Introduction

Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian experience. It is at once a grace received, an interior process and a community practice. In Volume XII of the Entretiens de saint Vincent de Paul, the word “pardon” appears frequently, often in contexts of humility, conversion and fraternal life.

To shed light on this Vincentian intuition, we will cross-reference his thought with two contemporary approaches: the spiritual psychology of Jean Monbourquette (Comment pardonner) and the anthropology of forgiveness by René Girard (De la violence à la divinité).

This approach aims to offer a current and spiritual reading of forgiveness in a threefold dimension: personal, community and anthropological. It is aimed at priests, religious, educators and anyone involved in a mission of reconciliation.

Forgiveness in Saint Vincent de Paul: mercy received and passed on

Volume XII shows Vincent de Paul deeply aware of his spiritual poverty and his constant need for forgiveness. He regularly asked God and his community for forgiveness: “O my Saviour… how I have reason to humiliate myself for having failed so much, to ask you and the whole Company for forgiveness” (Interview 184, p. 33).

For Saint Vincent, forgiveness is not simply a moral or spiritual act, but an existential attitude. It is rooted in a living awareness of his personal misery, experienced not as sterile guilt, but as a door open to grace. He said: “How wretched I am! Pray to God for me, my dear confreres, and forgive me for all the evil I have done to you. (Interview 186, p. 39)

Forgiveness then becomes an expression of mutual charity. It weaves the community together. It is asked for as much as it is given: “I beg you, my brothers, to continue this same charity and to forgive me for the past.” (Interview 185, p. 36)

In the Vincentian tradition, this community dimension of forgiveness is essential. By confessing his weakness, the missionary does not weaken the community edifice, but humanises it. They recognise that evangelisation also involves bearing witness to a reconciled way of living together.

Forgiveness is also mentioned in the context of fraternal correction. Saint Vincent insists on the way to give warnings: “If they have fallen, to correct themselves and ask God for forgiveness” (Interview 180, p. 11).

Here, correction becomes an act of charity, aimed not at punishment but at conversion. It does not condemn, but opens the door to healing.

Forgiveness as a path to inner healing (Jean Monbourquette)

Jean Monbourquette proposes a twelve-step approach to learning to forgive. His approach is distinguished by its psychological depth and fidelity to Christian inspiration. He begins by deconstructing misconceptions: forgiveness does not mean forgetting, excusing, minimising or renouncing one’s rights. Forgiveness is not an act of weakness, but an act of inner strength.

“Forgiveness is not a demonstration of moral superiority. True forgiveness is achieved in humility”. (How to forgive, chap. 3)

The heart of his approach lies in recognising the wound. You have to accept the pain, name the offence, express your anger, mourn, forgive yourself, understand the offender, and finally open yourself up to the grace of forgiveness.

The author insists on the therapeutic value of forgiveness: Refusing to forgive means remaining a prisoner of the past. It’s living in resentment, a disguised anger that can be psychologically, spiritually and even physically damaging.

“Resentment is chronic hostility, a wound that has not healed properly. Forgiveness is the only lasting medicine. (How to forgive, chap. 1)

This vision is in line with the Vincentian intuition: to forgive is to rediscover inner peace, to become free again to love.

Monbourquette also points out that forgiveness is at the crossroads of the psychic and the spiritual:

“Forgiveness belongs to two universes: the human and the divine. It is a work of grace, but it is also a clear-sighted and voluntary human act.” (chap. 4)

Forgiveness as breaking the cycle of violence (René Girard)

René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire highlights a fundamental mechanism: human violence feeds on the imitation of desire, which generates rivalry, jealousy and conflict. To resolve this crisis, archaic societies instituted the scapegoat mechanism.

“The more the chaos of rivalries tends to tip over into a pacifying ‘all against one’ […]: the scapegoat is him.” (From Violence to Divinity)

This dynamic of collective violence is ritualised in religious sacrifices. Christianity radically subverts it: Christ, the innocent victim, refuses all vengeance and reveals the injustice of the sacrificial system. Forgiveness then becomes the only way to break the spiral of violence.

“Forgiveness is the only human and divine response capable of disarming mimetic violence”. (Ibid.)

Saint Vincent is intuitively in line with this perspective: by calling for a community life founded on humility, truth and charity, he proposes a form of antidote to rivalry. Forgiveness becomes the foundation of true peace.

Crossing perspectives: a Christian anthropology of forgiveness

When the three authors come together, a rich and nuanced vision of forgiveness emerges:

• For Saint Vincent, forgiveness is ecclesial and spiritual, rooted in humility and lived in the community.
• For Monbourquette, it is psychological and spiritual, a journey of personal liberation.
• For Girard, it is anthropological and prophetic, a break with the archaic logic of violence.

• These perspectives are not opposed to each other, they enrich each other. They converge towards an understanding of forgiveness as a force for integral transformation: of the wounded human heart, of community relationships and of the cultural mechanisms of violence.

Conclusion: forgiveness, a force for transfiguration

Forgiveness, as lived and taught by Saint Vincent de Paul, is much more than a moral act. It is a path to truth, healing and peace. It allows us to break away from the logic of violence, judgement and closure, to enter into a Paschal dynamic of resurrection.

In dialogue with Monbourquette and Girard, the Vincentian perspective appears to be profoundly topical:

• because it recognises the complexity of forgiveness and refuses to impose it morally,
• because it roots forgiveness in the personal experience of divine mercy,
• because it is a lever for community and social transformation.

In a world where hurt, violence and resentment are on the increase, Saint Vincent’s message resonates as a call to live forgiveness as a path to holiness, unity and renewed humanity.

F. Michel Ibrahim, c.m. Province of Orient

Bibliography

• Coste, Pierre (ed.), Saint Vincent de Paul, Entretiens, Tome XII, Paris, Gabalda, 1920.
• Monbourquette, Jean, Comment pardonner, Novalis, 2000.
• Girard, René, De la violence à la divinité, Éditions Grasset, 2007.