The Funeral Oration for Vincent De Paul : 23 November 1660
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DePaul University Via Sapientiae Vincentian Digital Books Vincentian Heritage Collections 2015 The Funeral Oration for Vincent de Paul : 23 November 1660 Henri de Maupas du Tour Edward R. Udovic C.M. Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks Recommended Citation de Maupas du Tour, Henri and Udovic, Edward R. C.M., "The Funeral Oration for Vincent de Paul : 23 November 1660" (2015). Vincentian Digital Books. 41. https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks/41 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Vincentian Heritage Collections at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vincentian Digital Books by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. With his insightful analysis of the Funeral Oration of St. Vincent de Paul, Rev. Udovic, in three introductory chapters, lays the groundwork for the reading of the actual Oration, placing it in the context of the history of Church and State in the seventeenth century. He shows also how Maupas du Tour carefully crafted his panegyric to avoid the censure of church authorities in his depiction of Vincent de Paul and his works, while, at the same time, artfully giving the Crown, Mazarin, and the nobles a place of honor in the text. Copious illustrations of significant persons and places give life to the book. A must for any serious study of Vincentian historiography. —Marie Poole, D.C. Historian and Author; Editor of Vincent de Paul: Correspondence, Conferences, Documents Everyone with an interest in Vincent de Paul will welcome this English translation of Maupas du Tour’s funeral oration. Since it is in some way the first biography of Vincent de Paul, it must be consulted for details about his life. This translation, with important introductory materials, will become the standard text. It is sprinkled with citations from its subject, even single sentences that are practically unknown to scholars that can now be added to the canon of Vincentian materials. Maupas du Tour’s text, of course, reflects his own perspectives and method of presentation, which can seem laborious and overblown. Nonetheless, it reveals to modern readers a world that, like certain citations from the saint, is likewise unknown. —John E. Rybolt, C.M. Historian and Author; Editor of The Vincentians: A General History of the Congregation of the Mission This small volume makes a substantial contribution to the literature about Vincent de Paul, particularly in the way it advances the project of delineating Vincent’s person from the wider myth about him. Rev. Udovic provides the first annotated English translation of the “Oraison Funèbre” and, as valuable as the sermon itself, three introductory chapters which situate it. He examines the life and career of Maupas du Tour, and gives an extensive analysis of his address detailing the important role it played in shaping subsequent portrayals of Vincent, notably Abelley’s biography. Rev. Udovic’s presentation is thorough and the translation smoothly readable. His book is a valuable and original addition to the historiography of Vincent de Paul. —Thomas F. McKenna, C.M. Provincial Director of the Daughters of Charity Province of St. Louise HENRI DE MAUPAS DU TOUR † The Funeral Oration for Vincent de Paul 23 November 1660 HENRI DE MAUPAS DU TOUR † The Funeral Oration for Vincent de Paul 23 November 1660 Introduction, Translation, and Annotation by edward r. udovic, c.m. Edited by Nathaniel Michaud Henri de Maupas du Tour (1606-1680). Cover illustration Courtesy Vincentian Studies Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Engraving by Michel Lasne. Dated 1645. Courtesy © Fitzwilliam Museum, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois Cambridge, United Kingdom DePaul University Vincentian Studies Institute Chicago, Illinois All Rights Reserved © 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations 10 Preface 11 Chapter 1. The Panegyrist 13 Chapter 2. The Ultimate Goal: Vincent de Paul’s Canonization 35 Chapter 3. The Canonization of Vincent de Paul: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum.” 59 The Funeral Oration for Vincent de Paul 83 The Published French Text 162 Archival Sources 203 Bibliography 203 Index 213 About the Author 223 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PREFACE Maupas du Tour 7 Vincent portrait 83 More than twenty years ago I first came across a copy of the published Vincent’s death 13 Maupas du Tour 86 text (1661) of Henri de Maupas du Tour’s Oraison Funèbre for Vincent de Paul. Marie de Medici 15 Cardinal de Retz 86 I immediately recognized its importance as the first public presentation of Louis XIII 15 Maupas du Tour 92 Monsieur Vincent’s life and works after his death. As I read the manuscript, and The founder 16 View of Saint-Germain- did some