In the message from the Provincial, F. Marek Sobczak for the Lent 2024 we can read: “Lent is, for us, such a reset to get rid of the devil’s presence in our lives. To get rid of our failures, weaknesses, wrongdoings, and shortcuts. It is a time to turn around and become holy as [...]]]>

In the message from the Provincial, F. Marek Sobczak for the Lent 2024 we can read: “Lent is, for us, such a reset to get rid of the devil’s presence in our lives. To get rid of our failures, weaknesses, wrongdoings, and shortcuts. It is a time to turn around and become holy as we were holy during our Baptism”. 

[Newsletter No. 2/24] An Arab fable tells of a traveler startled by seeing a camel’s nose thrust in at the tent’s door where he was sleeping. “It’s frigid outside,” said the camel, “I only want to get my nose in.” The nose was allowed in, then the neck, and finally, the whole body.

Soon, the traveler began to be inconvenienced by such an ungainly companion in a room not large enough for both. “If you are inconvenienced,” said the camel, “you may leave; as for myself, I shall stay where I am.”

“Give but an inch,” says Anglican bishop Lancelot Andrews, “and the devil will take an ell; if he can get in an arm, he will makeshift to shove in his whole body.”

This happens in our lives much too often. In our busy lives, we compromise with the devil by allowing him to tempt us. And then we fall to the devil’s temptation quite often. And finally, we allow the evil spirit to enter our hearts and dwell within us.  The Holy Time of Lent is an excellent opportunity to eliminate it.

How often did our cell phone or computer freeze, get stuck, or become unresponsive? What did we do in such a situation? We had to restart or even do the reset of the equipment to make it work again.

Lent is, for us, such a reset to get rid of the devil’s presence in our lives. To get rid of our failures, weaknesses, wrongdoings, and shortcuts. It is a time to turn around and become holy as we were holy during our Baptism.

You may find it hard to believe, but I remember that my grandmother did not eat meat, cold cuts, sweets, and cakes, nor drank milk, coffee, sodas, or alcohol throughout Lent. On the other hand, she prayed a lot and went to Church for Lenten services such as the Stations and Lamentations.

According to historical sources, many early Christians rejected the pleasures of this world, the comforts of life, or good food by fasting 290 days a year. Their goal was to live in God, to sacrifice themselves to increase God’s glory.

In the Old Testament Book of Daniel 9:3, we read: “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, fasting and sackcloth and ashes.”

The author reminds us that Lent is a time of prayer, petition, fasting, and repentance. And the purpose of Lent is to get closer to God, who wants to be closer to us.

During Lent the Church tries to lead us to a metanoia or true “repentance” and renewal of life through fasting, prayer, almsgiving, self-control, and practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The Superior General, Father Gregory Gay, in one of his letters writes: “The Church offers us a precious gift: the season of Lent.  It is a sacred space, a time beckoning us to pause, draw back from life’s daily grind, and drink more deeply of Jesus’ story of our salvation: his life, passion, and resurrection. Simply put, Lent is a time of sabbatical for the soul.

As a people claimed by Christ and committed to the charism of St. Vincent de Paul, this holy season can help us better live out our Catholic faith and the Vincentian way. Like Vincent, our identity is rooted in Christ. These forty days of Lent are not only a time for prayer, penance, and almsgiving, but also for reflection, connection, and action”.

Referring again to modern achievements of technology in this digital age we may say that “We’re all connected” through all kinds of electronic media. How true it is. Our faith and charism challenge us to connect Jesus’ command to love God and serve our neighbor more profoundly. Lent calls us to examine the presence of the suffering Christ in the world more clearly so that we might understand their plight and be Christ to them.

Make your Lent a time for personal reflection on where you stand as a Vincentian in accepting the Gospel challenges in thought, word, and deed. Assess your relationships with the people you serve and the people who still wait for your help or services. Connect them with the love of God.

Examine whether you can make any positive contribution to other people’s lives.

Convert your Lent into a time for spiritual growth and Vincentian maturity.

Take up the fight daily against the evil within and around us, and never give up. Jesus has assured us that the Holy Spirit is with us, empowering us to achieve final victory through Jesus Christ.

In other words – get rid of your own evil and live in holiness of God’s love. This is what Lent is all about.

Marek Sobczak, C.M.

