The Vincentian Studies Institute recently acquired this Italian holy card for its collection. Dating from the late 19th or early 20th century (after the beatification of Jean-Gabriel Perboyre in 1893) it is a very early example celebrating the wider Vincentian Family including the Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity, the Ladies of Charity, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Sisters of Charity. Louise de Marillac is also featured.
The Vincentian Studies Institute of DePaul University recently purchased a very rare copy of Frederic Ozanam’s 1845 tribute to his predecessor in the chair of foreign literature at the Sorbonne: Claude Charles Fauriel. Fauriel died in 1844. The work of 36 pages was reprinted from the original article published in the Correspondant on 10 May 1845.
Nina Brière, La douceur du roi. Le gouvernement de Louis XIV et la fin des Frondes 1648-1661, Laval: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2011), pp. 172. ISBN: 978-2-7637-9392-4.
Paris, 2 juillet 1652. Pour échapper à ses assaillants, Louis II de Bourbon, prince de Condé, accompagné de ses troupes, parvient à entrer dans la ville in extremis. Le sang sur son armure est celui des soldats de son proper cousin, Louis XIV, roi de France. Depuis près de quatre ans, plusieurs grands membres de la noblesse française se sont révoltés contre le gouvernement royal. Ils en veulent plus particulièrement à Jules Mazarin, successeur du cardinal de Richelieu et principal ministre du royaume. Pour tenter de la chaser, ils s’allieront aux Espagnols, ennemis des Français. Cette révolte complexe qui secoua la France s’appelle la Fronde. De 1648 à 1653, plusieurs groups de la société française prennent les arms et bravent l’autorité royale. Le gouvernement de Louis XIV devra mater la révolte. De quelle façon s’y prendra-t-il? L’image du roi que nous lègue l’histore est un être dur et sans pitié. Et s’il en était autrement? Considéré comme le père du people, le roi de France pouvait-il se permettre de réprimer dans le sans ses sujets revoltés?
NINA BRIÉRE est née à Lahr, en Allemagne, en 1983. Après quelques allers-retours entre l’Europe et la Canda jusqu’à la fins des années 1990, elle entame ses études supérieurs au Québec. Son baccalauréat en histoire avec profil international à l’Université Laval terminé, elle poursuit à la maîtrise en histoire politique sous la direction de Michel de Waele, specialiste de l’Europe à l’époque moderne. Elle s’intéresse à la resolution des conflits et aux strategies politiques dans la France du XVIIe siècle.
Paul Pisani, L’Église de Paris et la Révolution (Paris: Picard, 1908). 4 vols.
An interesting note with respect to St. Vincent’s relics during the French Revolution is found in Volume 3, pg. 377
“Le 19 juillet 1797, M. Dubois, qui etait Lazariste, voulut donner une solennité extraordinaire à la fête de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul. Il y eut un concours immense de fidèles; 200 prêtres assistaient à la cérémonie qui présida l’évêque de Saint-Papoul; l’abbé de Boulogne fit le panégyrique du saint, si populaire à Paris, et l’éotion fut à son comple quand il annonca du haut de la chaire que le coprs de saint Vincent de Paul, qu’on avait cru profane et détruit, avait été enlevé par les prêtres de la Mission, et, encore, muni de tous les sceauz qui l’authentiquaient, depose, dans un lieu sûr, en attendant le jour où la Providence méagerait des circonstances favorable pour l’exposer de nouveau à la veneration des fidèles.”
Reglemens de la Compagnie des Dames de la Charite de la Paroisse de S. Paul pour le soin des Pauvres, (Paris: Chez Pierre Colin, Imprimeur & Libraire, rue de la Harpe, proche Saint Cosme, aux quatre Evangelistes, 1669).
The Vincentiana Collection of DePaul University’s Archives and Special Collections has recently acquired a very rare 1669 copy of the rules for the Ladies of Charity for the parish of Saint-Paul in Paris. The parish of Saint-Paul was an early site of the labors of the Daughters (see Coste,CCD4:400), and the Ladies. In June 1652 Vincent describes the work of the Daughters of Charity in this parish: “In Saint-Paul parish alone four or five sisters make the distribution to five thousand poor persons, in addition to the sixty or eight patients they have on their hands.”
