same success as those of Folleville 
 and Villepreux. They soon became a common topic of 
 conversation. The same man, whom our saint could not 
 win the preceeding year, wished to be an eye witness of what 
 was going on. He undertook the examination of the exer- 
 cises with all the attention of a prejudiced man. He saw, 
 he admired in the servants of God, a charity which accom- 
 modated itself to the weakness of the most illiterate. He was 
 witness to the conversion of a great number of sinners, who 
 hastened to expiate their former disorders by penance and by 
 tears. Struck by what he saw, he went to seek the saint, and 
 said to .him: "Now I see that the Catholic church is directed 
 by the Spirit of God, since care is taken of the instruction and 
 salvation of the poor country people. I am ready to enter it, 
 whenever you will be pleased to receive me." Notwithstand- 
 ing, a difficulty concerning the respect paid to holy images, 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 43 
 
 a difficulty which the holy priest caused a child to answer, 
 still detained him; and Vincent, who vv"as an enemy to any 
 thing like precipitation, judged it proper to put him off. But 
 at last this man made his abjuration. His return was as sin- 
 cere as it had been difficult; and he persevered to his death in 
 the faith of the catholic church. 
 
 Although the wants of the poor country people were the 
 great object of the zeal and charity of Vincent, he did not 
 stop there. Scarcely had he returned from his missions, 
 when, to relieve himself from the fatigue attendant on that 
 arduous ministry, he visited, like a tender and active father, 
 the hospitals and the prisons. As his inclination always 
 leaned to the side where the most evils were to be remedied, 
 particularly when those who were afflicted had any connexion 
 with the house of Gondi, he was desirous to know how the 
 criminals destined to the galleys were treated. The dungeons 
 of the state-prisons were opened to him: he expected to find 
 in them a great deal of misery, but he found much more than 
 he had any idea of. He saw, says his first historian, wretches 
 shut up in obscure caverns, eaten by vermin, attenuated and 
 entirely neglected both for soul and body. 
 
 Such hard treatment, which was so much in opposition to 
 the dictates of Christianity, affected him deeply. Without 
 losing a moment, and under the impressions he had received 
 from that pitiful sight, he addressed himself to the general of 
 the gallies. He represented to him that these poor people be- 
 longed to him, and that, whilst they were waiting to be sent 
 to Marseilles, charity made it a duty for him to see that they 
 should not 6e deprived of succer or consolation. He laid 
 open all his views, and with the approbation of Mr. de 
 Gondi, he hired and furnished with all possible diligence, a 
 house in the Faubourg Saint-Honore. He there gathered to- 
 gether all the galley slaves who were scattered through the 
 different prisons of the city. To sustain' this good work, 
 which had no other funds than those of Providence, he ob- 
 tained contributions from those of his friends, who had the 
 means of furnishing the expense. The bishop of Paris se- 
 conded his efforts, and by his mandate of the first of June 
 
50 LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 1618, he directed the curates and preachers to exhort the 
 faithful to favor so holy and so important an enterprise. After 
 being provided for their corporal wants,, they were in a state 
 to be releived from their spiritual ones. These were great ; 
 but assiduity and patience soon overcame every obstacle. 
 The saint often visited his dear galley slaves ; he spoke to them 
 of God with an eloquence full of sweetness ; he made them 
 sensible, that, however involuntary their sufferings were, they 
 could receive them in such a manner as to make them merito- 
 rious. ^Ie added that such a disposition would diminish their 
 bitterness, and that after all, there are no real sufferings but 
 those which are to punish crime and impenitence for a whole 
 eternity. 
 
 This kind of discourse made a great impression upon men 
 who were not accustomed to it, and who were rendered more 
 attentive by the kind treatment they received. Marks of sin- 
 cere sorrow were manifested. General confessions completed 
 in the course of time what exhortations had begun, and Vin- 
 cent had the consolation to see men, who, in many cases, had 
 forgotten God for a long series of years, approach the holy 
 mysteries with dread tempered by love and gratitude." 
 
 This change, which announced in a sensible manner the 
 operation of the Most High, did great honor to our saint, both 
 in Paris and at the court. Mr. de Gondi, as much surprised as 
 edified at the beautiful order which a single man had estab- 
 lished among people who had no idea of order before, formed 
 the design of introducing it into all the galleys of France. 
 He spoke of it to the king; and after having given him a cor- 
 rect idea of the capacity and zeal of Vincent of Paul, he as- 
 sured him, that if the court would authorize it, he would cer- 
 tainly effect elsewhere the same good, which he had already 
 effected in Paris. Louis XIII, who was possessed of a 
 sincere piety, willingly consented to the proposition ; and by 
 a brief of the crown of the eighth of February, he appointed 
 our saint, almoner general of all the gallies of the kingdom. 
 This new employment, which showed the esteem in which 
 Louis the Just held Vincent, was shortly followed by an- 
 other, which evinced the judgment which St. Francis of Sales 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 51 
 
 had formed of him. This great bishop, whose name alone 
 recalls the idea of one of the most worthy pontiffs that Jesus 
 Christ ever gave to his church, became acquainted with Vin- 
 cent, when, after his return from Bresse, the saint entered again 
 into the house of Gondi. A tender charity soon formed a close 
 union between these two great souls. The gift of spiritual 
 discernment which they possessed in an eminent degree, dic- 
 tated the opinion which they should form of each other. Vin- 
 cent acknowledged that the mildness, the modesty, the majesty, 
 and whole exterior of Francis of Sales, gave him an idea of the 
 Son of God conversing with men. Francis of Sales published 
 in his turn, that Vincent was one of the most holy priests hs 
 had ever known, and that he saw no one in Paris who had 
 more piety, more prudence, more of those rare qualities which 
 are necessary to lead souls to exalted and solid piety. 
 
 These motives determined him to select him the first supe- 
 rior of the religious of the Visitation, whom the blessed 
 Jeanne Frances Fjemiot de Chantal had a little before estab- 
 lished in the Rue St. Antoine. This choice made by a pre- 
 late, who held it for a maxim that even an individual should 
 choose a director amongst ten thousand, and that a man 
 having charge of a religious house should unite to a great 
 virtue an extensive knowledge and great experience; this 
 choice, I say, will serve with all wise persons, as a proof of 
 the merit of Vincent of Paul. But that which serves to exalt his 
 piety infinitely more is, that he saw in this honorable employ- 
 ment only the terrible account by which it was to be followed. 
 In order to render this account less severe, for the greatest 
 saints have trembled at it, he joined to the practice of the sa- 
 cerdotal virtues the most severe and painful mortifications. 
 Disciplines even to blood, a frightful hair shirt, sharp pointed 
 chains, short sleep and always upon straw, an extraordinary 
 sobriety in eating and drinking, a number of similar austeri- 
 ties, had for a long time entered into his plan of life, and he 
 never deviated from it. This year he performed the spiritual 
 exercises at Soissons with the greatest fervor. It was there 
 that weighing himself in the balance of the sanctuary, he dis- 
 covered in himself a fault, which might have in time, pre- 
 
52 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FACT,. 
 
 sented some obstacle to the sanclification of the people, whose 
 salvation and interests God so evidently confided to him. 
 
 His air, naturally grave, had in it something austere, par- 
 ticularly with regard to persons of rank, and his disposition 
 which inclined him to solitude, rendered an intercourse with 
 him less easy. The poor, with whom he was in his element, 
 did not perceive it; but the great, who look for urbanity even 
 in virtue, sometimes noticed it; and the countess of Joigni 
 who, fearing very much to lose him, feared also that he might 
 be somewhat dissatisfied in her house, manifested her trouble 
 to him from time to time. The holy man, during the retreat 
 which he made at Soissons, examined himself seriously upon 
 this article, and became better acquainted with its importance 
 than he had hitherto been. He had recourse to prayer and 
 to such exact watchfulness, that persons said of him what he 
 himself had said of St. Francis of Sales, that it was difficult to 
 find a man, whose virtue displayed itself in more amiable 
 traits of countenance, or better calculated Jo gain every heart 
 to God. 
 
 The galley slaves experienced it the following year. Vin- 
 cent performed a journey to Marseilles for their advantage. 
 His object was to examine, whether he could do for them at 
 the extremity of the kingdom, what he had already done in 
 the capital. The execution of this project was by no means 
 easy. It was necessary, at least in part, to reform a multitude 
 of wretches who, most frequently, detest nothing of their 
 crime, but the- punishment by which it is followed; whom ex- 
 cessive chastisement renders -furious, and who indemnify 
 themselves by their blasphemies against God, for the ill-treat- 
 ment they receive from men. 
 
 The saint did not wish to make himself known when he 
 arrived at Marseilles. By that means he avoided the honors at- 
 tached to the dignity of almoner general, and he took the surest 
 way of becoming well acquainted with the true state of things. 
 He had his reasons for preserving his incognito, and Provi- 
 dence had its own. In going from one side to the other 
 through the gallies to see how things were managed, he per- 
 ceived a galley-slave who was in despair, because his absence 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 63 
 
 reduced his wife and children to extreme misery. Vincent, 
 terrified at the danger which threatened a man overwhelmed 
 by the weight of his disgrace, and perhaps more unfortunate 
 than guilty, examined for some moments whether it would be 
 possible for him to mitigate the severity of his lot. His ima- 
 gination, fruitful as it was in expedients, could furnish him 
 none that pleased him. Then, seized upon and carried away as 
 by an impulse of the most ardent charity, he conjured the 
 officer who had charge of that district, to agree that he should 
 take the place of the criminal. God who, when he wishes to 
 display the virtue of his saints, well knows the means of ef- 
 fecting it, permitted the offer to be accepted. It was only 
 some weeks afterwards, that Vincent was recognised; nor 
 would he have been known so soon, if the countess of Joigni, 
 astonished at receiving no news of him, had not caused a 
 search to be made, which the saint .could not escape. This 
 event was yet remembered at Marseilles, when the priests of 
 the mission were established there, that is to say, more than 
 twenty years afterwards; and it was admitted that, since the 
 time of St. Paulinus, who sold himself to ransom the son 
 of a widow, an example of more surprising and heroic charity 
 had not been witnessed. 
 
 Vincent gave all the remainder of the time he spent in that 
 city, to the relief of the galley slaves. It is impossible to give 
 an idea of their state, without recurring to the idea of hell 
 itself. The saint went from rank to rank, like a good father 
 who feels all that is suffered by his children whom he tenderly 
 loves. He listened patiently to their complaints ; he kissed 
 their chains, and washed them with his tears ; he joined, as 
 much as was in his power, alms and alleviation to his exhor- 
 tations. He also, spoke to the officers and overseers, and 
 inspired them with sentiments of greater humanity. The 
 spirit of peace began to reign, murmurs were hushed, the or- 
 dinary almoners could speak of God without being inter- 
 rupted, and it became evident at last, that the galley slaves 
 were susceptible of virtue. 
 
 He would have dtfne still more, had not the continual mo- 
 ving about of the gallies, which, in time of trouble, have nc 
 5* 
 
64 LIFE OF STi VINCENT OF PAUL,. 
 
 ft 
 
 fixed station, obliged him to return to Paris. He travelled 
 with great rapidity; but an affair of charity arrested his 
 course at Macon. A crowd of beggars having besieged him, 
 he learned from his own customary interrogations, and 
 from the report of the inhabitants, that they were ignorant of 
 the very first principles of faith. He also discovered that they 
 passed their lives in libertinism, and amidst vices and a filth 
 calculated to inspire horror. He undertook to put a stop to this 
 disorder. Nothing, it is true, was more difficult; it was ne- 
 cessary to establish exact discipline amongst men rendered in- 
 solent by their number, and to take such measures as to re- 
 move all danger of sedition. Those who heard the project 
 •spoken of, looked upon it, without hesitation, as a beautiful 
 chimera. Those who were less wise, treated it as folly; the 
 more moderate thought there was much rashness in it: but it 
 was not long before they were undeceived. 
 
 The holy man, with the consent of the magistrates and of 
 the bishop, made a regulation by which all these poor people 
 were divided into several classes. He afterwards established 
 two associations, one of men for the males, another of wo- 
 men for the females. In these confraternities, every one had 
 his employment. Some had care of the sick, others of those 
 who were well. These were charged with the poor of the 
 town, others with the strangers, whom they lodged for one 
 night and dismissed the following morning with a little money. 
 The execution of this prudent and natural plan, for which 
 Vincent gave the first alms, changed in a few days the whole 
 face of the town. The citizens were in security, and the beg- 
 gars assembled in an orderly manner, at regular hours, in 
 places where clothing and food were distributed to them, and 
 where they also received lessons of piety and salvation. 
 
 The execution of this project, which at first appeared impos- 
 sible, inspired the inhabitants of Macon with a great idea of the 
 prudence of Vincent of Paul, who, to escape from the honors 
 which were paid him by the magistrates, the nobility, and all 
 the best people of the country, was obliged to take his depar- 
 ture without their knowledge. The priests of the Oratory 
 alone, with whom he stayed nearly three weeks, were ac- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OP PAUL. 55 
 
 tjuainted with it: and it was on this occasion, that entering his 
 chamber at an early hour, they perceived that he slept on straw. 
 He concealed this mortification as well as he could; but great 
 as was the pain he took to do so, as well as to hide his other 
 virtues, it is known that he practised it to I he day of his death, 
 that is to say, for fifty years. The plan of the confraternity of 
 which we have just spoken, appeared so beautiful to the assem- 
 bly of the clergy held at Portoise, in 1670, that by a delibera- 
 tion of the nineteenth of November, 1675, they exhorted all 
 the bishops of the kingdom to establish it in their diocesses. 
 
 After having completed the business which called him to 
 Paris, he formed the design of giving a general mission upon 
 the gallies. It was more necessary than ever, at a time when 
 France was all in a flame, and when heresy was ever ready 
 to revolt by sea and land. He then set out for Bordeaux, 
 where there were* ten gallies. The cardinal de Sourdis, arch- 
 bishop of that metropolis, a prelate whose piety was as en- 
 lightened as it was fervent, whose zeal for the re-establishment 
 of discipline, whose charity for the poor, caused him to be 
 looked upon as another St. Charles Borromeo, could not fail 
 to support with all his authority, a man who was vested with 
 that of the prince, and whose name had already reached the 
 extremities of the kingdom. The saint selected, from the dif- 
 ferent monasteries of the city, twenty of the best evangelical 
 laborers he could find, and distributed them two and two in 
 each galley. As for himself, he was every where, and it may 
 be said that if the unction attached to his words penetrated 
 the hardest hearts, his example animated those who labored 
 with him, and supported them in the fatigues of the ministry. 
 The consolations of heaven were not wanting to him; and 
 amongst others he had that of gaining a Mahometan to God. 
 This proselyte, who was called Louis at his baptism, followed 
 his benefactor every where. He honored him as his father, 
 and a long time after his death, he told all who would listen 
 to him, that, next to God, he owed his conversion to Vincent 
 
 After this mission, Vincent, who found himself in the 
 neighborhood of his family, determined, by the advice of some 
 friends, to pay a visit to his relations. His design was to 
 
66 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 strengthen them in virtue, teach them to cherish their humble 
 condition, and declare to them once for all, that being able to 
 live as they had hitherto done by the labor of their hands, they 
 should expect nothing from him. He stopped at the house of 
 the curate of Pouy, his friend and relation ; he edified him as 
 well as the rest of his family by his piety, his temperance, 
 his mortification; he renewed his Baptismal promises in the 
 parish church; he consecrated himself anew to the Lord in , 
 this place, where he had received the first impressions of the 
 apostolical spirit. On the day of his departure, he went, bare- 
 footed, in procession, from the church of Pouy to the chapel 
 of Notre Dame de Buglose, a distance of a league and a half. 
 His brothers, sisters, and other relations, rich and poor, and 
 almost all the inhabitants of the place, assisted at lhat pious 
 ceremony. The saint celebrated a solemn mass in that sanc- 
 tuary, which was then more venerated than evfcr, because they 
 had replaced in it, a short time before, in 1620, a statue of 
 the Blessed Virgin, which a shepherd had discovered in a 
 marsh, where some pious persons had secretly buried it more 
 than fifty years before, to save it from the fury of the cal- 
 vinists. After this ceremony, the saint gave a frugal repast 
 to all his relations. He then blessed them.and bid them fare- 
 well forever. He conjured them never to abandon the sim- 
 plicity in which God had placed ihem. Humiliation for him- 
 self and for his, was one of the favors of which he was most 
 ambitious upon earth. 
 
 Although Vincent had visited his family by the advice of 
 his friends, he reproached himself with it for a long time, as 
 contrary to the spirit of self-denial so often recommended in 
 the scripture to the ministers of the gospel. The trouble and 
 affliction, which the sight of the poor and suffering situation, 
 in which he had left a great portion of his relations, caused 
 him for three months, appeared to his tender piety a species 
 of punishment from God; and it was only by fervent prayers 
 that he succeeded in calming this new tempest. He had no 
 less affection for those whom nature had so closely uniled to 
 him, and it was to afford them proofs of a pprfect and reli- 
 gious attachment, that some time afterwards he engaged vir- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 57 
 
 tuous ecclesiastics to make a mission at Pouy and the neigh- 
 boring parishes. He soon commenced another himself in the 
 diocess of Chartres. The great good which it produced gave 
 birth at last to a company of priests destined to labor for the 
 Banctification of the people of the country. We will explain 
 Us origin; the course of years will develop its progress. 
 
 Madame de Gondi, slruck by the happy success attending 
 the first missions of Vincent, had, since the year 1617, 
 formed the design of giving to some community a fund of 
 16000 livres, to have missions made, every five years, 
 throughout all her territories. Vincent, to whom she entrusted 
 the employment of this sum, addressed himself to the Jesuits, ' 
 the Fathers of the Oratory, and to the superiors of different 
 houses. All excused themselves from accepting it; some, be- 
 cause they were too few in number; others, because they had 
 already sufficient obligations, without contracting new ones. 
 Providence, in permitting this general refusal, had its own 
 views, and it was the countess of Joigni, who unfolded them. 
 She reflected that, as almost every year a number of doctors 
 and virtuous ecclesiastics united with her director, to labor in 
 the country, a kind of perpetual community might be formed, 
 if a house could be procured where they might assemble and 
 live in common. The count, her husband, spoke of it to the 
 archbishop of Paris, who was his brother. That prelate' 
 justly thought, that such an establishment could not be but 
 very advantageous to his diocess. He approved of it without 
 hesitation '; and not being able, at the time, to do better, he es- 
 tablished Vincent of Paul, with the title of principal, in an 
 old college, founded towards the middle of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, under the name des Bons-Enfans. This college, which 
 St. Louis honored with his protection, had at this time a cha- 
 pel which was extremely poor, some apartments in a bad 
 state, and in the neighborhood a certain number of houses 
 which were falling to ruins. Such was the cradle which God 
 chose for a congregation, which after having spread itself 
 throughout a great part of the kingdom, became multiplied in 
 Italy and Poland, where, through the mercy of God, it is 
 equally dear to the clergy and the people. It was on the first 
 
OS LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 day of March 1624, that Vincent was appointed principal of 
 this college, and the 6th of the same month, Antoine Portail, 
 one of his first companions, took possession of it in his name. 
 I had forgotten to mention that the holy priest had received a 
 licentiate in canon law some time before. 
 
 The following year, the general of the gallies and his con- 
 sort consummated this great affair. They say in substance' 
 in the deed of foundation, that having considered that, whilst 
 the inhabitants of the cities are well instructed, and the 
 country people remain as it were abandoned, they thought it 
 a duty to bestow the sum of forty thousand livres, to procure 
 for them, all the aid they stand in need of, gratuitously; that, 
 in placing this sum in the hands of Vincent of Paul, in order 
 that he may choose in the course of a year ecclesiastics capa- 
 ble of laboring usefully under his direction, the said persons 
 understand that he shall always reside in their house, to con- 
 tinue to render, both to themselves and their family, the spi- 
 ritual assistance which he has afforded them for several years: 
 that. those who wish to associate in this good work, will con- 
 sider it a main point, that they cannot either preach, or ad- 
 minister any sacrament in large towns, except in cases of evi- 
 dent necessity : that moreover they shall be obliged to render 
 spiritual assistance to the poor galley slaves to make them 
 profit by their corporal sufferings. ■ This is an abridgment of 
 the contract. It would be difficult to find one, which exhibits 
 in a stronger light the sincere piety and perfect disinterested- 
 ness of these illustrious founders. They forgot themselves, 
 and seemed to be entirely occupied with the care of the poor. 
 They gave enough to require much. Yet, for fear of with- 
 drawing the laborers from their principal object, they did not 
 load them with obligations, nor even with prayers to be ap- 
 plied personally to themselves. The equity of Vincent of Paul 
 and the gratitude of his children, have abundantly supplied 
 for it; the precious remnants of the house of Gondi now lost 
 Tn^oseoi"*Lesdigul|es and Villeroi, will always have the 
 first share in all the good done by the missionaries of the king- 
 dom, as well as by those who labor in foreign lands. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 59 
 
 Some time after this contract was made, Mr. de Gondi set 
 out for Provence, where new movements on the part of the 
 rebels, required his presence. Our saint followed him sooner 
 than he expected, as the bearer of the most afflicting. news he 
 could receive. The countess of Joigni was still in the flower 
 of her age, but was already ripe for heaven. Two months 
 had scarcely elapsed, since the foundation of the missions, 
 when she fell sick. The malady appeared dangerous from the 
 beginning. The habitual infirmities of this pious lady, the 
 weakness of her constitution, the efforts she had made to es- 
 tablish the kingdom of God throughout her possessions, led to 
 the conclusion, that she would scarcely be able to resist the 
 violence of the disease. She felt it herself, at first, but she 
 felt it as a true christian. . Spiritually stronger and more fervent 
 in proportion as her body was enfeebled, she profited by every 
 moment that remained to her. Supported, animated by the 
 holy director, whom she had secured for herself particularly 
 for these last moments, she waited with a kind of impatience 
 peculiar to the elect, for the blow which was to immolate her. 
 It was not long delayed : and whilst her family, overwhelmed 
 with grief, wept aloud the loss they were about to experience, 
 the virtuous dying lady closed her eyes to the grandeur of the 
 world, which had never dazzled her, to open them to that im- 
 mortal glory, which had always been the centre and the ob- 
 ject of all her desires. 
 
 Thus died, on the twenty-third of June 1725, in her forty- 
 second year, the illustrious and virtuous. Frances Margaret 
 de Silly, countess of Joigni, marchioness des Isles d'Or, Sac. 
 The tears which the good, and the poor in particular, shed 
 upon her tomb, are sufficient for her eulogy. Great by the 
 dignity of her birth, and by alliances which united her with 
 the most noble houses of Europe, she was still greater by her 
 piety towards God, by her compassion for the unfortunate, by 
 her watchfulness in her family, by her zeal for the salvation 
 of all those to whom she could make herself useful ; in fine, 
 by the most perfect assemblage of all those rare virtues, which 
 the great ones of the world know little, and practice still less. 
 Her name will be sufficiently conspicuous in history and will 
 
60 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PADL 
 
 subsist as long as those of Luxembourg, Laval, Montmo- 
 rency, de la Rocheguyon, and of so many heroes from whom 
 she was descended. But we must admit, at the same time, 
 that she owed the most beautiful traits of her glory to the 
 saint whose life we are writing. Formed by him to the most 
 sublime perfection, she will be remembered as long as the 
 saint himself. Her virtues, like those of Vincent of Paul, 
 will be traced in indelible characters; and the most distant 
 regions will never announce the merit and labors of that 
 good man, without praising her, who so generously seconded 
 his most glorious undertakings. 
 
 Vincent having paid her the last tribute of respect, set out 
 immediately to communicate this afflicting intelligence to the 
 general, who was still in Provence. He used all the precau- 
 tions necessary on such an occasion. He disposed the count 
 Of Joigni by degrees, to adore all the dispensations of Provi- 
 dence. He spoke to him at first of all the favors with which 
 heaven had loaded him and his family. He added that the 
 more God had signalised his mercy towards him, the more 
 love and gratitude he owed for it : tliat man never evinces that 
 gratitude better, than when he conforms his will to that of the 
 Lord; and that a perfect submission is the sacrifice the most 
 agreeable in his eyes. At last he apprised him of his loss. 
 After having left to nature its first emotions, which virtue 
 cannot disavow, he made use, to mitigate his grief, of all 
 the motives which faith suggests, and which are never 
 stronger, than when employed by christian simplicity. 
 
 It is evident, and it has been often remarked before, that no 
 one possessed in a greater degree than Vincent, the gift of 
 consoling the afflicted. Madame de Gondi had experienced 
 it a hundred times; and in the violent interior pains with 
 which it pleased God to exercise her, she never found more 
 solid consolation than in the words of the holy priest. Hence, 
 arose, in part, that singular esteem which she had for him. 
 She gave him sensible marks of it in her will, less by the le- 
 gacy which she left him, than by conjuring him, in the most 
 moving manner, never to abandon either the general of the 
 gallies or heT children after .her death. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 61 
 
 Such was not, however, the will of God. Vincent who had 
 gone to the house of the general, only because he could not 
 avoid it, and who, on the other hand, had the greatest horror 
 for the world, intreated Mr. de Gondi, to permit him to retire. 
 This virtuous nobleman was greatly afflicted at the proposal; 
 but as he was accustomed to examine things before God, he 
 easily conceived that the rising company of Vincent of Paul 
 stood in need of his presence, and that his remaining in the 
 house of Gondi would, at least, retard the work of God, if it 
 did not ruin it altogether. The general knew well, that, 
 however pure the air breathed in the best regulated secular 
 houses, it is always very different from that found in solitude; 
 hence, a short time after the death of his wife, he himself re- 
 nounced all human greatness, and entered into the congrega- 
 tion of the Oratory. It was there, that during upwards of 
 .thirty-five years that he yet lived, he distinguished himself as 
 much by his piety, mortification, and invincible patience, as 
 he had_ been illustrious in the world by his courage and zeal 
 in the service of the king. 
 
 Vincent of Paul retired, in 1625, to the college des Bons 
 Enfans. He was followed thither by Antoine Portail, a priest, 
 of the diocess of Aries. The latter had been for nearly fif- 
 teen years his declared disciple, and he made, under the di- 
 rection of the saint, so great progress in humility, that, al- 
 though a man of much merit, having made very good studies 
 in the Sorbonne, and being an excellent writer, he sought only 
 to be unknown, or rather despised. 
 
 As it was impossible that these two priests should long sup- 
 port the fatigue of the missions, and satisfy the devotion of the 
 people, they begged of a third to join them for a time. The 
 whole three went from village to village, catechising, exhort- 
 ing, confessing, and performing all the other exercises of their 
 institute. They did so with a simplicity, humility, and disin- 
 terestedness that gained the hearts of all. Every day- the 
 harvest became more abundant, and new laborers were soon 
 wanted. Providence, which had given birth to the congrega- 
 tion, took charge of its increase. Six other priests offered 
 themselves to share his labors. They were almost all doctors 
 6 
 
62 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 in theology, or disciples of the school of Sorbonne : but al- 
 though the holy founder esteemed their talents, he esteemed 
 much more their humility, and the zeal with which they 
 burned for the salvation of souls. 
 
 Louis XIII, to whom the count, of Joigni gave an account 
 of this happy commencement, authorized the new associa- 
 tion by letters patent. The public voice sustained it against 
 a cabal which sought to stifle it at its birth. The wisest 'ma- 
 gistrates supported it. The parliament of Paris placed the seal 
 of its authority on it, in 1613; and Urban VIII, delighted that 
 under his pontificate the most neglected sheep of the flock of 
 Jesus Christ, should find faithful and disinterested pastors, . 
 erected it into a congregation the following year. His bull, 
 -which is dated January twelfth 1.625, places Vincent at the 
 head of all those who are to labor with him, and gives him 
 power to draw up rules for the good order of his institute. 
 Those who embraced it were to bear the name of Priests of 
 the Mission; and this name is so attributed to them by the 
 holy see, that it is by it, that the sovereign pontiff distinguishes- 
 them, even from the other ministers of the word, who labor for 
 the salvation of the people. Thus the missionaries and the' 
 children of Vincent of Paul, will be, in the course of this 
 work, synonymous terms. 
 
 Whilst God was thus taking in hand the interests of his 
 servant, that holy priest did not forget those of God. He di- 
 vided his little troop in different bodies: and after having in- 
 spired them with the holy fervor with which he was himself 
 animated, he sent them to the places, where he thought their 
 presence Was most necessary. His spirit was every where 
 with them; but he did not rest satisfied with raising his hands 
 upon the mountain like Joshua, he also combatted in the 
 plain, and there is every reason to believe that he was always 
 found in the most difficult encounters. The province of 
 Lyons, the wants of which he knew, fell to his lot. If he. did 
 great good there, his priests were equally successful in all the 
 places in which they labored. We may form an idea of it by 
 a letter which he received at the end of the year 1627, from a 
 wry celebrated abbs. "I have just arrived," says he, "from 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 63 
 
 a long journey which I made into four provinces. In truth, 
 I do not believe that there is any thing in the church of God 
 more edifying than the sweet odor which your holy company 
 spreads every where. We must pray to God to give addi- 
 tional solidity to a design so advantageous for the good of 
 souls, to which very few of those .who are dedicated to the 
 service of God apply as they ought." 
 
 This letter consoled Vincent of Paul very much. But, as 
 in extolling the labors of his priests, it reminded him, both of 
 the wants of the country people, and of the absence of 
 zeal or talents in those who were charged with their salvation, 
 he took a new resolution to arrest the course of this double 
 torrent, which carried away the flock, only because it had first 
 carried away the shepherds. As to the people, as nothing 
 better could be done than to procure for them solid and mov- 
 ing instructions, he continued to send them fervent missiona- 
 ries, whose labors were recompensed by God with a success 
 which,. as we shall see hereafter, astonished a -great part of 
 .Europe. With regard to the pastors, he judged wisely; that 
 he would have very soon to see the country people a prey to 
 their former abases, or to adopt the plan of forming priests 
 better calculated to maintain the reign of virtue, than were 
 the greater part of those who were obliged to lead them. 
 
 Vincent had not yet formed so extensive a project; but 
 he could scarcely form one more necessary. Happily the 
 state of affairs rendered it a little more practicable, than it had 
 been for a long time. La Rochelle, which had been, as it 
 were, the centre of the forces of heresy, had just surrendered 
 to Louis XIII. The bishops began to breathe, and those who 
 had most zeal for the reform of the clergy, urged it with more 
 energy than ever. 
 
 Adrien Bourdoise, a man full, of ardor for the interests of the 
 Lord, was an intimate friend of Vincent of Paul, and as they 
 both were acquainted with the most virtuous prelates of the 
 church of France, and were both animated by the same spirit, 
 hey could not but be inspired with the same sentiments. One 
 of those with whom they conferred most frequently concern- 
 ing the wants of the clergy, was Mr. Augustin Potier de 
 
64 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Gevres, bishop of Beauvais, whose pastoral vigilance and 
 love of discipline have acquired for him. a very great and very 
 just reputation. This prudent prelate, upon the .plan pro- 
 posed to him by our saint, resolved to make of his palace a 
 kind of seminary, to receive into it those who were prepar- 
 ing for holy orders, and to make them discuss, in a regular 
 course of conferences, the principal points which it was ne- 
 cessary for them to know and practice. Vincent approved this 
 project very much, and, at the solicitation of Mr. de Gevres, 
 he made a distribution of the matters which should engage 
 the attention of the ordinands. He opened the exercises ; 
 two doctors of Sorbonne shared the labor with him, but he 
 was more occupied than any one. He explained the Deca- 
 logue; and he did it with so much accuracy, strength and 
 unction, that a great number of those who assisted at the ex- 
 ercises, and even of those who gave them with him, desired 
 to make a general confession to him. This was not the only 
 benediction which God gave to his journey; for, having found 
 some protestants who wished to enter upon a contest with 
 him, he showed them so well the weakness, even the ridicu- 
 lousness, of their pretended reformation, that three of them 
 were reunited to the catholic church. 
 
 About two years after this essay of a retreat given to the 
 ordinands, Jean Franfois de Gondi, first archbishop -of Paris, 
 learned from Mr. de Gevres the great fruit which these exer- 
 cises began to produce in his diocess. That prelate, afflicted 
 at seeing the young ecclesiastics of the capital in want of a 
 means of instruction, which had been procured for those of 
 the provinces, obliged, by his mandate of the twenty-first of 
 February 1661, all those who were to be admitted to orders 
 to make a retreat of ten daysj as a preparation, in the college 
 des Bons Enfans. Vincent, in the absence of his priests who 
 were almost always in the country, called to his aid those who 
 being filled with the spirit of God, were the best suited to 
 communicate it to others. Thus, Mr. Hallier, whose virtue 
 and science placed him afterwards in the see of Cavaillon, 
 gave the instructions for the first ordination in this college; 
 and he succeeded perfectly, because, as Mr. Bourdoise re- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT Or PAUL. 65 
 
 marked, he said nothing that he did not practice himself. The 
 archbishop of Paris was not the only one to acknowledge the 
 utility of this new species of exercises. Seculars, even women, 
 wondered at the change which took place in the ecclesiastics 
 of their parishes. They were found to be more grave, more 
 modest, more attentive in performing the ceremonies; and 
 persons distinguished the clergymen of Paris, who were ad- 
 mitted to the retreats of the ordinands, from those of other dio- 
 cesses who had not had the happiness to participate in them. 
 This induced some pious ladies to propose to the holy priest 
 to receive, without distinction of. country, all those who as- 
 pired to holy orders. The lady of the president de Herse took 
 upon herself the expense for five years. The marchioness 
 of Maignelai, sister of the archbishop, a lady of tender cha- 
 rity, and who had a very particular esteem for Vincent, fa- 
 vored him also. Ann of Austria, who, having heard one of 
 the discourses delivered by the new bishop of Boulogne, 
 Franpois de Perrochel, felt how important it was for the clergy 
 to continue to form young ecclesiastics in this manner, gave 
 intimation of a design to make a royal foundation; but as 
 princes themselves cannot always do what they wish, the pro- 
 ject was abandoned; and soon afterwards, the burthen of 
 the expense which, as there were at that time six ordinations 
 a year, amounted to the nourishment, during two months 
 every year, of eighty ecclesiastics, fell upon the society 
 alone. 
 
 The saint easily perceived that he would . have great diffi- 
 culty in supporting it, and his friends begged him to pay at- 
 tention to it. But that great heart, which preferred the glory 
 and the utility of the church to the temporal interest of his 
 company, far from changing his first design, added, some 
 years after, new burthens to the first; and when in 1646, a 
 decree was issued at the archbishopric, that those who were to 
 receive the minor orders should make the retreat with those 
 who were preparing for holy orders, he received them all 
 with a tender and respectful affection. 
 
 He was naturajly pathetic; but he seemed to surpass him- 
 self, when it was necessary to animate his companions to con- 
 6* 
 
66 LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 secrate themselves entirely to the good of the aspirants to or- 
 ders. He had such lively feelings with regard to the dignity 
 of the priesthood and the contempt into which it had fallen, 
 that it is scarcely possible to express them. His grief and his 
 tears redoubled, particularly when he saw the church in dan- 
 ger of sustaining new losses; because, like the holy doctors, 
 he laid all to the account of bad priests. These sentiments, 
 so worthy of a minister of the altar, shone forth during the 
 troubles by which France was agitated towards the middle of 
 the last century, and perhaps still more at the time when the 
 formidable Charles Gustavus appeared to announce 1o Casi- 
 mir the loss of his kingdom and to the Roman Church the se- 
 duction of a considerable portion of her flock. It was then 
 that the holy priest, whose humility always induced him to 
 believe that he contributed more than any one else to the evils 
 which religion suffered, redoubled his efforts to prepare for the 
 Lord, ministers capable of appeasing his wrath, and to in- 
 duce his companions to labor as much as possible for that end. 
 He represented to them that the church was ruined in num- 
 berless places, and that it was so only in consequence of the 
 disorders of the priests; that it was to them we should at- 
 tribute the deplorable decrease which afflicted it in Africa 
 and a considerable portion of Europe ; that they knew that 
 France was not free from the contagion ; and that Poland, al- 
 ready jnuch infected by error, was, by the invasion of the 
 king of Sweden, in danger of being entirely lost to religion; 
 that, in fine, it was to be feared, lest God, wearied by our ex- 
 cesses, would remove his church to strange nations. 
 
 From these principles, the holy mau drew two conse- 
 quences, which equally prove his humility and his zeal. The 
 first was, that those of his congregation, and himself more 
 than any other, should humble themselves before God at the 
 sight of their misery : the second, that, very far from consider- 
 ing as a burthen the expense and trouble necessary to instruct 
 the ordinands, they should look upon it as a special favor; 
 "a favor," said he, "which God has granted to us in prefer 
 ence to so many others, so much more worthy of it." 
 
 The means which he desired to be used for the success of 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 67 
 
 the retreats of the candidates for orders, corresponded to his 
 virtue and to the esteem which he had for the priesthood. 
 Persuaded that the success of such enterprises is in the hands 
 of God, he earnestly recommended to his whole house prayer, 
 fervent communions, mortifications, and every thing that could 
 serve to draw down the dew of heaven, both upon those who 
 labored and those for whom they labored. It was also his de- 
 sire that, on whatever side the ordinands should turn, they 
 should find examples calculated to instruct and edify them. 
 In fine, he gave strict orders that nothing reasonable should be 
 omitted to please them. 
 
 With regard to the instructions, which are an essential part 
 of these exercises, some of which turned upon the virtues ne- 
 cessary for a minister who would save himself and save his 
 brethren, others upon the principal points of moral theology, 
 he required detail, and in that detail great simplicity. He could 
 not bear to hear those pompous sermons, which seem only 
 calculated to please the ear. Every discourse which only 
 served to gain applause for its author was, in his opinion, not 
 only useless but 'pernicious. He attributed the great success 
 of the instructions of the bishop of Sarlat, to the even and 
 natural style which he used ; and he remarked to his priests 
 that others "who thought to do wonders by preaching 
 fashionably, spoiled every thing." 
 
 Although exercises so short, so rapid, and with which our 
 saint was satisfied only because it was not in his power to 
 continue them longer, must naturally have had a limited suc- 
 cess, God was pleased to give a blessing to them, which we 
 must consider as the fruit of the prayers and sighs of his ser- 
 vant. The bishops of Angouleme, Reims, Noyon, Chartres, 
 Saintes &c. to whom he had sent priests to preside at the re- 
 treat of their candidates for orders, wrote to him to testify their 
 gratitude. All their letters said as much as that the towns 
 and country blessed God for so great a good; that the people 
 struck by the modesty of the ecclesiastics, shed tears of joy : 
 that charmed with the order, decency and piety with which 
 the new priests performed the divine offices, they imagined 
 they saw angels from heaven rather than men. 
 
68 LITE OF ST. VIKCEKT OF r.UJL. 
 
 The fruit produced by similar retreats at Rome was not less 
 consoling. Urban VHI had established the priests of the mis- 
 sion, in 1G4-2, at Monte Citorio. They began, the following 
 year, to receive into their house those who came of their own 
 accord to prepare for ordination. The hand of God was with 
 them in the capital of the christian world, as it had been else- 
 where : and it was there discovered that three cr four priests 
 animated by the spirit of God, were sufficient to sanctify a 
 great number of others. Alexander VII was so well aware 
 of it, that, under his pontificate, assiduity in attending those 
 pious exorcises became a necessary condition for the holy or- 
 ders. From that time, it has pleased God to sustain them. 
 Innocent XI, to whose virtues even heresy had rendered jus- 
 tice, went still further than his predecessors. He extended,' 
 in part, to all the priests, and even to the curates of Home, 
 what had at first been established for the aspirants to huly or- 
 ders alone. The capital served, as is almost always the ease, 
 as a model to the provinces. Cardinal Barbarigo, bishop of 
 Bergame, was one of the first who employed the missionaries 
 to perform the exercises in his dioeess. He sometimes took a 
 part in those which were performed at Monte-Citorio ; and 
 afterwards a number of cardinals, prelates, generals of orders, 
 were seen there as much affected, as the ordinands themselves, 
 at the beautiful discourses of cardinal Albici and cardinal de 
 Sainte Croix. The plan of inviting persons distinguished for 
 their erudition or their employments to the exercises for ordi- 
 nation, originated with Vincent of Paul. He knew that, al- 
 though the word of God is of itself full of power, it never- 
 theless appears to have more energy in the mouth of those 
 whom a great name has made superior to other men. It is 
 upon this principle, that Bossuet, F6ndlon, and many other 
 great bishops, before and aAer them, have more than once 
 given the instructions at St. Lazarus to the candidates for 
 orders, with a noble and energetic simplicity. 
 
 If heaven did not always bless immediately the labors of the 
 holy priest, it often indemnified him with interest for the de* 
 lay. Jean Armand le Bouthillier de Ranc£, who has become 
 more illustrious for his virtues, than he had been famous by 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCEJHT OF PAUL. 69 
 
 his disorders, is a striking proof of it. " It was," says a writer 
 celebrated for his misfortunes, "it was under the direction of 
 the illustrious Vincent of Paul, so well known for his piety, 
 his zeal, and for so many virtues which he displayed, that 
 
 the young de Ranqg made his retreat. . The holy 
 
 man forgot nothing to inspire him with the dispositions re- 
 quired in a man who was destined to the first employments 
 of the hierarchy. It was necssary to begin by reforming his 
 exterior. Interior dispositions were the next point. The 
 spirit of retreat, separation from the world, mortification, hu- 
 mility, prayer, were the virtues that Vincent principally en- 
 deavored to inspire him with He afterwards spoke to him 
 of the multitude of benefices he possessed against the rules of 
 
 the church. This morality alarmed the young abbot 
 
 but the seed skilfully sown, did not fail to put forth, and pro- 
 duce fruit in its time." Now of how many others may we 
 not suppose what Dom Gervais here says of one man? 
 
 The application with which St. Vincent labored to reform 
 the clergy, did not cause him to forget the wants of the poor 
 country people. He had established, as we have elsewhere 
 seen, the confraternities of charity, wherever he could. But 
 as neither he nor his priests, overwhelmed by the weight of 
 innumerable other labors, could visit them, except very sel- 
 dom, it was to be feared that the first ardor of an association 
 so useful, might cool by degrees, and that the poor would fall 
 into the same state, from which he had had so much trouble to 
 withdraw them. The holy priest ardently desired that Provi- 
 dence would raise up some charitable person, who would be 
 calculated to visit the country, sustain the persons of whom 
 the confraternities were composed, train them to the service 
 of the sick, keep up amongst them the spirit of mercy 
 which had been the principle of their charitable association. 
 
 It was not long, before God quieted the uneasiness of his 
 servant. He had scarcely entered the college des Bons En- 
 fans, when the illustrious Madame Le Gras took, without 
 knowing it, a house which was not far from his. This in- 
 comparable woman, who, in the opinion of five great bishops, 
 was granted to the age, to convince it that neither delicacy of 
 
70 UFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 constitution, nor the bonds of society, are invincible obstacles 
 to the highest perfection, was born at Paris, on the twelfth of 
 August 1591, of Louis de Marillac, lord of Perrieres, and of 
 Marguerite Le Camus. The beauty of her mind induced her 
 father to make her study philosopy; and whilst still young, 
 she was considered capable of the most elevated sciences. 
 But grace had taught her lessons, which the greatest masters 
 cannot teach; and if the weakness of her constitution, did not 
 permit her to enter, as she desired to do, into a very rigorous 
 order (the Capuchins), her marriage with Antoine Le Gras, 
 secretary to queen Mary de Medicis, did not prevent her from 
 deserving in a few years the glorious title of mother of the poor. 
 She rendered them all the services of the most humble, ardent, 
 and industrious charity. She visited them, without paying 
 attention to the quality of their diseases; she herself presented 
 them (he nourishment of which they stood in need; she made 
 their beds with much more affection than a hired servant 
 would have done; she consoled them with- expressions full of 
 tenderness, and she buried them after "their death. 
 
 Jean Pierre Camus, bishop of Belley, the great friend of 
 St. Francis of Sales, and consequently of Vincent of Paul, 
 was the director of Madame Le Gras. This prelate was al- 
 most as much occupied in moderating her fervor and zeal 
 as in calming the interior pains which, for several years, 
 had troubled the peace of her soul. But as the obligation of resi- 
 ding in his diocess, put it out of his power to give her the aid 
 which she needed, he was desirous of choosing a director for 
 her, who would be capable of helping and strengthening her. 
 Vincent of Paul was the one upon whom he cast his eyes. 
 God soon made it manifest, that it was himself who conducted 
 the whole affair, and that he wished to make use of those two 
 great hearts, to give to his church a new company of virgins 
 entirely consecrated to works of charity. 
 
 Madame Le Gras, who had just lost her husband, divided 
 her time between the exercise of prayer and that of charity. 
 She gave to the relief of the indigent, all the time which she 
 did not spend in those fundamental duties, which regard God 
 more immediately than our neighbor. But her zeal received 
 
LIFE OP ST. VINCENT Or PAUL. 71 
 
 a new impulse on seeing a director, always ready to sacrifice 
 himself when he could be useful to his brethren. After his 
 example she conceived the design of consecrating her life to 
 the service of the poor, and cooperating with all her power 
 in the great designs which the holy priest was every day 
 forming in favor of the poor. Vincent, who was on his 
 guard against precipitate steps, wished to try her, and the trial 
 lasted nearly four years. He directed her to spend a part of 
 her time, in consulting God in retreat, and imbibing in the 
 frequent reception of the body and blood of our Lord the spirit 
 of light and strength which was necessary for her. 
 
 This delay, which was for her a sort of novitiate, only 
 served to confirm her in her first design. The activity with 
 which she embraced, during this interval, all the occasions of 
 practising charity that presented themselves, at last proved 
 to her director that it was time to set her at work, and that, 
 having all the virtues which St. Paul requires in true widows, 
 charity could present no duty, however repulsive, of which 
 this truly strong woman was not capahle. Upon this prin- 
 ciple, he proposed to her, in 1629, to undertake to visit a por- 
 tion of the places where charitable associations had been 
 formed, in order to honor the journeys which charity had 
 caused the Son of God to perform, and participate in his 
 labors, his fatigues and the contradictions which he expe- 
 rienced in them. 
 
 The pious widow obeyed the voice of the saint, as that of 
 God himself. To remove even the shadow of dissipation, 
 which insensibly mingles with the most holy journeys, the 
 wise director took such proper measures, that the travels of 
 Madame Le Gras served to make her more recollected and 
 more fervent. She was always accompanied by some pious 
 ladies. The most inconvenient conveyance was preferred to 
 any other. They were to live very poorly, in order to take 
 a greater share in the misery of the poor. Their exercises 
 of piety were performed as regularly on the road as in the 
 house. The day -of their departure they went to communion, 
 in order to receive by a closer union with Jesus Christ a more 
 abundant communication of his charity, and a surer pledge ol 
 
72 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 his protection. In the course of the journey they often raised 
 their eyes towards the holy mountains to invoke the necessary 
 aid. With such precautions, persons may travel a long lime 
 without experiencing any diminution of fervor. Thus, far 
 from ever perceiving any in Madame Le Gras, she was al- 
 ways found to return to Paris more virtuous'than she had 
 left it. 
 
 She applied herself during several years consecutively to 
 these exercises of charity. She visited with great fruit the 
 diocesses of Soissons, Paris, Beauvais, Meaux, Senlis, Char- 
 tres and Chalons in Champagne. When she arrived in a vil- 
 lage, she called together the ladies who composed the associa- 
 tion of charity. She showed them the value of their employ- 
 ment, by giving them the instructions which they required to 
 fulfil it well. When they were too few to bear the burthen, 
 she increased the number. She taught them by her example 
 to wait upon the sick who were in the most desperate situa- 
 tion: she supplied by her alms their funds, which were often 
 exhausted: and to enable them to continue their good works 
 more easily, she distributed, at her own expense, clothes 
 and things necessary for the relief of the poor and sick. 
 After the example of her director, who made use of the health 
 of the hody as a means of procuring that of the soul, the 
 zealous and holy widow labored for the one only to attain the 
 other. Thus, she did not confine herself to allaying the 
 sufferings of the dying or the hunger of the indigent; she 
 planted the kingdom of God in the hearts of the young per- 
 sons of her own sex. With the consent of the curates, with- 
 out which she was forbidden to undertake any thing, she cate- 
 chised, in some convenient house, the young girls who were 
 not sufficiently instructed. If there was a school mistress, 
 she taught her, almost without its being perceived, how to 
 perform her duty well; if there was none, she endeavored to 
 find one who had the necessary dispositions; and in order to 
 train her, she gave the first lessons in her presence. 
 
 Enterprises so holy, and which would have done honor to 
 a Paula and a Fabiola, were often censured ; but they were 
 more frequently and more universally applauded. It was to 
 
LIFJS OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 73 
 
 caution her against the slightest impressions of pride which 
 might arise from such marked esteem, that Vincent prescribed 
 to her as a rule, amidst the honors paid her, to raise her heart 
 to Jesus Christ loaded with insults. But, to moderate at the 
 same time the fire of her activity, which carried her much be- 
 yond 'the strength of her constitution, he frequently exhorted 
 her, to take care of herself for the love of our Lord and of the 
 oor who are his members. He even told her in positive 
 terms, that one of the artifices which the devil uses with most 
 success to deceive those who belong to God, is to prompt them 
 to undertake more than they are able to perform, in order that 
 they may soon be rendered- ,unable to do that of which they 
 were capable. 
 
 Whilst Madame Le Gras was practising with a sort of ex- 
 cess, all the duties of a tender and laborious charity, Vincent 
 was not inactive. He was already at the head of all the good 
 works which regarded the advantage of his neighbor; and he 
 was this year the cause of the success of one, which ran a 
 great risk of falling to the ground. The Marchioness of Maig- 
 nelai, who willingly seized every occasion of promoting the 
 honor of God, had founded in 1618 an asylum, to arrest the 
 disorders of the persons of her own sex. In a short time, a con- 
 siderable number presented themselves, who appeared de- 
 lighted to find a harbor after their shipwreck. But it was soon 
 found, that this institution wanted an essential part, and that 
 there was in it no one capable of conducting it. The holy 
 priest, to whom they had recourse after twelve years of use- 
 less efforts, followed his ordinary course. He consulted God; 
 and upon his answer, of which he gave an account to the 
 archbishop of Paris, he destined four religious of the Visi- 
 tation to fill the first places in the monastery of the Magde- 
 laine. 
 
 This plan, like most of those that relate to the glory of the 
 Lord, experienced the greatest opposition. But at last the 
 difficulties vanished in the hands of a man, whose great sense 
 furnished him with infinite resources. The daughters of St. 
 Francis of Sales, who were at first much alarmed at the diffi- 
 culties of this new employment, acquitted themselves of it 
 7 
 
'74 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 with their usual zeal and capacity. They gained eyery hea* 
 by the mildness and attention which characterise their insti- 
 tute. Charity made them absolute mistresses; and they regula. 
 ted that numerous community so well, that it afterwards pro- 
 duced those of Rouen and Bordeaux. It is true that the 
 saint was of great service to them, either by the wise" coun- 
 sels which he gave them personally, or by his letters, or the 
 good confessors whom he procured for them- But the zeal 
 and labor of those virtuous ladies is not the less estimable. A 
 child loses nothing of his glory, by sharing it with his father. 
 The holy joy, with which the happy success of so many 
 good works must have filled a heart so sensible to the interests 
 of God as was that of Vincent of Paul, was troubled by the 
 death of the cardinal de Berulle, who, that very year, 1629, 
 expired at the holy allar in the arms of his well beloved. Vin- 
 cent lost in him a friend and a father; but what afflicted him 
 most was, that the church lost in him a model of the priest- 
 hood. To indemnify it, at least in part, for that loss, he 
 opened the doors of his house to ecclesiastics who might wish 
 either to reconcile themselves to God after having wandered 
 from him, or to resume in solitude the courage they stood in 
 need of to walk with new ardor in the arduous paths of the 
 ministry. As these retreats never made more noise than after 
 Vincent took possession of the house of St. Lazarus, it will 
 be proper before entering into further detail, to point out the 
 manner in which this establishment was made. This we shall 
 develop in the following book. 
 
Book 0t coni. 
 
 Those who have paid most attention to the history of Pa- 
 ris agree, that the house of St. Lazarus is very ancient. It 
 must have been very considerable in early times, since the 
 kings of France, on ascending the throne, made it their abode 
 for some weeks, in order to receive the oath of allegiance from 
 all orders of citizens. In the course of years, St. Lazarus be- 
 came the asylum of those who were attacked with the leprosy, 
 a. terrible disease, and so common until the twelfth century, 
 that in Christendom there were found more than nineteen 
 thousand hospitals for those who were infected with it. 
 
 The hospital of St. Lazarus had in its constitution some- 
 thing very singular. They received there only citizens born 
 in lawful wedlock and within the four principal gates of Pa- 
 ri^. This rule admitted of no exception but in favor of the 
 bakers, who being more subject to this terrible malady on ac- 
 count of the fire, were admitted from any part of the king- 
 dom. No one, however, was received without having pre- 
 viously made a vow of obedience to the first director of the 
 house, who enjoyed as his own, all the possessions moveable 
 and real, of every sick person after his death. 
 
 In spite of the revolutions which, after having raised com- 
 munities to a certain point, insensibly degrade them after- 
 wards, the house of St. Lazarus was still in the time of our 
 saint one of the most considerable in Paris. Eight regular 
 canons occupied it by commission. Adrien Le Bon, their su- 
 perior, had with them one of those contests, which, although 
 sometimes necessary, are not the less disagreable. After many 
 conferences and some regulations which resulted in nothing, 
 the prior thought only of leaving a place, where, witU the 
 
76 LIFE OF 6T. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 best intentions in the world, he only suffered and caused others 
 to suffer. But as he was a pious man, and as he happened 
 at that very time to hear of the good that Vincent was doing, 
 he thought, that, if he could induce him to take his house, 
 he would render an important service to the church. He 
 spoke on the matter to Mr. de Lestocq, curate of St. Law- 
 rence, his neighbor and intimate friend. 
 
 That pious and learned doctor, who having been occasion- 
 ally associated with our saint in the country missions, had been 
 an eye-witness to the services of every kind, which Vincent 
 rendered to all, took great care to confirm the prior in his reso- 
 lution. He told him repeatedly, that it came from the Holy 
 Ghost. He spoke to him at length of Vincent of Paul and 
 his priests, and said every thing advantageous of them. 
 
 Such favorable information would have been sufficient to 
 determine a man not so well disposed as Mr. Le Bon. The 
 two friends set out immediately. The prior proposed his plan 
 without delay. He told Vincent of Paul in a few words, that 
 he had received a very flattering account of his congregation 
 and its charitable employments ; that he would be happy to 
 contribute to its prosperity; and that he was ready to yield his 
 house and all its dependencies to concur in such an excellent 
 work. 
 
 A proposition so advantageous surprised or rather alarmed 
 the servant of God; and although he could generally master 
 his feelings, yet, his trouble manifested itself in a tremor, 
 which the prior of St. Lazarus perceived. He asked of him 
 the cause of it. Vincent replied with much modesty, that his 
 proposition was so far above his merits and those of his 
 priests, that he scrupled thinking of it. He continued to ex- 
 press himself in a manner so positive, and combatted so 
 powerfully the most pressing arguments, that Mr. Le Bon lost 
 at first all hopes of making him change his opinion. Yet the 
 mildness of the holy priest, the piety, the charm of his con- 
 versation affected the prior so much, that the desire of exe- 
 cuting his design, became stronger in proportion to the obsta- 
 cles he met with. This induced him, when he was about to 
 retire, to tell the saint that the offer which he was making 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAWL. 77 
 
 well merited his attention, and that he gave him six months 
 to think of it. 
 
 It was probably in this interval, that our saint gave two 
 striking proofs of his humility. The arcbbishop of Paris, 
 who, in many things rested upon him, having called him to 
 a great assembly held in his palace, reprimanded him rather 
 harshly, on the subject of a mission which he thought Vin- 
 cent had neglected. The latter, after the example of the Royal 
 Prophet, said not a word to justify himself; and although, he 
 was then more than fifty years old, he went on his knees, 
 like a young novice before the master, and he begged his 
 pardon for a fault of which he was not guilty. This con- 
 duct which at first created surprise, did not fail to give great 
 edification; but there was much more cause for admiration, 
 when it was known that he had. performed, and well per- 
 formed the mission which the prelate had accused him of 
 naving neglected. Andre Duval, that famous doctor who 
 was always so intimate with our saint, could not help ex- 
 claiming before the whole assembly, that it was difficult to 
 find one in whom there was more virtue than Vincent. 
 
 The second occasion in which the holy priest showed his 
 humility, was furnished him by one of his nephews. The 
 servant of God was in his room, when the porter announced 
 to him that there was a countryman below, who called him- 
 self his nephew, and desired to speak with him. Nature suf- 
 fered a little at this moment. The saints themselves have to 
 struggle as long as they are men, and they are men to the 
 last breath. Vincent at first begged one of his companions to 
 go and receive this relation ; but he overcame himself on the 
 spot; he even went into the street where his nephew had re- 
 mained; he embraced him tenderly, took him by the hand, 
 and having introduced him into^the house, he called all his 
 priests and told them that he was the best man of his family. 
 He did still more : he presented this poor relation to all the 
 respectable persons who came to visit him. 
 
 So complete a victory over the demon of pride did not ap- 
 pear to him sufficient, and during the first retreat which he 
 made with his company, he accused himself publicly of hav- 
 
78 "FE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 ing had so much pride as to wish to introduce his nephew se- 
 cretly into his room, because he was a countryman and badly 
 dressed. It is the same Mr. de Saint Martin, canon of Acqs, 
 of whom we have already spoken, who preserved this cir- 
 cumstance so glorious to our saint. He then lived at the col- 
 lege des Bons Enfans, and was there at the time when this 
 happened. However, this poor young man, who, on his ar- 
 rival in Paris, believed his fortune to be made, was much de- 
 ceived in his expectations. The holy priest had made a cpm- 
 pact with his own heart; and he always kept it on. its guard 
 against the illusions of flesh and blood. He sent his nephew 
 home on foot, as he had come, giving him only ten crowns 
 for his journey; he even begged them as an alms from the 
 marchioness of Maignelai; and this is the only time he asked 
 aid for any of his family. 
 
 If these virtuous actions came to the knowledge of the prior 
 of St. Lazarus, they could not but inspire him with a new 
 desire to complete the affair which he had undertaken.- How- 
 ever this may be, he did not fail, at the end of the time he 
 had appointed, to visit the college des Bons Enfans and re- 
 double his efforts. Mr. de Lestocq, who again accompanied 
 him, spoke at least as forcibly as he did. The servant of God 
 remained firm and immovable. He represented to them that 
 an establishment so considerable could not fail to produce 
 great sensation; that he had with him only a few priests; that 
 his community was but beginning, and that he feared nothing 
 more than to be spoken of. 
 
 The dinner hour, which arrived, suspended the contest. 
 
 Mr. Le Bon was pleased to dine with the holy priest and his 
 
 little community. The order preserved at table, the pious 
 
 reading, the modesty and frugality which he observed, 
 
 charmed the prior. He conceived for the priests of the new 
 
 congregation almost as much esteem as for their institutor; 
 
 and morestrengthenedthan ever in his first design, he begged 
 
 Mr. de Lestocq to continue his efforts and to allow neither 
 
 peace nor truce to Vincent, until heat last should force him 
 
 to consent to a proposition, which seemed so reasonable. 
 
 The affair could not be trusted to a man more eager for ito 
 
LIFE OP ST. VINCEKT OF PAUL. 79 
 
 success. The curate of St. Lawrence was a particular 
 friend of Vincent of Paul, and he desired nothing more ar- 
 dently, than to have him for his neighbor. He paid him more 
 wan twenty visits in the space of six months, and made use 
 of all the motives that piety and reason can suggest. Nothing 
 could shake the servant of God. Humility and abjection were 
 his favorite virtues. Any arrangement that might have re- 
 moved him from the situation in which Providence appeared 
 to have placed him, seemed to him suspicious and filled with 
 danger. At the end of a year, Mr. Le Bon and his friends 
 were no farther advanced than on the first day; and entreaties 
 repeated more than thirty times, far from conquering the re- 
 pugnance of Vincent, had not even induced him to go and 
 see the house which was offered him. It was because he 
 feared lest his heart might become the dupe of his eyes,and 
 that the situation and advantages of the new establishment 
 might appear to him a sufficient reason for accepting it. 
 
 At last the prior of St. Lazarus, tired at his want of suc- 
 cess, said one day to the holy priest with some emotion : " you 
 are, sir, a very strange man. There is not a person who 
 wishes you well that is not desirous of your acceptance of the 
 offer made you. In such matters it is not wise to rely entirely 
 upon ourselves. What friend have you in Paris whose' coun- 
 sels you follow most readily? I will have recourse to him; 
 and provided he thinks as you do, I will cease my endea- 
 vors." Vincent, who had nothing to answer to so just a pro- 
 posal, pointed out Mr. Duval. That pious and learned doc-, 
 tor was, since the death of Mr. de Berulle, the director of our 
 saint, and it was very evident, on this occasion, that he did 
 nothing of importance without having consulted him. 
 
 Mr. Le Bon was delighted with this discovery. He was 
 convinced he would not find the difficulties in the Sorbonne 
 which he had encountered at the college des Bons Enfans. In 
 fact, every thing succeeded according to his wish. Mr. Duval 
 himself settled the conditions of the contract. That article, 
 which is commonly so litigious, was not the cause of a mo- 
 ment's delay. The doctor knew the liberality of the holy priest, 
 and perhaps he granted to the prior more than he asked. 
 
80 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 The affair seemed concluded, when an unforeseen incident 
 threatened to break it off. Mr. Le Bon, who was a solidly 
 virtuous man, thought that he ought to stipulate that his re- 
 ligious should lodge in the same dormitory with the missiona- 
 ries, supposing that the latter would experience no inconve- 
 nience from it, and that the former, influenced by the good 
 example they would have before their eyes, would by degrees 
 he induced to imitate it. 
 
 A superior less experienced than our saint, would not have 
 hesitated with regard to an article which seemed of so little 
 importance, and was presented in so advantageous a light. 
 But Vincent, who saw principles and their consequences at a 
 glance, judged differently. He feared lest the complaisance 
 and regard which we naturally have for our benefactors, 
 would be an obstacle to the spiritual good of his little flock. 
 Hence, without losing time, he begged of Mr. de Lesiocq to rep- 
 resent to the prior of St. Lazarus, that it was the rule of the 
 priests of the missions to keep silence from evening prayers un- 
 til the following day after dinner; that they were then allowed 
 an hour for conversation, after which silence was again to be 
 kept until the evening; that supper was followed by another 
 hour of recreation, alter which silence was resumed; that, 
 moreover, this silence was very rigorous, and only broken in 
 a low voice and in cases of necessity ; that these practices, 
 which are often considered trifles, were looked upon by him 
 as essential, and that he was persuaded that they could not be 
 neglected without introducing disorder and confusion into 
 communities. Hence our saint concluded that it was to be 
 feared lest the religious of Mr. Le Bon, who had not been ac 
 customed to such rigorous discipline, who probably would 
 not be able to accustom themselves to it, would by degrees 
 teach the missionaries themselves to relax in a point, the 
 negligence of which would bring on that of many others. 
 The prior, who understood better than any other, the justice 
 of these observations, yielded the point. 
 
 In consequence of the agreement, which was completed on 
 the seventh of January 1632, Vincent took possession of the 
 house of. St. Lazarus. The archbishop of Paris, Jean Fran- 
 
LIFE PF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 81 
 
 501s de Gondi, did him the honor to install him. As they 
 had the consent of the provost of the merchants, of the ma- 
 gistrates, and of all those who might be interested in the af- 
 fair, it was not thought that they would have any obstacle to 
 encounter. But it was just, that Vincent, who during fifteen 
 months had almost wearied the patience of Mr. Le Bon, 
 should have his own a little tried. 
 
 The king having caused the letters patent for this donation 
 to by expedited, a certain religious community, which had a 
 great influence and powerful friends, opposed itself to their 
 being registered, and pretended that the house of St. Lazarus 
 belonged to it. This incident only served to display the ex- 
 alted virtue of our holy priest, and above all, his disinterested- 
 ness and charity. Whilst the cause was discussed, he re- 
 mained in prayer in the chapel, and he begged of God, not to 
 make him gain the cause, if he ought to lose; but to preserve 
 in his heart a perfect submission to the orders of Providence. 
 
 We must acknowledge, however, that, at the commence- 
 ment of this opposition, one thing gave him trouble, in case 
 he.would lose his cause. The reader would not easily, ima- 
 gine it; for, what afflicls the saints, is not generally a source 
 of affliction to others. Mr. Le Bon had received in his house 
 three or four insane persons, to the great satisfaction of their 
 relatives. Vincent, who considered himself entrusted with 
 the care of all the wretched, begged as a favor, on arriv- 
 ing at St. Lazarus, that they should be confided to him. It 
 would be difficult to express with what charity he caused, 
 them to be treated; he even waited upon them himself. The 
 more untractable among them were those to whom he conse- 
 crated himself with less reserve. The more nature had to 
 suffer from these filthy, troublesome, and often dangerous men, 
 the better he was satisfied. One day that he was examining 
 before God, what would cause him pain, in case he should 
 have to leave the house, nothing- disquieted him bat the fear 
 of being unable to render the same services to these poor 
 madmen. The convenience of a lordly house situated at the 
 gates' of Paris, the property annexed to it, the facility it would 
 afford hisirising congregation, all these advantages appeared 
 
82 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 nothing to him in comparison with the pleasure he took in 
 honoring our Lord in his infirm members, whom every one 
 repels, and who do not find any asylum, even in their own 
 houses. 
 
 At last God recompensed the disinterestedness and humility 
 of his servant by a favorable sentence. The religious of St. 
 Victor did not esteem him the less, and they acknowledged 
 with the rest of France, that the house of St. Lazarus, in be- 
 coming the patrimony of the holy man, had become the pa- 
 trimony of the poor. 
 
 The criminals condemned to the gallies were the first to feel 
 the effect of the charity which this new establishment enabled 
 the saint to exercise more extensively. We have already seen 
 what he did for them both at Paris and Marseilles. We shall 
 now see him do things much more important But here, as 
 on many other occasions, we must be contented with the first 
 epochs. Otherwise it would be impossible to avoid confusion 
 in a history crowded with events, and in which every week, 
 to say no more, saw an astonishing number of glorious enter- 
 prises arise, which could be fully executed only in the course 
 of several years. 
 
 The galley slaves, being now transported by the care of 
 Vincent of Paul in the neighborhood of St. Roch, were 
 there as well as their situation allowed. But, as they had 
 only a rented house, and mightbedislodged under various pre- 
 texts, our saint who was accustomed to prevent inconve- 
 niences, thought of the means of procuring for them a hospi- 
 tal which might be theirs for ever. That he might not miss 
 his aim, he applied to the king himself, and obtained from him 
 for those unhappy men an ancient tower between the Seine 
 and the gate of St. Bernard. The care, or rather the charge 
 of the spiritual and temporal administration of this new es- 
 tablishment rested almost entirely upon him alone for many 
 years. 
 
 With regard to spiritual matters, he directed those of His 
 priests who lived at the college des Bons Enfans, to visit fre- 
 quently the galley slaves, to say mass for them every day, to 
 instruct them, hear their confessions, and console them. He 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 83 
 
 afterwards yielded up this employment to the priests of the 
 parish, with a salary of five hundred livres, which his own 
 priests had never received. 
 
 Madame Le Gras, who was always ready to listen to, and 
 put in practice, the language of charity, took upon herself 
 most cheerfully the care of temporal matters. She often went 
 to see. them and rendered them every good office. Vincent 
 encouraged, by the example of this pious widtnv, other respec- 
 table ladies, to contribute to this good work; but he helped-it 
 along more than any one else, and it was to him principally 
 that the galley slaves owed their maintenance and nourish- 
 ment, during the first eight or ten years they remained in this 
 new abode. At last, Providence secured for them permanent 
 suecors, proportioned in some measure to their wants. A very 
 rich person bequeathed them before dying a yearly income of 
 six hundred livres; and this legacy, which at first cost our 
 saint many contradictions, was finally executed. 
 
 His tenderness for the galley slaves was not satisfied with 
 the services of which we have just spoken. He endeavored 
 to relieve them in the very point, in which they had* most to 
 suffer. What afflicted him above all, wnen he was at Mar- 
 seilles, was the pitiful state of those who fell sick. Always in 
 chains, devoured by vermin, overwhelmed with pains, almost 
 eaten up with corruption and infection, these living corpses 
 already experienced the horrors of the grave. Vincent could 
 not see, without deep emotion, men formed to the image of 
 God, christians redeemed with the blood of Jesus Christ, dy- 
 ing like brutes. But he was obliged to have patience; for the 
 disturbed state of the kingdom did not yet allow him to act. 
 
 When things appeared a little more calm, the holy priest 
 addressed himself to cardinal of Richelieu, because in ad- 
 dition to one of his relations being general of the gallies, he 
 shared" with the duchess of Aiguillon, his niece, the senti- 
 ments of esteem which she always had for the institutor of 
 the mission. Vincent, with those pathetic expressions which 
 could scarcely be resisted, represented to him the horrible con- 
 dition in which the galley slaves at Marseilles were, when 
 sick, and the necessity of forming an hospital for them. Jean 
 
84 
 
 LIFE OP ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Baptiste Gauld, bishop of Marseilles, and the chevalier de 
 Simiane, both distinguished by .their very rare virtues, united 
 wiih our saint in soliciting the prime minister. Richelieu, 
 who was fond of projects in which there was any thing grand, 
 obtained the consent of the king; the hospital was built on 
 the same spot where Philip de Gondi had laid the foundation 
 when Vincent lived in his house. Louis XIV afterwards as- 
 signed it an annual revenue of twelve thousand livres from 
 the taxes of the province. There are three hundred beds, and 
 it is one of the most beautiful and commodious houses of the 
 kingdom. It was still incomplete, when Mr. de Simiane 
 wrote to our saint that the hand of God manifested itself there, 
 not only by the conversion of bad christians, but in that of 
 several Mahometans ; and that the latter moved by the charity 
 shown them, paid homage to a religion which in Jesus Christ 
 makes but one people of all the nations of the universe. 
 
 To enableVincent and the missionaries better to continue 
 the good which they had commenced doing to the galley 
 slaves, the young king confirmed to him in 1644 the charge 
 of almoner general, and he did so in a style which shows the 
 universal esteem in which he was held at court. The duchess 
 of Aiguillon took part in so good a work, and by a capital of 
 fourteen thousand livres she founded missions for the galleys 
 for every five years. Thus it was that a poor priest set in mo- 
 tion the first persons of the state, in order to procure for 
 wretched beings, whom he looked upon as his brethren, all 
 the aids of the most tender charity. His zeal, which knew 
 neither difficulties nor bounds, soon prompted him to form 
 a much more extensive project, by means of which he at 
 last discovered the secret of relieving in every part of France, 
 and even in foreign countries, an infinite number of unfortu- 
 nate beings, who had neither resources nor consolation. But 
 before entering upon this great event, which forms one of the 
 richest portions of his history, I must speak of the service 
 which he rendered the church by the establishment of the e(£ 
 clesiastical conferences. To understand well what we have 
 to say on this subject, it will be necessary to go back a little. 
 Vincent, in his missions, had not confined himself to the 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 85 
 
 salvation of the people ; he had also attended to the sanctifi- 
 cation of the pastors, who were not all at that time models of 
 virtue. When he found some in a district, whose hearts God 
 opened to his counsels, he instructed them in the manner of 
 preaching the wora! of God, catechising the children, hearing 
 confessions, and administering the other sacraments with fruit. 
 These first essays induced the saint to believe, that, if regular 
 conferences could be established, they would perhaps have in 
 France the success which they formerly had in the deserts of 
 Thebais But as he always distrusted much his own ideas, 
 he was contented with praying, and he waited for the mo- 
 ment which Providence would choose. It arrived sooner per- 
 haps than he expected. A pious man, who had much pro- 
 fited by the exercises given to the ordinands, and wished to 
 preserve the fruit of his retreat, proposed to him to assemble 
 from' time to time a number of ecclesiastics, to confer together 
 on the means of sanctifying themselves as well as their breth- 
 ren. 
 
 A proposal so conformable to the ideas of Vincent of Paul 
 could not be but agreeable to him. Yet before undertaking 
 any thing, he again consulted God for about fifteen days, and 
 having been convinced that this new sort of exercises would 
 greatly contribute to the glory of his holy name, he made the 
 proposition to the archbishop of Paris, who considered it his 
 duty to approve it. Armed with the powers of his superior, 
 and soon afterwards with those of the sovereign pontiff, 
 whose consent, through the profound respent which he enter- 
 tained for the holy see, he. was always in the habit of asking, 
 even when it was not necessary, he thought of nothing but 
 of choosing proper subjects to begin the new association. He 
 soon found them. Several good priests, who honored him 
 as their father, some of whom had just given missions in 
 Anjou, or were giving one to a great number of laborers em 
 ployed in building the church of the Visitation, entered into 
 his views with pleasure; and the first assembly was held 
 shortly afterwards in the (jouse of St. Lazarus. At this mee- 
 ting, Vincent proposed his plan, the end of which was to 
 honor the Son of God, his eternal priesthood, his love for the 
 8 
 
96 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 poor, and his zeal for the salvation of the people. This pro- 
 ject, in which every thing was holy, was received with great 
 applause. On that very day, the necessity of the ecclesiasti- 
 cal spirit and the means of preserving it were proposed as the 
 subject of the first conference. All spoke with solidity, but 
 with great simplicity. The holy priest had foreseen that this 
 exercise would become useless to them, should they affect 
 to deliver eloqjient or studied discourses. It is not that he 
 wished them to speak at random; he required on the con- 
 trary a proper preparation. But simplicity was his rule, and 
 he would not suffer any one to deviate from it, except when 
 the matter to be treated required particular preparation. Hence 
 there have been seen at these conferences the greatest geniuses 
 of Europe speaking the simplest language, despising what 
 St. Paul calls the vain persuasion of human wisdom, and al- 
 ways choosing between two expressions that which, being 
 less flattering to human pride, was most calculated to edify, 
 touch the heart and incline it to God. 
 
 The saint gave them the example; but as he knew the 
 scripture very well, and had above all a singular talent for 
 selecting the examples and words of the Son of God, which 
 had reference to his subject, he developed his sentiments with 
 so much grace and unction, that the illustrious Bossuet, who 
 heard him at an age naturally disposed to criticism, said forty 
 two years after the death of the saint, that he might take our 
 Lord to witness, that he had found in Vincent of Paul, that 
 rare minister who speaks of God in a manner so full of wis- 
 dom and so exalted, that God himself appears to speak by his 
 mouth.* Such doubtless would be the testimony that would 
 haVe been rendered him by a Godeau, a Perrochel, an Olier, 
 a Pavilion and so many others who went from one end of Pa- 
 ris to the other, to hear him, had they been living when the 
 work of his beatification commenced. 
 
 The Tuesday assembly, or the conference of St. Lazarus 
 
 * Aderant plerumque magni nominis episcopi. Pium cretum ani- 
 mabat Vincentius, quem cjlm disserentem avidi audiremus, tunc im- 
 pleri sentiebamus Apostolicum illud : St quis loquitur, tanquam ser- 
 
 mones Dei Ha;c coram Deo in Christo loquor. Benig. Bossuet, 
 
 in Epist ad Clcmentem XI die 2 jlugusti, 1702. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 87 
 
 (for it was kiowa by these two names), soon became so cele- 
 brated, that, according to a man who cannot be Suspected in 
 this matter,* "there was not in Paris an ecclesiastic of merit 
 that did not try to belong to it." Every body was speaking 
 with rapture of the regularity and indefatigable zea] of those 
 who composed it. Cardinal de Richelieu, who was informed 
 of it by the public voice, sent for Vincent, and spoke to him of 
 it. The holy man gave him an account of the nature of the 
 subjects discussed, and of the blessings which God began 
 to give to them. That great minister appeared well satisfied. 
 He exhorted the saint to continue his good works. He as- 
 sured him of his protection, and asked him to come and see 
 him from time to time. Before dismissing him, he wished to 
 know the names of the ecclesiastics who attended this assem- 
 bly, and which of them he considered best suited for the epis- 
 copacy. When the servant of God had retired, the cardinal 
 said to the duchess of Aiguillon his niece: "I had already a 
 great idea of Vincent, but since our last interview, I have a 
 much higher opinion of him." 
 
 What cardinal de Richelieu had begun, Louis XIII com- 
 pleted after the death of his minister. Father Binet, his con- 
 fessor, asked, in his name, of the holy priest an exact account 
 of the talents of those who assisted at the conferences. Vin- 
 cent obeyed; but at the same time he did what many others 
 would have found some difficulty in doing. It is sufficiently 
 evident, and he felt it himself, that if the good dispositions of 
 the prince transpired in the slightest degree, some ecclesias- 
 tics of the first rank might have ranged themselves under the. 
 banners of fervor. Vincent, who was a declared enemy to 
 ambition, took the necessary measures to remove it. He knew 
 how to engage a great king to secrecy, after having engageu 
 to it a great minister. He observed it himself so inviolably 
 that none of those whose names he had mentioned, ever 
 knew the designs which the court had on them ; and at the 
 very time that he looked upon them as at the heads of dio- 
 cesses, he spoke to them of nothing but the happiness of liv- 
 ing and dying in obscurity. 
 
 * Memoire de Lancelot sur Saint-Cyran. t. 1, p. 287. 
 
88 LIFE OF ST. VIHCEHT OF PAOL,. 
 
 We do not intend lo relate all the good of which the con- 
 ference of St. Lazarus was the origin ; still we cannot refrain 
 from giving some idea of it. One of the first fruits it pro- 
 duced, was to people the church with a great number of faith- 
 ful ministers, who, being filled with the spirit by which our 
 saint was animated, spread it through all the provinces. It 
 was also from its bosom that rose, even during the life time 
 of the saint, the pious and illustrious founders of the commu- 
 nities of St. Sulpicius, and of the foreign misssions; twenty- 
 three archbishops or bishops, who, for the most part, labored 
 with as much courage as success in restoring to the church 
 her primitive beauty; and a prodigious multitude of grand vi- 
 cars, officials, archdeacons, curates, canons, directors of semi- 
 naries or of religious, all of whom spread every where the 
 good odor of Christ. The holy priest made of them a body 
 of reserve, which he sent to the right and to the left, accord- 
 ing as circumstances required. France, surprised and always 
 edified, saw them devoting themselves with invincible ardor 
 to the most arduous functions of the holy ministry. Some 
 joined the children of Vincent of Paul, others undertook im- 
 portant missions in the large cities, where the saint did not 
 wish to send his priests. There was no rank or condition in 
 the capital, that did not feel the impression of their zeal. The 
 regiment of Guards, the Q,uinze-Vingts, the mechanics who 
 were ignorant of the very elements of salvation, the beggars 
 with whom Paris was then inundated, the hospital of la 
 Piete, that which Vincent had procured for the galley slaves, 
 and above all, the Hotel-Dieu, that is to say, the domestics, 
 the sick, and the virgins who devoted themselves to their ser- 
 vice; such were the objects that occupied them during more 
 than fifty years. 
 
 Although the detail of so much good would certainly be 
 most edifying, the nature of a work like this does not permit 
 me to give it. I shall even, suppress the prodigious success, 
 which those truly apostolical men had in a large town, where 
 chicanery and iniquity, under the name of justice, held their 
 court in taverns, and were there feeding upon the tears and 
 je blood of the oppressed client. But as the mission which 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAULi _ 89 
 
 they made in the suburb of St. Germain, had something sin- 
 gular in its circumstances, it is proper to speak of it some- 
 what more at large. 
 
 This suburb was then the sink of the whole kingdom. The 
 impious, the libertines, the atheists, all that was most wicked, 
 seemed to have conspired to establish their abode there. 
 Vice, by becoming multiplied, had made that place its strong 
 hold. The guilty, on account of their number, lived with 
 impunity; and impunity augmented daily the number of the 
 guilty. 
 
 A virtuous lady, terrified at so many abominations, thought 
 that a mission would stop their course. As all good people 
 spoke to her With admiration of the one that Vincent was then 
 giving, she endeavored to persuade him to give one also in 
 this suburb. The saint resisted for sometime: but this lady, 
 who was conducted by a superior light, redoubled her prayers 
 with so much earnestness, that he thought at last that the 
 spirit of God spoke by her mouth. He promised her that be 
 would think of it, and he did it so seriously, that a few days 
 after, lie proposed to the ecclesiastics of his conference, to un- 
 dertake that good work. The just deference which all the 
 members of that holy assembly had for the servant of God, 
 did not prevent them from exclaiming against his proposition. 
 Each one brought forward his reasons : they insisted particu- 
 larly upon the impossibility of success. The conclusion was, 
 that they ought not to think of it any more. 
 
 Vincent however thought of it again. He recommended 
 it earnestly to our Lord. An interior answer strengthened 
 him in his first opinion; and when these gentlemen assembled 
 again, he told them in very strong terms, that he had every 
 reason to believe that God required that service of them; that 
 his grace was powerful enough to overcome every obstacle, 
 and that he was persuaded that the enterprise would succeed 
 in spite of the efforts of devils and men. The words of the 
 holy priest did not, on this occasion, produce as much impres- 
 sion as usual; he even perceived that his firmness had given 
 pairi to some of those who had most strongly supported the 
 contrary opinion. His humility was alarmed. He went on 
 8* 
 
90 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 his knees before the whole assembly, and asked pardon of the 
 company for the vivacity witb which he had renewed his 
 proposition. He protested that he had done so only because 
 he felt himself interiorly urged to do it, and believed that God 
 demanded of their zeal this new proof of courage and love. 
 
 The sight of this worthy priest of Jesus Christ, prostrate 
 at the feet of a great number of ecclesiastics, who all honored 
 him as their father, had more effect upon them than any thing 
 that he could have said. The mission was at once unani- 
 mously resolved upon, and those who had been most opposed 
 to it, were now the first to urge it. 
 
 Before commencing they begged him to regulate himself 
 every thing they would have to do. They represented to 
 him particularly, that the simple and familiar discourses, 
 which succeeded in the country, would be found ridiculous in 
 a city, like Paris, and that as the enemies they were going to 
 attack, were different from those with whom they had hitherto 
 contended, it would be necessary to employ other arms than 
 those which they had heretofore wielded. 
 
 These remarks, in which human prudence had some share, 
 could- not please a man who, after the example of the apos- 
 tle, would have thought it injurious to the power of the cross 
 to rely upon purely natural means. He answered them that 
 he was persuaded that the method which they had found to 
 answer so well in all their other missions, was precisely the 
 one which they ought to follow in the mission they were 
 about to commence; that the spirit of the world which tri- 
 umphed in the place, the conversion of which they were to 
 undertake, could not be more powerfully assailed, than by the 
 spirit of Jesus Christ, which is a spirit of simplicity ; that to en- 
 ter into the sentiments of that divine Saviour, they must seek, 
 like hirn, not their own glory, but that of his father ; and that 
 in speaking the language which the Son of God had em- 
 ployed, they would be at least sure, that it was not they who 
 spoke, but Jesus Christ who spoke by them. 
 
 These counsels were received as if coming from an angel. 
 Without another moment's deliberation, they set to work. 
 They were not long before perceiving that grace, worked witb 
 
LIKE OF ST. VIMCENT OF PAUL. 91 
 
 them. The simplicity and familiar style of their discourses, 
 which they had thought would be tlie cause of their failure, 
 was precisely that which multiplied the number of their hear- 
 ers. Their apostolical manner of preaching moved a great 
 part of their auditory. They were themselves surprised and 
 delighted. They saw every day, and almost at every mo- 
 ment, inveterate sinners, hardened usurers, barefaced and 
 shameless females, libertines who had grown old in the most 
 infamous disorders, in fine, men who had been heretofore 
 without humanity, without honesty, without religion, without 
 faith and without God, coming, with their eyes bathed in 
 tears, and their hearts pierced with sorrow, to throw them- 
 selves at their feet, crying aloud for mercy. The finger of 
 God was so evidently with them, that it was impossible not 
 to see its operation. Conversions so astonishing were made, 
 that there was something miraculous in them. Injustice and 
 hatred, the passions the most difficult to conquer, laid down 
 their arms. In a word, the blessing of God was so abundant 
 and so efficacious, that if we were to relate in detail the re- 
 conciliations, restitutions, and every species of good produced 
 by this mission, it would form matter enough for a volume ; 
 these are the expressions of the contemporaneous author who 
 first wrote the life of our holy priest. 
 
 He adds, and nothing is better calculated to confirm his re- 
 cital, that a citizen of Paris who had followed all the exer- 
 cises of the mission, and who had been witness of the great 
 good produced by it, was so much moved, that going to those 
 worthy ecclesiastics, he told them that he had a property of 
 seven or eight thousand livres of which he could dispose 
 without injury to any one, and that he came to offer it and 
 himself to serve them for the rest of his life, provided they 
 would engage themselves to continue in other places the ex- 
 ercises they had just finished in the parish of St. Sulpicius. 
 These gentlemen, without accepting his offer, told him very 
 affectionately, that they could not unite in the manner which 
 he proposed, but that their intention was to spend the re- 
 mainder of their life, in occupations very similar to those by 
 which he had been so much edified, and that God, who knows 
 
92 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 how to value the dispositions of the heart, would certainly re- 
 ward his good will. Such was the- result ot" that famous mis- 
 sion. Bossuet attributed to the prayers of Vincent of Paul 
 the prodigious success of those made by his children in the 
 diocess of Metz, when he was archdeacon there. The reader 
 must judge whether the advantages of the one we have re- 
 lated, were less the efFects of the sighs of the holy priest, 
 than ol the zeal which he showed to have it undertaken. 
 
 Had the ecclesiastical conferences of St. Lazarus effected 
 no other good than that of which we have spoken, they 
 would merit the praises of posterity. But they also pro- 
 moted the glory of God by the manner in which they spread 
 themselves throughout France and beyond the mountains. 
 Jean Jacques Olier, who alone does so much honor to Vin- 
 cent of Paul, was the first to establish them in Auvergne and 
 and in Velai, and subsequently amongst the canons of Puy. 
 Those of Noyon established them of their own accord. The 
 ecclesiastics of Pontoise, Angouleme, Angers, Bordeaux, and 
 many others, followed their example. All these assemblies 
 had the same relation to that of St. Lazarus, that colonies 
 have to their metropolis, as appears by the letters of the illus- 
 trious Mr. Godeau, bishop of Vence, and of the pious foun- 
 der of the seminary of St. Sulpicius. I will only add that 
 those established in Normandy by the abbe of Val Richer 
 were attended with the most brilliant success; it is a known 
 fact. I will remark also that he was an intimate friend of our 
 saint, as well as of Mr. Bourdoise, and that a man formed in 
 such a school, must naturally have succeeded, whilst he fol- 
 lowed the lessons which he had received in it.* 
 
 The good which Vincent had effected among the clergy by 
 this pious and learned assembly, did not satisfy the insatiable 
 ardor of his zeal: he desired to effect something similar in 
 families by the establishment of spiritual retreats. No person 
 had as yet undertaken what he executed in this respect; and 
 it appears tljat his immense charity will have but few imita- 
 
 * Dominique George, born in Lorraine in 1631, died at Val Richer 
 in 1693. His life has been written by Father Buffier, in 1696. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 93 
 
 tors. The greatest saints had wept over the corruption which 
 covered the face of Christianity ; they exhorted the faithful to 
 build a spiritual solitude for themselves in their hearts, there 
 to weigh all their actions in the balance of truth; and to reflect 
 deeply on the eternal years which are advancing at a rapid 
 pace. But it was reserved for Vincent of Paul to afford them 
 a facility to do this, which they had not before enjoyed; and 
 to take away from the middling classes, that is, from the 
 greater number, the pretexts under which they had been ac- 
 customed to veil their negligence and insensibility. With 
 this view, he resolved to share his house and possessions 
 with those who were willing to profit by them to become 
 reconciled to God. Like the father of the family, of whom 
 our Saviour speaks in his gospel, he in a manner forced 
 the, good and the bad to sit down at his table. All the re- 
 ward he asked, was that those who were just, should sanctify 
 themselves. still more; and that those who were not, should 
 use every effort to become so. 
 
 The information of such generous conduct spread by 'de- 
 grees through Paris and into the provinces. In a few months 
 the house of St. Lazarus became more frequented than it had 
 been for a century. Vincent himself compared it to Noah's ark, 
 into which all sorts of animals, both great and small, were 
 well received. In fact, it was a strange enough sight to see 
 in the same refectory, gentlemen of the first respectability and 
 people of the lowest class; enlightened doctors and poor 
 countrymen who had scarcely common sense; great magis- 
 trates and simple mechanics; men of the world, and solitaries 
 accustomed to live in the forests ; old men who came to la- 
 ment the past, and young people who had recourse to God 
 to secure themselves against the perils of the future. 
 
 To execute his design in a manner useful to those who made 
 the retreat, and transmit the importance of it to his successors 
 from age to age, he endeavored to show to both the price of 
 the grace which God placed in their hands. 
 
 He represented to those who made the exercises that the 
 only end of the retreat was to destroy the reign of sin, reform 
 themselves altogether, destroy their bad habits, their faults and 
 
94 WFE OF ST. VIHCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 even their imperfections; that they ought to employ their time 
 in begging of God to make them perfect christians, each one 
 according to his state -of life and that it was of great conse- 
 quence for those who had not as yet embraced any slate, to 
 consult much with our Lord on that which they were to em- 
 brace. He desired above all that particular attention should 
 be paid to those who thought of quitting the world; but ihen 
 he exacted precautions which amounted almost to scrupu- 
 losity. And if on the one hand he wished them to be advised, 
 in general, to prefer well regulated communities to disorderly 
 ones, on the other, he would not allow them to be advised in 
 particular; above all, it was prohibited to propose to them his 
 congregation. The choice of a house, whether secular, as his 
 was, or religious, like most of the others, was, in his opinion, 
 an affair to be decided by God alone, and upon which those 
 who are consulted should tlread very much answering rather 
 through views of natural prudence, than according to the 
 maxims of christian simplicity. 
 
 In order that the missionaries might omit nothing that 
 could contribute to the success of the retreats, the saint re- 
 quired two things of those to whom he committed the direc- 
 tion of them. The first was, that they should speak in a solid 
 and affecting manner, that they should take care to banish 
 that vain eloquence, which St. Paul reprobated so often, and 
 which God does not bless. The second was, that they should 
 select for the subjects of their discourses, not those calculated 
 to amuse the mind, but the great truths of salvation, our perso- 
 nal obligations, the resources which Jesus Christ has prepared 
 for us in the sacraments, the dispositions required to approach 
 them &c. It is by these means.that they are disposed, to make 
 good general confessions, or, if they have already made such 
 as can be relied upon, to supply by an exact review, whatever 
 may have been defective in their late confessions; to prescribe 
 to themselves a rule of life to which they must strictly adhere; 
 and above aU, to take firm resolutions and always in detail, 
 not only to avoid sin and the occasions which may lead to it, 
 but also to perform all the good works of which each one is 
 capable in the state of life wherein he is placed by God. 
 
LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 95 
 
 A plan so well formed must have necessarily been very 
 serviceable to those for whom it was made: but as it might 
 happen, after the death of the servant of God, and even du- 
 ring his life, that his priests, worn down by labor, and unable 
 to bear the expense of so many gratuitous retreats, might re- 
 lax by degrees; to guard them against this sort of temptation, 
 the saint repeated several times in his conferences that the 
 choice which it had pleased God to make of the house of St. 
 Lazarus for the conversion of innumerable sinners, was a great 
 grace; that they should dread nothing so much as to become 
 unworthy of it; that if they should ever deserve tp be de- 
 prived by God of that employment, it would be to be feared 
 that he would deprive them of all others ; that a missionary 
 who would acquit himself of so glorious a function with re- 
 pugnance, could only be an object of horror before God and 
 man. "Ah!" he exclaimed one day, in finishing a long dis- 
 course on this subject, "what a shame, what a subject of af- 
 fliction, if this place, which is now like a beautiful bath, 
 whither so many come to cleanse themselves, should become 
 one day a corrupted cistern, through the relaxation and sloth 
 of those who dwell in it. Let us pray to God, gentlemen, 
 that this misfortune may not happen. Let us address our- 
 selves to the Blessed Virgin, that, by her powerful interces- 
 sion, and through her immense desire of the conversion of 
 sinners, we may avoid such a misfortune." 
 
 It was by these and similar motives that Vincent animated 
 his company, never to calculate the trouble or the expense of 
 those holy exercises. On this point, as well as on all others, 
 he gave them examples more powerful than his words. The 
 more he advanced in age, the more, contrary to the cus- 
 tom with old men, he became piously prodigal ; his charity 
 knew no bounds. In fine, he went so far, that he received as 
 many persons for the exercises as he could possibly receive. 
 From a calculation made, during the twenty-five last years of 
 his life, nearly twenty thousand persons made retreats in his 
 house, that is to say, eight hundred were received in it every 
 year. It is true that some of them paid a part of their ex- 
 pense; but it is true also that the greater part gave nothing 
 
96 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PADI,. 
 
 at all, either because the mediocrity of their fortune did not 
 permit, or because they imagined, as some do now, that the 
 retreats of St. Lazarus were the object of a foundation, and 
 that the collection of strangers received there was less a duty 
 purely gratuitous charity, than an obligation of justice. 
 
 As it sometimes happens that pious persons do not always 
 think alike, there were some among the children of Vincent 
 of Paul, who considered his liberality excessive, and com- 
 plained of him to himself. Those complaints, which he rer 
 futed a long time with the arms of charity, Tecurred so often, 
 and it was represented to him in so strong a manner that his 
 house was on the point of destruction, that it was thought at 
 last that his zeal would be confined within narrower limits. 
 Not to resist altogether remonstrances which appeared just, he 
 took upon himself the care of receiving all who would come, 
 and of making a choice of them. But when he came to the 
 point of admitting some and rejecting others, his heart was so 
 affected that he could hardly refuse any one. The conse- 
 quence was that he admitted more on the first day than they 
 had ever been accustomed to receive. In vain did they tell him, 
 what they had been obliged to repeat to him more than once, 
 that there were no more rooms in the house, he calmly an- 
 swered that he would give his own. 
 
 If it cost him much to bear such a heavy burden, it must 
 be acknowledged that he was, even during his life, recom- 
 pensed a hundred fold for it. As he desired that those of his 
 houses which had the means, should imitate the example of 
 the mother house in Paris, he saw by himself, or learned from 
 undoubted testimony, the inconceivable fruits which the spiri- 
 tual retreats produced on all sides. He received a prodigious 
 number of letters on this subject, all tending to congratulate 
 him on the blessing which God gave to his zeal and to that 
 of his children. Priests, curates, bishops, and amongst others 
 the baron de Renty,* thanked him a thousand times for hav- 
 ing opened a new way of sanctification to pastors and people. 
 
 * Gaston Jean Baptiste, baron de Renty, bom in the diocess of 
 Baieux in 1611, died the 24th of April 1648. Dr. Burnet, bishop of 
 Salisbury, has done justice to his virtues. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 97 
 
 But it was not only in France, that God gave his blessing 
 to the retreats made by Vincent or his companions: his hand 
 was with them in Italy as well as in France. Cardinal 
 Durazzo, who did honor to the Roman purple by his alms, 
 his zeal and his vigilance, had no sooner established the chil- 
 dren of our holy priest at Genoa, man he desired to try 
 whether they would be of as great advantage to the ecclesias- 
 tics, as they had been to the country people of his diocess. 
 He invited those of the curates in whose parishes they had 
 made missions to come to the capital. The greater number 
 obeyed with pleasure, and were rewarded for their docility. 
 Their modesty, the strict silence which they observed, their 
 simplicity in giving an account of their meditations, were 
 sensible marks of the renovation operated in them by the Holy 
 Ghost. Conversions took place which, if we suppose with 
 a holy father that an unfortunate ecclesiastic is scarcely ever 
 converted, must appear miraculous in an extraordinary de- 
 gree. Repentance was manifested more than once by confes- 
 sions perhaps too public. The spirit of humility and eompunc- 
 ' tion was so prevalent, that its sallies could not be moderated 
 but with difficulty; which occasioned one of those gentlemen 
 to exclaim one day: "We are here in the valley of Josaphat: 
 every one acknowledges his misery. After all, happy is the 
 one who, by this anticipated confession, may be able to avoid 
 that of the great day of the Lord!" 
 
 It was the consideration of so much good, of which the 
 prelates gave Vincent of Paul an exact account, that rendered 
 him so firm in not allowing his house to give up the retreats, 
 so long as it was possible to bear the expense. It was through 
 the same motive that he examined before God, whether he 
 could not procure in some community of religious women, 
 the same advantage for persons of the other sex, which they 
 could not enjoy in the houses of his congregation. Charity, 
 which renders every thing easy, did not long delay giving him 
 the means. It was not enough for the father of the poor to 
 have established a congregation of priests almost entirely de- 
 voted to their service, it pleased heaven that he should also 
 give rise to a numerous band of virgins, whose zeal had, in 
 9 
 
98 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 some respects, a more extensive object, and who, without dis 
 tinction of age or sex, should perform in favor of the orphan 
 and the indigent what the more important .occupations of the 
 apostolical ministry or the rules of propriety would not allow 
 him to do himself. As the formation of this great establish- 
 ment is essentially connected with the history which I write, 
 it is necessary to make known its origin, its functions, and its. 
 progress. 
 
 Vincent of Paul had now established the confraternities of 
 charity in favor of the sick poor about seventeen years. That 
 association of mercy, having spread from the country into the 
 cities, a great number of ladies of rank had engaged in it. 
 But that which rendered these assemblies more brilliant, 
 contributed by degrees to make them less useful. The first 
 ladies of rank who engaged in them, had done it through 
 choice, and piety induced them to serve the poor personally. 
 It was not quite so with those who succeeded them. Some 
 joined them, because it was the fashion. Others acted, it is 
 true, through purer motives; but their husbands, who feared 
 the effects of unwholesome air, would not allow them to 
 yield to their zeal. It was necessary then to rely upon ser- 
 vants; and as the greater part had neither affection nor skill, 
 an establishment which required a great deal of both, was 
 daily falling to decay. 
 
 To remedy this disorder, it was thought necessary to have 
 female servants, whose only occupation should be to distribute 
 every day to the sick the nourishment and remedies which 
 their sickness required. This project was good ; but before 
 carrying it into execution, it was necessary, above all, to find 
 persons who would undertake it; and also, after having found 
 them, to form them to an employment which requires much 
 capacity and virtue, and more virtue than capacity. These 
 two things were not easy, and the second was yet less so than 
 the first. 
 
 After many efforts, and still more prayers, the saint thought 
 at last that he ought to yield to the entreaties of Madame Le 
 Gras, who, full of tenderness for the poor, had been waiting 
 during two years for the permission from her director, to con- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 99 
 
 secrate herself to their service by an irrevocable vow. Towards 
 the end of the year 1633 lie sent her three or four young girls 
 from the country who appeared disposed for the most arduous 
 duties of charity. The great talents which God had given 
 to the holy widow for this kind of education, were soon 
 manifested. These young girls, whom the urgent necessities 
 of the poor did not permit her to cultivate long, edified all the 
 parishes into which they were sent. Their modesty, their 
 eagerness to serve the sick, the sanctity of their lives charmed 
 those who saw them. Such beautiful examples moved seve- 
 ral young persons of their age and sex, who came to offer 
 themselves, to render, like them, their humble services to Jesus 
 Christ in the persons of the poor. 
 
 Such was the commencement of that company of Virgins, 
 who under the name of Daughters of Charity, have now 
 thirty-four houses in the city of Paris. As small in its birth 
 as the mustard seed, it has now become a great tree. Its roots, 
 nourished less by the substance of the earth than by the dews 
 of heaven, have extended into every part of France, into Lor- 
 raine and even into Poland; and we will soon see the orphan 
 for so long a time neglected, the desolate widow, the soldier 
 covered with blood and wounds, the wretched poor, the sick 
 of all kinds, reposing under its healthful branches, and there 
 finding nourishment, vigor and life. 
 
 Vincent and the pious Madame Le Gras had neither fore- 
 seen nor hoped for such rapid and extensive progress. But 
 when they saw that God, satisfied in a manner with having 
 drawn the outlines of his work, chose to confide it to their 
 care that they might give it the finishing stroke, they both 
 endeavored to extract from this precious talent, all that it was 
 capable of producing. Their intention had been at first only 
 to assist in the parishes those of the sick who were deprived 
 of necessary aid. When the designs of God became after 
 wards manifest, the holy institutor charged them by degrees 
 with the education of the foundlings, and the instruction of 
 young girls who were without the means of obtaining it; with 
 the care of a great number of hospitals, and even of the cri- 
 minals condemned to the galleys. As these different occupa- 
 
100 11FE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 tions form in a manner many communities out of one, the 
 holy priest gave them general and panicular rules to sustain 
 the whole body and the different parts which compose it. 
 
 According to these rules, which have always been con- 
 sidered a master piece of wisdom, the Sisters of Charity 
 must, above all thing, be well convinced that God united 
 them to honor Jesus Christ our Lord, as the source and mo- 
 del of all charity, by rendering him in the persons of poor 
 old people, children, the sick, and the prisoners, all the ser- 
 vices corporal or spiritual of which they are capable; that, to 
 correspond with so'holy a vocation, they must join the inte- 
 rior exercises of a spiritual life with the exterior employments 
 of christian charity; that, although they are not and cannot 
 be nuns, because that state is incompaiible with their employ- 
 ments, yet they must lead a life more perfect, if possible, than 
 that of the most holy nuns, because they are much more ex- 
 posed; that, as purity, a virtue hard to preserve and of infi- 
 nite extent, is indispensibly necessary to them, they must re- 
 move, by the most severe precautions, every thing that might 
 wound the eyes of God or their neighbor, and that watchful- 
 ness over themselves must redouble, when charity obliges 
 them to mingle with the world, treat with persons of a dif- 
 ferent sex, and take care of the sick, and even of the dying. 
 
 As nothing is better calculated to nourish virtue than the 
 mortification of this body of sin which we carry every where 
 with us, and an inviolable fidelity to all the exercises of solid 
 piety, they have, with regard to both, rules which leave no- 
 thing to be desired, and which require much whilst they ap- 
 pear to exact little. Neither hair cloth nor the other austeri- 
 ties of the cloister are required of them. Their great penance 
 is their common life. To rise summer and winter at four 
 o'clock in the morning, make two meditations a day, live very 
 frugally, use no wine except when sick, watch with them by 
 turns for whole nights, count as nothing either the infection 
 of the hospitals or the poisoned air breathed in them, or the 
 horrors of the dead and dying; this is the kind of morti- 
 fication which the Sisters of Charity undergo : if it be 
 
UFE OF ST. V1KCEKT OF PAUL. 101 
 
 enough for vigorous men, it is certainly enough for persons 
 naturally feeble. 
 
 As regards their exercises of piety, some are prescribed by 
 the common rule, others they must refer to their confessor. 
 But both are subordinate to the wants of their neighbor. At 
 the first cry of the poor they must fly to their succour. But 
 whatever zeal they must have for procuring corporal health 
 for the sick, they must be much more interested for the health 
 oi their souls. As the voyage of eternity is performed but 
 once, as the main point is to perform it well, and for that end 
 great dispositions are required, they must, to prepare the 
 minds and hearts of the dying, profit by every moment of life 
 that remains to them. In the beginning they must endeavor 
 ■to inspire them with a lively horror of their sins; and if there 
 be still time, dispose them in an earnest manner, but in gene- 
 ral, to make an exact confession of all their miseries; if time 
 presses, they must aid them to conceive a sincere sorrow for 
 their past disorders, and a firm resolution to die rather than 
 fall into them again. 
 
 These rules, after having been practised for more than 
 tweuty years, were approved by the cardinal de Retz, arch- 
 bishop of Paris. The king confirmed the establishment by 
 his letters patent, which are an eternal monument of his piety 
 and of the esteem in which the Sisters of Charity were 
 already every where held. They afterwards merited a still 
 greater eulogy, not on account of their duties, which were al- 
 ways the same, but on account of the persons who fulfilled 
 them. Vincent, believing that God would bless more par- 
 ticularly the poor serving the poor, admitted for a number ol 
 years into the new community, only persons of a middling 
 -ank. But young ladies of high standing having offered them- 
 selves to share with the former the abjection and merit of their 
 employments, it was thought unjust to close against them a 
 door which God himself seemed to open to them. A trial 
 was therefore resolved upon, and it turned out most happily. 
 The world then saw and still sees young ladies brought up 
 delicately and accustomed to dress richly, embracing a state of 
 life in which nature has much to suffer, honoring as their 
 9* 
 
102 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 masters unfortunate beings, who would not have been allowed 
 to wait upon them in the world, and wearing with greater 
 joy a poor coarse habit, than the followers of the world ex- 
 perience in their worldly and oflen scandalous attire. 
 
 I do not know whether this change took place during the 
 life of the holy inst'ftutor: it is however certain that whatever 
 may have been the condition of the Sisters of Charity in 
 his time, he had always a particular respect for them. The 
 very name of Servants of the Poor melted the heart of this 
 father of all the afflicted. The protection which God grants 
 to those who serve him in his members, was a guarentee to 
 him against the innumerable dangers to which their virtue is 
 exposed. He sent them sometimes to the armies, to take care 
 of the wounded or sick soldiers, sometimes even to Poland, 
 through Germany, amidst a multitude of heretics, without 
 appearing to fear for them what he would have apprehended 
 for others. He sometimes seemed to promise them, that hea- 
 ven would rather work miracles in their favor, than abandon 
 them: and heaven has more than once justified his predic- 
 tions. There is an example to which all Paris was witness, 
 and in which even incredulity would find it hard not to ac- 
 knowledge the finger of God. 
 
 One of the sisters of charity having gone to wait upon a sick 
 person in a house in the suburb of Saint-Germain, had scarcely 
 entered it, when the edifice fell. Of thirty persons who were 
 in it, every one was buried under its ruins, with the excep- 
 tion of a small child which was wounded, and the sister of 
 whom we speak, who was not even touched. During this 
 terrible accident she was on the corner of a floor, which did 
 not fall, although all the other parts of the same floor fell in. 
 She remained there motionless with a porringer which she 
 carried in her hand. A shower of stones, beams, joists, 
 chests and presses, which fell from the upper stories, grazed 
 the place where she was; but they appeared to respect her: 
 she came forth unharmed from this heap of ruins, amidst the 
 acclamations of an immense body of people who' had been 
 attracted by this terrible accident. 
 
 The service which Vincent of Paul rendered the poor by 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 103 
 
 procuring a community which had no other object in view 
 but their relief, was soon followed by a new establishment, 
 which was for those very poor a source of advantage, of 
 which the most vivid imagination can form but a very im- 
 perfect idea. 
 
 On his return from a journey in which, by order of the 
 bishop of Beauvais, he made the visitation of the nuns of St. 
 Ursula, the effects of which still subsist in the wise regula- 
 tions which he left them, the lady of the late president Gous- 
 sault proposed to him a good work which she had long had 
 in contemplation. She was a lady eminent for her charity. 
 Rich and beautiful, the world was offering to her in a second 
 marriage every thing that was capable of flattering a young 
 person of her condition. But grace was stronger than na- 
 ture. Jesus Christ, poor and suffering in the poor, was the 
 only spouse whom she desired to choose. She lost nothing 
 and the poor gained a great deal. 
 
 The persons whom she most frequently visited, were the 
 sick of the Hotel-Dieu of Paris, and they were the principal 
 subject of the conversation which she had with Vincent of 
 Paul. She represented to the holy priest with great power, 
 that this vast hospital merited particular attention; that nearly 
 twenty-five thousand patients were received in it every year, 
 of "every age, sex, country, and religion; that consequently 
 an immense harvest could be reaped there, if it were well 
 regulated; that, however, things were far from being so, and 
 that she knew, from being an eye-witness of it, that the poor 
 there were much neglected both for spiritual and temporal 
 wants. 
 
 Vincent knew well that the best order did not prevail at the 
 Hotel-Dieu : but he also knew that there are evils which 
 must be tolerated, for fear, in trying to correct them, to occa- 
 sion greater ones. He was therefore content to reply to the 
 lady, that the house of which she spoke was governed by ad- 
 ministrators whom he thought very wise, and that he had no 
 authority to correct the abuses which might exist there as 
 well as any where else. This reply was very judicious, and 
 manifested much circumspection. Yet, as it afforded no 
 
104 LIFE OF ST. VJNCF.NT OF PAUL. 
 
 remedy for any thing, the zeal of Madame Goussault was not 
 satisfied with it. She made new efforts, but she always re- 
 ceived nearly the same answer. 
 
 What the love of the world does in the heart of a woman 
 who is its victim, the love of God does still more easily ia 
 those virtuous ladies who think of nothing but his glory. 
 Madame Goussault followed up her project; that is to say, 
 she persisted in her desire that it should be put in execution, 
 and what is more, that, Vincent should be the one to take it 
 in hand, because she would then be certain that it would suc- 
 ceed. With this view, she paid a visit to the archbishop of 
 Paris : she spoke to him in so striking and pressing a manner, 
 that the prelate signified to the holy priest, that it would give 
 him pleasure if he would undertake that good work. 
 
 Vincent, who had no longer any doubt of Ihe will of God, 
 invited some ladies of rank to assemble, on a certain day, at 
 the house of Madame Goussault. The ladies de Ville-Savin, 
 de Bailleul, du Mecq, de Sainctot, and de Pollaillon met accor- 
 dingly. The saint opened the assembly with a discourse so 
 energetic, and developed so well the importance of the con- 
 templated undertaking, that all resolved to engage in it. The 
 affair was again brought forward at a second assembly, which, 
 owing to the cares of the servant of God, was more numer- 
 ously attended than the first. Elizabeth d'Aligre, wife of the 
 chancellor of France, was there with Anne Petau de Tra- 
 versi, and the illustrious Marie Fouquet de Belle-Isle. The 
 last has obtained an immortal name by her attachment to God, 
 her tenderness for the poor, and her submission to the most 
 rigorous decrees of Providence ; and never will it be forgotten 
 that at the moment when she learned the humiliating disgrace 
 of her son, the superintendent of finances, she pronounced at 
 the feet of her sovereign master these words which will con- 
 stitute her eulogium forever: "I thank thee, O my God. 1 
 have begged of you the salvation of my son : this is the read 
 to it." 
 
 At this assembly they proceeded to the election of three offi- 
 cers, that is, a superior, an assistant, and a treasurer. Ma 
 dame Goussault deserved to be and was in fact the superior 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 105 
 
 of the new company ; and Vincent was appointed perpetual 
 director. In a few years it became so flourishing, that it 
 cumbered two hundred ladies, some of whom, as the duchess 
 of Mantua, were born to wear a crown. The more they tes- 
 tified their good will and ardor, the more our saint perceived 
 the importance of guiding their zeal. It was on this account 
 that he prescribed rules for them, from which they made an 
 agreement never to depart. As his first glance at things was 
 admirable, and as he saw objects in their whole extent, he re- 
 marked that the point was, first/ to do good, without reproach- 
 ing those who were at the head, with having neglected it; 
 2dly, to do it in sight of all who were willing to be wit- 
 nesses of it; 3dly, to do it for the sick, whose souls were of- 
 tentimes more to be pitied than their bodies. 
 
 This project was successfully executed in every point. 
 Those ladies, by their amiable and respectful manners, gained 
 the hearts of the religious of the house. They had every 
 liberty to visit the halls for the consolation of the sick, to 
 speak to them of God, and encourage them to make a good 
 use of their infirmities. They disposed them to make good con- 
 fessions, by merely relating to them the manner in which they 
 prepared themselves. They procured them enlightened di- 
 rectors, who were acquainted with different languages, a help 
 of which they had hitherto been deprived. They banished the 
 abuse of requiring of the sick to go to confession on entering 
 the house; an abuse which occasioned a multitude of sacri- 
 leges, and in consequence of which the calvinists, for fear of 
 not being so well treated, went to confession like the others. 
 To these aids for the soul, were added, I do not say food, but 
 comforts for the body. Every day, the Sisters of Charity, 
 in a house rented expressly in the neighborhood, were pre- 
 paring for a thousand sick persons, biscuits, preserves, jellies, 
 even fruits, according to the season and their state of convales- 
 cence. It is impossible for such attentions to be paid, except 
 by those who look upon the poor as their children; but we 
 can only look upon them as such, when a lively faith makes 
 us consider. them the images of a God loaded with our mise- 
 ries and infirmities. 
 
106 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 The s.ght of a number of ladies of the first respectability 
 who by turns performed the duties of charity with an atten 
 tion and grace of which servants are not capable; this sight, 
 I say, melted the hearts of the people and the nobility. The 
 poor, who had the greatest share in these advantages, were 
 extremely affected; and if we are permitted to judge of the 
 change of morals by the conversions made in point of reli- 
 gion, we can yield to the most favorable conjectures, since in 
 the course of a single year, the one in which the good work 
 commenced, there were more than seven hundred and sixty, 
 Turks, Calvinists, and Lutherans, of whom many had been 
 wounded and captured at sea, who embraced the catholic 
 faiih. It was even so much the persuasion in Paris, tha' 
 there was a particular blessing attached to the new society, 
 (hat good citizens begged and obtained their reception into the 
 Hotel-Dieu, by paying very liberally for their expenses, on 
 condition that they should be attended precisely as the poor 
 of the house were. 
 
 Although the expenses which this assembly incurred for 
 the sick, amounted to at least seven thousand livres a year, 
 we must only look upon them as a prelude to the efforts 
 which it made, some years afterwards, in favor of an innu- 
 merable multitude of the poor of the kingdom and the neigh- 
 boring states: even these efforts, prodigious as they may ap- 
 pear, are but a portion of the immense good of which it has 
 been the source. It was that society which, under the gui- 
 dance of Vincent of Paul, laid the first foundations of the 
 general hospital of Paris, and of that of Sainte Reine. It 
 opened an asylum for foundlings and a safe retreat for many 
 decent young women, by the establishment of the house 
 of Providence. In fine, it was that society, whose charity 
 extended itself even into Asia, Africa and America, where, 
 by abundant alms, it contributed to the support of the min- 
 isters of the gospel, to sustain the new converts, to the re- 
 demption of captives, to the erection of many churches, and 
 to the apostolical journeys performed in China and Tonquin 
 •by the bishops of Helwpolis, Berite, and Metellopolis. Such 
 a number of splendid actions require greater detail; but we 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF TAD1,. 107 
 
 must wait until the order of time permits us to speak of them 
 more extensively. 
 
 Notwithstanding these occupations and many others which 
 the archbishop of Paris added to them, Vincent always 
 pursued his two principal projects, the sanctiflcalion of the 
 clergy and the instruction of the country people. He 
 was not satisfied with what he had heretofore done for the as- 
 pirants to orders; but, as he could do nothing better, he pru- 
 dently thought that if ecclesiastics were formed early to the 
 virtues of their slate, the first pastors would find in these 
 young plants cultivated for a long time, the surest resources 
 against disorder. Willi this view he established, at the col- 
 lege des Bons Enfans, a seminary according to the plan 
 of the council of Trent; he received a number of young 
 clergymen, from the age of twelve to fourteen, to whom his 
 priests taught the chant, the ceremonies, and still more the 
 gravity, recollection, and all the virtues becoming the holy 
 ministry. But he afterwards perceived, as did also the bish- 
 ops, that this plan, beautiful as it was, would be very difficult 
 in its execution. This forced him, six or seven years after- 
 wards, not to abandon his enterprise, it is true, but to add 
 something to it, by establishing, with M. Bourdoise his friend, 
 seminaries on the same footing as they now exist in most of 
 thediocessof Prance, as we shall mention in its plice. 
 
 As to the instruction of the country people, the saint mul- 
 tiplied his missions in proportion as God multiplied his com- 
 pany. By degrees his priests visited a great part of our pro- 
 vinces. Those which were most exposed to the contagion of 
 heresy were commonly preferred to others, because their 
 wants were more pressing. It was for this reason that he 
 wished that two of his missionaries should labor two whole 
 years in the diocess of Montauban ; and although they had 
 been sent principally to strengthen the catholics who were in 
 danger of losing their faith, God gave them the grace to con- 
 vert twenty-four calvinists. They had no less succpss in the 
 iiocess of Bordeaux. As they avoided in their sermons every 
 thing like controversy, many of the pretended reformers were 
 always amongst the numbers of their hearers: but as they 
 
108 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VIKCEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 took care to place in a strong light the beauly of our holy re- 
 ligion, there were always some, returning to the unity. 
 
 It would seem that such success, of which the prelates, 
 the curates and the nobility gave the holy priest an exact ac- 
 count, could not fail to console him; yet they more than 
 once alarmed the truly christian friendship which he nour- 
 ished for his children. He feared lest the benedictions which 
 were showered upon them by pastors and people, might at 
 last weaken their humility. After the example of .holy Job, 
 he sanctified himself for them; and he offered every morn- 
 ing the victim of expiation for the faults they might have 
 committed. This precaution did not satisfy his tenderness. 
 He took care, in congratulating them on their spiritual con- 
 quests, to direct their minds to Him who was the author of 
 them. Nor did he fail to share in their functions, whenever 
 the important affairs with which he was intrusted, left him a 
 little respite; and he then chose the most laborious missions. 
 It is probably for this reason that he formed the design of put- 
 ting himselt at the head of his priests, to commence one in the 
 Cevennes, which we ought not to omit here. ,, 
 
 Every one knows that the Cevennes are a chain of high 
 mountains, which extend for nearly thirty leagues ih\lhe dio- 
 cesses of Alais, Uzes, Mende, and in a part of Vivarais. It 
 is also known that as they are difficult of access, heresy\and 
 that spirit of revolt which follows in its train, had made a ram- 
 part of them, which was more than once the stumbling blocNc 
 of our troops. Calvinism, at the time of which we speak/ 1 
 had, as it were, its head quarters there. Its ministers, like fu- 
 rious wolves, made frequent excursions into the neighboring 
 plains, from whence they always carried away some of the 
 flock of the Son of God. The fear of still greater ravages in- 
 duced Sylvester de Marciilac, bishop of Mende, to expose his 
 situation to the servant of God. Vincent gave him aid as soon 
 as he was able ; and by the conduct he held at this time with a 
 man of whom we are going to speak, he showed, that, in his 
 opinion, there was no science nor erudition to be put in com 
 petition before God with the labor of a simple country mission. 
 Our saint had at Rome one of his priests, named Du Coudrai, 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 109 
 
 who was perfectly acquainted with the Syriac and Hebrew 
 languages. Some persons of distinction, who were well dis- 
 posed towards Vincent of Paul an! his institute, begged Du 
 Coudrai to give a new Latin version of the Syriac text. They 
 were persuaded that a work of this nature would do honor to 
 a rising congregation, and would not be useless to the church. 
 They also wished him to write against the Jews, and in order 
 t o contend more successfully with them, that he should make 
 use of their own books, which he understood better than their 
 most learned rabins. Du Coudrai listened willingly to these 
 two propositions; but before giving his consent, he wished to 
 know what his superior would think of it. Vincent, the hum- 
 ble and charitable Vincent, entreated him not to think of it. 
 He represented to him, that such works nourished the curiosity 
 of the learned, but contributed nothing to the salvation of the 
 poor people, for which Providence had chosen him ; that a 
 more urgent necessity called him elsewhere; that there were 
 actually in France thousands of souls, stretching out their 
 hands to him, and telling him in the most moving manner: 
 "Alas! sir, you have been chosen by God, to contribute to 
 our salvation ; have pity on us. We have for a long time 
 been buried in sin and ignorance. To be relieved from them 
 we need neither Syriac nor Latin versions. Your zeal and 
 the miserable jargon of our mountains, will be sufficient for 
 us. Without that, we are in danger of perishing." 
 
 This letter, which was in the same spirit as the one which 
 the apostle of the Indies once wrote to the university of Pa- 
 ris, concluded with entreaties still more urgent. The saint 
 protested that he could not resist the solicitations of the bishop 
 of Mende ; and that he would himself go into the Cevennes, 
 if he could find no other person to go in his place. 
 
 New embarrassments and a dangerous fall which he met 
 with at that time, did not permit him to put his design in exe- 
 cution. Two of his priests took his place. They labored for 
 nearly two years in that awful country, and had a good share 
 of the chalice of the Lord. But at last God blessed their pa- 
 tience. The bishop wrote to our saint, that he had already re- 
 ceived the abjuration of thirtv or forty Huguenots; that there 
 10 
 
110 LI(E OF ST. VINCEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 were as many more who, in a few days, would renounce 
 their errors, and that the last mission had produced incredible 
 fruit. 
 
 Some time after, the king proposed another mission to Vin- 
 cent. The terrors of war, after having laid waste the ex- 
 tremities, were penetrating gradually into the very heart, of 
 the kingdom. The Spaniards, led on by the famous Jean de 
 Wert and Prince Thomas, took in a few days la Capelle, le 
 Catelet and Corbie. The loss of the last place threw Paris 
 into such consternation, that a great number of inhabitants 
 left it, with their most valuable effects. The cardinal of Riche- 
 lieu, who had entered the capital to remove fear, caused twenty 
 thousand men, mostly servants and apprentices, to be levied 
 there immediately. The terrified Parisians gave more than 
 was necessary for the sustenance of this body of military. 
 The house of St. Lazarus, whose members were then in their 
 annual retreat, was used as a place for exercise, and in the 
 space of eight days, seventy-two companies were trained 
 there. The king, who believed that he would succeed against 
 his enemies, if he could succeed in obtaining the favor of the 
 God of Armies, wished that great attention should be paid to 
 the sanctification of the troops; and it was according to the 
 direction of this religious prince, that the chancellor requested 
 Vincent of Paul to send twenty of his missionaries to the 
 camp. A report but too well founded that a contagious dis- 
 ease had broken out amongst the troops, was a motive for 
 these worthy laborers to hasten their departure; and Vincent 
 calculated so much upon their zeal, that to induce them to set 
 out with greater diligence, he contented himself with writing 
 to them that the plague was in the army. 
 
 Fidelity to the wise regulations which the saint gave them, 
 according to his custom, drew down the blessing of heaven 
 upon those worthy ministers and upon their labors: and on 
 the twentieth of September 1636, four thousand soldiers had 
 already approached the tribunal of penance, shedding abun- 
 dant tears. That mission, which encamped and moved almost 
 every day, served, not only for the troops of the king; it was 
 also useful to a great number of parishes in which the army 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT 0/ PAUL. Ill 
 
 remained, and which, with the permission of the bishops, 
 profited by the occasion which God furnished them to become 
 reconciled to him. Many, as well of the military as of the 
 inhabitants of the country, died in an edifying manner. More- 
 over, as experience teaches that those who carry arms, are 
 never more intrepid than when they are in friendship with 
 God, that army, although composed in part of new troops, 
 did wonders. Corbie, which the Spaniards had fortified as 
 well as they could, capitulated eight days after the siege was 
 opened. Its surrender spread alarm throughout Flanders. 
 Picardy breathed again, and the inhabitants of Paris thought 
 themselves safe. The priests of the mission returned thither 
 completely worn out. Some of them had been attacked with 
 the contagious disease; but God preserved them for his 
 church, and it was not long before they rendered new ser- 
 vices in many missions, and above all in those which were 
 made at the entreaties of Mr. Noel Brulard, better known by 
 the name of the commander of Sillery. 
 
 This distinguished person had gained great reputation in 
 several important negotiations. By means of the commandery 
 with which his order had invested him, he made a great figure 
 in the world, and a very small one before God. Grace touched 
 his heart; and in consequence of that idea of an ancient Fa- 
 ther, that we are very miserable in living only for others, 
 when we have to die for ourselves alone, he determined to 
 give to his salvation all the remainder of his life. He began 
 by quitting his hotel of Sillery and all its sumptuous apart- 
 ments. He rid himself of the greater part of his domestics, 
 after having rewarded them in proportion to their services. 
 He sold his richest furniture, and gave very considerable 
 sums for different charitable works. 
 
 Time only redoubled his fervor; and that fervor caused him 
 to be thought worthy of the priesthood. His zeal was not 
 confined to his own person. He undertook to provide for the 
 spiritual wants of those of the curates of his order, who de- 
 pended on him; and after having conferred about it with our 
 saint, in whose hands he was like a child in the hands of its 
 father, he obtained from the grand master of Malta, a com- 
 
112 LUTE OX ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 mission as visiter, with power to re-establish discipline. To 
 give success to this important visit, it was determined that 
 missions should be united to it, in order to reform at the same 
 time the people and those who were at their head. The former 
 were taught the great truths of christian morality; instruc- 
 tions were given to the latter on subjects proper to their state 
 of life. The wisdom and zeal of the laborers drew down 
 from heaven the most abundant benedictions upon their la- 
 bors : they soon became that land which the Lord has blessed. 
 
 A commencement so happy encouraged the pious comman- 
 der. To keep the streams in good order, he desired to purify 
 the source, and for that end, to establish at Paris, in the house 
 of the Temple, a kind of seminary, where those who wished 
 to devote themselves to religion, might qualify themselves to 
 do, in the benefices of the order, all the good which could be 
 justly expected of them. But this excellent design succeeded 
 badly, because it was too much hurried. Our saint made 
 some stay in the Temple. He wished to act in accordance 
 with his ordinary maxim, which was, not to do things has- 
 tily. Unfortunately, he appeared too slow for those who la- 
 bored with him. They wanted to do every thing in a day; 
 they did nothing at all. The commander who perceived it, 
 although a little too late, redoubled his esteem and affection for 
 the servant of God; and he gave him real proofs of it, by con- 
 tributing to the foundation of the seminary of Annecy, and to 
 the subsistence of the house of St. Lazarus, which the mis- 
 fortunes of the times reduced some years afterwards to the 
 greatest extremity. 
 
 These good offices, which will always be gratefully remem- 
 bered in the congregation, and which are only a part of the 
 holy actions of Mr. de Sillery, merited for him abundant 
 graces, both during his life, and at his death which was pre- 
 cious in the sight of God. Vincent of Paul rendered him, 
 during his last moments, all the services of which the most 
 sincere gratitude is capable. The great example of faith, firm- 
 ness and submission which he saw in this virtuous com- 
 mander, indemnified him fully, for all the trouble he had ta- 
 ken for his order. The knights of Malta, than whom none 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 113 
 
 are better acquainted with the rules of politeness and respect, 
 were very sensible of his attention: and, on the seventh of 
 September 1637, the grand master Paul Lascaris, a descen- 
 dant of the counts of Vintimille and of the ancient emperors 
 of Constantinople, wrote to Vincent to return him his thanks. 
 
 About three weeks after the date of this letter, our saint re- 
 ceived another from Mr. de Saint-Cyran, which was not alto- 
 gether so polite. As this famous abbe is necessarily con- 
 nected with the history we are writing, we must, in order to 
 give a correct idea of the singular contests, which the holy 
 priest had with him, retrace our steps a little. 
 
 Jean du Verger de Hauranne, abbe de Saint-Cyran, an inti- 
 mate friend of Jansenius, after having spent some years in Poi- 
 tou, came to Paris ; and he there exhibited an air of austerity 
 and zeal, which, although he performed no miracles, caused 
 him to be looked upon as a new Elias. The bishop of Ypres, 
 alarmed at his own system upon grace, sought protectors for 
 it, and looked upon it as a point of importance to gain over 
 some religious community. The abbe de Saint-Cyran made • 
 every exertion to help him in this matter. The marks of de- 
 ference repeatedly paid him by our saint, led him to believe 
 that he might at last speak to him more openly. He began to 
 introduce some of his maxims: but he did it, at first, with so 
 much artifice, that a man less attentive than our saint, would 
 have been caught. 
 
 Every conversation, however, improved upon the preceding 
 one. One day, having fallen upon some point of the doctrine 
 of Calvin, the servant of God was much astonished to hear 
 the abbe de Saint-Cyran take the. part of that heresiarch. He 
 represented to him that this doctrine had been condemned by 
 the church. The abbe answered, " That Calvin had not had 
 so bad a cause; but had defended it badly. "Bene, sensit," ad- 
 ded he, "male locutus esf."* 
 
 Another time, as Saint-Cyran grew warm in defending a 
 point of doctrine condemned by the council of Trent, Vincent 
 
 * I follow here Mr. Abelli, bishop of Rhodes, author of the first 
 life of St. Vincent of Paul, on account of the importance of the 
 subject. 
 
 10* 
 
114 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 said to him: "Sir, you go too far. Would you have me 
 believe a private doctor like yourself, in preference to the 
 whole church, which is the pillar of truth'? . . . How do you 
 presume to prefer your judgment to that of so many holy 
 prelates assembled in the council of Trent, and who have de- 
 cided those points?" "Do not speak to me of that council," 
 replied the Abbe de Saint-Cyran ; " it was a council of the 
 pope and of the scholastics, which was nothing but faction 
 and cabal." 
 
 " Another day," it is still the bishop of Rhodes who speaks, 
 " Mr. Vincent having said with his accustomed mildness to 
 the abbe, who was coming out of his cabinet: 'Acknowledge, 
 sir, that you have just written something of what God has 
 imparted to you in your morning meditation.' Saint-Cyran 
 answered : ' I confess that God has imparted and imparts to 
 me great light. He has made known to me that there is no 
 
 longer a church Five or six hundred years ago, the 
 
 church was like a great river, the waters of which were clear ; 
 but now what seems to us a church, is but a muddy stream,' 
 &c. ' What, sir,' replied Vincent, 'would you prefer your 
 own private opinions to the word of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who promised to build his church upon the rock, and that 
 the gates of hell should not prevail against her? The church 
 is his spouse, and he will never abandon her."' 
 
 This argument was simple, but it was strong. To get rid 
 of it, the abbe answered him: "It is true that Jesus Christ 
 has built his church upon the rock ; but there is a time to 
 build and to destroy. She was his spouse; but she is now 
 an aduhress and a prostitute : it is for this reason he has re- 
 pudiated her, and will substitute another in her place, who 
 will be faithful to him." At these words, our saint, stunned 
 and seized with horror, stood in need of all his moderation. 
 He confined himself, then, to replying to the innovator, that 
 he ought to mistrust himself, and that he lost sight of the 
 respect which was due to the church. Saint-Cyran who 
 easily lost his patience, replied in an angry tone: "And you, 
 sir, do you know yourself what the church is ?" Vincent 
 gave merely the definition found in the catechism for the 
 
MFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 115 
 
 children. He answered that the church was the assembly of 
 the faithful under the guidance of its lawful pastors, &c. 
 "You understand nothing but high Dutch," answered the 
 abbe, in a rage ; " you are an ignorant man : far from being 
 at the head of your congregation, you should be expelled 
 from it; and I am surprised that they suffer you in it." " I 
 am more surprised at it than you, sir," replied the man of 
 God; " and I know well that if justice were done me, they 
 would not fail to dismiss me." Thus ended this interview, 
 in which Vincent of Paul and Saint-Cyran maintained their 
 characters admirably; the one by his unalterable humility; 
 the other by a gloomy pride, whick knows neither equity nor 
 decency. From that time the holy priest broke off with him, 
 as has been attested by M. de Montmorin, archbishop of Vi- 
 enne, and the illustrious Abbe de Rochechouard de Chandenier, 
 who had learned it from Vincent himself. 
 
 However, as many excellent persons, and above all the • 
 Rev. Father de Condren, complained more and more of the 
 peryerse opinions of Saint-Cyran, Vincent, who would have 
 done any thing to save him from the precipice in which he 
 was on the point of falling, resolved to make another trial. 
 Having paid him a visit, he endeavored to dispose him to re- 
 ceive favorably the advice he had to give him. He then 
 spoke to him of the obligation of submitting his judgment to 
 that of the church, and of having more respect for the coun- 
 cil of Trent than he had evinced. He showed to him par- 
 ticularly, that some of the propositions which he had main- 
 tained in his presence, were contrary to the doctrine of the 
 church. He represented to him that he was losing himself 
 in a labyrinth of errors, and that, above all, he had been very 
 wrong in trying to engage him and his congregation in them. 
 The saint became animated in the course of the interview, 
 and he spoke with so much force and solidity, that the abbe 
 was silenced, and did not answer a word. 
 
 The good works which occupied Vincent of Paul at tne 
 time of the event which we have just related, did not make 
 him forget the daughters of St. Francis of Sales. During the 
 same year, 1637, he visited two of their houses There he 
 
116 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 beheld with great pleasure all that piety, peace and harmony 
 could afford most pleasing and consoling. It must, however, 
 be acknowledged that he found once an object calculated to 
 move a heart like his, and to cause him to wonder at the 
 rigorous trials, through which God is pleased from time to 
 time to lead his elect. 
 
 A religious of great merit became all at once the victim of 
 a temptation as violent, at least, as that of the doctor whom 
 our saint had relieved, when he was almoner to Queen Mar- 
 garet. This Sister, who, till that time, had been filled with the 
 love of God, felt nothing but horror for the august sacrament 
 of our altars, and an inflexible aversion for all the exercises 
 of religion. When exhorted to bless the name of the Lord, 
 the spirit of blasphemy seized upon her, and made her break 
 out in imprecations. In the excess of her fury, she was 
 sometimes tempted to kill herself, that she might, as she said, 
 be sooner in hell, there to taste the pleasure of cursing God 
 during all eternity. The superior of the house, after having 
 uselessly exhausted all the remedies of art, and a part of those 
 furnished by religion, applied to her with the liveliest confi- 
 dence and devotion a small piece of the rochet of St. Francis 
 of Sales ; but that expedient did not succeed until some days 
 afterwards, when Vincent having joined to it, in the course 
 of his visit, the most fervent prayers, applied the relic him- 
 self, as if the holy bishop had wished to make it known, after 
 his death, that he accepted the services which a priest whose 
 virtue he had honored during his life, was pleased to render 
 him in the person of his daughters. 
 
 However desirous our saint was, not to multiply the estab 
 lishments of his company, he found that he could not long 
 resist the solicitations of a number of 'respectable persons, 
 who, charmed with the good done by his missionaries, asked 
 for them with the most earnest entreaties. The diocess of 
 Toul had just obtained them. Marie de Wignerod, who al- 
 Wys honored Vincent as we honor the saints who are still 
 upon earth, begged some also for her duchy of Aiguillon. 
 The cardinal minister, whose requests amounted to orders, 
 wished them both for the city of Richelieu, and the diocess 
 
LIFE Of ST. VINCENT Or PAUL. 117 
 
 of Luf on, of which he had been bishop. To fill the vacuum 
 made in consequence of these new establishments, our saint 
 determined to form an internal seminary, where he would 
 receive, not only priests already formed to the functions of 
 the ministry, as had been done heretofore, but also young 
 men less advanced, and who stood in need of being cultivated 
 for a longer time. 
 
 An employment of such importance required a virtuous, 
 capable, and experienced director; mild without weakness, 
 firm without harshness, watchful without affectation, capable 
 of humbling others without discouraging them, of managing 
 the wavering without infringing on the rule, of strengthening 
 those entrusted to him as much by his example as by the 
 unction of his discourses ; of distinguishing what is true and 
 solid, from what has only the appearances of it, and who 
 above all, should possess the great art of the discernment of 
 souls. Vincent found all these qualities in the person of 
 Jean de la Salle, one of his three first associates. He charged 
 him with the care of this young and precious band, destined 
 to combat one day for the salvation of the people ; and besides 
 the advice which he gave him, he desired him to consult those 
 who, at that time, had the reputation of being the most succes- 
 ful in forming youth to the apostolical functions. 
 
 The servant of God always hoped that Providence, which 
 had given birth to his congregation, would furnish subjects 
 capable of fulfilling all the duties of it. His grand maxim 
 was, that it belonged to God alone to choose his ministers; 
 and that the vocations to which artifice gives rise, and which 
 a kind of dishonesty nourishes, dishonor the flock in multi- 
 plying it. 
 
 To avoid the first of these faults, he made it an inviolable 
 rule never to say a word to any one to induce him to enter 
 into his congregation, and he strictly forbade his children ever 
 to solicit any one. He would not even suffer them to bias 
 any who might appear to have an inclination that way ; 
 and when a person hesitated between another company and 
 his own, he was no ways backward in deciding against the 
 latter. "O Sir!" said he, "we are not worthy to be com* 
 
118 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 pared with that other holy community. Go to it, in the name 
 of the Lord, you will be incomparably better off there than 
 with us." 
 
 With regard to those who, having already taken their fina, 
 resolution, begged admission of him, he did not receive them 
 but with the greatest circumspection. He examined into their 
 motives, dispositions, talents, and family. He represented to 
 them, with a sort of exaggeration, the difficulties attached to 
 the state which they desired to embrace. He asked them 
 whether they would have fortitude enough,' to bid an eternal 
 adieu to their parents, to their most intimate friends, even to 
 their country, should it become necessary to send them to 
 foreign lands. The most precise answers on their part, did 
 not satisfy this wise institutor. He required them to return 
 several times, that he might be better acquainted w ith them ; 
 and whatever trial he might have made of their dispositions 
 and perseverance, he never gave them his last word, until 
 after they had made a retreat to consult the will of God. 
 
 To avoid the second fault, which is a part of what the laws 
 call fraud and unfairness, the saint most carefully avoided to 
 present youth only with flowers during the time of their trial, 
 waiting to show them the thorns, for the time when they should 
 have taken the last step. The plan of his seminary has no- 
 thing in it, it is true, which can overcharge nature; but it has 
 all that is necessary to make every one feel the weight of the 
 obligations that are to be contracted. Neither hair-cloth, nor 
 mortifications, nor other fasts than those which oblige all the 
 faithful, are prescribed ; but in place of them, that is required 
 which commonly costs much more, a complete separation 
 from the world, an interior life, great fidelity to all duties, and, 
 if possible, an inexhaustible fund of that holy unction, which 
 must one day sustain men engaged in their state, in the most 
 laborious functions of the ministry. It is with that view that 
 they have always been accustomed to a painful and laborious 
 life. To rise exactly at four o'clock in the morning during 
 the most rigorous season ; to make two meditations a day, 
 and always in common ; to nourish themselves by the reading 
 of books best suited to "young ecclesiastics ; to pass no day 
 
J,IPE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 119 
 
 without reading, and even committing to memory some por- 
 tion of the New Testament; to purify themselves by fre- 
 quent confessions, strengthen themselves by holy commu- 
 nions, render to themselves at the end of each month, in a 
 little retreat, an account of the progress which they have 
 made in virtue, or rather of that which they have failed to 
 make. These are a portion of the occupations of the internal 
 seminary. 
 
 From this career, when they have completed it well, they 
 pass to that of study. They espouse the opinions of no par- 
 ticular school : Plato and Aristotle are there esteemed, but 
 truth is valued more than Aristotle and Plato. The great 
 rule is, never to look upon any thing as true which the church 
 has condemned, and to reprobate whatever she has thought 
 proper to proscribe. This was the rule of Vincent of Paul, 
 and it will always be that of his true children. 
 
 But if this holy man required that his company should be 
 thoroughly instructed, as well in the dogmas which they 
 were obliged to announce to the people, as in the morals ne- 
 cessary to guide them properly, his humility which nothing 
 could escape, induced him to take extraordinary measures to 
 remove from them that conceit and vanity, which are too fre- 
 quently the companions of talents and knowledge. When 
 he was charged with the direction of the seminaries, he proved 
 by a long and judicious written argument, that, with the ap- 
 probation of the bishops, it would be sufficient to explain 
 a printed author, by pointing out the places where he had 
 gone astray from the truth. He would have taken in very 
 bad part, that any of the members of his company, when as- 
 sisting at public disputes in ihe university and elsewhere, 
 should not have looked upon themselves as the last of all, in 
 every respect; and much more so, should they have shown 
 a disposition to appear thejirst. I will give a singular and 
 very striking example of it. 
 
 Jacques Corborand de la Fosse, an orator, a philosopher, a 
 theologian, and so good a poet that Santenie looked upon him 
 as his rival and often as his master, went one day to a tragedy 
 which was to be represented in a famous college of Paris, 
 
120 LIFE OF ST. VJNCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 and took a seat which was destined for other persons. The 
 principal sent him word by a servant to take another place. 
 La Fosse, whom the spectacle had enlivened, said in good La- 
 tin to the servant who did not understand hirn, that he was 
 well where he was, and did not think proper to change. The 
 principal, hearing the answer, took him for a foreigner, and 
 sent him a young regent, who paid him in Latin the same com- 
 pliment that had already been paid him in French. La Fosse 
 who possessed the language of Demosthenes perfectly, re- 
 turned in Greek, compliments which tended to express that 
 he did not like to change his place. The professor not being 
 able to answer, returned to the principal and gave him an ac- 
 count of the bad success of his mission. The principal, fa- 
 tigued at the delay, deputed to him the regent of rhetoric; but 
 La Fosse spoke Hebrew to him. It was then, that a learned 
 man of the company recognised him, and had him placed ac- 
 cording to his merit and with great distinction. 
 
 As he was quite full of this adventure, he had no sooner 
 returned to St. Lazarus, than he related it indiscreetly to his 
 friends with all the fire of his imagination. Vincent was soon 
 informed of it; and although he saw well that this was only, 
 a joke on the part of this young priest, he thought that he 
 should mortify him a little. After having represented to him 
 that a truly humble man does not seek the first places, nor to 
 make himself known in public by his talents, he directed him 
 to go and ask pardon of the principal and of the two regents 
 whom he had disedified. La Fosse, who was never inflated 
 by his talents, obeyed without saying a word. As he had to 
 deal with persons who knew how to esteem merit, he was 
 received with the greatest respect: it is even said that he was 
 so well pleased with them, that, under a new impulse of his 
 enthusiasm, he returned them his thanks in French, Latin, 
 Greek, and Hebrew; but fearing another lesson, he did not 
 boast of it. 
 
 With this talent for keeping his priests in humility, the ser- 
 vant of God had also that of encouraging them in their la- 
 bors. Without ever praising them in their presence, he knew 
 how to keep up a holy emulation in them, by his example. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 121 
 
 by the unction of his words, and by the care he took to make 
 known to them the blessings which God bestowed upon the 
 labors of their brethren. On the other hand, they were all 
 well persuaded of the affection which he had for them. A 
 father could not love his children more tenderly than he loved 
 them. His tenderness manifested itself in the reprimands 
 which he was sometimes obliged to give them. In him they 
 lost all that bitterness which seem inseparable from them. 
 
 It was above all in the persecutions which they had to un- 
 dergo, or in their sickness, that they experienced his affection. 
 He was not one of those devout persons who, always full of 
 attention for themselves in their sickness, are satisfied with 
 giving vague orders for the comfort of others, without seeming 
 to care much about the execution of them. Vincent exam- 
 ined personally whether they were treated, as became men 
 who often suffered from excess of iabor; and he gave such 
 express orders, that no one would have dared infringe them. 
 Hence they could be seen flying instantly to the most barba- 
 rous countries, or to provinces where pestilence and death 
 reigned; because they were sure to receive from him the best 
 treatment, or from God the crown which he has prepared for 
 those who combat to the end. 
 
 At the commencement of the following year, they gave 
 him a new proof of their obedience, in a celebrated mission, 
 which cost them a great deal. It was performed at Saint- 
 Germain, where the king was with all his court. Vincent 
 would have desired it to be made by other persons. His 
 priests, destined to the salvation of the poor country people, 
 seemed to him little calculated to evangelize the great ones of 
 the world. But Louis XIII, having insisted on having his 
 missionaries, he was obliged to obey. The commencement 
 was trying. The firmness with which, in the sacred tribunal, 
 they wished to oblige worldly females to observe modesty, 
 produced a great commotion. They complained aloud of the 
 pretended severity of the confessors, and ridiculed them in 
 every way. But those men, who were accustomed to walk, 
 straight forward, continued to preach the gospel in all its pu- 
 jty, and to exclude from the participation of the holy mys- 
 11 
 
122 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 teries, those persons, who, sometimes without passions, them- 
 selves, appear in such a manner as to excite them in others, 
 and occasion the loss of multitudes. 
 
 However the calm soon succeeded the tempest. The unc- 
 tion of the spirit of God touched those who made the most 
 noise. They even became so fervent, that having joined the 
 charitable confraternity, of which we have so often spoken, 
 they served the poor in person, and procured them most abun- 
 dant help. There was scarcely a person in the house of the 
 king, who did not endeavor to profit by the graces which hea- 
 ven showered with so much abundance. That religious 
 prince was very much affected by it, and he had the goodness 
 to say to one of these worthy ministers, that he was very 
 well satisfied with the exercises of the mission ; that it was 
 the proper manner to labor successfully, and that he would 
 bear this testimony every where. 
 
 The cardinal of Richelieu, laborious as he was, found the 
 labors of the missionaries excessive. He directed the holy in- 
 stitutor to give them a day of relaxation every week. Thus 
 it is to the attention of that great minister that they still owe 
 their weekly day of rest. 
 
 The queen was at that time in the early stage of preg- 
 nancy, and she gave a dauphin to France, that very year, 
 after being married twenty-two years. To testify her gratitude 
 to God, she displayed a great and pious liberality. The es- 
 teem in which she held Vincent of Paul did not allow her to 
 forget the house of St. Lazarus. She made a present to the 
 sacristy which was very poor, of a beautiful ornament of 
 silver cloth. It seemed to have come in good season for the 
 feast of Christmas. However, the humility of the saint would 
 not permit him to use it. It was absolutely necessary to give 
 him one of a more common quality. 
 
 Ann of Austria knew so well, by the effects of the first 
 mission of Saint-Germain, what a truly apostolical zeal is ca- 
 pable of, that four years afterwards, she asked a second mis- 
 sion for the same city. It is true she had principally in view 
 the salvation of a great number of laborers who were working 
 at the buildings of the chateau : but the whole court profited 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 12S 
 
 by it. The queen assisted every evening, with great fervor 
 and devotion, at the sermons of a missionary distinguished by 
 his talents and his apostolic zeal. Another gave every day 
 in the chateau itself instructions of piety to the ladies of the 
 queen. What was most singular, the dauphin, who was 
 scarcely three years old, had, in his way, a share in the bles- 
 sings of the house. Ann of Austria absolutely insisted that 
 he should be taught his little catechism; ;ind it was a young 
 ecclesiastic of the congregation that was charged with this 
 honorable duty. 
 
 It was probably this year that Vincent of Paul hail the con- 
 solation of seeing Mr. Queriolet, that man who, from being a 
 decided and scandalous libertine, had become a model of pen- 
 ance, but of a penance so frightful, that antiquity itself scarcely 
 affords any thing to be compared with it. Mr. Bernard, sur- 
 named the poor priest, who was like himself, a sensible proof 
 of the power of the grace of Jesus Christ, accompanied him 
 in the visits which he paid to some persons of eminent virtue. 
 The reverend Father de Condren and Vincent of Paul were 
 of the number. Mr. de dueriolet had with each of them a 
 private conference, of which historians. have not preserved the 
 details, but which doubtless tended to animate his perseve- 
 rance. It was at the sight of these perfect christians, that 
 Vincent sometimes cried out: "I alone, a miserable sinner, 
 do nothing but evil upon earth; I ought to desire that God 
 would be pleased to remove me soon from it." 
 
 Yet this man, who looked upon himself as the most useless 
 servant, was so much occupied and in so holy a manner, 
 from morning till night, that bis life was only a train of good 
 works. We cannot even now conceive how a man so infirm, 
 and who never omitted his exercises of piety, could attend so 
 many different occupations, answer exactly such a prodigious 
 number of letters received from all quarters, and form with 
 so much care the two companies which he instituted*. But 
 these good works, which would suffice to exhaust others, 
 cost him little. The remainder of his history will afford us 
 6ome of greater importance, 
 
Book Sljirfo. 
 
 Althodh Vincent of Paul has hitherto afforded us proofs 
 of a virtue the most exact, and a charity the most extensive, 
 we must acknowledge that his career, in his advanced age, is 
 yet much more brilliant. Let us forget then, if possible/ every 
 thing he did during more than forty years ; we shall still find 
 enough to place him on a level with those men of mercy, 
 who did honor to the church in her most splendid days. Com- 
 passion for the wretched and zeal for the salvation of sinners, 
 will here, as elsewhere, constitute the primary trait in his 
 character; but as the occasions will be more urgent than ever, 
 we shall see him deserve in a more striking and distinguished 
 manner the glorious name of Father of the" Afflicted, which 
 his age attributed to him. The aid which he is about to fur- 
 nish to the indigent and suffering, wfll not be confined to some 
 families, or parishes, or to a particular class of poor; it will 
 extend to vast provinces, and in these provinces it will have 
 for its object, persons consecrated to God as well as secu- 
 lars; the nobles as well as the people. All these different 
 conditions will come under the jurisdiction of his tender 
 charity, because all will be found smitten by the hand of God, 
 and reduced to the most humiliating necessity. 
 
 Lorraine and the duchy of Bar were the first theatres of 
 his zeal. These two provinces, once so populous, so fertile, 
 had, for the last thirteen years, for their sovereign Charles 
 IV, a valiant, intrepid prince, eager for glory, strong enough 
 to give uneasiness to his neighbors, too weak to contend 
 against them, always ready to come to an accommodation, and 
 still more so to break through his arrangements. A hero of 
 this stamp had everything that is necessary to wicked princes 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 125 
 
 for the desolation of their own dominions; and he could 
 scarcely count upon the protection of the God of armies, par- 
 ticularly since, weary of his wife to whom he seemed to owe 
 his crown, he had contracted a second and scandalous mar- 
 riage with Beatrix de Cusance, princess of Cantecroix. 
 
 It was about the time that he was occupied with this crimi- 
 nal design, that Lorraine became a theatre of horror. The 
 Imperialists, the French, the Spaniards, the Swedes, and the 
 inhabitants of Lorraine themselves, laid it waste by turns, , 
 and sometimes all at the same time. The duke of yeymar, ' 
 at the head of his troops, who were rendered furious by the 
 diversity of religion, did the most damage. His soldiers acted 
 in this unhappy country, almost like furious wolves, when 
 falling upon a flock of sheep. There was no longer security 
 for virtuous females, even in the seclusion of the monasteries; 
 no travellers were found on the high roads ; no flocks were 
 seen ; no laborers in the fields ; there was no rest for the man 
 who slept beside another, through the fear of being murdered. 
 
 The greater part of the cities, towns, and villages were de- 
 serted; others were reduced to ashes. Those of which the 
 soldiery had not gained possession, suffered all the horrors of 
 pestilence and famine. Their livid, ghastly, disfigured in- 
 habitants found themselves happy, when they could eat in 
 peace the herbs and roots of the fields. Acorns and wild 
 fruits were sold in the markets for the nourishment of men. 
 The animals that died, the most infectious carrion, were sought 
 for with an avidity approaching to madness. A mother made 
 an agreement with another to eat her own child, provided her 
 companion would grant the like favor. A man was hung at 
 the gale of Nancy, who was convicted of having killed his 
 own sister for a loaf of bread. All the horrors of the famines 
 of Samaria and Jerusalem did not come up to what" was 
 seen there. We do not read that, during the siege of the 
 holy city, the children devoured those from whom they had 
 received life; these horrors were reserved fur Lorraine; and- 1 
 would not dare to relate them, if I had not before my eyes, 
 cotemporary authors, who have transmitted to us the ac- 
 count of them. Hence the expression of Father Caussin 
 11* 
 
126 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 the confessor of Louis XIII : " SoUt Lotharingia Jerosolymam 
 calami tale vinc'd." 
 
 The cities which the king had taken, or which were already 
 under his dominion, as Nancy, Bar, Toul, Pont-a-Mousson, 
 and some others, breathed a little longer; but they shared, at 
 last, the fate of the rest of the province, and at the time to 
 which our history now refers, were, like the others, reduced 
 to the last extremity. 
 
 It was very difficult to relieve them. Five armies which 
 France was keeping at the same lime, consumed a part of 
 the aid, which charity, in a less stormy period, would have 
 consecrated to the wants of the indigent. Every one com- 
 plained, as they complain in public calamities. They were 
 terrified at the present, and the future was not less dark. 
 
 Things were in this condition, when Vincent, animated 
 with the spirit of the first priest of the old law, undertook to 
 place himself between the living and the dead, arrest the 
 flames which consumed the multitude, and raise the standard 
 of charity in a country where mercy was unknown, and 
 where the laws emitted a sound as dying as those who had 
 enacted them. 
 
 The servant of God rekindled, by the heat of his discourses, 
 the spirit of compassion, so necessary, yet so rare in similar 
 circumstances. He set in motion the pious ladies of his as- 
 sembly. He had recourse to the duchess of Aiguillon, and 
 even to the queen herself, although she had no reason to be 
 contented with the country for which his solicitations were 
 made. He always gave first the example of a holy and gene- 
 rous liberality. He preferred, in some measure, to see those 
 of his congregation" suffer, than to behold any longer the 
 misery of the poor of Jesus Christ. From the time of the 
 siege cf Corbie, he had already retrenched something from their 
 table; but at the time of the miseries of Lorraine, he reduced 
 the community to brown bread. His children did not mur- 
 mur, because he followed, more rigorously than any one 
 else, the rule which he imposed on others. 
 
 The pains which he took were not without fruit. He found 
 himself in a condition to save the life, and often the honor; of 
 
LIFE OP ST. V1NCKNT OF PAUL. 127 
 
 the inhabitants of twenty-five c.ties, and of an immense num- 
 ber of towns and villages, which were at the last extremity. 
 He caused the sick, who were often lying in the public 
 places, to be furnished with all the help, which they could 
 expect from the most tender charity. He clothed many, not 
 only those of the lowest order of the people, of every age and 
 sex, but also a number of young ladies of respectability, who 
 were upon the point of perishing in more senses than one, 
 of religious consecrated to God, who, more disfigured than 
 those spoken of by Jeremiah, had hitherto announced use- 
 lessly to all Europe their affliction and poverty. 
 
 As a wise economy in the distribution of alms, is one of the 
 best means to spare those who bestow them, and make them 
 useful to those who receive them, Vincent took measures 
 of the most consummate prudence in the distribution of those 
 with which he was entrusted. He sent twelve of his mis- 
 sionaries, full of zeal and intelligence, into different parts of 
 the country ; he associated with them some brothers of his 
 society, who were acquainted with medicine and surgery. 
 He drew up for them long and wise regulation?, by the ob- 
 servance of which they could neither give offence to bishops, 
 governors, or magistrates. He prescribed to them to consult 
 the curates, and when there was none, as it often happened, 
 the most remarkable persons in the place, in order to avoid 
 being deceived, and to proportion the aid to the wants, the 
 number, and the condition of the sufferers. Although -the 
 ladies of his assembly left absolutely to him the employment 
 of the great sums which they placed in his hands, he never 
 did any thing without taking their advice, and often the or- 
 ders of the queen, in order tha^he might follow in every thing 
 the intention of the benefactors. 
 
 It was by pursuing this plan, that he was able to satisfy 
 every body, and especially the poor, who are often intractable, 
 almost always disposed to murmur, not thinking so much of 
 the good done them, as of that which, they have a right to 
 exact. It is true that the holy ardor which he communi- 
 cated to 'he best families of Paris, sustained them in the 
 efforts which thev made, and which posterity will scarcely 
 
128 I/JFI OF 8T. VIHCENT OF FAUX.. 
 
 believe; but as the evil was almost universa., and in the high- 
 est conceivable degree, it was necessary, in a manner, to 
 multiply, by attention and good order, the help, which, al- 
 though considerable in itself, would have been very insufficient 
 for the necessities to be relieved. 
 
 The city of Toul was the first which experienced the bounty 
 of Vincent of Paul. His missionaries rendered there the 
 most important services to a great numher of sick, poor, re- 
 ligious, and above all, to two French regiments which had 
 suffered much in an encounter with the troops of Jean de 
 Wert, near Gondreville. 
 
 But this was trifling, when compared to the succors he pro- 
 cured for the inhabitants of Melz. That city was in much 
 greater affliction than Toul. The crowds of poor who be 
 sieged it, both inside and out, had something frightful. It 
 was like an army of wretches of every age and sex, which 
 amounted sometimes to four or five thousand persons. Every 
 morning ten or twelve were found dead, without counting 
 those who, being caught rambling, became the prey of the 
 wild beasts; for furious wolves were one of the scourges 
 with which God afflicted this miserable people. The towns 
 and villages were infested with them ; they entered them du- 
 ring the night, by the breaches in the walls, and carried off 
 every thing that could gratify their inappeasable hunger. It 
 was but the expression of that of the inhabitants. La Riviere, 
 the surgeon of -Marshal de Fabert, wrote to him from the 
 chateau of Variye, that they had just brought to him a pot in 
 which were, halt-cooked, the feet, hands, and head of a girl, 
 which a widow had prepared for a meal for her children, who 
 had eaten nothing for several days.* 
 
 Such was the situation of Melz and its environs ; but this 
 was only a portion of the misfortunes of that unhappy coun- 
 try. The honor of the most chaste and virtuous persons was 
 in danger. Famine, the mother of every excess, was upon 
 the point of forcing several communites of religious women 
 to leave their cloister, at a time when the strongest walls were 
 
 * Life of Marshal de Fabert, by Father Barre, vol. i, p. 255. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 129 
 
 but a feeble rampart against licentiousness. Every resource 
 was closed up; but Vincent knew how to find resources in 
 abundance. He dispatched, with all diligence, some of his 
 priests, to bring consolation to the afflicted, to preserve the 
 lives of some, the honor of others, and endeavor to save 
 all. The face of things changed soon, and Metz began to 
 breathe. The eschevins, and the thirteen magistrates of the 
 city, moved by this tender charity, returned the most humble 
 thanks to the holy priest. But their letter, as well as those 
 which he received at that time from the magistrates of all the 
 other cities, was less to thank him for the past, than to solicit 
 his aid for the future. 
 
 Great as was the desire of the servant of God to relieve at 
 the same time every part of Lorraine, and the Barrois, it was 
 impossible for him to do so. The first alms which he had 
 sent to Toul and Metz ; those which he soon after sent to 
 Nancy and Verdun, where his priests remained at least three 
 years ; these alms, I say, amounted to so much, that they ex- 
 hausted, from the commencement, his house, which he al- 
 ways taxed first, and those of a great number of pious ladies, 
 to whom he had recourse when he wanted to relieve the 
 poor. It was only at the end of the same year, 1639, that he 
 was able to send some of his priests to Bar-le-Duc, and some 
 months afterwards to Saint-Mihiel, and Pont-a-Mousson. 
 
 Those Who were sent to Bar, found in that city about eight 
 hundred poor, citizens and strangers. The latter were, for 
 the most part, during the rigor of winter, lying upon the 
 pavement in the streets, or before the doors of the churches, 
 [t was there that, overwhelmed with misery, consumed by 
 hunger, and shivering with cold, they waited for, and received 
 death, at almost every moment. In a few days two hundred 
 and sixty of them, who were almost naked, were clothed. 
 The hospital, by means of a regular monthly sum, was put 
 in a condition to receive a greater number of sick. But as 
 amongst these last, there were about eighty suffering much 
 more than the others, our missionaries took them entirely 
 under their care. Notwithstanding so much expense, the 
 greatest was that incurred for receiving strangers, who, find- 
 
130 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 mg no resource, either in the country which was no longer 
 cultivated, or in the cities which they were often forbidden to 
 enter, were withdrawing into France in crowds. The mis- 
 sionaries of Nancy directed them to those of Toul, the latter 
 sent them to those of Bar; and in each of these places they 
 gave them some money to continue their journey. 
 
 But, however great was the good of which we speak, 
 the services rendered by the same priests in the order of sal- 
 vation, were far superior. They taught the people to weep, 
 not for their temporal misfortunes, but for their sins, which 
 were the origin of them. Every one endeavored to recover 
 the grace of God. But they all desired to be indebted for the 
 life of their sou., to those alone to whom they owed their cor- 
 poral life. One of these laborious ministers heard at Bar, in 
 the space of one month, upwards of eight hundred confes- 
 sions, many of which were general ones; and he had the 
 consolation to nourish with the bread of angels those very 
 persons, to whom he had so often distributed terrestrial food. 
 Nature was at length exhausted. The two priests, who la- 
 bored at Bar, were attacked by a violent disorder. One of 
 them, who was young, and never spared himself, was car- 
 ried off by the force of the disease.* He was buried in the 
 church of the college of the Jesuits. Father Roussel, who 
 was then rector of that institution, was so struck with the in- 
 vincible zeal of this worthy missionary, that he inserted the 
 history of it in the Journal of his Rectorship. 
 
 Vincent had not been able, as yet, to do any thing for the 
 city of Pont a-Mousson. It was only towards the month of 
 May, 1640, that his priests carried thither their first alms. 
 However accustomed to the misery of Lorraine, they were 
 terrified "at that which this unfortunate district offered to their 
 eyes. They found there four or five hundred, poor, so hide- 
 ously disfigured, that they resembled skeletons more than 
 men. There were in addition, a hundred sick, fifty or sixty 
 persons who, though reduced to the last extremity, were 
 
 * His name was Germain de Montevit. He was of the diocess of 
 Coutance. He died the 29th of January, 1640, at the age of twenty' 
 eight A 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 13' 
 
 ashamed to beg, nuns placed in circumstances of extraordi- 
 nary necessity, and some persons of quality, who felt doubly 
 the weight of the most cruel indigence.* Hunger amounted 
 to rage ; and the proces verbal drawn up by the authority of 
 the ordinary, makes mention of a child who, having ap- 
 proached some young men of a more advanced age, was torn 
 to pieces by them and devoured. 
 
 The missionaries followed, at Pont-a-Mousson, the same 
 method as in the other cities of Lorraine ; that is to say, to 
 profit by the good sentiments which had been inspired into 
 this afflicted people by the succors they had received, a mis- 
 sion was begun. It was attended with all the success that 
 could be expected in such a favorable conjuncture. But alms 
 and instruction were not the only favors which Vincent pro- 
 cured for the two duchies. As a great number of parishes 
 were destitute of pastors, and children often died without hav- 
 ing received baptism, the servant of God, whose charity was 
 attentive to every thing, sent two priests there, who began 
 immediately to visit the diocess of Toul, baptise all who had 
 not participated in that benefit, and teach the most intelligent 
 persons of each canton, the manner of administering this sa- 
 crament to children who might be born afterwards, during 
 their absence. 
 
 The accounts which our saint received from Saint-Mihiel, 
 exhibited the same misery as in Pont-a-Mousson. The priest 
 he had sent there, wrote to him that he had found in that 
 small city such a quantity of poor, that he could not give to 
 all; that there were more than a hundred whose skins were 
 so dried up, that they could not be looked at without horror; 
 that in general it was the most horrid spectacle that could be 
 witnessed ; that at the last distribution nf bread, there were 
 eleven hundred and thirty-two poor, without counting the sick, 
 who were very numerous ; that charity so well applied, moved 
 
 * I learned from the Abbe Tervenus, curate of St. Rock, at Nancy, 
 that a young girl of good condition having found at the door of a 
 surgeon the blood of a sick person, which had been thrown out, 
 seized upon it with a kind of fury. That respectable pastor, who 
 died at a -fry advanced age, had this fact from his mother, who was 
 witness to it. 
 
132 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 even the rich, who wept through tenderness ; that a Swiss, 
 who was a Lutheran by profession, had been so affected by 
 it, that, after having abjured his heresy, he received the sacra- 
 ments, and died in a very edifying manner. He added that 
 the priests of the country, who lead an exemplary life, had 
 neither bread nor other provisions, so that a curate of the 
 neighborhood had been reduced, to support life, to follow the 
 plough with some of his parishioners. 
 
 These letters, and several similar ones, induced Vincent to 
 continue his aid to Saint-Mihiel ; and although the very name 
 of that city was hateful to France, because, some years be- 
 fore, a cannon-shot from the ramparts, had broken the car- 
 riage in which the king was, our saint acted with so much 
 energy, both with the king, in inducing him to diminish the 
 garrison, and with many charitable persons, that the place 
 was always comprised in the distribution of alms which 
 flowed into Lorraine. The number is surprising, but the 
 reader would be much more surprised, were I to show, by 
 entering into a detail, that they are but a part of the good done 
 by our saint in that unfortunate country. 
 
 It was not, however, in their own country alone, that the 
 natives of Lorraine experienced the charity of Vincent of 
 Paul. A great number had proofs of it ia Paris. The saint 
 having been informed by some of his company, that there 
 were in that province many young girls, even of high rank, 
 who, being deprived of their relations, and of every other help, 
 found themselves exposed to the insolence of officers and sol- 
 diers, he caused one hundred and sixty of them to come to 
 Paris, at various times; and one of his priests defrayed their 
 expenses during their journey. A great number of youDg 
 boys who were perishing, were also sent to Paris. Vincent 
 shared immediately with Madame Le Gras, the care of this 
 new colony. The pious widow received those of her sex into 
 her house, and by degrees placed them in situations suited to 
 their condition. The servant of God took care of the boys ; 
 he received and supported them, until such time as he could 
 find employment for them. 
 
 It was not long necessary to invite the inhabitants of Lor- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VJHCEKT OF PAUL. 133 
 
 raine to come to France. The hand of God continued to 
 afflict that province to such a degree, that those of the people 
 who were not under the dominion of the king, were seen 
 leaving the province in caravans, escaping through the ar- 
 mies of the enemy, and risking every thing to seek an asylum 
 in Paris, or in the cities of the kingdom. A great number of 
 these poor refugees came straight to St. Lazarus, where they 
 were sure to find a man, with whom all nations were as one 
 in Jesus Christ, and who, when the duties of charity were in 
 question, took care of the stranger without prejudice to the 
 citizen. It required a heart as vast as his, not to be wearied 
 with such an endless concourse. But holy liberality was the 
 basis of his disposition. He found the means to supply the 
 wants of all ; and as he perceived that many of them, for the 
 want of priests, some being dead, and olhers having retired, 
 had not, for a long time, approached the holy mysteries, he 
 caused missions to be made for them for two successive years,' 
 in the parish of La Chapelle, a small village at the gate of 
 Paris. The ecclesiastics of the province there distinguished 
 themselves by their assiduity in labor, and the ladies of his 
 assembly by their alms. 
 
 It was about the same time that the holy man took upon 
 himself the charge of a community of Benedictine nuns, who 
 were on the point of dying with hunger. They had come 
 from Rembervilliers to Saint-Mihiel to make an establishment. 
 This was now out of the question ; the only point was to 
 save their lives. The saint, who was informed of the pitiful 
 situation in which they were placed, caused them to come to 
 Paris; they were fourteen in number, and they were received 
 with all the attention due to virgins consecrated to God. The 
 Countess de Chateau-Vieux, and the Marchioness de Baune, 
 who had for a long time desired the eslablishment of a mon- 
 astery destined to repair by perpetual adoration the outrages 
 offered to Jesus Christ in the holy eucharist, thought them 
 calculated for that object, and they were consecrated to it by 
 s Ann of Austria. It is to this day one of their first duties, 
 and they fulfil it day and night, with great fervor and edifica- 
 tion. 
 
 12 
 
34 LIFE OF ST. VINCEKI OF PAUL. 
 
 As the misfortunes of Lorraine still continued, and Charles 
 IV, more eager for sieges and battles than attentive to the 
 tranquillity of his people, seemed to have determined on his 
 ruin, a number of persons of rank gathered what they could 
 of the wreck of their fortune and came to Paris. But after 
 having exhausted every thing there, the greater part of them 
 found themselves reduced to want, which they felt the more 
 severely, as they dared not make it known. An honorable 
 person gave notice of it to the holy priest, and proposed to 
 him to lend them some assistance. Vincent, who, for several 
 years had laid his house and his best friends under contribu- 
 tion, would naturally find himself more embarrassed by such 
 a proposition; he, however, received it, not only with joy, 
 but with gratitude : "Oh! sir," replied he, " what a pleasure 
 you afford me; yes, it is just to relieve these poor noblemen, 
 to honor our Lord, who was most noble and most poor at the 
 same time." 
 
 In order to execute this new project, the saint resolved to 
 form an association of noblemen, full of faith and feeling, 
 who should consider it a happiness to render to persons of 
 their rank, all the services which they would wish to receive 
 in similar circumstances. He assembled seven or eight of 
 this character, at the head of whom was the Baron de Renty. 
 He spoke to them in so moving a manner, that it was deter- 
 mined that all should tax themselves to relieve these afflicted 
 noblemen. Vincent knew so well how to keep up their first 
 fervor from month to month, that the work continued nearly 
 twenty years. We may without hesitation rank this illustri- 
 ous assembly amongst the great works promoted by our saint. 
 It required the more courage in him, not to abandon Lorraine 
 and its inhabitants, as at this very time the attention of the 
 servant of God was called to other persons, who yielded nei- 
 ther in birth nor necessity to the former. 
 
 England, destined, as it would seem, to be the theatre of 
 the most surprising revolutions, had taken up arms against 
 its king. Oliver Cromwell, to whom eloquence, intrepidity, 
 dissimulation, a consummate hypocrisy, and the most vindic- 
 tive disposition, afforded every qualification to be one of those 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 135 
 
 cool and ferocious tyrants, who seem reserved for crimes of 
 the first order; Cromwell, I say, under the pretext of re-es- 
 tablishing the purity of the gospel, accustomed insensibly 
 the people and the upper house of parliament, to abhor their 
 lawful sovereign ; and he was showing, at a distance and 
 gradually, to the unfortunate Charles, the disgraceful scaf- 
 fold, upon which, a few years afterwards, his very subjects 
 were to cause him to be shamefully beheaded. It is easily 
 supposed, that, during the course of such terrible commotions, 
 the Catholics had every thing to fear from the rebels. This 
 determined a considerable number of Scotch and English 
 lords to retire into France, the ordinary asylum of all those 
 persecuted for religion's sake. It was resolved in the as- 
 sembly, lately formed by Vincent among the French nobility, 
 that they would do for the English noblemen, what had been 
 done for those of Lorraine. Death, which carried off Mr. de 
 Renty in the flower of his youth, rendered the continuation 
 of this aid much more difficult; but it did not diminish it, and 
 Vincent continued it during almost all the rest of his life. 
 
 Although the holy priest would have contributed to so 
 many good works, only by his exhortations and the continual 
 efforts he was obliged to make during so many years, nothing 
 more would be required to make his memory dear to all those 
 acquainted with true merit and perfect Christian charity. For 
 who does not know how much it costs to beg incessantly, 
 even when we do not beg for ourselves. But the servant of 
 God did not confine himself to wort's. " He was always the 
 first to give. He opened his heart and his purse ; so that, in 
 order to finish the good work which was begun, he deprived 
 himself of what was even necessary for his support." These 
 are the very words of one of the first noblemen of that illus- 
 trious assembly. But what would he not have said, had he 
 known that the holy man had given the last cent that he 
 possessed in the world ; nay more, that he was compelled to 
 borrow money for his own sustenance, and in order to relieve 
 the wants of the poor. But he never stopped to calculate 
 the enormous expense which he was obliged to incur. That 
 which most grievously afflicted him during the continuance 
 
136 LIFE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 of a protracted and sanguinary war, was the blasphemy and 
 licentiousness, the sacrileges, profanations, and unheard of 
 cruelties so frequently committed, sometimes even against in- 
 nocent persons who were exposed to suffer most ; besides the 
 complete ruin of a greal number of families that were left 
 destitute of every earthly comfort, and consequently exposed 
 to all the temptations which privation and poverty bring in 
 their train. 
 
 The reflections which he made upon all these evils deter- 
 mined him to risk a step, the success of which was more than 
 doubtful. He went to visit cardinal Richelieu, and after 
 having represented to him with all possible delicacy the 
 misery of the people, the injury ofTered to God, and all the 
 disorders commonly consequent upon an envenomed war, he 
 threw himself at his feet, and said to him, in a tone of voice 
 expressive both of grief and charity ""Restore peace to the 
 people, — have pity on us." The minister answered hiru with 
 much kindness, that he was seriously laboring for the pacifi- 
 cation of Europe; Hut that it did not depend upon him alone, 
 and that there were a great many persons both in the king- 
 dom and out of it, whose concurrence was necessary to at- 
 tain that object. Thus the distress continued more or less 
 in Lorraine ; and our saint, without arresting the course of 
 his alms, found other means to send frequent supplies to 
 Chateau-Salins, Dreuze, Marsal, Moyenvie, Remiremont, 
 Epinal, Mircourt, Chatel-sur-Moselle, Stenai, and Rember- 
 villiers. 
 
 It is difficult to make an exact calculation of all the money 
 which St. Vincent distributed in Lorraine and le Barrois. The 
 person who was entrusted with its conveyance made it amount 
 to one million six hundred thousand livres of French money, 
 a sum with which as much could be done then, as with three 
 millions now, and which although very considerable in itself, 
 was still more so, at a time when the distress was extreme, 
 and when the wealthiest families found themselves embar- 
 rassed. Yet this was only a part of what the holy priest did 
 in favor of the two duchies : he sent thither, moreover, at 
 different intervals, nearly fourteen thousand ells of cloths of 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 137 
 
 different qualities, for the nobility, the citizens, the persons 
 consecrated to God, and often whole families, who were in 
 extreme want. If to this prodigious expense be added that 
 which he incurred to procure linen and ornaments for the 
 churches which had been stripped, to bring to Paris the young 
 persons of whom we have spoken, maintain in that place 
 those who came thither of their own accord until they could 
 obtain situations, in fine, to support during several years so 
 many respectable families which were in the most deplorable 
 state, the very enemies of a saint, who should have only 
 admirers, are agreed that what he did in favor of Lorraine 
 amounts to a miracle; and that it is impossible not to perceive 
 therein the operation of the most generous and persuasive 
 charity. 
 
 I must not omit a circumstance here which was then, and 
 must be still, regarded as a sensible proof of the protection of 
 God. In this time of distress and carnage, travelling in Lor- 
 raine was attended, with great danger. Every place was full 
 of soldiers, robbers and banditti, who overran the country, the 
 most moderate of whom were those who were satisfied with 
 plundering travellers. It was through the midst of so many 
 dangers that a brother of the mission, charged by St. Vincent 
 with the transportation of the alms, made as many as fifty- 
 four trips without meeting with any accident. He never car- 
 ried less than twenty thousand francs : he often carried ten or 
 eleven thousand gold crowns, and on one occasion he had as 
 many as fifty thousand livres. It is true that he was both 
 cunning and intelligent; but he always experienced, so as 
 to admit of no doubt, that the God of Vincent of Paul was 
 with him, and that he kept him in all his ways. 
 
 Sometimes he would join a convoy of armed men, who 
 were attacked, defeated, and taken prisoners; but still the bro- 
 ther always found some means to escape the assailants. At 
 other times going in company with some travellers, he 
 would withdraw from them, for a moment, by a secret order 
 of Divine Providence, and at that very moment they would be 
 stripped and plundered by the robbers, who fortunately had 
 not perceived him. He often passed through woods filled" 
 12* 
 
138 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 with disbanded soldiers : as soon as he would discover them, 
 he would take care to hide either in some bush or even in the 
 mud his purse which he always carried in a wallet like the beg- 
 gars, then lie would advance to meet them like a man who had 
 nothing to fear. He would continue his journey with them 
 for some time, and when they would have left the place free, 
 he would return and take his money. One day when he had 
 thirty-four thousand livres, he found himself attacked on a 
 sudden by a man well mounted, who, pistol in hand', obliged 
 him to advance before him, that he might plunder him in a 
 private place. The brother, who watched him closely, seeing 
 him turn aside his head, let fall his purse. Having gone about 
 a hundred steps farther, he began to show marks of the most 
 profound respect to the horseman, which marks being deeply 
 imprinted upon the ploughed ground, might serve to guide 
 him back to his treasure. In fact he found it again after he 
 had undergone a rigorous search, in which he lost nothing 
 but his knife, because he had nothing else to lose. 
 
 As it became known by degrees throughout Lorraine that it 
 was he who carried the alms, it became very difficult for him 
 to conceal his movements. But God armed in his favor even 
 those whom he had most to fear, or rendered harmless all the 
 snares that were laid for him. A caplain in ambuscade near 
 Saint-Mihiel's made him known, without any evil design, to 
 his soldiers; but seeing that they were about to fall upon him, 
 he cocked his pistol and declared in a resolute tone that he 
 would blow out the brains of any one who "should be so 
 mad," to use his own words, as to injure a man who was 
 doing so^much good. Some Croets who knew that he was at 
 Nomeni, having in his possession a good deal of money, 
 placed scouts in every direction that 'hey might not miss him. 
 On going out of the chateau, which by entreaties he succeeded 
 in leaving by a concealed door, he took at break of day, a by- 
 path, in which he did not meet a soul. The marauders be- 
 lieved him to be still at Nomeni, when he had already arrived 
 at Pont-a-Mousson. They would scarcely give credit to those 
 who assured them of his arrival in the latter city. They 
 swore as usual, but their imprecations only served to show 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 139 
 
 that we are well taken care of, when we belong to God him- 
 self. The people in fine were so well persuaded that there 
 was something miraculous in it, that they thought themselves 
 in security, when travelling with this good brother. The 
 Countess of Montgomery, whom the passports of three sove- 
 reigns had not been able to secure against pillage, and who, 
 for fear of some new accident, could not resolve to go from 
 Metz to Verdun, having learned that the brother had the same 
 journey to perform, begged him to take a seat in her carriage, 
 being persuaded, as she said, that his company would be a 
 greater security than all the passports in the world. The 
 event justified her confidence : she arrived at Verdun without 
 meeting with either soldiers or robbers. 
 
 AVhen he returned to Paris, the queen, who had heard of 
 his dexterity, desired to see him. She listened several times, 
 with great pleasure, to the recital of his stratagems, and to the 
 ingenuity with which he varied them when the first became 
 common. For his own part, he was well persuaded, and he 
 frequently repeated this conviction, that such a visible protec- 
 tion of God was but the effect of the faith and of the prayers of 
 the holy man who had sent him. It was to those same prayers 
 that those of his priests who- distributed the alms, attributed 
 more than once the multiplication of them in their hands, and 
 without which they could not conceive how, with sums 
 which, when divided into twenty-five or thirty parts, became 
 very moderate, they could relieve so many poor persons, and 
 supply the wants of such a variety of necessities. 
 
 The embarrassment which the deplorable condition of 
 Lorraine caused our saint, did not suspend the spiritual 
 services which he had engaged himself to render to the poor 
 country people. His priests, during the three first years in 
 which that province required most attention, performed seventy 
 missions. At the beginning of the year 1640, he sent a colo- 
 ny of them to Annecy, where Mr. Juste Guerin, the blessed 
 Mother de Chantal, and Messrs. Sillery and Cordon, both 
 commanders of the order of Malta, had established them. 
 This good work was one of the best that Mr. de Sillery 
 performed on earth. His death corresponded with the beauti- 
 
140 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 fill and holy life which he led for several years. "He is gone 
 to heaven," said Vincent in one of his letters, " like a mon- 
 arch who goes to take possession of his kingdom, with a 
 strength, a confidence, peace and meekness, which cannot be 
 expressed. 
 
 The pious bishop of Geneva, who only thought of preserv- 
 ing the great good which St. Francis of Sales had effected in 
 his diocess, prudently judged that the best means of success 
 was to labor in the formation of good ecclesiastics, whilst he 
 would labor at the same time to sanctify the people also. He 
 proposed to effect these two objects through the priests whom 
 Vincent of Paul had sent him. As to what concerned the 
 people this was attended with no difficulty ; all that was 
 wanted was to make good missions: they took place at An- 
 necy and in the country parishes. But the establishment of a 
 seminary for the education of holy priests required much 
 more deliberation. 
 
 The difficulty was to know whether in the erection of this 
 seminary they should follow the plan of the Council of Trent, 
 by admitting only young boys who, preserved in a holy re- 
 treat from the corruption of the world, should early imbibe the 
 sweets of virtue and of ecclesiastical science, or whether they 
 should only receive young clergymen who, having already 
 arrived at an age sufficiently mature to choose a state of life, 
 would appear to afford more certain and nearer hopes. The 
 reasons for and against, were carefully weighed, but the rea- 
 sons against the former and for the latter prevailed on account 
 of the circumstances of times and places. The bishops of 
 France, after many trials, came to the same conclusions; and 
 it is notorious that in all, or almost all the seminaries of the 
 kingdom, they only received young men who had completed 
 their course of philosophy, and frequently even had com- 
 manded that of theology. 
 
 As soon as the servant of God saw the bishop of Geneva 
 determined on theerection of a theological seminary, he reflected 
 seriously on the means of making it a sacred and learned acad- 
 emy. He believed that all could be trained up to solid piety, 
 to that plenitude of the sacerdotal spirit, and to that science 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 141 
 
 which embraces not only the dogma, but more particularly 
 moral divinity. He wished that the conferences which were to 
 be held twice a week upon the ecclesiastical virtues, should be 
 moving and instructive; that without neglecting the chant and 
 the ceremonies of religion, there should be a fixed time for 
 teaching the manner of administering the sacraments, and of 
 instructing the people, and teaching the catechism; that the ex- 
 planations should be both clear and precise ; that they should 
 embrace every thing which might contribute to the direction 
 of the people, and that those metaphysical questions, which 
 a half instructed pastor sometimes knows better than is re- 
 quired, should be looked upon as of little consequence. 
 
 He was persuaded that the greatest genuises are not always 
 those who succeed best in training youth, either because being 
 puffed up with their own talents, they sometimes treat them 
 with too much severity, or because they know not how to 
 proportion their institutions to the capacities of their disciples. 
 He feared above all things lest the director of a seminary 
 should be persuaded that he had discharged every dutv, when 
 he had taught his class well. It is true that he looked upon 
 science as essential, because an ignorant priest is a blind man 
 who leads others into the precipice; but he gave the prefe- 
 rence to piety. Hence he wished that all those who had 
 charge of young ecclesiastics, should labor by their good ex- 
 ample, by their continued watchfulness, and by a perfect de- 
 tachment from the things of this world, to be duly imbued 
 with the virtues of their state. But he thought at the same 
 time, that to derive fruit from a seminary, it was necessary to 
 pass a considerable lime in it, and at least one year before re- 
 ceiving holy orders; that a bishop ought not to dispense any 
 one from it, not even those who have most virtue, because 
 they support the weak, and when the rule is general, no one 
 asks to be exempted. The virtuous bishop of Cahors, Alain 
 de Solminihac, followed these two principles invariably, and 
 Vincent proposed his example more than once to the prelates 
 who consulted him. 
 
 Filled with these luminous maxims and many others which 
 the saint communicated to them, his priests did considerable 
 
142 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 good, unostentatiously, and in every direction. The pious 
 prelate of whom we have just spoken, that is to say, a man 
 most reserved in hestowing praise, and who found nothing 
 good but what was really so, wrote some years before his 
 death to the servant of God, in these terms: " You would be 
 delighted to see my clergy ,and you would bless God a thou- 
 sand times, did you know the good which your children have 
 done in ray seminary, and which is spread throughout the 
 province." Thus spoke also more than twenty-five years after 
 the death of Vincent of Paul, Jean d'Arenthon d'Alex, one of 
 the most worthy bishops that has succeeded St. Francis of 
 Sales." His commendation is inserted in his will. What 
 state is better calculated to banish every idea of false praise 
 than that of a man who considers himself about to appear 
 before God. 
 
 The occasion which presents itself to say a word of this 
 great bishop, obliges me to relate a fact which does him much 
 honor, and perhaps so much the more as Jean d'Arenthon was 
 yet young, and had not even received the tonsure, when Vin- 
 cent saw him for the first time. He conceived a great affection 
 for him, begged him to come and see him, and often repeated 
 these words : " God wishes to make use of you, and I assure 
 you that you will be one day the successor of St. Francis of 
 Sales. He repeated the same prediction to the Abbe de la 
 Perouse, a nephew of Mr. d'Arenthon. If he had before his 
 death, the consolation to see that he was not mistaken about 
 the episcopacy of the uncle, he now sees in heaven, as all 
 the diocess has witnessed, that he was not deceived with re- 
 gard to his virtues. 
 
 I shall not speak here, either of the services which Vin- 
 cent rendered to the priests of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, and 
 of whom, at the request of their venerable curate, he made a 
 very edifying community, nor of the second visit which he 
 paid to the Ursulines of Beauvais ; but I cannot pass over in 
 silence what happened between him and the blessed Mother 
 de Chantal, the last time she came to Paris. She expected to 
 see him, the year before, at Anneci, where the bishop desired 
 him to regulate the affairs of the seminary. But the necessi- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 143 
 
 ties of the foundlings, which already engaged his time, did not 
 permit him to go thither. .Thus this interview, bo much de- 
 sired on both sides, did not take place until more than fifteen 
 months afterwards. Madame de Chantal then made ample 
 amends. The holy priest saw her several times at the mo- 
 nastery in the street Saint Antoine. She asked his advice 
 with regard to her own particular conduct and that of her 
 order, and she acknowledged with great gratitude that the 
 advice of that great servant of God had been of much service 
 to her. These are the words of the Abbe Marsolier in his his- 
 tory of the venerable mother. 
 
 The spiritual advantages with which God favored her 
 through the assistance of our saint, were graces of preparation 
 for her last sacrifice. Five weeks after her departure from 
 Paris, she finished, by a most holy death, a life which she had 
 passed in the exercises of christian and religious piety.* God 
 revealed at the same time to his servant both the death and 
 glory of Madame de Chantal, by a vision which has some- 
 thing in it of the majesty of those of the ancient prophets. 
 We shall give the faithful account of the event. 
 
 When Vincent had learned by public intelligence that Ma- 
 dame de Chantal was at the point of death, he prostrated him- 
 self to pray to God for her: and according to his custom, he 
 began by an act of contrition. He had scarcely finished, when 
 he perceived a small globe, as if of fire, which, rising from 
 the earth, went to join, in the upper region of the air, another 
 larger and more luminous globe. 'These two globes, which 
 after their junction made but one, rose still higher, and were 
 lost in a third, which was infinitely more extensive and more 
 brilliant than the others. Whilst the holy priest was occu- 
 pied with this vision, an interior voice told him in a very dis- 
 tinct manner, that the first globe was the soul of Madame de 
 Chantal, the second that of the blessed bishop of Geneva, and 
 the third the divine essence : and that these two great souls, 
 after being re-united, were, in a manner, swallowed up in the 
 immense bosom of the divinity. 
 
 * She died at Moulins, on Friday, 13th December, 1641, at the age 
 of sixty-nine. 
 
144 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Vincent learned some days afterwards that God had been 
 pleased to take his servant. As particular revelations are still 
 more suspected by truly wise persons than by those who have 
 less knowledge, the holy man, without relying too much on 
 what he had seen, followed the customary practice, and would 
 pray for Madame de Chantal at the memento of the mass. 
 The very moment he began to do so, he had the same vision 
 as before. The same globes, the union of the first with the 
 second, and of those two with the third, were presented to 
 him, but accompanied by so vivid an impression and so per- 
 fect a conviction of the eternal happiness of that holy woman, 
 that from that time he could not think of her, without repre- 
 senting her to himself as surrounded with the glory of the 
 blessed souls. It was not, however, until after a conference 
 with the archbishop of Paris and religious men well acquainted 
 with the operations of God, that the holy priest made known 
 this circumstance to some ladies of the Visitation, who, being 
 overwhelmed at the loss which their whole order had sus- 
 tained, stood in need of that consolation. A few days after, 
 he drew up a relation of it, in which he renders to the sublime 
 virtues of the illustrious deceased the justice due to them. 
 As the church has solemnised this judgment by her own, it 
 would be useless to sny any thing more of it. 
 
 The happy death of the Mother induces us to say some- 
 thing of the services which Vincent endeavored to render to the 
 daughters. In the frequent visits which he paid them, after 
 St. Francis of Sales had made him their superior, his great, 
 his only rule was to bring all the sisters in general, and each 
 one in particular, to look upon their vocation as a peculiar 
 grace ; to lead a life conformable to their institute, and to sus- 
 tain themselves by the spirit of faith so much recommended in 
 the new law; to have a singular esteem for their constitutions 
 and even for the counsels contained in them. He removed 
 from their houses every thing that might have introduced in 
 them the spirit of the world. Neither the contempt which he 
 had to undergo, nor the losses which he had to fear, could 
 induce him to relax on this capital point. He always refused 
 with holy and generous firmness the entrance in these monas- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 145 
 
 teries to ladies of the highest rank, and even to princesses 
 who asked it, either to satisfy their curiosity or through an ill- 
 directed devotion. Sometimes he did more. The queen had 
 appeared to desire that one of her ladies of honor might retire 
 into one of the houses of the order. A priest of the court had 
 made the first proposition ; Vincent used every effort to ward 
 off the blow, and without failing in the respect which he had 
 r that august princess, he prevailed on her to induce the 
 lady to choose some other place for her retreat. It was be- 
 cause this truly enlightened director feared lest the air of ««; 
 World might enter into the cloister in the train of those fer __-s 
 who are often so full of it, and the intercourse which ey 
 would have with them, partly through politeness, /tly 
 through necessity, might by degrees inspire persons (. i for 
 austere virtue, with those soft manners, those superfluous at- 
 tentions, of which certain devout persons of the world do not 
 always rid themselves. 
 
 He was still more on his guard against those who had a 
 taste for the errors of the times. It was by his orders that 
 Mother Angelique l'Huillier, superior of the first monastery 
 of Paris, refused a considerable sum, which a lady, who 
 thought of retiring there, offered to her house, provided she 
 had permission of speaking occasionaly with some jansenists 
 at the grate. With the exception of these occasions, which 
 required so much the more virtue as the saint always took 
 upon himself all the odium of this apparently severe conduct, 
 the ladies of the Visitation always found in him a most com- 
 passionate father. In his reprimands, he spoke to them with 
 so much mildness, that he removed every thing bitter from the 
 correction. According to the testimony given by them after 
 his death, "he had an extraordinary deference and respect for 
 all sorts of persons. His care to speak well of every body 
 was equal to that which he always took to despise himself and 
 publish every where that he was a great sinner. His cha- 
 rity redoubled towards the sick and afflicted ; and he might 
 with great truth say with St. Paul, that he made himself all 
 to all to gain to Christ the strong and the weak. His for- 
 bearance with regard to the infirmities of the neighbor had 
 13 
 
146 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 something prodigious ; and although his presence inspired 
 great respect, that respect opened the heart of those who had 
 to speak with him. No person possessed more than he did, 
 the talent of inspiring others with confidence ; and the diffi- 
 culty attached to the acknowledgment of the most humili- 
 ating weaknesses vanished in discovering them to him; he 
 bore them with kindness, he excused them as a tender mother 
 excuses those of her child." 
 
 One of the sisters whose capacity and talents were univer- 
 sally esteemed, after having remarked that to avoid repetition, 
 she preferred being silent, rather than speaking again of admi- 
 rable things of which the whole earth was witness, adds that 
 she was often struck with the depth of his mind, and that she 
 scarcely ever left him without a deep impression of the lit- 
 tleness of her own, which made known to her the immense 
 disproportion between them. We shall hereafter see this 
 judgment confirmed by that of an illustrious first president 
 of the parliament of Paris. 
 
 It can easily be imagined that the ladies of the Visitation 
 were much attached to their director. Yet they were, more 
 than once, in danger of losing him; at length he found him- 
 self so enfeebled by age and labor, that he was no longer able 
 to give them his services. Multiplied letters, pressing solici- 
 tations, the interference of many persons of rank, were all 
 useless. But the archbishop of Paris having intreated him to 
 continue towards those ladies so worthy of his care, the ser- 
 vices which he had rendered them so happily, the saint, for 
 whom the voice of the prelates of the church was always the 
 voice of God, was forced to obey. But in order that his ex- 
 ample might not serve as an authority, he made a rule by 
 which all his missionaries are prohibited from directing, or 
 even visiting, religious females. 
 
 It was then against the law established by that wise supe- 
 rior, that one of his most worthy successors* accepted, about 
 the end of the last century, the direction of the royal house 
 of Saint-Cyr. But that establishment was presented by hands 
 
 * Edme Joly, in 1692. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 147 
 
 so respectable and so much respected throughout the worJd, 
 that he could not well refuse it. Besides religious piety, the 
 union of hearts, humility combined, wilh elevated sentiments, 
 the most attentive zeal lor the education of the nobility, who 
 are to carry the odor of innocence into every portion of the 
 kingdom ; all these virtues which make of the house of Saint- 
 Cyr a model capable of exciting emulation in the most regu- 
 lar communities, demonstrate, that rules the most prudently es- 
 tablished may have exceptions, which God himself authorises. 
 
 It was in the following year, 1642, that the congregation had 
 at last a permanent establishment at Rome. Urban VIII en- 
 trusted those whom Vincent sent thither, with the care of giv- 
 ing missions, forming the aspirants to orders, and visiting the 
 hospitals. The success was every where the same; and that 
 rising colony produced others, which gave in Italy two con- 
 siderable provinces to the children of Vincent of Faul. 
 
 God recompensed by these blessings, and many others, the 
 charity of his servant, which was increasing every day ; for 
 it was at that time, that, to honor the humilations of Him 
 who took the form of the last of men, he began, on Christmas 
 day, to cause two old men, sometimes filthy, to eat at his 
 side. They were served before him, and before all his com- 
 munity. Vincent treated them with much respect; he never 
 spoke to them with his head covered ; his successors have 
 followed his example ; and of twelve poor men taken from 
 the neighborhood, two eat, in turn, every day, at the side 
 of the general, and remind him by their presence, that he 
 must be the father of the poor, like the one whose place he 
 holds. 
 
 The saint had believed that this act of charity would be the 
 last he should perform in quality of superior. Although his 
 congregation had as yet but ten establishments, including 
 those of Rome, still he convoked a genpral assembly. It was 
 opened on the 15th of October, 1642, and several regulations 
 were then drawn up, worthy of the wisdom of those who com- 
 posed it. Each one calculated on returning home with the 
 consolation which affectionate children experience in having 
 seen the best of fathers, when Vincent, who had hitherto 
 
148 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 given no one cause of affliction, plunged them all into grief. 
 This great servant of God, fully persuaded that there was no 
 member in his community who was not better fitted to govern 
 it than he, threw himself on his knees before his priests, 
 and after having very humbly asked their pardon for the 
 ' faults he had committed during his administration, he begged 
 them, with a voice interrupted by sobs, to proceed to a new 
 election for a superior. He then retired to afford them the 
 liberty of a choice which he ratified in advance. 
 
 The deliberation soon terminated. Scarcely had they re- 
 covered from the surprise which such an unforeseen action 
 caused, when they sent deputies to the holy priest to inform 
 him that the assembly was very far from accepting his re- 
 signation, and they now conjured him to return and take 
 his place. These deputies found him, at last, in a chapel, 
 prostrate at the feet of the Son of God, where, with tears, he 
 supplicated him to place at the head of his company, a man 
 according to his own heart. In spite of every entreaty which 
 they made use of, he protested that he was no longer supe- 
 rior, and he conjured those gentlemen to substitute another in 
 his place. 
 
 On receiving this reply, those who composed the assembly 
 went forth in a body, and entreated him to sacrifice his incli- 
 nation to the wants of his children. The humble Vincent 
 told them every thing he thought calculated to change their 
 determination ; they did the same thing on their part. As 
 this contest, which had for its foundation the true virtue of 
 both parties, was likely to continue, the assembly cried out, 
 in concert: " You wish that we should choose a superior?" 
 Vincent, who thought himself successful, renewed his en- 
 treaties. "Well!" they replied, "we elect yourself; and 
 you may depend upon it, that so long as your life shall be 
 preserved upon earth, we will have no other." The saint 
 made still further efforts ; but seeing, at last, that they suc- 
 ceeded no better than the first, he bowed his head and again 
 took up the burthen which God laid upon his shoulders. He 
 earnestly begged of the assembly the aid of their pravere, as- 
 suring them that it was the first acf of obedience he required 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 149 
 
 of them. The company promised never to forget him, when 
 in the presence of God, and renewed, of their own accord, 
 the promise of obedience which they had made to him. 
 
 His congregation, which for greater stability in doing good 
 had just bound itself by a vow of perseverance, lost, a few 
 months afte. wards their powerful protector in the person of 
 d'Armand Jean Duplessis, cardinal, duke of Richelieu.* That 
 minister, who had so often made Europe tremble, at length 
 reached that awful moment when neither the splendor of the 
 Roman purple, nor treaties, nor all the refinements of policy 
 could avail him. It has been remarked several times in the 
 course of this history, that he had always a great esteem for 
 the virtue of our holy priest and for his institute. He gave 
 the spiritual care of the city which bears his name to the 
 children of Vincent of Paul. He thought of placing; twenty 
 of his priests there, when he received the blow which carried 
 him off. Not long, before, he had given our saint one thou- 
 sand crowns, to supply the necessaries of a number of ecclesi- 
 astics who had been educated in the seminary. He continued 
 in the same sentiments until his death, and by a clause in his 
 last will, he left considerable property to the house which he 
 had established at Richelieu. 
 
 Louis XIII did not survive his minister six months. For 
 nearly four years, this prince, who was engaged during al- 
 most all his reign with heresy on one side, and Austria on 
 the other, saw death advancing towards him gradually. But 
 he was threatened, in a manner not to be mistaken, about the 
 month of April. A slow fever and a marked decay made 
 him feel that his last hour was near at hand. After having 
 taken every possible step to remove troubles inseparable from 
 a long minority, he thought of nothing but the affairs of his 
 conscience. 
 
 As courtiers are but very weak and imperfect resources at 
 such a moment, this religious prince caused St. Vincent of 
 Paul to be called to Saint Germain-en-Laye, where the dis- 
 
 * M. de Richelieu died on the 4th of December, aged fifty-three 
 years. His life has been written several times, and lastly by M. le 
 Clerc. But it is less a history than a condemnation of Louis XIII 
 and his minister. 
 13* 
 
150 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 ease had attacked liim. The servant of God, to inspire him 
 with confidence, and at the same time to disclose to him his dan- 
 ger of death, which human policy keeps as much as possible 
 out of the sight and mind of the dying, said to him at once: 
 " Sire, with him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the 
 latter end. Timenti Dominum beni evil in extremis." This 
 address did not surprise a king accustomed for a long time to 
 store his mind with the most beautiful maxims of the Scrip- 
 ture : he answered by finishing the verse : " et in die defunc- 
 tionis suce benedicetur. " 
 
 Vincent passed, this first time, about eight days at court. 
 He was often in private with his majesty, who found in him 
 the words of salvation, and always listened to him with par- 
 ticular satisfaction. Two things appeared to occupy him 
 most: the conversion of the Protestants, which had always 
 been one of his principal objects, and the nomination to ec- 
 clesiastical dignities, which, during life, is esteemed an honor, 
 but which sometimes costs very dear at the moment of death. 
 It was on this occasion that he exclaimed: "Oh! Mr. Vin- 
 cent, if God restored me to health, I would not appoint a 
 person to the episcopacy who had not passed three years with 
 you." 
 
 The saint, as well as all the court, admired the spirit of 
 piety and resignation with which this great prince was filled. 
 He beheld in his -own body, nothing but a victim which was 
 about to fall at the feet of the sovereign Master of kings ; and 
 it was to make himself worthy of acceptance, that, after being 
 better for a very short interval, he sen* new orders to Vincent 
 to come to him. ' The saint scarcely ever lost sight of him 
 during the last days of his life. He aided him frequently in 
 raising his soul to God, in forming acts of contrition for his 
 sins, of confidence in the mercy of the Lord, of submission to 
 his holy will, and of all (hose virtues best calculated to pre- 
 pare a soul for that last and awful moment upon which an 
 eternity depends. If sometimes this prince looked upon death 
 with dread, he soon afterwards considered it with the firmness 
 of a truly Christian king; and when his physician told him 
 that he had but very few moments to live: "Well, my God!" 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 151 
 
 le exclaimed without (lie least alteration, " I consent with 
 all my heart." Some minutes afterwards, he expired in the 
 arms of our saint. 
 
 Vincent, who saw that the queen was not to be comforted 
 by men, endeavored to procure for her the consolations of re- 
 ligion. He went to Paris the same day, in order to have 
 prayers offered for their majesties. Besides a_ solemn high 
 mass, each priest of the mission offered the divine sacrifice 
 for the soul of the late king. But in praying for Louis XIII, 
 they did not forget the queen, who was entering upon a re- 
 gency attended with troubles unexampled in our annals. 
 
 As Vincent of Paul, during the first years of the reign of 
 Louis XIV, occupied an elevated station at court, one which 
 he by no means sought for;, as he had to share in the misfor- 
 tunes of the new m nistry ; and as, in fine, his history is found 
 connected with the principal events of that period, I cannot 
 avoid giving a general idea of the conduct which Ann of Aus- 
 tria thought necessary to pursue, when she took the reins of 
 government. 
 
 That princess, who had not escaped her share of suffering 
 under the administration of Cardinal Richelieu, was at first 
 disposed to remove all those who could be looked upon as the 
 creatures of that minister. Julius Mazarini, who, since the 
 siege of Cazal, where he succeeded in arresting and charming, 
 as it were, two armies about to engage in battle, had found 
 means to insinuate himself into the good graces of Richelieu, 
 looked upon himself as one of the first to be sacrificed. Mr. 
 de Beringhen and Vincent of Paul prevented it, each in his 
 own way : Beringhen by telling the queen that she could not 
 do without Mazarin who was acquainted thoroughly with 
 the state of affairs ; and Vincent by the general principle of 
 pardoning our enemies. The cardinal was therefore retained 
 in his post: and that skilful, subtle, witty, and industrioug 
 man, made himself so necessary that he ob'ained no less au- 
 thority under Louis XIV, than Richelieu had possessed under 
 Louis XIII. 
 
 To this first step, the regent added another which mortified 
 our saint very much. Ann of Austria, who was truly zeal- 
 
152 
 
 IJFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAOL. 
 
 ous and full of piety, formed a council, in which religious af- 
 fairs were to be examined, as well as the good and bad qualities 
 of those who had any pretensions to the dignities of the church. 
 Mazarin, chancellor Seguier, Charton, the grand penitentiary 
 of Paris, and Vincent of Paul formed this council. A favor- 
 ite of that princess* says that Vincent was the president. 
 
 This dignity which procured for him the empty homage of 
 a crowd of persons who were panting for the good things of 
 the sanctuary, filled his soul with horror and confusion. He 
 made every effort to get rid of this office; but the queen knew 
 his capacity and rare virtue too well to give her consent. He 
 had recourse to God, when he found that he could not succeed 
 with men. Divine Providence thus disposing of him so as to 
 present him a spectacle both for men and angels, did not listen 
 to his prayers. It was, in fact, during more than ten succes- 
 sive years, in which he held this elevated station, that his 
 virtue appeared in all its splendor. His humility triumphed 
 over the fickle applause of the world ; his equanimity and 
 patience were never exhausted amidst the shafts of envy, 
 malice; and injustice which were hurled against him. His 
 firmness in upholding the interests of God and of the church 
 was superior to all the assaults of human respect. It was 
 upon this great theatre that his inviolable fidelity in the ser- 
 vice due to the king, his profound respect for.the bishops, his 
 love for all orders of the church, his tender charity for all reli- 
 gious and secular communities shone forth with new splendor. 
 His own congregation was the only one which he forgot, al- 
 though he had every opportunity to ask and obtain favors, as 
 the queen entertained the greatest consideration for him; Car- 
 dinal Mazarin loved him ever since the life time of Richelieu, 
 and thus he might have asked and obtained many favors, 
 which would have been considered as of much consequence; 
 still he never for a mompnt thought of asking the least favor, 
 either for himself or for his friends. 
 
 From the beginning, he felt that, determined as he was to 
 give his support only to true merit, he was going to raise a 
 
 * Madame de Motteville 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 153 
 
 crowd of powerful enemies. But he would have counted all 
 lhal as nothing, if lie could have removed from the sanctuary 
 those who were only culled lo it by interest, cupidity, and am- 
 bition. The misfortune was, and this thought filled his soul 
 with sorrow, that he could not reasonably hope to succeed. 
 Cardinal Mazarin who was now raised to the summit of 
 power, for before the end of the year 1643 he was appointed 
 prime minister, appeared to be influenced by maxims dia- 
 metrically opposed to those of Vincent of Paul. Mazarin. 
 considered all those as the friends of God who were his own 
 friends. Vincent judged of the tree by its fruit. He was 
 guided in judging of the true qualifications required in a bishop 
 by those which, in accordance with the apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles, are prescribed by the sacred canons ; and although he 
 did not doubt that a man of rank might, when possessed of 
 virtue, be more useful to the church than another of humble 
 station, still he was far from being persuaded that a man had 
 all the necessary qualifications to govern the flock of Jesus 
 Christ, merely because he was the son or the relative of some 
 one, who had been distinguished for taking cities and gaining 
 battles. 
 
 It was with this germ of opposition that these two men 
 entered the ecclesiastical council. Vincent went thither in 
 the same simple dress and manner, as when he went to in- 
 struct the poor country people. He did not transgress the 
 bounds of decency, and much less those of simplicity. Dis- 
 tinctions gave him more pain than they afford pleasure to the 
 martyrs of ambition. The prince of Conde wishing, at the 
 commencement of these favors, to make him sit near him: 
 "Your highness," he replied, "does me too much honor in 
 admitting me to your presence ; are you not aware that I am 
 the son of a poor countryman." " Good manners and a good 
 life," answered this great prince, " constitute a true nobleman." 
 He added that his merit was known and appreciated long be- 
 fore the present day. Yet, in order that he might have an 
 opportunity to form a more correct judgment of it, he caused 
 the conversation to turn upon some controverted points of 
 canon law. Vincent of Paul treated them with so muck 
 
154 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 clearness and precision, that the prince gave him a kind of 
 reprimand for the very contemptuous manner in which he 
 had spoken of himself; and afterwards going into thequeen's 
 apartment, he congratulaied her on the choice she had made 
 of a man so well calculated to assist her in carrying into 
 effect her good designs. 
 
 In the first councils at which the holy man assisted, he 
 presented a plan of reform with regard to pensions, co-adju- 
 torships, the age necessary for every sort of benefice, and 
 tnose which had fallen into lapse, the abuse of which was 
 carried as far as it could go. If this plan had been followed 
 in all the other articles, as it was in the last, with which our 
 saint alone was" charged, there is every reason to believe that 
 all the orders of the Gallican church would have gradually 
 recovered their ancient splendor. It is at least sure, as the 
 illustrious Fenelon said in his letter to Clement XI, that there 
 would not have been seen in the episcopacy soiffe subjects 
 who were not very edifying. But it was difficult for things 
 to remain long on so good a footing. The queen, who was 
 too diffident of her own strength, soon believed that Mazarin 
 was necessary to her ; and the cardinal easily penetrated the 
 dispositions of the princess. Hence the council of conscience 
 subsisted in its integrity, only during the time that this minis- 
 ter thought necessary to strengthen his new-born authority ; 
 and that he might not find in Vincent of Paul a rigid censor, 
 who might disapprove of his choice, he endeavored to make 
 himself master of the principal nominations. 
 
 There was one in which our saint did himself eternal honoi 
 The court being out of Paris, Cardinal Mazarin wrote to Vin 
 cent, that the queen, to acknowledge in the son the services.of 
 
 the father, had just named Mr. to a bishopric which had 
 
 become vacant a few days before; and that her majesty desired 
 him to give the necessary instructions to that ecclesiastic. 
 This letter embarrassed the holy priest-very much. On one 
 side, he had great respect for ihe orders of the queen and her 
 first minister; on the other he knew that the ecclesiastic in 
 question was not capable of filling a see which had been long 
 neglected, and required an edifying, zealous, and resident 
 
LIFE CF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 155 
 
 pastor. As every way on the side of the court was closed, 
 the brief of nomination having been expedited, and a revision 
 of couise precluded, Vincent adopted a plan, the idea of which, 
 could only originate with a saint devoured with zeal for the 
 house of God. He went to the father of the clergyman, and 
 without fearing to lose an old friend, he ventured to represent 
 to him the eminent virtues required for the episcopacy, and 
 how much his son was destitute of them ; but from these 
 principles, already so alarming in themselves, he drew a still 
 more alarming consequence, viz., that the father was obliged to 
 send back to the court the nomination he had received for his 
 son, if he would not expose both himself and his son, and 
 perhaps his whole family, to the indignation of Him who 
 curses the pastors whom he has not chosen. 
 
 A compliment so different from those which this gentleman 
 nad begun to receive on the new dignity of his son, must 
 have astonished him. Yet, as he was possessed of a fund of 
 religion, and could not doubt that a remonstrance, so painful 
 to nature, was the effect of the purest charity, he listened to 
 the saint with attention. He even went so far as to thank 
 him for his good advice, and promised to think very seriously 
 of it. His pretended reflections resulted in nothing. But 
 God soon spoke in a stronger voice than his servant had done; 
 and death, which carried off the new prelate a short lime after 
 his consecration, left the father nothing but the deepest regret 
 of having preferred in vain his own interest to the interest 
 of God. 
 
 The zeal which the holy priest displayed to keep back from 
 the sanctuary those who were not worthy to be admitted to it, 
 or who would force an entrance by the arms of simony, ex- 
 posed him to the blackest calumny. Efforts were made to 
 destroy him in the mind of the queen, of the minister, and of 
 all good people in the kingdom. One of tho?e men, who are 
 capahle of any thing, dared to report through Paris, and even 
 to a person of the first distinction, that he, who was appa- 
 rently so great an enemy to simony, accommoJated himself 
 perfectly to it in practice ; and that a short time before, he had, 
 for a library and a sum of money, procured a benefice for an 
 
156 
 
 LIFE or ST. VINOEMT OP PAUL. 
 
 ambitious man. This report was', at first, circulated covertly, 
 and with all the precautions which accompany imposture; 
 by degrees it became public enough. One of the friends of 
 Vincent informed him of it. However accustomed the holy 
 priest was to suffer, such an atrocious imputation moved him 
 a little ; and on the first impulse he commenced a letter in his 
 justification. But he had scarcely written two lines, when 
 he reproached himself with his sensibility, and animated hy 
 the spirit of St. Francis of Sales, who found himself dishon 
 ored in a much more infamous manner, he said to himself: 
 " Miserable wretch ! what were you going to do 1 What ! 
 you want to justify yourself, and you have just heard that a 
 Christian, falsely accused at Tunis, passed three days in tor- 
 ments, and died at last without a word of complaint! . . . and 
 you wish to excuse yourself! No, it shall not be so." At 
 these words, he threw down the pen, and suffered the public 
 to think freely whatever they pleased. God took his vindica- 
 tion upon himself. Those who had been tempted to suspect his 
 virtue, soon abandoned their unjust prejudices; and the speedy 
 death of the one who had outraged him so unworthily, was 
 looked upon by many as a chastisement from that watchful 
 hand, which, to discredit calumny, often strikes the calumniator. 
 
 In fact, the injustice was so much the more crying, as the 
 disinterestedness of the holy priest was generally known. 
 Without referring to his immense alms, which so often ex- 
 hausted his purse, he proved, even at the time of which we 
 speak, that, so far from abusing the credit which he bad at 
 court, to procure what did not belong to him, he would not 
 even have entered, at that price, upon the possession of what 
 was his own. 
 
 One of the principal magistrates of the kingdom, a man 
 who was powerful and esteemed, gave himself a great deal 
 of trouble to procure an abbey for his son, who was not wor- 
 thy of it. Justly fearing that he would be opposed by Vin- 
 cent of Paul, he made an effort to gain him over; and to 
 obtain his object, he let him know that if he would not op- 
 pose his views, the house of St. Lazarus would be put in 
 possession of rights and propertv which had been alienated 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PADL. 157 
 
 from it. The reply of the saint was brief, and comprised in 
 these few words : " I will never do any thing against God or 
 my conscience for all the possessions of earth. The company 
 will never perish through poverty : I rather fear that it will 
 perish when it ceases to be poor." If these words be pro- 
 phetic, the congregation is still at a distance from its de- 
 struction. 
 
 Notwithstanding the contradictions which the holy man 
 met with, he did not exert himself less to be as useful as he 
 could to all orders of the church. The bishops, whom he al- 
 ways honored so much as to throw himself at their feet when 
 he appeared before them, found in him a respectful and zealous 
 protector at court. He was never tired of recommending them 
 to the queen, the cardinal minister, and to such of the magis- 
 trates as had the greatest authority. It was he who, by caus- 
 ing Mr. Cupif to be appointed bishop of Dol, terminated a long 
 and unpleasant dispute which he had with Mr. de Rieux, 
 bishop of Leon. It was he also, who, to establish and con- 
 solidate the true faith in a city which had long been the bul- 
 wark of heresy, caused the bishopric of Maillezais to be 
 transferred to La Rochelle. It was he who, in several inter- 
 views with President Mole, endeavored to prevent appeals from 
 producing, by the intrigues of bad priests, an effect at variance 
 with the object for which they had been established. It was he 
 who ventured to represent to virtuous bishops, that mildness, 
 patience, even humiliation, were their proper arms ; and that 
 these should be exhausted, before recourse was had to excom- 
 munication. It was he who, that there might be in the epis- 
 copacy no one self- intruded, brought to a holy and perfect 
 indifference, sometimes, an almoner of the king who grew 
 weary of being forgotten ; at other times, a religious who, se- 
 duced by an appearance of good, thought that a bishopric in 
 partibus would enable him to continue the services he ren- 
 dered to the church. In fine, it was he who, holding a secret 
 council with the queen, after she had perceived that her min- 
 ister was not scrupulous enough, gave so many good bishops 
 to the church, that the celebrated Flechier did not doubt that 
 the clergy of France owed to him their splendor and glory. 
 14 
 
158 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 The services he rendered to the religious communities were 
 no less important. Hiu first historian assures us, and he has 
 reason to do so, that of all those in France, there is not one 
 which does not owe him much, either for the whole body, or 
 for some of its members. Jean de Montenas, abbot of St. Ge- 
 nevieve, and the regular canons of his congregation acknow- 
 ledge with pleasure in their letter to Clement XI, that Car- 
 dinal de la Rochefoucault, being commissioned by the holy 
 see to reform them, found, in the execution of that important 
 project, great assistance in the credit and counsels of Vincent 
 of Paul. Henry de Briqueville de la Lucerne, after having 
 written that Alain de Solminihac, one of his most worthy 
 predecessors, never did any thing of consequence without 
 having consulted the holy priest, adds that it was the latter 
 who aided that virtuous prelate to re-establish the ancient dis- 
 cipline in (he monasteries of the diocess of Cahors, and who 
 sustained him at Rome and in France in the reformation of 
 the order of Chancelade, of which he was abbot and first 
 superior. Henry de la Marche, abbot of Grand-Mont, con- 
 fesses that Vincent rendered to all his community services 
 which could not be forgotten without ingratitude. The abbot 
 of Bonfay and Rangeval, of the order of Premontre, acknow- 
 ledge in concert, that the re establishment of discipline, which 
 they desired to introduce into some of their houses, was so 
 violently thwarted by enemies, that if the holy priest had not 
 'employed in their favor all his credit with the king, there is 
 every probability that the excellent work could not have suc- 
 ceeded. He supported with the same ardor the reforms 
 which took place in the orders of St. Anthony and St. Bene- 
 dict. I shall say also that he was the particular friend of 
 Dom Gregoire Tarisse, first superior general of the congrega- 
 tion of Saint-Maur; and that this perfect religious always 
 honored him as a model of piety and virtue. 
 
 What Vincent did amongst religious communities of 
 men, he did with still greater ardor to re-establish and preserve 
 exact discipline in the monasteries of females, who stand 
 in greater need of being supported against their own weak- 
 ness. He always endeavored to procure for mem abbesses 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. ISO 
 
 and superiors who owed their vocation neilhpr to flesh, nor 
 blood, but to the will of God alone. 
 
 When the abbeys had the right of election, he vigorously 
 opposed the intrigues of certain nuns, who, having no hope 
 of obtaining the first place by that means, endeavored to reach 
 it by the influence of their relations and the authority of the 
 king. He acted in the same way with regard to those who, 
 being elected for three years according to the custom of their 
 community, solicited briefs of continuation, being persuaded 
 that young females, who are naturally less firm in good, may 
 forget themselves more easily in great charges, when they are 
 to be continued in them for life. Whenever there was a va- 
 cancy in the abbeys of which the king had the nomination, he 
 was inflexible in placing in them only ladies of known capa- 
 city and constant regularity. He removed from the govern- 
 ment of a monastery, a niece whose aunt had made it a plea- 
 sure house for her family, where she was sumptuosly en- 
 tertained at the expense of what was necessary for the reli- 
 gious. It is true that on that occasion he underwent a deluge 
 of insulting words, and more insulting threats : but instead 
 of complaining to the queen, who would have avenged him 
 in a striking manner, he loaded the one who had treated him 
 so badly with politeness, and redoubled his prayers for her. 
 
 He never admitted coadjutorships, which were only founded 
 upon human tenderness, and by means of which a religious 
 possessed of little virtue and zeal, often succeeded another 
 who had very little more. In resignations, he paid much less 
 attention to the certificates, often obtained by solicitation, of 
 capacity and piety, than to the information which he secretly 
 obtained concerning the merit and virtue of the persons, in 
 whose favor the resignation took place. 
 
 One of his principal cares was to banish all troubles and 
 divisions from the monasteries of females, those fatal flames 
 which, as an apostle says, often spring from a small spark. 
 He re-established tranquillity and discipline in the abbey of 
 Estiwal, by sending thither, under the order of the queen, 
 four religious of Val-de Grace. He did the same thing in the 
 abbey of La Perrine, by means of Mother Louise Eugenie de 
 
160 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OP PATTL. 
 
 Fontaine, who, with the meekness and unction of St. Francis 
 of Sales, restored peace and harmony in it. 
 
 But nothing appeared more essential to him than to re- 
 move from the cloister every thing that bore the impress of 
 novelty. Before there were any question about Jansenism, he 
 stifled an error somewhat resembling that of the fanatics, who, 
 at the end of the preceding century, had made so much noise 
 in Spain. Some fanatics had found out new means of salva- 
 tion, which antiquity never knew, and by which they flattered 
 themselves with reaching the most stlblime perfection. In 
 their opinion St. Paul himself had never walked in the great 
 roads which exalt and edify the soul. St. Paul had not pene- 
 trated the mysteries of devotion and spirituality. They alone 
 had been chosen by God to give lessons upon this matter, and 
 even to reform the church. These enthusiasts, whom Louis 
 XIII thought had been dispersed, took advantage, particu- 
 larly in the diocesses of Paris and Bazas, of the commotions 
 which disturbed the minority of Louis XIV. The monas- 
 teries of nuns, as usual, were the first conquests these inno- 
 vators attempted. They thus surprised a good number of 
 persons of every sex and condition. Happily the evil had not 
 yet struck very deep roots when the servant of God was in- 
 formed of it. He sent to the infected communities learned 
 and virtuous persons who showed the danger of these false 
 maxims. They also watched so closely and claimed so power- 
 fully those who were suspected of dogmatising, that they 
 hastened- to return to their primitive obscurity. 
 
