Saint Vincent De Paul / Correspondence, Conferences
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- 76- 457. - TO LEONARD BOUCHER, IN BAR Paris, July 10, 1640 Monsieur, The grace of Our Lord with you forever! We have need of you here; please come at your earliest convenience once you have received this letter. I am sending you six ecus for that purpose and am sending M. Dupuis,I the bearer of this note, in your place. Please show him how you do things and ask the Rector of the Jesuits' to offer him the same kind hospitality he has offered you and to assist him with his good and holy advice. The said Monsieur Dupuis is still younll and inexperienced, but very docile and pious. Place the money and provisions you have in his hands and enjoin our dear Brother David to regard him in Our Lord and Our Lord in him and to obey him in the same way. Before you leave, obtain a receipt for all the money you gave to the nuns and entrust them to the above-mentioned Monsieur Dupuis. Take leave ofthe Governor,' the Mayor,' the City Magistrates, and the other leading citizens; and introduce and commend the said Sieur Dupuis to them. As for what concerns M. Baptiste,' we shall talk about that here, where I await you with Letter 451. - Archives of the Mission, Turin, original autograph letter. lMichel Dupuis. born in Vcr (Oise), was received into the Cooarelation ofthe Mission on March 29, 1639. at the &Ie of twenty-three. Although be was still a simple cleric in 16%. Saint Vincent was using him in the seminary of Cahors. It was a common practice for Saint Vincent to employ seminarians in various works oftbeCongregation. It appears that both a shortqe ofpersonnel and a need for practical experience on the part of.some of the clerics necessitated this practice. The Notices contain no information about Dupuis' ordination to the priesthood or his death. 2Fathcr Roussel. 3Charles de Mouchy, Marquis d'Hocquincourt. Governor and Lieutenant-General in Lorraine and in Barrois. "Gerard Jacob. ~ Jean-Baptiste Dclestoile. born in Bar-Ie-Due in 161.S, entered the Congregation ofthe Mission at the seminary in Paris on April I, 1637. - 77- an affection known to Our Lord. In His love and in that of His holy Mother, I am your servant. VINCENT DEPAUL Addressed: Monsieur Boucher, Priest ofthe Mission, in Bar 451•• TO SAINT LOUISE Saint·Lazare, July 11, 1640 Mademoiselle, The grace of Our Lord be with you forever! I approve of what you wrote me; therefore, kindly do it as soon as possible, Mademoiselle. Excuse me if I do not come to see you today; I am anxious to get to the city. I shall send you someone soon to hear the confessions ofyour young ladies and would like to be able to do the same with regard to the points you requested of me.' However, I do not remember a single one of them, as I said what came to my mind at the time. If I recall any of them by concentrating on them on my way to the city presently, I shall write them down and send them to you. Meanwhile, I wish you a good day and I am, in the love of Our Lord, Mademoiselle, your most humble servant. VINCENT DEPAUL Letter 451..Archives ofthe Motherhouse ofthe Daughters ofCharity. original autoaraph letter. IPoints for a conference to be given to the Daughters of Charity. - 78- 459•• TO LAMBERT AUX COUTEAUX, IN RICHELIEU Paris, July 22, 1640 Monsieur, The grace of Our Lord be with you forever! Yesterday I received your letter, the date of which I have forgotten, together with the ones [You] sent me from M. Cuissot1 and the official report of the visitation in La Rose. o Monsieur, how distressed I am about the clash between those two men. What shall we do about it? Is it not advisable for you to bring both of them to an awareness of their fault, especially M. B[enoit],' and to take the matter as an oppor tunity to give a conference on the subject of how important it is never to talk about people in the house outside or about things that happen there. That is the reason for what has occurred in La Rose. According to what M. Savinier' has told me, and the things he made up in order to penetrate into people's minds, to fix himself there and become indispensable to them, it was the Vicar General who caused him' to act in that way and brought things to the point where they are. Ohl Letter 459. - Archives ofthe Mission, Turin, original autograph letter. IGilbert Cuissot. born November S. 1607, had been a priest for six years when be entered the Congregation of the Mission on May 14, 1637. After directing the house of Lu9on. he was appointed Superior in La Rose (1640-1644), then at the CoUqe des Bons-Enfants (1644-1646), where he made his vows November 11. 