THIRD KEYSTONE VINCENTIAN FORMATION TOPIC 1 SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL´S LIFE AND BIOGRAPHY “The service to the poor must be preferred to everything and must be rendered without delay. For this reason, if at the time of prayer, is necessary to bring some medicine or any help to a poor person, go to him with a very calm mind and do what is convenient, offering it to God as an extension of prayer” (From the writings of Saint Vincent, presbyter, letter 2546). Vincent de Paul was born in a small rural house on the outskirts of the village of Pouy, about five kilometers from the city of Dax, in the Landas region of south-western France. At the place of his birth, known today as Berceau of Saint Vincent de Paul, stands a modest construction of brick and wooden beams very similar to the house in which Vincent was born in April 1581. His parents were modest peasants, who only counted on the work of the land to care for their many children. Until he was twelve years old, Vincent lived in his house. He was the third of six siblings. The modest condition of the family meant that very soon young Vincent had to contribute with his work as a shepherd of sheep and pigs to the family economy. Soon, he also showed signs of an alert intelligence, which led his father to think that this son could very well "make a career"; specifically, an ecclesiastical career. He studied elementary and high school at Dax, and later Philosophy and Theology at Toulouse, for seven years. He also did some studies in Zaragoza. He was ordained very young, at the age of twenty, with the intention of being a parish priest immediately and being able to help his family. He was ordained a priest on September 23rd, 1600. The Bishop of Dax offered him a Parish, but he preferred to continue his studies; he aimed higher, he wanted to be a Bishop. In 1604 he obtained a doctorate in Theology. It is said that an old woman, from Toulouse, left him an inheritance of 400 escudos, (in the hands of a debtor), whom he pursues to Marseille, where he manages to recover 300 escudos, and return to Toulouse. When he embarks for Narbonne, he was attacked by the Turks and felt prisoner. Then he was sold as a slave in Tunisia. He passed through several masters, the last of whom was a renegade Christian, whom he converted and thus was able to reach Rome. Then, he went to Paris, where he met Pierre de Bérulle, at the Charity´s Hospital. Bérulle was a priest and founder of a group of spiritual priests. At that time, the clergy had come out of the wars in a lame state, the decrees of the Council of Trent on the formation of priests were not fulfilled and many bishops lived as great lords, far from their dioceses. Bérulle wanted Vincent to enter the Oratory (congregation where it is intended to live a fervent priesthood), but he did not accept. Instead, he replaced another priest who enters the Oratory (Congregation of priests who will practice poverty, with a vow not to claim benefit or dignity, against ambition, and that of dedicating themselves to the priesthood, against useless inactivity). Vincent, named tutor of the family of Phillipe de Gondi, nephew of the Archbishop of Paris, arrived at that destination in September 1613. During Gondi's travels, he reconnects with the peasants and poor people living in the domains of the noble family. And he realizes that the Gospel demands radical charity. Visit a dying man in Gannes, near the palace of the Gondi; who is on the brink of death, without having found a sweet and human priestly gaze, to be able to get out of himself and dare to believe in the tenderness of God. There is the vocation of Vincent: tenderness. His heart has been touched. God has already arrived. Vincent, already touched by God, who had not abandoned him in his hard desert journey, changes his heart and he who did not want to go to the fields of his village now wants to go to the most distant fields to express to all those who they feel lost, that there is a God of tenderness who has not forgotten them. He wants to be a testimony of that divine love. Be present with the tenderness of God. Vincent did not want to stay with the Gondis any longer and told Bérulle in May 1617. He moved to a small parish between Lyon and Geneva, in the Bresse region Chatillon-les-Dombes, as Parish Priest. He who spent his life fleeing his origin and destiny, dedicated himself to what he has been escaping since his youth. He has already found his way, the vocation of tenderness. He established the Central Residence of the Congregation in an old hospital for lepers known as Saint Lazarus´ Hospital, where he lived. For this reason, the Pauline or Saint Vincent priests were also called Lazarists. He founded the Brotherhoods of Charity in 1617, the Congregation of the Mission in 1625, and the Company of the Daughters of Charity in 1633 with Louise de Marillac. He died at eighty years old on September 27, 1660. Canonized by Clement XII in 1737, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him Universal Patron of Charitable Works in 1885. “Charity, in fact, is the highest rule, to which everything must tend, she is an illustrious lady, and you have to comply with what she orders. Let us, therefore, renew our spirit of service to the poor, mainly towards the abandoned and the helpless, since they have been given to us to serve as to lords” (From the writings of Saint Vincent de Paul, priest. Letter 2546). THE VOICE OF JESUS IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 25: 31-46 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life”. REFLECTION ON THE BIBLICAL QUOTE We will be judged by our love or indifference towards our brothers, smallest and in need of Jesus: the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick and imprisoned. The reason is clear, Jesus' solidarity with them is so strong that what we do with them, we do to Jesus. Did Vincent de Paul imitate Jesus Christ in this? What are the lessons that he left us? PRACTICE 1. Which event from the life of Saint Vincent called your attention? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 2. In which moment did Saint Vincent let God impact him? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 3. Can we distinguish between his purely human life and his life in faith? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ 4. What are the calls that God made to him? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ 5. How can we distinguish the calls that God make to us? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ THIRD KEYSTONE VINCENTIAN FORMATION TOPIC 2 SAINT LOUISE DE MARILLAC’S LIFE AND BIOGRAPHY Louise, daughter of Luis de Marillac, was born in France on August 12, 1591. If we had a baptismal certificate, we would know who Louise's mother was. The records of that time have disappeared from the archives of the church of Saint Paul, the parish in which Louise was baptized. Louise spent all her childhood in the convent of the Dominican nuns in Poissy. It was a magnificent home, she had an excellent training, which added to his keen intelligence, for which she even learned Latin.