Saint Vincent de Paul and Divine Providence

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Vincent DePaul. His life is a striking example of Divine Providence, the way God works all things for good for those who love him. Vincent lived from 1576-1660. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1600 but did not finish his studies until Oct 1604. When he graduated, he was saddled with a large student loan debt. Nothing changes right! In 1605 the good news reached him that a family friend had died and left him some money to pay for his debt for which he had to go ship to Marseilles through the Mediterranean. In 1605, Vincent returning to by ship and was taken captive by Barbary or Muslim pirates, who took him to Tunis. There, De Paul was auctioned off as a slave. His first master was a fisherman, but Vincent was unsuitable for this line of work due to sea-sickness and was soon sold. His next master was alchemist and inventor. Upon the Alchemists death, Vincent was sold again. His new master was a former Franciscan priest from Nice, France, who had converted to Islam in to gain his freedom from slavery and was living in the mountains with three wives. The second wife, a Muslim by birth, was drawn to and visited Vincent in the fields especially when she heard Vincent singing the Hail, Holy Queen, and she questioned him about his faith. She became convinced that his faith was true and admonished her husband for renouncing his Christianity. Her husband became remorseful and decided to escape back to France with his slave. They waited ten months, but finally they secretly boarded a small boat and crossed the Mediterranean, landing in France in June 1607, more than two years of slavery. Through all of this God was working.

After DePaul returned to France he became a Parish Priest and continued his spiritual formation under Fr. Pierre de Bérulle, who was one of the greatest Marian Mystics and Theologians at the time. Bérulle assigned Vincent to serve as a chaplain and tutor to the Gondi family. Preaching a mission to the peasants, who were slaves for all intents and purposes, reminded him of his own harsh captivity and he was inspired to direct all his efforts to the poor. In 1617, Vincent contacted the Daughters of Charity and they then introduced him to poor families. Vincent then brought them food and comfort. He organized these wealthy women of Paris to collect funds for missionary projects, founded hospitals, and gather relief funds for the victims of war and to ransom 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa.

St. Vincent DePaul founded the Confraternities of Charity, the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. St. Vincent’s work has developed into 268 charitable organizations in 132 countries, serving 100s of millions of people each year. However, without his own experience of enslavement, I wonder if Vincent would have done so much good?

The world and our lives are not governed by random chaotic forces nor are they controlled by evil and stupid people. The World and our lives are in the hands of an all good, all powerful and loving Father who is guiding all things that happen to us for our greatest good and the greatest good of our loved ones. An I emphatically mean ALL things, even our own stupid or sinful choices, as I said yesterday. God allowed or permitted St. Vincent DePaul to be captured and made a slave for two years to bring about an even greater good – that Vincent would be moved by this experience and the grace of God to serve countless poor and slaves and to inspire 400 years of charitable work in his wake.

There are two parts of the Doctrine Divine Providence: The first is that God is so All-Powerful and Good that He can work All things, and I mean everything to our greatest good. The second part is that we will only benefit from the Providence of God if we cooperate with Him and do our part – responding with Faith, Hope and Love.