Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q NEW Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q VINCENTIAN VOL. 32 NO. 1 2014 HERITAGE St. Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) VINCENTIAN HERITAGE The pulpit of the parish church in Folleville, France Image from the collection of the Vincentian Studies Institute Table of Contents Contributors to this Issue The Heart of Jesus in the Spirituality of Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac ROBERT P. MALONEY, C.M. Conversion and Discernment According to Vincent de Paul EdWARD R. UDOVIC, C.M., Ph.D. Mathieu de Morgues and Michel de Marillac: The Dévots and Absolutism CAI ROL NE MAillET-RAO, Ph.D. Vincentian Footprints in China: The Lives, Deaths, and Legacies of François-Regis Clét, C.M., and Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, C.M. AHNT ONY E. CLARK, Ph.D. Frédéric Ozanam: Systemic Thinking, and Systemic Change RAYMOND L. SICKINGER, Ph.D. Pictures from the Past: Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, Ohio EssAY BY JUDITH METZ, S.C. Newsnotes About Vincentian Heritage Contributors to this Issue ANTHONY E. CLARK, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Chinese History at Whitworth University. He earned his doctorate in classical sinology and historiography from the University of Oregon, and his scholarly work centers principally on the Catholic Church in China during the Boxer Era, and China’s subsequent transition from empire to modern nation-state. His publications include, Ban Gu’s History of Early China (2008), Beating Devils and Burning Their Books: Views of China, Japan, and the West (2010), China’s Saints: Catholic Martyrdom During the Qing (1644-1911) (2011), and most recently he has written the “Introduction” toThe Memoirs of Jin Luxian: Volume One (2012). Other works include a just-completed monograph, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, on the Franciscan mission in Shanxi during the late imperial era. His current research centers on the life and cathedral of Alphonse Favier, C.M., in Beijing during the collapse of the Qing dynasty. CAROLINE MAILLET-RAO, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor at the Campus Saint- Jean, University of Alberta, Canada. She is the author of the book, La Pensée Politique des Dévots Mathieu de Morgues et Michel de Marillac: Une Opposition au Ministériat du Cardinal de Richelieu. Currently Dr. Maillet-Rao is working on a critical edition of Michel de Marillac’s manuscript, and another on Mathieu de Morgues’s pamphlets, both to be published by Honoré Champion Editions. Her published articles include, “La Théologie Politique des Dévots Mathieu de Morgues et Michel de Marillac, Opposants du Cardinal de Richelieu” in Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance and Réforme, 32:3; and “Mathieu de Morgues and Michel de Marillac: The Dévots and Absolutism,” in French History, 25:3. REV. ROBERT P. MALONEY, C.M., was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He was ordained in 1966, and became the twenty-third Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, serving in this role from 1992 until 2004. In recent years he has served as Chair of the Vincentian Family Board for Haiti Initiative, and as Vincentian Chair for Social Justice, at St. John’s University. Rev. Maloney holds a doctorate in Moral Theology from the Catholic University of America. He has made extensive contributions to the understanding of the Vincentian charism, and has authored numerous articles and books on Vincentian Spirituality. Notable works include his frequent contributions to the journal Vincentiana, and the titles: The Way of Vincent de Paul: A Contemporary Spirituality in the Service of the Poor; He Hears the Cry of the Poor: On the Spirituality of Vincent de Paul; Turn Everything to Love: A Rule of Life for Lay Members of the Vincentian Family; and Faces of Holiness: Portraits of Some Saints in the Vincentian Family. SR. JUDITH METZ, S.C., Ph.D., is archivist/historian for The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. She holds an undergraduate degree from the College of Mount St. Joseph, an MA in history from Xavier University, and a doctorate in American Catholic Studies from Union Institute and University. Besides her archival work, she teaches, lectures, researches, and writes. She is the co-editor of the four-volume Elizabeth Bayley Seton: Collected Writings, and the author of A Retreat with Elizabeth Seton: Meeting Our Grace, and The Charity of Christ Urges Us: The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in the Civil War. RAYMOND L. SICKINGER, Ph.D., received his doctorate in History from the University of Notre Dame in 1978. Former Director