Dedication to the Queen Mother of the King

Madame,

The favorable reception Your Majesty ¹ always gave to Monsieur Vincent during his lifetime and the kindness with which you have honored his memory since his death gives me hope that you would accept this work which is but a sketch of the life and virtues of this great servant of God. ² I have attempted to trace his career with as much fidelity as humanly possible. There is little in his life to make it striking enough to be suitable for presentation to such a great princess as yourself. But I believe that to the degree that it is simple and straightforward the more it will truly reflect its subject, and even more favorably will it be accepted by Your Majesty. You will more surely recognize Monsieur Vincent in its pages if he is presented in his everyday clothes, that is to say, in his humility, his simplicity and his usual direct speech and action. Even though Monsieur Vincent during his life had taken every care to hide the marvelous graces he had received from God, I have succeeded in allowing him to speak after his death by citing several letters I have been able to gather, reflecting those occasions when his charity overcame his natural reticence about himself.

Should Your Majesty deign to give me audience I shall have the honor of recalling several matters which will without doubt confirm his reputation. They will console you greatly, for you will recognize the great things he accomplished for God and for the building up of the kingdom of Jesus Christ during the regency. These took place not only by your authorization and support but even more so by your zeal, your concern and your generous support. What should be a source of joy for you is that all the great enterprises started by Monsieur Vincent still function, better than ever, under the wise guidance of our incomparable monarch who shines like the sun, vivifying all parts of his kingdom, who is very mindful to use all his strength of mind and inexhaustible zeal to preserve true religion and solid piety in all parts of the kingdom.

The innocence and sanctity of him whose life we write, Madame, assure us that he is in heaven with his God. We believe that he is imploring unceasingly God’s goodness to shower his blessings upon our great prince, Your Majesty and all the royal household. What particularly obliges him to this intercession is his recognition of the favors he received from your hands, and continues to receive in the person of the priests of his Congregation.

While he lived on earth, even during most perilous and difficult times, he was ever faithful to the king and devoted to his service. Since the virtues of the saints never die and especially their charity lives on, we can confidently assert that in heaven Monsieur Vincent retains this same affection and zeal to obtain from God all sorts of blessings upon the king, Your Majesty and all that you hold dear. It surely is no small consolation to know that you have a faithful servant. To put it more fittingly, you have an assured intercessor and protector, like another Jeremiah ³ continually prostrate before the adorable majesty to pray for what he sees in the light of glory to be truly salutary for Your Majesty and helpful to the achievement of your just desires.

For myself, Madame, having been showered with favors from the king without ever having merited them, and having experienced the effects of your own good will, I recognize myself unable to thank Your Majesty enough. I beg you that I may borrow from him whose life I write, to help fulfill this duty of gratitude, and following his example and with the favor his faithful services have earned, I declare, with the greatest possible respect,

Your Majesty,

Your very humble, obedient, faithful servant, and subject,

Louis, bishop of Rodez.

Foreword

Dear reader, I would like to call three things to your attention before you begin to read this book.

First, since truth is the soul of history without which it does not merit the name “history,” but rather of “novel” or “romance,” you can be assured that it has been faithfully and exactly observed in this work. What you read has been in the public record or gathered from reliable witnesses. Some things I assert that I have seen with my own eyes, or heard with my ears, having had the good fortune of knowing and associating with Monsieur Vincent for many years. I have visited the place of his birth and spoken with his close relatives during a trip I made to Guienne nearly twenty-five years ago.

I have cited several of his letters and conferences to supplement what I learned from others. These extracts are taken from documents collected by members of his Congregation, especially during the later years of his life. ⁴ I do so because there is no way we can be more certain of his attitudes or his interior disposition of soul than by quoting what he actually said. On occasion charity overcame his personal humility, despite his reluctance to talk about himself. What gives even greater credence to his words is that all who knew him were well aware that there was no trace of vanity or boasting in his makeup. On the contrary, he often sought out occasions for self-deprecation, saying and doing in the sight of others what might draw down disrespect upon himself.

Since this holy man often spoke on the spur of the moment, his conferences were more like talks of a father to his children than the studied discourses of the learned. Despite this we have decided to report them simply. The reader will thereby be the more able to recognize the depth of his soul and the virtue of this great servant of God, for his words flowed from the abundance of his heart.

The second point I call to your attention is the criticism that this work is too long. Some suggest that it would be enough to speak in general terms, and not enter into many topics better passed over in silence. It is not possible to form a correct judgment of things if they are known only superficially or in part. To see the utility and grandeur of the works of Monsieur Vincent which he did with the help of God, I have thought it necessary to speak about them at length, rather than in summary or in general.

Moreover, let the reader remember, please, that you do not have here an elocution piece or a panegyric. You have a simple recital of the life and activities of a servant of God, who had a particular concern to remain ever in the background. It would be contrary to his disposition were this life to be written with flowery language or with worldly eloquence. Style ought to imitate nature; how better to describe the virtues of a saint than to speak of them in the same spirit with which they were practiced.

Lastly, my dear reader, the third thing I would call to your attention is that I declare that I submit completely to the prudent rules established by the Apostolic See in writing about saintly persons. I base my writing solely on human testimony, and not on the authority of the church. I use the word “saint” in some places in the sense that Saint Paul uses it in referring to all the faithful. My meaning in using this word or others like it is no more than to say that this great servant of God was endowed with eminent virtue, and that he surpassed greatly the ordinary Christian man or woman in his life of holiness. ⁵

Approbations

Approbation of the Archbishop of Auch

We, Henri de la Mothe, doctor of the University of Paris and archbishop of Auch, declare that we have read the book entitled Life of the Venerable Servant of God Vincent de Paul, written by Monsieur Louis Abelly, bishop of Rodez. In it we have found nothing but what is edifying and which may not serve as an example for all classes of persons to imitate. Its subject and his life’s work is described with such force, such sincerity and in such vivid colors that it is not necessary to have known him intimately or to have spoken with him familiarly. He can be found in this book even better than in life, for he kept himself hidden from the eyes of men, to reveal himself to God alone. We judge that this book should be published and read by everyone.

