Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-09
A LOVER OF MEN.
The Priest Canonized as st. Vincent
de Paul.

From the Youths Companion.
The French priest, Father Vincent later
canonized as St. Vincent de Paul. has
found biographer in Mgr. Bougand,
who writes interestingly and informingly
Of his beautiful life. and particularly of
his organization of the famous society, the
Sisters of Charity. Great was the serv-
ice rendered by these women and their
reverend leader to the France Of the sew
enteenth century, which was suffering
from the evils OF the civil war Of the
Fronde. For fifteen years the country
people had been prosecuted by the hired
meroenares who lived on the enemy they
were invading. Harvests were destroyed
and villages burned until great famine,
followed by plague. swept over the land.
To meet this extraordinary distress,
Father Vincent, at the age of sixty-six,
set himself to work. 1t has been COM
puted that he distributed in charity nearly
100000, but he gives the praise to the
givers.
"Oh. ladies, does not the recital of these
things move you? Providence has de-
signed to make use of some ladies in
Paris to succor the desolated provinces.
No country possesses a precedent for it.
No; it was a heroism reserved for you"
Queens and princesses had sent their
jewels to his fund. and a paper was
founded. called the Magazine of Charity.
L
people initiate one another, and publicity
won more recruits to his cause.
He sent his Sisters of Charity by twos
and threes to battle fields and dangerous
places. praising those who died sword in
hand
He insisted on four cardinal points. as
practical and full of common sense as
if they had been formulated last year, in
stead of nearly 300 years ago:
First-To rescue the Starving. For this
he started cheap soup dinners. AS usual.
he worked his plans out to the most mi
mute details. One must remember that
these were the first soup kitchens known
to history.
The second point was to bury the dead;
for the towns. villages, highways and
fields were strewn with decaying bodies,
dangerous to health.
The third point was to buy up and col
lect seed for the land. which he ever
thought was one of the best forms of
charity.
The fourth point was to attend to the
welfare of souls. 1t was no ordinary
miniStration that was needed. for during
the wars all worship had been interrupted,
churches had been plundered, and the
young had been exposed to great dangers.
Neither age nor sex, neither beauty nor
holiness had been respected by the ruff
fan mercenaries. Even the Sisters of
Charity were not always secure in the
midst of these social disorders But Vim
cent encouraged them. saying nothing was
more worthy than their work.
"Oh, sisters he said, "how you should
humble yourselves, seeing that God deigns
to make use of you for such great ends!
Men go to war to kill one another. and
you sisters go to repair the evils which
they have done: to visit the wounded, not
only in France. but even in Poland. All.
where can we find parallel"
This good priest died In 1860, at in the
morning. the hour at which for forty
years he had risen to pray.
In practical matters he had no equal
He had a genius for organization. HIS
penetration was marvellous. Nothing es-
caped him. When a new scheme was pro-
posed to him he saw at a glance its adj
yantages and disadvantages, its helps and
It's hindrances. To penetration was Joined
a great courage. He confronted the long
DELAYS of Rome and the prejudfces of So
ciety, and compelled the great ones of the
earth to recognize his divine mission.