The Vincentiana collection at De Paul University’s Office of Mission and Ministry has acquired a unique and poignant water color image of Vincent de Paul entitled: “Monsieur” Vincent, Aumônier des Galères priez pour nous.” (“Monsieur Vincent, Chaplain of the Galleys, pray for us.”)

The image portrays Vincent freeing a galley convict who kneels before him.  The painting includes an image of a galley at sea.  In the lower right hand corner the image is signed: “En captivité. Pont St. Vincent.  19 – VII – 40.”

The artist’s signature is then below.  Research has led us to believe that the image was painted by a French POW who had been stationed at the fort overlooking the town of Pont-St. Vincent, located in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle in the northeast of France.  The fort was part of the vast border fortifications built by France after its defeat by Germany in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war.  This particular fort guarded the area between Langres and Mirecourt and the valley of the Moselle. The fort was captured in June 1940 during the German Blitzkrieg of France.  The painting is dated July 19, 1940.  The artist’s signature is difficult to read.  For more information on this fort, and the French border fortification system visit the following website: http://fortiffsere.fr/troueedecharmes/index_fichiers/Page4584.htm

The Vincentiana Art Collection of De Paul University’s Division of Mission and Ministry has recently acquired an early 20^th century cast bronze bust of a Daughter of Charity.  The piece is signed by the Austrian artist Adolf Josef Pohl (1872-1930).

The bust is very finely crafted, and captures the difficult details and proportions of the sister’s cornette.  The piece is 9” in height and 7” in width.  There is a foundry mark as well.  The bust joins the other more than 200 pieces of Vincentian fine art in the Division’s collection including other bronzes, paintings, tapestries, embroidered pieces, and photographs.  Many items in the collections are on public display throughout the university, and in the offices of the Division of Mission and Ministry at 55 E. Jackson Boulevard.  Visitors are always welcome.

The Vincentiana Collection at the Archives and Special Collections Department of DePaul University has recently acquired an unusual Vincent de Paul portrait.  The painting done in 1974 by the artist George Prout (1913-2016) depicts Vincent de Paul looking into a cradle.  The infant reaches out to grab his finger.  The expression on Vincent’s face is quite charming.  While the depiction of Vincent de Paul with foundlings is all but universal in post-revolutionary iconography of the saint; this particular image has a warmth that puts it in a category of its own.

The Vincentiana Collection in Archives and Special Collections at DePaul University has recently acquired a rare black and white postcard c. 1900 which commemorates the massacre of ten French Daughters of Charity at Tien-Tsin in June 1870.  The Chinese attack on the sisters and confreres was part of a backlash against Foreign and missionary presence in China.  Rumors circulated in the local community that the orphan children were being murdered by the sisters and their body parts harvested for medicine.  Two confreres were also massacred.  The churches and missionary compounds were burned to the ground in the attacks.  This postcard commemorates the site of the sisters’ deaths in the garden of the orphanage.  The rebuilt church in the background is Notre Dame des Victoires.  These anti-foreign tensions would continue in China leading thirty years later to the famous Boxer rebellion.