17 July – St. Vincent de Paul, confessor… and slave… really

Did you know that Vincent was once an arrogant climber who was ordained at 19 years old?

Did you know that St. Vincent de Paul was captured by pirates and sold into slavery for a couple of years? His last owner was a fallen Franciscan priest who had converted to Islam and had three wives. Vincent converted them and they got back to Europe.

Did you know that Vincent was also chaplain to Henry VI’s wife and a member of Louis XIII’s Privy Council… as was Card. Richelieu? The Cardinal in his finery and Vincent in his grubby cassock from off the street.

Today is the feast of the great St. Vincent de Paul.  Here is his entry in the Roman Martyrology, which really doesn’t say much about him:

Memoria sancti Vincentii de Paul, qui, spiritu sacerdotali plenus, Parisiis in Gallia pauperibus addictus, in facie qualiscumque dolentis vultum agnoscebat Domini sui; ad formam primitivae Ecclesiae instaurandam, clerum sancte formandum et pauperes sublevandos Congregationem Missionis instituit et, sancta Ludovica de Marillac cooperante, Congregationem etiam Puellarum a Caritate.

Here’s my 1st class relic of St. Vincent de Paul.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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4 Comments

  1. bigtex says:

    A great saint, and the French movie “Monsieur Vincent” (1947 ) is terrific. I used to volunteer for the SVdP Society, but quit because at least 1/3 of our clients were illegal aliens. I was told by the president of this particular conference, that we shouldn’t “judge” their situation. Never mind they were breaking the law, stealing our resources, putting citizens in jeopardy and overwhelming our health and educ. systems. That was well over a decade ago, fast forward to today and our large city’s illegal situation is in crisis mode. Our “distressed” pop. index is approaching that of Baltimore. SJWs trying to immanentize the eschaton, what could go wrong?

  2. BeatifyStickler says:

    One of our family favourites! In our house we affectionately refer to him as, “my cousin Vinny”. He is in the center of our living room in the center of our wedding photo where he stands above the High Altar at St Vincent De Paul Church in Toronto. Some of my fondest memories from my teenage years were being with my brothers and serving Low Mass of the Oratorian Fathers. We would kneel at the foot of the altar and be imbued with the prayers of Mass and see Vincent there holding a figure of the Christ child. The statue was remarkable and striking, it made you feel his presence, shabby cassock and all. I cannot quite put my feelings into words, but in essence, the statue made me feel Catholic. Here we were in Toronto, serving Masses of men who hail from all over the world with this great figure from France looking down. The thought of Vincent made you want to go home and do works of charity. To me, it was perfect. Happy Feast day of my cousin Vinny. Et Unam, Sanctam, Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam. Speaking of Vinny, the Toronto Oratory is doing a renovation project of the parish hall. Check it out. Vinny, help my wife and I keep the vows we made on our wedding day as you were a witness on the wall.

  3. ex seaxe says:

    Yes, I knew about St Vincent de Paul. In Britain there was an excellent boys’ comic called The Eagle, heyday in the 1950s coinciding with my teenage years. Front cover story was space adventure very much like Star Trek but within our solar system. Back cover story started with the travels and travails of St Paul, presented in the same style. When that thread was exhausted it moved on to others of whom St Vincent de Paul was a memorable example.

  4. Not says:

    My wife and I love the movie. We love and fear the last lines from St. Vincent, “I haven’t done enough.”

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