 As it is impossible to enter into a detail of the other services 
 which Vincent of Paul rendered to the church and to the state 
 during the regency of Ann of Austria, we shall only remark 
 that he undertook every kind of good «work of which an ac- 
 tive and watchful zeal is capable. ' It was he who, to exter- 
 minate blasphemy and to abolish the horrid practice of duel- 
 ling, promoted the publication of those excellent edicts, by 
 which Louis XIV commenced his reign. It was he who 
 caused measures to be taken against that licentiousness, in 
 which men void of faith and virtue indulged, by publishing 
 anil spreading about dangerous or rather nefarious works, 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 161 
 
 which the demon of libertinism and impiety alone could sug 
 gest. It was he who, being unable to abolish comedies, 
 caused at least those indecent scenes, which render plays 
 doubly dangerous, to be suppressed. In fine it was he who, 
 knowing that the prisoners of slate confined in the Bastile had 
 bo one to teach them how sanctify their sufferings, induced the 
 queen to appoint a fervent ecclesiastic cf his conference to 
 give them pious exhortations; and by disposing them to be 
 reconciled with God, to dispose them also for the favor of the 
 king. 
 
 That which was most admirable in the ministry of St. Vin- 
 cent, was his exercising it at all times with a nobleness, a 
 disinterestedness, a wisdom of which few examples are found. 
 His houses were almost all poor enough, and most of them 
 very much burdened by the law they had prescribed to them- 
 selves to labor gratuitously in their principal functions. As 
 he had been commissioned to distribute a great number of 
 benefices, he would easily have found the means of uniting 
 some of them to his congregation : of this he would never 
 think. More than once persons attempted to corrupt his 
 virtue by the allurement of money, which is generally so 
 powerful. Without repeating the story of that magistrate 
 who desired in a manner to purchase his silence, one of his 
 most intimate friends offered him ten thousand francs, to in- 
 duce him to cause some propositions in which there was noth- 
 ing injurious to the people, to be proposed and admitted in the 
 counsel of the king. But besides that the holy priest did not 
 think that he could sell the credit which he had at court, he 
 observed to his friends that the system to which he was solici- 
 ted to lend his aid, might injure the interests of the clergy; so 
 that raising his eyes to heaven, he made no other answer than 
 this : "God preserve me from it: I would rather die than say 
 a single word on the subject." Far from profiting in his own 
 favor by the power whicli his employment gave him at the 
 court and in all the kingdom, he always exerted himself to cause 
 the favors which the queen intended for him, to fall upon 
 others. She had so marked a respect for him, that, by the 
 acknowledgment of all the courtiers, there was nothing that he 
 14* 
 
162 
 
 I.I7E OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 might not look for from the good will of that princess. It was 
 even said, and the report was spread abroad, that she wished 
 to ask the honor of the Roman purple for him. But the 
 manner in which he received those of his friends, who has- 
 tened to congratulate him about it, dispensed others with pay- 
 ing him the same compliment. A man so perfectly dead to 
 himself, was still more so to all earthly grandeur. To live 
 and not to be humbled, was a martyrdom for him. 
 
 To perfect disinterestedness, the saint added consummate 
 prudence and wisdom. Born an enemy to precipitation, 
 which, in the opinion of Titus Livius, engages men in the 
 most erroneous steps, he never decided on any thing without 
 having reflected on it maturely : he attentively weighed all 
 the reasons for and against, he examined the circumstances, 
 he foresaw the consequences. But when he had once made 
 up his mind, he was as prompt in the execution of his pla#S, 
 as he had been circumspect in the examination; and then, 
 whether it succeeded or not, he remained in peace; being 
 well assured, with an ancient father, that wisdom does not 
 judge of things by their success, and that God sometimes in- 
 spires designs of which he wishes us to make a sacrifice to him. 
 With regard to secrecy, the neglect of which destroys every 
 day the best concerted projects, Vincent was invulnerable. 
 When he relumed from court, he was so strict in the obser- 
 vance of silence with regard lo state affairs, that one would 
 have thought he was returning from the cell of a carthusian. 
 But it was not so much the nature of the important affairs 
 transacted in the cabinet of kings, as his own virtue that 
 made him so circumspect. A man who had been for a long 
 time inviolably faithful to the great number of persons who 
 came from every direction to lay themselves open to him, 
 was very far from revealing secrpf, which, according to the 
 advice of the Holy Ghost, should be concealed in the heart, 
 never to escape thence. 
 
 , We cannot too often repeat that all these great qualities of 
 the holy priest, arose from one principle, his attachment to the 
 rules of the gospel. It was from that source that he drew all 
 his light; and, notwithstanding the prejudices of human 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 163 
 
 policy, we must acknowledge that it is there alone that we 
 can learn how to reconcile what was then seen in our saint; a 
 favorable access to the sovereign, and a perfect disengagement 
 from all wordly interests; great activity in external affairs and 
 a most intimate union with God; opportunities, as easy as 
 frequent, of making friends at the expense of good rules, and 
 an uprightness of heart which nothing could alter; a con- 
 tinual intercourse with all kinds of persons, good or evil in- 
 tentioned, and an equanimity of mind always constant, always 
 uniform : in fine, an understanding capable of answering all 
 that his prince could desire, and a heart as deeply penetrated 
 with his own nothingness, as it was full of piely and love for 
 God. 
 
 It was to spread abroad this divine love more and more, 
 that he sent, this very year 1643, many of his priests into 
 different cities of the kingdom. Three of them began to form 
 the seminary of Cahors under the auspices of Mr. de Solmi- 
 nihac. Others spread themselves through different diocesses, 
 to give missions. The most important was made at Mar- 
 seilles on the first seven galleys. The duchess of Aiguillon, 
 who had solicited it, was so moved by the account which the 
 pious bishop, Jean Baptiste Gault, gave her of it, that, in 
 order to perpetuate the good work, she established four mis- 
 sionaries in that city. 
 
 To this establishment was added that of Sedan. The Duke 
 of Bouillon, who had entered into the conspiracy of Cinq- 
 Mars, had no sooner restored that place to Louis XIII, 
 than this religious monarch caused missions to be made there, 
 to strengthen the Catholics whom a constant intercourse with 
 the self-styled reformed had exposed to the danger of losing 
 their faith. After the death of that prince, Vincent, at the 
 solicitation of the queen, sent six priests there, who were 
 placed in possession of the parish by Eleonor d'Estampes, 
 archbishop of Reims. Their chief "was Mr. Gallet, a 
 learned man, of acknowledged probity, disinterested, religious 
 without superstition, extremely careful to say and do nothing 
 which might bring upon himself exterior distinction, always 
 a model and never a spectacle in the missions. He began the 
 
164 LIFE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 great work of the conversion of the people of Sedan by study- 
 ing their character, in order to accus'.om himself to their 
 ways, and accommodate himself in some measure to their dis- 
 positions." This is the account of him given by Marshal 
 Fabert to our saint, in his very words. He added that the 
 method of the priests of the mission and their ability gained 
 many Calvinists to the church, and nothing is more certain. 
 When these gentlemen arrived at Sedan, there were but 
 fifteen hundred Catholics. The face of things altered by 
 degrees through their care, and that of other communities 
 which were established there at the solicitation of the servant 
 of .God. Of more than ten thousand inhabitants that are in 
 that city, not one-third persevere now in heresy; and that not 
 in consequence surely of the talents by which they are upheld 
 in it. 
 
 It was also in this year, 1644, that Franp ois Mallier, bishop 
 of Troyes, established the missionaries in the little city ol 
 Monlmirel, at the invitation of Pierre de Gondi, Duke of Retz. 
 Th'e inhabitants of the place and neighborhood saw with plea- 
 sure the children of our saint in a country, where they had so 
 often admired his own virtue and apostolical zeal. Time 
 which effaces every thing, has not yet diminished their first 
 sentiments of respect and veneration. Fathers have trans- 
 mitted them to their children ; and the striking miracle which 
 God worked there some years ago through the intercession 
 of his servant, is a proof that if Montmirel continues to pay 
 a just homage to the memory of the saint, the saint continues 
 to cherish and protect Montmirel. 
 
 If Vincent felt great satisfaction in seeing that his priests 
 were in a situation to be useful to the church in a number of 
 diocesses, he felt more so on finding that they multiplied 
 without losing any thing of their primitive spirit. "Never," 
 says he in one of his letters, " have more regularity, more 
 union and cordiality prevailed than at present. But, adds he, 
 a great calm is always the forerunner of some storm." 
 
 His prognostic was found correct, and the congregation 
 saw itself on the point of experiencing in the death of its 
 holy institutor, the greatest loss it could sustain. His 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 165 
 
 domestic and exterior occupations; the great pain he felt in 
 being placed in the royal council; the continual embarrass- 
 ment caused him by this employment which was always a 
 martyrdom for him ; the want of rest for a man advanced in 
 age, and who rising exactly at four o'clock every morning, 
 went sometimes to bed at midnight ; so much fatigue ex- 
 hausted nature at last. His sickness caused alarm at (he 
 commencement. The holy priest, to dispose himself for 
 death which he believed to be near, received communion 
 every day. The love of God engrossed his whole heart; and 
 in a delirium which lasted for some time, they remarked 
 nothing in him, as formerly in St. Francis Xavier, except 
 emotions full of ardor, tender sighs for heaven, inflamed de- 
 sires of soon seeing the dissolution of this house of clay, 
 which impedes the union of the soul with its adorable principle. 
 
 The news of his illness being circulated, all his friends, and 
 particularly Father J. B. de Saint-Jure, were much alarmed 
 at it; but no one felt it more deeply than a young priest who 
 was then sick himself. As soon as he heard that the respec- 
 table superior was in danger of death, he begged God to ac- 
 cept his life in exchange for that of a man, who was more 
 than ever necessary to the church, the state, and his own 
 congregation. Vincent began from lhat time to grow better, 
 and the priest to sink so visibly that he died a short time 
 afterwards. The saint recited the office of the dead for him 
 with one of his clergy, before any one had apprized him of 
 his death. This is not the only time that he was acquainted 
 with things, which he could know only by a light from above. 
 "He predicted to me," said a celebrated advocate in the par- 
 liament of Paris (Mr. Husson), secret and hidden things 
 which did not happen until two years afterwards, and which 
 he could not then foresee but by a particular illustration, or 
 rather by a spirit of prophecy." 
 
 As soon as the holy priest was a litile recovered, he re- 
 commenced his exercises and labors with as much fervor and 
 assiduity, as if they had not brought him to death's door. 
 After having performed the obsequies of the virtuous Cardi- 
 nal de la Rochefoucault, who, like Louis XIII, died in his 
 
166 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 arms,* he went to Richelieu, where he was occupied from 
 morning till night. By order of the queen, he commenced a 
 mission at Fonlainebleau. He sent new colonies to Saintes 
 and Mans. He was even on the point of sending one to 
 Babylon, when the death of Urban VI 11, who had directed 
 him to do it, defeated his design. He formed one which was 
 more successful, to procure for the slaves of Barbary that aid 
 which was wanting to him in the time of his captivity. 
 Julien Guerin, born in the diocess of Bayeux, a man who, 
 before his association with Vincent of Paul, had known how 
 to sanctify himself in the profession of arms, was the pe.-son 
 to whom he gave the department of Tunis. 
 
 It would have been difficult to make a hetter choice. Mr. 
 Guerin united to an unction calculated to soften the most 
 hardened heart, a zeal which might be compared to that of the 
 greatest apostles. The bishop of Saintes, in whose diocess 
 he had labored, openly declared that he knew no person in the 
 world, in whom the divine operation was more manifest, and 
 who had a greater grace for exhibiting to advantage the truths 
 of the gospel. Although it is said of him, as of the holy 
 Precursor, that he lived without eating or drinking, he labored 
 so continually and with so much ardor, that it requfred a kind 
 of miracle to preserve his life. He had always desired to die 
 amongst the captives and barbarians. The idea alone that he 
 should have it in his power to be so happy as to endure for 
 one day what the martyrs suffered, transported him with joy. 
 Some one having told him on the eve of his departure, that 
 "he was going to get himself hanged in Barbary :" " this is 
 too little," replied he in a transport of love for Jesus Christ, 
 *' I earnestly hope that God will grant me the favor to he im- 
 paled or to suffer something worse." 
 
 He persevered in these heroic sentiments at Tunis : the 
 apostolical man produced by his invincible patience pro- 
 digious fruits, of which we shall speak elsewhere. If God 
 did not grant him the crown of martyrdom, he honored him 
 
 • Francis de la Rochefoucault, who was constanf ly employed with 
 much zeal in the reformation of the orders of St. Benedict and St 
 Augustine, died on the 14th of February, 1645, at the age of 87. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 167 
 
 at least with that which is due 10 the most eminent chanty. 
 He had not been yet four years in Barbary, when, on account 
 of his assiduous intercourse with the slaves afflicted with the 
 plague, he was attacked himself, and terminated a holy life 
 by a death precious in the sight of the Lord. Happily for the 
 Christians of Africa, he had, the preceding year, obtained per- 
 mission from the Bey, to bring another priest from France to 
 aid him in reaping a harvest which was too abundant fur 
 one man : and Vincent who thought nothing too much 
 when the relief of the poor was in question, had directly sent 
 him Jean le Vacher, a priest of the diocess of Paris. It is this 
 incomparable man who, after having labored more than 
 thirty-three years for the salvation of the slaves, and even of 
 the Turks of Algiers and Tunis, had finally the happiness to 
 be the first of the children of Vincent of Paul, to shed his 
 blood for the faith of Jesus Christ in that infidel and barba- 
 rous country. 
 
 The servant of God did not neglect in France those duties 
 of charity, which his priests so generously performed in 
 foreign lands. He gave, that very year, all possible help to a 
 great number of sacred ministers, whom the persecution of 
 the pitiless Cromwell had obliged to leave their country. He 
 procured support and lodging, at little expense, for a crowd 
 of priests, who degraded themselves by the indecent manner 
 in which they sought alms, and by a necessary consequence 
 degraded the priesthood of the Son of God. He boldly 
 defended his old friend Mr. Olier, and after having sus- 
 tained him in a popular commotion, in which that worthy 
 pastor came near being burned alive in his own house, he 
 bore, on his own account, at court, reproaches which neither 
 of them had merited. 
 
 But there are few things which caused him more pains 
 than the establishment of his priests in the diocess of Saint- 
 Malo. Achilles de Harlai de Sancy, who was bishop of it, 
 had obtained some of them by earnest entreaty, and put in 
 the monastery of Saint Meen, of which he was superior and 
 abbot. They had scarcely occupied it, when a decree of the 
 parliament of Brittany obliged them to leave it. Vincent, 
 
168 
 
 MPE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 who had written some months before to one of his priests, 
 "that it was much belter to lose than to go to law," wanted 
 immediately to withdraw his missionaries, of whom he had 
 need elsewhere. But the bishop strongly opposed it. He 
 represented to him that he had done nothing but in conse- 
 quence of the letters patent of the king, that there were only 
 two aged monks in that house, whose consent he had obtained, 
 and that they were neither reformed nor willing to be so ; that 
 the abbey which had been constantly subject to the jurisdic- 
 tion of his predecessors and of himself belonged to no congre- 
 gation ; and that being independent of every other body, it 
 had never received any visits, except from the bishop. Vin- 
 cent permitted his priests to remain with him, with order to 
 obey him; but he took great care not to enter into their suit, 
 nor did he ever engage in it, either personally or by any of 
 those connected with him. It would be useless and disagree- 
 able to repeat that the bishop of Saint Malo had recourse to 
 censures; that the parliament of Rennes opposed new decrees 
 to them ; that these were annulled by the council of state of 
 the king; that it was necessary to obtain a new bull from the 
 Holy See ; and that in the informalions which preceded its 
 publication, the clergy, nobility, even the judges of the neigh- 
 borhood, rendered to the children of Vincent of Paul, who by 
 their zeal and labors had already sanctified four diocesses, the 
 most glorious testimony they could receive. But it will 
 not be useless to add that if the affair of Saint Meen caused a 
 passing difference in the minds of those concerned, it did not 
 alter that charity which ought to unite hearls ; that at the 
 very time of the crisis, Vincent employed, as he had hitherto 
 done, all his credit in favor of the reform ; that Dom Gregoire 
 Tarisse loudly proclaimed the merits of the holy priest ; thai it 
 was in some measure to follow his views, that his pious and 
 learned congregation was one of the first to ask of the holy- 
 See to render justice to his virtues, and that, some time after, 
 the children of St. Benedict consecrated the memory of his 
 virtues in a monument which virtue alone can erect to virtue. 
 But the servant of God erected for himself more durable 
 ones than those made of marble and bronze. As each year 
 
LIFE Or ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 169 
 
 of his life furnished a great number of events precious in the 
 eyes of religion, we can do no more than merely point them 
 out. It was at this very lime that, having heard that one of 
 his benefactors had lost his fortune, he wished to return 
 what he had received from him, as he had already done to 
 the curate of Vernon. It was also at the same time that seve- 
 ral ladies of rank having offered him sixty thousand livres to 
 build a church, he constantly refused the gift and begged them 
 to distribute the sum amongst the poor, who were beginning 
 to suffer. In fine, it was at this time that, in spite of the 
 enormous expense which it- would have been necessary to 
 incur, he was on the point of sending some of his priests to 
 Sale and to Persia, and that, as he often repeated, with a 
 view to indemnify the church for the losses which it had sus- 
 tained within two centuries, and those which the growing 
 irreligion of the day made him consider as inevitable. 
 
 But he soon undertook in Ireland what he could not effect 
 in the East. Innocent X having made known to him that 
 the Catholics of that kingdom, almost destitute of pastors, 
 lived in profound and dangerous ignorance of the truths of 
 faith, Vincent chose in his congregation eight laborers capable 
 of making every effort for the sanctification of their brethren. 
 Five of these virtuous priests having been brought up in the 
 islands of Great Britain, were perfectly acquainted with their 
 manners and language : the others, with a little labor, could 
 make themselves understood by the people. All, before their 
 departure, threw themselves at the feet of the saint, and asked 
 his blessing. Vincent prayed the God of mercy to be pleased 
 to bless them himself. "Be united," said he to them, "and 
 the Lord will bless you. But be united by the charity of 
 Jesus Christ. Every union which is not cemented by the 
 blood of this divine Saviour, cannot subsist. God calls you 
 to labor in his vineyard, go to it; but go to it, as having but 
 one heart and one intention in him, and by this means you 
 will bring forth fruit." 
 
 He afterwards directed them, how to act during the voyage, 
 and when they should have arrived at the place of their des- 
 tination. He did it with so much prudence, that on their re- 
 IB 
 
170 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 turn they acknowledged that the salutary counsels of that 
 judicious superior had been for them a source of benediction. 
 France, which they were about to leave, gathered the first 
 fruits of their zeal. During the stay which they were 
 obliged to make at Nantz, they instructed the poor, served 
 and consoled the sick in the hospitals-. ■ They learned in the 
 spiritual conferences which they had with the ladies of cha- 
 rity of the parishes, the manner of visiting and assisting the 
 sick in that spirit of compassion and tenderness, of which a 
 God-Man has left us the example. 
 
 At Saint-Nazaire, whilst waiting for the day of their de- 
 parture, they gave a kind of mission to all the passengers who 
 wished to profit by it. An English gentleman who had the 
 curiosity to listen to them, could not resist the Holy Ghost 
 who sppke by their mouth. His eyes were opened : he re- 
 turned to the church, from which his fathers had so unhap- 
 pily separated. It was very evident that God had designs of 
 salvation with regard to him. Three days afterwards, I know 
 not by what accident, he was mortally wounded. It was 
 then that he felt all the value of the grace which God had 
 just granted him. His mouth could not sufficiently. express 
 his gratitude. He made all shed tears who were witnesses 
 of those which he poured forth for his former errors. 
 
 Our missionaries at length departed; and, before arriving at 
 Limerick, they experienced such violent tempests and dan- 
 gers that they were more than once snatched, as if by miracle, 
 from the very- jaws of death. We shall speak elsewhere of 
 the great but arduous victories which they gained over the 
 enemy of salvation. 
 
 Whilst they were so usefully occupied in Ireland, an occa- 
 sion presented itself to the holy priest, to be associated in 
 France in a portion of their labors. Ann of Austria having 
 taken the king into Picardy to revive the spirit of his troops, 
 who had been intimidated by various defeats, Vincent of Paul 
 profited by the absence of their majesties to resume his 
 apostolical labors in the country. He gave a mission at 
 Moni, in the diocess of Beauvais; and at the entreaty of the' 
 princess of Conti, he there established the confraternity of 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 171 
 
 charity, which is still considered one of the most flourishing 
 in the kingdom. Great as was his inclination for this kind of 
 employment, he could not continue it long. So many people 
 stood in need of him in Paris, that his absence was soon felt. 
 His counsels and protection were at that time much re- 
 quired by the community of the daughters of Providence, of 
 which he was- superior. It was only four years since it had 
 been established by Marie de Lumague, the widow of Fran- 
 cois Pollalion, counsellor of the king and his agent at Ragusa. 
 That pious lady, brought up a long time in the school of 
 the saint, had there learned to practise the most solid virtues 
 of Christianity, and particularly confidence in God and zeal 
 for the sanctificalion of souls. It was with these happy dis- 
 positions that, although she had scarcely any funds save those 
 of Providence, she undertook to afford an asylum to young 
 persoDS of her own sex, for whom beauty, want, and the bad 
 example of their parents might be, and too often are, the oc- 
 casions of their loss before God and man. Franpois de 
 Gondy, archbishop of Paris, wished to know what our saint 
 thought of this establishment, before approving it. By his 
 order, Vincent paid two regular visits to it ; and out of thirty 
 young women who then composed it, he chose seven who 
 appeared to him best calculated to serve as a foundation to 
 the whole edifice. He gave them counsels worthy of them 
 and worthy of himself. He transferred to their hearts a por- 
 tion of the fire which consumed him ; and there is every rea- 
 son to believe that it was he who, four years afterwards, in 
 1651, obtained for them, from Ann of Austria, the hospital 
 de la Sante, which is still the place of their residence. That 
 virtuous queen entertained great hopes from this new founda- 
 tion, and the event justified them. The house of Provi- 
 dence has always been edifying. The spirit of Vincent of 
 Paul, who was the first superior, has been perpetuated in it. 
 They make it an honor and a duty to imitate his virtues, and 
 although gratitude is not the virtue of the age, they there 
 acknowledge with pleasure, that the daughters of Providence 
 do not owe less to the holy priest, than to the pious lady who 
 mstituted them. 
 
172 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 In order to recur less frequently to communities of this 
 nature, which had a greater siiare in the prayers and ser- 
 vices of the man of God, we shall here speak oi two or three 
 others, which are under a special obligation to him; but we 
 shall do so without paying much attention to the order of time. 
 Besides that of the Christian Union, and the Propagation 
 of the Faith, which he united in one body, he evinced the 
 liveliest interest for the house of the orphans, established by 
 Mademoiselle de l'Etang. He aided it in its greatest need. 
 He directed the foundress to select from the community, which 
 was then composed of two hundred young women, three or 
 four of the most intelligent, to share with her the burden of 
 affairs, and above all to consider the desire of doing every 
 thing herself as a temptation. 
 
 Vincent had also a share in the foundation of the daughters 
 of St. Genevieve. Three young ladies, who had a desire to 
 live in community, and associate to themselves those per- 
 sons of their sex, who might be animated with the same feel- 
 ings, believed it necessary, to avoid taking a false step, to 
 do nothing without having consulted the servant of God. 
 He, after many prayers, told them, in a tone of certainty, 
 that God desired to make use of them to give a new com- 
 pany to his church ; that it would be for the glory of our 
 Lord, and very useful to the public. Time has proved that 
 God spoke by the mouth of his minister. These young ladies, 
 who were afterwards united to those of Madame de Miramion, 
 have been earnestly engaged with them in advancing in 
 virtue. In such a pursuit there is nothing but gain. 
 
 But there are few establishments which owe more to our 
 saint, than that of the daughters of the cross. The insolence 
 of a teacher, who had dared to attempt the honor of one of 
 his scholars, showed that young females are never secure 
 but in the hands of persons of their own sex ; and a proposal 
 was made to unite some females who would have virtue and 
 courage sufficient to undertake that good work. Four pre- 
 sented themselves at Rote, in Picardy, where the scandal nad 
 taken place. But the war and their own affairs ha\rng 
 obliged them to retire to Paris, Marie l'Huillier de Villeneuve 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL.. 173 
 
 "eceived them kindly, and made a trial of their talents. Vin- 
 cent, whom she did not fail to consult, encouraged her, and 
 showed her how to instruct young women in such a manner 
 that they might be able to form others afterwards. The arch- 
 bishop of Paris approved their constitutions, and they took 
 the name of Daughters of the Cross, on account of the con- 
 tradictions they had already experienced. 
 
 But what they had suffered was only a prelude to the trials 
 reserved for their virtue. Madame de Villeneuve, whose long 
 infirmities had not permitted her to establish them sufficiently, 
 was taken from them on the 13ih of January, 1650. This 
 occurred at a very unfortunate moment; and the persons who 
 had heretofore taken the greatest interest in them, were of 
 opinion that they should be suppressed, or at least united to 
 some other community. Vincent of Paul, who was com- 
 monly rather slow in his determinations, and who, in such 
 matters, did not resist the multitude, contended, however, that 
 every means should be used to insure the subsistence of this 
 holy establishment. " It is the work of God," said he to Mr. 
 Abelly; "it must not be destroyed; that community is com- 
 posed now of only five females; but their number will multi- 
 ply. The stream is small, but it will receive water to make 
 it abundant." 
 
 These words, and the circumstances in which Vincent pro- 
 nounced them being taken into consideration, appeared so im- 
 probable, that it could hardly be believed that the event would 
 correspond to them. It was not long, however, before they 
 were verified. The saint, who, by upholding this new estab- 
 lishment against every body, found himself more charged with 
 it than any one else, engaged Madame de Traversai to take 
 part in the good work. The holy widow gave herself up en- 
 tirely to it. She surmounted by her patience, her credit, and 
 the aid of the man of God, the obstacles which she met at 
 every step. By degrees it was pereeived that this tree, too 
 long battered by the winds, would produce fruits of justice 
 and salvation. The Daughters of the Cross contribute still 
 daily to the sanctification of a great number of souls, and 
 15* 
 
/74 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 they enter with zeal upon those apostolical functions which 
 the law of God has not interdicted -to their sex. 
 
 Before finishing with this matter, I may be permitted to 
 make two reflections concerning it. The first, which is fur- 
 nished me by one of the sisters of the Cross, that the saint, in 
 sustaining them, in some measure wronged the Sisters of 
 Charity, since he might have obtained for them the advan- 
 tages which he procured for the others. The second, which 
 does great honor to the foundations of which we have spoken; 
 is, that in general, Vincent was on his guard against new es- 
 tablishments. This appears by a long letter which he wrote 
 that very year to the archbishop of Paris, and in which, after 
 having acknowledged that it was himself who, in the council 
 of the king, had prevented a religious female under the pro* 
 tection of that prelate from making an establishment at Lagny, 
 he proves by six or seven very recent examples, that he had 
 reason for being generally opposed to new congregations, a 
 certain proof that the appearance of good did not impose upon 
 him, and that he would only authorise those which, by the 
 nature of their institute, and by a true spirit of virtue and fer- 
 vor, gave him just and solid hopes. 
 
 It was towards the end of the same year, 1647, that his 
 priests established a house at Genoa. They were indebted 
 for it to three noble Genoese, who concurred in that good 
 work with Cardinal Durazzo, then archbishop; but they 
 owed it still more to their labor and indefatigable zeal. The 
 prelate, who could not see without the deepest sorrow the 
 pitiful state of his diocess, kept them for two years in such a 
 continual succession of retreats and fatiguing missions, that 
 Vincent, enemy as he was to inaction, was often alarmed at 
 it. The prayers which he offered for therp, and the great ex- 
 ample of the cardinal, supported them. We shall endeavor 
 to give in its proper place some idea of the innumerable ad- 
 vantages, which these fervent missionaries procured for the 
 territories of the republic. 
 
 The joy which the holy man experienced at the good ac- 
 counts from Genoa and all the places where his children were 
 established, was moderated by the death of some of them. He 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 175 
 
 was, above all, much afflicted at that of Mr. Nonely, who 
 was still very young;, and had been laboring only a year at 
 Algiers, when he contracted, by attending the slaves who had 
 the plague, the disorder which carried him off in a few days. 
 His death was felt by the Turks almost as much as by the 
 Christians. There was not a person in that barbarous coun- 
 try that was not touched by the zeal which he manifested for 
 the relief of the poor, and particularly for the sick. The most 
 desperate, those whose disorders inspired the greatest horror, 
 were his cherished children. In fine, he was the victim, the 
 martyr of his own charily. Seven or eight hundred Chris- 
 tians, of every nation, attended his funeral. Even the Turks 
 and Moors seemed to forget that he was the enemy of their 
 sect, and mingled with the others. The tears shed over his 
 grave were too general not to be sincere. 
 
 These losses followed some others which must have af- 
 flicted St. Vincent still more, because less in the order of Pro- 
 vidence. Notwithstanding the necessity of filling up these 
 different vacancies, our saint formed, at the same time, the 
 project of planting the faith in the island of Madagascar. 
 We shah hereafter see that this project cost him a great deal; 
 that it mowed down a considerable number of apostolic men, 
 and was for him, during the last twelve years of his life, the 
 source of a torrent of tears and of great affliction. 
 
 The very year, in which he entered upon the affair of Mada- 
 gascar, he realized a project which had occupied him a long 
 time, and the success of which merited for him the blessings 
 of the capital, and of all the provinces of the kingdom. To 
 give a just idea of il, we must go back to its origin. 
 
 The city of Paris, the immense extent of which embraces 
 nearly a million of inhabitants, contains within it every ex- 
 treme of conditions. Opulence there walks by the side of 
 misery ; virtue and vice are there to be found ; the amusements 
 of the theatre and the tears of penance ; the most austere pu- 
 rity and the most daring libertinism have their residence there. 
 From this libertinism, and sometimes from poverty nlone, a 
 multitude of children are born, who, in the time of our saint, 
 lost their lives before they became conscious of existence, 
 
176 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FACL. 
 
 or became conscious of it only to undergo every hardship 
 Their mothers often sacrificed them on the very day they had 
 brought them into the world. They were exposed at the 
 door of the churches, or in the public places. It is true that 
 the commissaries of the Chatelet took them away by order 
 of the police ; but this service was almost the only one ren- 
 dered to these children. 
 
 They were taken to a widow in Saint Landri street, who, 
 with two female servants, was charged to bring them up. 
 But as they were very numerous, and alms were not abun- 
 dant, this woman, for want of nourishment and means, 
 suffered them to die through weakness. Often the servants, 
 even, in order to be relieved from the importunity of their 
 cries, put them to sleep by means of a beverage which shor- 
 tened their days. Those who escaped this danger were given 
 to any one who would have them, or sold at so low a price, 
 that twenty sous were sometimes sufficient to procure one. 
 Nor had compassion any thing to do with the bargain. Some 
 had them suckled by diseased women, from whom they often 
 imbibed contagion and death; others substituted them to chil- 
 dren whom they had suffered to perish. It has even been 
 discovered that many children were inhumanly killed for ma- 
 gical operations, or for those bloody baths which a madness 
 for prolonging life has sometimes invented. That which was 
 still more deplorable was, that many died without baptism, 
 I the widow of Saint Landri having acknowledged that she 
 I had never baptized any, nor caused any to be baptized. 
 
 Such a pitiable state of things sensibly afflicted the heart 
 of our holy priest. The difficulty was to remedy it. Vincent 
 was charitable enough to attempt it, and he was happy enough 
 to accomplish it. He at first entreated some ladies of his assem- 
 bly, to go to the place and see whether so great an evil could 
 not be stopped, or at least diminished. Those ladies were 
 terrified at the spectacle presented to their eyes by that mulii 
 tude of children almost abandoned. They could not take 
 charge of all, but they wished to take charge of some, in order 
 to save their life.- To honor Divine Providence, whose de- 
 signs were unknown, they drew lots for twelve. They rented. 
 
 r^^sLtJfc^v > 
 
 1 :,y'£r 
 
 vvnaAv. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PACX. 177 
 
 in 1638, a house for tlieir accommodation, at the gate of St. 
 Victor, and Madame Le Gras, who joined all the good works 
 of her director, took care of them with the Sisters of Charity. 
 
 Tq the first children, these virtuous ladies added others from 
 time to time, according to their devotion and means. The dif- 
 ference which was soon discovered between the latter and those 
 who remained at Saint Landri, excited their pity in favor of- 
 those whom they were obliged to leave there. In the mean- 
 time they begged of God to open the treasure of his mercy, 
 and to prepare the way for an undertaking which appeared 
 still more necessary than difficult. 
 
 At last, after many prayers and conferences, a general 
 meeting was held at the beginning of the year 1640. The 
 saint then explained in so pathetic a manner, the wants of 
 these poor children, and the glory which would be procured 
 to God from the Christian education which might be given 
 them, that all the ladies present resolved to assume the charge 
 of them. But the servant of God, who foresaw that it would 
 require much more than twelve or fourteen hundred livres, 
 which formed all the funds upon which they could calcu- 
 late, was unwilling they should undertake any thing, except 
 by way of a trial. In this manner he prevented the murmurs 
 of families, and removed from those virtuous females all oc- 
 casion to repent of having too easily obeyed the first impulse 
 of fervor. 
 
 In order to spare them a part of the expense, besides the 
 money which he himself furnished according to custom, he 
 laid before Ann of Austria a sad and faithful picture of those 
 children; and through that august princess, who regarded 
 every day on which she had done no good work as lost, he 
 obtained from the king twelve thousand livres, the revenues 
 of five large farms. With this help the establishment con- 
 tinued for some years. But the necessities of Lorraine ; the 
 fear of a revolution in the state, strong symptoms of which 
 were now manifested in murmurs and factions; the number of 
 '.hese children, which increased every day, and the support of 
 whom exceeded forty thousand livres, all these considerations, 
 which were but too weirfounded, staggered the/ courage of 
 
178 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF 7AUL. 
 
 the ladies of Charity. Thpy declared, as of one accord, that 
 so enormous an expense exceeded their means, and that they 
 could no longer bear it. 
 
 It was to come to a final determination respecting this im- 
 portant affair, that Vincent convoked a general assembly, 
 in 1648. The Marillacs, the Traversais, the Miramions, 
 and all those venerable persons whose names God has 
 written in the book of life, were present. The saint pro- 
 posed as a matter of deliberation, whether the good work 
 which was begun, should be continued. He laid down the 
 reasons for and against it. On one hand he represented that 
 the association had contracted no obligation, and that they 
 were at liberty to decide on what seemed most proper. On 
 the other he showed that by these charitable provisions they 
 had hitherto preserved the lives of a large number of children, 
 who would otherwise have perished here, and perhaps hereaf- 
 ter; that those innocent beings in learning to speak, had learned 
 to know and serve God; that some of them were beginning 
 to work, and to relieve others from the expense of their main- 
 tenance, and that such a happy beginning was a presage of 
 still greater advantages. 
 
 It was then that the holy man, who was no longer master 
 of his sighs and scarcely of his expressions, assuming a more 
 tender and animated tone, concluded in these words : "Re- 
 member, ladies, that compassion and charity have caused you 
 to adopt these little creatures as your children; you have been 
 their mothers according to grace, since their natural mothers 
 have abandoned them : determine now whether you also 
 will abandon them. Cease to be their mothers, that you may 
 be their judges; their life and death are in your hands : I am 
 going to take the votes ; it is time to pronounce their sen- 
 tence, and to know whether you will no longer have pity on 
 them. They will live if you continue your charitable care of 
 them; on the contrary, they will infallibly die if you abandon 
 them : experience does not allow you to doubt it." 
 
 These words, which a great master of eloquence often ad- 
 mired, were answered only by the tears of the assembly. 
 The unction of the Holy Spirit had insinuated itself into every 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PA0L. 179 
 
 heart. It was determined at once that, whatever it might 
 cost, the good work should be continued. They no longer 
 deliberated upon its perpetuation, but only the means of ef- 
 fecting it. 
 
 It was in consequence of a resolution so worthy of those 
 who formed it, that the king was asked for the chateau of Bi- 
 cetre, designed by Louis XIII, as a hospital for invalid soldiers. 
 Thither they conveyed such of the children as had no need 
 of nurses. But as it was found that the air was too keen for 
 them, two houses were purchased in Paris; one in the fau- 
 bourg Saint Antoine, where the queen mother laid the first 
 stone of their church ; the other, which is now a palace, along 
 side of the cathedral. Their revenue was afterward augmented 
 by the liberality of Louis XIV. But their number, far ex- 
 ceeding their revenue, increased so much that one hundred 
 and fifty thousand livres were not sufficient for their support.* 
 It is thus the abbe ie Choisi spoke of it more than fifty years 
 ago. What would he have said in our days, when misery 
 and debauchery render their number incalculable? 
 
 We must hope that time which gradually effaces the re- 
 membrance of ordinary benefits, will never obliterate in the 
 foundlings the recollection of the signal service which St. 
 Vincent has rendered them ; that they will early learn to lisp 
 his name and his glory ; that grateful for the Christian educa- 
 tion afforded them, by his daughters in Jesus Christ, they will 
 from age to age cry out with a prophet : " Those who gave 
 me life abandoned me: I was about to share the rigorous 
 fate of innumerable others, but the God of children, by means 
 of his tender and charitable servant, has taken me under his 
 protection, and his liberal hand has given me much more than 
 I lose."f 
 
 It was time that the arrangements for the foundlings should 
 be completed; the least delay would have been utter ruin. 
 The kingdom was soon in such a situation that the best fami- 
 
 * The expenses of the foundlings amounts now to more than five 
 aundred thousand livres. 
 
 ] Pater meus, et mater mea derelinquerunt me; Dominus autem 
 assumpsit me. — Ps. xxvi, It). 
 
180 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VIIfCEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 lies had reason to fear for their safety. Famine, pestilence, 
 and civil war, a more terrible scourge than the two others, 
 caused the most frightful ravages. Cardinal Mazarin, who 
 found himself master of the favor and authority of his 
 sovereign, must have made, and did in fact make many 
 persons jealous; and' as from jealousy to the most violent 
 hatred there is hut one step, and sometimes less, he soon had 
 upon his hands as many enemies as he had rivals. The 
 aversion of the great soon reached the people. All took part 
 in this famous quarrel. They gave the name of Frondeurs to 
 those who were opposed to the minister; those who were 
 neutral, or in the interest of the court, were called Mazarins, 
 and sometimes Royalists. 
 
 The barricades of Paris, the violent liberation of those who 
 had been arrested by order of the court, the factions which 
 daily increased, induced the queen to take steps at variance 
 with her natural mildness. She resolved to starve out the 
 capital, which appeared for some time not to pay sufficient 
 respect to her authority. For that purpose she left it on the 
 day of the Epiphany, at three o'clock in the morniDg, with her 
 son, the king, and the greatest part of the court, which followed 
 her to Saint Germain-en-Laye. Vincent did, during this dif- 
 ficult time, all that a good citizen could do, and he suffered 
 all that a faithful subject could endure. As he thought that 
 the poor would be reduced to the greatest extremity, he en- 
 deavored to secure a resource in the provisions which were 
 destined for the support of the house of Saint Lazarus, and 
 that of Saint Charles, where many youlhs Were educated ac- 
 cording to the plan of the holy council of Trent. Violence 
 and injustice frustrated in part these good designs; but as 
 they had all their merit before God, they must have all their 
 value in the eyes of men. 
 
 He afterwards formed a project which may be looked upon 
 as one of the most splendid monuments of his courage, 
 disinterestedness, and disposition to sacrifice every thing 
 rather than resist the dictates of conscience. Ann of Austria 
 honored him with particular kindness; it is certain that under; 
 her regency, he always possessed greater fervor than he dfe- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 181 
 
 sired to have. On his part, he entertained for the person and 
 the eminent virtues of that great princess all the repect which 
 a subject could have, and he would have given his life a thou- 
 sand times for her and for the interests of the king. Yet, as 
 the conduct she pursued towards her people appeared to him 
 to be too rigorous, and as he was terrified at the horrors of 
 very kind which civil war always brings in its train, he 
 nought it necessary to have an interview with her and 
 tell her openly what he thought. He was well aware that 
 in the present state of the agitation of the public mind, the 
 liberty he was going to take might be naturally followed by 
 exile, or some other disgrace; but he feared no disgrace nor 
 exile, when his object was to prevent God from being out- 
 raged, and the people from being reduced to extreme misery. 
 
 He left Paris before day, and took the road to Saint-Ger- 
 main. Like a wise politician, he made no one acquainted 
 with his design. However, not to give umbrage to the par- 
 liament, which might have thought it wrong that a man like 
 him should leave the city without saying any thing, he sent 
 to his first assistant a letter for Mr. de Mole, who was at the 
 head of that great body. He told him in a few words, that 
 God urged him to go to the court, and that if he had not the 
 honor to pay him his respects before his departure, it was 
 only that he might have it in his power to assure the queen 
 that he had concerted with no one what he had to say to her. 
 
 As Paris was under arms, and there were advanced guards 
 in all the suburbs, he was obliged to make a long circuit. 
 It was not completely light when he entered Clichy, and the 
 obscurity had like to be fatal to him. The inhabitants, who 
 had been pillaged the evening before by a troop of cavaliers, 
 had taken up arms to repel them in case of another attack. 
 At the noise of two persons who were approaching on horse- 
 Dack, an alarm was given, some advanced with pikes, others 
 with their muskets cocked and ready to fire. The companion 
 of the saint, who was not very warlike, quaked with fear, 
 according to his own account ; " but," adds he, " I though 
 at the same moment that God would not permit the country 
 people to ill treat a man who had consecrated his life, his con' 
 
182 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VIHCEHT OF PAUL. 
 
 gregation, and his possessions to their service." In fact, on6 
 of them having recognised and made him known to the others 
 the name of their former pastor awakened the sentiments of 
 veneration which they had formerly entertained for him. 
 They pointed out to him the route which he ought to take, 
 and those which he should avoid, to escape falling into the 
 hands of the enemy, who were scouring the country. 
 
 At Neuilly, he ran a new risk ; the waters had overflowed 
 and covered a part of the bridge. He was advised not to at- 
 tempt crossing it, but his courage supported him, and God pro- 
 tected him. To return him thanks on the very spot by an 
 act of charity, he sent his horse to a poor man who was on 
 the other side of the bridge, and who could not otherwise have 
 continued his journey. He at length arrived at Saint Ger- 
 main, and in a long interview which he had with the queen, 
 he said every thing he could imagine most forcible to dissuade 
 her from the siege of Paris. He represented to her that it 
 was not just to occasion the death of a million of persons by 
 famine, to punish twenty or thirty guilty ones. In fine, he 
 even presumed to advance that, as the presence of the cardi- 
 nal appeared to be the source of all these disorders, he thought 
 it proper to sacrifice him for a time. 
 
 Although he did not lose sight of the respect due to the 
 most virtuous princess in the world, he then spoke with so 
 much force that a moment after, he was surprised and afflicted 
 at it. He calculated less on the success of his negociation on 
 that account. " For," said he, two days afterwards " never 
 have harsh words succeeded with me; and I have always re- 
 marked, that to move the mind, we must not exasperate the 
 heart." He corrected himself on the spot for an air of viva- 
 city which was not to his taste, and having gone from the 
 apartment of the queen to that of her minister, he spoke to 
 him in a tone of mildness which affected the cardinal. Yet 
 he told him in that tone all he had said to the queen, and 
 ne afterwards exhorted him to cast himself into the sea, in 
 order to still the tempest. Mazarin answered him kindly: 
 " Well, my father ! I will go, if Mr. le TelUer is of youi 
 opinion." 
 
LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 183 
 
 That very day the queen held a council; the mo'ives pro- 
 posed by our saint were discussed. Mr. le Tellier opposed 
 them through reasons of state, as he afterwards declared to 
 the servant of God, and it was determined that the cardinal 
 should remain. 
 
 It was almost thought that Vincent would be disgraced ; 
 but the court, which knew the attachment of Vincent of Paul 
 to the interests of the king, and the purity of his intentions, 
 did not look upon his honesty as a crime. Le Tellier, from 
 whom he had asked a passport, on the following day sent 
 him one, signed by the hand of the king; that young prince 
 was also good enough to furnish an escort, which conducted 
 him as far as Villepreux. 
 
 Had these circumstances been known in the capital, the 
 people, who, without exactly knowing why, were furious 
 against the Mazarin, would have looked upon. Vincent as one 
 of the most zealous Frondeurs ; but that worthy priest, con- 
 vinced that obedience is the first virtue of subjects, did not 
 suffer the propositions he had made, and the answers he had 
 received, to transpire. Thus was he treated as a Royalist, 
 that is to say, a declared enemy. The hatred of those whom 
 he had excluded from ecclesiastical dignities awoke and be- 
 came extreme. A counsellor, who pretended to be acting by 
 the authority of the parliament, took possession of the keys 
 of the house of Saint Lazarus. He placed guards at all the 
 doors, and seized all the grain that was in the house. Eight 
 hundred soldiers were lodged in the building. They made a 
 horrible waste every where; and finding nothing else upon 
 which to exercise their fury, they set fire to the wood piles 
 and reduced them to ashes. The parliament being informed 
 of it, was much displeased that such shameful violence 
 should have been exercised in its name. The rabble sol- 
 diery were ordered to withdraw. But the damage which they 
 caused during three days was not repaired. 
 
 To complete this misfortune, a farm at a short distance 
 from Versailles, which was then the principal resource of 
 Vincent of Paul and his companions, was so completely 
 pillaged by the disbanded soldiers, that there was neither 
 
184 
 
 LIFE OF ST TISCEMT OF PAUL. 
 
 grain, furniture, nor cattle left. The saint, who from Ville- 
 preux had gone to Freneville, near Etarapes, learned there 
 every day some news of this description. But he never in- 
 dulged in murmuring or impatience; and amidst such severe 
 trials, particularly when multiplied and close at hand, he al- 
 ways repeated : " God be blessed, God be blessed." 
 
 Notwithstanding these enormous losses, he did not cease to 
 relieve many unfortunate persons and every day during three 
 months, bread was furnished by his orders to two thousand 
 poor. Yet, to disarm the anger of God, and teach those as- 
 sociated with him to do the same thing, Vincent preached to 
 them by word and example the necessity of doing penance. 
 Badly warmed during a severe winter, fed with bread made 
 of rye and beans, eating so liule that he had enough time 
 left to finish himself the reading at table, distributing to the 
 country people whom he made eat with him the best that was 
 served up, he did not labor with less zeal for the salvation of 
 the inhabitants of Valpiuseau ; and by a discourse which par- 
 took nothing of the weakness of age, he made them so sensible 
 that a satisfaction proportioned to their faults, was the only 
 means of appeasing or turning to good account the storm with 
 which they were threatened, that his sermon alone did more 
 good than those of a whole lent preached by others. The 
 greater part of the parishioners wished to be reconciled with 
 God ; and as the curate could not satisfy their eagerness, our 
 saint and one of his priests joined in the labor. 
 
 The affairs of state becoming more and more complicated, 
 he resolved to visit the houses of his congregation. He ar- 
 rived at Mans in a dreadful season. His children, who did 
 not expect such happiness, received him as an angel from 
 heaven. He had calculated upon passing only five or six 
 days with them ; but the news of his arrival having spread 
 in spite of him, all the best people in the country came to 
 pay him their respect, and he was so overwhelmed with 
 visits, that he was obliged to remain eight days longer than 
 he had anticipated. 
 
 I should not omit here the embarrassment in which the 
 holy man found himself, on account of Mr. de Beaumanoir 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 185 
 
 de Lavardin, the very same iu regard to whose ordinations 
 so many ridiculous stories have been told. He was informed 
 that Vincent had been opposed to his nomination ; he knew 
 it, and had often complained of it. The servant of God was 
 surprised to learn that the prelate, who had not yet received 
 his bulls, was already in his diocess. It was not easy to pro- 
 ceed correctly in so delicate a conjuncture. It was unbecom- 
 ing to remain in his seminary without seeing him, dangerous 
 to see him without giving him previous notice, uncivil to ask 
 whether, he would receive his visit. The humility of the saint 
 removed the difficulty. In the morning he sent two of his 
 priests to inform him that he had arrived in his diocess the 
 preceding evening; that he would not remain in it without his 
 permission ; and that he begged to be allowed to pass seven 
 or eight days in the seminary. 
 
 This compliment on the part of a man, whose uprightness 
 was well known to Mr. de Lavardin, disarmed him. He 
 answered the saint that he was at liberty to remain at Mans 
 as long as he thought proper; and that, if he had no house, 
 it would give him pleasure to offer his own. So obliging an 
 answer required an acknowledgment. But at the very mo- 
 ment that our saint was starting to make it, he learned that 
 the party of the Fronde having prevailed in the town, the 
 bishop and the commander had been obliged to quit trie 
 place. 
 
 From Mans the servant of God took the road to Angers, 
 where the Sisters of Charity had a considerable establish- 
 ment. At half a league from Durtal, his horse fell into the 
 river, where he would have been drowned, but for the speedy 
 assistance of one of his priests who accompanied him. This 
 accident did not trouble him : he immediately, although quite 
 wet, mounted his horse again, and afterwards dried his gar- 
 ments as well as he could in a poor hut; and as it was then 
 the time of Lent, he remained without eating until the even- 
 ing, when he arrived at the inn. 
 
 As his first nourishment was the instruction of the poor, 
 this holy old man, fasting and weary, began to catechise the 
 servants of the house. The hostess, edified and surprised at 
 •16 
 
186 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 his charity, ran into the village and gathered all the children, 
 and without having said any thing to him, sent them up to 
 his chamber. Vincent thanked her very kindly. He divided 
 the children into two bands ; he gave one to instruct to his 
 companion, and he instucted the other in that style of unc- 
 tion and kindness which gained him every heart. After the 
 catechism he gave them alms, for they were as poor as ig- 
 norant. 
 
 After having spent five days in fortifying the Sisters of 
 Charity in the virtues of their state, he departed for Rennes. 
 Providence, who was pleased that on each day of his journey 
 he should be subjected to some new trial, exposed him to the 
 greatest danger in which he had ever found himself. As he 
 was crossing a wooden bridge between a mill and a very 
 deep pond, his horse, frightened at the motion and noise of 
 the mill, jumped back so suddenly, that one foot was off the 
 bridge, and he was Upon the point of falling into the pond. 
 Vincent thought himself lost, and those who were with him 
 were exceedingly frightened; but God stretched out his hand 
 to him. The horse stopped short, and the saint crossed the 
 bridge without having received any injury. He instantly 
 returned thanks to the Lord, and caused his companion to do 
 the same for a protection so visible and so necessary. In the 
 evening he arrived at a poor tavern : they gave him a room 
 which, although represented to be the best in the house, was 
 very uncomfortable. But some friends of the host having 
 arrived, they were not ashamed to dislodge him, and place 
 him in a room much worse than the first. He paid well 
 every where, and he paid still belter in these kinds of places. 
 Having had once to sleep near a room, where a crowd of 
 countrymen spent the night in drinking and talking, instead of 
 complaining of the little respect shown to him, he gave on 
 his departure a most beautiful Agnus to his host, one which, 
 without a breach of propriety, might have been presented to 
 the duchess of Aiguillon herself. It is to be desired that the 
 theology of the saints had not grown so old in our own age, 
 and that it was belter known. 
 
 Vincent, who was in the habit of paying no visit of mere 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PXVV. 87 
 
 civility, thought he could remain incognito at Rennes, as he 
 had done at Orleans and Angers ; but he was recognised on 
 entering the city. Every thing was in commotion there as 
 well as at Paris, and the royalists were badly received. He 
 had scarcely halted, when a person in office told him, that the 
 visit of a man like him who was of the council of the queen 
 and in her interests, was suspicious to the inhabitants ; that 
 it was intended to have him arrested, and that he was in- 
 formed of it, in order that he might quit the city immediately. 
 
 He prepared to depart at once, when a gentleman, who 
 lodged in the same inn having recognised him, said to him 
 aloud in a transport of anger: "Mr. Vincent will be very 
 much astonished if two leagues from this a pistol is fired at 
 his head." This brutal compliment did not much disturb 
 the calm of his soul ; but the prebendary of St. Brieu, who 
 had come to meet him, prevented him from setting out, and 
 begged him to see the first president. That magistrate was 
 touched by the wisdom and gravity of the respectable old 
 man ; he well understood that his arrival was entirely pacific, 
 and he was not urged to depart. 
 
 Vincent of Paul departed however the next morning. As 
 he was about mounting his horse, he saw the same gentle- 
 who had threatened him on the evening before; and it was 
 believed with sufficient reason, that he had been to wait for 
 him on the road to effect his design. The prebendary of St. 
 Brieu, who had the most tender respect for Vincent, wished 
 to share the danger with him, and in spite of every entreaty, 
 he accompanied him to Saint-Meen Our saint passed there 
 fifteen days in the manner of apostolical men ; after having 
 ended his visit, during which he established rules replete with 
 prudence and piety, he gave the rest of the time to the con- 
 fessional, and he performed during the holy week all the 
 functions of a zealous missionary. 
 
 He was on his way to Guienne, when the queen sent 
 him an order to repair immediately to Paris, whither the king 
 had returned. But the fatigue and occupations of such a 
 long and painful jiurney for a man of his age, caused him to 
 
188 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 fall sick at Richelieu, and it became necessary for him to stop 
 there. 
 
 The news of his illness having reached Paris, his infirma- 
 rian was sent to him from St. Lazarus, who knew better tha'n 
 any other person how to treat him. Vincent, who looked 
 upon himself as the most miserable of men, could not help 
 testifying some uneasiness at the attention paid to him. But, 
 as after the example of holy Job, he scrutinized severely- 
 all his actions, he was afraid that the kind of displeasure 
 which he had evinced, might be a cause of uneasiness to the 
 one who had been sent to him. To repair this imaginary 
 fault, which the infirmarian had not perceived, he humbly 
 threw himself at his feet, and asked his pardon both at Riche- 
 lieu and at Paris when he reached the latter place. One of his 
 assistants, who was present at this second humiliation, was 
 more edified than surprised at it. They were so accustomed to 
 see this great man humble himself to the very earth, both- 
 before inferiors and strangers, that whatever he did of that 
 nature was nothing new. 
 
 In the mean time the duchess of Aiguillon having learned 
 his sickness, sent him a little carriage to bring him home so 
 soon as he would be able to undertake. the journey. The 
 history of this new equipage, which so much alarmed the 
 humility of Vincent of Paul, deserves a place here. 
 
 The ladies of his association, who, seeing him very infirm 
 and very badly mounted, feared some accident would befall 
 him, had a carriage made for him. As they knew his extreme 
 aversion for every think like show, they had it made so plain, 
 that it could not be more so. Nevertheless, the holy priest, in 
 whatever need he stood of it, would never make use of it, 
 and it grew old in some respect from disuse. This was the 
 very carriage which Madame d'Aiguillon sent him to Riche- 
 lieu. The weak state in which he then was, and the orders 
 of the queen which obliged him to set out, rendeied it neces- 
 sary for him to take it as far as Paris. As soon as he had 
 arrived, he sent the horses back to the duchess of Aiguillon 
 with a thousand thanks. She, in her turn, sent them back to 
 him, beseeching him to pay attention to the need he had of 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 189 
 
 them. But this man, ever humble, refused them a second 
 time, and protested that it' the swelling in his legs, which in- 
 creased daily, would not permit him to travel on foot or on 
 horse back, he was resolved to keep to the house for the 
 remainder of his life, rather than be drawn in a carriage. 
 fo put an end to this dispute which lasted some weeks, 
 the duchess had recourse to the queen and the archbishop of 
 Paris, both of whom decided in her favor. Vincent obeyed, 
 because he must do so, but with great confusion. He called 
 his carriage "his reproach and his ignominy." One day when 
 ke was paying a visit to some priests of the oratory, four ot 
 ihem having conducted him to the door, he said to I he reve- 
 rend Father Senault, and to those who were with him : 
 "See, my fathers, I am the son of a poor peasant, and I 
 presume to use a carriage." Many others would have added 
 that it was only through obedience. However, this carriage 
 and its accompaniments were for the public use, as well as 
 for his. He made the first old man whom be met, get up 
 with him ; and sometimes he took in it the sick to the Holel 
 Dieu. This trifling service has enabled him to render, during 
 the ten years more which he lived, very important services 
 to the church, and to complete affairs of the greatest conse- 
 quence, which he could not have even commenced, had he 
 been deprived of it. 
 
 As soon as he had paid his respects to the king and to the 
 queen mother, he thought of the means of repairing a part 
 of the evils which the troops had caused in the neighborhood 
 of Paris; and because the holy mysteries had been unworthily 
 profaned at Chatillon, at Clamart, and in some other parishes, 
 he wished that every one in his house should weep upon the 
 very spot for the cruel outrages which this divine victim had 
 suffered in the most august sacrament. 
 
 In the mean time, the house of St. Lazarus, which the 
 Frondists had abused, and which had made, notwithstanding 
 this, prodigious efforts to feed a multitude of poor people 
 during the war of Paris, found itself at length in a pitiable 
 situation. Destitute of money, provisions, and resources, it 
 was in want of every thing. Although the saint wished that 
 
190 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 his companions should be well supported, and he loudly re- 
 prehended those interested procurators, who seem to think that 
 priests overwhelmed with labor are well enough off, when 
 not worse treated than servants ; he found himself reduced to 
 the necessity of feeding his children upon barley bread, and 
 some time afterwards, upon oat bread. The example which 
 he set them in this particular, as well as in every other, and 
 still more his tenderness for them, whicli they never doubted, 
 removed every shadow of a murmur : so that he had no un 
 easiness on that score. "The poor," said he in a letter to 
 Mr. Almeras, " who know not whither to go nor what to do, 
 who suffer already, and who increase every day, are my bur- 
 den and my grief." 
 
 This burden was soon augmented, and in a few months it 
 became so weighty, that perhaps any other person would 
 have yielded under it. The spirit of discord which agitated 
 France, was more powerful than ever; Mazarin, who had 
 always many enemies, made new ones by causing the arrest 
 of the princes of Conde and Conti with the duke of Longue- 
 ville. By this action he separated from the parly of the king 
 the viscount de Turenne and a number of brave men who 
 would have served their country well. He ruined himself for 
 a time, having been obliged the following year to leave. the 
 kingdom. Our enemies profited by these intestine divisions; 
 and the Spaniards, after having seized upon Saint Venant and 
 Ypres, crossed our frontiers, and took Catelet, Capelle and 
 Rhetel. Their armies, and those which were opposed to 
 them, laid waste a great part of Picardy and Champagne. In 
 a little time these two provinces were nearly in the same 
 condition as we have represented Lorraine. 
 
 The first news of the excess of the evil came from Guise, 
 which the Marquis of Spondat was not able to take, but the 
 environs of which he had laid waste. Some persons who 
 came from that place to Paris, related that they had seen a 
 great number of soldiers sick, pining away, destitute of every 
 aid, dying in the roads, without sacraments or even human 
 consolation. 
 
 This misery made little impression even upon such of the 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 191 
 
 Parisians as were delighted at the retreat of the enemy. It 
 was not so with Vincent of Paul, to whom God had given 
 the most lender mercy. He immediately despatched two of 
 his missionaries with a horse loaded with provisions and 
 almost 500 livres in money. 
 
 These gentlemen saw at the first glance that their scanty 
 supply bore no proportion to the magnitude of the evil. 
 They found along the hedges and upon the roads so great a 
 number of wretched people, some of whom were worn out 
 with suffering, and others only waiting for death, that their 
 provision were consumed in an instant. They hastened to the 
 neighboring towns to purchase more ; but how great was 
 their surprise at finding those very place's in as deplorable a 
 state as the country. They were in want of every thing. 
 Death, famine, the most humiliating necessities reigned uni- 
 versally. In so terrible a conjuncture these two priests .has- 
 tened to write to St. Vincent, that the desolation was general 
 throughout all the country, and that these unfortunate people 
 would perish, if they did not speedily receive aid. 
 
 At this news the saint resolved to use all possible means to 
 relieve his brethren. Exhausted as the ladies of the associa- 
 tion were, whether by the alms sent to Lorraine, or by the 
 enormous expense at which they had been for twelve years 
 for the foundlings, he knew how to excite them. to new efforts. 
 But in order to spare them as much as the pressing circum- 
 stances would allow, he begged the archbishop of Paris to 
 recommend the necessities of those two provinces to the faith- 
 ful. The Christian pulpits soon re-echoed their tears and 
 lamentations. The preachers had no need of hyperbole ; the 
 suffering far exceeded their expressions. 
 
 As the evil was pressing, and as a quarter of an hour's 
 delay might render the remedy useless for many of the suffer- 
 ers, Vincent, with the first aid he could procure, dispatched 
 at different intervals as many as sixteen of his missionaries; 
 and after them some Sisters of Charity, who, always secure 
 from insult under the protection of their own virtue, fulfilled 
 in a most edifying manner all the duties of their profession. 
 It was only after their arrival that the extent of the misery 
 
192 LIFE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 which desolated that unfortunate country was fully known. 
 The Vermandois, Thierache, a great part of the inhabitants of 
 Soissonnois, the Remois, the Laonois, and the Retelois were 
 in that pitiful state in which God puts those countries which he 
 visits with his wrath. The famine was such, that men were 
 seen eating the earth, tearing off the bark of trees, and devour- 
 ing the rags with which they were covered. "But," wrote 
 some of these missionaries of Vincent of Paul, " what inspires 
 the greatest horror, and what we would not relate had we not 
 Been it, they eat their arms and hands and die in despair." 
 The excess of the evil had stifled even the feelings of nature 
 in a people always humane; and when the first assistance 
 arrived from Paris, the inhabitants of Saint Quentin, op- 
 pressed by the concourse of their neighbors, and not knowing 
 what to do, in their fear of being besieged, had resolved to 
 throw over the walls of the town the strangers, who to the 
 number of seven or eight thousand had sought a refuge there. 
 
 Such was, during nearly ten years, that is, until the peace 
 of the Pyrenees, the condition of two large provinces, and 
 four or five diocesses included in them. It is true that after 
 the first three or four years the evil had its variations, and, as 
 it were, intermissions ; but, it is also true, that it often com- 
 menced again where it seemed to have ceased ; and there 
 were always some cantons which stood in need of assistance, 
 which, if moderate for each one singly, became -immense 
 for all collectively. 
 
 The places which experienced most the charity of the holy 
 priest, were the cities of Guise, Noyon, Ghauni, la Fere, 
 Riblemont, Ham, and seven or eight others of Thierache ; 
 those of Arras, Amiens, Peronne, Saint-Quentin, Catelet, and 
 some one hundred and thirty villages of the neighborhood. 
 We must add Basoches, Brenne, Fisme, and near thirty 
 parishes of the same valley. As for Champagne, succor was 
 given particularly to Reims, Rhetel, Chateau-Porcien, Neu- 
 chatel, Lude, Saint-Etienne, Rocroi, Mezieres, Charleville, 
 Doncheri, Sedan, Vaucouleurs, and a great number of towns 
 and villages in the vicinity of these places, which were all 
 in extreme misery. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 193 
 
 During the first yeavs the expense amounted to fifteen, 
 twenty, and sometimes thirty thousand livres per month 5 
 and even then great economy was requisite on account of the 
 high price of provisions, and the numerous and great wants 
 of the poor. 
 
 As in a country, where the churches had been profaned, 
 the body of the Son of God trampled under foot, the chalices 
 and sacred vestments carried off, the priests massacred or put 
 to flight, the spiritual necessities must have been equal to those 
 of the body, the missionaries had not a moment of respite ; and 
 it is still a mystery how they were able to undergo for so many 
 years a fatigue so severe and overwhelming. In fact, charity 
 often induced them to undertake what galley slaves would 
 not have done except for fear of punishment. One of them, 
 more than eight weeks after .the battle of Rhetel, had two 
 thousand Spaniards buried, whose scattered limbs emitted a 
 stench, which would in a short time have spread contagion 
 throughout the neighborhood. Another, whose name was 
 Donat Cruoly, did for the poor, what the heroes of the world 
 would not do for glory. He crossed rivers, walked bare- 
 footed, made perilous journeys through the troops, astonished 
 friends and enemies by his intrepid countenance, and carried 
 off from the gendarmes the cattle which the latter had just 
 taken from some poor people and which was their only 
 resource. 
 
 So many and so important services rendered to these 
 two provinces, merited for St. Vincent the eulogium and 
 benediction of pastors, magistrates, and people. The curate 
 of Ham, a regular canon, the priest of Rhetel, the lieutenant 
 general of Saint Quentin, and innumerable others wrote to 
 him letters filled with expressions of gratitude. The city of 
 Reims did something more. It was decreed that a mass 
 should be celebrated daily before the tomb of St Remi for 
 him and the ladies of his association ; and in order that all 
 the inhabitants of the place might once at least display their 
 gratitude with one accord, a general procession took place on 
 Whit-Monday, 1651, from the Metropolitan church to that 
 of the holy Pontiff, to beg of God, to show ample mercy to 
 
 17 
 
194 LIFE OF ST. VIKCEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 those who had so generously exercised it in favor of his 
 afflicted people. All the corps of the city attended this pious 
 ceremony, and they were followed by such a numerous 
 crowd, that Reims, although accustomed to great spectacles, 
 had never beheld so prodigious a concourse. 
 
 Indeed, neither the inhabitants of Picardy nor those of 
 Champagne could do too much for their benefactors. The ex- 
 penses incurred for them and their churches finally amounted 
 to more than a million of francs, and what adds a new 
 value to the charity of Vincent is, that at the time he made 
 such efforts in favor of these two provinces, he was also 
 obliged to furnish aid to places which were no less afflicted. 
 
 The first cries that came to his ears were those of a con- 
 siderable number of Irish Catholics, who forced by Cromwell 
 to quit their country, had entered the service of the king, and 
 had been very badly treated during two campaigns. They 
 less resembled men who had contributed to raise the siege 
 of Arras, than fugitives who had escaped a rout. The 
 widows of their comrades and about fifty orphans by whom 
 they were followed, were, like themselves, in a frightful con- 
 dition. They walked barefooted amidst the snow; and when 
 arrived at Troyes, which had been assigned them for their 
 winter quarters, they had been nine days without tasting 
 bread. Their entrance into that city presented to the inhabi- 
 tants the most pitiful spectacle they had ever seen. Some of 
 them lay in the square before the church of St. Peter, others 
 gathered in the streets what the dogs would not eat. 
 
 Scarcely had Vincent of Paul become acquainted with their 
 situation, when he sent to them one of his priests, who, being 
 an Irishman himself, was better calculated to enter into all 
 their necessities. By means of six hundred livres which he 
 distributed at once, and which inspired emulation into the 
 citizens of Troyes, the severity of their lot was greatly miti- 
 gated. But as in the estimation of the servant of God, the 
 relief of the body was only a means to arrive at the reforma- 
 tion of the heart, and as a people who had come from a country 
 almost destitute of pastors into a kingdom the language of 
 which they did not understand, had need of instruction, the 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 195 
 
 same missionary preached for thera twice a week during 
 Lent; and he had the happiness of preparing them lo partake 
 of the body of our Lord at Easter. I have spoken here of 
 the Irish at Troyes, that I may not be obliged to return to 
 Champagne. The centre of the kingdom will furnish us 
 with objects nearer home and scarcely less interesting. 
 
 The siege of Etampes, the battle of the suburb Saint An- 
 toine, so many marches, countermarches, encampments, bat- 
 tles at the gates of Paris, and in a manner, in Paris itself, had 
 introduced famine, and soon after disease into all the places 
 where the armies had halted. Estampes, Corbeil, Palaiseau, 
 Saint-Cloud, Gonesse, Saint-Denis, Lagni, and, what we 
 must always suppose, all the villages around, presented the 
 aspect of a country which a tremendous storm of hail had 
 mowed to the very earth. Nothing was to be seen but the 
 dead and dying in every direction. Wives wept for husbands, 
 mothers for children, who in many cases had finished their 
 days in horrible torments, some having been cast into hot 
 ovens, others torn with thorns, and some, after an infamous 
 mutilation, having had their bowels laid open, that they might 
 be forced to declare where the ornaments of their churches 
 were. 
 
 Vincent, who could not suffice to every thing, engaged 
 different communities to join in his labors, and they' did it 
 with great zeal. His missionaries, divided into two principal 
 bands, had for their portion Etampes, Lagni, and all the 
 country contiguous to these two cities, without speaking of 
 Palaiseau, and some other similar places where the soldiers 
 had committed great excesses. 
 
 Etampes furnished them with sufficient employment. It was 
 filled with shrivelled, livid, disfigured spectres, to whom the dead 
 bodies which they found heaped up within the walls, pointed 
 out what they might expect for themselves. These were the 
 first objects of horror, which our priests, by means of money 
 and labor, removed from before their eyes. They afterwards 
 perfumed the houses, to make them fit to dwell in. The 
 children who had lost their parents were gathered together, 
 kept and fed in a common house. The cpnvalescents were 
 
196 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF- PAUL. 
 
 strengthened. Those who were sick from fatigue and inani- 
 tion began to recover. 
 
 A source of much affliction to these poor people was to 
 have recovered their healih at the expense of the life of some 
 of their benefactors. The poisonous air which the mission- 
 aries often breathed, the miserable food which they used in 
 order to spare the means of the poor, the continual motion in 
 which they were day and night, caused nature to sink at last, 
 Four or five fell victims. " Happy," said Vincent, notwith- 
 standing the grief with which he was penetrated, " happy 
 have they been to die with their arms in their hands, and to 
 have gathered upon the field of battle the palm prepared for 
 those who combat to the end." Many Sisters of Charity who 
 had a share in their labors, merited also a share in their crown. 
 
 It was soon necessary to begin at Atis, Juvisy, and above 
 all, at Palaiseau, where the troops had remained during twenty 
 days, what had not yet been finished at Lagni and Etampes. 
 Vincent stood in need of all his courage to bear so maDy 
 assaults of misery made daily upon him. The ardor of his 
 charity sustained him. He made the sighs, the dying ciies 
 of an unhappy people, a prey to famine, speak. God who 
 had placed him in the world to be the prodigy of his age, 
 enabled him to find favor wiih many people, who would per- 
 haps have repulsed another. Many seculars, often of rank 
 and always of virtue, united with him. Mr. du Plessis-Mon- 
 bart, who possessed both, successfully established a kind of 
 pious bank, to which those who could not furnish money 
 were requested to send the furniture, clothes, and provisions 
 they could spare. The duchpss of A'guillon, who honored 
 Vincent more than the saints are usually honored whils-t 
 upon earth, never allowed herself to be asked a second time 
 for what she could grant at the first solicitation.* The servant 
 
 * To have a more just idea of the immense liberalities and the 
 profound humility of this illustrious lady, our readers should peruse 
 the funeral oration pronounced in the chapel of the seminary of 
 Foreign Missions the 13th of May, 1675, by Mr. de Brisacier. He 
 says "that she sold twenty -five thousand livres worth of her plate, 
 to procure a decent place in all the desolate parishes, for the legiti- 
 mate object of the only true worship." 
 
LIFE OF ST. VIJfCENT OF PAUL. 197 
 
 of God, who had given birth to these happy dispositions, ren- 
 dered them useful by commencing at Paris, what was. still 
 continued in Picardy and Champagne, and in all the other 
 places of which we have spoken above. 
 
 The blockade of that great city, the premature harvest made 
 by the troops, the scarcity of labor which in less than a week 
 reduced a crowd of workmen to begging, the influx of foreign- 
 ers who thought they could not be worse off than in their 
 own country, all these circumstances, one of which would 
 have been alone sufficient to famish that immense capital, 
 concurred in its desolation. The evil was great; the remedy, 
 although expensive, was proportioned to it. Vincent him- 
 self remarks in a letter which he wrote at the time to a doctor 
 of Sorbonne, that soup was furnished daily in Paris to four- 
 teen or fifteen thousand poor people, who without it would 
 have died of hunger ; that eight or nine hundred young girls 
 had been placed out of the reach of danger, by being collected 
 in the houses of pious individuals ; and in fine, that a monas- 
 tery was in actual preparation for the reception of a great 
 number of religious who were scattered throughout the city, 
 some of whom had been obliged to live in suspected places. 
 The saint does not speak of the great share he had in all these 
 good works ; and it was only after his death that the services 
 he had rendered to the inhabitants of Palaiseau were known. 
 He rendered one at the same time to the people of Genevil- 
 liers, which should remind the children of his attention and 
 charity for their fathers. 
 
 The Seine having overflowed to a great extent, Vincent 
 who spent a part of his meditation in lamenting the suf- 
 ferings of the poor, thought that so considerable an inun- 
 dation might be fatal to that village, the low situation of 
 which naturally exposed it to the violence of floods. No one 
 had spoken to the holy priest of ir: but his heart said enough 
 to him. Without inquiring any farther about what might be 
 the state of things, he had a large cart loaded with bread, 
 which he immediately sent thither with two of his mission- 
 aries. 
 