This story was first published in the Provincial's Newsletter February 2024 edition which you can find in our Library along with all previous Newsletters.

Exactly 120 years ago, on December 28, 1901 Most Rev. Michael Tierney, the 6th Bishop of Hartford erected the parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr in New Haven, Connecticut. His decision met the needs of Polish immigrants in the area organized in the Society of Saint Stanislaus. At the [...]]]>

Exactly 120 years ago, on December 28, 1901 Most Rev. Michael Tierney, the 6th Bishop of Hartford erected the parish of St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr in New Haven, Connecticut. His decision met the needs of Polish immigrants in the area organized in the Society of Saint Stanislaus. At the beginning the parish didn’t have their own place of worship.

Bishop Michael Tierney of Hartford and the beginnings

Two years later, bishop Tierney met in New York City three Vincentian missioners who have just came to Hoboken, NJ from Kraków, Poland. Those missioners were looking for new mission, ministry as their original plans to go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin failed. Meeting Bishop of Hartford was a blessing for missioners. He invited them to New Haven where the young St. Stanislaus parish needed new pastor (the first pastor, Fr. Musial was assigned to develop another parish in Connecticut).

Exactly 118 years ago, on December 29, 1903 three Polish sons of St.Vincent de Paul, Fr. George Glogowski CM, Fr. Paul Waszko CM and Fr. Francis Trawniczek CM arrived to New Haven by train welcomed by Bishop Tierney himself at the Union Station. Immediately, the bishop passed the care of Polish parish of St. Stanislaus to Vincentian Fathers and Fr. George Glogowski CM was appointed the new pastor and his associates became parochial vicars. On New Year day of 1904 he took the office. At that moment, the Vincentian mission in Connecticut and New England begun.

Their first activity was a popular mission which was not only the great success but that was a realization there were much more Poles in the area than they first expected. It turned out the temporary place of worship located in the former grocery shop on Dwight Street site was too small. In a short while, the old Swedish church on St. John Street was acquired. Bishop Tierney blessed it on Memorial Day in 1905, under the patronage of St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr.

The parish continued to grow very rapidly and by 1910 it was evident that they had outgrown both the church and the parish school. Father Antoni Mazurkiewicz CM, the fourth pastor looked for a property that would be more centrally located in the city of New Haven. He found an abandoned church on the corner of State and Eld Streets. This the place were the present St. Stanislaus, the Bishop and Martyr parish is located.

By 1911, the property was cleared and the foundation for the present church was laid. On Memorial Day (then called Decoration Day, last Monday of May) in 1912, Most Reverent John Joseph Nilan, the 7th Bishop of Hartford, blessed the cornerstone of the new church. Just a year later, on April 27, 1913, the first Mass was said in the new church. A solemn Mass of dedication was celebrated by Bishop Nilan on May 30, 1913.

Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford and his Pastoral Plan

108 years later, on July 28, 2021 Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford, the Saint 8th successor of Bishop Tierney, addressed a letter to Very Rev. Marek G. Sadowski CM, the Provincial Superior of the Vincentians in New England. In Archbishop’s letter we read:

“As we explained, the present Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese calls for the parishes of Saint Joseph and Saint Michael the Archangel to remain independent and staffed by the Vincentian Fathers as long as it is possible for your Province to do so. We hope that both in Ansonia and Derby there will be even greater cooperation among all the clergy in these two municipalities to ensure the strength of the Church and the fraternal support of one another. [...]

Thank you again for the fine work also done by the Vincentian Fathers [...] at Saint Stanislaus Parish in New Haven. However, as we explained, the Archdiocese has to press ahead with Pastoral Planning to ensure vibrant parishes in the face of the two-fold challenge of dwindling numbers of clergy — both diocesan and religious — and shrinking numbers of practicing Catholics as well.

In New Haven the “municipal model” that we are implementing for the Archdiocese will be effective January 1, 2022. As of that date a new municipal parish will be erected which will include the parishes/churches of Saint Mary (and Saint Joseph), Saint Stanislaus, Saint Michael, Saint Martin de Porres, Our Lady of Guadalupe (Saint Francis and Saint Rose of Lima), and Saint Anthony, as well as the Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale.

