Looking back at our history, we discover that Saint Vincent de Paul approached the care of the elderly with a vision that was truly revolutionary for his time. Seeing so many aging craftsmen and laborers fall into poverty when they lost the physical ability to work, he founded the Holy Name of Jesus Home in Paris in 1653. Its purpose was not simply to shelter or isolate them from society, but to provide disabled workers and elderly people with a comfortable and welcoming home.
Saint Vincent restored their dignity by preventing idleness. He provided them with tools and taught them trades suited to their strength so that they might continue to feel useful and valued. In his first conference to the elderly residents of the Holy Name of Jesus Home, he encouraged them with these beautiful words:
“All this should encourage you to work with your hands as long as you are able and according to your strength, rather than thinking: ‘I need not concern myself with doing anything, since I am certain that I shall lack nothing.’ […] Work for the love of God, since He Himself sets us the example by working unceasingly on our behalf.”
The respect that our Founder showed toward the elderly was so profound that it became a rule of life. At Saint-Lazare, Saint Vincent began seating poor elderly people beside him at table, and, as his biographer records, “he treated them with great respect and never addressed them without removing his hat.”
This profound reverence for old age continues to illuminate our congregational life today. In his Message for this World Day, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that advanced age “can become the right time to begin—or to renew—a spiritual life.” The Holy Father encourages us to embrace this stage of life with confidence, since “when it is accepted and acknowledged, frailty opens the heart to mutual support and to calling upon the One who can grant what no human power can guarantee.”
Within the Congregation of the Mission, this Gospel teaching is one of the pillars of our community life. Far from setting aside those who, because of age, can no longer serve on the “front lines” of active ministry, our Constitutions explicitly affirm that:
“The sick, the infirm, and the elderly missionaries shall be especially dear to us, and we shall regard their presence as a blessing for our houses.” (Constitutions of the Congregation of the Mission, C 26, §1)
Our elderly confreres do not cease to be missionaries when their physical strength declines. On the contrary, through the witness of a lifetime dedicated to Christ, through wisdom, prayer, and the acceptance of their own vulnerability, “being united in a special way with the suffering Christ, they share in our work of evangelization” (Statutes of the Congregation of the Mission, E 13).
Having recently concluded the celebration of the Fourth Centenary of the Foundation of the Congregation of the Mission (1625–2025), the faithful presence of our elderly missionaries stands as one of the finest testimonies to fidelity to our charism. As our Superior General, Father Tomaž Mavrič, C.M., reminded us while reflecting on the fruits of this Jubilee period:
“The Jubilee is not confined to the memory of the past; it is a call to look toward the future with active hope. Let us continue to be pilgrims of hope alongside the poor, witnesses to a Gospel that becomes service and fraternity.”
On this World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, may we honor those who have gone before us by giving thanks for the immense contribution of our elderly confreres and recognizing in their serene presence the very strength of Christ, who continues to sustain our mission.
