Vincent de Paul and the Empowerment of Women
JoVSA •
Vincent de Paul and the Empowerment of Women
Louise Sullivan 0
0 Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Religious Thou ght, The ology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, and the Sociology of Religion Commons
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Tof the birth of the Vincentian Charism,
he year 2017, marking the 400th Anniversary
has proven to be one of celebration for the
entire Vincentian Family. It has been a time for
looking back with gratitude, and perhaps more
importantly, for looking forward with hope and
daring. While thousands of women are taking part
in these celebrations around the world, the role
women played in the birth and development of the
charism is often overlooked. To do so however, is
to miss a singularly significant aspect of Vincent
de Paul’s genius, namely, the mission of charity he
confided to the laity and particularly to women.
Indeed, it is incontestable that there were many
women in Vincent de Paul’s life including some of
the most influential figures of the time: Madame
de Gondi, the Duchess d’Aiguillon, Madame
Goussault, Jane Frances de Chantal, to name
but a few. A painting by the eighteenth-century
artist, Jean André, OP, is a visual reminder of
this. Housed in the Museum of Public Assistance
in Paris which, unfortunately, has been closed to
the public since 4 July 2010, it depicts Vincent de
Paul surrounded by obviously wealthy women
of the nobility and bourgeoisie. Among them is a
young widow recognizable by her solemn black
attire as Louise de Marillac. In the foreground
is a Daughter of Charity with three foundlings
wrapped in swaddling clothes. No attempt is
made here to discuss the intrinsic artistic value of
the work. It is significant for our purposes as an
illustration of the key players in the development
of the Vincentian Charism born in Châtillon:
Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, the Ladies of
Charity, and the Daughters of Charity.
As early as his arrival in Paris in 1608, Vincent
had begun to frequent the society of wealthy,
influential women. He would later number them
among his closest friends and collaborators upon
whom he could count in his charitable endeavors
and even in his work to reform the clergy. During
an era when, for many, the desired feminine virtues
were “naiveté, childishness and servitude”
(Six
& Loose, 1980, p. 40)
, Vincent de Paul saw in
women a wellspring of untapped potential. He had
witnessed this in the women who had been part
of Madame Acarie’s circle. In them he perceived
not only generosity in the service of the poor that
marked the early seventeenth century and the
Catholic renewal but also a thirst for the spiritual
and the capacity to enter, on an equal footing with
men, into the way of mystical union with God.
Vincent de Paul’s work, however, was not simply a
large-scale evolution of Madame Acarie’s circle. It
would lead not to the Carmel of France but to the
Ladies of Charity and the Daughters of Charity
who seek to combine contemplation and action
and in so doing continue Vincent de Paul’s work
into the twenty-first century. Let us now examine
more closely the collaboration between Vincent
de Paul and women in the service of persons who
were poor.
GANNES—Folleville: Madame De Gondi
Ia turning point in Vincent de Paul’s existence.
t is generally accepted that the year 1617 marks
We learn from Vincent himself that twice between
January and late August of that year, God
intervened directly and perceptibly in his life. On
both occasions, an event caused him to stop, to
reflect before God, and to undertake a course of
action which would alter his future. Women would
play a significant role in the outcome of each.
Vincent de Paul and the Empowerment of Women 18
To understand these events and their far-reaching
effects, it is essential to recall the context in
which they occurred. At the time of the episode
at Gannes-Folleville in January 1617, Vincent
was thirty-six years old. Since 1613 he had
been in the household of Phillipe-Emmanuel de
Gondi, General of the Galleys of the king, as
tutor for the children and spiritual director for
Madame de Gondi. It was an enviable position
for an ambitious man, one in which he found the
security and the “honorable retirement” (Vincent
de Paul, 1610, February 17, 1:17), he had longed
for since his youth. But having attained it, he was
dissatisfied. The soil of his soul was ready for
conversion in the truest sense of the word.
The incident that took place when Vincent
accompanied the Gondi family to their estates in
Folleville is, at first glance, quite ordinary, even
banal in the life of a parish priest: he was called to
the bedside of a dying man to hear his confession.
Moreover, Vincent had little experience as a parish
priest—sixteenth months in sixteen years—so it
is quite possible that it would never have led to
the first “sermon of the mission” (Vincent de Paul,
n.d., 11:4) had it not been for the interventi (...truncated)