08 - Life of St. Vincent de Paul by Frances Alice Forbes

Explore the extraordinary life of St. Vincent De Paul, a man of humility, compassion, and generosity whose impact resonates even today. Born around 1581 and living until 1660, Vincents early life was shaped by his own experience of slavery, having been captured by Turkish pirates and sold in Tunis. His escape in 1607 led him to a life of service, becoming a priest and devoting his ministry to the poor. In 1625, he founded the Congregation of the Mission, a society of missionary priests known as Vincentians or Lazarists. Alongside Louise de Marillac, he established the Daughters of Charity, a group dedicated to nursing the sick, whose work in hospitals during several plagues is well-documented. Listen to the tale of this remarkable individual, and discover the lasting legacy of his profound spiritual journey.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eight of Life of Saint Vincent de Paul. This
is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
LibriVox dot org. Life of Saint Vincent de Paul by
Francis Alice Forbes. Chapter eight At court, when Louis the

(00:25):
thirteenth was on his death bed, with all the bishops
and archbishops of France ready to offer him their services,
it was Monsieur Vincent, the humble mission priest, who prepared
him to meet his God. During the last days of
the king's life, Vincent never left him, and in his
arms Lewis the thirteenth breathed his last. Then, having done
the work for which he had come, Vincent slipped quietly

(00:47):
out of the palace to hasten back to Saint Lazare
and his beloved poor. Some remarks made by the king
during his illness, and certain other words of Vincent's were
remembered by the Queen Anne of Austria, who had been
left regent during the minority of her son Bichelieu was dead,
and Mazarin, his pupil, a crafty and unscrupulous Italian had

(01:08):
succeeded him as Chief Minister of State. His influence over
the Queen was growing daily, but it was not yet
strong enough to override all her scruples. She was a
good natured woman, quite ready to do right when it
was not too inconvenient, and it was clear to her
that of late years, bishoprics and abbey's had been too
often given to most unworthy persons. In France, the crown

(01:31):
was almost supreme in such matters. The Queen therefore determined
to appoint a Council of Conscience, consisting of five members,
whose business it would be to help her with advice
as to ecclesiastical preferment. Mazarin's astonishment and disgust when he
heard that Vincent de Paul had been appointed one of
the number were as great as Vincent's own consternation, the

(01:54):
responsibility and the difficulties which he would have to face
filled a humble mission priest with a desire to escor
kepe such an honor at any price. He even applied
to the Queen in person to beg her to reconsider
her decision, but Anne was obdurate, and Vincent was forced
to yield. I have never been more worthy of compassion,
or in greater need of prayers than now, he wrote

(02:17):
to one of his friends, and his forebodings were not
without cause. If Mazarin had been unable to prevent the
Queen from naming Vincent as one of the Council of Conscience,
he had at least succeeded in securing his own nomination.
In the cause of honesty and justice and for the
Church's welfare, the superior of Saint Lazare would have to

(02:37):
contend with the foremost statesman of the day, a minister
who had built up his reputation by trading on the
vices of men who were less cunning than he. Well
did Vincent know that he was no match for such
a diplomatist. But having once realized that the duty must
be undertaken, he determined that there should be no flinching.
He went to court in the old cassock in which

(02:58):
he went about his daily work, and which was probably
the only one he had. You are not going to
the palace in that cassock, cried one of the mission priests,
in consternation. Why not, replied Vincent quietly, It is neither
stained nor torn. The answer was noteworthy for a scrupulous
cleanliness was characteristic of the man. As he passed through

(03:20):
the long galleries of the Louver, he caught sight of
his homely face and figure in one of the great
mirrors that lined the walls. A nice clawed opper you are,
he said amiably to his own reflection, and passed on smiling.
Among the magnificently attired courtiers, his shabby appearance created not
a little merriment. Admire the beautiful sash in which Monsieur

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Vincent comes to court, said Mazarin one day to the Queen,
laying hold of the coarse woolen braid that did duty
with poor country priests. For the handsome silken sash worn
by the prelates who frequented the palace, Vincent only smiled.
These are not the things that abashed him. He made
no change to his attire. At first, it seemed as
if his influence were to be paramount in the council.

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Nearly all the priests of Paris had passed through his
hands at the Ordination retreats, and those who belonged to
the Tuesday conferences were intimately known to him. Who could
be better fitted to select those who were suitable for
preferment Mazarin. It is true objected to the Council on principle,
but that was simply because he considered that bishoprics and

(04:25):
abbeys were useful things to keep in reserve as bribes
for his wavering adherents. Certain reforms on which Vincent insisted
were not to his mind either. Although he offered no opposition,
it was not his way to act openly, and he
bided his time. The wonder was that Vincent was able
to do what he did so thoroughly. In the meantime,

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it began to dawn upon the public that the Superior
of Saint Lazare was, for the moment a man of influence.
It was already well known that he was a man
of immense charity, with many institutions on his hands, several
of which were in er need of funds. It seemed
a very simple thing to offer him a large sum
of money for the poor, on condition that he would
put in a good word for a brother or a

(05:08):
nephew who was just the man for a bishopric, or
anything else that might offer just the man for bishopric,
or anything else that might offer Vincent's reception of these
proposals was disconcerting. God forbid, he would cry indignantly, better
that we should all go without the barest necessities of life.
Some would come with a recommendation from the Queen herself,