 This succor, which was looked upon as the effect of a par- 
 17* 
 
198 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 ticular inspiration, came in very good time. Hunger had begun 
 to be felt sharply at Genevilliers. The inhabitants, half under 
 water in their houses, uttered useless cries ; no one went to 
 their aid, and it was even dangerous to attempt it on account 
 of the rapidity of the stream. Our missionaries unloaded tneir 
 provisions into a boat ; and rowing from one side to the other, 
 distributed their bread through the windows, because all the 
 doors were under water. The different currents, which 
 alarmed the boatmen, carried them into danger more than 
 once; but they continued this charitable office until this 
 little deluge had subsided. When it was over, the poor peo- 
 ple, moved at the service which our saint had rendered them, 
 deputed some of the principal inhabitants to him, to return 
 him thanks in the name of the others. He received them 
 kindly ; but it was easy for them to understand that the honor 
 of serving Jesus Christ in his suffering members, was the 
 only reward of which he was ambitious. 
 
 In thus fulfilling the duties of a good citizen, the servant 
 of God never forgot those of a faithful subject. Persuaded 
 that obedience to the king was the only means of calming the 
 troubles, he did all that depended on him to stifle the seeds 
 of revolt which had sprung up all around. He first induced 
 to strict residence several pielates whose affairs called them to 
 Paris, but who could not absent themselves from their dio- 
 cesses without injury to the authority of the prince, which 
 was maintained by their presence. He dealt rather with God 
 than with men. He invited a great number of virtuous per- 
 sons to prevail with his mercy, by prayer, fasting, alms, and 
 all the practices of solid penance. Although the life of his 
 missionaries was only a tissue of hard labor, he would every 
 day have three of them, that is, one of each order fast for the 
 peace of the kingdom. He, although infirm, and more than 
 seventy years old, was the' first to submit to the law. No 
 rule had any exception for him. 
 
 He inspired several persons of distinguished birth with the 
 same sentiments of penance : and we know, said a virtuous 
 priest, that ladies of very delicate constitutions spared their 
 bodies neither haircloth, nor discipline, nor other similar mor 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL, 109 
 
 tltications, in order to unite before God their austerities to his 
 and those of his congregation. It is true that the saint was 
 inexhaustible on this point. Every day at morning prayer, he 
 repeated twice these words of the litany, Jesv.s, God of peace, 
 and he pronounced them in a tone so moving, that it was im- 
 possible not to recognise the voice and sighs of his heart. The 
 proximity of the enemy's troops who sought to come to an 
 engagement, the fear of an action, or the news of a batile 
 fought, penetrated him with sorrow. As he saw every thing 
 in the light of faith, the conquest of the whole universe was 
 not worth one of those souls which the victory plunges into 
 the abyss. During the battle of the suburb Saint Antoine, 
 whose noise reached his very ears, this worthy priest, pro- 
 strate between the vestibule and the altar, ofFered himsplf as a 
 victim to the justice of God, and conjured him by the bowels 
 of his mercy to withdraw the hand which dealt such terrible 
 blows upon his people. 
 
 During these difficult times, he, as well as all good people, 
 and those who adhered to the party of the king, were often 
 insulted. At the door of the conference hall, he was loaded 
 .with insults, struck, and threatened with death ; but he revenged 
 himself only by begging pardon for the guilty from the magis- 
 trate who wished to punish them. He was still more ill- 
 treated at a short distance from his house. A furious man, 
 under pretext that the saint had jostled him in passing, gave 
 him a blow, adding by the blackest calumny, that he was the 
 cause of the taxes with which the people were loaded. Vin- 
 cent, instead of having him arrested, as he might have done, 
 went on his knees before him, offered to him his other cheek, 
 and publicly confessed, not that he was the author of the sub- 
 sidies the imposition of which was not his province, but that 
 he was a great sinner, and asked pardon of that man for any 
 cause he might have given him for such treatment. The 
 profound humility of the venerable priest touched the heart 
 of the offender. He came the next day, to offer, in his turn, 
 the most humble apology to the servant of God. Vincent re- 
 ceived him as a good friend, begged him to spend seveu or 
 eight days with bim, and profited by that time to engage him 
 
200 LIFE OF ST. VINCEMT OF PAUL. 
 
 in the exercises of a retreat ; and after having gained him to 
 himself by his meekness, he afterwards gained him to God 
 by his charity and affection. 
 
 Whilst he was so unjustly accused of being the author of 
 the public calamities, he was occupied night and day in' en- 
 deavoring to find the means to put a stop to them. So many 
 alms, fasts, mortifications and labors on his part and that of 
 his missionaries, are incontestable proofs of it. Yet, as he 
 saw this was not sufficient, he thought it his duty to do what 
 had been done before him by many saints, whose state of life 
 engaged them to more strict solitude than his did. 
 
 After their example* he endeavored to unite again to the 
 party of the king those of the princes who had abandoned it. 
 But as he was impenetrable above all in rpgard to affairs 
 which might render him prominent, all that we can learn of 
 his negotiation is, that a little time before the peace was con- 
 cluded, he had long interviews with the queen, the duke of 
 Orleans, the prince of Conde, and Cardinal Mazarin. Would 
 it be rashness to believe that the peace, which soon followed 
 these first steps, was the fruit of them, and that God granted 
 it at last to the prayers and efforts made by the holy priest to. 
 effect it? 
 
 It was then represented to him that the civil war being hap- 
 pily terminated, it was just to retrench the extraordinary mor- 
 tifications, which he had established on occasion of it; but he 
 had them continued, because the war with Spain was still 
 carried on. He had at last the consolation to witness the ter- 
 mination of that war which had lasted twenty-five years, and 
 which, together with the intestine broils, had exhausted the 
 kingdom. Alas! what ravages would not so many combined 
 evils have caused, if the man of mercy had not opposed to them 
 a patience incapable of repulse, an invincible courage, and an 
 inexhaustible charity ! Let us resume some facts of his his- 
 tory which the course of our recital has prevented us from 
 placing in their proper order. One of the most considerable 
 is the establishment of the missionaries of Warsaw, which 
 has given birth to so many others in Poland. 
 
 Louisa Maria Gonzaga, daughter of Charles, duke of 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 201 
 
 Mantua, had known Vincent of Paul in Paris, where sne 
 had lived a long time. She had often attended those famous 
 assemblies of ladies, whose liberality and zpal we have so 
 often praised. Ladislaus Sigismond IV, king of Poland, hav- 
 ing asked a wife of Ann of Austria, received from her this 
 princess, who was possessed of great qualities, but had not 
 that of pleasing him. Happily she married after his death, 
 Casimir V, who soon succeeded Sigismond. It was then, 
 that having become more the mistress of her actions, she fol- 
 lowed her inclination fordoing good. As she knew that kings 
 do not reign in a manner worthy of God, unless God reigns 
 by them, she desired to establish his empire in the hearts of 
 her subjects, and particularly those who had been most ne- 
 glected. It was with this view that she asked some priests 
 of our saint's congregation, in 1651. Vincent could send her 
 only a small number. But Mr. Lambert, one of his first 
 companions, was equal to many. He united with the most 
 excellent health, consummate wisdom, indefatigable zeal, 
 and a humility so profound, that he would have been the 
 most eminent man of the age in this virtue, had not Vincent 
 lived. 
 
 The saint could not make a greater sacrifice than that of 
 Mr. Lambert. He was, after Mr. Portail, his principal re- 
 source in innumerable affairs, and he acknowledged himself 
 that by his absence he was in the situation of a man who 
 has lost one of his arms. Yet, so soon as he believed that 
 God required him elsewhere, he did not hesitate to make the 
 sacrifice, and assuredly it cost a great deal to him who was 
 the victim. 
 
 The arrival of these two missionaries gave great pleasure 
 to their majesties, and they were received by them with every 
 possible demonstratron of kindness. Lambert was esteemed, 
 cherished, and respected by the great and the people, as soon 
 as he was known, and it was not long before he became so. 
 But this short time of consolation was well paid for by the 
 sufferings which followed it. Casimir, notwithstanding his 
 victories, could not banish from his kingdom either famine or 
 pestilence which follows clo?e in its train. Both caused great 
 
202 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PACT,. 
 
 havoc in Warsaw, where the people were entirely neglected. 
 Lambert flew to the aid of the wretched, wiih the consent 
 of the court ; and the queen directed that he should be lodged 
 in the king's own chamber. Warsaw stood in need of such 
 a man. As soon as any one was afflicted with the disease, 
 those of his own house placed him in the street, where he 
 must die of hunger, and soon afterwards be devoured by the 
 dogs. Lambert restored order in the city, and our saint, who 
 learned it from the queen, was greatly consoled by it. But 
 God, who was always pleased to try him like gold in the fur- 
 nace, soon caused bitterness to succeed that joy of which he 
 alone was the object. On leaving Warsaw, the queen, who 
 had the greatest confidence in this worthy missionary, desired 
 him to follow her into Lithuania. Although by the orders of 
 that princess every possible attention was paid to him, he soon 
 fell a victim to his zeal and labors. The confessor of the 
 queen, the queen herself, wrote to Vincent in a style which 
 marked how sensible they were of this loss. Vincent felt it 
 more than any one, and he was the more afflicted as he learned 
 at the same time the loss which the seminary of Annecy had 
 sustained by the death of one of the most prudent and most 
 virtuous priests of his congregation. But on this occasion and 
 many similar ones, he only said with the most afflicted and 
 the most patient of men : " God gave him to me, and God 
 nas taken him away, blessed be his holy name." 
 
 Some months before the establishment at Warsaw, Vincent 
 had interred the ancient prior of the religious who served the 
 nouse of Saint Lazarus, the same who had made so many 
 exertions to get hint to accept it. Never had a benefactor 
 greater reason to rejoice at his liberality. He always expe- 
 rienced the most perfect gratitude from his adopted children. 
 But the attention which our holy priest paid him, had nothing 
 of that weakness which is sometimes discovered in human 
 friendships. I will give an example which is too honorable 
 to both to be omitted. 
 
 An abbess of high rank was, for scandalous faults, impri- 
 soned by order of the queen. Mr. Le Bon, who was under 
 great obligations to her, was requested to use all his influence 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCEKT OP PAUL. 203 
 
 •n her favor. Ashe knew the absolute power he had over the 
 mind of the servant of God, he did not doubt that he would 
 obtain whatever he should think proper to ask. He was de- 
 ceived : the saint answered him that he was sorry he could 
 not comply with his wishes, but that his conscience would 
 not permit him. The prior was much hurt at the refusal. 
 Happily, the weight which he had upon his heart, did not op- 
 press him long. He learned from a sure source that the 
 lady for whom he had interested himself deserved no favor. 
 From that moment he did justice to the firmness of the holy 
 priest, and having thrown himself at his feet, he asked pardon 
 for the hasty judgment he had formed of him. Vincent, 
 who had also fallen on his knees, was charmed with this ex- 
 planation ; and after this momentary coolness, he gave him 
 on every occasion proofs of the most humble and sincere 
 deference. 
 
 His tenderness appeared to redouble when he found him- 
 self on the point of losing him. In his last sickness he ren- 
 dered him every service of the most ardent charily. When 
 he saw him approaching his last end, he made all his mis- 
 sionaries go on their knees around him; and during his last 
 agony, which was long, he recited the prayers appointed by 
 the church for that last moment. 
 
 When this good old man, who was more than seventy-five 
 years of age, had breathed his last, and they had recommended 
 his. soul, Vincent, after having besought God in a very affect- 
 ing manner to be pleased to apply to the dear deceased the 
 little good which his congregation had heretofore been able to 
 do, begged his companions in the most humble tprms never 
 to forget that great benefactor. He caused his funeral to be 
 performed in a most honorable manner; and to perpetuate 
 the remembrance of the services which his congregation had 
 received from him, he had them engraved upon the marble, 
 with the epitaph of the deceased. He also desired that a so- 
 lemn service should be performed every year on the 9th of 
 April, the day of his decease. Besides this, his house per- 
 forms two others every year 'or the repose of the souls of the 
 former religious. 
 
204 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAOI.. 
 
 Some months after the death of Mr. Le Bon, the holy 
 priest held a kind of general assembly, in which, amongst 
 other good regulations, one was made to exert a proper firm- 
 ness in the tribunal of penance : for it is well to remark that, 
 if Vincent of Paul did not approve that extreme rigor which 
 condemns every body, he was a great enemy to laxity in 
 morals. He more than once congratulated the bishops and 
 the Sorbonne on their having censured those monstrous pro- 
 positions of which enlightened pagans would have been 
 ashamed. He wished that his congregation should attach 
 itself inviolably to that truly Christian practice, which is 
 founded upon the gospel, the writings of the holy doctors, 
 and the decisions of the apostolic see. But if he had true 
 zeal for the purity of morals, he had not less for the integrity 
 of dogmas. His labors and combats against the too real here- 
 sy of Jansenius, are an incontestible proof of it. But to 
 place it in its full light, we must necessarily go back to the 
 source of the evil. 
 
Book JFottnl). 
 
 Cornelius Janssen, so well known by the name of Janse- 
 nius, after having completed his humanities in Holland, stu- 
 died theology under Jacques Janson, a man very much at- 
 tached to his own opinions, and who greatly preferred the 
 doctrine of Baius, to that of the sovereign pontiffs who had 
 censured it. It was in the school of this doctor, that Janse- 
 nius imbibed the first principles of his system on grace. To 
 strengthen him in it, Abbe Saint-Cyran, who had known him 
 in Paris, caused him to come to Bayonne, where he procured 
 employment for him. They both applied themselves to the 
 reading of the Fathers, and particularly St. Augustin. This 
 last was the one for whom Jansenius had all his life a decided 
 preference. Although his health was rather weak, he read 
 the works of the holy doctor ten times, and those which he 
 composed against the Pelagians, nearly thirty times. 
 
 Such continued study did not prevent him from trying his 
 pen upon matters which had not much connection with grace 
 and charity. His Mars Galliciis, in which the French nation 
 and its monarchs are very badly treated, is an incontestible 
 proof of it. This extravagant satire merited the bishopric of 
 Ypres for its author; and it was in that see, that Jansenius, 
 after twenty-two years labor, finished his Jlugustinvs. How- 
 ever right his system may have appeared to him, he himself 
 was sensible of its rigor. He did not fail to put it under the 
 protection of Saint-Cyran. He was particularly desirous that 
 some congregation would adopt it, being persuaded, as he 
 told his friend, that " such people, when they once espouse 
 a cause, go beyond all bounds." 
 18 
 
206 LITE OF ST. VINCEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 The bishop of Ypres proposed to himself nothing less than 
 to reform the ideas 'which the Catholic schools of his time 
 held with regard to grace. This project was doubtless great, 
 but corresponded to the views of him who had formed it. 
 Jansenius thought that not only the Dominicans and Jesuits 
 were a hundred miles from the truth, but he also believed that 
 for five hundred years the ancient doctrine was unknown both 
 to people and pastors ; that it no longer subsisted, except in 
 prayers, of which those who used them understood nothing; 
 that the scholastics appeared to know "neither faith, nor hope, 
 nor sufficient grace, nor efficacious grace, nor vice, nor virtue, 
 nor actual sin, nor original sin, nor the liberty of man, nor 
 his slavery ; in a word, and this will be saying every thing, 
 neither the Old nor the New Testament." 
 
 So many blind persons stood in need of being enlightened; 
 it was necessary to put into their hands the thread of tradi- 
 tion which they had lost for five centuries. Jansenius under- 
 took it, and we shall soon see in what manner. 
 
 He lays it down as a principle that from the sin of Adam, 
 pleasure is the only spring which sets the will in motion ; 
 that without an attraction inclining it to good, it cannot do 
 good, as it cannot do evil without an attraction to evil; that 
 these two attractions act by degrees, so that the stronger over- 
 comes the weaker, and so invincibly overcomes it, that it is 
 as impossible for man to act against a superior attraction, as 
 it is impossible for him to act without any attraction, or even 
 without knowledge. 
 
 From this principle of a delectation, which man cannot 
 procure for himself when he possesses it not. because it is in- 
 deliberate; and which he cannot conquer, when he possesses 
 it, because it is irresistible ; from this principle, I say, which 
 Jansenius without ceremony places to the account of St. Au- 
 gustin, he concludes, 1. that there is no more liberty upon 
 earth ; or if there be any, it must be compatible with the 
 most powerful necessity ; 2. that grace has not, nor can have 
 any other effect than that which is actually produced in a 
 heart captivated by concupiscence; 3. that the just man him- 
 self, when he is in want of a grace superior to concupiscence, 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 207 
 
 cannot, whatever pains he may take, whatever efforts he may 
 make, accomplish the law imposed upon him ; 4. that since 
 God wills the salvation of those only, to whom he renders 
 salvation possible, the Redeemer, whose will was always con 
 formable to that of his Father, did not shed his blood for the 
 salvation of those who perish. Jansenius is so violent on this 
 last article, that, to be a Catholic, according to him, it becomes 
 necessary to publish upon the house, tops, that Jesus Christ 
 died no more for the salvation of so many unfortunate men 
 who are every day lost, than he died for the salvation of the 
 devil.* Such is, in substance, the system of the bishop of 
 Ypres, and we are ready to show that we have not changed it. 
 
 That prelate had been carried off by pestilence two years, 
 when his book made its appearance. This posthumous fruit 
 was soon a cause of trouble and discord. Although Saint- 
 Cyran found blemishes in it, he spoke of it as a third gospel 
 upon grace, and his judgment gave the tone to that of Port 
 Royal. But this favorable prejudice was balanced by an un- 
 fortunate counterpoise. The Augustinus had but just ap- 
 peared, when Urban VIII branded it on the 6th of March, 
 1641. It underwent the most violent attacks in the capital 
 of this kingdom, but it also found there the most vigorous de- 
 fenders. Isaac Habert, prebendary of Paris, combatted it pub- 
 licly in three sermons preached in the cathedral. Antoine 
 Arnauld opposed three apologies to these three sermons. On 
 both sides they wrote, but each one became more confirmed 
 in his first opinion. 
 
 Many sensible persons, who lamented these divisions, 
 thought that the most imposing authority should be substituted 
 to disputes. It was with this design that Nicholas Cornet, 
 syndic of the faculty of theology, made from the book of Jan- 
 senius an extract which he reduced to five propositions, which 
 since that time have become so famous in the church. This 
 summary, which the great Bossuet always looked upon as 
 the most beautiful abridgment that could be made of so large 
 a volume as that of Jansenius, was presented to the Sorbonne 
 
 * Jansenius, lib. 3, de Gr. chr. cap. 21. 
 
208 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 on the 1st of July, 1649. It was determined by a plurality 
 of voices that the propositions should be examined. 
 
 The defenders of Jansenius, who did not like this kind of ex- 
 amination, except when they calculated upon its being entrusted 
 to them, parried the blow by an appeal to the parliament. 
 What was to be done in such a conjuncture? After many 
 deliberations, it was thought that the shortest way was to beg the 
 common Father of the faithful to pronounce upon a difference, 
 which began to exasperate the minds more and more. Mr. Ha- 
 bert, who from being prebendary of Paris had become bishop of 
 Vabres, drew up a letter to Innocent X, who was then in 
 the chair of St. Peter. The principal bishops of the assembly 
 of the clergy signed it separately, and it was sent into the 
 provinces, in order that the pope, being urged on all sides, 
 should not defer the judgment which was asked of him. St. 
 Vincent of Paul, under whose eyes and in whose house this 
 letter was composed, neglected nothing to multiply the signa- 
 tures, and his solicitude was not useless. 
 
 Whatever might be the contempt entertained for Vincent by 
 a party which spared only those wedded to its interests, it is 
 certain that, even after the death of Saint-Cyran, great efforts 
 were made to win him to Jansenism. But, had he not been 
 disgusted with the horrors which that desperate system inspires, 
 he must, have been so with the caprices and variations of its 
 defenders. At a time when they should have acted with cau- 
 tion, unexpected propositions escaped them, which revealed a 
 disposition for innovation. The Abbe de Barcos, without any 
 reason, foisted one into the preface of a book on Frequent Com- 
 munion, in which he taught that " St. Peter and St. Paul are 
 two heads of the church, making but one." This proposition 
 was censured at Rome, and Vincent had a great share in its 
 condemnation. 
 
 It appears from several of his letters that he would not 
 have been sorry, had the book on "Frequent Communion" 
 experienced the same fate. That in which he expresses him- 
 self most at large, is addressed to Jean d'Horgni, one of his 
 first seven companions. D'Horgni had talents, zeal, and a 
 certain taste for reforms, which itself stood in need of being a 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF-fAUL. 209 
 
 little reformed. As he had for Vincent of Paul all that re- 
 spect with which the holy man inspired those who knew him, 
 he thought it his duty to propose to him the difficulties which 
 he had with regard to the book of Jansenius as well as that 
 of Mr. Arnauld. He did so in two letters, but in such a 
 manner as to create a fear that he had already taken his deter- 
 mination. Vincent answered him likewise in two letters, and 
 although I have read many of the kind, I have met with none 
 of his, in which there is so much fire and vivacity. Both 
 of them, but particularly the last one, speak of the book on 
 " Frequent Communion." 
 
 Vincent says there in substance, that it may be that some 
 persons have profited by that work ; but that, " if it has been 
 of service to a hundred by inspiring them with greater re- 
 spect for the sacraments, there are at least ten thousand whom 
 it has injured by keeping them away from them altogether;" 
 that we no longer see the holy communion frequented, even 
 at Easter, as it formerly was ; that many curates in Paris 
 complain of it; that it is true there are but too many who 
 abuse the holy Eucharist, " and wretch that I am," says he, " I 
 more than all;" but we must not correct one abuse by another; 
 and it is a great one, to keep away from the holy table, not for 
 eight or ten days, but for five or six months, good religious per- 
 sons who lead very pure lives, as it is known that ■" these new 
 reformers" are in the habit of doing; that St. Charles was very 
 far from this excess, when he recommended nothing so 
 much in his councils as frequent communion, and decreed 
 severe penalties against preachers who should dissuade the 
 faithful from it, directly or indirectly. 
 
 As in order to defend the book and the author, D'Horgni 
 repeated what was then said, that the doctor Arnauld only 
 designated those who admit sinners too easily to the partici- 
 pation of the holy mysteries, Vincent acknowledges that it is 
 an evil which St. Charles deplored ; but he contends at the 
 same time that the book on " Frequent Communion " goes far- 
 ther, since it highly extols in the preface, page 36, the piety 
 of those who wish to defer communion till the end of their 
 lives ; that it asserts, in the second chapter of the third part, 
 IS* 
 
210 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 that it is speaking in an unworthy manner of the King of 
 heaven, to say that he is honored by our communions ; and 
 that when it contends, as it does without any modification, 
 that those alone are permitted to communicate who are en- 
 tirely purified from the images of their past life by a divine 
 love which is pure and without mixture, who are perfectly 
 united to God alone, entirely perfect and entirely irreproacha- 
 ble; we would have to conclude with it, that those who, ac- 
 cording to the practice of the church, communicate with the 
 ordinary dispositions, are dogs and antichrists. No, continues 
 he, with such principles, communion is no lunger suited to 
 any one but Mr. Arnauld, who, after having placed his dis- 
 positions at so high a point, as to terrify a St. Paul, does not 
 fail to boast several times in his apology, that he says mass 
 every day. 
 
 The saint combats with the same force all the objections 
 of Mr. d'Horgni, particularly one in which he undertook to 
 justify certain texts of Arnauld, by other texts which were 
 opposed to them. He shows him by the example of Calvin, 
 that it is customary with innovators to sow contradictions in 
 their works, and procure an issue which may answer their pur 
 pose. " I heard the late Mr. de Saint-Cyran declare," con- 
 tinues he, "that if he had pronounced truths in a Toom where 
 there were persons capable of understanding them, and from 
 thence should go into another place where there were persons 
 incapable of it, he would tell them the contrary." He even 
 pretended that our Lord did so, and he recommended the 
 practice of it. 
 
 As d'Horgni had not adduced the authority of the prelates 
 and doctors, who had approved the book on " Frequent Com 
 munion," the servant of God did not speak of it. Had he 
 been urged on this point, he would, no doubt, have answered, 
 as others then did, first, that more than eighty bishop*, al- 
 though earnestly solicited to approve the work, had constantly 
 refused ; secondly, that amongst those whose names are still 
 seen at the head of the book, there were some who had never 
 read it. Of this I have an incontestable proof under my eyes.* 
 * See the large life of St. Vincent, vol. i, p. 532 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 211 
 
 The other letter is almost entirely devoted to the book of 
 Jansenius. The saint therein says very wisely, that the as- 
 siduous perusal which that prelate had made of St. Augustin, 
 proves no more in favor of his followers, than it would prove 
 in favor of Calvin ; that the council of Trent understood the 
 holy doctor better than the bishop of Ypres and his adherents ; 
 in a word, that St. Augustin must be explained by the coun- 
 cil, and not the council by St. Augustin, because the first is 
 infallible and the second is not. He adds, that in the present 
 affair, we have nothing to do with Molina, nor with the mid- 
 dle science, which is not an article of faith ; that if this doc- 
 trine is new, it is not so with the one establishing that Jesus 
 Christ died for all; that it is that of St. Paul, of the apostle 
 St. John, of St. Leo, and of the last general council. He 
 reasons in the same manner on the possibility of the observ- 
 ance of the commandments of God, and on sufficient grace. 
 He proves both by texts which error may elude, but can 
 never destroy. 
 
 With regard to the advice which d'Horgni had given him, 
 to suffer each one of his congregation to think as he pleased 
 on these matters, he contends powerfully against it; and after 
 having indicated in two words, the fatal effects which diver- 
 sity of opinion would produce in a community, he concludes, 
 that if any one of his company should adopt the new opinions, 
 he would do well to leave it, and the company would do 
 well to beg him to do so. 
 
 However severe these last words may appear, the saint did 
 not come to such a painful extremity, until after having ex- 
 hausted all the means which charily and prudence furnished. 
 He prayed much, made his companions pray, and did not 
 adopt his last resolution, until he had consulted those whose 
 knowledge and experience enabled them to give him good 
 advice. 
 
 Such violent remedies, which he perhaps used but once, 
 cost his tender heart a great deal : he feared nothing more 
 than to find himself forced to use them frequently. Night 
 and day he hoped that authority would settle this dispute, 
 which had already produced so much excitement in the 
 
212 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 clergy, both secular and regular. As liis respect for the vicar 
 of Jesus Christ led him to believe that his decision would 
 again unite all minds, he used every endeavor to engage as 
 many bishqps as he could, to subscribe the letter which was 
 to be sent to the pope. He told them in substance that they 
 could not too soon arrest an evil, which was making addi- 
 tional progress every day ; that it was believed at Rome that 
 the greater part of the bishops of France professed the new 
 opinions, and that it was proper to show that there were 
 very few; that as the situation of Europe did not permit to 
 assemble a general council, recourse must be had to the first 
 See, to which the Church refers us in the council of Trent; 
 that although some persons of Saint Cyran's party might 
 not yield to the decision of the pope, since that abbe did 
 not believe even the councils, as he knew from frequent 
 intercourse with him; still it would not be so with the greater 
 number, as it appeared from the prompt conclusion of the 
 affair of the two heads making but one. The saint did not 
 fail to adduce the number and authority of the prelates who 
 had already subscribed. He insisted particularly on the ex- 
 ample of the virtuous and penitent bishop of Cahors who 
 had recognised, in a libel which the party had just scattered 
 abroad, the spirit of imposture which accompanies heresy, and 
 had made it a motive for taking up arms against the enemies 
 of the church. 
 
 If Vincent had reason to be satisfied with ths answers given 
 him by almost all those whom he had invited to sign the letter 
 to the holy Father, he must have been afflicted at the one 
 given him in common by his two great friends the bishops 
 of Aleth and of Pamiers. Under pretext that minds were too 
 much agitated, they proposed a middle term, which would 
 not have failed to sanction error, by placing it upon a level 
 with truth. They wished that the holy see, instead of decid- 
 ing the affair fully, should prohibit under several penalties 
 the agitating of the question both in the schools and in the 
 pulpit. Vincent thought it his duty to reply to their letter. 
 He did it forcibly, but in a respectful manner. He repre- 
 sented to them that, if to condemn the dogmas of Luther and 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 213 
 
 Calvin, delay had been used until iheir partisans had been in 
 a disposition to submit, the heresy of those two innovators 
 would have seduced a much greater number of persons ; that 
 it is true that in the present affair each one believed he had rea- 
 son on his side; but that all heretics had said the same; that 
 there was this difference between the two parties, that the one 
 asked for judges and the other did not want them ; that the 
 defenders of Jansenius declined the judgment of the holy see, 
 because they knew it possible; and they pretended to ask that 
 of a council, because they believed it impossible in the present 
 state of things ; and if they thought it possible, they would 
 reject it, as they rejected the other; that, moreover, the ques- 
 tion was not about a point confined to theory ; that the 
 faithful could not live much longer uncertain whether Jesus 
 Christ died for them or not; for there had been some found 
 who seeing that the dyipg were exhorted to put their confi- 
 dence in the goodness of our Lord, who died for ihem, told 
 the sick not to trust to that, because Jesus Christ did not die 
 for all. 
 
 If this letter did not produce all the effect which Vincent of 
 Paul expected, it at least disposed these two bishops to submit 
 to the judgment of the apostolic see. The bull by which 
 Innocent X condemned the five famous proposiiions, met 
 with no contradiction at Aleth ; it was there received and 
 published as it has since been throughout all the kingdom. 
 The author of the life of Mr. Pavilion remarks it. This pre- 
 late held still many years afterwards the same opinions. I 
 know, says the illustrious and pious de Ranee, that he 
 changed them afterwards, but I know also what address and 
 what artifices were made use of, to bring him to it. 
 
 Vincent, who was no longer upon earth, had not the grief 
 of witnessing the fall of a man who was dear to him. But 
 if it would have surprised, it would not have shaken l>:m. 
 He continued always to believe that it was of the greatest 
 consequence that the common Father of the faithful should 
 make them hear his voice, and he had the consolation to see 
 in a short time eighty-eight b : shops soliciting his judgment. 
 On their part, the defenders of Jansenius, who feared nothing 
 
214 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 more than the decision of the pope, did not forget themselves. 
 Desperate at seeing that a writing in the form of a circular 
 fetter, which they had addressed to the bishops, had not pre- 
 vented many from signing the address, they resolved upon 
 movements at Rome itself, and by multiplying obstacles, they 
 endeavored to avert, at every cost, the blow which threatened 
 them. They had already an agent in that city, who neglected 
 nothing to protect their doctrine. Fearing that one man alone 
 could not calm the storm, they sent him a reinforcement of 
 three other doctors. Mr. de Saint-Amour, furnished with a 
 letter from ten bishops who did not think with the rest of their 
 collengues, was at the head of the deputation. St. Amour was 
 full of zeal for the doctrine of Jansenius, and would have 
 given his life, to prove that it was perfectly conformable to 
 that of St. Augustin. Had he read carefully the works of 
 that doctor on grace? This I know not; but I do know, 
 what I could not have believed, had he not himself written it, 
 that he had never read the book of Jansenius. 
 
 Vincent of Paul had no sooner been informed of the ma- 
 noeuvre of these gentlemen, than he thought that, what had 
 been done for error, should be done for the truth. Messrs. 
 Hallier, Joisel, and Lagault, who were all three doctors of 
 Sorbonne, offered to undertake the journey ; and our saint, 
 with whom these three respectable men were strictly united, 
 promised them not to abandon them either in France or Italy. 
 Hallier rendered on this occasion great services to the Church ; 
 and we shall see in a moment that the holy see did not forget 
 him. 
 
 These deputies soon perceived that their journey was ne- 
 cessary. The doctor Saint-Amour, whom letters from Rome 
 described as one of the most artful men, endeavored to 
 persuade the Dominicans that the efficacious grace of the 
 Thomists was no less attacked than that of the new Augus- 
 tin, and to impress the cardinals with the belief that he 
 was neither a Jansenist nor a defender of Jansenius. "For 
 our parts," said Mr. Lagault, " we loudly proclaim, that we 
 only aim at Jansenius, who has been troubling the Church 
 for ten years ; that if these gentlemen are unwilling to defend 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 215 
 
 him, we have nothing to do with them, and that notwith 
 standing we will not fail to urge one point." They did it in 
 fact, but with infinite trouble. No one can read without 
 emotion the obstacles which they had to encounter. Their 
 letters, the originals of which are still extant, state in sub- 
 stance that every means were employed to spin out the affair, 
 that it was to be feared that the end could not be reached in a 
 court which advances at so slow a pace and under a pontiff 
 who was very old; that these delays exposed them to very con- 
 siderable fatigue; that they had daily to undergo, on the part 
 of the Jansenist ambassadors, numerous contradictions, suppo- 
 sitions, and black calumnies; that they were astonished how 
 persons who made a profession of piety, could resolve to quib- 
 ble so grossly in point of religion and to lie so insolently; and 
 that no one but a sacrilegious man would, in order to re- 
 tain people in a false doctrine, employ the horrible lies 
 which had been circulated throughout France and Italy by 
 the emissaries of a party which boasted of its sanctity. 
 
 This information, which could not but greatly afflict a 
 man so sensible to the evils of the Church as Vincent of Paul, 
 was almost always mingled with something well calculated to 
 console him. He learned from the beginning that Innocent 
 X was resolved to settle the affair ; that notwithstanding his 
 advanced age, he labored with indefatigable zeal in the exami- 
 nation of the five propositions ; that it was an admirable thing, 
 which could only come from God, that his holiness, at the 
 age of eighty-one, should, contrary to his disposition and the 
 custom of the country, assist with inexpressible attention at 
 the congregations which often lasted four hours, and which 
 were held sometimes thrice a week ; that the cardinals, ani- 
 mated by such an example, abandoned every thing to occupy 
 themselves in this affair. Vincent, on his side, encouraged the 
 deputies by frequent letters. "I hope," said he in one of 
 those which he wrote to Mr. Hallier, " that the divine good- 
 ness will soon restore peace to his Church, and that by the 
 aid of your proceedings, the truth will be recognised, and 
 your zeal exalted before God and man." We might take these 
 
216 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 last words as a prophecy, when we behold, some years after- 
 wards, Mr. Hallier appointed bishop of Cavaillon by the pope. 
 
 The censure of the five propositions for which the servant 
 of God waited with so much confidence, was soon announced 
 to him in a more precise manner. The letters which he re- 
 ceived from the anti-Jansenist envoys, stated that in the 
 audience which the ambassador of France had procured for 
 the two new deputies of the opposite party,* instead of saying 
 a single word of the matter in question, they had amused them- 
 selves in railing against the Jesuits, and in offering to prove 
 that they were the authors of more than fifty heresies ; that 
 the holy Father, who had granted them eight or nine audi- 
 ences, although he hadVgranted but one to Mr. Hallier and 
 his companions, had declared to them that he was ready to 
 hear them if they had any thing new to produce ; that for a 
 whole year they had been entirely at liberty to instruct the 
 cardinals and consultors personally or by writing; that they 
 had refused four or five hearings which had been offered them ; 
 that they acknowledged that the writings of their adversaries 
 had been communicated to them ; that in fact it was useless 
 to hear them any more than their antagonists, since the only 
 question was a book, which was alone to pronounce its own 
 apology or censure ; and that in fine after twenty-five congre- 
 gations, besides ten others which the pope had caused to be 
 held before him, he had given hjs bull; that those gentlemen, 
 with tears in their eyes, had promised perfect obedience to 
 this decree, but that there was reason to doubt of their sin- 
 cerity, since they had told confidents, that their sense, which 
 was that of Jansenius, still subsisted. 
 
 Vincent of Paul, after having returned thanks to God for 
 the protection, which he had just given his Church, thought 
 of nothing but of the means of procuring a prompt submis- 
 sion to the apostolical rescript. His first care was to prevent 
 those who had the advantage in this kind of combat, from 
 exhibiting towards their adversaries those airs of triumph 
 
 * These last deputies were Father Desmargs and Doctor Ma- 
 nessier. They came to the aid of Mr. de la Lane, and Angran and 
 do Saint- Amour. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VIMCEKT OF PAUL. 217 
 
 which are looked upon as insults by vexed minds. Full of 
 zeal against error, and charity towards those who had been 
 its victims, all his attentiou was directed to smooth the way 
 for their return to unity. With this design he paid visits to 
 superiors of communities, doctors in theology, and several 
 other persons who had embraced Jansenism. He represented 
 to them modestly, and with his usual prudence, that 10 re-unite 
 minds, it was necessary to keep within the bounds of the 
 most exact moderation, to advance nothing either in sermons 
 or private conversations, which might humble those who 
 had supported the proscribed dogma, to show them a real 
 friendship in a conjuncture so humiliating for self-love, and 
 to gain, by the most respectful treatment, persons who would 
 be shocked by any other method. 
 
 It was with these feelings, so prudent and so Christian, that 
 he paid a visit of civility to such of the disciples of Saint-Cyran 
 as had retired to Port Royal. The report having been circu- 
 lated that they submitted without restriction, he congratulated 
 them on it; and during two or three hours which he passed 
 with them, he gave them particular evidences of his esteem, 
 affection, and confidence. He afterwards went to see some 
 persons of distinction, who held a considerable rank in the 
 party. All promised entire submission to the apostolic de- 
 cree. Some, at the head of whom appeared the pious and 
 learned Thomassin, were faithful to their word : unfortunately 
 it was not so with the greater number. 
 
 In fact, it was soon known both in Paris and Rome, that 
 their beautiful protestations were in no ways sincere. The 
 famous writing in three columns, which these gentlemen 
 distributed in public, proved that, under pretence of rejecting 
 a purely Calvinistical sense, which was not in question, 
 they continued to maintain the whole error of the sense 
 of Jansenius, which alone was in question, and the only 
 one which-the Pope intended to condemn. This Dr. Hal 
 lier explains much at length in a letter, in which he tells 
 St. Vincent that the Jansenists have no solid ground, when 
 they endeavor to cover themselves by such ridiculous ter- 
 giversations ; that the propositions being clear, they endea- 
 19 
 
218 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 vored to render them ambiguous by explanations remote from 
 the natural sense of the words and from the sense of Janse- 
 nius ; that Innocent X had testified that he condemned them 
 in as much as they contained the opinions of Jansenius, which 
 are the same as those of the Jansenists, as appears by their 
 apologies of Jansenius and the rest of their books ; that the 
 pope had given in his bull a sense to the fifth proposition, be- 
 cause it was not contained in the words, but only in Janse- 
 nius, and that he has condemned it in that sense, which is 
 that of the book and its defenders, &c. 
 
 After having proved that, by following the method of these 
 new doctors, there is no bad proposilion that may not escape 
 censure, Hallier demonstrates by a great number of facts, that 
 there can be no doubt of the intention of the sovereign pontiff. 
 "If it be true," says he, " that the sense of Jansenius is pro- 
 tected, why did the pope refuse bulls to a man, whose only 
 crime was his having signed the Augustinus of that prelate"? 
 "Why did he cause a general of an order who favored the 
 Jansenists to be deposed? Why, without any other reason, 
 did he banish another religious to Malta? Why did he give 
 a bishopric in the kingdom of Naples to an Augustinian who, 
 in the congregations, had defended the Catholic faith against 
 the Jansenists, and even against his own superior"? Why did 
 he offer me the bishopric of Toul," Stc. " In fact," adds he, 
 "The Jansenists know belter than any one, that it is they 
 who are aimed at; and it is for this reason that they fled 
 shamefully from Rome, without taking leave of any of the 
 cardinals of the congregation," &c. 
 
 It appears from subsequent letters, that it was feared at Rome 
 lest Vincent, accustomed to judge of the uprightness of others 
 by his own, might suffer himself to be caught by tlie equivocal 
 marks of submission given by the party. But the deputies 
 had time to be convinced that they had taken the alarm too 
 easily. Without transgressing the bounds of a just modera- 
 tion, our saint knew so well how to combine his arrangements 
 that he removed the error from all the places, the guardian- 
 ship of wliich had been committed to his care. His congre- 
 gation, was, as it ought to be, the first object of his attention. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 219 
 
 He studied the inclinations of all his priests, well resolved 
 to rid himself of those who, being duly warned, should prefer 
 their own judgment to that of the first pastors. He endeav- 
 ored above all to give to young people, only such masters as 
 had openly declared their opinion; and to begin by an exam- 
 ple calculated to make an impression, he dismissed one of the 
 professors of St. Lazarus, because he found hirn to be one 
 of those men of equivocal submission, who never explain 
 themselves with embarrassment, except when faith is to be 
 explained. He told another, who had through inadvertence 
 expressed himself in a manner somewhat favorabie to the in- 
 novators, that Jansenism was one of the most dangerous er- 
 rors that had ever troubled the church, and that he could not 
 thank God too much, for not having permitted its first defend- 
 ers, who were his friends, and had taken inconceivable pains 
 to seduce him, to succeed in their undertaking. 
 
 What the holy man did for his children, he did likewise 
 for a great number of religious and secular communities of 
 which he was the superior. It was thus that, as we have al- 
 ready observed, he prevailed upon the ladies of the Visitation 
 to refuse a considerable sum, with which error would not have 
 failed to insinuate itself amongst them. Thus it was also 
 that he taught the Sisters of Charity, whose establishment 
 was his favorite work, to be satisfied with lamenting the evils 
 of the church, and to reduce all their science to that general 
 submission which requires neither reasoning nor discussion. 
 He infused the same sentiments into the secular congrega- 
 tions of Providence, of the Christian Union, of the New Ca- 
 tholics; and the first of these communities acknowledges to 
 this day the greatest obligation it owes to St. Vincent of Paul, 
 foi having inspired its members, from the beginning, with a 
 perfect submission to the church, and a profound respect for 
 those who govern it. 
 
 Although the holy priest was not ignorant that in all ages 
 error has counted amongst its defenders such men as Tertullian, 
 Origen, Theodoret; yet he was more sensible to the fall of those 
 who believed they were paying an homage to God by combat- 
 ting his church, It was for this reasoq that he labored so much 
 
220 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 to bring back the famous Jean Deslions, dean of Senlis. He 
 procured for him answers from Rome, and letters from the 
 bishop of Pamiers. He saw him shaken several times. 
 Jt even appeared that he deferred declaring himself more 
 openly only to bring back the duke and duchess of Liancourt. 
 But his engagements with Arnauld detained him. He was 
 ill requited for his complaisance, and every one knows that in 
 the affair of Perette Deslions, his niece, no one spared him 
 less than Arnauld. 
 
 I shall conclude this matter with a reply which the holy 
 priest' made to a pious individual who, being dazzled by 
 the alms dislributed by certain people of the party, made a 
 scruple of condemning them. In a visit which he paid to 
 Vincent, he asked him if there was no means of moderating the 
 warmth, wilh which the gentlemen of Port Royal were per- 
 secuted. " Would it not be better," said he, " to come to an 
 accommodation; they are disposed for it, if treated wilh more 
 moderation, and there is no one better suited than you to 
 mitigate the irritation on both sides, and to effect a good re- 
 conciliation." 
 
 Without slopping to reply, that, if the devil has his virgins 
 and martyrs, he may well have persons who fast and give 
 alms, Vincent went directly to the ground of the difficulty. 
 His reply was, that when a difference is judged, there is no 
 other agreement to make, than to submit to the judgment pro- 
 nounced; that these gentlemen, who had taken the highest 
 tone before the decree of the holy see, had labored since its 
 publication only to elude it, even at the time when they pre- 
 tended to submit to it; that in mailers of faith all accommo- 
 dation is reduced to a true and perfect obedience ; and until 
 the party should come to this, there was nothing to be done 
 but to pray to God for their conversion. 
 
 Such was the language, such the conduct which Vincent 
 of Paul held in the course of this unfortunate affair. He had 
 feared all his life that some new error would arise in his time. 
 The evil which he dreaded had arrived. He had the grief to 
 see the most consoling dogmas of religion attacked by his 
 friends. Flesh and blood never restrained him, and his zeal 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 221 
 
 did not hurry him away. He was not willing; to judge rashly of 
 any person, or through a charity ill understood, to judge favora- 
 bly persons who should be considered as heretics or suspected of 
 heresy. It is very remarkable that he never believed that a real 
 Catholic could remain in a kind of indifference and neutrality. 
 
 Although he was much pleased to see the learned conse- 
 crate their time to the defence of truth, he always believed 
 that prayer was the best remedy that could be opposed to 
 heresy. He knew that, when nothing is required but wri- 
 ting, the most desperate innovators have never kept silent, 
 and have given even to the worst systems an air and a color 
 calculated to deceive. It was in God that Vincent put his 
 confidence. He begged him, and he wished his friends 
 to beg him, not to permit persons able to serve him to go 
 astray, and that the faithful might not continue exposed to 
 the efforts of the spirit of falsehood. He said that the best 
 arms to fight against error, are prayer and the exact prac- 
 tice of the virtues opposed to the faults of those who support 
 it; that we must oppose a profound humility to their self- 
 esteem on account of their talents ; a sincere love of con- 
 tempt and abjection, to that frivolous praise which they lavish 
 on each other ; great uprightness and perfect simplicity of 
 heart, to the artifices, disguise, imposture which they employ 
 to cover their error and hide its deformity ; in fine, ardent 
 charity to the inflexible hatred and outrages with which they 
 are accustomed to pursue those who oppose their opinions. 
 
 In spite of the trouble which the new heresy caused Vin- 
 cent, he was able to continue the good works which had hith- 
 erto occupied him. Besides the mission at Rueil, at which 
 he labored that same year as a man of forty years of age 
 would have done, he kept up in the diocess of Paris alone 
 four bands of apostolical men ; and whilst in conformity 
 with the wishes of the Propaganda, he consented to send 
 for the third time some worthy priests into the Hebrides, he 
 cultivated at Paris a numerous nursery of young Scotchmen, 
 who were one day to perpetuate in their own country the 
 good which those of his company could only commence. 
 
 But the most beautiful action that signalised his seventv- 
 19* • 
 
222 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 eighth year, was without doubt the establishment which he 
 made of an hospital for a great number of old persons. As 
 this action, although considerable in itself, was still more so 
 on account of its consequences, it will not be improper to 
 enter into it somewhat more at length. 
 
 A citizen of Paris, who knew the prudence and charity 
 of the holy priest, came to him in 1653, and told him that he 
 felt himself interiorly urged to do something for the service of 
 God ; that in order not to resist a motion of the Holy Ghost, 
 he had the intention to devote a considerable sum; that hav- 
 ing nothing particular in view, he ratified beforehand the pious 
 use which he might think proper to make of it : that the only 
 condition be required of him was, that, wishing to be known 
 to God alone, he should never be mentioned. This last arti- 
 cle was promised at once, and it has been faithfully executed. 
 
 Vincent of Paul, after having consulted the Lord, thought 
 tnat if a place could -be established for the retreat of a num- 
 ber of poor mechanics, reduced in their old days to beggary, 
 and forgetful of the affair of their salvation, it would be very 
 pleasing to God. The benefactor liked the idea, but he re- 
 quired that the" saint and his successors should take upon 
 themselves the direction of this little establishment. 
 
 Without any delay Vincent purchased two houses and con- 
 siderable ground in one of the suburbs of Paris. There he 
 fitted up a small chapel, and furnished it with ornaments. 
 As soon as all was ready, he received into this new retreat 
 forty poor persons of both sexes. He placed them in two 
 separate parts of the same building, but so well arranged 
 that men and women all heard the same offices, and the same 
 lecture at table, without seeing one another. He appointed 
 Sisters of Charity to wait on them, and one of his priests to 
 distribute to them the bread of life, and administer the sacra- 
 ments. He was himself one of the first to instruct them, to 
 recommend peace and union to them, form them to tender 
 piety, lead them to bless with their dying breath the adorable 
 hand which, in acknowledgment of its mercies, only asked 
 of them the sacrifice of their last years. 
 
 When the house of the Name of Jesus, for this was the 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 223 
 
 title given it, had assumed a proper form, many of the ladies 
 of the famous assembly of the holy priest, went to visit it. 
 They wished to see every thing, examine every thing, and 
 hear an account of every thing. The more they examined 
 it, the more they were edified. Forty aged persons, who lived 
 in the most perfect union, who knew nothing of murmuring 
 or scandal, who, at the first sound of the bell, went to their 
 little employments, and more willingly still to their exercises 
 of piety, who all testified by their words, and sometimes by 
 their tears, that they had never been so contented ; in a word, 
 forty old people who had more the air of a religious commu- 
 nity than of a dwelling of seculars, appeared very affecting and 
 consoling in the eyes of faith. A comparison almost imper- 
 ceptibly suggested itself befcween poor people so well regulated, 
 and that multitude of vagabonds, without shame, without re- 
 ligion, who walk the streets of Paris, crowd the churches, 
 and often with a sword at their side, demand alms in such a 
 tone, as to leave to the liberality of the faithful but Utile merit. 
 So much fervor on the one hand, such libertinism on the other, 
 made a contrast which gave rise to many reflections. 
 
 One of the most important was, that it was necessary to en- 
 gage Vincent of Paul, to do for all the poor found in the cnpital, 
 what he had done for those of the Name of Jesus ; that God 
 was visibly with him, and that provided he would put his 
 hand to the work, it would succeed. The first ladies who 
 had this thought, communicated it to others. It did not ap- 
 pear too much for persons who had served their apprentice- 
 ship in the school of the holy priest. They returned a second 
 and a third time to the house of the Name of Jesus. They 
 caused those who had not been there before to admire the 
 order that reigned in it. The project which they had al- 
 ready formed, appeared more beautiful than ever. It was 
 determined that on the first assembly they should propose 
 it to the holy priest ; and they were so well assured that the 
 thing was done, if he would only put his hand to it, that they 
 thought of nothing but of persuading him to consent to it. 
 At the very outset, one of the ladies promised fifty thousand 
 livres, and another a revenue of three thousand livres. 
 
224 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 However accustomed the servant of God was to great un- 
 dertakings, the plan of a general hospital for an army of forty 
 thousand beggars who were then in Paris, filled him with 
 astonishment. He bestowed great praise upon those who had 
 formed it, but he represented to them at the same time that 
 an affair of such importance deserved to be maturely examined, 
 and that it should be earnestly recommended to God. Eight 
 days afterwards it was examined again. The deliberation 
 did not last long. Not a voice voted in the negative, not 
 even for a longer delay. The saint was obliged to yield to 
 the torrent; and as it required- an immense place for such a 
 prodigious multitude of poor, he asked and obtained from the 
 king the vast house of the Salpetriere. 
 
 Such a happy commencement inspired courage, indeed al- 
 most more than was necessary. Some of the ladies, whose zeal 
 was most active, would have wished every thing to be done in 
 a day. The saint whose steps were marked by more discre- 
 tion, thought it necessary to moderate an ardor which might 
 insensibly introduce trouble and division into his assembly. 
 To manage persons whose fault was an excess of good will, 
 he saw them individually, and told them with that gravity, 
 replete with mildness, against which well regulated souls 
 never held out, that the works of God have their progress; 
 that when he wished to save Noah and his family, he ordered 
 him to construct an ark which might have been finished in a 
 few months, the construction of which, however, took up a cen- 
 tury ; that he did not bring the children of Israel into the land 
 of promise, but at the end of forty years ; that to give a Re- 
 deemer to the world, he awaited the plenitude of time. From 
 all these examples the holy man concluded, that they ought to 
 go on leisurely, pray to God a great deal, act in concert, and 
 be on their guard against the temptation to do every thing at 
 once. 
 
 After having calmed their minds, he proposed his own idea 
 to them; it was to make only a trial at first, to limit them- 
 selves in the beginning to one or two hundred poor persons, 
 and only to take those who should of their own accord ask to 
 be received. He added that people who would find them- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL,. 225 
 
 selves well treated, would induce others to come to share 
 their good fortune, and that then the number would increase 
 in proportion as Providence would augment their funds. 
 Thus thought Vincent, and he thought correctly. He was 
 soon obliged to temporise himself, perhaps more than he 
 would have wished. 
 
 As, after much reflection, it was discovered that an affair 
 of such importance could not be carried into execution without 
 the authority of the magistrates, it was resolved to present to 
 the parliament the letters patent of the king, and cause them 
 to be registered. In great bodies, as elsewhere, every one has 
 his own way of considering things. There were judges of 
 weight to be found, who, struck by the great number of vaga- 
 bonds wandering through the streets, and embarrassed by the 
 difficulty of placing all these vile and audacious characters 
 under the same roof, looked upon this project, as a beautiful 
 and chimerical speculation. All the prudence of Vincent of 
 Paul, all the zeal of the ladies of his assembly, all the credit 
 of the first president, Pompone de Bellievre, were necessary to 
 surmount this unexpected ohstacle. After many conferences 
 the matter was settled. But it was resolved, against the first 
 opinion of the holy priest, that all the beggars should be 
 obliged, either to labor for their support, or to enter the Sal- 
 petriere, which from that time took the name of General 
 Hospital. The greater part of those men, who were enemies 
 to order, retired into the provinces ; and of that class of peo- 
 ple accustomed to do nothing, there were only, as Vincent had 
 foreseen, four or five thousand who profited by the good will 
 manifested towards them. 
 
 It was, however, it great consolation for the servant of God 
 and for his assembly, to see this great work sustained by pub- 
 lic authority. He mentioned ,il to a confidential person, and 
 there is nothing wanting to his recital but what could redound 
 to his own glory. He did not say that it was himself who 
 gave occasion to the first idea of this glorious undertaking, 
 who removed the principal difficulties, who got the neces- 
 sary articles of furniture made by the laborers of his house, 
 and who found so many resources in the ladies of the assem- 
 
226 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 bly, only because he had taught them for nearly twenty years, 
 to attempt what seemed impossible, and to succeed in it. 
 
 The king, by the advice of the duchess of Aiguillon, had 
 confided the spiritual direction of this great hospital to the 
 missionaries. Vincent of Paul, after deliberating on it with 
 his priests, renounced it by an authentic act. But lest his 
 refusal might stop the work of God, he gave it in charge to 
 one of the most wise ecclesiastics of his conference, who, by 
 prudent missions, spread gradually throughout it the spirit of 
 order and penance. 
 
 It was thus that Vincent executed in Paris what St. Chry- 
 sostom had formerly tried in vain for the city of Constantino- 
 ple ; what Henry IV had unsuccessfully projected ; and what 
 Mary of Medicis would have considered one of the most 
 splendid monuments of her regency, could she have executed 
 it in a solid and permanent manner.* In order to do justice 
 to some of those who, after Louis XIV, had the greatest 
 share in this prodigious establishment, we will add that Car- 
 dinal Mazarin contributed to it one hundred thousand livres in 
 one day, and sixty thousand livres at" his death, and that Mr. 
 de Pompone, who at first gave to it twenty thousand crowns, 
 bequeathed still more by his will. 
 
 Whilst the institutor of the mission labored with so much 
 ardor to procure the glory of God, God labored, it would 
 appear, to purify him more and more by sufferings and afflic- 
 tions. 
 
 Without speaking of the impotent fury of a crowd of 
 beggars, who preferred a wandering and dissolute life to the 
 honest retreat which the holy man had procured for them, 
 and who broke out in abusive language against him, he ex- 
 perienced in the space of two years and a half very consider- 
 able losses by the death of several excellent subjects of his 
 congregation, whom various diseases carried off one after 
 another in Madagascar, in Poland, and in France. He found 
 himself defamed, in a manner, by a young German Lutheran, 
 who, in the dress of a missionary, which he had purloined, 
 
 * Mary of Me'dicis began in 1612 a sort of General Hospital, but it 
 only subsisted six years. 
 
LIFE OFVr. VINCENT OF PAUL. 227 
 
 went to the meeting house of Charenton, and gave the 
 honor of his conquest to the minister Drelincourt. He was 
 obliged to withdraw from Rome those of his priests who were 
 Frenchmen, because they had given, by order of Innocent X, 
 an honorable retreat to Cardinal de Retz, to whom Mazarin 
 was pleased to show that his power could be felt beyond the 
 Alps. A short time afterwards, he had the grief to learn that 
 a man, whom he had sent into England to visit his brethren 
 from whom he had received no news, had been obliged to 
 escape by flight the pursuit of Cromwell ; that three others 
 whom he had despatched to Madagascar, far from being able to 
 reach it, had only escaped perishing with their ship, through 
 a singular protection of God ; and that one of his company, 
 who performed the functions of consul at Algiers, was daily 
 exposed to perish in torments. 
 
 It is true that God sometimes tempered this bitterness with 
 a share of consolation ; and that our saint had that of seeing 
 some of his children solidly established at Genoa through the 
 beneficence of the illustrious Marquis de Pianeze, his institute 
 confirmed, by Alexander VII, with a prohibition against taking 
 solemn vows, and, what perhaps affected him more, a brave 
 and virtuous nobility, guided by his advice, and animated by 
 the example of Marquis de Fenelon and of the intrepid 
 Marshal Fabert, renouncing all duelling by an oath taken 
 with much solemnity in the seminary of Saint-Sulpice. Bu< 
 these moments of joy passed quicker than the rays of the sun 
 in winter. An item of favorable information was accompanied 
 by twenty occurrences which could not hut afflict him. The 
 pestilence which began to desolate Italy, and threatened more 
 than other persons, priests as laborious as his were, made him 
 tremble for them : and soon the reality of the evil succeeded 
 to the alarm. It is true that God divided his victims; but if he 
 was pleased to spare him whose loss would have been most 
 sensibly felt by the holy man,* it must be acknowledged that his 
 mercies cost him very dear. Of eight priests at Genoa, that is 
 
 * This was Mr. Edme Joly, of whom the saint had predicted to 
 the duchess of Aigillon, that he would be one day superior genera) 
 of the congregation. 
 
828 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FAT7L. 
 
 to say, of eight apostles whose labors had so often moved 
 Cardinal Durazzo to tears, death removed seven in less than 
 twenty days, and there remained only one who returned as 
 soon as he got well to the service of the sick. In giving this 
 information to his community, the saint afflicted them as 
 much as he was afflicted himself. But as his love was greater 
 still than his grief, he taught his companions rather to bless 
 Him who is and will always be, than to regret those who 
 were no more. 
 
 He blessed him himself by such assiduous labor, that it can- 
 not be conceived how he bore it at such an advanced age. 
 We have but a very small portion of the letters which he 
 wrote in France, to Barbary, and to more distant countries : 
 yet those we have are so numerous, that we are terrified at 
 their multitude and the variety of matters upon which he 
 was obliged to write. Here it is a bishop, an abbe of great 
 rank, a director who consult him on delicate and important 
 matters. There princesses who ask him either for missions 
 for their territories, an aid which he never refused, or per- 
 mission to visit the monasteries of which he was superior, 
 a permission which he almost always withheld. At one 
 time, it is the congregation of the Propaganda which conjures 
 him to send some of his children to Grand Cairo; at another, 
 it is Mr. de la Meilleraie, who, after some coolness asks them 
 for foreign countries. One day, it is an afflicted mother who 
 from the extremity of the kingdom where his charity had 
 made her acquainted with him, begs him to interest himself 
 for a son, who, being a captive in Algiers, is in danger of 
 losing his life or his faith ; another day, it is a renegade, who 
 addresses him from Algiers, to discover in his charity the 
 means of repairing his apostasy. To-day, it is an abbess, 
 who discouraged at the difficulties of governing, knows not 
 what to do; to-moirow, it will be a young lady, who afler 
 some months of noviciate, is tempted to go back. Often it is 
 the nuncios Bagrin and Piccolomini, who wish to have, by 
 word or letter, his advice upon some difficult points which 
 relate either to the particular advantage of some diocess, or'to 
 the general good of the church • more frequently it is some good 
 
IJFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 229 
 
 religious who have recourse to him, as lo a father always 
 ready lo aid them, either in the reformation of their orders, 
 or in other affairs almost as difficult. In the morning, it will 
 be the illustrious house de la Mothe Fenelon, to whom he 
 predicts, to prevent opposition to a marriage, that it will give 
 birth to a son* who will be the glory of his name; in the 
 evening, and there is no exaggeration in all this, it will be the 
 head of a great company, coming to concert with him some 
 of those judgments, which policy may disapprove, but which 
 equity and religion will always acknowledge. Sometimes it 
 is a missionary who needs being encouraged or brought back 
 to his original fervor; at other times, virtuous priests who know 
 neither relief nor repose, and whose zeal must be moderated 
 in order that it may last longer. 
 
 As long as he lived, the house of Saint-Lazarus was 
 always what the house of the Seeing was in the time of the 
 judges of Israel. It was like an emporium, whither every 
 person who had the intention of doing some good work 
 flocked from Paris and the provinces, to derive from the coun- 
 sels of the man of God the light of which they stood in need. 
 Besides the conferences of his own house, of the ecclesiastics, 
 and of the ladies of bis assembly which amounted to five 
 every week, he was often called to the deliberations of pre- 
 lates, doctors, superiors of communities, either lo put a stop to 
 some disorder, or to establish good government. So that, ex- 
 cepting the time which he gave every year to his spiritual 
 retreat, he went out almost every day, sometimes even twice 
 a day, for the affairs of charity, which tore him from his soli- 
 tude. As soon as he returned to the house, after having reci- 
 ted his office on his knees, a practice which he never omitted 
 until his infirmities compelled him to do so, he listened with 
 admirable patience to those within or from without who had 
 business with him. If to his great and serious occupations 
 we join those given him by the different houses of his con- 
 gregation, those of the Sisters of Charity, and the ladies of 
 the Visitation, who, until the day of his death, would never 
 
 * Mr. de Fenelon, archbishop of Oambray. It was from ajady of 
 his family that we learned this prediction. 
 20 
 
230 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 have any other superior, can we help acknowledging that his 
 years were full, and that with him there were none of those 
 vacant months condemned by the scripture. 
 
 That which always gave a great price to the labors of our 
 saint, was the peace and confidence which accompanied them. 
 At the time when death deprived him of so many virtuous 
 priests, he always calculated that Providence would be pleased 
 to replace them by others who would be worthy of them ; and 
 heaven did not disappoint his expectations. Italy furnished 
 him an internal seminary, which under the direction of Mr. 
 Joli was a nursery of apostolical men. That of Paris was 
 always well filled. Vincent even received into it towards the 
 close of his life some subjects, who although incapable of 
 performing the functions ot his company on account of their 
 advanced age, proved the esteem which the great ones of 
 the world had for it. The first was Charles d'Angennes, 
 ancient count of la Rochepot, brother-in-law of Madame de 
 Gondi, who had been formerly ambassador in Spain. This 
 gentleman, who found in the simplicity of our saint a light 
 which the most brilliant portion of the world does not possess, 
 not being able to obtain of him his reception as a boarder, 
 placed himself amongst his children, and continued to edify 
 them greatly to the time of his death. The second was Rene 
 Almeras, the father of the second superior general of the con- 
 gregation. This respectable old man, the head of an illustrious 
 family, and eighty years of age, forced Vincent of Paul by his 
 importunity to receive him into his congregation. His sacri- 
 fice did not last long; and God granted him at the end of 
 twenty-two months the recompense which he has promised 
 to those who become children through the love of him. The 
 third was Louis de la Rochechouard, abbot of Tournus, so 
 well known by the name of Mr. de Chandenier. As he only 
 took the habit of the mission on the eve of his death, and as 
 that death was for our saint one of those great trials by which 
 God disposed him to sanctify his own, we shall speak of it 
 more at length hereafter. 
 
 Vincent rendered himself worthy of so many graces, by 
 the exact practice of that virtue which costs human nature 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 231 
 
 the most. His house suffered, and he was forgetting its 
 wants, to occupy himself with tliose of tlie daughters of 
 Providence, whom the death of their pious foundress would 
 soon have annihilated, if, by a letter in which he used the 
 pious artifice found in that of St. Paul to Philemon, he had 
 not interested in their favor the duchesses of Liancour and 
 Aiguillon. 
 
 After all, this noble disinterestedness, this spirit of libe- 
 rality, which so many lessons cannot teach to the rich of the 
 world, was, as it were, the basis of the disposition of our holy 
 priest. He was often accused of carrying it to an excess. 
 Far from opposing, as some of his friends begged him to do, 
 the establishment of some new companies, the rules of which 
 were in some measure copied from his own, he offered to 
 abandon the very name which the ecclesiastical and civil pow- 
 ers had given to his congregation, because these companies 
 wished to appropriate it to themselves, which might have 
 been a source of confusion, disputes, and scandal. He was on 
 the point of making, the following year, a sacrifice no less 
 generous. It is well known that the mission of Madagascar 
 had cost him a great deal, both in money and subjects. It is 
 not less known, that he had not engaged in it of bis own 
 accord. The company carrying on the trade with that part of 
 Africa, had urged him to it; Cardinal Bagny, who was then 
 nuncio in France, had begged him to make that new effort 
 for religion; the congregation of the Propaganda had autho- 
 rised it; and he had just incurred new expenses for the only 
 one of his priests who was left in that land. It was in these 
 circumstances, that he found himself on the point of being 
 dispossessed of that mission. Marshal de la Meilleraie, who 
 had got himself substituted to the ancient company, thought 
 that Vincent betrayed his interests; and, as on occasions of 
 rivalship, to have pleased one party is almost a reason for 
 displeasing the other, the report was spread abroad that this 
 gentleman, to exclude the priests of the mission, had made 
 arrangements with the Capuchins, and that on the first 
 voyage he would send twenty-four of them to the island of 
 Saint Lawrence. 
 
232 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 _ The holy priest was not without resources. He had 
 credit at court: he was respected in Rome, which does 
 not like to have his work overturned. He could at least re- 
 present his rights and titles to those whom they wished to 
 send in the place of his priests, and who, as they were full 
 of equity, would have been the first to acknowledge that 
 those who had sowed, should reap the harvest. He did, 
 however, nothing of all this. "If the marshal prefers these 
 good religious," said he in a letter to one of his company, "I 
 shall recall ours from Madagascar. Our maxim is always 
 to give place to others, believing that they will do better than 
 we." It must be acknowledged that this philosophy, if it 
 ever could be in vogue, would spare the public and the 
 church many scandalous scenes. 
 
 Vincent was not obliged to make the sacrifice which he 
 meditated, and which would have exempted him from many 
 others much more severe. La Meilleraie, either having got rid 
 of his prejudices, or being persuaded that his proceeding would 
 do him no honor, informed Vincent of the day of embarca- 
 tion. The saint sent him four of his priests, upon whose 
 virtue and zeal he greatly calculated. But the vessel expe- 
 rienced, the day after sailing, such a violent storm, that they 
 were all, during eight days, on the verge of destruction. At 
 last, having refitted at Lisbon, they again set sail : but soon 
 afterwards they were attacked and captured by the Spaniards; 
 and it was only after a sort of captivity that the missionaries 
 were released in Galicia, and succeeded in returning to Prance. 
 Whilst the servant of God formed such unsuccessful pro- 
 jects for the salvation of Madagascar, he made for the sancti- 
 fieation of the people of Melz preparations which had a hap- 
 pier result. The court being in that city in 1657, Ann of 
 Austria saw with grief that God was not well served there, 
 and that there were abuses which required reformation. 
 On her return to Paris she told our saint, that having wit- 
 nessed the good results of the missions, she intended to have 
 one made at Metz. Vincent, instead of his priests, whom the 
 laws of his institute did not allow him to employ for missions 
 in large towns, when others could be found, chose out of the 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 233 
 
 great number of those who formed his conference, forty eccle- 
 siastics of merit and good will. He placed at their head the 
 Abbe de Tournus, a man whose name and virtues were of a 
 happy presage. But a general and awful inundation gave to 
 the pious band and to him who sent them, the most serious 
 uneasiness. Twenty days elapsed without his receiving any 
 news of them. At length he learned that they had reached 
 their destination. He blessed God for it with the persuasion 
 that his mercy having been pleased to preserve them, they 
 would labor efficaciously for his glory. He was not deceived. 
 The mission of Metz succeeded perfectly, and the queen, to 
 whom the Abbe de Tournus gave an account of the labors and 
 success of the mission, was so much edified that she resolved 
 to establish the priests of St. Vincent in that city, that they 
 might do at least in the country, what they could not do else- 
 where, except in case of necessity 
 
 The servant of God, during the inundation of which we 
 have just spoken, rendered for the third time to the village of 
 Genevilliers a service similar to that which we have described 
 more at large. He had some time before relieved the neces- 
 sities of the inhabitants of Boulogne in Picardy. Shortly 
 afterwards, he sent a band of Sisters of Charity to the aid 
 of five or six hundred soldiers, who had been transported to 
 Calais, after the famous battle of the Dunes : but were we to 
 detail all the good he did or caused to be done, we should 
 never finish. 
 
 There is, however, one good work, which he did this same 
 year, which essentially belongs to his history. I mean the 
 rules which he at length gave to his congregation. It had been 
 established more than thirty years, and as yet had no writ- 
 ten rules. It is true that his companions had heretofore found 
 in him a perfect model : but this model could not last much 
 longer; and it was proper to prevent, by clear and precise 
 regulations, the very shadow of the doubts to which the 
 restlessness of the human mind might thereafter give birth. 
 Vincent, notwithstanding his great occupations, thought of it 
 daily, and he thought of it solidly. Although three or four 
 hours' reading would be sufficient to peruse entirely the con- 
 •m* 
 
234 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 stitutions he gave lo his company, there are discovered in 
 them maxims so wise, means so well proportioned to the end, 
 such sure ways of arriving at Christian and sacerdotal per- 
 fection, such efficacious remedies against the corruption of 
 the world, such prudent counsels for the sanctification of the 
 people, that a great bishop to whom our saint made a present 
 of them, carried them always about him, as the most beauti- 
 ful abridgment that could be made of the Gospel. 
 
 The principle with which he sets out is, that the little con- 
 gregation of the mission purposes, as much as is in its power, 
 to take Jesus Christ for a model: he concludes from this, that 
 after the example of that divine Saviour, its members must 
 do and teach ; labor first for their own sanctification ; then 
 announce the gospel to the poor, and above ail to those of the 
 country ; at last, aid the ministers of the Son of God in acquir- 
 ing the science and virtues proper to their state. 
 
 To attain thjs threefold end, the wise founder requires that his 
 children should be attached to our Lord's maxims, to his pover- 
 ty, his obedience, his charity for the infirm, his modesty, his 
 manner of living, acting, treating the neighbors, his conduct 
 in the functions which he fulfilled with regard to the people. 
 He desires above all that simplicity, humility, mildness, mor- 
 tification, zeal for the salvation of souls, should be, as it were, 
 the seal of his congregation, and that each of their actions 
 should bear its impress. To these virtues he joins those of 
 which the Son of God made use to combat the devil and 
 overthrow his empire, that poverty which did not afford him 
 a place of rest, that perfect purity which even envy never 
 attacked, that obedience which led him to die, and to die 
 upon the cross. 
 
 Vincent resumes these three last virtues, and treats of them 
 at some iength. Although those of his congregation, forming 
 only a secular body, cannot be deprived of their right lo their 
 property, he directs them to live as if they possessed none. 
 In their furniture there must be nothing curious, nothing 
 superfluous. 
 
 With regard to chastity, a virtue so much the more neces- 
 sary to the priests of the mission, as they are exposed, by 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. '235 
 
 their calling to many dangerous occasions, he enjoins (he 
 most severe precautions. It is not sufficient for him that 
 they should possess that virtue in a certain degree above me- 
 diocrity, he requires that they should be out of the reach of 
 the slightest suspicion, being persuaded that a suspicion alone, 
 however unjust, would do more injury to the congregation, 
 than the idea of any other crime with which calumny couM 
 charge it. 
 
 As to obedience, the saint gives it a more extended object. 
 The pope, the bishops, the superiors of the company, must 
 rely upon a ready, holy, reasonable docility. If there be rea- 
 sons for thinking differently from those who govern, they 
 are to be exposed with simplicity, and the remonstrants are' 
 not to think hard, when their obervations are not acquiesced in. 
 
 A man so full of charity has not omitted the sick. Ser- 
 vants, strangers, and above all the poor in the missions, must 
 be visited, consoled, edified, relieved, both for soul and body. 
 If the infirmarian has his rules, there are some also for the 
 sick. The bed of pain upon which they lie, is a pulpit from 
 which they must preach at least by example, patience, and 
 entire submission to those who are appointed to take care of 
 them. These must use every endeavor to give proofs of a 
 prompt and ardent charity. 
 
 Althoughjn all this there is nothing which the holy canons 
 do not prescribe to ecclesiastics who do not live in commu- 
 nity, the servant of God was too well acquainted with human 
 weakness, to hope that, without a special grace, a road of 
 itself painful to nature could be long persevered in. To 
 obtain this precious grace, Vincent prescribes a number of 
 pious exercises calculated to obtain that spirit which gives and 
 preserves life. His children must make every day in common 
 an hour of mental prayer, confess at least once a week ; the 
 priests must celebrate every day, if nothing prevents them; 
 those who do not, must receive communion on Sundays and 
 festivals; all must read a chapter of the New Testarrrent, and 
 make a spiritual lecture ; give every year eight days to a 
 spiritual retreat ; have a spiritual director; adore by frequent 
 acts of faith the unspeakable mysteries of the Trinity and In- 
 
236' LIFE OF ST. VINCENT Vr PAUL. 
 
 carnation ; honor with particular veneration the august sacra- 
 ment of our altars ; have a tender devotion to the queen of 
 virgins. 
 