Perhaps the Vincentians Fathers wish to continue ministering to the Polish community at Saint Stanislaus, not as Pastors but rather as parochial vicars of the municipal parish in concert and fraternity with the other priests assigned to that municipal parish. I realize that this represents a significant change in the long history of your ministry in New Haven, but it is one that I am confident will bring all the Catholic people in the community to a stronger and more vibrant parish life. [...]

I thank you most heartily for your ministry in the Archdiocese and the wider Church and pray that the transition I have described, while perhaps unanticipated and disappointing, will nonetheless encourage you to participate as a blessing to both the Church in New Haven and your religious community.”

Once planted charism lives on against all odds

In this situation instead of thinking of parish / mission anniversary celebrations we were fostered to prepare for moving out from the place we built, brought up and cared of for almost 120 years. We are witnessing the saddest situation the Vincentians of New England Province have been in all our history. We are talking about our roots, our beginnings.

In our history we won and lost many times. Times change and we are changing with them, as the old Roman proverb says. Erie, Bow, Whitestone, Utica, Wethersfield, West Hartford, Stamford, Concord, Pelham, Naugatuck. But this time is different. This time we are almost speechless… This lost hurts…

The first Polish Vincentians in Connecticut built this place, developed, redecorated and cared for. The church and school at State Street and the rectory, religious community house at Eld Street are our origins. More then 120 confreres started their American Vincentian journey in New Haven. Almost every missioner coming in to the Polish mission in the USA first came to New Haven. It was a peaceful shelter and harbor for the Confreres, missionaries expelled from China missions after 1947 revolution. The house at Eld Street was our Mother House as we usually call the first location of the Congregation in any Province. (As Our Lady of the Barrens, Perryville, MO is for Western Province and St. Vincent Seminary in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA is for Eastern Province). From this place the Vincentians were able to expand their mission across Connecticut, New York State, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine and more.

Farewell

Now, we would like to give thanks to all the people of New Haven, those who joined us for prayer and worship in St. Stanislaus church and those who came for confession here or in other purposes and occasions. Thank you very, very much. You will be in our thoughts and prayers always.

At Christmas of 1903 Fr. George Glogowski CM brought the charism of Saint Vincent de Paul, our Founder, to this land. He and his companions planted this charism in. After 118 years we witness and experience how much this charism grew up and spread all around. It would not be possible without engagement, loyalty, openness and continuous support from your, our parishioners, the people of New haven and Connecticut. Thank you very much for your presence. We will never forget you. We will always miss you.

Today we are leaving this place. But we believe the charism of Saint Vincent de Paul, the legacy of all the fifteen Vincentian pastors and of St. Stanislaus parish and their associates will live on.

We are leaving New Haven, but as you know, we are not leaving you. It’s only ten miles westward to Derby or Ansonia were you can find us. Always, you are welcomed at St. Michael’s in Derby or St. Joseph’s in Ansonia. we are waiting for you there.

We are leaving New Haven, but our mission continues. The charism which brought us here 118 years ago impels us to continue preaching the Good News to the people of Connecticut and New England.

May Almighty God bless you all.

Post Scriptum
The current pastor of St. Stanislaus parish, Fr. Tadeusz Maciejewski CM, and Fr. Stanley Miekinia CM have left the parish grounds on December 28, 2021. According to Archbishop’s Blair decision, Fr. Sebastian Kos assigned as new parish administrator starting on January 1, 2022.

As usual at this time of the year, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission addresses the Vincentian Family on the occasion of the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, celebrated on September 27. This year he invites us to deepen our knowledge of the saints, blesseds and servants of God [...]]]>

As usual at this time of the year, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission addresses the Vincentian Family on the occasion of the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, celebrated on September 27. This year he invites us to deepen our knowledge of the saints, blesseds and servants of God of the Vincentian Family, renewing our relationship with them, who are living models of the Vincentian charism.

Rome, September 3, 2018

To all the members of the Vincentian Family

My dear brothers and sisters in Saint Vincent,

May the grace and peace of Jesus be always with us!,

In this year 2018, we celebrate the Feast of Saint Vincent for the first time at the beginning of the fifth century of the Vincentian Charism. Once again, I would like to suggest as first steps on this path the following two initiatives:

1. To renew and deepen our relationship with the Saints, Blessed, and Servants of God of the Vincentian Family around the world as models of the Vincentian
2. To renew and deepen the “Culture of Vocations.”