preliminary research, I became just as interested in the panegyrist and Seal of Saint-Lazare 16 l’Auxerrois 93 author Bishop Henri de Maupas du Tour, and the genre of the oraison funèbre. In Anne of Austria 17 Vincent de Paul 95 addition, the lengthy and fulsome dedication of the published work to Cardinal Views of St. Paul-St. Louis 18 Vincent de Paul 95 Mazarin was intriguing, as were the other textual references which opened Jean-Jacques Olier 21 The apotheosis 97 windows into Vincent’s seventeenth-century French world and his place in it. I Visitation Chapel 22 Louise de Marillac 98 was convinced of the importance of undertaking the first English translation of Cardinal Mazarin 24 Vincent the shepherd 101 the oraison funèbre, fully annotating the text and suggesting its contextualization Jean Couty 35 Vincent’s death 104 in Vincentian historiography. Louis XIV 36 Vincent, father and friend 106 At the time I had just finished the comprehensive exams for my doctorate Vincent de Paul 37 Man of prayer 108 and had some breathing space until my dissertation topic was approved. I Antoine Portail 38 Last rites 109 finished an English translation of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet’s sermon On the René Alméras 40 Vincent delivering bread 110 Eminent Dignity of the Poor in the Church1 and produced a rough translation of Vincent as slave 42 Church of Saint-Lazare 111 the oraison funèbre, and then began work on the annotation. Since this was the Vincent, Evangelizer 44 Vincent the evangelizer 114 pre-internet era, work on the notes was painfully slow and I despaired of ever Philippe Emmanuel de Gondi 48 Duchesse d’Aiguillon 115 being able to interpret or even find some of the more obscure textual references. Françoise-Marguerite de Silly 48 Rue Mouffetard 117 As often happens in research; life, work, and other projects intervened. Marquise de Maignelay 48 Vincent preaching 119 I turned my attention to my doctoral dissertation. Over the years I would Vincent and foundlings 49 The apotheosis 123 periodically rework the translation, continue research on Henri de Maupas du Louis Abelly 59 Pierre de Bérulle 125 Tour, and add to the notes. During this period I regularly taught a course at DePaul Edme Jolly 61 Francis de Sales 127 University entitled “The Life and Times of Vincent de Paul.” In preparing for this Jean Pierron 61 Jeanne de Chantal 129 class I continually strived to separate the Vincent of “myth” from the Vincent of François Watel 61 St. Vincent de Paul 130 “history,” and to understand Vincent the “person” as distinct from Vincent the Cardinal Noailles 62 Statue, St. Peter’s Basilica 132 “saint.” Much of this research ended up in the 2010 documentary film Vincent Abbé Saint-Cyran 63 de Paul: Charity’s Saint,2 for which I served as executive producer and principal Antoine Arnauld 64 writer. Jean Bonnet 66 With the completion of the documentary a gap appeared in my research Benedict XIII 68 agenda and I decided to come back to this project. The translation was relatively Clement XII 71 easy to finish. In this era of Google searches, the massive digitization of primary Augustinus 72 texts, and the availability of e-books and e-journals, the barriers and difficulties to Louis XV 74 an extensive annotation of this text largely melted away in a few simple clicks. 10 Henri de Maupas du Tour Preface 11 I am very indebted to my able research assistant Edward Young for his Chapter 1 expert eye and good judgment in checking notes, tracking down obscure patristic quotes (especially from the Greek Fathers), and suggesting additional notes. Any THE PANEGYRIST errors of course remain my own. Finally, my thanks to Nathaniel Michaud for his steady hand in editing a complex manuscript. The translated and annotated text is preceded by three introductory chapters. In the first I outline the life and career of Henri de Maupas du Tour, to explain how he came to be chosen to deliver Monsieur Vincent’s oraison funèbre. In the early hours of 27 September 1660, after a long period of failing health, In the second chapter I review and analyze the content of the funeral oration and Vincent de Paul died at the age of seventy-nine at the priory of Saint-Lazare just its distinctive contribution to Vincentian historiography. In the final chapter I outside Paris.1 After being prepared by the lay brothers, his body remained in the summarize the course of the canonization cause of Vincent de Paul, for which room where he died. His fellow missionaries kept vigil and recited the Office of the oraison served as the starting gun. the Dead for the repose of his soul. As word spread throughout the city, people I am grateful to the Vincentian Studies Institute of the United States for its from all ranks of society filed past his bed to pay their last respects. Later that day, patience in waiting many years for the delivery of this oft-promised manuscript.