Vincentian Pilgrimage Hospitality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Edward Udovic narrates the history of Vincentian pilgrimages and the tradition of hospitality within it. He describes the significance of different Vincentian pilgrimage sites, especially Saint-Lazare. He explains the role of inclusivity within DePaul University’s mission and how the university “uses pilgrimages (or Heritage Tours) as a tool to enhance mission engagement” among specially selected faculty, staff, and students. The trips are an important aspect of the university community’s Vincentian formation. Participants, who may not be Catholic or members of any organized religion, are supposed to use the experience to discern how their own values harmonize with the university’s mission. Udovic addresses the specific learning goals of these tours and discusses how the university supports the participants. He also explains how the trips are planned, staffed, and led; these are components of hospitality as well. As Senior Executive for University Mission and the leader of the Heritage Tours, Udovic’s perspective is particularly valuable

Pictures from the Past: Saint-Lazare as a Prison: 1792–1940

Saint-Lazare was the Congregation’s motherhouse from 1632 to 1792, when it was confiscated and turned into a prison for enemies of the French Revolution. Shortly afterward it became a women’s prison and continued as such until 1932. It was demolished in 1940. The prison’s history is given, accompanied by fourteen images

Translating Vincent de Paul for the 21st Century: A Case Study of Vincentian Mission Effectiveness Efforts at DePaul University

Edward Udovic believes that the success that DePaul University enjoys today depends on its translation of the Vincentian mission and values into modern terms to meet modern needs. Like Vincent de Paul himself, the university is “values-driven, connected to the community, supportive of diversity . . . risk-tak[ing], innovative, and pragmatic.” The state of the Congregation is such that its members may lack a “physical presence, canonical sponsorship role, or governance role” at DePaul by 2023. However, it is already passing on its values to the lay members of the university, ensuring that its Vincentian character will continue even without Vincentians. Udovic explains the measures that have been taken and those that remain to be adopted for a proper transition to full lay leadership. He also describes how mission effectiveness is measured at DePaul and the promising early results of those measurements. The importance and goals of the Hay-Vincentian Leadership Project are discussed

The First Twenty Years of the Vincentian Studies Institute of the United States (1979–1999)

The origins, antecedents, initiatives, and projects of the Vincentian Studies Institute are described. The VSI started by serving the Double Family, but has led the way in serving the national and international Vincentian Family. Its purpose is to foster the study of Vincentian history and spirituality and to “promote a living interest in the Vincentian Heritage.” The article pays particular attention to the VSI’s publications and symposia

BOSSUET: Testimony Concerning the Life and the Eminent Virtues of Monsieur Vincent de Paul (1702)

This article is a translation of a testimony that was written as part of the canonization process for Vincent de Paul. The testimony’s author, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, was a bishop and a member of the Tuesday Conferences—meetings during which Vincent taught members of the Congregation and ecclesiastics how to preach to ordinary people. Bossuet also worked in some of the Congregation\u27s missions. An appendix contains a cover letter addressed to Pope Clement XI summarizing Bossuet\u27s relationship with Vincent. As Edward Udovic notes, “Bossuet shares unique details” about Vincent, and “his testimony is worth examining because of his prominence in the French Church, his personal knowledge of Vincent, and as an example of similar testimonies collected after 1697 from the . . . group of witnesses who encountered Vincent de Paul in their youth.” The testimony describes Vincent’s virtues and works. It explains the important aspects of his faith and how he lived it out in personal practices both large and small. The testimony also details what he taught others about faith

Caritas Christi Urget Nos : The Urgent Challenges of Charity in Seventeenth Century France