Done at Paris, this thirtieth day of August, 1664⁶.

Henri de la Mothe [Houdancourt], archbishop of Auch.

Approbation of the Bishop of Evreux

The Church has long endured the cruelty of tyrants, but also the shame of the reproaches made by the prophets against the leaders of the people. Ezekiel complained that the flock of the Lord was dispersed for want of a shepherd. Zechariah called the negligent shepherd an idol since he was useless for guarding his flock which he abandoned in times of stress. The Fathers of the Church lamented the same deplorable evil. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, among others, while expressing his astonishment at seeing how the good shepherd patiently endured all the rigors of the seasons to assure the safety of the sheep whose guardian he was, could only grieve at the sight of the sheepfold of the Savior of the world exposed to the attack of wolves for want of true shepherds. Souls, whom he calls simply thinking sheep, instead of having true pastors are at the whim of mercenaries who abandon the sheep at the first sign of difficulty.

The Sovereign Pastor who watches over his Church has raised up for us in the person of Monsieur Vincent a faithful servant, filled with zeal for his glory and burning with love for the salvation of souls. We have only to read this story of his life, written by the bishop of Rodez, to be convinced of this. I attest that I have read and even reread the books so filled with doctrine and piety the bishop has given the public in the past. I have studied them even in a spirit of admiration. I urge the faithful to read and meditate upon his latest work which cannot help being very useful in impressing on their hearts a true and solid devotion.

Given at Evreux on the feast of Saint Bernard, April 20, 1664.

Henri, bishop of Evreux.

Extract from the Royal Privilege

By the grace and privilege of the king, it has been permitted to Florentin Lambert, a bookseller in Paris, to print or to have printed, to sell and to distribute throughout the kingdom, a book entitled The Life of the Venerable Servant of God Vincent de Paul, Founder and First Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, by Monsieur Louis Abelly, Bishop of Rodez; and to do this in the size, character and as many times as he judges it proper, for the period of twenty consecutive years. It is forbidden to all printers, booksellers and others to print, to have printed, to sell, or to distribute this book in whatever way and manner, and under whatever possible pretext, without the agreement of Lambert, or of those so entitled, under pain of confiscation of copies, arbitrary fine, expenses, damages and interest, according as it has been further specified in this privilege, granted at Paris May 19, 1664. And the twenty-second year of our reign. Signed: BARDON

Registered in the volume of the guild of printers and booksellers of this city, August 19, 1664.

E. Martin, Syndic

Printing completed for the first time, September 10, 1664.

Copies have been furnished.

1. Queen Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV.
2. After the death of Louis XIII in 1643, his wife, Anne of Austria, became regent and instituted the Council of Conscience to advise her on ecclesiastical affairs. She appointed Saint Vincent to this body. Later, Louis XIV, in his letter to Pope Clement XI supporting Vincent’s beatification, testified that his mother had recognized Vincent’s virtues and that she had shown this by great marks of confidence. According to Louis, at Vincent’s death, his mother had exclaimed, “What a loss for the Church and for the poor!”
3. An allusion to the vision of Judas Maccabeus (2 Mac 15:13-16) who had seen Jeremiah in heaven praying for the people and for the holy city.
4. On August 15, 1657, only three years before the death of the saint, Brother Bertrand Ducournau, his secretary, sent a long memorandum to the assistants of the house of Saint Lazare to persuade them “how important it is for the future of the company that an exact record of the Monsieur Vincent’s discourses be preserved. (Notices sur les prêtres et frères de la Congrégation de la Mission, 1, 416.) His proposal was accepted and he himself did most of the work of preserving these precious accounts. The same care was taken by the Daughters of Charity, who had earlier begun to preserve the account of the words of their holy founder. Mathurine Guerin, one of the first Daughters of Charity, wrote that “one of the most valuable possessions of our company is the record that Mademoiselle Le Gras had made of the instructions of our last most honored father. She so loved these writings that she did not wish to be the one to write them down for fear that she might change the sense of what our blessed father had said, greatly loving his simple and naive style, without trying to polish it in any way. She often said that one day the sisters would be consoled to have the writings of the persons whom we have been privileged to hear and see. Therefore, you must have them all.” Mathurine Guerin to Marguerite Chetif, elected superioress general at the death of Louise de Marillac. Louise de Marillac, sa Vie, ses Vertues 1887, 1, 250.
5. The author wrote this in 1664. Later, the cause of the servant of God was introduced at Rome. Vincent de Paul was beatified by Benedict XIII on August 13, 1729, and was canonized by Clement XII (see the bull Superna Jerusalem of June 16, 1737).
6. These approbations are reproduced above all because they are from two prelates who were friends of Saint Vincent. The bishop of Evreux was Henri Cauchon de Maupas du Tour, 1600-1680, first chaplain to Anne of Austria, and then bishop of Le Puy. In 1661 he was named bishop of Evreux. On November 23, 1660, nearly two months after the saint’s death, he pronounced the funeral oration at the official memorial service sponsored by the members of the Tuesday Conferences, held at Saint Germain l’Auxerrois in Paris.