1644. We find him next at the seminary ofLe Mans (1646) and at Saint-Lazare (1646-1647). He was director of the esbors seminary from 1647 to 1662, and in charge of the Richelieu house from 1662 to 1666. He declared in writing that. at the time of the election of Saint Vincent's successor, because he was hesitant about voting for Rene AImeras. whose state ofhealth left much to be desired, the Saint appeared to him and determined his choice. He also declared that in 1662, while exorcisiq a possessed woman, he drew from the demon precious avowals concerning the Founder's holiness and the reward reserved by God for Missionaries faithful to their vocation. He died in 1666. 2Benott B6cu. 3Annet Savinier. born near Clermont inAuvergne, was received into the Congregation of the Mission in Paris in 163S and ordained a priest in March 1631. 4BenOl"'t Becu. - 79- no, never must what is done inside the house be discussed outside. Would it not be fitting at the end of the conference for you to obtain a public promise from the Company and for them to give themselves to God to act in this way? Good M. Sa[vinier] is here; 1 am giving him the best welcome 1 can. He is very eager to go back where he came from and visit his home.' 1 have discussed with him the objections to both and am standing frrm; we shall see. What shall we do meanwhile for that place?' 1can see that we need another Superior' and a priest in M. Gautier's' place. We have a priest who is qualified. What do you think 'of our putting M. Cuissot to take charge in that place and M. Chiroye9 in L~n?10 1find it difficult to do otherwise. Let me know your opinion, please. There are two things to be considered here: (1) whether M. Chiroye is capable ofdirecting; (2) whether M. Thibault" can be submissive; he is so at present with regard SHe was originally from Oermont-Ferrand and was coming from La Rose. 6La Rose. 'To replace Benoit Becu. sDenis Gautier. born in Langres (Haute-Marne) in 1610, was already a priest when he entered the Congregation aCthe Mission on July 19, 1639, at the aae of twenty-nine. He was the Superior in Ricbelieu from 1642 to 1649. 'Jacques Chiroye was born inAuppegard (Seine-Maritime) on March 14, 1614, entered the Congregation ofthe Mission on June 2S. 1638, and made his vows on March 9. 1660. He served as Superior in LuQon (l640-16S0, 16S4-1660. 1662-1666) and In Cricy (1660-1662). He died on May 3, 1680. IOOne of the clauses contained in the foundation contract of the establishment in Riche1ieu stated that three priests from that house would go to the diocese of 1.uI:m "four times a year. at the most suitable seasons," and work there "for six weeks. each time" (cf. vol. I, 00. 287). Shortly before, Saint Vincent haddecided to establish, in LuQon itself, a house distinct from the one in Richelieu, with Gilbert Cuissot as Superior. At first the Missionaries were content with a rented house. They had not yet finished moving in when Saint Vincent wrote this letter. A gift from Cardinal Richelieu, their founder and benefactor, facilitated the purchase of the mansion called the Pont de Vie, in December 1641. (Cf. Charpentier, "Saint Vincent de Paul en Bu-Poitou" in the Revue du Bas-Poilou [1911], pp. 33~SO.) IIJean Thibault wu born in Paris in 1615 and entered the Congregation ofthe Mission on July 29, 1638. The fears ofthe Saint were well founded. Jean Thibault did not possess a spirit of submission. He was recalled to Paris shortly after and left the Company in 1642. He must not be confused with -Louis Thibault, the future Superior in Saint-M~, whose behavior elicited praise from the Saint. - 80- to M. Cuissot and is satisfied and in fine trim. I ask you let me know your opinion about this as soon as possible. In this case, M. Benoit would come back to Richelieu or I would send you someone else. I am writing to tell M. Cuissot to take three hundred Iivres for his furniture. We shall pay them here upon presentation of his letter. As you see it, what would really be needed for the three of them? Is Pierre Rogue, the shepherd who was here in this house,12 the one who is in Richelieu? I would be pleased if he were willing to stay there, and I think he needs to do so, because the people he is going to meet will maintain his little vanity of mind; you take care of that.