Four North American provinces of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul merged on July 31, 2011, and formed the province of St. Louise USA with administrative offices located in St. Louis, Missouri. The archival collections of the former provinces (Albany, New York; Emmitsburg, Maryland; Evansville, Indiana; and St. Louis, Missouri) will be consolidated in a new 20,000-square-foot facility located within the former St. Joseph’s Provincial House, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The new archives also will house records of the Province of St. Louise. The facility will include a state-of-the-art repository, exhibit areas, and a research and reading room. Part of a multiphase construction project is now underway, the archives is expected to be ready for transfer of records in late summer 2012, with opening anticipated in 2013. The committee planning the new archives is chaired by Sr. Margaret John Kelly, D.C.; members include archivists John Diefenderfer; Lois Martin; Sister Betty Ann McNeil,D.C.; and Carole Prietto. For more information, contact Sr. McNeil, the archivist at mcneilsrba@doc.org, or visit the Web site: http://www.daughters-of-charity.org/
The Vincentiana material culture collection at DePaul University has a wide variety of Vincentian holy cards in its collection including this selection of Jean-Gabriel Perboyre holy cards.
The Vincentiana material culture collections at DePaul University also have acquired the two following two examples of early Rosalie Rendu holy cards. The first is a very early “Bonne Soeur Rosalie” pose. We believe this image to be one of the earliest portrayals of Rosalie in existence. The second image dates from later in the 19th century and features the very familiar portrait by Riffaut.
The Vincentiana Collection at DePaul University recently purchased this very early holy card depicting a scene from the life of Rosalie Rendu. This incident took place during the revolution of 1848. Sr. Louise Sullivan has an account in her biography of Rosalie on pages 179-180. The card does not name Sr. Rosalie, but it depicts her historical role in this incident. The card certainly dates to within years of the event. The back of the card has this description (translated from the French).
“It is in times of trials and terror that the sublimity of religion is clearly revealed in the devotion of its ministers and its virgins. While in the faubourg Saint-Antoine the venerable prelate of the capital (Msgr. Affre the archbishop) gave his life for his sheep, in the Saint-Marceau district an officer of the national guard was saved by the devotion of the daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul. He took refuge among them to escape his pursuers from among the insurgents. However, when he heard the death threats that these men made against these holy women he gave himself up to his furious pursuers despite the sisters’ pleas. He was grabbed, forced to his knees, and was about to be executed. At this moment, the courageous superior ignored the threats of the malefactors and placed herself between them and their intended victim. She said to them: “This is the house of God, and you will not soil it by this crime! For 45 years I have served you, and for the first time I ask you for something in return. Can you refuse me?” Then one of these men put his bayonnet to the throat of another of the sisters and said: “Well then, it is you who will be killed.” “Do you think I am afraid of your bayonette?” said the courageous virgin to him. She responded with disdain. “It is God alone that I fear.” How can one not recoginze the divinity of a religion which engenders such sublime devotion!”
It isn’t possible to look at photographs of 17th century France, but the closest we can come are the engravings of Abraham Bosse (1604-76). He was a master engraver of all sorts of subjects, including portraiture. For us, the most interesting will probably be his scenes of ordinary life, with particular emphasis on the depictions of the poor. He showed artisans at work, too, [see the engraving on the bakery below] and his scenes of schoolrooms—one for boys, another for girls—are nearly photographic.
His scenes of the Corporal Works of Mercy include the often-reproduced view of wealthy pious persons visiting a prison. The prisoner with a wide metal collar around his neck attached by a chain to the wall is astonishing. So is the scene of a wife beating her husband with a ring of heavy keys. At one side of the same engraving a young girl also is striking a boy, certainly in imitation of the family scene being enacted, and at the other side, a hen is pecking fiercely on a rooster. Bosse must have had a sense of humor.
He engraved another series of single individuals, showing off the details of their clothing. This is certainly as good as this gets.
If you ever wondered what kind of world Monsieur Vincent lived in, one access point is offered by these marvelous engravings. Bosse left more than 1,600 of them.
The Vincentian collection at DePaul recently purchased the book, whose cover is shown here. It is the catalogue of an exhibition dating from 2004.
It would be interesting to know more about his works.
There were, of course, other engravers and painters in his period, but many of them date from the time of Louis XIV. In this case, they represent the styles in vogue at least at the beginning of his reign. With Bosse, we are mainly shown the styles of Louis XIII and his wife, Anne of Austria, who became regent for Louis XIV until his formal accession to the throne in 1661.