Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Beatified by Pope Benedict XIII. in 1729. Canonized by Pope Clement XII. in 1737.] Hardly a more solemn, silent land exists than that vast region of undulating pine and heath which forms the department of Landes in the South of France. The traveller in the old-fashioned diligence for Pau or Bayonne grows weary of the paved causeway between deep yellow sands, in which wheels sink to the axle, and the interminable stretches of dull green pine forests which stretch as far as the eye can reach. The writer remembers traversing it in autumn in a chaise, many years ago. The air •S'. Vincent of Paul.

…was sweet with the scent of the pines, and musical with the vibration of their myriad spines in the passing airs. Here and there a patch of yellow sand and nodes of ferruginous sandstone protruding through it, tufts of heath, beds of juniper, a / broad blaze of sun falling on them, and then the great upreared wave of the forest threatening to engulf it in its shadows. On the road ascending a slight hill, miles and miles of a green ocean of trees was visible, rolling in the wind, stretching and rippling to the horison. But what is that far to the South ? Is it a bank of clouds, piled up, threatening a storm? No. The mountains, the Pyrenees, a mighty ridge, aerial blue and silver, rising in softest beauty of tender colour above the sullen grey ocean of pines beneath.

It was at Pouey, near Dax, in this desolate region that in 1576, S. Vincent was born, one of the most beautiful characters the Church has reared, and the world has wondered at In' this little village, in the latter part of the 16th century, lived a poor villager named John de Paul, who struggled hard to support a wife and six children upon the produce of a scanty patch of poor land which he cultivated. He was a simple, open-hearted peasant, one who lived in the fear and love of God, and who trained up his children in the same course. His wife, Bertranda de. Moras, was the fitting partner of such a man. Among their children was one, the fourth, bom in 1576, whose fervent piety and precocious ability attracted the special attention of his parents. He laboured in the fields with the others, he shared in watching the sheep and swine, yet he was unlike those about him. When quite a child, Vincent used to clamber up an oak near his father's house, and hide himself in its branches, that he might say his little prayers undisturbed. At a later age, whenever his parents missed him, they were sure to find him in the hollow of this tree, as if in a cell. When he was sent to herd the flock, in the neighbourhood, he would steal away and retire to his beloved oak and pray, while he watched his charge from its boughs. The Lord had called the child. And like Samuel he answered, “ Speak, Lord ! thy servant heareth." His vocation for the priesthood became so marked that his father sent him to the Franciscan friars at Dax, who received him for the small payment of sixty livres, or about six pounds a year. In 1596 he went to the University of Toulouse, when he was twenty years of age. His parents sent him their blessing, and sold two of their oxen to provide him with the means for the journey. His studies progressed and prospered, and on September 23^ 1600, he was ordained priest.

In 1605 he was returning by sailing vessel from Marseilles to Narbonne, on his way home to Dax, as being a more economical way than making the journey by land. The vessel coasted the gulf, passing by day the sunny sands of the Carmague, and rippling at night through the flashing phosphorescent waters — how phosphorescent the Mediterranean waters are on that sunny coast ! But suddenly an Algerine brigantine swept down on the barque, it was boarded, two or three of the crew were killed, and all more or less wounded. The survivors, amongst whom was S. Vincent, were thrown into chains, and carried off as slaves to Barbary. At Tunis, S. Vincent was sold to a fisherman, but as he suffered from sea-sickness, which he did not get over, the fisherman disposed of him to a chemist, who treated him kindly, and taught him some of his secrets. He was with this master for a twelvemonth, and then, the chemist dying, he was sold to a Christian renegade, who set him to work on his farm. This man had three wives. One of these was accustomed July ig.] S. Vincent of Paul, 457 to sit in the fields whilst Vincent worked; and she heard him often sing the psalm, “ By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept," and the hymn, “Salve Regina.” The poor woman listened with pleasure to these songs, and — asked Vincent about them. He told her something about his faith. The idea of womanhood exalted in the Virgin Mother shot a light into her dark soul. It was wondrous to her to think of woman as something other than the slave and toy of man. She spoke to her husband about what she had heard, and told him how she marvelled at his having deserted a creed so beautiful. The man was moved, the remembrance of his Christian childhood rushed back upon him, softened, melted him; and he fled with Vincent secretly in a boat to France. What became of that dark soul upon which a glimpse of light had shone, we would fain know. But unfortunately only a scanty record of the captivity of S. Vincent is preserved in a letter he wrote on his escape in 1607. In 1658 the letter was found among some other papers by a gentleman at Acqs, who gave it to one of the canons of the cathedral. The canon sent a copy of it to Vincent two years before the death of the saint, thinking the old man would derive pleasure from reading his youthful adventures. Vincent read it, and threw it into the fire; and then wrote to the canon for the original copy. Had that been sent, the saint would have destroyed it also; but fortunately the canon suspected his intention, and took no notice of the request.