of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service and Chair of the Department of Public and Community Service Studies at Providence College, Dr. Sickinger has served in a variety of administrative and teaching positions over the course of 39 years. He has been published previously in Vincentian Heritage and in other journals such as Parliamentary History, The Journal of Popular Culture, The Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, and Providence: Studies in Western Civilization. He is currently working on a biography of Frédéric Ozanam which should be completed sometime in 2014. Dr. Sickinger now serves as a strategic goal leader on the National Board of Directors for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and has been a Society member since 1985. He has helped to produce materials and videos for the formation of the Society’s members and leaders, and is responsible for conducting the annual national formation workshop for National Council Members. Dr. Sickinger also oversees the work of the Society’s Task Force on Systemic Change as well as the National Committee on Multicultural/Diversity Issues and Initiatives. REV. EDWARD R. UDOVIC, C.M., Ph.D., is a Vincentian priest from the Western Province of the Congregation of the Mission. Ordained in 1984, he has a Doctorate in Church History from the Catholic University of America. He presently serves as the Secretary, Senior Executive for University Mission, and Vice President for Teaching and Learning Resources at DePaul University in Chicago, the largest Catholic University in the United States. He is also an associate professor in the Department of History. He has written extensively in the area of Vincentian history, and has given presentations throughout the United States and internationally on Vincentian history, spirituality, and leadership. BACK TO CONTENTS 1 The Heart of Jesus In the Spirituality of Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac ROBERT P. MALONEY, C.M. Q Q QQ Q QQ QQ Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q next BACK TO CONTENTS Q Q Q Q Q Q article Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q here was something in the air in early seventeenth-century France. Decades before the visions of Margaret Mary Alacoque, which began on 27 December 1673, Vincent T de Paul and Louise de Marillac were already focusing on the heart of Jesus. It became a powerful force in their spirituality, moving them on related, but different, roads toward “mission” and “charity.” The names of the congregations they founded reflect these two thrusts: the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity.1 At a gathering of the members of the Congregation of the Mission on 22 August 1655, Vincent de Paul cried out, “[let’s] ask God to give the Company this spirit, this heart, this heart that causes us to go everywhere, this heart of the Son of God, the heart of Our Lord, the heart of Our Lord, the heart of Our Lord… He sent the Apostles to do that; he sends us, like them, to bring fire everywhere.Ignem veni mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur; to bring this divine fire, this fire of love and of fear of God everywhere…”2 Vincent spoke eloquently of the fire that he hoped would burn in the heart of missionaries, like those who went to Madagascar. He envisioned it as a flame, an all- consuming zeal that would drive the members of his Congregation toward those in need. His dream was that this flame would energize not just those engaged in foreign missions, but also those preaching missions at home or laboring in works among the abandoned anywhere in the world. Louise referred to the heart of Jesus even more. Not only do we read of it in her writings, we see it in the paintings which, she told the sisters, were her devotion and amusement.3 She painted both small and large images of Jesus’ heart, and her letters inform us that she sent the “Lord of Charity” to houses of the Daughters of Charity. A large painting depicting the “Lord of Charity” hangs above a landing on a staircase near the Superior General’s room at the Motherhouse of the Daughters in Paris. The heart of Jesus is exposed as he looks out at the viewer. For Vincent, the heart of Jesus was the source of missionary zeal. For Louise, it was the font of a burning charity that was both affective and effective. Hence, “Mission et Charité” have had a central role in the lives of their followers, with different accents, in the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity. I. Early traces of devotion to the heart of Jesus Explicit devotion to the heart of Jesus developed slowly in the Church. In some ways 1 Bibliography about Vincent’s and Louise’s focus on the heart of Jesus is not abundant. See E.