 The saint concludes by proposing to his brethren sure means 
 of. sanctifying the functions of their slate of life. He desires 
 that, at the beginning of each action, and above all, those 
 which are most important, they should propose to themselves 
 nothing but to please God alone; that they should stifle even 
 the first risings of a desire to satisfy themselves or please men ; 
 that when they have been any ways successful, they should 
 renounce that vain complacency which affords aliment to 
 self-love; that when unsuccessful, they should humble them^ 
 selves without being discouraged. After any public action, 
 he equally disapproves of praise which flatters pride, and in- 
 discreet censure which discourages uselessly. Simplicity, the 
 first of the five virtues which constitute the spirit of the congre- 
 gation, must shine particularly in the discourses addressed to 
 the people, and even to the ecclesiastics. They must be free 
 from those soft and studied expressions, those far-fetched 
 thoughts, those vain subtilities which the Saviour never em- 
 ployed, and which his first disciples held in horror. The holy 
 founder insists on what is true and solid throughout. He 
 wishes -neither mere opinions, nor singular ways, nor vain 
 curiosity ; still less the ambition to excel others. Each of 
 his company should wish with Moses that all were prophets, 
 become participant in the good done by other companies, by 
 the joy which he ought to feel at their success, rejoice at 
 being despised, whilst they are loaded with praise. If, with 
 all this, a missionary should be' more tenderly attached to his 
 own state than to any other, it is because a good son loves. his 
 mother, although covered with rags, more than the most 
 beautiful princess in the universe. 
 
 Such is an abridgment of the constitutions or rules of the 
 inslitutor of the mission. Although written with simplicity, 
 they hav% in the original a character of light and unction, of 
 which a summary is incapable. Vincent of Paul, before dis- 
 tributing them, represented to his companions, that, although, 
 the congregation had been established nearly thirty-three years, 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 237 
 
 there had as yet been no written rulps, because precipitation 
 in this matter would have been subject to many serious incon- 
 veniences; that it had been proper to try by long experience 
 what would suit and what would not; that if God had been 
 pleased to make use of the company to effect some good in 
 the church, it was only because they had preserved the order 
 and customs prescribed in the constitutions which he now 
 placed in their hands. " What then remains for me to do 1" 
 continued he, " but to imitate Moses, who, after having given 
 the law of God to the people, promised every kind of bles- 
 sings to those who would observe it. Give yours, O Lord, to 
 this little book; accompany it with the unction of your spirit, 
 that it may operate in the souls of those who read it, estrange- 
 ment from the world, the practice of virtue, and union with 
 you." 
 
 Vincent pronounced this discourse in a moderate tone of 
 voice, but with so much meekness and humility, that the feel- 
 ings of his heart were communicated to the hearts of those 
 who listened to him. The assistant of the house having cast 
 himself at his feet, to beg him to bless the company once 
 more, the saint exclaimed with redoubled affection and ten- 
 derness ; " O Lord ! who art the eternal and immaculate law, 
 who dost govern the whole universe by thy infinite vv'isdom ; 
 thou, from whom all laws and regulations for living well 
 emanate as from their source, be pleased to bless those to 
 whom thou hast given these rules. Give them, O Lord, the 
 grace necessary to observe them inviolably until death. It is 
 with that confidence, and in your name that, miserable sinner 
 lhat I am, I am going to pronounce the words of benediction." 
 
 Thus ended this day, which the man of God must have 
 •onsidered one of the most beautiful of his life. Whatever 
 desire he had to die, to be with Jesus Christ, he had always 
 feared being taken away before his congregation had a form 
 of government which could be no more changed. If his fre- 
 quent infirmities made him run the risk of leaving his work 
 incomplete, it was that he had for a constant maxim to ad- 
 vance towards what was better, when not absolutely obliged 
 to be satisfied with what was good. 
 
238 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 In consequence of having seen in the life of our saint, 
 sufferings following so close upon consolations, we are almost 
 ready to expect that the joy which he experienced at seeing 
 his institute cemented as well as it could be, would be soon 
 mingled with bitterness. It was, in fact, a short time after, 
 troubled by one of the most unfortunate affairs of his life. 
 The fact will not detain us long; but here as elsewhere, the 
 sentiments of Vincent of Paul deserve all our attention. 
 
 We have said more than once, that he had great regard 
 for the former prior of St. Lazarus. The latter took advan- 
 tage of it, to engage him in an affair to which he had a great 
 repugnance. A proposition had been made to him for two 
 years of a life annuity ; but the annuity was so great, and the 
 times so bad, that Vincent would not listen to it. Mr. Le 
 Bon, at the solicitation of the interested parties, caused him to 
 change his mind ; and the saint signed the contract, after hav- 
 ing consulted persons of experience who assured him he had 
 nothing to fear. Never did property cost him dearer ; he paid, 
 punctually the rent stipulated in the agreement ; and cadsed 
 considerable improvements to be made on the property which 
 he had acquired. He saw it more than once reaped by the 
 Frmide, just as he was on the point of gathering the fruits ; 
 and to complete his misfortune, after the death of the one who 
 sold it, he was deprived of it by a judgment. 
 
 It is seldom we meet with a man, who, when a strolte of 
 the pen deprives him of fifty thousand livres in his most 
 pressing necessity, remains as calm as if he had obtained 
 them. It is still more rare for him to continue to possess 
 himself, when on one hand he has every thing to fear from 
 the adverse party, and on the other he finds a division of sen- 
 timent with regard to the judgment given against him. But 
 that which is but seldom met with amongst the rest of men, 
 was abundantly found in our holy priest. On the first news 
 which he received of the loss of his suit, he begged Mr. de 
 Bordes, auditor of the chamber of accounts, a man who had 
 always loved the congregation, to unite with it in thanking 
 God for the favor he had just done it, in visiting it by so sen- 
 sible a trial. He inspired with the same feelings many of his 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF rATJL. 239 
 
 friends who conjured him to right himself by a civil petition, 
 and one of whom, though in other respects not prodigal, 
 would take upon himself the expenses of the new proceeding. 
 Above all he tried to inspire his children with the spirit of 
 submission with which he was filled. " Tt is you, O my 
 God," said he in one of his conferences, where his sim- 
 plicity aided by his unction gained every heart ; " it is you 
 who have pronounced the sentence; it shall be irrevocable; 
 and that the execution of it may not be deferred, we now 
 make a sacrifice of this property, and of all that we possess 
 to your divine majesty. O my brethren !" continued he, " if 
 it pleased God that this temporal loss should be recompensed 
 by an increase of confidence in his providence, abandonment 
 to his guidance, detachment from the things of earth, renun- 
 ciation of ourselves, how happy should we be! I presume 
 to hope that his paternal goodness will grant us this favor." 
 The loss of a considerable revenue afflicted the holy mis- 
 sionaries less than their fear of losing their holy institutor. 
 He had now passed that term, when, according to the expres- 
 sion of the royal prophet, life is naught but pain and infirmity. 
 To a swelling of the legs, of which he had an attack at a less 
 advanced age, were added ulcers, which, followed by a slow 
 fever, excited fears for him. It appears that he was one of 
 the first to condemn himself. At least he took the precau- 
 tions of a man who calculates no longer upon life. His first 
 care was to write to the Rev. Father de Gondi and to the 
 Cardinal de Retz, his son. He gives them the most humble 
 thanks for all that he had received from them. He asks par- 
 don for the pains which a man so rude as he pretends to 
 to be, could not fail to give them. He assures the father and 
 son that if God, in his infinite mercy, is pleased to give him 
 a place in his kingdom, he will redouble his prayers for them 
 and for their illustrious family. The cardinal in his time 
 experienced the efficacy of his prayers. After having a long 
 time wandered through the neighboring kingdoms, where the 
 hand of God and that of the king pursued him, he was at 
 length so alarmed at the irregularity of his former conduct, 
 that he would have renounced the Roman purple, had not the 
 
240 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 pope and the sacred college been opposed to it. He sold his 
 land of Commerci to liquidate a part of his debts, and paid 
 three millions of them. As penitent as a solitary, he wished 
 to be treated in the refectory of SaintMihiel as a simple 
 religious. A general acknowledgment of his faults, which 
 he confided to the breast of an enlightened director, was one 
 of the first steps which he took to return to God; and that 
 step was followed by a great many others which cannot be 
 suspected. Happy was he to have been able towards the end 
 of his life to remember the important lessons which Vincent 
 of Paul had given him during his infancy, and to acknow- 
 ledge at last that the frivolous phantom of glory, after which he 
 had so long run, was nothing but vanity Wore God, and af- 
 fliction of spirit before men. The same happened, but much 
 sooner, with the celebrated Armand Jean le Bouthilier de 
 Ranee, who, in the retreat which he made at St. Lazarus 
 under the direction of the servant of God, conceived an idea 
 of privation and perfection which astonished his age, and 
 which future ages, if Christian, will never be tired of admiring. 
 But let us return to our history. 
 
 The holy priest did not recover perfect health ; we shall see 
 that the rest of his life was but a train of sufferings ; but God 
 gave him sufficient strength to do many things which should 
 not be forgotten. 
 
 He had for a year procured a considerable sum for a Capu- 
 chin Father, who had come from mount Libanus to Paris, to 
 seek a remedy for the vexation which the Maronite Christians 
 experienced from the Turks. 
 
 This affair, which was a long time and maturely dis- 
 cussed, was not yet finished when another, no less important, 
 arose. The waters of Sainte-Reine, and the frequent miracles 
 which God works at the tomb of that illustrious martyr, 
 drew thither from Burgundy and many other provinces, a 
 great number of poor, who came to seek the cure of their dis- 
 orders. Vincent learned from a pious citizen, named Ues 
 Noyers, that these unfortunate people, reduced to the neces- 
 sity of sleeping in a barn, or upon the pavements of the 
 streets, died deprived almost as much of spiritual as of corpo 
 
LITE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 241 
 
 ral aid. He saw very well that a large hospital would be a 
 great resource, but he saw at the same time that this project,* 
 uselessly formed by the Baron de Renty at a less unpropitious 
 time, would be'very difficult of execution in a time of war 
 and storms. However, after having spoken much concern- 
 ing it with God, who was always his first oracle, he con- 
 firmed Des Noyers in the plan he had formed of undertaking 
 it. But he warned him to be patient, because he would have 
 violent assaults to sustain, even from those who would sup- 
 port him. The event justified the prediction. Envy and 
 false policy crossed the work of God. But, by means of a 
 hundred thousand livres which Vincent procured, it was hap- 
 pily terminated ; and the following year the pilgrims began to 
 lodge in it. More than twenty thousand pass there yearly; 
 and those who, by entering into the Piscina, thought only of 
 recovering transient health, have more than once recovered 
 that which is infinitely more precious. It is upon this ground 
 that, when Gabriel de Roquette, bishop of Autun, wrote to 
 Clement XI for the beatification of the servant of God, he 
 assured that pontiff, that Vincent of Paul had rendered two 
 important services to his diocess, one by using the.credit which 
 he had in the ecclesiastical council to establish reform in the 
 celebrated abbey of Benedictines at Autun, the other in pro- 
 curing for the pilgrims of Sainte-Reine an hospital, for the 
 want of which a great number had perished every year. 
 
 As the holy priest saw that his death could no longer be 
 very distant, one of his cares was to inspire those who could 
 protect religion and the poor, with the feelings which God 
 had given him on these two great objects. It was with this 
 view, that he wrote to the queen of Poland to felicitate her on 
 the services she had herself rendered to the sick in the hos- 
 pitals, and that, to prolong the life of Cardinal Durazzo and 
 of the bishop of Toulon, who were wearing themselves out 
 by immoderate labors, he begged them to spare their health 
 for the good of religion, which calculated upon finding in 
 them what she had just lost in the holy bishop of Cahors.* 
 
 * M. Alain de Solminihac who died in odor of sanctity, on the 3rd 
 of December, 1659. 
 21 
 
242 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FACE. 
 
 . Finally, it was for this reason that, to promote in the person 
 of St. Francis of Sales the honor of one of the most beauti- 
 ful models that the priesthood ever had, he wrote in favor 
 
 • of his beatification a letter in which each word is an eulogy, 
 and each eulogy an homage to the truth. 
 
 Hitherto he had lived in such a manner as to deserve, that 
 the same eulogy should be one day given to him that had just 
 been given to his former friend. God, who wished to add to his 
 crown that of the most heroic patience, was pleased to make of 
 Vincent of Paul, during the last years of his pilgrimage, a victim 
 to pains and afflictions. To arrest the course of a fever which 
 returned very often, he was obliged, during the greatest heat 
 of summer, to make of his chamber a kind of sweating room. 
 Then there was no rest for him, no sleep, no truce to the agi- 
 tation produced by almost Stirling heat. His mattress, his 
 sheets, his quilt were all soaked. The day which succeeded 
 such bad nights did not indemnify him ; he did not repair by 
 any voluntary repose that which he had lost. At last, the af- 
 fliction in his legs hecame so great, that to bear it required all 
 the patience of the saints. Ulcers were formed in them ; 
 during the day a stream of watery matter flowed from them, 
 which, stopping in the joints during the night, caused him 
 redoubled pains, the continuance and violence of which con- 
 sumed him by degrees. In so painful a situation, which, 
 however, did not prevent him for a considerable time from 
 rising at four o'clock in the morning, making his meditation 
 with his community, nor from presiding at the ecclesiastical 
 conferences which were held every Tuesday; nor sometimes 
 from the meetings of the ladies of his assembly, who preferred 
 to go from one end of Paris to the other, rather than be de- 
 prived of the consolation of hearing him; in this situation, I 
 say, the holy man had no need of new trials. But because 
 he was just, it was necessary for him to be filled with tribula- 
 tions. In less than four months death carried off from him four 
 persons who were the support and consolation of his old age. 
 Antoine Portail, a priest of real merit, profound humility, 
 exemplary charity, and who, united with our saint for 
 nearly fifty years, aided him on numberless occasions, was 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 243 
 
 the first of whom God required ihe sacrifice. His death was 
 followed, one month after, by that of Madame Le Gras. She 
 had always feared lest she could not be assisted by her pious 
 director in her last moments; and so it happened, for when 
 she was attacked by her last sickness, Vincent was no longer 
 able to be up. But one of the severest crosses which our 
 saint had to bear in the course of his last year, was the loss 
 of the Abbe de Tournus. This worthy nephew of Cardinal 
 de la Rochefouoault had such a tender affection for the man 
 of God, he had rendered such important services to the con- 
 gregation, that they could not refuse him a small apartment 
 in the house of St. Lazarus. He lived there with Abbe 
 de Moutier-Saint-Jean, his brother, in the practice of the most 
 austere virtue. For a long time he had conjured Vincent of 
 Paul to receive him into the number of his children ; but 
 his birth and reputation, titles which elsewhere would have 
 facilitated his object, constituted an almost invincible obstacle 
 to his desires. It was only at the last extremity that his per- 
 severance forced the barriers which virtue opposed even to 
 virtue. Having fallen sick at_ Chambery, he received the 
 habit of the congregation from a missionary who had accom- 
 panied him to Rome. This little change of condition filled. 
 him with a holy joy, and he praised God for it to his last 
 breath. • Vincent rendered^ and caused to be rendered to the 
 illustrious deceased all the duties prescribed by piety and grati- 
 tude. He recommended him to the prayers of all his houses, 
 as a benefactor and a missionary. His body was brought 
 from Savoy to the church of St. Lazarus. The example of 
 his virtues still lives, and his memory will always be in bene- 
 diction there. 
 
 So many severe, and closely succeeding blows, did not sat- 
 isfy the justice of Him whose penetrating eye discovers what 
 is weak in the most beautiful works. Our saint found him- 
 self in danger of again losing the first man of his congrega- 
 tion, Rene Almeras, son of that good old man, who, as we 
 have said, became a missionary and died a seminarist. God 
 at last restored him to his prayers ; and aftpr a long and se- 
 rious illness by which he was attacked at Richelieu, he had 
 
244 LIFE OF ST. VINCEJJT OF PAL L. 
 
 him brought to Paris in a litter. It was time for him to arrive; 
 three days afterwards Vincent died. 
 
 The state in which we left this worthy priest, before enter- 
 ing upon the recital of the crosses which he experienced in 
 his last year, showed evidently enough that the end of his 
 course was drawing near. Although on the score of his 
 mind and natural qualities, no decay nor alteration was per- 
 ceptible; although those from without and 'within found him 
 at all hours of the day with a serene countenance, with that 
 tone of voice, those manners, Teplete with mildness, which 
 evince perfect tranquillity; although by a sort of prodigy, 
 of which, taking his situation in view, there are few exam- 
 ples, he still governed from his retirement his company, that 
 of the Sisters of Charity, and a great number of communities 
 of which he was the superior, with as much presence" of mind 
 as if he had been in the days of his best health ; yet it was 
 evident that he could not last long. The information reached 
 Italy, and whilst Alexander VII, to spare a person so dear to 
 the church, dispensed him by an apostolical brief from the 
 recitation of the breviary, Cardinals Durazzo, archbishop 
 of Genoa, Ludovizio, the grand penitentiary, and Bagni, 
 formerly nuntio in France, wrote him separately to beg him 
 to moderate his labors. These letters, and the favor of the 
 pope, arrived only after his death. It was discovered by 
 chance that, for eighteen years he had prepared himself daily 
 to render his account to the Great Judge, in case he should be 
 pleased to call him. To dispose himself more immediately 
 for it in his last sickness, he recited every day after mass the 
 prayers for those in their agony, and he at length found him- 
 self on the eve of reaping the fruits of them. On the 25th 
 of September, 1660, towards midday, the drowsiness caused 
 by a want of sleep, became heavier than usual. Notwith- 
 standing thjs, he heard mass the following day, which was a 
 Sunday, and received the communion as he had done every 
 day, since he was unable to celebrate. As soon as he was 
 in his chamber, his drowsiness returned. He was awakened 
 several limes. Always like himself, the virtuous sick man 
 answered with a smiling and affable countenance. But his 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF l'AUL. 245 
 
 tongue soon refused its office to the tender emotions of his 
 heart; after a few words it was silent. At these alarming 
 prognostics, the physician recommended extreme unction. 
 
 Then it was that his children knew without any doubt, 
 that they were on the point of losing the best of fathers. 
 They hastened to profit by his last moments ; one of them 
 begged his blessing for all the rest. The holy man made an 
 effort to raise his head ; he cast upon the missionary a look 
 full of kindness and tenderness, and having commenced 
 aloud the words of benediction, finished them in a voice so 
 low as to be scarcely audible. 
 
 He passed the night in a sweet and almost continual appli- 
 cation to God. When he dozed more than they would have 
 wished, it was sufficient, to awaken Mm, to mention the name 
 of his Divine Master. He appeared to be particularly fond of 
 those words so suitable to the condition of a dying man : " In- 
 cline unto my aid, O God!" and he immediately answered by 
 those which follow : " O Lord ! make haste to help me." 
 
 About a quarter after four in the morning, an ecclesiastic 
 of the Tuesday conference, who was then making his annual 
 retreat in the house, having learned that the sight of the saint 
 was failing, entered his room and begged him to bless his bre- 
 thren for the last time, that the company might not degenerate. 
 Vincent contented himself by answering with his usual hu- 
 mility : "Qui ccepit opus bonum, ipse perficiet." Shortly af- 
 terwards, he expired like a lamp which has no more oil ; and 
 without fever, without effort, without the least conyulsion he 
 gave up to God one of the most beautiful souls that ever ex- 
 isted. It was at the hour when his spiritual children com- 
 menced their meditation ; that is to say, at the very moment 
 on which during forty years he had invoked the Holy Spirit 
 upon himself and his companions. His countenance did not 
 change, and his body remained as pliable as it had been 
 before. The surgeons who opened him, reasoned a great 
 deal upon a bone which had been formed in his spleen, and 
 which did not a little resemble an ivory counter. Many 
 persons who had studied the servant of God closely, attributed 
 this unusual production to the violence which he did himself, 
 21* 
 
246 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL,. 
 
 to combat a severe and melancholy disposition which he na- 
 turally possessed. 
 
 He remained exposed on Tuesday, the 28th of September, 
 1660, until midday. His obsequies were honored by the pre- 
 sence of the Prince of Conti, the archbishop of Cesarea, nun- 
 tio of the pope, many prelates and a great number of ecclesi- 
 astics, regulars, and seculars, of different orders. The duchess 
 of Aiguillon, who was of his assembly, was there also, and 
 with her many gentlemen and ladies of distinguished birth. 
 The people and the poor, for whom he had done so much, 
 ran thither in crowds. His heart was enclosed in a silver 
 vase, and his body was interred in the middle of the choir, 
 with this epilaph, which corresponds with the simplicity of 
 the father and the children. 
 
 Hie jacet venerabilis vir Vincentius 
 A Paulo, Presbyter, Fundator, seu Institutor, 
 Et primus Superior Generalis Congregationis 
 Missionis, necnon Puellarum Charitatis. 
 Obiit die 27 Septembris anni 1660, astatis 
 Vero suae 85. 
 
 The death of this great man afflicted the most virtuous 
 people of the whole kingdom. Never perhaps, from the 
 throne to the poorest of the nation, were the suffrages so 
 unanimous. The queen-mother exclaimed that the church 
 and the poor had met with a great loss. Mr. Picolomini, 
 nuntio in France, made use of the same expressions, and they 
 were those,which arose most naturally in the public mind. 
 The queen of Poland, the marquis of Pianeza, the illustrious 
 first president, Mr. Lamoignon, the bishops of Pamiers and 
 Aleth, and numberless others, spoke in the same manner. 
 The prince of Conti, whose judgment was very correct, pro- 
 nounced this beautiful eulogium of the deceased: "I have 
 never known a person in whom there appeared so great 
 humility, so great a detachment, such generosity of heart 
 as in Mr. Vincent. The church has lost in him a man 
 filled with every virtue, and above all, a charity -which reached 
 every where." Even those who did not like him, spoke like 
 the rest; and a writer, who, under pretext of pronouncing 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCEKT OF PAUL. 247 
 
 his eulogy, endeavors to diminish his glory, does not hesitate to 
 acknowledge that " the piety of this virtuous priest was extraor- 
 dinary ;" that " kindness, simplicity, uprightness, chanty, and 
 other virtues, are gifts which every one knows he possessed." 
 He looks upon him, and we also look upon him, as a man 
 whose public reputation is so well established, that it will be 
 sufficient, in the course of ages, " to destroy every thing 
 that envy or calumny may advance against him.'' 
 
 Although all were persuaded that this worthy priest of 
 Jesus Christ had, on leaving this world, found a place of 
 peace and refreshment, yet as the first of the apost'es teaches 
 us that even the just are saved with difficulty, the victim of pro- 
 pitiation for the sins of the world, was offered for him in every 
 direction. A multitude of priests, secular and religious, of 
 communities, even of cathedrals, paid him this duty of charity 
 and gratitude. The celebrated metropolis of Rheims, which 
 was indebted to him for the numberless benefits conferred 
 upon Champagne, was among the first to show him this 
 mark of gratitude. But the ecclesiastics of his conference 
 distinguished themselves in this point, as well as in others. 
 They performed in the church of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, 
 a solemn funeral service. Henry de Maupas du Tour, who 
 was then bishop of Puy, and afterwards of Evreux, delivered 
 the funeral oration. His auditory was composed of a great 
 number of prelates, ecclesiastics, religious, and an incredible 
 number of people. The orator, who had known the saint 
 perfectly, spoke of him with so much zeal, piety, and feeling, 
 that he edified, and was admired. His discourse lasted more 
 than two hrfurs, yet he did not finish it. Indeed he acknow- 
 ledged that the matter was so abundant, that it would have 
 been sufficient for a whole lent. This expression was strik- 
 ing; but it will appear just to those who, after having fol- 
 lowed the great actions of the holy priest, will follow us in 
 the detail of his virtues, of which we shall speak, after having 
 sketched his portrait according to custom. 
 
 Vincent of Paul was of a middling size, but well proper 
 tioned. He had a large head, somewhat bald; a broad fore- 
 head; eyes full of fire, but of a fire tempered by mildness; n 
 
248 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUI>. 
 
 grave and modest carriage ; and an air of affability for which 
 he was less indebted to nature than virtue. That simplicity 
 which announces calm and uprightness of heart, reigned in 
 his manners and countenance. He was of a bilious and san- 
 guine habit j but his constitution was strong. His sojourn 
 at Tunis had affected it, and after his return to France, he 
 was always very sensible of the changes in the air, and con- 
 sequently very subject to attacks of fever. 
 
 He possessed a comprehensive mind ; he was circumspect 
 and lit for great things, and was with difficulty taken by 
 surprise. When an affair was confided to him, he applied 
 himself seriously to it, discovered all the circumstances, pene- 
 trated all its relations, and foresaw all the inconveniences 
 and consequences of it. When he could avoid giving 
 his opinion at once, he delayed it until he could weigh the 
 reasons for and against. Before giving a final decision, he 
 consulted God in prayer, and conferred with those whose pru- 
 dence and experience enabled them to enlighten him. This 
 character, absolutely at variance with precipitation, prevented 
 his ever taking a false step, and did not hinder him from 
 doing " more good than twenty other saints have done ;" 
 these are the expressions of a very respectable person, Mile, 
 de Lamoignon. His history, in which however we have 
 suppressed so many things, is an incontestable proof of it. 
 
 If he did not hurry matters, he was not alarmed by their 
 number, nor by the difficulties he met with. He perse- 
 vered with a strength of mind superior to every obstacle. 
 He bore the burthen and delays with a tranquillity, of which 
 only great souls are capable. When in an assembly any im- 
 portant matter was treated, he listened with great attention to 
 those who spoke, without ever interrupting any person. If 
 anyone interrupted him, he stopped short; and as soon as 
 the person had ceased, he resumed the thread of his discourse 
 peaceably, and with an admirable presence of mind. His 
 reasoning was just, nervous, always very precise; he ex- 
 pressed himself in good language, and with a certain natural 
 eloquence, not only calculated to develop his thoughts, but 
 also to move, persuade, and entice, particularly when he en 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 249 
 
 dearored to incline others to virtue. When he spoke first, 
 he laid down the question in a manner so profound, and at 
 the same time with such order and clearness, that it astonished 
 the most expert. Deeply skilled in the great art of making 
 himself all to all, and accommodating himself to every mind, 
 he lisped with the child, and spoke the language of the most 
 sublime reason to the perfect. " In discussions of little im- 
 portance, the common man would think himself upon a level 
 with him ; in the management of the greatest affairs, the 
 proudest geniuses never found him below them." This is 
 the testimony of Chretien Francois de Lamoignon, presjdent 
 of the parliament of Paris, and what a testimony from a ma- 
 gistrate so capable of appreciating merit! 
 
 Vincent was an enemy to all duplicity, he spoke as he 
 thought; but in his sincerity, there never was any thing impru- 
 dent. He knew how to be silent, when silence was proper, 
 or, what was the same thing with him, when it was useless to 
 speak. Above all, he was extremely attentive that nothing 
 should escape him that savored of anger, or showed too little es- 
 teem, respect, or charity even for the vilest and most abject man. 
 
 In general his character was at variance wilh singularity. 
 One of his principles was, that when things are well, we 
 ought not to change them, under pretence of making them 
 hetter. He mistrusted every new proposition, whether in 
 speculation or practice. He said: "that the human mind 
 was quick and active ; that the most active and enlightened 
 minds are not the best, if they are not the most discreet; and 
 that we walk in security, when we do not go aside from the 
 road in which the bulk of the wise have travelled." These 
 few words are worth a book. 
 
 One of his most beautiful gifts was that of the discern- 
 ment of characters. He seized with so much penetration the 
 good and bad qualities of those of whom he was obliged to 
 render an account, that Mr. le Tellier, the chancellor of 
 France, never spoke of him but with admiration, and as the 
 best head in the council of the king. 
 
 The qualities of his mind seemed to yield to those of his 
 heart. That heart was noble knd generous, liberal, tender, 
 
250 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 compassionate, firm in sudilen events, intrepid when duty 
 was in question, always on its guard against the seductions 
 of favor, always open to the voice of indigence, which never 
 experienced from him that first coolness which disconcerts it, 
 and which, at every moment of the day, found him as acces- 
 sible, as if he had lived for it alone. 
 
 It was this kindness of heart that bound him so perfectly 
 to those who professed to love virtue. Yet he had so abso- 
 lute an empire over his inclinations, that it could scarcely be 
 perceived. Being a good father, still wise and orderly in his 
 tenderness, each of his children was satisfied with the place he 
 thought he possessed in his heart; and in his family, although 
 numerous, there was no Joseph, who furnished cause of jea- 
 lousy to his brethren. 
 
 Finally, although it cannot be said that he was without fault, 
 since, by their own acknowledgment, even the apostles were 
 not free from it, we may say that there scarcely ever were 
 seen men engaged as he was in all sorts of affairs, obliged to 
 deal with an immense number of persons of all kinds and 
 conditions, exposed iricessantly to the most dangerous occa- 
 sions of taking some false step, whose life has been not only 
 more above suspicion, but more universally esteemed. It 
 has been also remarked that the Son of God was always so 
 present to his eyes, that he submitted to him all his actions 
 and all his words. 
 
 It is true that he has been reproached with two things, one 
 that he was too slow in making up his mind in business, the 
 other that he said too much good of his neighbor, and too 
 much evil of himself. 
 
 We will acknowledge without difficulty that he was a little 
 singular in these two points, and particularly in the latter. 
 But that singularity, in which he will have very few imita- 
 tors, might give occasion to say of him, what a father of the 
 Church, St. Jerome, said of St. Paul, that his faults would 
 have been virtues in others. 
 
 As to the dilatoriness of which he was accused, it is evi- 
 dent, and I have said it already, that he was an enemy to 
 precipitation. But we must only place this to the account oi 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PADL. 251 
 
 his virtue and the abundance of his knowledge. He dis- 
 covered in affairs, and above all, in such as he had to manage, 
 many windings which escape those who wish to be short 
 with matters. Hence'he often said, that he saw nothing 
 more common than the bad success of hurried affairs. Thus 
 virtue had a great share in his slowness, or rather in the 
 maturity of his deliberations. "He dreaded," as he was 
 used to say, "to encroach upon the designs of Providence. 
 On the other hand he had such a low opinion of himself, 
 that he thought he was only calculated to hinder good, 
 or to mingle great imperfection with it, or diminish it. 
 However, God has fully justified the conduct of his saint; 
 and the true children of wisdom have made an apology for 
 theirs, by agreeing that he commenced and finished in less than 
 forty years, what a great number of others would not have 
 completed, nor perhaps even attempted in whole centuries. 
 With regard to the manner in which he spoke of himself 
 on every occasion, it is very certain that it is contrary to com- 
 mon custom. True humility is very rare, and religion has 
 scarcely an exercise which costs nature more. Vincent 
 possessed it in so eminent a degree, that Cardinal de la 
 tiochefoucault has often been heard to say, that if true humi- 
 lity was to be sought upon earth, it must be found in that 
 holy priest. In fact, although it is saying a great deal, we 
 can assert that this faithful imitator of our humble God, never 
 suffered an occasion of humiliation to escape him. He was 
 so full of the idea of his wretchedness, that he saw in himself 
 nothing but the impression of vice and corruption. This was 
 his whole excess; for he was not one of those morose devo- 
 tees, who are almost as much dissatisfied with others, as they 
 are with themselves. He shut his eyes to the faults of his 
 neighbor, particularly when he was not charged with his 
 direction. He esteemed greatly the character of those good 
 souls, who in the order of charity and prudence, think always 
 advantageously of their brethren, and who cannot see virtue 
 without loving those who profess it. This was his practice; 
 but wisdom and discretion always ruled him. If he willingly 
 rejoiced with others for the graces which God had bestowed 
 
252 LIFE OF ST. VIKCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 on them, he was more reserved with regard to his own chil- 
 dren. He loved them tenderly; but he rarely praised them in 
 their presence, unless the glory of God and their own good 
 obliged him to act otherwise. We rerjfeat it then confidently : 
 those to whom conduct so holy seems a kind of fault, must de- 
 sire that these pretended faults may be multiplied, and honestly 
 agree that they very much resemble the most sublime virtues. 
 
 To finish his portrait, it will be sufficient to add that Jesus 
 Christ was his only model. He had him so deeply imprinted 
 Upon his heart, that he showed it in his thoughts, in his con- 
 versations, in all his actions. It was in him that he sought 
 his morality and all his policy. He had contracted a pleasing 
 habit of honoring him in all men, and all men in him. He 
 considered him as head of the Church in the successors of 
 St. Peter, as prince of pastors in the bishops, as the only 
 teacher in the doctors, as judge of the judges of the earth in 
 magistrates, as the son of a mechanic in those who live by 
 their labor, as infirm in the sick, as agonising in the dying. 
 In fine he was so filled with him, that those who have 
 studied him most, have considered those beautiful words 
 which escaped him once in a transport of love as his device : 
 "Nothing pleases me but in Jesus Christ." 
 
 But in him love was not confined to affection and feelings : 
 he wished it to be effective, active, always ready to declare 
 itself by works. He loved much, and he often repeated those 
 words of a great servant of God : " Totum opus nostrum in 
 operatione eonsistil." He considered as nothing, or as trifling 
 what is called ravishments and extacies when they are 
 separated from works. With such principles, the office of 
 Martha is united to that of Mary ; and it was this that our 
 holy priest did with an activity which neither the greatest 
 persecution, nor the frost of age could ever suspend. The 
 history of his virtues upon which we are about to enter, will 
 prove more and more that he did it with a degree of perfec- 
 tion, which must place him upon -a level with the greatest 
 saints; and that it was not without reason that a wit of the 
 age said, "that we have only to read his life to be convinced 
 that he was not too easily canonised." 
 
33ook J'tftl). 
 
 01" THE VIRTUES, THE MISSIONS, AND THE VENERATION 07 
 ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 It has been remarked at all times, that the saint whose his- 
 tory I continue, gave himself up most willingly to the practice 
 of those virtues which, like humility, patience, and the support 
 of the neighbor, recur every day. But it has also been remarked 
 that he practised them in a manner far superior to the gene- 
 rality of the just, and that he possessed in an eminent degree 
 those of which the exercise is most rare and most difficult. 
 The details upon which we are about to enter, will oblige 
 even his enemies to admit the justice of these two observa- 
 tions, if they can resolve to follow us without passion and 
 prejudice. 
 
 As faith is the foundation of Christian virtue, Vincent, like 
 a wise architect, looked up to it as the stone upon which he 
 was to erect the edifice of his salvation ; and it was for that 
 reason, that he always guarded it with the greatest care. He 
 kept it at Tunis against the most flattering promises of a 
 master who had almost absolute power over him. He pre- 
 served it without diminution, whilst a chaplain to Margaret, 
 in spite of the terrible temptation to which he was exposed. 
 He preserved it amidst the troubles caused him by a rising 
 heresy, by which efforts were made more than once to seduce 
 him, and which would have been more prodigal of its eulo- 
 gies than it had been of its outrages against him, could it have 
 succeeded in gaining- him, or making him hesitate. In fine, 
 22 
 
254 . OFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 he removed from his company and from those who depended 
 on him, that spirit of curiosity which agrees so ill with pro- 
 per submission ; and he preferred to see his cherished daugh- 
 ters of the Visitation, remain poor than to be enriched by a 
 boarder who, in bestowing property upon them, might have 
 deprived them of the treasure of faith. 
 
 The exalted idea which he had of that important virtue, in- 
 duced him to spread it as much as was in his power. Hence 
 the catechisms and instructions which he gave, even in travel- 
 ling, to the children and to the poor, who are commonly most 
 neglected. Hence the establishment of his congregation, that 
 is to say, of a body of evangelical laborers destined to sow 
 and cultivate faith in the most sterile lands. Hence the holy 
 pleasure with which he published the good performed by 
 companies, which a jealous eye would have considered as 
 rivals, but which his faith looked upon as models. 
 
 If he possessed the firmness and purity of faith, he had 
 also its plenitude. It animated his actions, his words, his 
 thoughts : it was with the level of faith that he regulated his 
 judgments, formed and executed his most laudable projects. 
 A design supported by reasons of wise policy, was only pleas- 
 ing to him, when it was conformable to the maxims of the 
 gospel. He was persuaded, and he often repeated that the 
 affairs of God succeeded so badly, only because those who 
 urged their execution, were guided too much by natural mo- 
 tives. It was for this reason that he incessantly recalled him- 
 self and his children to the light of faith. By the aid of that 
 light which pierces the most obscure places, he saw in a sim- 
 ple countryman the image of a God who became poor, and 
 who seems only to have come upon earth to be the evan 
 gelist of the poor. "O God!" cried he on this occasion, 
 "how worthy of contempt do the poor appear when they are 
 only considered with the eyes of the flesh and of the world ! 
 But how beautiful are tney when considered in God, and 
 according to the esteem which Jesus Christ had for them!" 
 
 Such was the faith of the holy priest. To be well ac- 
 quainted with the nature of it, we have only to cast our eyes 
 upon his other virtues. By the excellence and multitude of 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 255 
 
 the fruits, we can know the strength of the root to which they 
 owe their origin. 
 
 Confidence in God was so eminently the virtue of«St. Vin- 
 cent of Paul, that we may say that, after the example of the 
 father of believers, he often hoped against hope itself. A "poor, 
 simple individual as he was, he executed innumerable pro 
 jects which even princes would not have dared to imagine. 
 He supported establishments which appeared desperate. He 
 calmed disquietness which appeared unappeasable. But in 
 all this he did not rely uport himself, nor upon an arm of 
 flesh, whatever it might be. God alone was his resource; 
 and that God, always attentive to the cry of those 1 who hope 
 in him, did not fail him. Twenty times did they represent to 
 him, that the expense to be incurred for the nourishment of 
 the candidates for orders, and for the great number of persons 
 who, every week, made a retreat in his house, exposed him 
 to ruin ; twenty times did he answer that the treasures of 
 Providence are inexhaustible, that want of confidence dis- 
 honors God, and that riches were more to be feared for his 
 congregation than poverty. One day, the eve of an ordina- 
 tion, the procurator came eagerly to tell him. that he had not 
 a cent to defray the expense: "Oh! what good news!" cried 
 the holy priest: "now we shall see whether we have confi- 
 dence in God." 
 
 It was not that heaven ever performed miracles in his favor, 
 and that it came at a fixed moment to the aid of his indigence, 
 for we have seen him and his company reduced to the neces- 
 sity of eating oat and barley bread. But he looked upon these 
 passing accidents, as trials without which we cannot know 
 whether we have true and entire confidence in God. Thus 
 he was always the same in these occasions doubly painful 
 for a man who is at the head of a numerous community. 
 It has been constantly remarked that the serenity of his 
 countenance increased in proportion to the afflictions which 
 befel him personally, or his children. To the innumerable 
 objections with which human prudence assailed him, he 
 made no other reply than that of the royal prophet : Qui 
 
256 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 timent Dominum sperent in eo ; adjvlor eorum et protector 
 eorum est. 
 
 I do not know whether the saint, who was called to 
 many houses, had perceived that perfect confidence is not 
 always the most perfect virtue of communities. It is however 
 incontestable, that he recommended it on a multitude of occa- 
 sions, both to his missionaries and to the Sisters of Charity, 
 who, on account of the dangers of every kind to which they 
 are often exposed, have more need of diffidence in themselves 
 and dependence upon God alone. He often announced to 
 them the protection of heaven in a tone so decisive, that one 
 would have thought he had secret reasons for calculating 
 upon it; and his predictions werffmore than once justified by 
 the event. We have said elsewhere, that one of those virtuous 
 young ladies came forth safe and sound from amidst the ruins 
 of a building which fell in entirely ; we will here add that a 
 joist of their principal house having broken and drawn the 
 floor with it, Providence permitted that there should not be a 
 single person there, although a moment before there were 
 several, and the foundress had but just gone out. "O my 
 daughters!" said the holy priest at the time, "be assured that, 
 provided you keep a holy confidence in your hearts, God will 
 preserve you in whatever place or danger you may be." 
 
 This treasure of hope, with which the Lord had enriched 
 Vincent of Paul, served him at one time to sustain Ma- 
 dame le Gras against the dread which she had of losing him; 
 at another, to pacify those who were tempted to despair, 
 from an idea more or less confused of reprobation; Some- 
 times also to interdict a too continual view of death to those 
 in whom it might weaken confidence. For, although the 
 thought of the last day was one of the practices which he 
 recommended to ward off the darts of the enemy, he was un- 
 willing for any one to occupy himself with it, to the prejudice 
 of a holy and well founded hope; because without a firm hope 
 there can be no true love, and love is the fulfilling of the law. 
 
 Our saint was so inundated with it, that it could be seen 
 at the first glance, that he was entirely under the empire of 
 holy charity. Hence, those vivid and tender aspirations 
 
LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 257 
 
 which, like a fire too much confined in the bosom of the 
 earth, escaped him at frequent intervals: "O my Savicur! 
 O my God! when will you grant me the grace to be entirely 
 yours, and to love you alone?" Hence, that ardent desire 
 which he always had, that God should be more and more 
 loved, blessed, and glorified at all times and in all places. 
 Hence, in fine, that capital maxim, which was always his, 
 that, to please God in great things, we must form the habit 
 of pleasing him generously in the most trifling ones; that the 
 latter commonly are more surely done for his glory ; the 
 former, on the contrary, often vanish in smoke, because self- 
 love and reference to ourselves corrupt or weaken them. 
 
 As real purity of intention which seeks God alone is im- 
 compatible with human respect, the holy priest could not 
 bear that his children should act with the view of pleasing 
 men. The aversion he had for mere human motives dis- 
 played itself one day in one of those sudden emotions, which 
 evince the habitual dispositions of the heart. One of his 
 company having humbled himself before the others for having 
 acted through human considerations, Vincent, in affliction, 
 exclaimed, "that it was better to be cast, bound hand and 
 foot, upon burning coals, than to perform an action to please 
 men." 
 
 His conversation was simple, but the love with which he 
 was inflamed, gave it a warmth of which those who listened 
 to him, did not fail to feel the impression. Hence, of so great 
 a number of bishops who attended his conferences, there 
 was none, who did not feel confused, when asked to con- 
 clude ; and one of them told him one day publicly, that one 
 word from his mouth had a greater effect than all they could 
 say. There was but one opinion about it throughout the 
 whole kingdom. Armand de Montmorin, Archbishop of 
 Vienna, says in his letter to Clement XI, that there was no 
 sermon, nor pious reading, that made so lively an impres- 
 sion as the discourses of the servant of God. The great Bos- 
 suet, in the letter which he wrote to the same pontiff, takes 
 Jesus Christ to witness that in hearing this holy priest, one 
 was reminded of the words of the prince of the apostles : 
 22» 
 
258 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Si quis loquitvr, quasi sermones. Dei. Francis de Lomenie 
 de Brienne, bishop of Coutances, remembered more than 
 forty-five years after the death of Vincent, the pleasure he 
 had experienced, on hearing him in his family with which 
 he had been very intimate. Victor de Melian, who was 
 afterwards bishop of Aleth, gives the same testimony of him ; 
 and we can confirm it by that of the most illustrious ladies of 
 his time, although in matter of style and conversation, they 
 may not always be the most indulgent. The wife of Presi- 
 dent de Lamoignon was so penetrated by an exhortation 
 which he made to the ladies of his assembly, that turning 
 towards the duchess of Mantua, who was afterwards queen 
 of Poland, she said: "Well! Madam, may w« not say, like 
 the disciples of Emmaus, that our hearts were burning with . 
 the love of God, whilst he spoke to us? For my part," 
 added she with her accustomed humility, "although I am 
 very little sensible to the things which relate to God, I 
 acknowledge to you, that my heart is completely penetrated 
 with what that holy man has jqst said to us." "You must 
 not be astonished," replied the princess, "Mr. Vincent is like 
 an angel of the Lord, who carries upon his lips the burning 
 coals of the divine love which inflames his heart." 
 
 But it was not only to such cultivated souls, it was to hearts 
 more than insensible, that our saint communicated a por 
 tion of the sacred fire which uninterruptedly consumed him. 
 One of his priests having presented to him a hardened sinner 
 with whom he could do nothing, Vincent spoke to him, effec- 
 tually moved him, and filled him with holy confusion. At 
 this very moment, the first fruits of the new man began to be 
 perceived. The child of iniquity groaned at his chains. He 
 begged the favor of a spiritual retreat, to free himself from 
 his sins: he performed it with fervor, and adhered firmly to 
 his first engagements. He published every where, that the 
 mildness and charity of the saint had gained his heart, and 
 that he had never heard any one before speak like him. 
 
 But the love of Vincent was not confined to 'Words, it ex- 
 pressed itself in actions. He wished, according to his own 
 saying, that God should be loved by the sweat of the brow. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 259 
 
 His whole life is a proof of it, and the rest of his virtues 
 will confirm it. 
 
 One of the most important, and at the same time one of the 
 most painful to nature, was his great and perfect submission 
 lo the whole will of God. He undertook nothing, he gave no 
 tounsel, without having previously consulted Him, to learn 
 what he required of him. Liberty and slavery, sickness and 
 nealth, life and death, were all alike to him, provided God 
 was pleased. He saw himself, and more than once he saw 
 his dear children, like the just of whom St. Paul speaks, 
 under oppression, in misery, in chains. Yet his tranquillity 
 was always unalterable. This word alone, God wills it, 
 calmed his mind, and cut short useless reflections. 
 
 Some time after the pestilence had taken away from him 
 six or seven of his companions who labored at Genoa, that 
 house, where tears were still flowing, lost a very important 
 suit. The new superior wrote about it to Vincent of Paul. 
 Here is the answer of that incomparable man ; I know not 
 if the life of the greatest saints would furnish any thing more 
 beautiful : "Long live justice; you must believe, sir, that it is 
 found in the loss of your suit. The same God who gave 
 you property, has taken it away from you ; blessed be his 
 holy name. Property is an evil, when it is where God does 
 not wish it to be. The greater our resemblance to our Lord 
 stripped of every thing, the greater alsowill be our share in 
 his spirit. Let us then be led by our Father who is in hea- 
 ven, and let us try upon earth, only to will and not will 
 with him." This last expression was very familiar to the 
 man of God. It was because he was persuaded, and he said 
 so one day from the abundance of his heart, "that to conform 
 in all things to the will of the Lord, is to live upon earth the 
 very life of Jesus Christ." 
 
 From this perfect submission arose in him that spirit of 
 indifference, which, by a tie which grace alone can ex- 
 plain, is closely united to tenderness, and servos to rectify it. 
 He loved his congregation, and he had just reason to love it. 
 Yet he never took one step to increase or enrich- it. He 
 loved all his children like a true father : but as he loved them 
 
260 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 as an eminently Christian man, he only prayed for their health 
 or life under the good pleasure of God and for his greater 
 glory. We have seen how much he was affected by th? 
 death of the Abbe de Tournus, and by that of Messrs. Lam- 
 bert and Porlail. He supposed with reason, that all thoss 
 of his company would be also very sensible of such losses 
 " Yet," says he, in his circular letters to them, " I do not 
 doubt that you have praised God for this privation, and that you 
 have said to him, that you would not wish him to have done 
 otherwise, since such was his good pleasure." How much 
 murmuring would be banished, how much thanksgiving would 
 be substituted to useless complaints, if the sentiments of the 
 servant of God were those of the generality of the faithful. " 
 
 To be so constantly submissive to the whole will of God, 
 it is necessary to have him incessantly before our eyes. The 
 holy love with which Vincent was penetrated, taught him 
 early such a fruitful maxim; and he practised it to the end. 
 A virtuous priest, who observed him for several years, found 
 him always like Abraham, in the presence of his Master. 
 He saw nothing but him ; the multitude of affairs, unforeseen 
 reverses, afflicting news, all this only served to remind him 
 of that Supreme Being, who rules at will the universe and all 
 events. When he was consulted, and it was often the case, 
 on affairs of every description, he scarcely ever answered, 
 until he had himself consulted God; and it was for this reason 
 that between the question and the answer, he commonly 
 made a little pause ; and he also began generally by these 
 words: In nomine Domini. 
 
 For fear that his imagination might withdraw him from 
 the presence of God, he recalled himself to it at least four 
 times in an hour, that is, whenever the clock struck; and 
 then, whether alone or in company, he uncovered himself, 
 made the sign of the cross, and raised his mind to God. 
 When he entered his room, or that of one making a spiritual 
 retreat, he went on his knees to invoke the Holy Ghost; 
 and he did the same, on going out, to return thanks for his fa- 
 vors. He has bequeathed these practices to his congregation 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 261 
 
 and they are certainly neither the most distinguished for tal- 
 ents or virtue, who neglect them as trifles. 
 
 The beauty of the country, the brilliancy of the flowers and 
 the various fruits, enabled him to ascend without effort to their 
 first principle. When he found himself at the court, in those 
 superb apartments where crystal and glass multiply an object 
 a thousand times, he said : " O Lord ! if men have skill" to 
 prevent the slighest motion from escaping their sight, how 
 can I withdraw myself from yours? " 
 
 It was only because it is scarcely possible to have the eyes 
 always cast down, that Vincent perceived in travelling the 
 verdure of the country, and the enamel of the fields. We 
 shall find hereafter that he carried his mortification so far as 
 to refuse himself the innocent pleasure presented by the riches 
 of nature. Whilst walking in Paris, he occupied himself with 
 God, almost as if he had been alone in that city, where the 
 tumult and noise may excuse distractions. When he was 
 obliged to make use of a carriage, his eyes were generally 
 closed ; and most frequently, to be less distracted, he drew the 
 curtains, so that he could neither see nor be seen. Perhaps, 
 also, humility had a share in this; for I know from the Rev. 
 Father Fleuriau, who was a witness of it, that the scholars 
 pointed out the servant of God, and said one to another: 
 "There is the saint going by." 
 
 A man so constantly united to God could not fail to be a 
 man of prayer. Hence, whatever he had to do, or wherever 
 he was, an hour of meditation was always with him the 
 morning oblation ; and that oblation he made with such lively 
 emotion, that, unable to support its ardor, he often broke out 
 in sighs which were perceptible to every one except himseif. 
 Although he spoke well concerning God at all times, some- 
 thing more was perceived in him, when he spoke immediately 
 after prayer. Independently of words, it was only necessary 
 to take a glance at the whole of his conduct, to be convinced 
 that prayer was his support and nourishment. 
 
 As he knew by experience the great fruits produced by 
 that exercise, he made it'an inviolable law with his chil- 
 dren, being well- persuaded that his congregation would 
 
262 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 subsist before God, in proportion to its fidelity in this respect. 
 He would not even have the sick dispensed from it. But the 
 method he proposed to them, was so well suited to their con- 
 dition, that it could not fatigue them. To unite themselves 
 to God by tender affections, to form acts of confidence in him, 
 of resignation to his will, of repentance for faults committed 
 against his law, was all he required of them, and this did 
 not exceed their strength.. 
 
 It was not only his own companions, that Vincent in- 
 spired with the spirit of prayer, he endeavored to communi- 
 cate it to strangers, both ecclesiastics, who without it are no- 
 thing but salt without savor, and seculars, because he had no 
 doubt that if they would contract the habit of it, they would 
 execute the good resolutions taken during their retreat. 
 
 He went still farther; for he not only made the ladies of his 
 assembly so many women of prayer, but he induced many 
 to 'establish in their families those kinds ef repetition, which 
 are only in use in the most holy communities. It was on 
 such an occasion that a servant, giving an account of his 
 meditation, said in substance that he was occupied in it with 
 the duties which the Son of God prescribes to -us with 
 regard to the poor; that in consequence he thought him- 
 self obliged to do something for them ; but having nothing to 
 give them, because he was poor himself, he had taken the 
 resolution to uncover his head in passing by them, and to 
 speak with kindness to those who should address him. How 
 many young ecclesiastics have never made so good a medi- 
 tation. Ideo ipsi judices vestri erunt (Matt, xii, 17). 
 
 After the example of the Saviour, who, from time to time 
 retired apart to pray, Vincent, notwithsthanding his important 
 duties, did not fail every year to give at least eight days to a 
 spiritual Tetreat, an exercise of which prayer and similar 
 acts constitute the principal part. It was there that sepa- 
 rated from the world, and alone with God, he called himself 
 to an account for the past, lamented the present, and took 
 new resolutions for the future. On this subject I will add 
 that the saint wished, that, however unfaithful a person may 
 have been to his resolutions, he should always continue to 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 263 
 
 take them. " But," said he, " in order not to take them in 
 vain, we must mistrust our own strength, pray a great deal, 
 ask of God the grace to know and overcome the obstacles 
 which have been fatal to us ;" not to be discouraged either at 
 the faults which human weakness makes us commit, or at 
 the dryness and disgust which we sometimes experience in 
 meditation. " It is," said he again, " an exercise which God 
 sends us to try us, and I know virtuous persons who, by the 
 good use which they make of it, have advanced a great deal 
 in virtue." 
 
 To give some idea of the devotion of St. Vincent, and of 
 his piety towards God, it will be sufficient to follow him in 
 the practice of the duties which are the object of that import- 
 ant virtue. 
 
 Although he always went to bed late, and often could not 
 sleep more than two hours, he rose regularly at four, and 
 with so much fervor, that the second stroke of the bell, never 
 found him in the position in which he was at the first. He 
 made an offering of himself and all his actions to God ; and after 
 having tenderly besought him through Jesus Christ, not to 
 permit him to have the misfortune to offend him, he repaired 
 to the church to make his meditation with the community 
 This pious exercise was followed either by confession, for he 
 could not bear the appearance of sin, or by a nevv preparation 
 for the tremendous sacrifice which he was going to offer. It 
 may be said that in this great action he was a model for the 
 most accomplished priests. In his manner of pronouncing, 
 performing the ceremonies, turning towards the people to 
 announce the peace and benediction of God, there was 
 discovered something so holy, so majestic, that persons who 
 did not know him, have been heard several times to say to 
 one another : " How well that priest says mass ! He must 
 be either a saint or an angel." 
 
 With the exception of the three first days of his annual re- 
 treat, he celebrated mass every day without ever failing. Some- 
 times, and it has been seen when he was more than seventy- 
 five years of age, he served a second mass after his own. After 
 the example of the zealous Mr. Bourdoise, he could not see, 
 
264 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 without real pain, a clergyman yield to seculars the right 
 which he has to serve the priest in this function, which an 
 gels would glory in taking upon them, if they could do so. 
 
 He performed the public offices in a most moving and af- 
 fecting manner; but he did not acquit himself of them in a 
 less becoming manner in private. He always recited his bre- 
 viary on his knees and with his head bare. He never gave 
 up that attitude of respect, until within the two or three last 
 years of his life, because he could not do otherwise. 
 
 He had so marked a veneration for the mysteries of the 
 Holy Trinity and Incarnation, that he begged of the sovereign 
 pontiff to make it a strict obligation for all the members of 
 his congregation to honor them with a particular respect. 
 But to give a proper idea of his piety towards the sacrament 
 of the love of Jesus Christ, it would be necessary to feel a 
 portion of it. When his employments afforded him a little 
 respite, he profited by it to go and throw himself at the feet 
 of his Saviour. He there forgot himself sometimes, and re- 
 mained for hours. He read there, and always on his knees, 
 the letters which he judged to be important; and he never 
 read them until he had offered to the God-Man their good 
 and evil results. He avoided speaking there, and if any one, 
 were it a prince, wished to say a word to him, he endeavored 
 to lead hitn out; but he did it with so much grace, that no 
 one could be offended at it. 
 
 In his travels, he had the troublesome, but holy custom of 
 dismounting, when he passed a village, the church of which 
 was open, and he entered it to pay his respects to the hidden 
 God who honors it by dwelling in it. If it was closed, he 
 did it interiorly ; but open or shut, he always approached to 
 the door, when he was to dine or pass the night in the place. 
 The saints resemble one another, and I have remarked with 
 great pleasure, that the celebrated archdeacon of Evreux 
 Henri Marie Boudon, had exactly the same practice. 
 
 When his infirmities became such, that he could no longer 
 celebrate, he received the communion every day ; but he did 
 it with so much fervor, that, in coming from the holy table, he 
 might have been taken for a man transported out of himself. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PADL. 265 
 
 It was in consequence of the great effects which the bread of life 
 produced in him, that he urged his children and strangers to 
 keep themselves in a condition to receive it frequently. He 
 grieved to see so solid a devotion growing cool amongst Chris- 
 tians. He attributed it partly to natural indolence, for which the 
 watchfulness necessary for frequent communion is a burthen 
 from which it willingly discharges itself; and partly to the false 
 zeal of innovators, who, in this point as well as many others, 
 have carried every thing to excess, and who, as he proved one 
 day by the example of a respectable lady, instead of establishing 
 piety by that species of voluntary excommunication, have 
 only introduced the spirit of pride, contempt for others, and 
 revolt against lawful authority. 
 
 It is easily imagined, that a man so full of love and respect 
 for the sacrament of our altars, was extremely sensible to the 
 outrages committed against it in his time by heresy and the 
 licentiousness of arms. Penances, sighs, considerable pre- 
 sents of chalices, ciboriums and vestments, pilgrimages, fer- 
 vent communions upon the spots, missions dictated by zeal 
 and sustained by good example, all was put in practice to 
 repair as much as possible these sacrilegious insults, and 
 restore to Jesus Christ a portion of the honor of which he had 
 been robbed. The name alone of that God Saviour made an 
 impression upon him, which is only known to those who 
 love truly and perfectly. Indeed he copied him so perfectly 
 in all his conduct, that "the imitation of the Word incar- 
 nate" was looked upon as his distinctive virtue. It was 
 the book he opened to the learned as well as to the ignorant ; 
 to kings and subjects; to those whom God nourished with 
 delicious milk and those whose portion was gall. Louis 
 XIII asked him in his last sickness, which was the best 
 manner to prepare for death. "Sire," replied Vincent, "it 
 is to imitate the preparation of Jesus Christ: non mea voluntas, 
 sed tuafiat." Marie de Meaupeou Foucquet, so well known 
 for her piety and her love for the poor, suffered dreadful un- 
 easiness about the salvation of her son ; and she communi- 
 cated it to the holy priest. " Give," said he, " the child and 
 the mother to our Lord, and he will render you a good ac- 
 23 
 
266 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAJJL. 
 
 count of both. Study that great model, and conform your- 
 self to his will." She did so, and was relieved. The whole 
 world has been acquainted with the disgrace of the superinten- 
 dant of the finances, and the resources which he found in the 
 zeal of the celebrated Pelisson ; but, few persons know as I do, 
 and by as sure ways, that in his prison he became a model 
 of mildness, patience, and above all, of humility. 
 
 To piety towards Jesus Christ, Vincent of Paul always 
 united a tender devotion to his most holy mother. To cele- 
 brate her feasts worthily, he fasted on the eve, together with 
 all his house. The day of the solemnity he celebrated with 
 every possible devotion. He proposed to his brethren the ex- 
 amples of virtue presented by the mystery which the church 
 honored. Wherever he heard the Angelus ring, if he were even 
 with a prince, he knelt down to recite it. He visited often, 
 and always through devotion, the temples erected in honor 
 of that august Virgin. The moving title of Comforter of the 
 Afflicted, which experience and the piety of the faithful have 
 given her, was for him a motive to have recourse to her, 
 amidst the sufferings and storms by which his life was so 
 often beset. It was by the aid of that protection, that, in a frail 
 vessel, he went from Tunis to Europe with a renegade, whom 
 he had converted, and that, during the troubles of the Fronde, 
 he escaped the dangers which the demon of discord raised 
 up in his path. In a word, if followed from his infancy to * 
 his death, it will be found that he was one of the most de- 
 voted and faithful servants that the mother of God had in 
 latter times. 
 
 To her he united by a necessary consequence, St. Joseph, 
 her worthy spouse, whom he gave as a patron to his young 
 seminarists ; St. Peter, the liveliness of whose faith and love 
 placed him at the head of the flock; St. Paul, whose in- 
 defatigable labors he admired; St. Vincent, martyr, under 
 whose protection he had been placed at his baptism. Nor 
 did he forget the apostle of the Indies, whom he always pro- 
 posed as a model to those whom he sent into infidel or hereti- 
 cal countries ; nor St. Francis of Sales, who had loved him 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 267 
 
 so tenderly, nor in fine, Mr. Olier, whose last breath he had 
 received, and whom he invoked as a saint. 
 
 To increase the number of those who triumph in glory, he 
 endeavored to break by his prayers the bonds of fire, which 
 keep the souls in purgatory. He placed the benefactors 
 of his congregation at the head. Three times every day, 
 his children still say that psalm which the church has judged 
 most fit to obtain for them a place of peace and refresh- 
 ment. 
 
 Such Christian sentiments arose in Vincent of Paul from 
 the zeal, which he always had for the glory of God : this zeal, 
 which knew no bounds, was the principle of that with which 
 he labored both for his own salvation and that of others. Let 
 the reader recall to his memory what we have said of him in 
 the body of his history, and he will see, that during his long 
 career upon earth, he had no other end, than to form a perfect 
 people for the Lord. Nor will it be less evident, that the zeal 
 with which he labored for that end, had all the conditions 
 which it should have, that is to say, it was prudent, enlight- 
 ened, invincible, and disengaged from every interested motive. 
 His zeal was prudent, never impetuous, never precipitate. 
 The traits of father and friend always predominated in the re- 
 primands which he was obliged to address to others. In his 
 •missions he thundered against sin; but after having terrified 
 the guilty, he inspired them with confidence and gained them 
 by tenderness. When speaking to the great of the world, he 
 never altered the truth ; but that truth, so often odious, was 
 well received on account of the respect, and still more of the 
 high idea they entertained of his uprightness and probity. 
 In the seminaries he wished the young students to be formed 
 with patience ; that they should first be made good Chris- 
 tians, and afterwards good ecclesiastics ; above all, that they 
 should not be overwhelmed with advice, which is always of- 
 fensive when caustic, always useless when too much multi- 
 plied. 
 
 His zeal was enlightened. The light of the gospel, the de- 
 cisions of the church, the authority of the most celebrated 
 doctors were its rules. In his doubts he had recourse to 
 
208 LITE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Messrs. Ysambert and Duval, the first of whom was his peni- 
 tent, and the second his director after Mr. de Berulle. Great 
 sense and good studies, in a word, nature and grace guided 
 him by the sure road, which is properly distant from all ex- 
 tremes. He was very far from Jansenistical novelties ; he 
 was very far from the relaxation of the bad Casuists; and 
 when their infamous apology had received at Rome the con- 
 demnation which it deserved, he informed his priests of it, as 
 he had before informed them of the censure of the book of 
 Jansenius. With regard to penances, he would adhere to the 
 maxims of the holy council of Trent; that is to say, that al- 
 though by apparent rigor a pretence is given to some persons 
 to keep at a distance from the sacraments, the penance should 
 be proportioned to the grievousness of the sin. "It is," said 
 he, " because the holy severity, so much recommended by the 
 canons of the church, and renewed by St. Charles, produces 
 incomparably more fruit than too great indulgence." 
 
 His zeal was inviolable. Nothing was difficult to him, 
 when the glory of God and the salvation of souls were in 
 question. What must not have been the courage of a man, 
 who succored vast provinces, the wants of which were 
 always reviving, during a long course of years ! A man, 
 who to procure for the indigent the hospitals of Bicetre and 
 Salpetriere had obstacles of every kind to surmount! A man, 
 who in the council of the king, dared to speak before a for- 
 midable minister, as if he had spoken at the judgment of God! 
 One would say, that in the expedition to Madagascar, he was 
 like Jacob, strong with God. Heaven and earth, men and 
 the elements appeared to be in arms against him. Of his 
 children, some were buried in the deep, others fell into the 
 hands of the enemy; some died on arriving in port, others on 
 the point of reaping an abundant harvest. These painful 
 accidents did not move him, as they have not moved his 
 successors ; and Madagascar would still have its missiona- 
 ries, had they not been forced to leave it, when Louis XIV 
 gave it up. 
 
 Finally, the zeal of Vincent of Paul was pure and free from 
 all views of interest. Far from traversing the s^as, over- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 1269 
 
 running countries to reap the temporal goods of the people, 
 he never rendered them any service, but at his own expense. 
 If in the missions a rich curate offered his table, it was forbid- 
 den to accept it. It was not even permitted to receive the 
 honorary of masses said for the faithful. The saint had it 
 taken to the sick by the very persons who presented it. 
 
 To this first degree of disinterestedness, of which I shall be 
 obliged to speak elsewhere, Vincent added another more 
 difficult and much less common. Free from that spirit of 
 jealousy against which those who pursue the same career 
 are not always enough on their guard, he beheld the success 
 of others with the holy joy of the children of God. He pub- 
 lished it at home and abroad, and he has more than once 
 rendered them services which most of them never knew. 
 He did still more ; for to exalt the labors of others, he went so 
 far as to depreciate his own and those of his missionaries, in 
 whom he saw only a small number of persons of little skill, 
 whose weak labors could not find favor with God, but when 
 coupled with the great harvest of others. Such was his zeal ; 
 and let us say at the same time, such was his humility. For 
 a great deal of it was required to lose sight of the uniform testi- 
 mony given to the merit and virtue of his priests by the most 
 illustrious pastors of the first and second order, the most vir- 
 tuous magistrates, often even by crowned heads. 
 
 His charity towards his neighbor, was as extensive as his 
 zeal. Obliged to compress a matter which his piety ren- 
 dered so vast, I will not here relate what he suffered for the 
 interests of the king during the troubles of the Fronde, nor the 
 danger to which he exposed his life to save that of the chan- 
 cellor of France, nor the justice done him more than once by 
 Ann of Austria in speaking of him as the most faithful servant 
 of his prince. Nor will I speak of the tender respect which 
 he always had for the apostolical See, a respect so profound, 
 that neither Paulinus, nor Meletius, nor the whole universe 
 could ever have detached him from the chair of Saint Peter. 
 I will not even speak of his devotedness to the episcopal 
 order, a devotedness which induced him on every occasion 
 to support at the court and in parliament the just undertak- 
 23* 
 
270 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 ings of the bishops ; to receive them as angels of the living 
 God, to honor as his masters prelates who honored him 
 as their father, and who, in the troublesome care of their 
 diqcess, had no surer resource than that of his credit and 
 light. It seems as if the charity of the saints, where it takes 
 a less lofty flight, has in it something more touching and 
 admirable. 
 
 To commence by the inferior clprgy, whoever bore its 
 mark, was always sure to find with him consolation in their 
 troubles, and a hand ever ready to wipe away their tears. 
 A strange priest who was sick, asked aid of him ; Vincent re- 
 ceived him with kindness, lodged him, fed him, caused him 
 to be taken care of, and kept him until he had recovered his 
 strength. .Another, who was making his retreat at Saint- 
 Lazarus, fell sick there; the saint caused every imaginable 
 attention to be paid to him. When this poor man recovered, 
 Vincent gave him a cassock, a breviary, several little things, 
 and ten crowns. A third, to whom he had given hospitality, 
 carried-away a cassock and a long- cloak. They wanted to 
 go after him : " Well," said Vincent, " provided it be to take 
 to him what he is in want of, and not to demand what he has 
 taken : he must be in great want, to have resorted to such 
 conduct. " 
 
 I suppress here a hundred other similar traits, and in say- 
 ing a hundred, I reduce things to nothing. The simple 
 detail of the aid, which he distributed or procured for the 
 ecclesiastics of Ireland, persecuted by Cromwell, would be 
 enough to exhaust the patience of the reader. It was so well 
 known throughout the kingdom and in the neighboring states, 
 that Vincent was the asylum of ecclesiastics who were in 
 want, that although in consequence of the evil times, a pro- 
 digious multitude flocked to Paris, almost all came straight to 
 Saint-Lazarus. But what was singular in this sacerdotal 
 charity was, that it never cooled, and that, although in orna- 
 ments, sacred vessels, linen, and repairs of churches, it ex- 
 ceeded a million of livres, our saint thought he had never 
 done enough. Thank God, he was the only one who thought 
 so. There were few provinces where he was not looked upon 
 
LIFE Of ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 271 
 
 \is the father both of pa-;tor.< and people. His memory was 
 here in benediction ; and when a country curate, showing 
 the coat which he wore, applied to him the words of Jesus 
 Christ to St. Martin, "et hdc me vesta conlcxit," he said no 
 more, than a thousand priests could have said. 
 
 He had also a very tender love for all communities. He 
 was sometimes badly recompensed for it; and on one impor- 
 tant occasion, he was opposed at Rome by a society to which 
 he had rendered signal services in France. He revenged 
 himself no otherwise than by saying, "that even if the ***** 
 were to tear out his two eyes, he would never cease to love 
 and serve them ;" and he did so all his life. His veneration for 
 religious was so profound, that, when any one of them paid 
 him a visit, he threw himself at his feet, and forced him by 
 perseverance to give him his blessing. But he did something 
 more for them ; and the reforms of Grandmond, Premontre, 
 Sainte-Genevieve, and Chaneelade will be an eternal monu- 
 ment of the activity and extent of his charity in their regard. 
 What he did for the whole body, he did more than a hundred 
 times for the individuals themselves, either to reconcile ihem. 
 to their superior, or to prevent them from passing from one 
 order to another, a line of conduct which he never approved, 
 except when founded upon very solid reasons. 
 
 A man so full of charity for strange communities, could 
 not fail to have much for those, which he had himself 
 formed. A more tender father for each of his children than a 
 natural father would be for an only son, there was none 
 amongst them, who had not reason to believe that they were 
 tenderly loved by him. His words, his letters, even his 
 reprimands bore the impress of charity. He anticipated 
 their wants, supported them in their difficulties ; he did not 
 judge, much less did he condemn without hearing. Artful 
 reports, disguised and subtle detractions, found no access to 
 him. He gave his children, as many as seven conferences 
 against that miserable vice, which sows trouhle every where. 
 It is probably to his lessons, that the pious Madeleine de 
 Lamoignon owed both her admirable mildness and her in- 
 flexible aversion for detraction. 
 
272 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF I XVI,. 
 
 However ardent his charity was at all times it redoubled 
 towards the infirm. Far from looking upon them as a bur- 
 then, he considered them the benediction of the houses where 
 God tries them. He gave good directions, that they should be 
 well treated ; and what is more certain, he examined in per- 
 son, to see that his orders were faithfully executed. In their 
 convalescence, he enlivened them with relations of facts, in 
 which, instruction was so well blended with amusement, that 
 the mind and heart were equally benefitted. 
 
 If he earnestly recommended the love of neighbor to his 
 missionaries, he did not fail to do as much to the Sisters of 
 Charity, whose very name alone reminds them of the pains 
 they should take to cultivate that important virtue. "Alas! 
 my dear sisters," said he to them, "you have already so much 
 to suffer from abroad and from your employments. What 
 would it be, if you were to make for yourselves new crosses 
 at home, which are always the most severe? Your houses 
 would become a true purgatory, whilst charity should make 
 them a paradise." ( He held the same language to the reli- 
 gious of St. Mary, and to the daughters of Providence. The 
 constitutions which he drew up for these with Madame de 
 Pollaillon, tend principally to establish in their hearts the em- 
 pire of charity and humanity. This is the idea, which a late 
 writer furnishes, and it is as just as precise. 
 , Although it is easy to .conclude from what we have said 
 in the course of this history, that charity towards the poor 
 was the predominant virtue of St. Vincent, the reader might 
 find it strange, did we say nothing of it here. If we consider 
 him from his infancy to the time of his death, almost all his 
 life was passed in relieving the unfortunate. So many asso- 
 ciations formed to take care of the sick, so many tears shed 
 over the foundlings, so many hospitals founded by his care, 
 so much aid procured for immense provinces, so many and 
 such large sums distributed amongst the Barbary slaves, so 
 many glorious establishments which, still subsist, announced 
 for more than a century how much he was actuated by mercy. 
 It was for the poor he established a company of virgins who 
 glory in being their servants. It was for them he gave a new 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 273 
 
 eongregation to the church, and that he often reduced it to be 
 in want of what was necessary, for fear that what was neces- 
 sary might be wanting to the poor. It was for them, that 
 after having obtained from an august queen even her jewels, 
 he in a manner gave away himself, by borrowing considerable 
 sums in his own name. In fine, it was for them that he 
 gave so prodigiously during his life, that in the opinion of 
 Francois Hebert, bishop of Agen, who knew him better 
 than any one else, the total amount of his alms exceeds 
 twelve hundred thousand Louis. Let those who study to 
 obscure his glory, show us any thing in their heroes which 
 approaches this! Yet this is only a sketch of his charity 
 towards the poor. The perusal of his large life, although re- 
 stricted in that respect, will give a better and more impressive 
 idea of it. 
 
 That which it will give of the love he had for his enemies, 
 will not be less consoling. As it is out of our power to 
 furnish a detail here, it will he sufficient for us to say, that 
 Vincent, when ready to go to the altar, took off his vest- 
 ments to reconcile himself with a man by whom he had been 
 offended ; that he petitioned for the recall of a gentleman, 
 who almost under the eyes of Ann of Austria had shamefully 
 ill-treated him ; that far from triumphing in the misfortunes 
 generally experienced by those who ahandon their first voca- 
 tion, he obtained by his tears the revocation of the sentence 
 of death pronounced against a thoughtless man, who after 
 having deserted from his congregation, had deserted from his 
 regiment; and finally, instead of abandoning to her miserable 
 fate a woman, who had killed a brother of his house, almost 
 under his eyes, he gave her money to effect her escape. If 
 this was not giving his soul for those of his enemies, it was 
 at least doing what we meet with, only in the lives of the 
 greatest saints. 
 