In 1608, S. Vincent came to Paris, and lodged in the faubourg S. Germain. A country magistrate from the Landes shared his chamber. One morning this man rose and left the room before Vincent was out of bed, for Vincent was sick, and was expecting the apothecary's boy with some medicine. The boy came, and brought the physic, and finding some money which the magistrate had left about — it was a large sum, 400 crowns, — he stole it. The magistrate, on discovering his loss, accused S. Vincent of having taken it, drove him out of the house, and meeting him in society, publicly denounced him as a thief. “ God knows the truth,” said Vincent gently, but pale, and with a spot burning on each cheek. Years after, the apothecary’s apprentice was arrested and imprisoned at Bordeaux on another charge. As accident would happen, he was brought before the very magistrate whom he had robbed; and when he was sentenced, he made confession of the robbery perpetrated in the faubourg S. Germain some years before. The magistrate at once wrote to S. Vincent, imploring forgiveness for having wrongfully accused him.

Vincent of Paul next became parish-priest of Clichy. Those who knew him loved to speak of his incessant labours among the poor; he visited the sick, comforted the afflicted, taught the children, and drew all hearts to him by that singular magnetic attraction which he exercised all his life long.

Three years after, in 1613, he was reluctantly persuaded by his director to leave his parish, and become tutor to the three sons of the Count de Joigny. One of these children died young, the other two became eminent. One became Archbishop of Paris, the Cardinal de Retz \ the other, the elder, succeeded to the family honours, and was the Duke de Retz.

Vincent spent twelve years in this family as tutor to the boys, and domestic chaplain. In 1617, he accompanied the countess to the castle of Folleville, in the diocese of Amiens, and there spent his spare time in visiting the poor, with whom his heart ever was, and ministering to the sick. One day he was summoned to hear the confession of a 6 ". Vincent of Paul.

peasant who was dangerously ill. On his waydo the house ? it occurred to him that it would be safer if he got the man to make a general confession. He then learned that the man had for years been making sacrilegious confessions, concealing some grievous sins he had fallen into, and which he was afraid or ashamed to divulge. When the countess afterwards came to see the sick man, he said, c< Madam ! I should have been lost eternally, had not M. de Paul persuaded me to make a general confession.” This incident made a deep impression on S. Vincent; he had to preach in the church at Folleville a few days after, and he took the opportunity of speaking on the advantage of making a general confession at intervals during life. The result cannot be better told than in the modest language of the saint himself. “ The good people,” he says, “ were so moved that they all wanted to make their general confessions. I began to hear them, but the crowd was so great, that, even with the assistance of another priest, there was more than I could manage; so the countess wrote to the Jesuit Fathers at Amiens to come and help us. The reverend Rector came, but as he could not remain long, he sent another father to take his place; and through the mercy of God he had enough to do. We afterwards went to the neighbouring villages, and continued the same system. Everywhere there was a crowd of people, and God's blessing crowning the work.” It was on the Feast of the Conversion of S. Paul that S. Vincent preached that sermon, and he afterwards desired his congregation to observe that festival with special devotion, for it was, as he thought, the birthday of his great work.

But eight years passed before that which he had then begun took form and shape. In 1617 he secretly ran away from the noble family in which he had lived, drawn by the yearning that filled his soul to devote himself wholly to his dear poor. He consulted his director, and was given the parish of Chastillonles-Dombes in Bresse.

Only five months intervened between his flight from the family of Gondi and his return; but these months were not unfruitful. One day, as he was about to enter the pulpit of his church, a lady stopped him, and begged him to recommend a family in the village to the charity of the congregation, as it was afflicted with poverty and sickness. The Saint did so. In the evening he went to the cottage, and on his way met a train of charitable people returning with empty baskets, and overtook others bearing laden ones to the house in distress. “This will never do,” said S. Vincent. “The poor folk will have superfluity one day, and be destitute the next We must introduce method into almsgiving.”

Next day he organized a system of relief for the poor among the well-to-do; and thus sprang into existence the first rudiments of his Order of Charity. A new field of labour now opened on Vincent, in another part of France, and among another class of people. The Count de Joigny had been appointed by the king to the general supervision of the galleys, and the convicts who were condemned to them. Feeling the responsibility of his office, he obtained for Vincent de Paul the appointment of chaplain to the galleys. Vincent reached Marseilles in 1622, and immediately began to investigate the condition of the convicts. Nothing could have been more deplorable. The foul air in the hold, the filth, the villany, the bestial savagery of the convicts, struck him with horror, but not with despair. He threw himself at once into his task with dauntless courage, Plis sweetness of disposition, his gentle words, the marvellous goodness which was shown by his every act, S. Vincent of Paul.

word, and look, and which irresistibly influenced all with whom he was brought in contact, produced its effect on these brutalized wretches. His broad head, long nose, plain features, which would have called up a smile of derision, if found unlighted by such a loving, heavenaspiring soul, seemed beautiful to these rude convicts, and they learned to love him and obey him with the docility of children.

In an astonishingly short time he had perfectly mastered these men, usually accustomed to obey only those who enforced obedience with the lash.

After he had done what he could for them he returned to Paris, and visited the prisons in which the convicts were confined previous to their being sent to the galleys. He found them to be in a most -wretched neglected condition. The unhappy creatures imprisoned in them were devoured with vermin, half-starved, and utterly degraded in mind and body.

