A certain gentleman, having given a sum of four thousand pounds for the Missions, fell into a state of need. Saint Vincent, having been informed of this, wrote to him that he should take the interest of this gift, adding that he would return the capital itself if the interest were not sufficient. In order to entice him to speak his mind more freely he assured him that, at other times, the same difficulty had been settled in this way.
A few years later he had reason to fear that a benefactor of the Company regretted his liberality, being in business difficulties. "I beg of you," the Saint said to him, "to make use of the revenues of our country house as if they were your own. We are ready to sell all that we have for you, even our chalices; in this we shall only be doing what the Canon Law commands, which is to give back to a Founder when he is in need, whatever he gave us when he was in affluence; and what I say to you, sir, I say before God, and just as I think in the depths of my heart."
A number of ladies of quality having offered the holy Priest the sum of six hundred thousand francs to build a church, he did not accept it, giving as his reason that the needs of the poor were at that time too great, and that he must busy himself above all in procuring what was necessary for them.
A lawsuit was brought against him which everyone believed to be unjust; nevertheless Saint Vincent lost it. At the first news of this result he wrote to one of his friends: "Sir, those who are friends tell each other the good and the bad that happens to them, and as you are one of the best friends we have in the world, I am bound to communicate to you the loss we have sustained in the lawsuit about the farm of Orsigny; not, however, as an evil which has happened to us, but as a grace which God has granted us, so that you may be pleased, sir, to help us to thank Him for it. I call the afflictions God sends us, graces, especially those that are well accepted. Now, His Infinite Goodness, having prepared us for this privation before it took place, has also made us acquiesce in this loss with entire resignation, and I venture to say with as much joy as if it had been a gain. This would seem a paradox to anyone not versed in the things of Heaven as you are, sir, and who would not know that conformity to the good pleasure of God in adversities is a greater good than all temporal advantages." (Letter to Desbardas of the Counting Office.)
The news of the adverse decision being spread abroad, many of the most distinguished lawyers came to advise the holy man to lodge an appeal. One of them assured him that the fresh verdict would infallibly be to his advantage, and he offered himself not only to plead the cause gratuitously, but even to indemnify the House of Saint Lazare if he should happen to lose the lawsuit a second time.
In spite of these assurances Saint Vincent would not lodge an appeal. "However sure we may be," he wrote to this friend, "that we are well justified in lodging an appeal, we cannot make up our minds to have recourse to it: first, because the eight lawyers, whom we consulted individually and in council, before the verdict was pronounced which dispossessed us, always assured us that our right was infallible, and nevertheless the court judged otherwise; so true it is that opinions are divided, and that we must not depend on the judgments of men. Second, one of our duties in giving Missions is to settle differences amongst the people; one might fear then that, if the Company were to insist on a fresh contest in the Court of Appeal, which is the refuge of the greatest wranglers, God might deprive us of the grace of securing reconciliations. Third, we should give great scandal, after such a solemn sentence, if we pleaded to have it annulled. We should be blamed for too much attachment to worldly goods, which is the usual reproach brought against ecclesiastics, and thus, making ourselves talked about in the Palace, we should be harming other Communities, as well as causing our friends to be scandalized in us. Fourth, we have reason to hope that, if the world takes away from us some things on the one hand, God will make it up on the other. We have already experienced this since the court took away from us this land, for God permitted that one of the Councillors in Parliament who judged us, should leave us, when he was dying, almost as much as we lost. In fact, to speak freely to you, I feel great difficulty in going against the Counsel of Our Lord, Who does not wish that those who have undertaken to follow Him should go to law; and if we have already done so it was because I could not in conscience abandon what had been so legitimately acquired, and what belonged to the Community; for I was only the administrator, and I was bound to do my utmost to preserve it. But now that God has discharged me from this obligation by a supreme decision which has rendered our trouble useless I think we should abide by it. . . ."
Without any doubt Saint Vincent appeared great in all things in the eyes of the most enlightened men, but above all in his detachment from the things of earth. De Tellier says of him: "On account of my being Secretary of State, I was able to have much intercourse with Mr. Vincent. He did more good works in France for Religion and for the Church than anybody I have known, but what I noticed particularly was that at the Council of Conscience, where he was the principal agent, he never sought in any way his own interests, nor those of the Congregation, nor of those ecclesiastical Houses which he had established. He used his influence in favour of those only whom he thought deserving; as for himself, he had crossed himself off the list of those who might hope for some favour."
His neatest relations never received anything from him. He was often begged to do something for his nephews; he always replied that he would rather see them till the ground than provided with livings. Thus it was said, according to the opinion of the world, that he had lost more than he had gained by being at Court.
If he had asked for the House of Saint Julien for his own use, most certainly he would have obtained it; but he thought only of giving it to those who have possessed it ever since. A whole year of prayers and entreaties could not persuade him to accept the House of Saint Lazare, and as soon as the ownership was contested he wished to give it up; to prevent him doing so it was necessary to prove to him that he could not in conscience act thus.
An ecclesiastic one day offered him five hundred crowns. Saint Vincent, although in extreme need, refused them, saying that two thousand poor, who were also being tried by sickness, had much greater need of them than himself.
The royal Procurator of one of the largest towns in the kingdom gave Saint Vincent a property belonging to himself before entering the Congregation; Saint Vincent gave it back to his relations, who had regarded this donation with a jealous eye.
The Holy Priest endowed his Congregation with this same detachment. He never wished, and he could not bear a single step to be taken, to procure for him better subjects, or more beautiful establishments. The maxim of letting God do everything, of abandoning oneself to Him without reserve, of following His Providence without ever anticipating Him, is so often found in his letters that it is evident he never lost sight of it.
He was inspired with the same principles of detachment with regard to the Daughters of Charity. Not only would he have desired that they should not found establishments, but he wished that they should be always disposed to sacrifice those which they possessed! He withdrew them from one place where they had been called, for the sole reason that their presence might cause some disputes.
Practice - Let us think how we can diminish our household expenses a little so as to give something to the poor; the necessity of helping so many unhappy people of every age and condition is just as great and pressing in the times in which we are living as in those of Saint Vincent.
- text taken from Virtue and Christian Refinement According to the Spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul, by Saint John Bosco