The Vincentian Family is presently active in 156 countries throughout the world. To celebrate the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul in the communities, parishes, schools, universities, and other services and projects in which the different branches of the Vincentian Family are involved, at the beginning of the fifth century of the Vincentian Charism, I encourage you to focus this year on the first point:

Deepening our relationship with the Saints, Blessed, and Servants of God of the Vincentian Family.

To do so, I suggest that each of the above-mentioned entities of the various branches choose one of the Saints, Blessed, or Servants of God within the Vincentian Family and make a presentation on him or her within the given group. In addition, develop a specific plan to present the Saint, Blessed, or Servant of God you have chosen to those in your surroundings, village, neighborhood, or any other place you choose outside your community or group. Presenting a member of the Vincentian Family, whose life is a model of the incarnation of the charism in the place and time of history God put him or her to fulfill the mission, will be a wonderful way to share the legacy, spirituality, and charism of Saint Vincent de Paul.

Here are some further suggestions for developing this project:

• Reflect on the list of all the Saints, Blessed, and Servants of God of the Vincentian Family.
• Choose, according to your judgment, the one who, in your environment or place of service, best speaks to the persons to whom you will present him or her.
• Form a small committee to be responsible for preparing the project by

1. considering the best way to communicate to the people the life, spirituality, and charism of the one chosen;
2. developing means to present the information with PowerPoint, brochures, internet, social media, YouTube, Instagram, etc.

• Encourage, in a particular way, young people to follow in his/her footsteps, such as considering a vocation to the Consecrated Life as a Sister, Brother, or Priest (thus deepening the Culture of Vocations).
• If you are not able to prepare or launch the initiative for the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, form the committee responsible for coordinating it and announce it on the Feast, with the plan as to how, where, and when you will develop the project and make the different presentations.
• Encourage others to pray through the intercession of that Saint, Blessed, or Servant of God for various needs and to trust in his/her intervention before God, being open to graces, miracles, healing of soul and body, and conversions. To this end, compose a prayer through the intercession of the chosen Saint, Blessed, or Servant of God, indicating an address or e-mail where persons can communicate the graces received. This also will help to bring the processes of our Blessed and Servants of God to a conclusion. Many still need a miracle to be presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in order to be recognized officially by the Church as Saints.
• Send us information, short articles with pictures, to famvin.org or cmglobal.org, in order to share your initiative with the entire Vincentian Family.

Saint Vincent himself expressed his thoughts on praying to the Saints when speaking to the confreres:

He told the Company that it should raise its mind and heart to God on this holy day of All Saints to ask for His grace and to pray for the needs of each one in particular and of the Company in general. “You see,” he said, “on this day Our Lord is accustomed to pour His graces in greater abundance on the faithful who ask Him for them in the way they should. He does so through the intercession of all the saints; for, since we have more intercessors before God, we must have no doubt that the graces He pours forth on the faithful on this day are more abundant than on the other special feast days of the saints. 

“So that, my dear confreres, is what we have to do, that is, to thank His Divine Majesty for all the gifts and graces He’s been pleased to grant all the saints in general who are now in heaven, and to each of them in particular, for the good use they’ve made of those same graces and for their perseverance in the practice of good works until the end. We should thank God for all that because they practiced so well the first lesson Our Lord taught them and us: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’ (Matthew 5:3).”[1]

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.
Superior General

[1] CCD XI, 382; Conference 175, Repetition of Prayer, 1 November 1657. CCD refers to the series, Vincent de Paul, Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, translated and edited by Jacqueline Kilar, DC; and Marie Poole, DC; et al; annotated by John W. Carven, CM; New City Press, Brooklyn and Hyde Park, 1985-2014.

The document is also available for download (PDF) or to view online (in Scribd) in several languages:

	BOX.COM	SCRIBD.COM
folder	http://famv.in/L-SV2018	http://famv.in/S-SV2018
English	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-EN	http://famv.in/S-SV2018-EN
Español	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-ES	http://famv.in/S-SV2018-ES
Français	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-FR	http://famv.in/S-SV2018-FR
Polski	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-PL	http://famv.in/S-SV2018-PL
Português	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-PT	http://famv.in/S-SV2018-PT
Italiano	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-IT	http://famv.in/S-SV2018-IT
eBook	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-ebook	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-ebook
6-in-1	http://famv.in/L-SV2018-all	http://famv.in/S-SV2018-all

 

“Why and how can I describe Saint Vincent as a Mystic of Charity?” – Superior General, Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.  asks members of the Congregation of the Mission in his first message for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul 

Rome, 19 September 2016

“Why and how can I describe Saint Vincent as a Mystic of Charity?” – Superior General, Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.  asks members of the Congregation of the Mission in his first message for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul 

Rome, 19 September 2016

FEAST OF SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL

Dear Confreres,

May the grace and peace of Jesus be always with us!

