Vincent

Vincent’s knife

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In Vincent’s time, people normally had their own eating utensils. To pick up and eat their food, many used their fingers, which they would clean with a cloth and/or bread. As to the utensils, normally a knife and spoon—forks were a new import from Italy, often used only in upper-class settings—these were also cleaned at the table by the eater and wrapped up in a cloth to await their next use. This was a custom preserved in some religious communities, notably the Daughters of Charity in certain parts of the world.
The knife pictured above is in the Vincentian Museum in the mother house in Paris. It consists of a wooden sheath, on the left, with the metal knife, on the right. The sheath has metal pieces fitted into it at each end to hold the wood in place.
The mystery about this item is the carving on the sheath, which covers at least two sides. I have not been able to locate anyone who knows anything about this. What do the individual symbols mean, if anything? Who carved them and why? Where did the sheath come from? Why did Vincent de Paul have this item? What is its age? How different was it from those that others used? Was it a gift to him from someone, let’s say a sailor, coming back from a lengthy ocean voyage, maybe from Madagascar? Are the figures alphabetic or just symbolic? Some symbols are repeated, and there may be divisions between groups of symbols (if I am interpreting the vertical dots correctly); does this have any relevance?
Let’s put out this item for examination. There has to be someone who could start researchers in the right direction. Is it you?

I sometimes wonder whether the author Dan Brown could concoct a mystery story featuring this knife, leading scientists and detectives on a wild chase across continents.

Myth Deconstruction: Vincent accused of theft

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In his biography of Vincent de Paul, Louis Abelly introduced a number of hagiographic myths that continue to haunt Vincentian studies.  For example, Abelly took a conference in which Vincent had related the story of someone he knew who was once falsely accused of theft, and applied it to the saint himself.  Abelly says that the truth of this incident “became known only after his (Vincent’s death), through the testimony of Monsieur de Saint Martin, canon of Dax…”  According to Abelly’s account (found in Chapter five of his biography), the judge from Sore who had been incensed by Vincent’s denial of the theft: “knew that Monsieur Vincent was in the habit of consulting Father [Pierre] de Berulle….The judge took the occasion one day to find Monsieur Vincent in Father de Berulle’s company, together with several other distinguised guests.  He publicly berated Monsieur Vincent, calling him a thief and formally serving a writ upon him, requiring him under threat of excommunication to testify before an ecclesiastical court.  The man of God showed no resentment at this affront, took no great pains to justify himself, but said calmly ‘God knows the truth.'”  In his biography Pierre Coste, C.M., largely repeats Abelly’s account and interpretation with only minor changes.

 

Contrast the above story with this fact:  On April 17, 1628 Vincent de Paul gave sworn testimony in the beatification process of Francis de Sales.  As he began his testimony Vincent said: “I know that perjury in all cases, but especially in those of canonizations such as this one, is a very serious mortal sin, which, by the grace of God, I never want to commit.” A few statements later Vincent says: “Never, by the grace of God, have I been accused of any crimes, nor been investigated, nor brought before any judge; nor have I, by name been denounced publicly or excommunicated.” (Coste, CCD, Volume 13b, 80-81).

 

This evidence again points to the ongoing importance of the careful deconstruction of Abelly’s enduring myths to uncover the Vincent of history.

Vincent de Paul Manuscript Letter Acquired

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The Vincentian Studies Institute of DePaul University recently acquired a manuscript letter of Vincent de Paul.  The letter is #603 in Coste, dated 24 July 1642 at Saint Lazare in Paris.  The recipient was Pierre du Chesnay in Crecy.  This letter is in Volume 2 of the English Edition, pages 311-313.  Click here to access: http://via.library.depaul.edu/coste_en/ The letter will join the other Vincent de Paul manuscripts in the Archives and Special Collections Department of the Richardson Library.  The letter was purchased from a French collector who is the friend of a confrere at the Maison-Mere in Paris.

 

VHRN Book of the Week

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Church, Society, and Religious Change in France, 1580-1730 by Joseph Bergin
Yale University Press, 2009, 506 p
ISBN: 9780300150988

Winner of the 2010 Me du concours des antiquites de France given by the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles’Lettres in Paris

This readable and engaging book by an acclaimed historian is the only wide-ranging synthesis devoted to the French experience of religious change during the period after the wars of religion up to the early Enlightenment. Joseph Bergin provides a clear, up-to-date, and thorough account of the religious history of France in the context of social, institutional, and cultural developments during the so-called long seventeenth century.

