vincentian history

Seminar about the History of the Daughters of Charity (Paris, Sorbonne University, 7-8 October 2011)

bcicirel Vincentian History

Colloque international

Université Paris-Sorbonne, 7-8 octobre 2011

organized by : Pr. Jacques-Olivier Boudon, professeur à l’université Paris-Sorbonne et Dr. Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée, maître de conférences à l’université catholique de l’Ouest (France).

with the help of : Conseil scientifique de l’université Paris-Sorbonne, École doctorale d’Histoire moderne et contemporaine, Centre d’histoire du XIXe siècle, DePaul University (Chicago), Archives nationales de France, École nationale des Chartes, compagnie des Filles de la Charité de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.

 

Summary

L’histoire sans les femmes n’est plus possible : l’affaire est entendue. Mais les religieuses disparaissent encore trop souvent dans les silences de l’histoire. Ce colloque entend poursuivre l’effort historiographique qui tend au croisement de l’histoire religieuse, des femmes et du genre. Plus de vingt spécialistes français et étrangers traiteront de l’histoire des Filles de la Charité, les fameuses sœurs à « cornettes » qui appartiennent encore à l’imaginaire occidental. Après quatre siècles d’histoire, les sœurs de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul demeurent à l’échelle du monde la plus importante des congrégations catholiques féminines (20 000 sœurs). Leur histoire n’avait pourtant jamais été écrite. L’ouverture des archives de la maison mère de la Compagnie à Paris, croisées avec des fonds publics et privés, est l’occasion de ce colloque qui abordera les multiples champs du care comme les conditions politiques et culturelles du « service des pauvres ».

Program

with the participation of Edward R. Udovic, John E. Rybolt, Carmen M. Mangion, Susan O’Brien…

 

Livretprogramme_fdlc_2011_10-1ua52p4

Additional Rosalie Rendu Holy Cards

bcicirel Vincentian History , , ,

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.

Early Rosalie Rendu Holy Card

bcicirel Vincentian History , , ,

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!”

The faith of Vincent de Paul in the midst of an unbelieving society

bcicirel Vincentian History ,

The Vincentian Encyclopedia has posted an English translation of  THE FAITH OF VINCENT DE PAUL IN THE MIDST OF AN UNBELIEVING SOCIETY by Luis González-Carvajal Santabárbara.

“We have seen that even though Vincent lived in the midst of a situation seemingly different from our own, he did not find it easy to believe. His experience teaches us that the difficulties of life can become an authentic moment of kairos for the faith because, as mature love is that love which has overcome deception, so too mature faith is always faith that conquers the world (1 John 5:4).

 http://famvin.org/wiki/The_Faith_of_Vincent_de_Paul_in_the_Midst_of…

This article appeared in a Spanish language book of essays honoring the 350th anniversary.

New Publications on the Daughters of Charity as Civil War Nurses

bcicirel Vincentian History ,

Sister Betty Ann McNeil, D.C., provincial archivist for the Daughters of Charity, Emmitsburg, has edited Civil War accounts, records, and correspondence for publication during the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War years.

The following titles are available from the Seton Heritage Shop of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Emmitsburg, Maryland. Visit www.setonshrine.org or e-mail giftshop@setonshrine.org or call: 301-447-7122.

 

Charity Afire—A Civil War Trilogy. Includes first-person accounts by Daughters of Charity Civil War Nurses on battlefields in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

  • Charity Afire. Virginia 1861-1865
  • Charity Afire. Maryland 1862-1865
  • Charity Afire. Pennsylvania 1862-1865

Dear Masters. Daughters of Charity Civil War Nurses, is an annotated edition of the Daughters of Charity Annals of the Civil War just released.

Balm of Hope—Daughters of Charity Civil War Records, an unabridged and fully annotated compilation of the Daughters of Charity Civil War records, anecdotes, and correspondence is in process and will make source documents and historical records available. To be published in 2012.

Book of the Week: “Enlightened Charity”

bcicirel Vincentian History , ,

Martha M. Libster, Ph.D., R.N., and Betty Ann McNeil, D.C., Enligthtened Charity: The Holistic Nursing Care, Education, and Advices Concerning the Sick of Sr. Mathilda Coskery (1799-1870). (Golden Apple Publications: 2009). 528 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0975501825.

From the publisher: “Enligthened Charity is a lost history important to the identity of professional American nurses.  Throughout history nurses have been innovators in health reform creating models of safe and accessible health care for all.  Enlightened Charity documents the peioneering work of American Sisters of Charity nurses in the 19th century who sustained a centuries-old holistic healing tradition of their French predecessors in caring for the poor, sick, and mentally ill. Martha Matthews Libster and Sr. Betty Ann McNeil give us an intimate portrait of one sister in particular, Sister-Nurse Matilda Coskery, who during her 39-year nursing career from 1831 until 1870, partnered with medical consultants to create hospitals, clinical training programs for medical students, treatment programs, and standards of nursing care which earned her the distinction by physicians, nurses, and the public as an “oracle” in nursing care, particularly of the mentally ill.  Sister Matilda documented her expertise in a textbook for her students which she entitled “Advices concerning the Sick.”  This masterful treatise on the science and the ‘blessed art’ of nursing pre-dating Notes on Nursing by Florence Nightingale is published here in its entirety for the first time in the history of American nursing with commentary by the authors.  In its impeccable scholarship, Enlightened Charity repeals the myths about early nurses and documents why Sister Matilda and the Sisters of Charity were models for professional nursing in the nineteenth century.  The Sisters’ values of humility, simplicity, and charity and their intentional devotion to the spiritual as well as the physical needs of patients propelled them into a judicious, science-based care that won them national and international acclaim-though they did not seek it…”