I feel very honored to be able to share with you this reflection during the second meeting of Vincentian bishops, as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Mission. In front of such an eminent audience one would speak with “fear and trembling” as Soren Kierkegaard would say, but our common love for St. Vincent de Paul and the Congregation puts us in a pleasant fraternal atmosphere.
We can say that few priests have known as many bishops as St. Vincent. But we can say even more, he must be one of the priests who helped elect the most bishops. And even without ever promoting himself to the episcopate, something that would have cost him very little. In fact, he formally rejected the offer made to him by the Queen Regent Anne of Austria to elevate him to cardinal Likewise, we can point out that few priests have solved as many problems for the bishops as Vincent de Paul. He solved all kinds of problems: pastoral, ethical, spiritual, canonical, economic, political, etc. The services that Vincent rendered to the bishops were also extended to a considerable group of cardinals.[1]
But the bishops also contributed much to our Founder. His frequent dialogues with them, his having been a source of tears for many episcopes, helped him to see the real problems of the Church[2], as well as many of its solutions, such as, for example, giving a particular type of retreat to those who were about to be ordained. Although Vincent de Paul was known and valued for his charitable and evangelizing work, his activity with the bishops as secretary to the Queen Regent’s Council of Conscience gave a truly national scope to his renovating proposal.
If we systematize Mr. Vincent’s experience with the bishops, we surprisingly find a beautiful teaching on the episcopate. That is to say, through his life of increasingly fluid dialogue with the bishops, as well as his various activities in so many dioceses, plus his prayer and reflection on the subject, he is generating a spirituality of the episcopate.
In this order of things, it is not surprising that his first biography was written by a bishop, Louis Abelly.
As a matter of time, I will refer to only one of the four points of this study: “The Vincentian doctrine on the episcopate”. I will tell you in advance that his ideal of a bishop is based on the doctrine of the Council of Trent, as well as on his readings of Holy Scripture and Patristics. In addition, long talks with people of God on this subject and his own work with the bishops.
Fr. Andrés R. M. Motto, CM
[1] DODIN, André. Monsieur Vincent as seen by his secretary Luis Robineau, CM. Teruel. Faith and Life. 1995. 158-159.
[2] A bishop wrote to you in 1643: “The extreme desolation which I find in the clergy of my diocese and my inability to remedy it, have obliged me to have recourse to you, whose sentiments and ardent desires to restore ecclesiastical life where it is decayed or shattered, are well known”. E. S. II, 309. Another bishop writes to him in 1656, perhaps with some exaggeration: “If we except the canon expert in Sacred Scripture in my church, I know of no priest in my diocese who can hold any ecclesiastical office. You can deduce from this the great need we have of good workers. I conjure you to leave me your missionary to help us with the ordained.” E. S. VI, 53.
