Mercy as a motivating factor behind the actions of St. Vincent de Paul and his collaborators, from 17th Century France up to the present day.

1. Year of Mercy
December 8, 2015 –
November 20, 2016
Seeing the great need for mercy and healing in the
world, Pope Francis called for the Year of Mercy—a
special period, a Jubilee Year, for the Catholic Church.
Photo: ”Pope Francis at Vargihna" by Tânia Rêgo/ABr - Agência Brasil. Creative Commons

2. It is a time for us to focus
on mercy, forgiveness, and
healing in a special way.
We, as Vincentians, can
and must be witnesses of
mercy.
“The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682)

3. Mercy was the
motivating factor
behind all of Saint
Vincent de Paul’s
charitable activity.

4. Photo by daryl_mitchell from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada,
via Wikimedia Commons
In reflecting on Vincent
de Paul and mercy, let us
use the imagery of the
Holy Door, one of the
most powerful signs of
the Jubilee.

5. Every Christian is called to pass
through the door from sin to grace.
Every believer is responsible to
cross its threshold. We are free to
choose it. It requires the courage
to leave something behind, in
order to gain divine life.

6. What doors did St. Vincent
and his collaborators
choose to open?

7. St. Vincent, together with the
Ladies of Charity, rescued
babies who were abandoned
at church doors or at the
entrances to hospitals; the
Daughters of Charity helped
raise and educate them…
Why? out of mercy… since society
considered them as children of sin,
children of adultery, of rape;
unplanned, unwanted

8. The Daughters of Charity
carried the soup pot through
the city, and cared for sick
prisoners who sometimes
became violent towards them…
Why? out of mercy… if there was violence,
it was because they were suffering

9. Vincent visited the galleys and
showed great zeal in preaching
missionary style to the
prisoners, who were as
distanced from God as they
were abandoned by men.
Why? out of mercy… to take the side of
those who were living in misery

10. The Confraternities of Charity,
composed of women, were set up in
the places where Vincent’s priests
gave missions. They assisted the sick
poor by doing extremely unpleasant
jobs such as: bloodlettings, which
were thought to cure disease;
preparing and giving enemas;
dressing wounds; changing bed
linens and watching at night over the
sick who were alone and near death
Why? out of mercy,
out of compassion for the sick

11. Besides these corporal
services, they tried to
contribute to their
spiritual welfare
(CCD:II:600, 602)
Why? out of mercy… they clothed
themselves in the spirit of Jesus Christ and
thus revealed the merciful Father in
everything that they did

12. “…Our Little Company is
established to go from village to
village at its own expense,
preaching, catechizing, and
having the poor people make
general confessions of their
entire past life.” (CCD:I:553)
Why? out of mercy… Vincent’s ministry
revealed what the Son of God did in the
name of the Father in order to reveal the
Father … the Father is a good Father, filled
with mercy, one who is profoundly moved
by all his children

13. Vincent met with France’s
Chief Minister, Cardinal
Richelieu, and asked him
to stop the war.
Why? out of mercy… to defend victims of
war, to prevent them from being forgotten
or marginalized…

14. Vincent publicly and radically
opposed the exploitive policies of
Cardinal Mazarin. He crossed battle
lines and forged an overflowing river
in order to see the Queen to ask her
to remove Mazarin from office. (This
was when Vincent was almost
seventy years old!)
Why did he do this? out of mercy… the
people who were suffering did not
deserve to be punished.
To respond with true mercy we must
penetrate the mechanisms that produce
poverty, marginalization and exclusion.

15. “We are unable to go and give
missions in the rural areas because
the poor people are so scattered […]
driven from their homes by fear of
being mistreated by the soldiers ---
so we have decided to give them to
the people who have taken refuge in
Paris. […] One of our men has also
gone to open the mission for the
refugees at Saint-Nicholas-du-
Chardonnet…” (CCD:IV:398-399)
Why? out of mercy for refugees

16. Vincent was equally
concerned about looking
for ways to reform the
clergy.
Why? out of mercy for the people…
From the time that Madame de Gondi alerted
him about the ignorance of the clergy, he felt a
heavy weight upon his shoulders because to
Vincent, the people’s ignorance and sin were
not always their own fault; he believed that the
people were a reflection of their priest.

17. Vincent never criticized
those who were poor
but saw them as
victims and therefore
not responsible for
their misery.
Why? out of mercy and in
humility… we are all in
need of forgiveness

18. Vincent promoted the
poor and helped them
become aware of their
dignity, and that they must
be the primary agents of
their own development.
Why? because mercy and
compassion pushed him to go
further… beyond their simply
surviving, towards real growth
and transformation

19. Vincent felt it necessary
to know the reality of the
poor; to experience their
physical condition; to
understand their situation
as human beings.
Why? out of mercy…
so that those persons who are
excluded from participation in society
would feel sought after, loved, and
forgiven by God.

20. Vincent’s example
leads us into action.

21. As Vincentians
today,
we must:

22. respond to all
the needs that
are presented
to us

23. seek out those who
are the poorest and
most abandoned

24. move from village to
village as Jesus did,
drawing near to and
affirming those who
are poor and infirm

25. give help in such a
way that the recipients
may gradually be freed
from dependence on
outsiders and become
self-sufficient
so they can in turn “go and
do likewise” to others

26. Mercy— as Christ has presented it in
the parable of the prodigal son— has
the interior form of the love that in the
New Testament is called agape. This
love is able to reach down to every
prodigal son, to every human misery,
and above all to every form of moral
misery, to sin. When this happens, the
person who is the object of mercy
does not feel humiliated, but rather
found again and "restored to value"
(John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, #6)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

27. “…anyone who enters
will experience the love
of God who consoles,
pardons, and instills
hope…” (Misericordiae
Vultus, No. 3).
Pope Francis, referring to
the “Door of Mercy”
Photo: Hijas de la Caridad-Pastoral Vocacional Facebook Page

28. Let us keep the
spirit of Saint
Vincent de Paul
alive in this
Year of Mercy.

29. Let us always leave
open the door that
leads to mercy and
hope!

30. presented by: