CAPG's Blog: Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest, Confessor, A.D. 1660

Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest, Confessor, A.D. 1660

by VP

Posted on Friday July 19, 2024 at 01:00AM in Saints

"His parents occupied a small farm; and their children were brought up in innocence, and to the most laborious part of country labour. When Vincent was employed in the fields to keep cattle, he spent great part of his time in prayer. He deprived himself of many things, that he might give to Christ in the persons of the poor. As he shewed strong inclinations to learning and piety, his father sent him to school. He pursued his studies with ardour for the ecclesiastical state, and was in due time ordained priest. Soon after, he was taken at sea by some African pirates, and sold for a slave. But he had the happiness to gain his master to Christ, and was brought back by him to France. The year following, he went to Rome, where he staid a short time, and then returned to France, where he founded his congregation of the Mission. He studied by every means to procure the relief of others, under all necessities, corporal or spiritual, for which purpose he established many other confraternities. He was indefatigable in preaching the Gospel to the poor, and in extraordinary works of charity. But amidst so many and great employments, his soul seemed always united to God. Under all crosses, disappointments, and slanders, he always preserved a perfect serenity and evenness of mind. His uninterrupted fatigues and austerities at length impaired his robust constitution; and he calmly expired in his chair, at the age of eighty-five, in the year 1660.

Let the charity and zeal of this holy man be considered; and what will the rich say for themselves, who can find little to spare for the relief of the poor? What will the lower rank say, whose solicitude for this world so takes up their heart and their time, that they cannot find leisure for their own salvation, and much less for the good of their neighbour? If they compare themselves with this saint, must not they either change their method, or despair? If they hope to be saints, they must walk in the way of the saints, and not be deceived with the example of a blind and wretched world." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

" Devotion and piety towards God and the Blessed Sacrament- Imitation of Jesus Christ.

Devotion, such as we understand it here, is a virtue whereby we manifest respect and affection for all that relates to Divine honor and worship.The devotion of St. Vincent de Paul took its rise in the exalted and profound idea that he entertained of the infinite grandeur of God.

(...) He then prepared himself for mass, and, though but just come from prayer, he spent a considerable period in this preparation. He finally vested and celebrated mass. He appeared at the altar as another Jesus Christ, victim and sacrificer; as victim, he abased and humbled himself; as a criminal, as one condemned to death, he recited the Confiteor, pronounced the Domine, non sum dignus, and all the words of the liturgy that express humility and compunction. (..)

When before the Holy Tabernacle, he always maintained himself on both knees, and in a posture so humble that he seemed, the more to testify his respect, to wish to abase himself to the center of the earth, and with such faith manifested in his countenance, one would say that he saw Jesus with his eyes; with such devotion, he would have inspired the most incredulous, with faith and the most insensible with piety; in such modesty and silence, that he had not a single glance for the greatest magnificence, nor a word for the most august personages.

There he loved to remain all the time that his duties left at his disposal, and there he forgot himself for hours together. There he went, like Moses of old, to consult the Divine oracle in all his difficulties." (...)

Profanations, committed by heretics, or by the military, grieved him mortally. Tears, extraordinary penances, fervent prayers, all were offered in reparation and atonement He went himself or sent some of his community in pilgrimage to the profaned churches; the priests said mass and the others received Holy Communion there in reparation. He made good the material loss caused by sacrilegious thefts of sacred vessels and ornaments; and by means of missions he repaired the injury done the honor of God and souls by impiety and heresy.

He said to them with regard to the celebration of Mass: "It is not enough to celebrate mass, we must, moreover, offer this sacrifice with the greatest possible devotion, according to the will of God Himself; conforming ourselves, with His grace, as much as we can, to Jesus offering Himself, when on earth, to His eternal Father. Let us use all endeavor, then, gentlemen, to offer our sacrifices to God in the same spirit, in which our Lord offered His, and as perfectly as our poor and miserable nature will permit.”