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which made things doubly embarrassing. But in spite of everything,
Vincent remained faithful to his first determination to choose for
bishoprics no priests, save those worthy of the position by
reason of their virtue and learning. Now it was exceedingly
unpleasant for needy noblemen to be obliged to sue to
a peasant priest in a shabby cassock for the preferment
of their relations. But it became quite intolerable when the

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shabby priest refused to listen. You are an old lunatic,
said a young man who had been refused to benefice
through Vincent's agency. You are quite right, was the only answer,
accompanied by a good natured smile. Another day, a gentleman
who had come to recommend his son for a bishopric,
was so angry when Vincent explained that he did not
see his way to grant his request, that he answered

(06:14):
the impertinent peasant with a blow. Vincent, without the slightest
allusion to this treatment, quietly escorted him downstairs and saw
him into his carriage. Insulted another day in public by
a magistrate whose interests he had refused to forward, the
Superior of Saint Lazare made the noble answer, Sir, I

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am sure that you try to acquit yourself worthily in
your office, you must allow me the same freedom of
action in mine. But Vincent's strangest adventure was with a
court lady of high rank, a certain duchess, in the
household of the Queen, catching her royal mistress in an
unguarded moment, this lady succeeded in inducing the Queen to

(06:55):
promise the bishopric of Poitier to her son, a young
man of very bed character. The Queen's courage, however, failed
her at the prospect of breaking the news to Monsieur Vincent,
and she commissioned the Duchess to let him know of
the appointment. Off went the great Lady to Saint Lazare, and,
flouncing into the Superior's presence, haughtily declared her errand Vincent

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aghast begged her to sit down and talk the matter over,
but Madame declined curtly. She was in a great hurry,
she replied. The Queen had spoken. There was nothing more
to be said. She would be obliged if he would
make out the deed of nomination and take it to
her majesty to sign what was to be done. To
resist would only provoke submission, seemed the wisest, if not

(07:41):
the only course. Next morning, at an early hour, Monsieur
Vincent made his appearance at the palace with a roll
of paper in his hand, and was shown into the
Queen's presence. Oh, said her majesty, not without some embarrassment,
you have brought me the nomination of the Bishop of Poitier.
Without a word, Vincent handed her a roll, which she
proceeded to unfold. Why, she cried, what is this? It

(08:05):
is blank? The form is not drawn up at all.
If your Majesty's mind is made up, said Vincent quietly,
I must beg you to write down your wishes yourself.
It is a responsibility which my conscience forbids me to take. Then,
noticing the hesitation of the Queen Madame, he said hotly,
this man whom you intend to make a bishop spends

(08:25):
his life in public houses and is carried home drunk
every night. That his family should want to get him
out of Paris is not surprising. But I ask you
if an episcopal sea is a fitting retreat for such
a person. Convinced by Vincent's vehement presentation of the facts
of the case, the Queen consented to revoke the nomination,
but she openly confessed to him that she had not

(08:46):
the courage to face the duchess. Suppose you go and
make my peace with her, she said, pleasantly, despatching the
unfortunate Vincent on this very disagreeable Errand he was shown
into the lady's presence and carried out his mission with
the great test possible tact. But the Duchess could not
control her fury. Seizing a heavy stool, she flung it
at the head of the unwelcome messenger, who bowed and

(09:08):
retired from the house with the blood streaming from a
wound in his forehead. The brother, who had accompanied him,
and who was waiting in an ante chamber, justly indignant,
begged to be allowed to give the great Lady a
piece of his mind. Come on, said Vincent, Our business
lies in another direction, Is it not strange? She said, smiling.
A few moments later, as he tried to staunch the

(09:30):
blood with his handkerchief. To what lengths the affection of
a mother for her son will go. Such incidents did
not pass unnoticed by Mazarin, who looked with jealous eyes
on Vincent's influence of the Queen. As timonon he resolved
at any cost to rid the court of the presence
of this man, whose simple, straightforward conduct baffled the wily

(09:51):
and defeated their plans. But an attempt to get him
ejected from the Council met with such stormy opposition that
the Prime Minister determined to change his tac There is
no man he revered or admired so much as Monsieur Vincent,
he declared enthusiastically, no one who was of such use
in the Council of Conscience. But the summoning of the

(10:11):
Council rested with Mazarin, and the intervals between its meetings
became longer and longer. Anne of Austria's sudden spurt of energy,
she was a thoroughly indolent woman by nature, began to
die out as she became accustomed to her new responsibilities.
She was only too glad to leave all matters of
state to a man who declared that his only desire

(10:31):
was to save her worry and trouble. In course of time,
the Council of Conscience ceased to meet, and the distribution
of bishoprics and abbeys fell once more into the hands
of Mazarin, who used them as of old for his
own ends. Vincent de Paul, in bitter grief and sorrow,
was forced to witness an abuse that he had no
longer any power to check. I fear he wrote in

(10:54):
after years to a friend that this detestable barter of
bishoprics will bring down the curse of God upon the country.
A few years later, when civil war, pestilence, and famine
were devastating France and Jansenism was going far to substitute
despair for hope in the hearts of men, his words
were remembered end of Chapter eight