Bergin argues that the French version of the Catholic Reformation showed a dynamism unrivaled elsewhere in Europe. The traumatic experiences of the wars of religion, the continuing search within France for heresy, and the challenge of Augustinian thought successively energized its attempts at religious change. Bergin highlights the continuing interaction of church and society and shows that while the French experience was clearly allied to its European context, its path was a distinctive one.

Joseph Bergin is professor of history at the University of Manchester, and a Fellow of the British Academy. His previous books include Cardinal Richelieu, The Making of the French Episcopate and Crown, Church and Episcopate under Louis XIV, all published by Yale.

Reviews:

An authoritative account of the French church in the ‘long seventeenth century’ that is both general and nuanced. We certainly need a book on this subject and Joseph Bergin is unquestionably the historian to write it.” – Nigel Aston, Leicester University

“Benefiting from a lifetime’s study, Joseph Bergin brilliantly succeeds in showing us how the French Catholic church was the product of a society that it, in turn, did so much to shape. The result is a remarkable recreation of a diverse religious society to which generations of individuals, clerics and laymen, found themselves committed by shared duty and devotion.” – Mark Greengrass, University of Sheffield

“Joseph Bergin’s outstanding synoptic study combines breadth of coverage and depth of understanding to brilliant effect. He brings out the astonishing scale of the Catholic reform movement in France, while offering an incisive analysis of its inner workings and ambiguities. This now becomes the indispensable book for everyone interested in seventeenth-century French Catholicism, and will also be invaluable to all serious students of early modern French and European history.” – Robin Briggs

“The word definitive is perhaps too often used in reviews, but Joseph Bergin’s new book on the French church in the long seventeenth century certainly qualifies. . . . Throughout the book, Bergin is careful in his judgments, meticulous in his use of a wide variety of evidence, and encyclopedic in his knowledge of the subject. . . . It is unlikely that we shall soon see a better work in any language on the French church in the seventeenth century.”-W. Gregory Monahan, American Historical Review

“Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand seventeenth-century France . . . a masterpiece.”–Michael Hayden, Canadian Journal of History

“Joe Bergin has built his reputation as the world’s leading authority on the early modern French church … He knows the church of the grand siècle from the inside, and in analyzing its structure and workings he has attained the stature … of a great historian. …This should now be the first port of call for anybody wishing to understand why and how this persistently perplexing phenomenon emerged as and when it did.” – William Doyle, French History

“[Bergin’s] new work Church, Society and Religious Change in France, 1580-1730 is a monumental study that only a scholar with his past achievements could contemplate undertaking … A focused and readable survey. There is no question that this book is an important and welcome addition to the field … This book is more than just a survey, it also provides a guide to where further research will transform our understanding of the French Church.” – Eric Nelson, Reviews in History

“The accessibility of a work of such scope makes it worth the the cover price alone. Moreover, in its crucial contributions to historical methodologies which force us to rethink a French “Catholic Reformation” which had fizzled out by 1660, makes this book an essential text for students and academics alike.” – Jenny Hillman, Journal of Early Modern History

“[A] remarkable work.”–Jacques M. Gres-Gayer, Catholic Historical Review

St. Vincent’s Reading List

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Beginning in 2010 to mark the 350th anniversaries of the deaths of St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and St. Louise de Marillac (1591-1660) the Special Collections department of the John T. Richardson Library of DePaul University will produce a monthly “Ex Libris” blog feature highlighting a select volume from its collection entitled “St. Vincent’s Reading list.”

“St. Vincent’s Reading List,” represents a variety of rare seventeenth century works that are known to have been read or recommended by St. Vincent (as evidenced by his own written testimony); can safely be presumed to have been read by him; or are political, legal, theological, or spiritual works published during his life that illustrate the major developments that were unfolding in France and thus impacted the saint personally, as well as impacting the development of his many works of evangelization and charity, and the groups he founded for these purposes.

Saint Vincent de Paul, (like many of the great saints of the Catholic Church,) retains his trans-historical significance through the centuries because succeeding generations can find in his life story great insights into how Christian discipleship can be lived today with authenticity and efficacy. This significance is only magnified when distorting mythic elements and remnants of pious hagiography give way to critical biography’s establishment of fact and context.

If Saint Vincent is to be more than the romantic subject of a pious holy card, or a statue with babe in arms, and if he is to take his place as a contemporary inspiration to service and advocacy, especially for those in our world who live at the margins, then understanding Monsieur Vincent on his own terms, and through his own “reading list” is of great importance.

To access these blogs please see the Vincentian research links on the main page of this site, or access here.