It is with great joy and thankfulness to each of you, my dear confreres, who are serving “our lords and masters” all around the world, that I address this letter to you for the first time as Superior General. I would like to express my deep gratitude and admiration to all of you living and serving even in the farthest corners of the globe as witnesses to Jesus’ love! We are all servants and it is wonderful to know that in this service we are never alone. It is Jesus, our Mother Mary, Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Louise de Marillac, and all the other blessed and saints of the Vincentian Family who accompany us on the journey.

Let me take this moment to thank profoundly Father Gregory Gay, CM, our Superior General for the last twelve years, as well as Fathers Stanislav Zonták, CM, and Eli Chaves dos Santos, CM, and all the rest of the confreres, Daughters of Charity, and laity who had so tirelessly and with so much enthusiasm and dedication served in our general administration in Rome for the last six years to make possible the affective and effective proclamation of the Good News to the Poor.

I also would like to use this opportunity to thank so very much all of you who had written to me after my election as Superior General and expressed so wholeheartedly your good wishes and, in a special way, your promise of regular prayer. As it will not be possible for me to respond and thank each one of you individually, be assured that you are included personally in these words of thankfulness, as I extend to each of you my promise of daily remembrance in prayer.

We recently celebrated our 42nd General Assembly that left us with concrete goals for the next six years, which we will be addressing together in the years to come. It is a moment of “special grace” that Providence is offering us in the upcoming 400th Anniversary (1617- 2017) of our Vincentian Spirituality and Charism. Many of you already have begun intensive planning to share and encourage others to follow our Vincentian spirituality and charism on the local, national, and international levels as community, province, vice-province, or international mission together with the other branches of the Vincentian Family who are present in your specific area or territory. I encourage all of us to keep reflecting, planning, and acting together as how best to share with others this “special moment of grace.”

The motto of the whole Vincentian Family for 2017 that is going to shed light on it all is: “… I was a stranger and you welcomed me…” (Matthew 25:35). As our sight is directed toward our brothers and sisters, especially the most abandoned and those for whom no one cares, in order to be sure that our reflecting, planning, and acting go in the right direction, the path always needs to begin with us. The Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul gives us a renewed opportunity to reflect on the reasons and ways of Vincent’s reflecting, planning, and acting.

The theologian Karl Rahner, at the end of the 20th century, had pronounced these prophetic words: “The Christians of the 21st century are going to be mystics, or they will not be.” Why can we call Saint Vincent de Paul a “Mystic of Charity”?

I would like to invite and encourage each confrere to reflect, plan, and act on the following two points:

I.  Individually respond to why and how I can describe Vincent as a Mystic of Charity. 

I asked three of our confreres, who had reflected and written on this subject in the past, to share a short personal reflection. May these thoughts help us to renew and deepen our own reflections.

1. Father Hugh O’Donnell, C.M.

We all know Vincent was a man of action, so we may be surprised to hear him also referred to as a mystic. But in fact it was his mystical experience of the Trinity and in particular the Incarnation that was the font of all his actions in favor of poor people. Henri Brémond, the distinguished historian of French spirituality, was the first to bring it to our attention. He said, “…it is (Vincent’s) mysticism which gave us the greatest of the men of action.” André Dodin and José María Ibañez later called Vincent a “mystic of action” and Giuseppe Toscani, CM, united mysticism and action and came to the heart of the matter in calling him “a mystic of Charity.” Vincent lived in a century of mystics, but he stood out as the Mystic of Charity.

Being a mystic implies experience, the experience of Mystery. For Vincent it meant a deep experience of the Mystery of God’s Love. We know that the Mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation were at the heart of his life. The experience of the Trinity’s inclusive love of the world and the Incarnate Word’s unconditional embrace of every human person shaped, conditioned, and fired his love of the world and everyone in it, in particular, sisters and brothers in need. He looked upon the world with the eyes of Abba and Jesus and embraced everyone with the unconditional love, warmth and energy of the Holy Spirit.