A 1656 royal decree outlawed begging and private almsgiving in Paris and forcibly confined persons who were poor in various institutions of the General Hospital. These measures were later mandated throughout France until 1715. The poor were treated as enemies of the state because of their numbers and the violence, crime, and social unrest that accompanied poverty. This was a radical shift in society’s perspective. During the Age of Faith, poverty was a sign of election since Christ chose to be poor. The poor had a right to seek charity and the rich were obligated to give it. In the Age of Reason, poverty was evidence of moral failure that was to be “corrected” in institutions. Though slow to respond at first, the Church revived its Christocentric theology of charity and became a powerful ally to poor persons. The efforts of Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac led this response. The Vincentian charism developed to serve the most abandoned and marginalized of the poor. The Vincentian discernment process is discussed, as is the legacy of charity. The diverse forms and causes of poverty in France are explained in detail

The First Twenty-Five Years of the Vincentian Studies Institute of the United States (1979–2004)

The origins, antecedents, initiatives, and projects of the Vincentian Studies Institute are described. The VSI started by serving the Double Family, but has led the way in serving the national and international Vincentian Family. It has also worked to develop collaboration with different groups within the Vincentian Family. The VSI’s purpose is to foster the study of Vincentian history and spirituality and to “promote a living interest in the Vincentian Heritage.” The article pays particular attention to the VSI’s publications and symposia. The VSI’s partnership with DePaul University, as the university strives to become “the premier international site for Vincentian Studies,” is also described

Our good will and honest efforts. Vincentian Perspectives on Poverty Reduction Efforts

Vincent de Paul believed it was God’s will to serve poor persons as Christ would serve them. Edward Udovic translates the traditional five Vincentian virtues that are necessary to perform this service into modern terms. He discusses the discernment that must be done when considering actions to reduce poverty. Following Vincent’s example, poverty reduction efforts must provide triage services to alleviate the poor’s most urgent problems. Such efforts must be planned carefully so they can respond to continuous need. They should also be conducted with an understanding of the new forms and causes of poverty to bring about long-term, effective change. These efforts are not aimed at creating a utopia. They are instead “grace-assisted . . . reasonable attempts to live in the kingdom of God that exists here and now within the ultimate mystery of the ‘already but not yet.’

What About the Poor? Nineteenth-Century Paris and the Revival of Vincentian Charity

During the Industrial Revolution, poor persons constituted up to half the population of Paris. They were considered to be criminal, and their poverty was seen as a punishment for this. The Church believed the traditional social order was divinely ordained. The rich were to be charitable and the poor were to be resigned to their status; these conditions were necessary for the salvation of both groups. In the Church’s eyes, the rich and the poor each contributed to the gap between them, and they could only be reconciled by returning to Christian values and the traditional social hierarchy. It was the Church’s responsibility to guide this reconciliation. The Congregation, the Daughters of Charity, and the Ladies of Charity, which had been dissolved during the Revolution, were refounded under Jean-Baptiste Etienne in the nineteenth century. They tried to combat poverty worldwide. As the first group of sisters to be supported by the French government after the Revolution, the Daughters of Charity served as the basis for the new Vincentian mission. The Ladies of Charity’s work, which was under the Daughters’ direction, is discussed. The article also describes Etienne’s view of the world and of the Vincentian mission in detail

Conversion and Discernment According to Vincent de Paul

Edward Udovic writes, “For Vincent de Paul the life-long conversion required by a vocation to Christian discipleship begins with the prayerful discernment of God’s will in one’s day-to-day life, the free decision to accept that will in faith and love, and then, to the best of one’s ability, living that faith in action and love relying always on God’s grace.” To follow God’s will was to be as obedient to it as Christ was. For Vincent, doing God’s will meant evangelizing the poor as Christ did, accepting God’s grace to follow Providence, and recognizing that only God can know what the results of Providence will be. Further discernment was required to discover the best ways of doing this. Before such discernment was possible, it was necessary to cultivate indifference, or detachment from one’s own will and to hold oneself in complete “unrestricted readiness” for whatever God might require. Vincent’s advice on how to do this as part of conversion is described, as are the obstacles to such conversion. Grace was needed during this process as well. Questions of discernment for the modern Vincentian Family are included