 Meekness, that virtue so well calculated to gain hearts, 
 was perhaps that which cost St. Vincent most. But at last 
 by the power of watchfulness and prayer, he acquired it in so 
 exalted a degree, that he would have been in this respect the 
 first man of his age, had not that age beheld the holy bishop 
 
274 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 of Geneva. He bad to treat, and often on the same day, 
 with persons of elevated mhids, and with people of neither 
 education nor understanding. Every one who saw him 
 believed he saw St. Paul conjuring the Christians by the 
 meekness and modesty of Jesus Christ.* He every where 
 awakened the idea of the Saviour conversing with men. 
 There was never any sign of displeasure on his countenance, 
 any asperity in his words, or impatience in his gestures. 
 
 It was above all with heretics and with the poor coun- 
 try people, that mildness appeared to him most necessary. 
 He had the consolation to gain three Protestants to the church 
 on the same day. It was by the solidity of his proofs, hut 
 much more by his unction and mildness, that he effected this 
 conquest. On this subject he recollected the expression of 
 Cardinal du Perron, that he could convince the Calvinists, 
 but it belonged to the bishop of Geneva to convert them. 
 
 As to the people of the country, who were always the great 
 object of his zeal, he was persuaded that it is only by patience 
 find mildness, that any thing can be done with them. In his 
 opinion, which was always very correct, that oracle of the 
 Scripture, "make thyself affable to the congregation of the 
 poor," should be the rule of every priest. He was the first 
 to put it in practice; and if the missions he made amongst 
 the galley slaves, were attended with a success which aston- 
 ished all France, it was in a great measure to the extreme 
 mildness with which he treated them, that it was to be attri- 
 buted. Indeed, that virtue which charms every where, had 
 in him something so natural, so prudent, that it was difficult 
 to resist it. A gentleman, accustomed to sweariog, having 
 once said before many other persons, that he wished the devil 
 had him ; the saint kindly embraced him, and said with a 
 smile : " And I, sir, will keep you for God ; it were a pity his 
 enemy should have you." These few words edified the com- 
 pany very much : he to whom they were addressed was 
 
 * It is from the letter of Mr. F£n6lon, archbishop of Cambray, 
 that I take this beautiful expression. He had it from Mr. Tronson, 
 the celebrated superior of St. Sulpice. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 275 
 
 more struck than the rest. He acknowledged his fault and 
 promised to correct himself. 
 
 The mildness of our saint pursued that just medium, which 
 knows neither deficiency nor excess. He detested flattery, so 
 far as to say that nothing was more unworthy of a truly 
 Christian heart ; but he did not less detest that servile defe- 
 rence, which to avoid displeasing men, often causes us to 
 displease God. His constant rule was to imitate him, who, in 
 advancing resolutely to his object, will do so by ways full of 
 sweetness and mildness. Mtingit a fine usque ad finemforti- 
 tcr, et disponil omnia suaviter. Sap. 8. 1. 
 
 But Vincent knew how to unite the firmness necessary to 
 one in authority, with the most wonderful humility. At first 
 it would appear as if we could imitate him in his other virtues; 
 but when we consider his ardor for contempt, we must yield; 
 it appears inimitable. • It is surprising, that he began very 
 early to nourish those sentiments, so much opposed to nature; 
 and that, in spite of the praise heaped upon him throughout 
 Europe by the clergy and the laity, he never lost them. 
 The reader has not forgotten, that, on his arrival in Paris, he 
 abandoned his own name, for fear of being taken for a man 
 of good family; that, although he had performed good studies, 
 he gave himself out as but a poor scholar ; that, on the occa- 
 sion of that poor nephew, who came to see him in Paris, 
 he gained one of the most complete victories over self- 
 love; that he improved upon the odious compliment paid him 
 by the abbe Saint-Cyran, when he treated him as an ignorant 
 man, unfit to be at the head of his congregation; and that, 
 in fine, at court, where birth is sometimes the principal merit, 
 he commenced by publishing that he was the son of a poor 
 countryman. 
 
 I add, what has been said more than once, and said 
 without fear of exaggeration, that he always seized upon 
 all the occasions of humbling himself, or rather. that he 
 sought them, when they did not present themselves. A 
 man of a good family wrote to him from Acqs, that he had 
 the honor of being his relation, and on that ground besought 
 his protection. The saint assured him of his good will ; but 
 
276 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 he did what he could, to persuade him that being the son of a 
 poor husbandman, he could not be of so good a family as he. 
 A Portuguese nobleman, the Count de Obidos, wrote to him 
 a letter full of esteem and respect. Vincent, being afflicted 
 because there was still some one who did not look upon him 
 as the last of men, did all in his power to make him change 
 his opinion ; and, as usual, he forgot neither his spiritual 
 poverty, nor the humility of his birth. Peter J. F. de Mont- 
 gaillard, bishop of Saint-Pons, happened to mention to him a 
 chateau of his own family. "1 know it," replied the holy 
 priest: "For I took care of cattle in my youth, and I often 
 Jed them in that direction." This quick trait of humility 
 struck the prelate so much, that he repeated it a hundred 
 times in his life, and he never did so without shedding tears. 
 
 But nothing in my opinion shows better the humility of our 
 saint, and the idea generally conceived of it, than a circum- 
 stance which took place at Marseilles, when they wished to 
 commence the process of his beatification. The commis- 
 sioners having visited the halls of the magnificent hospital, 
 which the convicts owe to the charity of the holy priest, an 
 old galley slave who was blind, and who heard more Tioise 
 than usual, asked what was the, matter. "They want to 
 know," replied some persons, "whether you knew Mr. Vin- 
 cent." "Yes, to be sure," replied he, "I made my general 
 confession to him ; he was a very holy man. But why do 
 they want to know that?" "Because," said they, "they 
 wish to canonize him." " It is trouble thrown away," cried 
 he, " Mr. Vincent was too humble, he will never allow it." 
 Would to God that this answer, which so many distiuguished 
 persons have admired, would induce them, and myself more 
 than they, to say with truth what our saint so often said 
 through an excess of humility: "I am not a man, but a 
 poor worm that crawls upon the earth, who knows not 
 whither he goes : but who seeks only to hide himself in thee, 
 O my God ! who art all my desire. I am a poor blind 
 thing, the most useless, the most miserable of men, and one 
 who most of all stands in need of the mercies of the Lord." 
 
 And this very man, who places himself below the devils 
 
LIFE Or ST. VINCENT OF PAUL,. 277 
 
 who, at the college des bons Enfans went so far as to acknow- 
 ledge before his priests the most grievous faults he had ever 
 committed ; who found no difficulty in going on his knees 
 publicly before a wretch who dared to strike him ; who de- 
 based himself; I find difficulty in saying it, but why should I 
 not do so, after the example of a great bishop ? who debased 
 himself so far as to clean the shoes of a candidate for orders ; 
 in a word, that man so vile, so abominable in his own eyes, 
 was as firm as a rock, when the interests of God and his 
 church were in question. He then showed that contempt for 
 himself was not incompatible with true greatness of soul. We 
 have seen him, notwithstanding his just deference for his 
 most signal benefactor, oppose the re-establishment of a scan- 
 dalous abbess ; close the entrance of the house of the Visita- 
 tion to Princesses accustomed to obtain whatever they wished ; 
 reject from the sanctuary those powerful men who could not 
 edify the church, but who well knew how to take revenge; 
 in fine propose to the prime minister to sacrifice himself to 
 the public good, and to a great queen to lend her hand to the 
 sacrifice. To judge whether in such critical cases a man 
 without birth has need of courage, we need only examine 
 whether, in his place, those who hold the first rank in the 
 state, would often dare to imitate him. 
 
 In learningfrom the Son of God to be meek and humble of 
 heart, our saint learned from him to be obedient on all occa- 
 sions in which religion commanded or permitted him to be so. 
 He was in the hands of his director, like a child who has no 
 will. It was through obedience that he entered the parish of 
 Clichy and the house of the general of the galleys; that he be- 
 came the director of Madame de Gondi ; that he afterwards 
 accepted and resumed the charge of first superior of his con- 
 gregation ; that, without ever seeking privileges, which he 
 might have obtained more easily than many others, he de- 
 sired that his priests should depend absolutely upon the ordi- 
 nary in what concerned their exterior functions, and that he 
 at last accepted in the council of the king, a place to which 
 he would have undoubtedly preferred the chains with 
 which he had been loaded at Tunis. 
 24 
 
278 LIFE OF ST. VIHGEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 A man who so well knew how to practice obedience had a 
 right to prescribe it to others. And this he did perfectly with 
 regard to the communities which Providence had confided to 
 his care. He told them that this virtue combined with regu- 
 larity, was the soul, and as it were the substance of religion ; 
 that all the good of the creature consists in fulfilling the de- 
 signs of God, and that they are not fulfilled but by the faith- 
 ful practice of obedience; that in fine those who are disu- 
 nited from the heart of their superiors, who murmur against 
 them, who contradict them, become guilty of interior apos- 
 tasy. He added that obedience, to be perfect, must be volun- 
 tary, because- it should spring from the heart and from affec- 
 tion; prompt, because true obedience admits no excuse or de- 
 lay ; courageous, because it should not be arrested by the sight 
 of obstacles ; persevering, because it is necessary to obey like 
 Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ obeyed even unto death. 
 
 The example of that God Saviour was the first motive, 
 which the holy priest employed to giy^ animation to the 
 practice of that important virtue. But he joined to it another 
 well calculated to excite dread and compassion for those who 
 are in authority, the terrible account which they will have to 
 render at the tribunal of the sovereign Judge. Intoxicated 
 during life with their trifling grandeur, they frequently do not 
 think, either of fulfilling their duties well, or of causing them 
 to be fulfilled by others. At their death their soul must first 
 account for itself, and then for those of inferiors. Is it just 
 to add to a weight, which of itself is already so enormous'? 
 
 Such perfect obedience supposes a great deal of candor and 
 simplicity. That of Vincent of Paul was admirable; the 
 great Bossuet did him as much justice on this score, as the 
 Cardinal de la Rochefoucault .had done to his humility. He 
 never knew the equivocal steps, or the tortuous routes of 
 the prudent of the world. Always ingenuous, always up- 
 right, if he did not always tell every truth without distinction, 
 because there were secrets in the state which were for him- 
 self alone, he never said nor insinuated any thing contrary to 
 truth. A simple man, said he, looks only at God, and wishes 
 to please him alone. If he does not discover all his thoughts, 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 279 
 
 for simplicity is a discreet virtue, he takes care to avoid what- 
 ever may lead to believe that he has in his mind and heart 
 what he really has not. In a word, he is simple in every 
 thing; simple in his instructions, simple in his manner of 
 acting and speaking. 
 
 That simplicity in speaking, and above all, in the instruc- 
 tions given to the people, was a point which our saint was 
 never tired of inculcating. His fear, his great fear, was that 
 his children would have, like many others, the misfortune to 
 wish to acquire a name by showy discourses. " Men wish 
 to shine," said he, " wish to be spoken of, wish to hear it, 
 said that they have succeeded well. Cursed pride, how much 
 good dos>t thou corrupt! Thou dost cause men to preach 
 themselves, and not Jesus Christ ; and instead of edifying,lhey 
 destroy and ruin." To words, Vincent added examples of 
 which he had been witness. One day he threw himself on 
 his knees, at the feet of one of his priests, to conjure him to 
 make his instructions to the candidates for orders in a simple 
 manner. He could produce no effect upon a man full of his 
 own merit, who wished to follow his taste, who in fact did so, 
 but absolutely without any fruit. Another, on the contrary, 
 who was guided by the advice of the saint, charmed in such 
 a manner a whole province, the inhabitants of which were 
 considered very acute, that they offered him a very handsome 
 settlement. 
 
 But as simplicity without prudence becomes indiscretion or 
 stupidity, the servant of God always took great care to unite 
 these two virtues. But he united them so well that up to the 
 time of his death, he was looked upon as the wisest man of 
 his age. Bishops, magistrates, curates, doctors, religious, su- 
 periors of communities, all came to him as to the oracle of 
 the age. " I speak from what I have seen," says an eye-wit- 
 ness, as I myself accompanied the prince of Conti, and 
 Messrs. D'Urfe and Fenelon on « visit which they paid him 
 to have his advice on different matters. 
 
 It was the high and just esteem in which his prudence 
 was held, that induced St. Francis of Sales to make him 
 accept the office of superior of his first monastery of Paris ; 
 
280 LIFE OF ST. VIHCEKT OF PADL. 
 
 Ann of Austria to place him at the head of her council, the 
 illustrious Guillaume de Lamoignon, the first president of 
 the parliament, to consult him as " a superior mind, not ortly 
 in matters of conscience, but also in secular affairs;" the 
 house of Fenelon to give consent to a marriage which it did 
 not approve, and which, according to the prediction of the 
 Baint, gave to s the church the great archbishop of Cambray. 
 
 But why should we seek for the opinions of individuals 
 on a subject where public facts speak so loudly 1 Let us re- 
 member the great establishments which he formed , the means 
 he made use of to succeed in them, the wise regulations which 
 he gave them, the manner in which he appeased the bishop 
 of Mans, and which the most refined policy will always envy 
 him: in a word, let us examine his conduct in Africa and in 
 Europe, and we will acknowledge without difficulty,, with 
 Messrs. le Tellier, chancellor of France, and Claude le Pelle- 
 tler, minister of state, that Vincent of Paul conducted him- 
 self in every thing with so much prudence and wisdom, that 
 those to whom justice and reason compelled him to be most 
 opposed, could not complain of him. 
 
 These last words lead us to say a word of the justice of 
 St. Vincent. To prove that he possessed it, like the other 
 virtues, in a heroical degree, I shall not follow him, either in 
 the manner in which he rendered to Caesar what belonged 
 to Caesar, or in the always enlightened choice he made of 
 the officers for whom he had occasion as lord of the terri- 
 tory of St. Lazarus, or in the attention which he paid, not- 
 withstanding his mildness, to maintain the severity of the 
 laws, when the stronger law of the pardon of injuries did not 
 compel him to act otherwise. I shall content myself with 
 pointing out his conduct in the lawsuits which the spirit of 
 chicanery or surprise sometimes brought upon him. I can as- 
 sure my readers beforehand, that it was as becoming a Chris- 
 tian, as it is little imitated by the most part of Christians. 
 
 His maxim was to prefer sacrificing something of his 
 rights to giving an improper example to his neighbor by going 
 to law. But as there are characters incapable of adopting 
 measures of compromise, he never engaged in the defence 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 281 
 
 without having consulted, at home and abroad, all that was 
 most wise and judicious. If sometimes he was mistaken in 
 such matters, as it appears to me he was in an important 
 case, through the celebrated Andrew Duval, at least he had 
 prudence on his side. 
 
 "When the affair was commenced, and when he saw the 
 judges, it was less to recommend his cause to them, than to 
 beg them earnestly to have nothing but equity in view. He 
 was neither for or against any person. He was equally so- 
 licitous for plaintiff and defendant. He exposed and laid 
 stress upon the reasons of the adverse party, as well, and per- 
 haps better than that party could do. He even considered so- 
 licitations as steps that were little conformable to justice. He 
 said that a magistrate who fears God pays no regard to them; 
 and that, when he was in the council of the queen, he con- 
 sidered them as nothing ; and that he was satisfied with ex- 
 amining whether the thing in question was just or not. 
 
 He was obliged to have a lawsuit with the inhabitants of 
 Valpuiseau. When they came to Paris, in quality of parties 
 in the cause, he could not have received them better. He 
 lodged them, made them eat in the refectory, at his side, and 
 paid their travelling expenses. When the affair was about to 
 be decided, he caused notice of it to be given them, that if any 
 thing new could be produced, they might do it in time. They 
 came to him at once, as to a man who protected them. He 
 went with them himself to the judge. Notwithstanding all 
 these good offices they were condemned; but the saint paid 
 the expenses of the suit; in the evening, he again gave them 
 their supper, lodged them, and did not send them away the 
 next morning, without furnishing each one with the means 
 of going home. 
 
 The examples of gratitude which he has left are no less 
 touching. Without speaking of that which he entertained 
 towards God, and which extended not only to the benefits 
 which he personally received, but also to those which all 
 creatures daily receive; that which he manifested towards 
 men, went so far that it is almost impossible to convey a just 
 idea of it. A man who assisted him to mount his horse, a 
 
282 
 
 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 child who showed him the road, a stranger who paid him a 
 visit, often troublesome, was sure of thanks, and even of lib- 
 erality. If any thing were calculated to make him forget 
 the austerity of the rules he had prescribed for himself, it 
 would have been the spirit of gratitude, the weight of which 
 bore him down. The priest who, as we have said, plunged 
 into the water to bring him out, having lost his first fervor 
 and quitted his state of life, wished to return to it. He wrote 
 letters upon letters ; but, seeing that the saint, who feared that 
 his volatile disposition might soon make him repent of his very 
 repentance, turned a deaf ear to him, he attacked him in the 
 most sensitive part, I mean, on the score of gratitude. The de- 
 cisive words of his last letter were these : " Sir, I once saved the 
 life of your body, save that of my soul." On reading these 
 words, the saint was moved. The opportunity of exercising 
 a precious virtue, joined to the perseverance of the person in 
 whose favor it was to be exercised, overcame him at last. 
 " Come, sir," replied he, " and you shall be received with 
 open arms." He would have been, in fact, had not God, 
 satisfied with the preparation of his heart, taken him off at 
 the time he was preparing to set out. 
 
 Never did man experience the effects of a well timed ser- 
 vice, more than Adrien Le Bon. No ; never did "the most 
 tender son do for his father, what Vincent did for the former 
 prior of St. Lazarus. But, under the name of this excellent 
 benefactor, we must also comprise all those connected with 
 him. For two or three years, the saint fed a person, who, 
 full of fantastical notions, was running about all day, passed 
 a part of the night in writing his ravings, and was unwilling 
 to do any thing. - Vincent, to whom complaints were brought 
 of him more than once, only replied : " He is to be pitied ; 
 but he has served one. of our principal benefactors : will God 
 find fault with us for acknowledging in the person of the 
 servant, the feelings which we entertained towards the 
 master?" 
 
 But what was the result of such persevering, such Chris- 
 tian patience? Something miraculous. That poor domestic 
 became the example and consolation of the whole commit- 
 
I.fFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 283 
 
 nity. He waited on the sick with a respect and affection 
 which cannot be expressed. Being asked by a person how 
 he would serve our Lord, if he were still upon earth, he re- 
 plied : " I would serve him as I serve you ; for I serve you 
 as I would wish to serve him." See, says the author of the 
 memoir from which we extract this, one of the fruits of the 
 gratitude of Mr. Vincent. It was admirable ; it was just that 
 it should produce admirable effects. 
 
 But the effects of the saint's gratitude were not always so 
 happy. His priests at Rome were near being driven from 
 thence at the instigation of Mazarin, for having helped the 
 Cardinal de Retz, who had sough} an asylum there. " Let 
 the will of God be done," said the holy man ; " but it is bet- 
 ter to lose every thing, than the virtue of gratitude." 
 
 These last words show us how much Vincent of Paul was 
 detached from the goods of this earth. This testimony is fur- 
 nished by every one, who paid a little attention to his character. 
 " In quality of secretary of state," said M. le Tellier, " I had 
 great intercourse with Mr. Vincent. He has done more good 
 works in France for religion and the church, than any person 
 I have known. But I remarked particularly, that in the 
 council of conscience, of which he was the principal agent, 
 his own interest, or that of his congregation, was never brought 
 in question." 
 
 This great detachment was the first virtue which appeared 
 in him ; and, what does not always happen, it continued to 
 his extreme old age. It will be remembered that he was yet 
 a child, when he gave all his little treasure to a poor person ; 
 that he had nothing, when he left his abbey to labor in the 
 country ; that a year of entreaty could not determine him to 
 accept the house of St. Lazarus, and that he would have 
 abandoned it, when the gentlemen of St. Victor contested it, 
 had he not been assured that he could not do so in conscience. 
 
 This was known to the public before the publication of 
 this history. But it was not known that Mr. Le Blanc, 
 one of his priests, wishing to leave an annual revenue to the 
 house of St. Lazarus, the man of God begged him to be- 
 queath it to his family, which he did. It was not known, that; 
 
284 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 although reduced to extreme necessity, Vincent once refused 
 five hundred crowns, saying that two thousand poor, who 
 were sick at the Hotel Dieu, had still more need of them than 
 he. It was not known, that the attorney of the king in a large 
 city, having given him property of which he was the entire 
 master, Vincent restored it to his relations, because they were 
 not pleased at the donation. Finally, it was not known, that 
 he refused sixty thousand pistoles which were offered him to 
 build a church, because by accepting them, he might have done 
 an injury to the poor of Jesus Christ. 
 
 This detachment from the goods of this earth gave rise in 
 him to so great a love of poverty, that his age has scarcely wit- 
 nessed ecclesiastics who carried it so far. His dress was as 
 common as it could be. His food corresponded to his cloth- 
 ing. The only distinction between him and his companions 
 was his more austere penance. As to his lodging, it was the 
 most pitiful thing that can be imagined. A chamber without 
 tire-place, a bed without curtains, a pallet without a mattrass, 
 two straw bottomed chairs, and a wooden crucifix constituted 
 all his furniture. " I acknowledge," says Jean Baptiste 
 Chomel, the first physician of the king, in his deposition, 
 " that I was completely astonished, when I saw a man of 
 such merit and reputation, lodged so miserably, and hav- 
 ing only such furniture, as he could not absolutely dispense 
 with." 
 
 ft may be well imagined that this great lover of poverty, 
 endeavored to inspire his children with the love of it. " It is 
 true," said he to them, " that we are not religious, because it 
 was not thought proper that we should be so, nor are we 
 worthy to be so ; but it is not less true that poverty is the bond 
 of communities and particularly of ours. It is this bond, 
 that, separating them entirely from the things of earth, will 
 
 unite them perfectly to God A man who has the true 
 
 spirit of poverty, fears nothing ; he can do every thing ; he 
 goes every where. He thinks himself happy in following 
 the example of the Saviour, who began by a manger and fin- 
 ished with the cross." 
 
 It was from this love of the cross that sprung up in Via 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 285 
 
 cent the spirit of mortification, now-a-days so little known. 
 But with him that mortification had for its object every thing 
 that could serve as matter for it. The judgment, the will, the 
 inclinations of the heart, the senses, in a word, body and soul, 
 all were immolated. He had an air naturally severe ; he re- 
 formed himself so much, that from his retreat at Soissons he al- 
 ways passed for a model of mildness and affability. He related 
 facts with much grace, and a person who relates well, and 
 knows much, is willing to speak ; however, he knew so well 
 how to keep silence, when circumstances did not require'him 
 to speak, that a secretary of the king, who had been a slave at 
 Algiers, and who knew very well that Vincent had been so at 
 Tunis-, led him more than twenty times towards the subject, 
 without ever being able to draw from him one word in relation 
 to his captivity. He loved his family so tenderly, that having 
 seen with his own eyes the poor state in which it was, three 
 months of reflection could not mitigate the trouble he felt. Yet 
 he overcame it so far as to say to his brethren, according to the 
 Scripture: "I know you not,"' because he knew poor persons 
 more to be pitied than they, and he looked upon a middling 
 fortune as a germ of sanctification. In fine, he had so well 
 buried the old man with his desires, that Mr. Almeras, his 
 successor, who had studied him a great deal, could discover 
 neither inclination nor bent in him. 
 
 It was not altogether so with his exterior mortification. 
 Whatever precaution he took to conceal one portion of it, 
 and disguise the other, it has been sufficiently known, 'to give 
 him a distinguished place amongst the most illustrious peni- 
 tents. The following was his invariable cdurse during more 
 than forty years. 
 
 He seldom went to bed till towards midnight, for the great 
 affairs with which he was loaded, did not permit him to repose 
 sooner. A miserable pallet was his bed, and five years before 
 his death he had the sheets taken off. "Whether he had slept 
 or not, whether he was in good health, or had the fever, which 
 often happened to him, he always rose at four o'clock in the 
 morning, and took the discipline. To it he joined, particu- 
 larly in times of public calamity, the hair shirt, and pointed 
 
286 LIFE OF Sr. VIJTCEKT OF PAUL. 
 
 copper bracelets and cinctures. His hair shirt, which still ex- 
 ists, makes even those accustomed to mortification tremble. An 
 enemy and almost a murderer of his body, in the most severe 
 weather he kept his hands exposed to the cold, to the impres- 
 sions of which he was very sensible. His food was of the 
 coarsest kind; and what was least palatable in his portion 
 was always chosen by him; he sprinkled on it from time 
 to time bitter powders which made it very disagreeable. 
 He generally fasted twice a week ; and neither old age or his 
 infirmities could make him lose the habit. At upwards of 
 eighty years, he fasted throughout lent more rigorously than 
 a robust man in the flower of his age._ Yet, this is but a 
 part of his mortification; .and he carried it so far that the 
 Cardinal of la Rochef'oucault, to preserve a life so precious 
 to the church, begged him to moderate it. 
 
 A man, who bore so continually in his body the mortifica- 
 tions of Jesus Christ, must naturally have had a great command 
 over himself, and be eminently pure. Neither error, or cal- 
 umny which serves it as a guard, have ever undertaken to 
 assail him on the score of the amiable virtue of which we 
 here speak. It is true that to remove even the shadow of 
 danger, he always took the strictest precautions. He never 
 paid a visit to any woman, not even the ladies of his assem- 
 bly, but when the glory of God required him to do it; in this 
 respect Madame Le Gras was treated like the rest. In the 
 conversations which he was obliged to hold with females, he 
 was very precise, and so modest, though without affectation, that 
 he would rather be taken for an angel than a man. Though 
 sick, and more than eighty years of age, he always had a 
 companion who did not lose sight of him. This person hav- 
 ing once retired through respect for the lady of Marshal de 
 Chombert, the saint recalled him instantly anc 1 made him sen- 
 sible of his fault. Although he often had to deal with per- 
 sons who stood in need of consolation, he was always unac- 
 quainted with those aflectionate expressions which heal one 
 evil only by another. Such were his maxims ; and he repeated 
 them so often, both to his missionaries and to the Sisters of 
 Charity, that, did we not know that purity resembles those 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 287 
 
 costly mirrors which a light breath will sully, we would be- 
 lieve that his precautions were excessive. 
 
 But what he did to preserve spotless purity for his children, 
 he did at all times to preserve it for innumerable persons who 
 were in immediate danger of losing it. It is to him that Lor- 
 raine, where his name should never die, is indebted for its 
 virgins, whom he preserved from shipwreck. It was under 
 his auspices, that two holy and illustrious widows, de Po- 
 lullon and Le Gras, opened their houses to thousands, who 
 ivere at the last extremity, and the loss of whose inno- 
 cence would have been caused by one day's delay. It was 
 he who, in establishing by his lessons and credit, good order 
 among the Daughters of Magdalen, made of a seat of mur- 
 murings a place of sweet and peaceful tears. In fine it was 
 he who, when almost at the end of his career, formed a still 
 more extensive project, which was executed after his death. 
 
 If these glorious undertakings prove his love for purity, 
 they do not less prove his strength and courage. Hence the 
 great Lamoignon, who admired him in every thing, was par- 
 ticularly struck by his firmness, which he compared to that 
 of the apostles; and the like justice was rendered him by Victor 
 de Melian and the celebrated archbishop of Cambray. But 
 what need is there of witnesses in a matter where one glance 
 at the facts, becomes an incontestable proof? In fact, that 
 a man who belongs to no one, has no other support than 
 his virtue, in an age when virtue is little valued, and seeks on 
 every occasion to vilify himself; that a man whose only po- 
 licy is that of faith, who is charged with a rising congrega- 
 tion, still is incapable of availing himself either of the favor 
 of the sovereign, or the employments which his merits have 
 obtained for him; that a man who would sacrifice every thing 
 rather than fail in the duties of gratitude, and who, far from 
 disobliging through a principle of natural insensibility, never 
 tound himself more happy than when he could oblige; that a 
 man of this character should speak truth even amidst the 
 court; that he should not promise what his conscience would 
 not permit him to fulfil ; that he should withstand the most 
 powerful solicitations, threats, and injuries ; that neither dan- 
 
288 LIFE OF ST. VI>CENT OF PAUL. 
 
 ger or persecution should <-ver induce him lo take a false step; 
 that the most justly grounded tenderness should find him in- 
 exorable; in a word/that in the course of a long life, it should 
 never happen to him to say yes, when his duty obliged him 
 to say jio/ is in the eyes of reason and faith, a prodigy of 
 firmness, of which the heroes of the world are incapable, ex 
 cept when they are Christian heroes likewise. 
 
 To be convinced that Vincent was the man whose portrait 
 we have just drawn, it is sufficient to recollect the manner in 
 which he acted, either with regard to Mr. Le Bon, when he 
 endeavored to interest him in favor of a guilty abbess, and with 
 regard to the queen herself in the affair of her first minister ; 
 or the intrepidity with which he refused, to avoid compromi- 
 sing his conscience, high and proud ladies, sometimes magi- 
 strates, to procure benefices for their children ; or the courage 
 with which he visited an old friend, not to congratulate him 
 on the nomination of his son to a bishopric, but to conjure 
 him to exclude him from it, because he was not worthy of it. 
 
 But what is this, in comparison with the strength which he 
 stood in need of, to procure for ruined Lorraine and so many 
 other provinces, assistance which could not possibly be pro- 
 cured but by the most invincible charity ; to sustain in spite of 
 every one the establishment of the foundlings; to send, ana 
 almost always at his own expense, into every part of the 
 kingdom, and a great number of other countries, those endless 
 colonies of missionaries, who watered them with their sweat, 
 and more than once, with their blood 1 We have given else- 
 where the detail of those glorious missions; but notwithstand- 
 iDgthe monotony inseparable from it, piety is nourished by it. 
 Being now limited within very narrow bounds, we shall only 
 speak of those of Madagascar, Algiers, and two or three 
 others. 
 
 MISSIONS OF MADAGASCAR. 
 
 Madagascar is one of the largest islands in the world, and 
 the most extensive of those in Africa. Francis Cauche makes 
 it eight hundred leagues in circumference ; and it had more 
 than four hundred thousand inhabitants, when the first priests 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF P-IUL. 289 
 
 of the mission arrived there. Of these inhabitants, some are 
 black and natives of the island, others who are white and 
 rule the country, are said to have come from Persia. Circumci- 
 sion, which they call Valascira, prevails throughout the island. 
 They have no temple. However, they admit a superior 
 Being, whom they consider the master of the universe and 
 the author of every good ; but the devil to whom they attri- 
 ute all the evils of life, is much more honored, because more 
 feared. They always name him before God, and he has the 
 greater portion of their sacrifices. 
 
 The priests, or those who approach nearest to them, are 
 called Ombiasses. The people fear them on account of their 
 books, or rather on account of certain figures which they have 
 put in them, and by means of which they pretend to cure 
 diseases, foretell the future, find lost things, and even restore 
 the mind when disordered. But of all the superstitions of 
 the country, the most difficult to root out is the worship they 
 pay to the Obys, that is to say, to certain idols rudely fabrica- 
 ted by the Ombiasses, some of which represent men, and 
 others grotesque figures. They believed these little pagods to 
 be animated by a familiar spirit, and they ask of them what- 
 ever the Christians ask of the true God, health, good weather, 
 victory over their enemies, above all, that they may not be 
 devoured by the crocodiles, with which their rivers are in- 
 fected. When any one is caught by them, the only reason 
 they give, is that his Obys was good for nothing. Happy 
 would they be, if they were to pronounce the same judgment 
 on all the others ; but they are so head-strong on this point, 
 that they can scarcely suffer any one to undeceive them., 
 
 I do not know that any nation carries the superstition of 
 times, as far as they do. March and April, the eighth day, 
 and last week of each month, are unlucky times. Every child 
 born then, runs a great risk of its life; and to prevent the 
 disasters which would not fail to fall upon it and the family, 
 they hasten to expose it under a hedge, where it is often the 
 prey of wild beasts. If a woman dies in child-birth, the living 
 child is buried with her. Those who have a very painful 
 delivery, cause the child to be strangled, because, having so 
 25 
 
29C LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 early caused the mother to suffer so much, it would necessa- 
 rily have a very bad disposition. A female slave whose mas- 
 ter neglects the children, buries them, or throws them into 
 the river, to save herself the trouble of nourishing them. 
 
 Such were the people, with whom the missionaries sent to 
 Madagascar by our saint, had to deal. It is true, that the 
 country was not then so well known as it was afterwards. 
 A pretty advantageous opinion of those islanders was enter- 
 tained at Rome and in France; and when Vincent first wrote 
 of them, he spoke as of a people who lived, it is true, 
 in ignorance of the true God, but who were simple, upright 
 and skilful. He had been deceived. There is not in the 
 whole world a nation so crafty and perfidious. With the 
 exception of the inhabitants of the province of Antongil, who 
 believed themselves descendants of Abraham, and who are 
 less inclined to betray, all the rest are acquainted with nothing 
 but fraud, atrocity, and the most cruel vengeance. They give 
 no quarter to their enemies. They satisfy upon the children 
 the rage with which they were possessed against the fathers, 
 and when they fall into their hands, they cut them in two 
 without mercy. If they are pardoned an injury, their constant 
 rule is to do still worse than before. Perhaps they would 
 have been less vicious, and their old habits might by degrees 
 have been eradicated, had they not found in the Christians of 
 Europe the worst models of injustice and corruption. 
 
 In order to clear this wretched land, Vincent chose two 
 excellent laborers, Charles Nacquart de Campmartin, of the 
 diocess of Soissons, and Nicholas Gondree, of the diocess 
 of Amiens. He gave them excellent advice, and begged 
 them earnestly to form their conduct upon that of the holy 
 apostle of the Indies. To walk at a distance at least in the 
 footsteps of that great man, they made successful trials of 
 • their talents and vocation at la Rochelle, where they were 
 obliged to remain for a month. With the consent of the 
 bishop, they employed the best part of the time in catechising 
 the poor, hearing their confessions, and serving every way the 
 prisoners and the sick of the hospitals. 
 
 Finally, on the 21st of May, Ascension day, they set sail. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 29!. 
 
 They had scarcely left the port, when, after the gospel of the 
 mass which was celebraied at sea lhat very day, Mr. Nacquart 
 addressed a solid exhortation to all the crew. He represented 
 to them lhat they would have nothing to fear from the fury 
 of the ocean, if by a holy li r e they would procure the favor 
 of him, who commands the sea and the tempest. 
 
 To dispose them to a life worthy of God, the zealous mis- 
 sionary commenced the jubilee which Innocent X had just 
 granted to the faithful, to obtain that heaven would put an 
 end to the frightful discord, which reigned amongst Christian 
 princes, and by which the great enemy of the Christian name, 
 the grand Turk, was desirous of profiting. Gondree and Nac- 
 quart caused twenty-six persons who were in the ship to 
 make general confessions, and they admitted those who were 
 found worthy, to the participation of the divine mysteries. 
 The passengers of a small vessel of Dieppe which was in 
 their company, and had anchored with them at Cape- Vert, 
 begged a participation in the grace which they had just 
 granted to the others. They labored for that purpose on the 
 eve of St. John the Baptist, and had the consolation to recon- 
 cile a considerable number; but they were so unhappy as 
 not to be able to render the same service to twelve black Por- 
 tuguese, on account of not understanding their language. 
 
 As soon as they had re-embarked, the exhortations, cate- 
 chisms, and pious readings re-commenced. The spirit of 
 God showed itself so powerfully, that the ship appeared like 
 a regular community. All swearing, every indecent word 
 was banished. Whoever indulged in either, underwent on 
 the spot a species of punishment which had been agreed upon. 
 
 Hitherto every thing had prospered wonderfully; but when 
 they were near ihe line, the winds became so contrary, that 
 the captain and his mariners thought at last they had no 
 choice but to seek a harbor. Nacquart, who was looked upon 
 by the whole crew as a saint, was opposed to it. He had 
 recourse to Him who draws the winds from his treasures. 
 After his example all those in the vessel made a public vow 
 to approach the sacraments about the time of the Assumption, 
 to build a church at Madagascar under the invocation of the 
 
292 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL, 
 
 v 
 
 queen of heaven, and to give alms. Such Christian senti- 
 ments found favor wilh God: the wind changed; and after a 
 voyage of six months and a half, they discovered Madagascar. 
 
 As soon as they landed, Nacquart went on his knees to 
 offer the island to God, and to take spiritual possession of it in 
 his name. He said mass at fori Dauphin, where, for want 
 of matter for consecration, it had not been said for five months. 
 The next day he said a solemn mass of thanksgiving. It was 
 followed by a Te Dcum: and the governor, who had come 
 with them, assisted to it with those belonging to the vessel. 
 
 The missionaries began their labors by the domestics of the 
 faith. They endeavored to dispose the soldiers of the fort, to 
 gain the indulgence of the jubilee. But it would appear that 
 their success did not correspond to their good intentions. 
 With the exception of some officers who feared God, there 
 was neither order nor justice in the quarter of the Europeans. 
 The most atrocious robberies were committed wilh impunity. 
 The cattle of the natives was taken by force : they were 
 massacred without mercy, when they did not give it cheer- 
 fully : they treated as an outrage upon temporals, the repre- 
 sentations and complaints of a conduct so contrary to justice 
 and humanity. 
 
 A manner of proceeding so violent, joined to the bad inclina- 
 tions of the natives, must naturally have done, and in fact did 
 much harm to the propagation jjf the gospel. It must how- 
 ever be acknowledged, that the commencement furnished some 
 hopes apparently well founded. Some months after landing, 
 Nacquart learned that a diam, that is, one of the lords of the 
 island, had lived at Goa in his youth. He paid him a visit, 
 hoping that a man, who had seen the Christian religion, 
 would be less averse to it lhan another. His conjecture was 
 found sufficiently grounded. Andiam Ramach, for this was 
 the name of this lord, acknowledged that he had been a Chris- 
 tian, and willingly permitted the missionary to instruct his 
 vassals. To enable himself to dispense with an interpreter, 
 the apostolical man began to study with all his might the 
 language of the country, and mad.'? considerable progress in it 
 in so short a time, that the islanders were surprised at it. He 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 293 
 
 afterwards made excursions into the neighboring country, and 
 into more distant provinces. Notwithstanding the pride of the 
 blacks of that island, who, because they have the religion of 
 the Alcoran, in some of the provinces, think themselves far 
 superior to the negroes, Nacquart, who had already the con- 
 solation to see whole cantons render justice to the beauty of 
 the Christian religion, thought himself on the point of reaping 
 the fruits of his labors, when an unforseen accident set bounds 
 to his zeal, and dissipated a portion of his hopes. 
 
 Gondree having, through obedience, followed some French 
 officers on a journey, they paid so little attention to him, 
 either as regarded the travelling or food, that he fell sick, and 
 was obliged to retrace his steps ; nor did they even think of 
 contributing any thing to his comfort on his way back. Soon 
 after his arrival at the fort, Nacquart, who never lost sight of 
 him, except when his functions called him elsewhere, was 
 obliged to administer to him the last sacraments. The 
 virtuous priest received them with all possible piety; and 
 after having twice repeated to his associate, that he would 
 have much to suffer in that miserable country, he expired in 
 sentiments of perfect submission to the. will of God, and a 
 lively gratitude for the favor which Vincent of Paul had done 
 him, in choosing him before so many others to announce the 
 gospel to the infidels. 
 
 Such a mournful separation was a terrible blow for Mr. 
 Nacquart. From that moment he looked upon himself as 
 a victim, whom affliction and excess of labor was about to 
 Immolate gradually. However, as his sorrow was tempered 
 by religion, he did not yield to it so far as to forget his duties. 
 To procure for those who labored with him a facility, which 
 he had not found on arriving in Madagascar, he translated 
 into the language of the country an abridgement of the Chris- 
 tian doctrine. Although he could scarcely absent himself five 
 or six days, as he had to perform the office in the fort on Sun- 
 days and festivals, he overran the valley of Amboul, the coun- 
 try of Anos, and a chain of mountains which were not very 
 distant. During the day he instructed those who remained in 
 the villages, and in the evening by moonlight those who re- 
 25* 
 
294 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 turned from labor. He pictured to them in so vivid a manner 
 the judgment, and hell which is the consequence of it for the 
 wicked, that the people and the lords cried out in concert : 
 "Where then is that water which washes the soul, and 
 which you have promised us?" 
 
 These words, and the dispositions which seemed to accom- 
 pany them, moved him more than once to tears; but he 
 stopped short, when he considered that these people, natu- 
 rally volatile, changed their ideas almost as quickly as their 
 habitations; that the bad Christians injured them more by 
 their example, than he could benefit them by his preach- 
 ing; and that he being alone and liable to succomb at every 
 moment, men still tender in the faith would be in danger of 
 soon returning to their superstitions, if abandoned to them- ■ 
 selves. Thus during more than eighteen months, he scarcely 
 baptized more than fifty persons. Of those, a very old woman, 
 who was dangerously sick, gave him much consolation. 
 Scarcely had she received baptism, when her faith, her love, 
 and gratitude for God redoubled. She died some days after- 
 wards, and she was the first islander buried in the French 
 cemetery. 
 
 Hence, a judgment may be formed of the ardor with which 
 this worthy priest called for aid. "Alas!" cried he with St. 
 Francis Xavier, "what are so many doctors now doing, who 
 lose their time in the academies, whilst so many poor infidels 
 ask for bread, and find no one to distribute it to them'? May 
 the sovereign master of the harvest provide for it ; for unless 
 there be a number of priests here to instruct, and preserve 
 the fruit of the instructions, but little progress can be ex- 
 pected." These are the expressions of the letter which this 
 perfect missionary wrote in 1650 to Vincent of Paul, to 
 apprise him of the death of Mr. Gondree. 
 
 That news afflicted the servant of God very much. Besides 
 his losing an excellent laborer in the person of the deceased, 
 he saw himself in danger of losing Mr. Nacquart also, who 
 would naturally fall under the weight of such excessive labor. 
 After having adored the designs of God, which although 
 terrible are always just, he thought of supplying the loss 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 295 
 
 ot Mr. Gondree. Jacques Monnier, who burned with the 
 desire of giving his blood Cor the salvation of the infidels, and 
 Toussaint Bourdaise, a man full of good will, were those to 
 whom he gave the preference. But the troubled state of the 
 country detained them in France until 1654. In order to 
 spare men of such merit, Vincent whose charity redoubled 
 with age, caused three others to depart the following year. 
 They were Messrs. Dufour, Prevot, and De Belleville, 
 three priests of great capacity and tried virtue. They did 
 good; but, O the depths of the judgments of God! they 
 scarcely commenced that for which they had been destined. 
 The first letter which our saint received from Mr. Bourdaise, 
 a letter which breathed sorrow Jn every line, related in sub- 
 stance that on arriving at Madagascar, he found nothing but 
 the ashes of Mr. Nacquart de Champma'rtin ; that six months 
 afterwards he had lost Mr. Monnipr ; that Mr. de Belleville, 
 with whose name and virtues alone he was acquainted, had 
 died on the voyage; that Mr. Prevot had followed him, after 
 having survived the fatigues of the passage; that he had only 
 seen Mr. Dufour to be acquainted with the value of that which 
 he was to lose. " In fine," said Mr. Bourdaise, "all those of 
 your children whom you sent to Madagascar are dead, and I 
 am the wretched servant left alone to tell you of it. However, 
 afflicting as it may be, you will not fail to be consoled at 
 knowing the holy lives which they led, as well at sea as on. 
 shore, and the great blessings which God granted to their 
 labors from the time they left France. " 
 
 Bourdaise then relates that the passengers had given him 
 an account of the zeal and virtues of these worthy missiona- 
 ries. This was opening a new source of tears for the holy 
 priest, at a time when he had too much reason to shed them. 
 For some months back, all the letters which he had received 
 oore the impress of grief and dpath. He had just lost seven 
 of his company, in the city of -Genoa, who had fallen victims 
 to their labors in the pestilence. ' He believed himself on the 
 point of seeing all those who labored in the Hebrides, fall 
 under the blows of the pitiless Cromwell. Of so many priests 
 sent successively to Madagascar, Bourdaise alone remained, 
 
296 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OP PAUL. 
 
 or rather Bourdaise remained no longer, for he was dead at 
 the time his letter was received announcing the death of all 
 his brethren. Such multiplied inflictions, so sensible at an 
 age, when the vigor of man is quite exhausted, should natu- 
 rally have brought him to the grave. But he found in his 
 submission to the orders of God, resources superior to the 
 laws of nature. It was in vain they sought to persuade him 
 that the time of mercy was not yet come for Madagascar; he 
 replied " that God often gives to perseverance the success 
 which he has refused to the first efforts ; that six hundred of 
 those islanders, who had already received baptism from the 
 hands of a single missionary, sufficiently proved that these 
 people were disposed to receive the light of the gospel; that 
 finally it would be violating all the laws of charity and reason, 
 to abandon a servant of God who cried out for help and a 
 people who asked only to be instructed. 
 
 Actuated by these motives,the saint resolved to send a new 
 coloriy to Madagascar. But the career of his zeal opened a 
 very vast one to his patience. The two first priests whom he 
 sent to Nantes could not embark there, because the vessel in 
 which they were to go was lost. Some time after he sent four 
 others ; but the Sp-aniards having captured the ship, they 
 were obliged to return to France. Finally, the servant of 
 God, about a year before his death, caused five to depart, 
 who, in spite of the dangers of so painful a mission, had con- 
 jured him in every possible manner, to destine them for it. 
 When they had arrived at Nantes, they learned that they 
 would have to embark at La Rochelle : three of them went 
 thither by land; the superior, whose name was Mr. Estienne, 
 wished to go by sea with a brother; but the vessel, when 
 about to enter the river of Bordeaux, lost her masts and sails 
 in a terrible storm which arose. A young parisian who, 
 seeing her on the point of striking on a rock, found means to 
 save himself, wrote to his mother that he saw her swalloweS 
 up by the waves. Different letters from Nantes and other 
 places confirmed the accident, and the three missionaries who 
 learned it on arriving at La Rochelle, imformed Vincent of it. 
 
 Accustomed as was that holy man to th* strangest revolt!- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 297 
 
 tions, this must have struck him, and more than any other : 
 He could not have met with a greater loss. Estienne, though 
 very young, had all the qualifications of an apostle. He 
 knew no other happiness upon earth, than that of extending 
 the faith of Jesus Christ. And to effect that object, particu- 
 larly in infidel countries, he had already sacrificed nearly 
 forty thousand livres of his property. On the other hand, 
 Philip de Moucy, counsellor of state, his hrother-in-law, and 
 his other relations, did not fail to complain of an expedition 
 so fatal to a man whom they cherished. All these reflections 
 lacerated the heart of the holy priest. But his firmness did 
 not abandon him. He did not show a dark and sorrowful 
 countenance ; and as he wished to take time, to announce 
 such afflicting news to his community, no one perceived his 
 grief in the interval which preceded the day he had chosen to 
 speak of it. 
 
 In the mean time, to profit by the embarcation, he secretly 
 disposed another priest, to take the place of the one he so 
 much regretted. At the time when this new superior -was 
 ready to set out, Vincent received by post several packets of 
 letters, and amongst them two the address of which very much 
 resembled the hand writing of Mr. Estienne. They were 
 really from him. Both concurred in saying that the vessel 
 in which they sailed from Nantes, had been for fifteen days 
 in danger of perishing; that the captain and the sailors look- 
 ing for nothing but death, had thrown themselves at his feet, 
 and asked absolution ; that after having given it to them, 
 they trusted that they would not perish ; that on the day of 
 the octave of the immaculate conception, they had all made a 
 vow to approach the sacraments, to say or cause to be said 
 tvvelve masses, to clothe twelve poor persons in honor of the 
 Blessed Virgin ; that in fine, struggling against the winds 
 and hunger, they had arrived at Saint Jean de Luz, whence 
 he would make haste to be at La Rochelle before the departure 
 of the vessels. 
 
 A father who had become acquainted with the resurrection 
 of his only son, could not be more affected than Vincent was 
 at such unexpected news. But accustomed as he was to see 
 
298 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 God alone in all the events of life, he passed without sensible 
 emotion from one extremity to the other. His joy was silent 
 before men, as his sorrow had been. He cast himself at the 
 feet of his divine master, and blessed him for life with as great 
 peace as he had blessed him for death. 
 
 Estienne hastened immediately to La Rochelle to embark 
 with his brethren. But as Vincent was no longer upon earth, 
 when his first letters were received, and, as on the other hand 
 the labors of Mr. Estienne and the crown of martyrdom which 
 God granted to his desires, deserve a particular history, I 
 shall say nothing more of him. It will be sufficient to know 
 that Louis XIV having abandoned that unfortunate island, in 
 1674, all the French were obliged to leave it; that of the four 
 missionaries who were there at the time, one was killed by 
 the negroes, another burned alive in his own dwelling, that 
 the two others returned to France, and one of them, named 
 Michael Montmasson, replaced in every sense, at Tunis, the 
 illustrious Mr. le Vacher, that is to say, that he did infinite 
 good, and that as a martyr, he was placed at the mouth of 
 the canon, after having been loaded with insults and indigni- 
 ties. This naturally leads us to the missions of Barbary. 
 We .shall give but a very slight idea of them; but that idea 
 will not fail to edify and console those who love religion. 
 
 BARBARY MISSION. 
 Vincent who knew by his own experience all that the 
 Christian slaves at Tunis suffered, and the danger they were 
 in of denying their faith to mitigate their sufferings, lamented 
 before God his want of power to aid them, when Louis XIII 
 made a proposition to him to that effect. The saint, who saw 
 in that disposition the accomplishment of his desires, dis- 
 patched without delay Louis Guerin, a man who to an 
 eloquence truly solid and full of unction,' united all the 
 virtues of an apostle, and above all, an ardent desire to suffer 
 all that they suffered for the propagation of the gospel. Gue- 
 rio having perceived, after two years' labor, that one man was 
 not sufficient for the work, begged the Bey, or prince of the 
 country, to permit him to call another priest to his aid. The 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 299 
 
 Mussulman granted his request cheerfully, and assured him 
 of his protection. "For," added he, "I well know that you 
 do evil to no one, but that on the contrary you do good to 
 every body." 
 
 This worthy minister profited by this good will ; and Vin- 
 cent of whom he asked a companion, sent him Jean le 
 Vacher, whose labors and glorious death did as much honor 
 to religion, as the piety and erudition of the celebrated Andre 
 Duval, his relation, had done to his family. Le Vacher 
 arrived in very good time, because the pestilence, more violent 
 than usual at Tunis, carried off every day a great number of 
 Turks and slaves. These two priests labored on this pressing 
 occasion with all imaginable zeal. But Mr. Le Vacher, seized 
 by the disorder, soon found himself at the gates of death. 
 God who had destined him to sanctify for more than thirty- 
 five years the captives of Tunis and Algiers, restored him to 
 the prayers of the Christians. " The joy we experienced at 
 his recovery," wrote Mr. Guerin in 1648, " has made us as 
 strong as the lions of our mountains." 
 
 That strength did not last long. Mr. Le Vacher had 
 scarcely recovered, when his companion was attacked by 
 the pestilence. He met death rather with cheerfulness 
 than patience. If any thing afflicted him, it was that he 
 should die in his bed, whilst he had always flattered himself 
 with the happiness of being impaled or burned alive for the 
 glory of his master. His death was shortly followed by that 
 of the consul. The Bey, who loved Mr. Le Vacher, directed 
 him to perform his functions, until the king of France should 
 have appointed another. 
 
 This additional embarrassment did not make him forget the 
 principal object, for which he had been sent to Tunis. His 
 occupation, like that of his brethren, consisted in maintaining 
 in the faith, those whom prayers, threats, and the weight of 
 their chains were likely to withdraw from it; in bringing 
 back, when possible, the renegades who had been so unfortu- 
 nate as to lose it ; in consoling afflicted persons, who, 
 although most innocent, were treated as state criminals ; in 
 teaching them to sanctify their cross by uniting it to that of 
 
300 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Jesus Christ, and finally in administering the sacraments both 
 in the city and the country. 
 
 That the reader may know how to appreciate such great 
 benefits, it is proper to give him some idea of the situation of 
 the Barbary slaves, and of the continual risks which those 
 run who labor for their salvation. 
 
 As to the slaves, that is, the great number of Christians of 
 every age, sex, and condition, who being captured by the 
 Corsairs, are sold in open market, as beasts are elsewhere, it is 
 certain that all are not equally ill-treated. There are some, 
 whose condition nearly resembles that of the lowest domes- 
 tics in France. But in addition to this being yet very hard 
 for persons not accustomed to it, one who has to-day a 
 reasonable master, may be sold two days hence to a furious 
 tiger; whence it is evident that the greatest number of these 
 poor captives are worthy of compassion. 
 
 Those who labor in the country are condemned to a de- 
 structive climate, to cut wood in the forests, to burn coal, or 
 haul stone in the quarries, without a moment of relaxation. 
 "At Biserte," said Mr. Le Vacher, "I found forty shut up in 
 a stable so small that they could scarcely move. They were 
 all chained in pairs, and obliged to grind day after day, with 
 a small hand mill, a stated quantity of flour, which surpassed 
 their strength." 
 
 Those of the cities serve sometimes on shore, and some- 
 times on sea. On shore, they are made to saw marble, but 
 with so much fatigue that their tongues hang out like dogs'. 
 At sea, they are obliged to row almost naked, in spite of the 
 burning heat of the sun in summer, and the severe cold ia 
 winter : and upon the most trifling pretexts, they are loaded 
 with blows by infamous renegades who perform the office 
 of drivers. In such a cruel situation, the facility of break 
 ing their chains, either by injuring their faith, or yielding to 
 the abominable desires of a corrupted master, is a long and 
 dangerous temptation; and how many during more than a 
 century would have fallen, if the children of Vincent of Paul 
 had preferred the tranquillity of Europe, to the often reiterated 
 persecutions and infinite labors which awaited them in Africa? 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 301 
 
 Obliged to pay debts which they have not contracted ; loaded 
 with irons and placed in the rank of slaves, when they cannot 
 do it; subjected to cruel bastinadoes; placed at the mouth of 
 the canon; such is often the mournful but glorious recompense 
 of their ministry. The poisoned air of the bagnios, the pes- 
 tilence attached to the climate, oppression on the part of an 
 inhuman people; these are the flowers which those who are 
 best treated, have to gather : thanks to heaven, these flowers 
 have never failed to produce fruit. Although obliged to sup- 
 press a great portion of it, I shall say enough to edify those 
 who have the courage of finding well done some things they 
 have not done themselves. 
 
 As amongst those who are destined for those painful mis- 
 sions, there is always one who has the honor of being vicar 
 apostolic, the priests and religious who are slaves, and are 
 sometimes found in great numbers, are subjected to his 
 authority. This canonical subordination prevents a mul- 
 titude of evils. The seculars who are in slavery, having the 
 goodness to pay to the masters of these ecclesiastics the month- 
 ly tax, the latter, who had scarcely any thing to do except to 
 say their office, found themselves more at their own disposal 
 in the midst of captivity, than they would have been under 
 the eyes of their superior. Hence arose disorders, and some- 
 times scandals calculated to terrify both Jew and Mahometan. 
 
 The first good done in Barbary by the disciples of Vincent 
 of Paul, was to put a stop to a licentiousness, odious every 
 where, but much more so in an infidel country. Their 
 good example, the wise regulations they published in the 
 name and by the authority of the holy see, the censures 
 which they even sometimes pronounced, but always wilh the 
 proper precaution ; these means, sometimes mild, at others 
 more rigorous, re-established' order and discipline. The gen- 
 tile no longer blasphemed God on account of his ministers, 
 and the simple Christian found nothing in his guides, to 
 authorize apostacy. 
 
 I know not whether this good, great as it is, can be com 
 pared with that which our missionaries did for all the cap- 
 tives. God alone knows the number they strengthened in 
 26 
 
302 LIFE OF ST. VINCF.NT OF PAUL. 
 
 the faith and in the practice of the most exalted virtues; 
 but every one is aware that before their arrival, the slaves, 
 abandoned to themselves and to their cruel reflections, were 
 in the most deplorable situation. Weighed down by the 
 prospect of an endless captivity, the bitterness of which 
 was assuaged by no one, some cut their throats or strangled 
 themselves; others, in a paroxysm of fury, fell upon their 
 masters to kill them, and in punishment of their revolt, 
 were burned alive; a large number denied their faith, and 
 to rid themselves of temporal sufferings, precipitated them 
 selves into those of eternity. The priests of the mission ar- 
 rested these excesses by moving discourses, by alms prudently 
 distributed, and above all, by the administration of the sacra- 
 ments, which are the sources of strength and salvation. If 
 the new church of Africa was less numerous than the ancient 
 one, it gave, and still often gives to the Son of God, confessors 
 and martyrs, whom the most holy bishop of Carthage would 
 have looked upon as his joy and his crown. 
 
 What is most surprising, is, that the exterior pomp of 
 religion, its cbaunt and its ceremonies, never cease there. 
 Twenty -five bagnios, or thereabouts, which are in Algiers, 
 Tunis, and Biserte, have become, by the voluntary savings 
 of the poor captives, so many little temples, where those af- 
 flicted Christians have the consolation of hearing mass and 
 participating in the divine mysteries. Jesus Christ is there 
 night and day with his suffering members. The tabernacle 
 where he reposes, is never without a lighted lamp. Every 
 year, on Corpus Christi, and during the whole octave, he is 
 exposed to public veneration; he is even carried procession- 
 ally in the chapels, and is there followed by a crowd of peo- 
 ple, whose rags do him more honor than purple and the dia- 
 dem. Thus is verified, even in our days, in an infidel coun- 
 try, that expression of the royal prophet: "The Lord said to 
 my Lord, . . . rule thou in the midst of thy enemies." 
 
 The forty hours' devotion and the jubilee are also known in 
 Barbary, and produce there, as elsewhere, the usual miracles. 
 There have been seen, in those days of salvation, hardened men 
 who had lived for twenty and thirty years in the forgetfulness 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 303 
 
 of God, entering seriously into themselves, and becoming at 
 last models of penance. Deserters of the faith, Frenchmen, 
 Spaniards, and Italians, have then been seen detesting their 
 apostacy and taking efficacious measures to repair it. 
 
 Although the Mahometans are not the main object for which 
 our priests are sent to Barbary, it is however certain that some 
 have been gained ; but they have been much more happy 
 with regard to Protestants. A single one of those worthy 
 missionaries converted eighteen, and there is much reason to 
 believe that his colleagues, who possessed no less zeal and 
 talents, have been as successful, if not more so. 
 
 Amongst these conversions, there was one more remarka- 
 ble than the others. It Was that of a child who, being cap- 
 tured by the Corsairs on the coast of England, was sold at 
 Tunis : we shall give an account of it, nearly in the terms in 
 which Mr. Guerin wrote it to St. Vincent, in 1646. " Two 
 Englishmen have been converted to our holy faith, and they 
 are an example to all the other Catholics. There is a third, 
 only eleven years old ; he is one of the most amiable chil- 
 dren, and one of the most fervent Christians. He continually 
 invokes the Blessed Virgin, that through her he may obtain 
 the grace to die rather than deny Jesus Christ. This his master 
 uses every means to make him do. He has been twice beaten 
 unmercifully on that account. On the last occasion he said to 
 his master, whilst he was beating him : ' Cut off my head, 
 if you will, for I am a Christian, and will never be any thing 
 else.' He has protested to me several times that he would 
 expire under the blows sooner than deny his divine Saviour. 
 He might be ransomed with two hundred piastres, and he 
 would be a second Bede, so great are his talents and virtue." 
 
 What Mr. le Vacher wrote to our saint, in 1648, is no less 
 consoling. We shall give the substance of it. 
 
 There were at Tunis two children, about fifteen years old, 
 one born in France, the other in England. Both had been 
 carried away from their country, and sold to two masters 
 who lived near each other. Age, neighborhood, and simi- 
 larity of fortune, united them so closely, that two brothers 
 could not love each other more. The English child was a 
 
304 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL.. 
 
 Lutheran ; the French, who was a Catholic, excited in him 
 doubts about, his religion. Mr. le Vacher completed the work ; 
 but he did it so perfectly, that he declared in presence of the 
 merchants of his nation, who had come to Tunis to ransom 
 the captives of their sect, that he preferred to live and die a 
 slave, rather than renounce the true religion. 
 
 These two young friends saw each other as often as possi- 
 ble. Their conversations usually turned upon the happiness 
 of suffering a thousand deaths, rather than to deny their faith. 
 Providence had great designs with regard to these two chil- 
 dren, as was soon evident. Their masters took it into their 
 heads, to force them to deny Jesus Christ. In the absence of 
 reasoning, to which a good Mussulman does not pretend, they 
 had recourse to bad treatment, and without regard either for 
 their age or virtue, they carried their inhumanity to the last 
 excess. 
 
 The young French lad, having been one day overwhelmed 
 with blows, and left for dead upon the spot, his companion, 
 who often stole away to console him, found him in this 
 pitiable situation. He called him by his name, to ascertain 
 whether he was still alive. The sound of his voice awoke 
 him from his insensibility ; but as he was not perfectly con- 
 scious of what had happened, and did not know why he 
 was called, his first words were a profession of faith : " I am 
 a Christian for life," replied he. At these words the little 
 English boy threw himself at his feet, and bruised and bloody 
 as they were, kissed them with respectful tenderness. Some 
 Turks who surprised him in the act, having asked him what 
 he was doing there : " I honor," replied he, like a man pre- 
 pared for every event, "I honor the members which have 
 just suffered for Jesus Christ, my Saviour and my God." 
 This answer, which they did not expect, caused him to be 
 injuriously driven away. It was a real affliction for the 
 French lad, who was much consoled by his presence. 
 
 As soon as he was able to walk, he paid a visit to his friend. 
 He found him in the same condition in which, a short time 
 before, he had himself been found ; that is to say, stretched 
 upon a mat, half dead from the blows he had received 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 305 
 
 and surrounded by Turks, who feasted their eyes upon the 
 cruel spectacle. At the sight, his courage and faith were re- 
 animated, he approached his friend, and asked him, in pre- 
 sence of the infidels, which he loved better, Jesus Christ or 
 Mahomet. " Jesus Christ," replied the English boy aloud ; 
 " I am a Christian, and I will die a Christian." 
 
 A Turk, who had two knives in his belt, becoming desperate 
 at this discourse, threatened the French lad to cut off his ears. 
 He had already advanced to do it, when the young hero 
 showed him that he could not be frightened at such a trifle. 
 Without deliberating, he flew to the instrument with which he 
 was threatened, himself cut off one of his ears, and asked those 
 barbarians if they would have him cut off the other. They 
 then learned that neither sword nor torment could separate 
 from the Son of God, a Christian who truly belongs to him. 
 Astonished and confused, they left these two youths in peace, 
 and no longer spoke to them either of Mahomet or of the 
 Alcoran. He who from the high heavens had been witness 
 of their combats, did not delay crowning them. The follow- 
 ing year a contagious disorder carried them both off: " Forti- 
 ores Uonihui, in morte quoque mm sunt divisi" (2 Reg. i). 
 
 To these moving examples, I might add those of a new Jo- 
 seph, who, being calumniated by his lewd mistress, suffered 
 the most rigorous torments ; and of two other slaves, one of 
 whom was impaled at Tunis, and the other burned alive at 
 Algiers, for being unwilling to yield to a passion still mure 
 abominable ; and of a fourth, who, after having been circum- 
 cised to avoid the galleys of the grand signior, from which 
 there is no egress, trampled under his feet, in presence of the 
 bashaw who had seduced him, the turban which he had re- 
 ceived , and being reconciled a moment before his death by 
 Mr; Le Vacher, suffered with heroical intrepidity the torment 
 of fire. But what we have said, is enough to show that 
 Vincent of Paul procured for Barbary advantages, which, to 
 be rightly esteemed, need no pompous expressions, much less 
 exaggeration. A man who, by the means of three or four 
 priests, knows how to restrain a great number of ecclesiastics, 
 seculars or regulars ; to strengthen twenty or twenty-five thou- 
 
306 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 sand slaves in the faith; to cause, in spite of the most fright 
 ful torments, those who had abjured Christianity, to renounce 
 Mahomet; to recall to the unity of the church those whom 
 the prejudices of education had separated from it ; a man of 
 this character, and that man was Vincent of Paul, would 
 merit the respect of the Christian world, even if he had done 
 nothing more. 
 
 Yet this was not the limit of his zeal. I do violence to 
 myself in suppressing the missions which he made at the so- 
 liciiation of Louise Marie de Gonzaga, in every part of Po- 
 land, where his priests had to struggle against the horrors 
 of war, pestilence, famine, and the Socinian heresy, which 
 had established its seat in these regions, and which, notwith- 
 standing the great number of seductive volumes it produced, 
 subsists there no longer. Yet, I believe, I must say a word 
 of those which he caused to be undertaken in the territories 
 of the republic of Genoa, in Ireland, and in Scotland. We 
 shall see that these may be put in competition with those 
 of which we have already spoken. 
 
 MISSIONS IN THE ISLAND OF CORSICA AND IN 
 . PIEDMONT. 
 
 The island of Corsica belonged to the republic of Genoa. 
 Its inhabitants had always been looked upon as a people 
 without morals, faith, or honesty. Brave to excess, they 
 were furiously quarrelsome and vindictive, unwilling to par- 
 don, or listen to terms of accommodation. They must be 
 revenged. Every relation of their enemy, even to the third 
 degree, through a fiction of right, was thought to be guilty 
 of the injury they had received. Thus there was no security 
 for a family, one of the members of which had committed a 
 fault. All had to be on their guard. Wo to the first who 
 was surprised ! his ignorance, even his absence, did not ex- 
 cuse him; and one who, on leaving his house in the morning, 
 was on good terms with every body, became guilty by sleep- 
 ing in the house of the offenders, and was consequently as- 
 sassinated in the evening, before he returned home. To merit 
 this cruel treatment, those atrocious injuries which push pa- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF TAUL. 307 
 
 tience to extremity, were not necessary; a word stronger than 
 usual was sufficient; a word badly received was a crime worthy 
 of death ; and it was to be in a condition to take prompt ven- 
 geance, that the Corsicans always went armed, as if they had 
 been in a state of war. 
 
 Ferocity, or rather barbarity, was not the only vice which 
 reigned in this unfortunate country, when the children of 
 Vincent of Paul were called . thither. Ignorance, impiety, 
 concubinage, incest, robbery, perjury, prohibited marriages, 
 the most scandalous divorces, were so many monsters which 
 laid it waste. 
 
 For a long time the cry of so many crimes had been heard 
 at Genoa, upon which those islanders were dependant. But 
 crime had so strongly intrenched . itself, that it seemed very 
 difficult to attack it. The good which the priests of the mis ■ 
 sion were actually doing in the territory of the republic, in- 
 duced the principal members of the senate to think that these 
 apostolic men would not be useless in Corsica, and that if 
 they could not plant all the virtues in that soil, they might at 
 least root out many vices. With that view, these prudent 
 magistrates begged Vincent of Paul, in a letter replete with 
 piety, to have compassion on a people, who, criminal as they 
 were, had cost the Saviour his blood and his death. The 
 glory of God, and the salvation of souls were in question; 
 the saint did not hesitate. He sent seven of his priests, and 
 although of the seven bishoprics of Corsica, only those of 
 Mariana and Nebbio were suffragans of Genoa, Cardinal Du- 
 razzo joined with these seven missionaries, eight other eccle- 
 siastics, four of whom were religious, the other four seculars. 
 
 As soon as these fifteen evangelical laborers had landed, 
 they set to the work. Hard as it was, they made four mis- 
 sions ; the first at Campo Lauro, where the bishop of Aleria 
 usually resides ; the second at Cotone; the third at Coste, 
 which is in the middle of the island, and the fourth at Niolo. 
 As there is something more interesting connected with the last, 
 we shall speak of it particularly, after having given a general 
 account of the three others. 
 
 The first fruit which they produced, was the conversion of 
 
S08 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 a number of ecclesiastics, who were worth but little, and 
 consequently were worse than the people. Every day, after 
 the sermon, they were assembled in the church. The su- 
 perior of the mission instructed them in the duties of their 
 state. His discourse was followed by a meditation, when, 
 each one entering into his own heart, found there sufficient 
 subject for lamentation. This self-examination, which, when 
 well conducted, leads to the reformation of manners, produced 
 salutary effects. The clergy, as well as the people, made 
 general confessions. All took a firm resolution to acquit them- 
 selves thenceforward, with all possible fidelity, of their duties 
 to God and their neighbor. Several curates publicly asked 
 pardon for the scandal they had given. A chapter in a body 
 thought that the same edification should be given by them, and 
 they deputed one of the canons to do it in the name of all the 
 others. 
 
 The second fruit of these exercises was the extinction of 
 hatred and animosities. Sacrifices were carried in this respect 
 as far as they could go. One pardoned the death of his fa- 
 ther, another that of his son ; this one the murder of his bro- 
 ther, that the massacre of her husband. Calumnious accu- 
 sations were also forgiven, but in so Christian a manner, that 
 people who had been menaced with the loss of reputation or 
 life, wished neither the reparation of their honor nor indemni- 
 fication. Nor were these important reconciliations to be counted 
 by tens or twenties ; there was not a village in which they 
 did not amount to fifty, and in some they amounted to a 
 hundred. 
 
 The cessation of criminal intercourse was another effect 
 of these missions. Not only women, whose disorderly con- 
 duct was notorious, asked pardon publicly, but there were some 
 who could only be reproached with what worldlings are every 
 day guilty of, who thought, without being spoken to on the 
 subject, that they ought to humble themselves before God and 
 men for the freedom of their conduct, and their unguarded 
 manners. This kind of general confession, whether indiscreet 
 or not, which I shall not examine, caused the witnesses to 
 ohed abundance of tears ; they served, moreover, to inspire 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 30& 
 
 young persons with a just horror of crime, and of every thin? 
 that wears the appearance of it. 
 
 The last fruit of these missions was the establishment of the 
 confraternity of charity, which, by procuring temporal and spi- 
 ritual aid for a great number of poor sick persons, furnished 
 those who ministered to them the means of redeeming their 
 former iniquities. 
 
 The mission of Niolo was attended with circumstances which 
 oblige us to speak somewhat more at large of it. We can do 
 so with the greater confidence, as we have as security for the 
 facts, a man replenished with virtue, who relates nothing but 
 what happened under his own eyes. 
 
 " Niolo," he says, " is a long valley of nearly three leagues, 
 and surrounded by mountains so difficult of access, that I have 
 seen nothing equal, either in Savoy or in the Pyrenees. It is 
 the difficulty of the roads that makes of Niolo the retreat 
 of all the banditti of the island. Under cover of the rocks, 
 they exercise with impunity their murders and robberies, fear- 
 less "of the officers of justice. 
 
 "There are several small villages in this valley, and it con- 
 tains about two thousand inhabitants. I have never seen, and 
 I do not know that there are throughout Christianity, people 
 more abandoned than these. When we arrived, their whole 
 faith consisted in saying that they had been baptized, and all 
 their religion amounted to their attending some churches 
 which were very badly kept. They were so profoundly ig- 
 norant of the things of salvation, that it would have been very 
 difficult to find there one hundred persons, who knew the com- 
 mandments of God and the Apostles' Creed. Vice passed with 
 them for virtue, and revenge was so rife, that the children, in 
 learning to talk, learned also never to suffer the least offence 
 to go unpunished. It was useless to preach the pardon of in- 
 juries to them ; example and bad advice had made such deep 
 impressions upon their minds, that they were not capable of 
 receiving contrary ones. 
 
 " There were many who passed seven or eight months 
 without hearing mass; others who had been three, four, eight, 
 or ten years without going to confession ; and some at the age of 
 
310 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 fifteen or sixteen had never approached the tribunal of penance. 
 With these vices, they necessarily had many others. They 
 •were much inclined to theft. They knew nothing of absti- 
 nence during lent, or on the other days on which it is com- 
 manded. They persecuted each other like barbarians ; and 
 when they had an enemy, their ordinary method was to lay 
 some great crime to his charge, and have him brought to jus- 
 tice. False witnesses were never wanting, as many could 
 be had for money at Niolo, as were needed. If the deposi- 
 tions of these were rendered useless by others obtained at the 
 same price, the accuser and the accused look justice into their 
 own hands; they killed one another on the first occasion, 
 with the most astonishing facility. 
 
 " In that valley alone," continues the author of the relation 
 which I abridge to spare the imagination of the reader ; " we 
 found one hundred and twenty persons living in concubinage, 
 about eighty of whom were in some degree guilty of incest. 
 Forty of these had been excommunicated by name on that ac- 
 count. But the fear of censures did not prevent them from fol- 
 lowing their ordinary course. They lived and conversed with 
 every body. Thus in this canton, a great portion of the in- 
 habitants were excommunicated, some directly, others indirectly. 
 