Vincent’s mysticism was the source of his apostolic action. The Mystery of God’s love and the Mystery of the Poor were the two poles of Vincent’s dynamic love. But Vincent’s Way had a third dimension, which was how he regarded time. Time was the medium through which the Providence of God made itself known to him. He acted according to God’s time, not his own. “Do the good that presents itself to be done,” he advised. “Do not tread on the heels of Providence.”

Another aspect of time for Vincent was the presence of God here and now – “God is here!” (influence of Ruysbroek). God is here in time. God is here in persons, in events, in circumstances, in poor people. God speaks to us now in and through them. Vincent was a man of unfolding history in the deepest sense. He followed the lead of Providence step by step. He had neither an ego-agenda nor an ideology. It took him decades to arrive at such interior freedom, which is why Vincent’s journey to holiness and freedom (1600-1625) is the key to understanding the daily dynamic of the Apostle of Charity.

2. Father Robert Maloney, C.M. 

When we speak of mystics, we usually think of people who have extraordinary religious experiences. Their quest for God moves from active search to passive presence. They pray, as Saint Paul says to the church in Rome (8:26), “with sighs and groans too deep for human words.” Mystics have ecstatic moments when they are completely lost in God, “whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know,” as Saint Paul recounts his experience in 2 Corinthians 12:3. At times, they have visions and receive private revelations. They attempt, with difficulty, to describe for others their moments of intense light and painful darkness. Saint Vincent knew the writings of mystics like Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Though generally cautious about unusual spiritual phenomena, he admired Madame Acarie, one of the renowned mystics of his day, who lived in Paris during his early years there.

Vincent’s brand of mysticism was strikingly different. He found God in the people and events around him. His “visions” were deeply Christological. He saw Christ in the face of the poor. To use a phrase from the Jesuit tradition that has become popular in Vincentian documents, he was a “contemplative in action.” Christ led him to the poor and the poor led him to Christ. When he spoke of the poor and when he spoke of Christ, his words were often ecstatic. He told his priests and brothers: “If we ask Our Lord, ‘What did you come to do on earth?’ he answers, ‘To assist the poor.’ ‘Anything else?’ ‘To assist the poor.’ … So, are we not very fortunate to belong to the Mission for the same purpose that caused God to become man? And if someone were to question a Missioner, wouldn’t it be a great honor for him to be able to say with Our Lord, ‘He sent me to preach the good news to the poor’” (CCD:XI:98). When he spoke about Christ, he could be rapturous. In 1655, he cried out, “Let us ask God to give the Company this spirit, this heart, this heart that causes us to go everywhere, this heart of the Son of God, the heart of Our Lord, the heart of Our Lord, the heart of Our Lord, that disposes us to go as He went … He sends us, like the apostles, to bring fire everywhere, … to bring this divine fire, this fire of love …” (CCD:XI:264).

For Vincent, the horizontal and the vertical dimensions of spirituality were both indispensable. He saw love of Christ and love of the poor as inseparable. Again and again, he urged his followers not just to act but also to pray, and not just to pray but also to act. He heard an objection from his followers: “But there are so many things to do, so many house duties, so many ministries in town and country; there’s work everywhere; must we, then, leave all that to think only of God?” And he responded forcefully: “No, but we have to sanctify those activities by seeking God in them, and do them in order to find Him in them rather than to see that they get done. Our Lord wills that we seek above all His glory, His kingdom, and His justice, and, to do this, we make our primary concern the interior life, faith, trust, love, our spiritual exercises, meditation, shame, humiliations, our work and troubles, in the sight of God our Sovereign Lord … Once we’re grounded in seeking God’s glory in this way, we can be assured that the rest will follow” (CCD:XII:111-112).

In a ground-breaking 11-volume work written almost a century ago, Henri Brémond described Saint Vincent’s era as the time of “The Mystical Conquest.” At the conclusion of an eloquent chapter about Vincent, he stated: “It was mysticism that gave us the greatest of our men of works” (Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France, III « La Conquête Mystique » (Paris, 1921), p. 257).