He prescribed the greatest respect in the church and in the ceremonies. Precipitation, genuflections half-made, the least negligences in the Divine service were a torment to his exalted idea of religion, and an alarm to his soul ever trembling before the possibility of scandal. Hence, he took care to correct in private, and, if necessary, in public, all the faults that he observed. If one of his members passed before the altar, making a genuflection carelessly and thoughtlessly, he immediately called him back, and showed him in what manner and how far he should bend before God. On these occasions he would say: "We should never conduct ourselves as mere puppets, which are made to move quickly, and the salutations of which are without reverence or soul." And, after his humble habit of accounting himself responsible for all faults. he added: Who is guilty, my brethren! It is this miserable person who is speaking to you, and who would cast himself on his knees if he could. Excuse my infirmities." And in fact, it was a cruel privation to him, and one that he attributed to his sins, when he could no longer kneel, and he publicly asked pardon for it, and besought them not to be scandalized.

Nevertheless," he added, "if I see the congregation relax I will force myself on my knees, cost what it will, and rise as best I may, with the aid of some of you, or in making use of my hands, so that I may thus give the example that I ought to give. For, the faults committed in a community are imputed to the superior, and the faults of the congregation in this point are always serious, as much because there is question of a duty of religion and of an exterior reverence that marks the interior respect we show God, as because, if we be the first to fail, those preparing for ordination, and the clergy who come here, will believe themselves under no obligation to do better; and those who will succeed us in the congregation and who will model themselves after us, will do still less, and thus everything will tend to decay; for if the original be defective what will the copies be? I beg you, then, gentlemen and my brothers, to pay great attention to this, and to comport yourselves in this action in such a manner that interior reverence may suggest and always accompany the exterior. God desires to be adored in spirit and in truth, and al' good Christians should do so in imitation of the Son of God, who, prostrate on the earth in the Garden of Olives, united to this devout posture a profound interior humility, out of respect for the Sovereign Majesty of His Father."

What he said of the genuflection he applied to all the ceremonies. They are, in truth, only the shadow, but the shadow of the greatest things, and this is the reason we should perform them with ll possible attention, in a religious silence, and with great modesty and gravity. How will these gentlemen who come here carry them out if we ourselves do not perform them well? The singing must be grave, without being hurried, the psalms recited with an air of devotion. Alas! if these ceremonies are not properly performed, how will we answer when God will demand an account." Virtues and Spiritual Doctrine of St. Vincent de Paul by Rev. Fr. Michel Ulysse Maynard

The Litany of St. Vincent de Paul

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mary, Mother of Christ, the Sovereign Priest, pray for us.
St. Vincent, who, from your infancy, walked in the presence of God, pray for us.

St. Vincent, most benevolent to all, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, chaste and pure, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, watchful shepherd of the flocks entrusted to your care, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, who so faithfully preached the gospel to the poor, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, who brought your disciples to the practice of all good works, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, the glory of the priesthood, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, humble amidst the honors of the world, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, careful imitator of Jesus Christ, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, alleviator of human misery, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, refuge and comforter of the afflicted, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, feeder of the hungry, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, friend of the sick, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, father of orphans, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, refuge of purity, and security of innocence, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, zealous seeker of wandering souls, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, restorer of the beauty of ecclesiastical discipline,Pray for us.
St. Vincent, like an Angel at the altar, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, strong in holy obedience and faith, Pray for us.
St. Vincent, burning with zeal for the glory of God, Pray for us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

V. He made himself all to all.
B. Let us walk in his footsteps.

LET US PRAY.

JESUS, meek and humble of heart! since only hum dwelling of thy glory will be for ever shut against me, unless I become truly humble: grant me humility, which alone can merit thy grace, and secure me a place in the eternal kingdom. Pardon me, O my God! the manifold sins, which I have committed through pride; and grant me a contempt for myself, proportioned to the pride which has so far enslaved me, but which I now detest so sincerely. I beg this favor through the intercession of our holy Father St. Vincent, who was truly meek and humble. Amen. St. Vincent's Manual: Containing a Selection of Prayers and Devotional Exercises By Sisters of Charity

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