Services Rendered by Saint Vincent to All Sorts of Persons

Saint Vincent exercised as much charity towards Religious as to Secular Priests. Far from thinking that their humble state was any reason why they should be less esteemed, he found in this consideration motives for showing them the most marked veneration. He was well on his guard never to impute to the whole body (a wrong as unjust as it is common) the downfall of one of its members. He was not ignorant of the fact that those who can forgive nothing would be pitiable indeed, if one were to employ in their regard the same measure as they deal out to others. Busy as he was, he never lost his time in looking for the faults of others for whom he was not responsible; he saw these faults only when they were self-evident. He conjured his priests, in the Name of Jesus Christ, to profess the greatest respect towards all Religious Orders within the Church, to banish from their mind all envy, jealousy, and other like passions, which are not in harmony with humility nor with that charity which everyone owes to his neighbour. He expressed all these sentiments by these remarkable words, which he often repeated: "I would rather lose a hundred establishments than prove an obstacle to any Religious Order whatever."

His tender affection for the Regulars was shown by the efforts he made to bring back to the Primitive Observance those who had wandered from it. A great number of Religious Houses still exist today as a glorious monument to the activity and extent of his charity. It was not limited to a few Communities only, but it reached isolated Houses, and even individual Religious. However, his love for the Religious state was neither weak nor blind. He did not approve of anyone passing from one Order to another without some very serious reasons, but he wished that each one should sanctify himself in his own vocation. He wrote to a Regular priest: "I share your troubles; have patience. Rev. Father, and beg it of Our Lord. He will bring it about that the Order in which He has placed you, like a tossing vessel, will conduct you easily to port. I cannot grant your desire that I should recommend to God the idea you have of changing to another Order, because it does not seem to me to be conformed to the Will of God. There are crosses everywhere, and your advanced age should make you avoid those which you would meet in changing your state." From this we may judge the joy Saint Vincent experienced on seeing a great number of Religious Houses returning to what they had been in their best days; and what sorrow he felt when he saw some sacrificing their conscience to the attractions of a false and culpable liberty. Of all the numerous services rendered by our Saint to a large number of monasteries none were published, except those that he could not conceal. Besides those which he rendered to the Knights of Malta (and for which he was thanked by a letter from the Grand Master, Paul Lascaris, of the family of the Countess de Vintimille and descended from the old Emperors of Constantinople), he was happy also to help the Friars Minor, and it was in consideration of these services that their General sent Saint Vincent some letters of aggregation, in virtue of which he was to have a share in the prayers, sacrifices, fasts and indulgences of the entire Order.

All the efforts made by Saint Vincent to introduce amongst Religious men a rigorous respect for rule and discipline were more zealous still with regard to nuns, to re-establish or preserve exact discipline amongst them. He knew, like Saint Cyprian, that the more the Virgins who are consecrated to God do honour to the Church by the regularity of their manners, the more necessary it is to strengthen them against their own weakness, and he was not ignorant that bad example, which is always contagious, is much more so where persons are more exposed to its influence. For this reason he always took care to place at their head Abbesses or Superioresses who owed their vocation, not to flesh and blood, but solely to the Will of God.

Being convinced that the fervour or tepidity of Religious Communities usually depends on those who are at the head of the Houses, he always strove to have those named as Superiors who were most capable, most experienced and the most exact in observing the Rule. Thus when certain Abbesses, under pretext of advanced age or sickness, asked to have as coadjutrix their sister, or niece, or other relation, to whom they were too much attached, the holy man, being the declared enemy of worldly attachments, would consider nothing but the Glory of God, and whatever people might say or do he was immovable on this point. He gave as his reason that, when the office of Abbess became vacant through death, there was a splendid opportunity of choosing a virtuous Religious, capable of maintaining good order, if already existing in the Community, or re-establishing it if not there; whilst very often by these kinds of substitutes a Religious possessing little virtue succeeds another who had not much more.

The good works of which we have hitherto spoken did not make Saint Vincent forget the Daughters of Saint Francis de Sales. He visited them several times, and found amongst them much that was most sweet and consoling through their piety and union. These holy Daughters have since declared that the presence of Saint Vincent in their midst had always been a source of grace and benediction to them, and this was because in all truth he possessed, in a special degree, the rare gift of comforting them in their trials; and several amongst them, who were seriously troubled in mind, found peace after conversing with Saint Vincent. Saint Frances de Chantal herself owned that the lights and counsels of this great Servant of God had been a great help to her for her own particular conduct, and also for the direction of her Order.