3.  Father Thomas McKenna, C.M. 

For this title to serve well, the word “mystic” has to be understood in its most general sense. The more popular connotation is that of a person who has more or less “direct” experience of God (visions, voices, leanings, sounds), more unmediated than not. The literature of mysticism describes experiences like ecstasies, being taken up into “a third heaven,” taken out of oneself and “sinking into” the Mystery (e.g., into the Abyss, Ocean, Ground) who is God. Its vocabulary is distinctive; e.g., progressively deeper inner mansions, active and passive contemplation, purgative/illuminative/unitive stages, passing beyond oneself, dark nights and dazzling darkness. By contrast, Vincent’s language for religious experience was quite simple and direct, and neither did he testify to these kinds of occurrences in his own life.

But the word mystic can be applied in a wider sense. That is to say, it might refer to someone who has a lived and felt contact with the sacred in life, and who responds to that encounter in service to the neighbor. Under this broader meaning, Vincent can be thought of as a mystic.

The more inclusive sense might be something like this. A mystic is one who listens to and gets caught up into God’s love for creation, and who then commits himself both to recognizing that love in the world and also bringing it there. For Vincent, this love (better, “loving”) of God revealed itself especially in people who were poor and marginalized. He came to recognize them both as privileged bearers of God’s love and as particularly deserving recipients of it. And he followed up on this by actively bringing the Good News of that love to those poor ones.

Much like the way the right lyrics can draw out the deeper beauty of a melody, the words from Isaiah that Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 4 gave a particularly resonant expression to Vincent’s experience of God. Here was Jesus announcing not only His own mission from His Father, but also His own experience of His Abba as Love for the world, especially for the downcast: “I have been sent to bring the Good News to the poor.” To paraphrase, “The fire of my Father’s love (“loving”) is burning within me, and it drives me to bring just that love to the world, most especially to the poor ones in it.” To follow the analogy, Vincent recognized these words as the lyrics to a melody that had been playing deeper and deeper within him. It was as if on hearing this text at a particular juncture in his life, Vincent said something like “Aha! That’s it! Those words catch just how I’m experiencing God’s love – and just how I want to spend my life in responding and spreading it.”

Another angle. You might describe Vincent as a “bi-spectacled” mystic. That is to say, he was (seeing) experiencing the same God through two different lenses, both at much the same time. One lens was his own prayer; the other was the person who was poor as well as the world he or she lived in. Each angle of view influenced the other, the one deepening and sharpening the perception of its opposite. Vincent “saw” (and felt) God’s love through both these perspectives at the same time and acted vigorously to respond to what he was seeing.

To keep our reflecting, planning, and acting in the right direction as members of the Congregation of the Mission, as missionaries who follow Jesus Christ the Evangelizer of the Poor in the steps of Saint Vincent, to help us reflect on Vincent as a Mystic of Charity, we have our Constitutions and our Common Rules, which are the compendium and synthesis of all our spirituality and the base for our life as members of the Congregation of the Mission.

II. Each confrere should carry, together with the breviary and Holy Bible, in the chapel, on the road, on vacation, the Constitutions and the Common Rules. If for any reason a confrere does not have a copy of the Constitutions and our Common Rules, he should ask his provincial or superior to help him get one. 

I suggest, and wish with my whole heart, that each one of us, from the youngest to the oldest confrere, follow and respond to Saint Vincent’s call in our first Constitutions, the Common Rules, as written by him in the last paragraph, “Each one is to have his own copy … and should read them through, or hear them read, every three months” (CR 12, 14).

In this regard I suggest you take into consideration both: our present Constitutions and the Common Rules and read and pray them alternatively: the first three months, the Common Rules, followed the next three months by the Constitutions and so on and that this become a lifelong commitment. As we pray the breviary and read and pray the Bible on a daily basis, we will make sure to do the same with our Common Rules and Constitutions.

To assist us in the reflection of what it means to me to see Vincent as a Mystic of Charity, his other writings and conferences certainly will accompany us, as well as the writings and conferences of other blessed and saints of the Vincentian Family.

As we approach the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul that we will celebrate with the whole Vincentian Family, as well as with many other people, groups, and organizations whom we touch and serve, may we be deeply encouraged by this “moment of special grace” that Providence is putting in front of us.

I wish each of us a wonderful celebration, as we continue our prayers for one another!

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.
Superior General

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