Vincent at once began to improve their condition. He took and fitted up a house in the faubourg S. Honor^, with the consent of the general of the galleys, and removed the prisoners into it, where he might keep them under his own eye till their removal from Paris.

On his way to and from 4 ' Marseilles, Vincent passed through Macon. That town was then in a most miserable condition. It had become the head-quarters of beggary and vagabondism. The streets swarmed with tramps; and the citizens, weary of imposition, closed their hearts and purses against the oft-repeated tale of woe, which might be true, but which was generally false. Consequently the deserving poor were neglected. Vincent halted in Macon, and suggested to the clergy and magistrates that something should be done to cure this flagrant evil, which threatened to become inveterate. He was met with courteous [July ig.

indifference, and assurances that a remedy was impossible. But Vincent was armed with a scheme, and he was by nature an organizer. He drew up a plan of operations and presented it to the authorities. They took it into consideration and granted it a tardy approval. The saint at once set to work. He collected about him some zealous, practical people, they divided the city between them; went through it, visited the houses, made lists of the necessitous, ascertained their trades, detected the impostors, threatened them and frightened them out of the place. He organized a species of voluntary poor-rate, and arranged for the relief of the poor and sick who needed assistance. He provided for the bedding of those tramps who visited the town; they were to be lodged one night, given a supper, and sent off with a sou in their pockets on the morrow. Begging in the streets and at the church-doors was strictly forbidden. Vincent took three weeks to organize this scheme, and amazed everyone in the town by his success. In three weeks he had achieved what neither clergy nor magistrates had dreamed before of accomplishing. He had swept the city clear of its throng of idle beggars, and placed the relief of the poor on a sound footing. When it was known that he was about to leave, the grateful citizens prepared him an ovation. His mcdesty took the alarm, and he escaped secretly to Marseilles. The work of carrying on home missions had specially commended itself to the mind of S. Vincent ever since that sermon on the Feast of the Conversion • of S. Paul. The Countess of Joigny was desirous of seeing it carried out systematically, by a society devoted to that object, and she and her husband bought the College of the Bons Enfants, and gave S. Vincent a sum of money for a modest endowment, that he might start in it a society with Tuiy i this object in view. But Vincent had made a promise to the countess not to desert her as long as she lived, and that promise he kept sacred. But he was now about to enter upon the great work of his life; that work which is more especially connected with his name, and for which God had been gradually training him. There is something very significant in the fact, that eight-and-forty years of his life had been spent before his chief work was begun. God loosed the only tie which held him back, at the time when He saw fit. The pious countess died, and S. Vincent ministered to her on her death-bed. Then he asked leave of the count to depart, and the leave was reluctantly given.

In 1625, he took up his residence in the College des Bons Enfants. Humble and modest was the beginning of a work that was to become great and famous. There was an old, tried, and dear friend of Vincent’s, a M. Portail, who joyfully followed the Saint to the new field of labour. These two holy men invited a third to join them, and offered him a salary of fifty crowns a year. They were then three. They had no servant; and when they went forth on their mission work they locked the door of the college behind them, and it remained closed till their return. They visited the parishes to which they were invited, preached, instructed, heard confessions, and wherever they went the grace of God went with them and wrought a great awakening.

Such was the little mustard-seed from which the lofty tree of the Congregation of the Mission sprang. Well might S. Vincent marvel at the rapid growth of the work, and say, as he did one day in after years, “We went forth in singleness of heart, and without any thought, save of obeying the bishops who sent us, and of preaching the Gospel to the poor. But God blessed our work. O my VOL. VIII. 5 Saviour ! who would have thought that such results would 'have sprung from these poor beginnings ? For neither I nor poor M. Portail ever dreamt of such a result l” By degrees other priests joined them, but not many. First the blade, then the ear, afterward the full corn in the ear. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. All great works that He has called into being have begun humbly, poorly, without forecasting what the future would be.

There was at this time in Paris a house of the canons of S. Augustine, bearing the name of S. Lazare. It was a princely establishment, with stately buildings, and temporal jurisdiction over a lordship. The prior was a good, earnest man, M. Adrien le Bon. But the canons were worldly, loved ease, and cared nothing for the rules of their order. The prior in vain sought to establish discipline among them, and he therefore determined to import men of a very different type into the princely precincts of S. Lazare. He thought of Vincent de Paul and his little community, and invited them to take up their quarters in the priory. S. Vincent was staggered. He hesitated. M. le Bon insisted. Friends interfered, pressed the Saint to accept the offer; and on January 8th, 1632, S. Vincent entered for the’ first time the great building which was thenceforth to be the home and mother-house of his congregation.

No sooner was S. Vincent settled in his new house than he cast about him to make use of the new opportunities of doing work for God that it afforded him. Shortly before his arrival at S. Lazare, he had instituted religious exercises for candidates for Holy Orders; and the large resources of his new residence gave him the means of receiving young ecclesiastics into his house, that he might carry out more thoroughly the system.