 " This is the deplorable state in which these poor people 
 were found, when the mission commenced, and these are the 
 means which we took to remedy so many disorders. 
 
 " 1. We used all possible diligence in instructing them in the 
 things necessary for salvation ; and for that purpose we em- 
 ployed nearly three weeks. 
 
 " 2. We separated those living in concubinage who were 
 upon the spot ; and on the day of St. Peter, the patron of the 
 church in which we were, all those miserable persons who ac- 
 knowledged at length the wretched condition in which they had 
 lived, having knelt down at the end of the sermon, publicly 
 asked pardon for the scandal they had given, and promised 
 with an oath to separate, which they in fact did, before ap- 
 proaching the tribunal of penance. 
 
 " 3. After having thus separated those who were under 
 censures for their crimes, they presented themselves with all 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 311 
 
 the marks of a contrite and humble heart at the door of the 
 church, to receive absolution. It was solemnly imparted to 
 them; but it was not given, until they had engaged by a pub- 
 lic oath never to see one another on any pretence. 
 
 " The most arduous part of our labor was yet undone; we 
 had to re-establish peace in a ferocious nation, the greater part 
 of which was living in enmity : Hoe opus, hie labor. Our 
 first efforts were entirely useless ; and for fifteen whole days, 
 we could gain but one young man, who pardoned another 
 for having wounded him in the head by a pistol shot. All 
 the others remained inflexible; and all that we could say pro- 
 duced no effect on any one. Notwithstanding these bad dis- 
 positions, there was always a great crowd at the discourses 
 which we delivered every day, morning and evening. Never 
 was there a more alarming auditory. All the men attended 
 in their customary dress; that is, with a sword at their side, 
 and a gun on their shoulder. But besides these arms, the 
 banditti and other criminals had likewise two pistols, and two 
 or three daggers in their belts. The spirit of vengeance so 
 strongly possessed them, that the most moving instruction 
 made no impression upon them. Many, indeed, when we 
 spoke of the pardon of injuries, left the church. 
 
 " At length, on the eve of the day on which the general 
 communion is usually made, as I was about to finish preach- 
 ing, I again exhorted that unfortunate people to pardon. God 
 then inspired me to take in my hand the crucifix which I car- 
 ried about me, and to tell the assembly, that those who were 
 willing to show mercy to their enemies, should come to kiss 
 the feet of it. I conjured them to do so, on the part of a dy- 
 ing God, who stretched out his arms towards them ; and I told 
 them that this homage rendered to the Saviour, would be a 
 proof of their will to be reconciled with those who had of- 
 fended them. At these words, they began to look at each 
 other; but as no one moved, I made a motion to retire, after 
 having complained bitterly of their wonderful insensibility. 
 A religious of the reform of St. Francis, who was present, 
 was moved; and filled with a just and holy indignation, he 
 began to cry out: 'O Niolo! unfortunate Niolo! you will 
 
312 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 perish then 1 you will be cursed by God ? You are unwil- 
 ling to receive the grace which he sends you by means of 
 these missionaries who have come so far for your salvation.' 
 He was still speaking, when a curate, whose nephew had 
 been killed, came forward, prostrated himself on the ground, 
 and asked to kiss the crucifix; then calling by name the mur- 
 derer who was present, he said aloud, ' Let such a one ap- 
 proach that I may embrace him.' After this, another priest 
 did the same with regard to some of his enemies; and these 
 two were followed by such a multitude, that for the space of 
 an hour nothing was to be seen but reconciliations and em- 
 braces. For greater security, the most important things were 
 reduced to writing, and the notary authenticated them. O 
 Lord!" exclaims the pious missionary to whom we owe this 
 detail, " what edification for the earth, what joy for heaven 
 to behold fathers and mothers pardoning for the love of God 
 the death of their children ; children that of their parents, 
 wives that of their husbands, brethren and relations that of 
 their nearest friends ! What a consolation to behold implaca- 
 ble enemies embrace and shed tears over each other! In 
 other countries, it is usual to see penitents shed tears at the 
 feet of their confessors, but in Corsica it is a kind of miracle." 
 Thus terminated the important mission of Niolo. If, ac- 
 cording to the maxim of the apostle of the Indies, a man who 
 takes the trouble to go to the end of the world should not re- 
 gret that step, if he be so happy as to prevent one mortal sin, 
 what must we think of those who have the happiness to ar- 
 rest or to suspend, at least for a time, the frightful disorders 
 of which we have spoken. What gives new splendor to the 
 mercy of God, is, that a little delay would have destroyed all. 
 The next day the missionaries had orders to go to Bastie, where 
 a galley sent expressly by the senate awaited them. They how- 
 ever deferred embarking for two days, and those two days were 
 employed in putting a finishing hand to some reconciliations 
 which had only been commenced. On Tuesday, one of them 
 delivered a discourse on perseverance. There was so great a 
 crowd of people, that it was necessary to preach outside of the 
 church. There the pardon of injuries seemed no longer impos- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 313 
 
 Bible. All renewed the protestations which they had already 
 made, to lead a truly Christian life, and to persevere to the end. 
 The pastors, who had much to reproach themselves with, pro- 
 mised aloud to be more faithful in fulfilling their obligations. 
 
 A rain which fell, prevented the missionaries from setting 
 out the same day. It would appear as if this obstacle were 
 interposed by Providence. At a league from Niolo there were 
 two men whose brother had been killed. Both had so cruel 
 a thirst for revenge, that, like the impious man spoken of in 
 the book of Job (xv, 25), their souls were strengthened against 
 the Almighty. For fear that grace would induce them to 
 pardon, they had kept from all the exercises of the mission. 
 All that their curate could obtain from them was, that they 
 would suspend the effects of their resentment, until they had 
 spoken to the director of the missionaries. The bad weather 
 gave opportunity for that interview, which the orders of the 
 senate would have prevented. It was completely successful. 
 Those haughty spirits yielded to the holy zeal which was in 
 search of them. They consented to forgive, and thus placed 
 the seal on the public joy. A great number of ecclesiastics, 
 and the principal inhabitants of Niolo conducted the mis- 
 sionaries to the place of their embarkation. The latter dis- 
 charged their fire arms several times, as a mark of gratitude. 
 It was a long time since they had put them to so moderate 
 and so lawful a use. 
 
 I do not doubt that the pious reader would follow with plea- 
 sure those virjtuous disciples of the humble Vincent in their 
 expeditions into Piedmont, where He who is pleased to make 
 use of the weakest instruments to confound the wisdom and 
 strength of the heroes of the world, gave to their labors a 
 benediction which he never bestows upon vain and frivolous 
 eloquence. But a detail so consoling for those who love the 
 glory of Jesus Christ, a detail which is amply furnished in 
 the large life of our saint, could not, any more than many 
 others, enter into such an abridgment as this. Therefore, 
 without saying any thing of the success of these virtuous 
 priests at Schalenghe near Pignerol , in the environs of Lu- 
 zerne, where the largest churches could not contain their 
 27 
 
314 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 hearers ; at Raconi, where they had the grief and the joy to 
 behold poor people, who during a rigorous winter, were wait- 
 ing for them at the doors of the church, during a portion of the 
 night ; at Savigliano, where the people, the nobility, the secu- 
 lar clergy, and the religious of five or six convents profited 
 with equal ardor by their instructions; I shall be contented 
 with speaking of the celebrated mission which they made at 
 Bra, a large town of thirteen or fourteen thousand souls. 
 
 This place which is but a day's journey from Turin, was 
 in a state of disorder equal to civil war, if it did not go beyond 
 it. The streets were fortified, the houses filled with armed 
 men, some of whom fired upon the passers by, others stood a 
 siege agaiast those who assailed them. The churches which, 
 in Piedmont, as in the rest of Italy, serve as asylums for cer- 
 tain criminals, sheltered no one from the vengeance of his 
 enemy : the citizen killed his fellow-citizen in the very temple 
 of the Lord : in a word, Bra contained a mob of furious 
 wr.etches who destroyed one another. 
 
 The time of such violent commotion was not suited for 
 a mission. It would even have been very dangerous to 
 commence it at that time : no one could have attended, with- 
 out running the risk of his life : and five or six strangers, who 
 had nothing but peace to announce, would have certainly 
 been driven away by a desperate people breathing nothing but 
 war. Christina of France, duchess of Savoy, who governed 
 the state during the minority of Charles Emmanuel, her son, 
 saw these obstacles. To overcome them, she sent her princi- 
 pal ministers to Bra, in order to induce to a suspension of 
 arms those wretched inhabitants whom she could have de- 
 stroyed by force, but whom she preferred to gain by mildness. 
 Those ministers assembled the multitude; they spoke With pru- 
 dence and reason, and that was enough to render them un- 
 successful. 
 
 The regent, the daughter of Henry the Great had firm- 
 ness as well as mildness. After having spoken as a mother 
 she threatened as a sovereign. The hearts of the people were 
 not softened, but hostilities were a little less active. It was 
 the feeble glimmer of this diminution of animosity, tha? 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 315 
 
 the missionaries entered Bra. They were at once so happy 
 as to induce the two parties to lay aside their arms, which 
 they had not as yet done. So soon as they could go abroad 
 with safety, and enter the church, the people flocked thither 
 in crowds. Their assiduousness at the sermons and cate- 
 chism consoled the priests of the mission very much. They 
 were still more consoled, when they saw their hearts softened 
 and disposed to peace. They were not long before concluding 
 it. Those people, who a few months before, were animated 
 by a spirit of vengeance, embraced one another in* the pre- 
 sence of the blessed sacrament, after having asked pardon, 
 both in the church, and in the public places; but in so tender, 
 so affectionate a manner, that it was impossible to doubt the 
 sincerity of their reconciliation. 
 
 This first step being taken, they went into the confessional. 
 The crowd was there so great, that although all the priests 
 and all the religious of the place united in their aid, the mis- 
 sion lasted seven weeks. There were from nine to ten thou- 
 sand general confessions made. The spirit of piety breathed 
 in all hearts, and effected every where that interior renovation 
 which can only be its work. The time of the carnival, 
 which is generally spent in folly and excesses, was there a 
 time of penance, and like a continual feast -of the greatest 
 devotion. Peace was so solidly established, that the inhabi- 
 tants did not remember even to have witnessed such union 
 and cordiality. Her royal highness had already congratulated 
 the missionaries in a very kind letter on the happy success of 
 their labors; but when at the end of the mission the direc- 
 tor rendered her a more detailed account of it, she\ was so 
 much affected, that she could not restrain her tears. To com- 
 plete so many advantages, she gave the inhabitants of Bra 
 full pardon for all the crimes and excesses into which they 
 had fallen during their divisions. 
 
 It is difficult to quit a subject so full of interest for religion 
 as this is. But we must necessarily sacrifice a part, that we 
 may not sacrifice another entirely. Let us then go from 
 Italy into Ireland and Scotland. The scene is about to 
 change. We shall not find the people armed against the peo- 
 
316 I-1FE OF ST. VJKCENT OP PAUI/. 
 
 pie. But piety will find enough to weep for on one side; and 
 on the other, enough to praise the infinite mercies of the Lord. 
 
 MISSIONS IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND, 
 
 It was at the solicitation of Innocent X, that St. Vincent 
 sent missionaries into Ireland. As the circumstances of the 
 times rendered this succor more necessary than ever, the 
 saint, without delay, sent eight of his priests, some of whom 
 on their arrival labored in (he diocess of Limerick, the others 
 in that of Cashei. The people of the country, who languished 
 in profound ignorance, were made acquainted with the obli- 
 gations which Christianity imposes upon ils professors. They 
 were vested with that spirit of strength which breaks the 
 chains of sin, and teaches us to die for the faith in the time of 
 persecution. The change of heart was so general and so 
 sudden,, that the bishops of Ireland could scarcely believe it. 
 The nuncio whom the pope had still in that kingdom, con- 
 gratulated those truly apostolical men on their zeal. The 
 parish priests and other ecclesiastics, who were always the 
 first to follow the exercises of the missionaries, seized So well 
 their manner of catechising and instructing, that they pre- 
 served in their parishes the fervor of which those worthy 
 priests had laid the foundation. 
 
 Never was fervor more necessary both for pastors and peo- 
 ple. Oliver Cromwell, after having planned and executed the 
 impious scheme which brought the king of England to the 
 block, taught Ireland, which had proclaimed the prince of 
 Wales under the name of James II, that his will was not to 
 be opposed with impunity. Although the Catholic's were not 
 the only ones who detested the enormous crime of Cromwell, 
 they had a greater share than any other persons in the mis 
 fortunes of the royalists. But there was not a single one of 
 the pastors where the mission had been made, who abandoned 
 his flock. All without exception remained, until banishment 
 or a violent death separated them. It is known that one of 
 4he most fervent of those worthy pastors, after havino- made 
 his annual confession to a missionary who was lodged in a 
 poor hut at the foot of a mountain, was the night afterwards 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 317 
 
 taken and massacred by heretical soldiers, whilst administer- 
 ing the sacraments to the sick. His glorious death crowned 
 a most innocent life. For a long time he had desired to shed 
 his blood for the faith and for charity ; God thought him 
 worthy of it, and his prayers were heard. 
 
 As the flames of persecution spread more and more 
 throughout Hibernia, and it was no longer possible to make 
 missions there, Vincent of Paul, who was informed .of it, 
 gave orders to five of his priests to recross the sea ; and to the 
 other three, to remain at Limerick. The bishop proposed to 
 them to make a mission in that city. The undertaking was 
 pretty considerable. Limerick had then twenty thousand 
 communicants, because a number of Catholic villagers had 
 taken refuge in it. But of what are not three priests capable, 
 when, assembled in the name of the Lord, they can calculate 
 upon his being in the midst of them? Sustained by his grace, 
 and encouraged by the prelate who placed himself at their 
 head, these gentlemen announced judgment and mercy. The 
 spirit of dread and compunction was at first insinuated 
 amongst the people. Each one thought seriously of his con- 
 science ; and of twenty thousand persons capable of profiting 
 by the mission, not one failed making a general confession. 
 People who had grown old in sin, gave marks of true conver- 
 sion ; and a numerous people was seen in a situation to serve 
 as a model of the most exact penance. 
 
 Such holy dispositions could not have been manifested at a 
 more proper, time. The contagion soon reached Limerick; 
 and in a little time it was so violent, that it carried off nearly 
 eight thousand persons. Of this number was the brother of 
 the bishop, who had exposed himself with the missionaries 
 and like them, .in consoling the sick and supplying their 
 ■necessities. It was admirable to behold the patience, or rather 
 the peace with which this afflicted people received the scourge 
 with which God visited them. They died contented, "because, 
 said they, " the Lord has sent us angels who have reconciled 
 us to him.'' The pious bishop of Limerick, who, as a gooc 
 father, knew better than any one else how to appreciate such 
 holy dispositions, could not contain his tears. "Alas !" said 
 27* 
 
318 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 he a hundred times, " had Mr. Vincent done for the glory of 
 God only the good which he has done for these poor people, 
 he ought to think himself happy." 
 
 To the horrors of the contagion succeeded those of war. 
 Ireton.the son-in-law of Cromwell, besieged Limerick, and at 
 the end of four or five months became master of it. The 
 army of the parliamentarians, inflated with their success, 
 which, however, it owed to famine, naturally stained its vic- 
 tory : it made it a point of religion to do so. Many of the 
 inhabitants were put to death, precisely because they preferred 
 the ancient faith of the Roman church to the new faith of 
 the English tyrant. Four of the principal citizens were of 
 this number, at whose head was Thomas Strick, mayor of 
 the city. These brave men went to the place of execution, 
 like warriors to a triumph. Before execution they harangued 
 the people according to the custom of the country; but they 
 did it in so moving a manner, that the heretics themselves 
 were melted to tears. They declared in the face of heaven 
 and earth, that they died for the faith ; and by that glorious 
 acknowledgment they taught the Catholics who were present, 
 that there was no death or torment that should separate them 
 from the religion of their fathers. 
 
 Of the three missionaries who had remained in Ireland, 
 only two returned to Paris, after having passed at Limerick, 
 through all the terrors of pestilence and war. The third 
 finished his career there; the others disguised themselves and 
 escaped as they could. One of them retired to his own coun- 
 try with the grand vicar of Cashel. The other found in the 
 mountains a pious woman who concealed him for two months. 
 A brother who waited on them was less fortunate, or rather 
 more so. The heretics having discovered his retreat, massa- 
 cred him under the eyes of his mother. They broke his 
 head, after having cut off his feet and hands; an inhuman and 
 barbarous treatment, which taught the priests what they 
 would have to expect, should they be seized. 
 
 These missionaries labored in Ireland, nearly six years ; and 
 with the exception of some help given them by the duchess 
 of Aiguillon, it was the house of St. Lazarus, which through 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 319 
 
 the inexhaustible charily of its superior, supported the rest of 
 the expense. Vincent, although reduced to extremity, did not 
 regret it. More than eighty thousand general confessions, 
 and ether innumerable advantages, were ample indemnifica- 
 tion for him. We should have been acquainted with much 
 more, had his humility permitted it. But when the superior 
 of these painful missions, on his return to Paris, asked him if 
 it would not be proper to furnish a little relation of them, he 
 answered, " that it was sufficient that God knew all that had 
 been done; and that the humility of our Lord required of the 
 little company of the mission, that it should keep hidden in 
 God with Jesus Christ. He added that the blood of those 
 martyrs would not be .forgotten before God, and that sooner 
 or later it would be the seed of new Catholics." Indeed that 
 blood must have been very efficacious; for Ireland, although, 
 always oppressed by the most unjust persecution, still counts 
 so great a number of zealous Catholics. 
 
 The saint was yet ignorant of the destiny of his missiona- 
 ries in Hibernia, when he formed the design of sending others 
 to the Hebrides. When we reflect, that at the same time he 
 sent priests into Poland, Barbary, and Madagascar, and I 
 know not how many other countries ; that by the acknow- 
 ledgment of the friends and even the enemies of his congrega- 
 tions, those worthy laborers had the most astonishing success 
 every where ; that the immense expenses of their voyages 
 and their support fell principally upon him, can we well help 
 saying what has been said, or rather what could not be said 
 by illustrious historians, of the first of the Caesars 1 What a 
 man was that Vincent of Paul! what courage! what great- 
 ness of soul! what zeal for God! what detachment from 
 every temporal interest! what talent for forming in a few 
 years, sometimes in a few months, ministers ready to do every 
 thing, and to suffer every thing under his orders ! Those 
 whom we have hitherto eulogised, appeared such to us ; but 
 their brethren, who are going to appear in their turn, will not 
 appear to us less great, or less worthy of the choice which 
 their first superior made of them. Let us begin by giving 
 some idea of the country which they had to overrun. 
 
320 | LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL,. 
 
 The Hebrides are situated to the West of Scotland. There 
 are but forty-four which merit attention. It appears that the 
 greater part of them are barren, and generally speaking, thpt 
 the inhabitants are very poor. This extreme indigence did 
 not prevent their having Catholic priests before the English 
 schism. The preachers who were substituted to them, soon 
 became disgusted with their situation, as it was not sufficient 
 for them to preach reform, but necessary to practice it. Hence 
 the inhabitants by degrees had neither true nor false pastors. 
 The exercise of all religion was insensibly abolished. Igno- 
 rance became so rife; that the necessity of baptism, or at least 
 the manner of administering it was unknown: and, at the 
 time of which we speak, old men were to be found in this 
 unhappy country, of eighty and even of a hundred years, who 
 had not been baptised. 
 
 As soon as Vincent was informed of the melancholy situa- 
 tion of these islanders, he made a proposition to two of his 
 priests, one of whom was of that country, the- other was an 
 Irishman, to fly to their aid. The undertaking was a most 
 hazardous one, in consequence of the violence of Cromwell 
 and the troubles of the three kingdoms. The proposition was 
 however accepted with joy and gratitude. Germain Duiguin 
 and Francois le Blanc, upon whom the holy priest had fixed 
 his eyes, disguised themselves as merchants, and took the route 
 of Holland, from whence their departure would be less liable 
 to suspicion. They met with a Scotch nobleman of the name 
 of Clangary, a man illustrious for his birth and virtue, and 
 who had lately embraced the Catholic religion. He. took them 
 at once under his protection, and always rendered them every 
 good office. 
 
 They were scarcely in Scotland, When they believed them- 
 selves lost; for a priest who had beeome a minister, having 
 recognised them, spread the news of their, arrival by a circu- 
 lar letter which went the rounds of the whole kingdom. 
 They argued nothing but what was sinister from this com 
 mencement ; but God knew how to make it redound to his 
 glory. The apostate, who was visited by a dangerous sick- 
 ness "acknowledged that the hand of God punished his 
 
UFE OF ST. VINCENT OP r-AtfL.' 321 
 
 desertion and ill will. He deplored his error, promised God 
 to atone for his fault, set out as soon as his strength would 
 permit him, made a long journey in search of Mr. Duiguin, 
 and received from, him absolution of the censures which he 
 had incurred by his apostacy. 
 
 Vincent of Paul was more than eighteen months, without 
 receiving any accounts from these missionaries. At last a 
 letter from Duiguin partly calmed his uneasiness. We shall 
 give it somewhat abridged. 
 
 "God has granted us the favor, since our arrival in Scot- 
 land, to co-operate in the conversion of the father of Mr. 
 Changary. He was an old man of ninety years of age, 
 brought up in. the heresy from his youth. We instructed 
 him, and reconciled him to the church during a sickness which 
 soon brought him to the grave, after however receiving the 
 sacraments and manifesting unspeakable joy at dying a 
 Catholic. I also reconciled, but secretly, several of his 
 domestics and some of his friends. This being done, I left 
 my companion in the mountainous parts of Scotland where 
 the spiritual wants are great and much good can be done. 
 I transported myself to the Hebrides, where God, through his 
 all-powerful mercy; has effected wonders beyond every ex- 
 pectation : for he disposed. the hearts so well, that Mr. Clan- 
 renald, lord. of a good part of the island of Vista, was con- 
 verted together with his wife, his son and all their family, 
 and the example has been followed by all the gentlemen, 
 their vassals and families. 
 
 "I went afterwards to the island of Eggaand Canna. God 
 has there converted eight or nine hundred persons who were 
 so little instructed in religious matters, that there were not 
 fifteen acquainted with any mystery of the Christian faith. 
 I hope that the remainder will soon give glory to God. I 
 found thirty or forty persons of seventy, eighty, and a hun- 
 dred and more years of age, who had never received holy 
 baptism. T instructed and baptised them : they died shortly 
 after, and without doubt they are now praying to God for 
 those who procured them so great an advantage. A great 
 portion of the inhabitants lived in concubinage, but thanks to 
 
322 UFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 God we have remedied that. We have taken nothing, from 
 these people for the services we rendered them ; but I must 
 employ two men, one to help me to row when I go from one 
 island to another, and to carry my vestments and my little 
 baggage by land ; for sometimes, before celebrating, I am 
 obliged to travel four or five leagues on foot in bad roadsj 
 the other assists me, to teach the pater, ave, and credo; and 
 serves mass, he being the only one who can do it. 
 
 " Generally we eat but one meal a day, and that consists of 
 oat or barley bread with cheese or salt butter. Sometimes 
 we pass whole days without eating, because we find nothing, 
 particularly when we have to cross deserts and uninhabited 
 mountains. It would doubtless be rendering a great service 
 to God to send to this country'good evangelical laborers who 
 knew the language of the islands well^and who moreover 
 knew how to bear hunger, thirst, and to lie upon the ground." 
 
 In another letter which this worthy son of St. Vincent 
 wrote to him in .1654, he told him in substance, that he had 
 visited the islands of Vista, Canna, Egga, and Skia, and 
 several parts of the continent; that the part of the island of 
 Vista, which belonged to Captain Clanrenald, was entirely 
 converted, with the exception of two men, who, to sin more 
 at their ease, wanted no religion ; that there was in the other 
 part a minister who invited him to a controversy by letters, 
 but feared a public discussion ; that for himself he hoped 
 to meet with good success. He added that in almost all the 
 other islands many had been reunited to. the church. 
 
 What he says of the island of Barra is somewhat singular. 
 He found the people there so eager for instruction, that it was 
 enough for a child of each village to learn the pater, ave, and 
 credo, for the whole village to know them in two days. " I 
 have received," continues he, "the principal persons of the 
 place into the church-, and amongst others the youn<* lord 
 with his brothers and sisters. In the number of these new 
 converts, there is a son of a minister ; his devotion edifies 
 very much the whole country where he is known. I o- e ne- 
 rally put off the communion for some lime. Amongst those 
 who approached, there were five who had not the necessary 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 323 
 
 dispositions, and God made it known; for having advanced 
 their tongue to receive the sacred host, they could not draw 
 it back. They went again to confession, and then received 
 that bread of life without any difficulty. We baptise a 
 great number of children, and even adults of thirty, forty, 
 sixty, and eighty years and more. There are some amongst 
 them, who, having been formerly troubled with phantoms and 
 evil spirits, have been entirely delivered, after receiving bap- 
 tism." 
 
 Thus it was that one poor priest, alone and without human 
 assistance, established religion on one hand, whilst Cromwell 
 and his followers were destroying it on Ihe other. Such a 
 beautiful beginning made him conceive the design of carrying 
 the faith into the island of Pabba. It was, as he admits, " a 
 strange and terrible place. But," said he, " the hope which 
 we have of bringing back many stray sheep to the fold, and 
 confidence in our Lord makes us despise dangers and death 
 itself. ' Hence I shall set out under his protection." 
 
 God was satisfied with the good will of his servant and the 
 passport which he had already obtained from the governor of 
 Pabba was useless to him. Five days afterwards, he fell sick. 
 Bad food, hard -and continual journeys, and the functions 
 of the holy ministry, wore him out entirely. He died on the 
 17th of May, 1657. The grief caused .by his loss was as 
 general, as his labors had been. Happy was he in having 
 fought valiantly, -and died with his arms in his hands. 
 
 Whilst this true missionary was laboring in the Hebrides, 
 Mr. Le Blanc, his companion, exercised himself at one time 
 upon the sea coasts, at another in the mountains of Scotland. 
 With the exception of the dangers, which were much greater 
 in the country which had fallen to his lot, his- life and labors 
 were very similar to those of his colleague. Almost without 
 any nourishment, except oat bread, he visited the towns and 
 villages, strengthened the Catholics, confounded and con- 
 verted a considerable number of sectarians. Heaven appeared 
 to authorise his mission by events which seemed miraculous. 
 
 The noise of these events, and the conversions by which 
 they were followed, terrified the Protestant ministers. They 
 
324 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL.. 
 
 had recourse to the lord protector, the name given to Crom- 
 ■ well, and in 1655, they obtained from him an order, by which 
 the English magistrate who held the office of praetor in Scot- 
 land, was directed to make an exact search for all Roman 
 priests, to labor without delay to bring them to trial, and to 
 condemn them to death. The order was punctually executed; 
 and as it gave to the prsetor a right to enter wherever he 
 pleased, he searched so well every nook and corner of Hun'- 
 ley, that he discovered there three Catholic priests. Le Blanc 
 was one of them. He had done much good, hence they 
 must naturally have been badly disposed towardsJiim. He was 
 carried to the prison of Aberdeen, where it was supposed he 
 would not languish long. Vincent, who heard the.news soon 
 afterwards, looked upon that dear brother as a victim destined 
 to death, and he had no doubt that death would be preceded 
 by very ill treatment. 
 
 That ill treatment was reduced, by a singular providence 
 of God, to five or six months' imprisonment. To condemn 
 a priest to death, it was necessary, according to the laws of 
 the time, that he should be convicted of having said mass, or 
 performed some other function of the ministry. Le Blanc had 
 taken his measures so well, that there was riot jn all Scotland 
 a single man who had surprised him in this pretended crime. 
 There was indeed one witness who deposed against him ; but 
 in addition to his testimony being so ambiguous that the 
 judges, although prejudiced, could not rely upon his deposi- 
 tion, he retracted, when confronted with the prisoner, being 
 unwilling, as he afterwards acknowledged, to be the cause of 
 the ruin of an honest man. In consequence, this good priest 
 was set at liberty, but with the strange condition, that if he 
 should preach, instruct, or even baptise any one, he should 
 be hung upon the spot, without any other form of trial. 
 
 This terrible sentence was for this apostolical man like that 
 of the synagogue against the first disciples of the Saviour. 
 After their example, the virtuous missionary left that canton 
 to go into another; he retired into the mountains of Scotland, 
 and labored there as he had done before. 
 
 His detention had not absolutely arrested the progress of the 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 325 
 
 gospel in that country. St. Vincent, whose zeal redoubled in 
 proportion as the strength of his body decayed, had correctly 
 judged that in a region where the hour of darkness had ar- 
 rived, his two first priests could only labor'at intervals. For 
 this reason he had sent them a reinforcement in 1653. This 
 second choice was no less happy than the first. The reader 
 can judge by the following letter. It is from Mr. Lunsden, 
 who, being born in Ireland with good dispositions, had in- 
 creased them very much under the guidance of our saint. 
 This letter, which Vincent received in 1654, and consequently 
 preceded the rigorous edicts of which we have just spoken, 
 was conceived in these terms : 
 
 " God gives a very great blessing to the mission which we 
 make in the low country, and I can say that the inhabitants, 
 rich as well as poor, have never been, from the time they fell 
 into heresy, so well disposed to receive the truth, and to be 
 converted to our holy faith. We every day receive many 
 who come to abjure their errors, and some even of very high 
 rank. In addition to this, we labor to confirm the Catholics 
 by the word of God and the administration of the sacraments. 
 On Easter day, I was in the' house of a nobleman, where 
 more than fifty persons went to communion, amongst whom 
 there were twenty new converts. The success of our mis- 
 sions is a'cause of great jealousy to the ministers But 
 
 we place our confidence in the goodness of the Lord." 
 
 Three years afterwards, the same priest wrote to our saint 
 that the northern parts of Scotland were much better disposed 
 to receive the true faith, than they had been before ; that he 
 had undertaken a voyage to the Orkney islands, had already 
 visited Moravia, Rosse, Suther, Candia, and Cathanisia, where 
 there had not been a priest for a long time, and scarcely a 
 Catholic; that, at the solicitation of an excellent man, he was 
 upon the point of establishing himself for some time in the last 
 place, when the rigorous orders of Cromwell were published j 
 that the preacher, who was much opposed to him, sought his 
 destruction ; and that fear had forced him to seek an asylum until 
 he could see how the persecution would end. " I cannot," 
 adds he in conclusion, " write to you more in detail the situ- 
 28 
 
326 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 ation of our affairs, lest my letters should fall into the hands 
 of our enemies." 
 
 Vincent already knew the extreme danger in which his 
 missionaries were placed after the edicts of the protector. His 
 tenderness for them induced him to send a person to London, 
 to confer with the ambassador of Louis XIV, and open by 
 his credit and counsel some route into Scotland. The cir- 
 cumstances were unfavorable. Cromwell made all tremble 
 upon sea and land; and he was more than ever embittered 
 against the Catholics, by whom he could be considered only 
 as a detestable usurper. Hence the ambassador was the first 
 to urge this missionary, in whose favor the most distinguished 
 persons had written to him, to quit immediately a city, in 
 which a moment's delay might cost him his life. Our saint 
 offered himself to God for his priests. He redoubled his 
 prayers for their preservation, and caused others to do the 
 same. And there is reason to believe, that, if in spite of the 
 emissaries of the tyrant of Great Britain, a hair of their heads 
 was not lost, it was owing to the sighs and prayers of Vin- 
 cent of Paul. 
 
 HISTORY OF. THE DEVOTION TO ST. VINCENT. 
 
 Notwithstanding the precautions which our saint always 
 took to conceal his virtues, they have transpired ; and a writer 
 who improperly accuses the children of having been ashamed 
 of the glory of their father, takes pleasure in acknowledging 
 that " few persons of his condition have acquired a greater 
 reputation." Time did not weaken a reputation so justly 
 merited, and miracles of every description confirmed it every 
 year. This first gave rise to the thought of his beatification. 
 The news, which soon spread through the provinces, gave 
 delight to all those who loved the church. Kings and princes 
 united with their subjects in soliciting Clement XI to com- 
 mence that great work. Hence, in a few years, letters were 
 written by the king of France, the king and queen of Eng- 
 land, the duke of Lorraine, the grand duke of Tuscany, the 
 doge and the republic of Genoa, and a number of cardinals. 
 As to the bishops, as they were too numerous to give their 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 327 
 
 names here, I shall be contented with sa\ ing, that to almost 
 all those of the kingdom were added those of Poland, Spain, 
 Italy, and Great Britain ; and that those who had not always 
 agreed well in other matters, such as Boss'uet, Fenelon, Mont- 
 gaillard, celebrated with one concert the hope and charity 
 of the servant of God. The assembly of 1705, at which the 
 Cardinal de Noailles presided, did in a body what the other 
 prelates had done in their diocesses. The chapters of Notre- 
 Dame and Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois followed the same ex- 
 ample. The city of Paris, represented by its provost and ma- 
 gistrateSj wrote also, and in a manner worthy of itself and 
 of the great man whose glory it wished to promote. To these 
 letters were added those of the first superiors of the Christian 
 Doctrine, the Oratory, and St.'SuIpice;- of the abbots of St. 
 Genevieve, Grandmont, Premontre, St. Antoine, Rengeval, 
 and of Bonfay ; of the generals of the congregations of Saint- 
 Maur, Saint-Vanne, the Minerva, the Minims, the Carmel- 
 ites, &c. 
 
 It would be an error to imagine that these letters were but 
 common place, letters containing a great deal in general 
 without saying any thing in particular. Of all those which 
 remain, and which the pope had printed at Rome in 1709, 
 there is scarcely one that does not relate facts connected 
 with the writers. Thus it was that the king of England 
 backs his entreaties by the services which Vincent ren- 
 dered to his kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland in the most 
 stormy times. And he might have added, that of those 
 who rendered these important services, one languished for a 
 long time in prison, by order of the parricide Cromwell; the 
 other was barbarously killed under the eyes of his own mo- 
 ther. It was thus also that the duke of Lorraine said that 
 " the memory of this great servant of God was in very great 
 veneration amongst the people of his states, in gratitude for 
 the temporal and spiritual succor which they received from 
 him in the most dreadful times." Finally, it was thus that 
 the magistrates of Paris, whose letter is one of the most beau- 
 tifully written on the subject, after having spoken of the he- 
 roical virtues which Vincent of Paul practised for more than 
 
328 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 fifty years in the capital, the sweet odor of Jesus Christ which 
 he spread in so many ways, the reputation of sanctity in which 
 he died, continues in these terms : " Is there, holy father, a 
 species of wretchedness for which Vincent of Paul has not 
 provided a remedy 1 The Sisters of Charity, of whom he 
 was the institutor, and who have more than thirty-five houses 
 in Paris, and nearly three hundred in and out of the kingdom, 
 instruct the children of the poor, and render them the most 
 humiliating services in their own huts or in the hospitals, 
 with a charity, a modesty, an address by which the rich are 
 as much edified as the poor are instructed and relieved. Poor 
 families have a sure resource in those confraternities, the plan 
 of which he laid, and which are established in almost all the 
 parishes of this city, and what is more, not only in most cities, 
 but also in almost all the towns and many of the villages of 
 the kingdom. Has a fire caused devastation ? a flood or ste- 
 rility desolated a province? A regular assembly of ladies 
 most distinguished by their birth, and still more by their piety, 
 formed by the exertions of this most charitable priest, and 
 guided by the general superiors of the mission, his successors, 
 consecrate one day of the week to examine into and relieve 
 their necessities. It is he who continues to be a father 
 to an infinite number of poor, abandoned and exposed chil- 
 dren, a number truly prodigious in this city, in consequence 
 of the compassion which he had, and with which he in- 
 spired others for them. That compassion, of which the 
 poor beings condemned to the galleys every day experience 
 the effects. We tell you, holy father, only a part of what 
 we see." 
 
 The letter of the clergy of France was still more spirited. 
 The Cardinal de Noailles, after having remarked that it be- 
 longs to the apostolic see to take information on the life and 
 morals of those who are sought to be placed in the number 
 of the saints, says in direct terms, that Vincent of Paul is one 
 of those whose canonization the general assembly thinks it 
 can loudly and fearlessly ask: IUumqut vobis expenilendum 
 non timide proponimns. He adds that the life of this holy 
 priest was a prodigy, vita pro ostenlo fuit, and that all France 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 329 
 
 was filled with the fame of his sanctity ; that there is great 
 difficulty to prevent the people from paying him a veneration 
 which would be blameable if it were precipitate : Sanctilatia 
 fama Gallias late implet, tant&que celebritate percrcbuit, ut im- 
 maturi piorum hominum culhis, vix ac ne vix quidem possint co- 
 hiberi. He concludes with these beautiful words, so expres- 
 sive of esteem and veneration. Be pleased then, holy father, 
 to listen to our wishes and those of the people.' Decree for 
 Vincent the honors which he so well merited. Erect altars to 
 him; it is erecting them to religion. JVoslris ergo ac popuh- 
 rum precibus optalisque annue, beatissime pater, debitos Viti- 
 centio decerne honores, et triumphum impera religionis. . 
 
 Whilst these letters were writing, the commissaries ap- 
 pointed in 1704, by his eminence, were laboring at the pro- 
 cess of information ; and this task occupied them more than 
 eighteen months. Although Vincent had been dead forty-five 
 years, one hundred and eighty-eight witnesses were found, 
 who did justice to his memory; and those witnesses, joined 
 to the bishops who wrote in his favor, and who had known 
 him, "either themselves, or through those who had conversed 
 with him, formed such a complete body of pr"oof, that it was 
 thought that the affair would be finished almost as soon as 
 it was commenced. But precipitation is not a fault of the 
 court of Rome. Multiplied solicitations seemed to redouble 
 ■its vigilance. It replied that what is well done, is done soon 
 enough. 
 
 It was only in 1708, that the process verbal was sent to 
 Rome. To it was added another, de non cultu, in which it 
 was proved that the church of France, great as was her zeal 
 for the canonization of Vincent of Paul, had not anticipated 
 the judgment of the holy see, and that neither the priests of 
 the mission, nor any person in office had paid him the honors 
 which are rendered to canonized saints. These two docu- 
 ments, which, according to the usage of the congregation of 
 rites, should not be opened till after the lapse of ten years, 
 were examined the same year. To this favor, which the 
 holy father granted, no doubt, to the entreaties of so many 
 sovereigns, cardinals, and bishops, who begged him to crown 
 28* 
 
330 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FXVh. 
 
 the merits of one of the most holy priests that the church 
 ever possessed, he added another, which was to name as re- 
 porter of the cause, Cardinal de la Tremouilles. 
 
 As these documents, drawn up by the ordinary, only serve 
 to induce an examination at Rome, as to whether the cause 
 deserves to be undertaken ; as soon as the holy see had judged 
 that that of Vincent of Paul could be entered upon, Cardi- 
 nal Carpini expedited in the name of the sovereign pontiff, 
 remissorial and compulsory letters.* They were addressed 
 to Cardinal de Noailles, to Artus de Lionne, bishop of Ro- 
 salia, and Humbert Ancelin, former bishop of Tulles. By 
 these letters, the three prelates, of whom at least two must 
 always act together, were charged to draw up, in the space 
 of a year, the process in s;en.ere. 
 
 Although this process in genere, decides little fundamen- • 
 tally, it serves to prove that the reputation of the subject in 
 question is still maintained, and that from the time of the 
 first proceedings, nothing has occurred to prevent their 
 continuation. Only fourteen witnesses were heard, at the 
 head of whom were Csesar d'Estrees, cardinal of the holy 
 church, and Jean Baptiste Chevalier, subdean of the great 
 chamber of parliament, Stc. Their depositions, which were 
 only to be general, were unanimous. All declared upon oath 
 that the eminent virtues of Vincent of Paul had conciliated 
 the respect of the city, the court, and all France ; (hat the 
 noise of his miracles was more and more spread abroad, and 
 that his tomb was honored by a great concourse of people. 
 
 For fear of losing sight of witnesses of such weight as Mr. 
 de Lamoignon, permission was obtained from the pope to. 
 receive detailed depositions of old persons and valetudinari- 
 ans. The commission was givento the three before mentioned 
 prelates. . They had but six months for this new process, and 
 . it became necessary to ask for six more. Sixty-one witnesses 
 presented themselves, of from sixty 'to eighty years of age, 
 
 * Remissorial letters are those of the commission. Compulsory 
 letters permit a recourse to the process made by the authority of the 
 ordinary, when the witnesses who have deposed are dead. This death 
 must be proved by certificates in form : otherwise it would be suj 
 p«sed that the witnesses h id changed their minds. 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 331 
 
 and each one had such a beautiful relation, that great labor was 
 necessary to avoid asking a further delay from the holy see. 
 
 The first of these two documents having been received at 
 Rome with a kind of applause, the three commissioners re- 
 ceived orders to draw up, during the course of a year, the 
 process in specie. Tliey were directed at the same time, to 
 terminate the proceeding by opening the tomb of the servant 
 of God, and by examining carefully all the detached portions 
 of his body that could be found in the city and diocess of Paris. 
 
 After having again heard fifty-four witnesses, amongst 
 whom was the archbishop of Vienna, Armand de Montmorin, 
 the Cardinal de Noailles proceeded, on the 18th of February, 
 1712, to the opening of the tomb. It may be well supposed,' 
 that the moment when the holy body was to be brought to 
 light, was expected with mixed sentiments of fear and hope. 
 It had been in the earth more than fifty-one years, and that 
 in a church where a whole body had never been found. God 
 might have permitted it to decay like the others ; he might 
 have preserved it. This latter conjecture was found true, 
 and the examiners, one of whom was a physician and regent 
 in medicine, the other a surgeon in the armies of the king, 
 after a most exact scrutiny, finished their juridical report with 
 these words : " Finally, we can testify, as we do, that we 
 found a bqdy completely whole and without any bad. smell." 
 I had forgotten to say that Mr. Jean Bonnet, who, in quality 
 of superior general of the congregation, was present on this 
 occasion, was so amazed at it, that he retired in alarm, and 
 only returned when ordered by the cardinal archbishop to 
 contemplate fixedly the body of his good father. This was 
 the expression of Mr. de Noailles. 
 
 After closing the process, that prelate wrote to the pope, to 
 give him an account of the manner in which he and the two 
 other commissaries had acted. He first declares to his holi- 
 ness and to the sacred congregation of rites, that they had ob- 
 served in the course of the proceeding, all the rules prescribed 
 by Urban VIIL, Innocent XI; and that all that had been de- 
 posed concerning the virtues and miracles of the servant of 
 God, was by witnesses entitled to credit, in whom neither 
 
332 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF FAPL. 
 
 he nor any one had remarked any cause for suspicion. He 
 afterwards qontinues in these words: "Thus, holy father, 
 not satisfied with the solicitations which I have offered at the 
 throne of your holiness, in conjunction with the clergy of 
 France, in the letter which I signed, I confidently address you 
 again. Those entreaties are the greatest, the most lively, and 
 the strongest that can emanate from a heart, which, in this 
 affair, seeks nothing but the glory of God and' the honor of 
 his servants." 
 
 The bishops of Tulles and Rosalia wrote also to Clement 
 XI, a letter in common, which, although much shorter, said 
 the same thing in substance. The two sub-promoters, Achille 
 and Francois Thomassin, wrote to Prosper Lambertini, pro- 
 moter of the faith, whose merit afterwards raised him to the 
 chair of St. Peter. Their letter does justice to' the honesty 
 and religion of the witnesses whom they officially cited : 
 Omnes, say they, omni exceptions majores, et pietate ac religi- 
 onis zeh cunspicuos. All these letters are of the 1st of March, 
 1712. 
 
 After the examination of this process, and of the rules 
 which the holy priest had given to the three establishments 
 of which he was the institutor, it was finally necessary to pro- 
 nounce on the heroical degree of his virtues. This capital 
 point is always treated in three congregations. In the first, 
 which is called ante-preparatory, the promoter makes his ob- 
 jections. In that which follows, and is the preparatory, the 
 consultors propose all they think proper, and ordinarily sus- 
 pend their judgment until their difficulties are cleared up. 
 In the last, which is called definitive, they must necessarily 
 make up their minds, and decide for or against. This last, 
 notwithstanding the entreaties of the clergy of France, who 
 had written for the third time, of Louis XV and his august 
 queen, who also wrote, was not held until twelve years after 
 the first. And it was then at last, that Benedict XIII decided 
 solemnly that it was proved that the venerable servant of God, 
 Vincent of Paul, bad possessed in a heroical degree, both the 
 theological and cardinal virtues, and those which are annexed 
 to them. The bishop of Cavaillon, who was one' of the con- 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 333 
 
 suitors, said that there had scarcely ever been examples of 
 such unanimity. 
 
 The decree which decides the sanctity of a person, does not 
 decide on the public veneration. It is necessary that God 
 should make known that it is his will that the veneration 
 should be decreed, and it is by miracles that he is supposed 
 to make it known. Of the great number of wonders worked 
 at the tomb of Vincent of Paul, or by his intercession, sixty- 
 four of the most striking ones were at first chosen. But the 
 fear of exposing themselves to the interminable discussions of 
 a council, which for the sake of the church, does not admit 
 always what the enemies of the church would admit, in- 
 duced the proposal of only eight, which the public voiue had 
 declared to be miraculous. Two well attested are enough; 
 the holy see approved four. 
 
 The first was worked upon Claude Joseph Compoin, who, 
 having entirely lost his sight at the age of ten, recovered it 
 the instant after commencing a novena at the tomb of the 
 servant of God. 
 
 The second took place in the person of Ann l'Huillier, a 
 little girl eight years old. She was dumb from her birth, and 
 so paralytic in her legs that she had never been able to walk 
 a step. Her mother who, whether right or wrong had never 
 been willing to apply any remedy, made two novenas for 
 her. A double miracle, to say nothing more, was the fruit of 
 her perseverance. The little l'Huillier walked firmly, and 
 spoke distinctly. 
 
 The hand of God was not less visible in the third miracle. 
 Mathurine Guerin, a Sister of Charity and of great merit, 
 having been attacked by a horrible ulcer in the leg, which 
 physicians call phagedenique, because it eats to the very bones, 
 said at last to herself, after suffering three years, that a daugh- 
 ter of the holy priest might find at his tomb the same aid 
 which so many strangers found every day. Her confidence 
 was not vain. On the ninth day, her leg was as sound as 
 it had ever been. The corrosive humours which had been 
 the cause of the evil did not quit one part to afflict others. 
 
334 LIFE OP ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 Her recovery was complete; and for six years that she lived 
 afterwards, she continued to serve the poor as actively as ever. 
 The last cure was that of Alexander Philippe Le Grand. 
 This young man who had been carried to the Foundling 
 Hospital at his birth, became there so far deprived of the use 
 of his arms and legs, that he. could neither walk, nor carry his 
 hand to his mouth. Florent Franchet, one of the most skil- 
 ful surgeons in Paris, Who attended that house for twenty 
 years, having found that all possible remedies were ineffec- 
 tual, gave at last his decision, that as Le Grand could not be 
 cured, he should be carried to the general hospital, where 
 there is a ward for the incurables of his age. Before taking 
 this step, Blizabeth Bourdois, a Sister of Charity, was desi- 
 rous of trying superior remedies. She caused a novena to be 
 commenced at the tomb of Vincent of Paul. It was not yet 
 finished when Alexander recovered what four years of reme- 
 dies could not procure him. They passed the same judgment 
 at Rome upon this event, as had been pronounced at Paris, 
 and it was sustained against the attacks of the promotor of 
 the faith. 
 
 -This person, in a court where often of ninety miracles not 
 one is admitted, has a list of objections which he sets in 
 in a strong light. In his replies there is not to be found vain 
 declamation, or a confused mass of words which means 
 nothing. Whatever the most learned physicians, from Hy- 
 pocrates to our own days, have said of all imaginable diseases, 
 serve him as principles. Whatever nature alone, either in 
 the judgment of masters of the art, or by the relations of his- 
 torians, has effected in cases nearly similar, comes to his aid. 
 A skilful person of consummate science is interrogated; his 
 doubt alone is decisive against any thing supernatural in the 
 operation. If he is forced to -admit the hand of Omnipotence, 
 he may be, and is often combatted. A second experienced 
 person is charged with a new examination; his report, like 
 that of the first, is made before an intelligent assembly, and 
 of so many persons respectable for their honesty and virtue, 
 there is not one who, like the apostle, does not take God to 
 witness at the risk of his soul and his eternal salvation, that 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 335 
 
 truth and justice are the only rules which he has consulted. 
 If to this be added the prayers, communions and sacrifices 
 which are offered in so many places, to attract the holy spirit 
 and his light, it will be admitted that ihe Roman church takes 
 every possible measure to avoid mistake and error. 
 
 Benedict XIII, after having heard the cardinals and the 
 consultors, and taken again time to implore the aid of heaven, 
 at last published the decree, on the 13th of August, 1729, 
 which places Vincent of Paul in the number of the blessed. 
 The applause with which this decree was received in all parts 
 of the world, was as honorable to the worthy priest, as the 
 magnificence with which his feast was celebrated in the 
 superb basilic of the Vatican, on the 21st of August. There 
 were present eighteen cardinals of the congregation of Rites, 
 and twenty-eight prelates and consultors of the same congre- 
 gation. The pope came there in the afternoon ; and after 
 having adored the blessed sacrament, he went to place him- 
 self on his knees before the representation of the new saint. 
 On that day of triumph, Vincent of Paul was as great in the 
 eyes of religion, as he had appeared little in his own eyes 
 whilst he lived upon earth. 
 
 The same feast was celebrated in Paris on the 27th of 
 September; and although the body was no longer entire, as 
 it had no bad smell, and was also one of the most precious 
 relics in the kingdom, it was exposed to the veneration of the 
 people. Charles Gaspard Guillaume des Comtes de Vinti- 
 mille du Luc celebrated pontifically. The church was neatly 
 decorated, but without magnificence. Twelve pictures, in 
 camaieu on an azure ground perhaps recalled as much the 
 simplicity, of the saint, as the memory of his principal 
 actions. 
 
 There were very few diocesses in France, in Bologna and 
 Italy, that were not in motion to show him marks of their 
 respect. The prelates of the orders made it a duty for them- 
 selves to open the solemnity of his veneration, and often to 
 publish in person his virtues from the chair of truth. Kings, 
 princes, first magistrates, humbly bent their knees before trie 
 image of this poor priest, who had so often bent his own to 
 
336 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 the very dregs of the people. Heaven afterwards confirmed 
 the judgment of the holy see by other prodigies, which in- 
 duced it to decree new honors to this great servant of God. 
 
 It was thus, that in consequence of new remissorial letters, 
 of the 5th of May, 1731, the delegates, who were the arch- 
 bishop of Paris, the bishop of Bethleem, and .the ancient 
 bishop of Vence, heard, in the space of nearly two. years, a 
 hundred and thirty-five witnesses, who all deposed to a great 
 number of facts which were judged supernatural. The three 
 prelates. rendered an account to Clement XII, who then occu- 
 pied the chair of St. Peter. They added that whilst they 
 were examining the first miracles, new ones had taken place 
 almost under their eyes, particularly in the persons of two 
 young English women ; and that of all those who had been 
 healed by the intercession of blessed Vincent, not one had 
 those senseless convulsions, which had made so much noise 
 in Paris. 
 
 Although for the canonization of a saint but two miracles 
 are required, seven were presented to the sacred congregation. 
 I shall give only three of them. 
 
 The first was worked upon Marie Therese Pean de Saint 
 Gilles, a benedictine religious at Montmirel, where she was 
 called sister saint Basile. From her infancy a fruitful germ 
 of disease had been perceived in her. Being admitted with a 
 great deal of difficulty to take her vows, she was two years 
 afterwards most violently attacked with apoplexy. The power- 
 ful remedies which she had been obliged to take increased her 
 infirmities: from that time she could only walk with the aid 
 of a stick, and with much inconvenience. Nothing was 
 neglected to restore her. She took the baths at Bourbonne, 
 she tried a change of air. Her relations took her to the most 
 skilful physicians of Paris during her stay with them. Here 
 is, in a few words, the result of these different trials. 
 
 In 1720, Mother saint Basile experienced a much 
 greater increase of fever. A retention of urine reduced her to 
 the necessity of using the probe. Two large ulcers were 
 formed, of which we give but a weak idea, when we say 
 that they were most frightful. The flesh which was carried 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 337 
 
 away in pieces, finally evinced that tlie whole mass of the 
 blood was infected. Add to this a swelling that extended to 
 the stomach, a complete paralysis of that part of the body, 
 which had been weak from infancy, a devouring thirst, con- 
 tinual sleeplessness, crises which weakened without relieving 
 her; from this the reader may have some idea of a very 
 small portion of the pains which she suffered for nearly 
 eleven months. 
 
 Such and worse still was the condition of this religious of 
 Montmirel, when Jean Joseph Languet de Gergy, then 
 bishop of Soissons, arrived in that little place, to celebraVe 
 the feast of the Beatification. He desired, that before being 
 enclosed in a case, the relic of the blessed priest should be 
 carried to sister saint Basile. She kissed it with respect, 
 begged those present to touch with it a cloth which she 
 applied to her body, and feelipg her confidence increased, 
 asked as the only favor from that former father of the afflicted 
 that he would be pleased to obtain from God the cure of her 
 ulcers. 
 
 She had scarcely finished her prayer, when she felt that 
 she was heard. The ulcers and the immoderate pains which 
 accompanied them, disappeared. There was no more reten- 
 tion, no more fever, no restlessness, not a vestige of that in- 
 satiable thiist, which nothing could allay. 
 
 Some days after, on hearing the life of the servant of God 
 read, she reflected that if he would heal her of her paralysis, 
 she would be better able to imitate some of his sublime vir- 
 tues, and to contribute by her voice to the beauty of the office. 
 In consequence of that idea, she commenced a novena ; and, 
 although it results from her deposition that this new favor 
 affected her less than the one she had obtained, she did not 
 fail to ask it with fervor. Her patience was not put to a long 
 trial. The third day she felt strongly inspired to go out of 
 her bed and walk. The attempt was completely successful ; 
 she had no need of support, and perhaps had never walked 
 so firmly. At the report of so striking a miracle, the religious, 
 the out-sisters and boarders ran together ; ' all wished to see 
 with their own eyes, what they could not believe on the word 
 29 
 
338 MFK OF T. I l,V:-fc.\T OF PAUL. 
 
 of another. It was (he sa:iK' witli the magistrates aDd the 
 principal inhabitants of the place, who, hearing continu- 
 ally of the cruel situation of that child of affliction, hastened 
 to see and congratulate her. I had the same happiness some 
 years afterwards, and I found her full of health and of grati- 
 tude to the saint, to whose mediation her cure was to be 
 attributed. 
 
 The second miracle, of which I shall say but a word, was 
 worked upon Francois Richer, a merchant of Paris. In at 
 tempting to lift a heavy bale, he broke the peritoneum, from 
 whence the most complete descent of the artestine resulted. 
 In spite of the assistance of a skilful surgeon, who placed 
 every thing in its natural situation, they often fell again, and 
 then Richer was so sick as to lose almost his senses, and some- 
 times he even voided his excrement by his mouth. He re- 
 lapsed on the morning of the day on which the tomb of our 
 blessed priest was to be opened. One of his friends, to 
 whom the merchant related what he suffered, took him to the 
 church of St. Lazarus. Richer prayed at the grave of the 
 saint. He did not do it long on account of the ceremony 
 which was going to begin, but he did it so earnestly, that I 
 know not by what revolution which he then experienced, he 
 thought, without hesitation, that he was cured. On return- 
 ing to the house, he began, without examining, to throw his 
 bandage into the fire, in presence of his wife, whom he 
 wished to surprise, and whom he surprised so effectually, 
 that she was tempted to believe he had lost his senses. From 
 that moment he worked without any precaution in his store, 
 and always went about in perfect security. But whilst he 
 put the work of God to proolV which suited his fancy, God 
 in his turn put him to a trial <• lich he did not look for. One 
 evening as he was flying precipitately from some people who 
 intended him no good, he fell into a quarry the height of two 
 stories. Such a violent shock, so well calculated to injure a 
 man who had always been well, did not open his wound 
 again, and the surgeon found things in the state to which it 
 had pleased God to restore them. 
 
 The third event regarded a more considerable person, and 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCEHT OF PAUL. 339 
 
 on that account it made more noise in Paris. We give the 
 details, extracted, like the preceding from the most authentic 
 acts. 
 
 Louise Elizabeth Sackville, a young English girl of a very 
 respectable family, after four or five months' fever, lost abso- 
 lutely the use of her right leg. If she attempted to rest it the 
 least on the ground, she experienced such sharp pains in the 
 hip, as to produce fits of weakness. Neither the remedies 
 prescribed by the most learned physicians of Paris, nor the 
 pomp and baths of Bourbon l'Archambaud could mitigate the 
 pain. On the contrary, she found herself exhausted after 
 the journey, so that she received the sacraments twice in the 
 same year. It was impossible to behold, without being moved 
 with compassion, a person so young, obliged to use crutches, 
 and dragging after her a limb which hung from her body, as 
 a branch which receives no more motion or life hangs from 
 a tree. 
 
 Two daughters of the community of St. Thomas of Ville- 
 neuve, having related that one of their sisters had been 
 recently, by the intercession of the blessed Vincent, cured 
 of a complaint very much like hers, she at last determined to 
 begin a novena. That course was very painful for the sick 
 person. She was transported in a carriage, and taken out of 
 it, like an inanimate body. To arrive at the place where she 
 was to hear mass, the aid of her crutches was not sufficient; 
 she was obliged to be assisted by two servants. A priest of 
 the house having learned that after her novena she was no ' 
 better than the first day, made her kiss the reliquary in 
 which was the heart of the saint, and exhorted her to perse- 
 verance. 
 
 She was nearer than was thought to the moment when the 
 mercy of God was to be manifested towards her. The next 
 day she felt that her leg, hitherto as cold as marble, began to 
 recover its natural heat : she immediately said to Theresa 
 Xavier, her sister, that she thought she could walk without 
 assistance. In fact she did so, and with as much ease as 
 before her sickness. Young Miss Sackville, out of herself, 
 quickly carried the news to the women of the house ; they 
 
840 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 assembled together ; and at the sight of such an astonishing 
 revolution, many tears were shed. 
 
 The two sisters lodged with Mrs. Hayes, who was a Pro- 
 testant. They deliberated on the manner in which they 
 should announce to her an event which must strike her very 
 much. The lady who was cured arranged herself in such a 
 manner as to cause the least possible surprise. She begged 
 of the lady to come to her apartment where she would hear 
 some good news. But in the first moments of great joy, we 
 are not always masters of ourselves. Elizabeth Sackville did 
 so much violence to herself as to keep from going to meet the 
 lady, she received her sitting as usual. But when asked for 
 the good news she had to tell: "Madam," replied she, "I 
 have made a novena to the blessed Vincent of Paul, I am 
 cured and I walk." She instantly arose and walked like a 
 person who had never suffered. 
 
 Mrs. Hayes did not then enjoy the spectacle long. Her 
 emotion was more violent than desirable. She fainted so 
 completely, that she recovered with difficulty at the end 
 of a whole hour. She spoke afterwards of the miracle as a 
 zealous Catholic would have done, and testified to it by a 
 certificate written by herself, with permission to her friend to 
 make what use of it she pleased. Her husband who beheld 
 all that was great in the court and city, almost forgot at the 
 time he belonged to a sect accustomed to look upon the mira- 
 cles performed in the Catholic church, as fables. He related 
 ' the event as a thing surpassing nature, and it was in that 
 sense that he spoke of it to Cardinal Fleury. 
 
 Such was the prodigy which, although divested of every 
 circumstance that might have obscured it, still appeared too 
 weak in the eyes of the congregation of rites. It is a new 
 proof of what others have said before us, that there is more 
 rigor,in the examinations of the holy see, than in thoseof its 
 most declared enemies. To be convinced of it, it will be 
 sufficient to compare the judgment pronounced at Rome with 
 that of Mrs. Hayes. She, after having testified before God 
 that she only speaks to bear witness to the truth, declares that 
 Miss Louisa Elizabeth Sackville fell dangerously sick at her 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 341 
 
 house, about the month of March, 1730; and that amongst 
 other circumstances of her sickness which several times re- 
 duced her to extreme danger, she became entirely paralytic in 
 the right leg, which was as cold as ice. I testify moreover, con- 
 tinued she, that during the spa«e of nearly three years, I have 
 seen her dragging her leg without having the least use of it, 
 which ceniinued until the 29lh of December, 1732, when she 
 recovered' the use of it in a moment, although for a long time 
 she had made use of no remedy, and had been pronounced 
 incurable by Mr/ Chirac, and all those who had attended her, 
 so that so sudden and complete a cure can be attributed to 
 God alone, and I was so surprised at it, that at the time when 
 it took place, Miss Sackville having sent for me to tell me 
 some good news, I fainted on seeing her walk, and remained 
 for a long time in that situation. I passed a great part of the 
 night without sleeping ; and desiring to be certain that the cure 
 was perfect, I got up in the morning to see if she would easily 
 descend the staircase, and whether she would get into a car- 
 riage without help, to go to the tomb of the blessed Vincent 
 of Paul, to whom she had recommended herself: I saw her 
 with my eyes go down the stairs, and get into the carriage 
 without help, and I reminded her to have her crutches carried 
 to the tomb by a servant. I moreover testify that since, she 
 has continued to walk with as much ease as another person, 
 without having either crisis, sweat, or making use of reme- 
 dies, either before or after her cure. Given at Paris, the 3d 
 of February, 1733. • 
 
 Signed, Catharine Soracole Hayes. 
 
 Vincent of Paul is perhaps the only one, after the apostle 
 of the Indies, to whom our separated brethren have given the 
 name of saint. When we walk so closely in the steps of 
 great men, we have some right to their prerogatives. 
 
 It was not until the 24th of June, 1736, that Clement XII 
 approved the two first miracles which we have related. On 
 the 16th of June in the following year, he issued the bull of 
 canonization. I shall not speak of the trifling disturbance 
 which it excited. But I may say that when Pierre Gilbert de 
 Voisins asked its suppression, he spoke of Vincent of Paul 
 
£42 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 nearly as De Mole, Lamoignon, Le Pelletier and so many 
 other illustrious magistrates had done, both during his life 
 and afte* his death ; that is to say, he announced the new 
 canonization, as that of a saint so much the more to be vene- 
 rated in this kingdom, as after having edified it by his exam- 
 ple, he left in it iasting monuments of his piety and zeaL 
 The parliament also declared in its remonstrances to the 
 king, that it wished in no way to reflect on the veneration 
 which all France entertained for this holy priest; that, to 
 authorise his veneration, it only wished to have a bull drawn 
 in the forms usual in the state. 
 
 During these agitations, which lasted some time, the saint 
 continued to perform miracles of every kind ; and his feast 
 was celebrated in Europe, in Africa, in America, and even ia 
 the extremity of Asia, With all possible solemnity. Rome 
 commenced according to custom, and the ceremony took 
 place in the Lateran. basilic. The decoration was magni- 
 ficent, and did not yield to those of which sovereigns bear all 
 the expense.- The cost would have been excessive for an in- 
 dividual body, if the same pomp which served for Vincent 
 of Paul had not served at the same time for Francis Regis, 
 Juliana Falconieri, and Catharine Fieschi, whom the pope 
 had lately placed in the number of the saints. 
 
 In France, things went on as well as could be expected. 
 The archbishop of Paris, at the head of his metropolis and 
 the four churches which usually accompany him, began the 
 sokmnity of the octave, and it was terminated by Cardinal 
 de Polignac. The most holy communities sent deputies, 
 and the duke of Richelieu, who came expressly from Fon- 
 tainbleau to assist at it on the last day, had the pleasure to 
 find, in presence of a brilliant and numerous assembly, that 
 the eulogium of the charity of Vincent of Paul could not be 
 well pronounced, without extolling the immense liberality of 
 the duchess of Aiguillon. 
 
 The example of the capital was soon followed by all the 
 provinces of the kingdom. To avoid the repetitions insepara- 
 ble from the detail, and relieve the reader by some more in- 
 teresting traits, we will say that the feast being celebrated at 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAITL. 343 
 
 Fontainbleau whilst the king was there, the parish served by 
 the missionaries was, by order of that prince, spread with a 
 double row of the most beautiful tapestry of the crown; that 
 their majesties came there to -pay their devotion to the new 
 saint; that their example was followed by all that was great 
 at court; that the queen who wasasubject of edification every 
 where, was moved by the piety of a young girl of nine years, 
 who being cured in her infancy by the intercession of St. 
 Vincent, of a confirmed paralysis, profited by the new solem- 
 nity, after the examination of the ordinary, to return those 
 thanks to her liberator from which her age had dispensed her. 
 
 We will add that the counts of Lyons, with the view of 
 honoring a man who did so much honor himself to the 
 choice of their predecessors, were anxious" to lend one of their 
 three churches for the ceremony ; that in presence of their 
 archbishop, whose great age did not permit him to celebrate, 
 they performed the office of* the first, day with that ancient 
 majesty which is the admiration of all strangers ; that more 
 lhan one hundred and twenty curates of the diocess went in 
 procession to pay their respect to a priest who was at once 
 their brother and their model ; and that finally more than six 
 ihousand communions made during the octave, gave, in the 
 first city of the diocess, an idea of the fervor which Vincent 
 had formerly communicated to his people of Chatillon. 
 
 That people, to whom the memory of Vincent of Paul is 
 as dear as they themselves were to Vincent of Paul, merit by 
 their tender respect for their former pastor, the second place 
 in his history. As soon as that city, in which it had been 
 once predicted that he would be placed in the number of the 
 saints, had heard the news, it was filled with ecstasy and 
 transports of joy. The relics of the servant of God were 
 received there, as if it were himself who came in person to 
 visit his flock once more. All looked upon him as a new 
 protector, who was ready to do for them what Jeremias did 
 after his death for the people of God. The event has not 
 belied such just expectations, and the offerings suspended. 
 in the chapel where he is honored, prove no less the tender- 
 
344 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAVL. 
 
 ness which he continues to show towards his ancient cradle, 
 than his power with God. 
 
 But it was above all, in the diocess in which he was born, 
 and under the eyes of the august parliament in whose juris- 
 diction his province was, that the new saint triumphed. As 
 soon as Louis Marie de Suarez d'Aulan, the worthy bishop 
 of Acqs, had, by a pastoral letter replete with dignity and wis- 
 dom, given on the 10th of June, 1738, announced to his people 
 the feast of St. Vincent of Paul, a native of the parish of 
 Pouy, every thing was in motion as far as Beam and Basse- 
 Navarre. The concourse was so prodigious, that notwith- 
 standing the precautions taken by the police, even respectable 
 people were reduced to the coarsest bread. The prelate, 
 moved and affected to see all his flock assembled together, dis- 
 tributed to them once or twice a day, the spiritual nourishment 
 which most of them had come so far to seek. The confessors, 
 during the whole octave, had not a moment to spare ; and 
 every day it was at least four o'clock in the evening, and 
 sometimes six, before they had finished giving communion. 
 The governor, the president, the seneschal, the elections, all 
 the communities did their very best to honor their holy coun- 
 tryman. The family of Vincent of Paul, always poor, but 
 always virtuous, distinguished themselves only by their mo- 
 desty and the innocence of their manners. 
 
 The spectacle which the city of Bordeaux presented was 
 grander and no less edifying. Misery and the dignities of the 
 world were united. At the head of a well regulated procession 
 which went from the cathedral by a long circuit to the hos- 
 pital where the feast was to be celebrated, walked the found- 
 lings, an innocent body, which, wherever it be, owes much 
 to the servant of God, because the zeal which he manifested 
 for that description of persons in Paris, served as a rule for 
 the provinces. Between the two banners of the saint which 
 preceded the clergy of the seminary and the cathedral, ad- 
 vanced, with a torch in his hand, the young de Savignac, 
 • son and brother of the first order of magistrates. As he was 
 born during the ceremony of the beatification, he had received 
 the name of Vincent of Paul ; and it was to teach him early to 
 
LIFE OK ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 345 
 
 walk in the footsteps of his holy patron, that a virtuous mo- 
 ther wished that he should pay him from his infancy all the 
 honor he could. The archbishop, primale of Aquitaine, led. 
 the march of his numerous clergy. After him appeared the 
 parliament, in red robes, preceded by their illustrious first 
 president and two others, at the head of nearly fifty counsel- 
 lors, one of the king's advocates, and the procurator general. 
 The court of aids, also in robes, came afterwards, with their 
 first president. This body was followed by the treasurers of 
 France ; then came the officers of the seneschal, who were 
 followed by the secretaries of the treasury. 
 
 It was thus that a city for which Vincent of Paul had never 
 an occasion to do the thousandth part of what he had done 
 for so many others, gave him such striking proofs of respect 
 and devotedness. Nor did it show less fervor and piety. 
 During the whole octave, the church in which the feast was 
 kept, was always full. All Bordeaux seemed in a holy com- 
 motion. There were every day more thannine hundred com- 
 munions. The nobility appeared rich in faith as well as the 
 people. The eight panegyrics delivered there, as in several 
 other places, were justly applauded ; and were the more liked, 
 as every thing like show and eloquence was banished from 
 them. It was perceived in the provinces, as it had been in 
 Paris, that in an eulogium, as abundant as that of Vincent 
 of Paul, to be an orator, it was sufficient to be a historian. 
 
 It was not only in France, that the name of the holy priest 
 was celebrated, Savoy, Piedmont, Tuscany, the republic of 
 Genoa, the kingdom of Naples, Poland, and a great number 
 of other countries, honored him with a sort of emulation. 
 Lisbon did not yield to any other part of the world. To say 
 that the king of Portugal, John V, paid the'expenses of the 
 solemnity, is to say that it was done with the greatest mag- 
 nificence. 
 
 One singular thing is, that there is not perhaps a diocess 
 where the virtue of our saint is better known, his name more 
 cherished, his veneration more general, than that of Ypres. 
 We have seen persons in office come from that city to Paris, 
 to have the happiness of praying at his tomb, return imme- 
 
346 LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 
 
 diately afterwards to their country without having seen any 
 of the things which arrest the eye of the stranger in that su- 
 perb capital, and say with a simplicity truly religious, that 
 they thought they had seen every thing, when they saw the 
 precious remains of a man so powerful in works and words. 
 From Ypres his devotion has been carried to Lorraine, where 
 the celebrated university knows so well how to ally erudition 
 and virtue. 
 
 Since the decree of the holy see, the veneration of the man 
 of God has been constantly extending. North America 
 joined him with its other holy protectors, and the first parish 
 which was erected after his canonization, was called by the 
 name of Vincent of Paul. Of so many places where his 
 feast was celebrated, I do not know that therirwas one where 
 prodigies did not take place, and in many there were several. 
 No doubt many persons have read with pleasure the edifying 
 relation of that which took place at Sens, in the person of 
 Marie Antoinette Robbe, and which was authentically certified 
 by persons whose prejudices would rather dispose them to 
 weaken it ; or another which the bishop of Amelia has pub- 
 lished, and by which the Benedictine nuns, upon one of whom 
 it was worked, were so much struck, that, to perpetuate the 
 memory of it, they obtained from the holy see the permission 
 to recite, like the missionaries, the proper office of St. Vincent, 
 and to make his a solemn feast of the first class, with an octave. 
 But an abridgment does not admit of this detail; it will be 
 found in the large life of the saint, and how many other facts 
 full of interest and piety are to be seen there. 
 
 But whatever idea these great works may give of the saint, 
 it must be admitted to his glory, that the eminent holiness of 
 his life will always be the greatest of his miracles. In peru- 
 sing even slightly what we have related : " "Where," says the 
 bishop of Rodez in his pastoral letter, " where do we find more 
 innocence of manners, a more tender piety, a more lively faith, 
 stronger hope, more perfect charity, more heroic patience, 
 more active zeal, wiser conduct, more complete disinterested- 
 ness, more profound humility. " 
 
 So long as the church of Christ shall subsist, and in spite 
 
LIFE OF ST. VINCENT OF PAUL. 347 
 
 of the efforts of hell, it will subsist to the end of ages, will 
 men announce throughout the world, " the continual sacrifice 
 which he made of his body and all his senses, his mildness, 
 his evenness of mind, his angelical purity, his respect for the 
 prelates of the church, his prompt and sincere obedience to 
 their decisions, his indefatigable labor to instruct the people 
 in the truths of salvation ; his zeal and attention to arrest new 
 errors, to annihilate them, if he could, as soon as they made 
 their appearance ; to keep them away from the companies he 
 had founded, or which Providence had placed under his di- 
 rection" (Mr. d'Angers' Pastoral, April 12). 
 
 But since, as one of the greatest doctors of the church has 
 observed, the veneration of the saints " essentially consists in 
 imitating them here below, and as the life of St. Vincent of 
 Paul has been nothing else than the gospel, or rather the per- 
 fection of the gospel put in practice by that faith which works 
 by charity; it is for those who study his conduct to be his 
 imitators, as he was of Jesus Christ. His example should 
 convince them' of the necessity of walking in his footsteps. 
 He so fully possessed every virtue, that in whatever situation 
 Providence judges proper to place them, they will always 
 find something to imitate" (Pastoral of Mr. d'Acqs, July 10).