The activities of Saint Vincent were so varied that they almost savour of the miraculous. For example, besides the numerous services he rendered to Communities of men and women, we find him engaged in services to armies and to those countries which were the theatre of war; on this head alone he is in no way behind all those who have done most honour to Holy Church and have been the most signal benefactors of suffering humanity.

During a bloody war an epidemic broke out which claimed a great number of victims, who were deprived of the last consolations of religion. Saint Vincent sent twenty of his Missioners, whom he encouraged by these words: "The plague has broken out in the army," he wrote to one amongst them; "therefore go, sir, in the same spirit as Saint Francis Xavier went to the Indies, and, like him, you will win the crown which Jesus Christ has purchased for you by His Blood, and which He will bestow on you if you do honour to His charity."

The zeal of these worthy priests in the exercise of their holy ministry drew down the blessings of Heaven upon their works . They themselves endured the fatigues with exemplary courage. A few months later four thousand soldiers approached the Sacraments shedding abundant tears. Several priests were attacked by the contagion in their midst, but God wished to preserve them in His Church for the good of souls.

During another war a crowd of unfortunate people were dying of misery; Saint Vincent, with his heart full of charity and with tears in his eyes, presented himself to the Queen and to other pious persons to obtain some help. He himself gave the example of a holy and generous liberality. He saved the life, and especially the dignity, of the inhabitants of twenty-five towns, and rendered the same services in an incalculable number of hamlets and villages that were reduced to the last extremity. The sick received every help they could possibly expect from his paternal charity. He also procured clothing for a prodigious number of persons of every age and sex, not only amongst the common people, but also amongst some young persons of noble birth, who were in great danger; so also he assisted some monks whose monasteries had been pillaged, and holy women consecrated to God.

In his distribution of alms the Saint adopted the measures dictated by his consummate prudence. He sent twelve of his Missioners, who were full of zeal and intelligence, into different parts of the country. He also sent several Brothers of the Congregation who had some knowledge of remedies against the plague, as well as a certain skill in medicine and surgery. He gave them wise and most detailed regulations, by means of which it was impossible for them to irritate anyone, whether Bishop, Priest, Head of Department or Magistrate; for the regulations prescribed that the Missioners should consult them so as to avoid mistakes, and to adapt the distributions to the needs and condition of the recipients. The holy ardour which he communicated to the wealthy families in Paris urged them to make such sacrifices during twenty years as posterity will find it difficult to credit. Nevertheless, as the trouble was almost universal and the need extreme, it was necessary to multiply the help given by clever management. It was a considerable amount in itself, but still far below the needs of that unhappy country.

We will limit ourselves to relating, from amongst thousands of extraordinary facts (which would take too long to quote), what happened in Metz. The poor there were like an army in numbers. Every morning there were found ten or twelve persons who had died of starvation, without counting those who, being caught in out-of-the-way places, became the prey of wild beasts; for rapacious wolves were one of the plagues by which God tried these unfortunate people. Getting accustomed to feed on corpses, the wolves later on raided the living when the dead failed them; they made their attacks in broad daylight, tore to pieces and devoured women and children. The hamlets and villages were infested by them in a frightful way; they even entered the towns during the night, through the breaches in the walls, and went off again, carrying with them all they could get.

Night and day the holy priest concerned himself about these calamities, and was busy seeking remedies. He had immense sums of money distributed through the country, also materials, clothing and coverlets. Never did anybody better deserve the name of Father of the Poor. The province of Lorraine ought to transmit to its inhabitants from generation to generation the fact that most of them owe their existence to him, because he saved the lives of their fathers. This fact was perpetuated by the gratitude of the magistrates in nearly every town that was helped by him. They thanked the Saint, in the name of their brethren, in the words of Saint Paul when thanking Philemon for having helped the servants of God in their extreme misery: "Quia viscera sanctorum requieverunt in te."

Practice - If we wish our pity to resemble that of the Saints let us have it at heart to help our neighbour when he is in need. The devil, to deceive us, advises us to have anxious thoughts about the future, and tempts us to save up in case of unforeseen reverses; that is worldly prudence. The Lord speaks clearly to us when He says "that he who wishes to be His true disciple must give to the poor all that remains after he has taken what is necessary."

- text taken from Virtue and Christian Refinement According to the Spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul, by Saint John Bosco