September is a month marked by the memory of our spiritual father, Saint Vincent de Paul. For those who follow his charism, this becomes a fertile time to sow meaning and renew Vincentian spirituality. It is an opportunity to return to the sources, updating his legacy from the perspective of the poor, God’s favourites. For admirers of Saint Vincent de Paul, September is the time when charity becomes structure and tenderness becomes method.
In a current context marked by fragmentation, indifference and structural violence, the legacy of Saint Vincent de Paul transcends mere devotional commemoration. It becomes an incarnate pedagogy, a concrete way of seeing, acting and accompanying.
This article proposes the verb vicentinizar (to vicentise)[1] as a symbolic and methodological category capable of articulating spirituality, relational justice and ongoing formation. In this sense, vicentising the present implies sowing tenderness in wounded territories, organising hope from the grassroots and recreating bonds that restore the often disfigured image of the human being. Various studies show that tenderness humanises, heals, comforts and repairs. It also fosters empathy, creates bonds and inspires, heralding the possibility of a different world. In dialogue with the Vincentian tradition and contemporary challenges, we will explore how this practice can become a formative, ethical and pastoral axis for those who seek to care, heal and build hope.
Origin of a Neologism
Before delving deeper into the reflection, it is worth explaining the origin of this neologism. The verb vicentinizar arises in pastoral and formative contexts with the aim of updating the legacy of Saint Vincent de Paul in constant dialogue with contemporary realities. Its linguistic construction combines the noun “vicentino” —referring to the charisma and spirituality of Saint Vincent de Paul— with the verbal suffix “-izar,” which indicates an action, movement, transformation, or process. More than a simple grammatical innovation, vicentinizar expresses a theological and pedagogical intention, seeking to convert the Vincentian spirit into a living practice capable of transforming the present day of the poorest. In a world where memory is intertwined with resistance and hope, this verb has become a narrative and methodological axis that articulates spirituality, relational justice and organised tenderness.
In essence, vicentinizar is to reread the present with compassionate eyes, to organise charity as a community structure and to sow tenderness as a political and pastoral act. Its application in formative, pastoral and testimonial processes allows us to redefine the Vincentian charism as a living force, open to intercultural dialogue and social transformation. It is about embracing the poor not only with bread, but also with a gaze, with time and with dignity. It is transforming Vincentian pedagogy into caress, liturgy into embrace and history into consolation.
The Pedagogy of Vincentian Tenderness
But what do we mean by the pedagogy of tenderness in the Vincentian sense? It is not a superficial methodology or a passing emotion; it is, in fact, a relational ethic, a way of educating through care, listening and shared dignity. Inspired by the life and work of Saint Vincent de Paul, this pedagogy proposes to educate through active compassion, where knowledge is linked to justice and learning becomes service, teaching becomes tenderness, and formation becomes liberation.
This pedagogy, in connection with other approaches, is transformative and prophetic. It is capable of renewing the Church’s evangelising mission, forming disciples with social awareness, deepening the option for the poor and dismantling structures of exclusion.
Today, we need tenderness that becomes a living structure, transcending intimate and spontaneous gestures to become an ethic, a pedagogy, and a policy. In a world wounded by multiple crises, structuring tenderness means ensuring that care is not a product of chance, but a system, a culture and a collective commitment. Educating in a Vincentian way implies recognising the other as the subject of their own history, accompanying them without imposing and sowing processes that dignify them from within.
This pedagogy manifests itself in concrete gestures: a word that comforts, a listening that transforms and an action that liberates. The reconstruction of the present begins by listening to silenced voices, unwritten testimonies and wounds that still speak. For this reason, formative processes are not imposed from outside, but are co-constructed with the community, integrating local knowledge, oral history and an embodied spirituality. Its purpose is to accompany without invading, to recognise without judging, and to give space to the word as an act of dignification. Thus, knowledge is not accumulated, it is shared; authority is not imposed, it is served; and memory is not archived, it is celebrated. In this way, vicentinizar becomes a way of teaching with an open heart and feet on the ground: it is walking with the poor, not for them.
In the context of the pedagogy of tenderness, rebuilding is not just about building walls, but about repairing bonds, weaving networks of trust and cultivating an ethic of mutual care. In Vincentian terms, far from being a weakness, tenderness is an organising force, capable of sustaining sustainable community processes. It allows us to re-read life with compassionate eyes, to name the in ity that was denied and to turn memory into a motor for action and transformation. Today, this pedagogy makes our life a source of identity, resistance and shared hope.
Community rebuilding is nourished by an incarnate spirituality that inspires, comforts and mobilises. The pedagogy of Vincentian tenderness forms hearts willing to serve, minds open to dialogue and hands ready to sow justice. Saint Vincent de Paul himself embodied it with radical consistency throughout his life. His tenderness was expressed in concrete gestures: welcoming, teaching, feeding and visiting (Cf. XI, 240; Cf. IX, 58; Cf. X, 41). It was not sentimentality, but relational justice. He was concerned with formation from within, promoting an education that touched the heart, not just the mind. Tenderness was his pastoral method, a structured and methodical method, not a spontaneous one.
Conclusion
In conclusion, vicentinising the present is not a nostalgic exercise, but a living practice that transforms the present through tenderness, memory and commitment. In the month of September, this pedagogy becomes urgent: it invites us to sow bonds where there was rupture, to educate through care where indifference reigned, and to form communities capable of resisting with beauty.
From every corner where Vincentian spirituality is embodied in humble gestures and healing words, vicentinising becomes a collective verb, a pastoral method and a prophetic symbol. May September not be just a date, but a Kairos: a fertile time to sow organised tenderness, relational justice and living memory.
By Jean Rolex, CM
[1] Note: This verb is a symbolic and communal neologism, created in pastoral and pedagogical contexts by the author of the article to redefine Vincentian spirituality in contemporary terms.
