“Many researchers make the mistake of isolating Saint Vincent from his time.[1] A statue needs a niche. Saint Vincent needs the Church of his time or rather the Church and his time, otherwise understanding him would be impossible. We shall, therefore, consider three different aspects: the condition of the Church in the 17th century, the notion of the Church in Saint Vincent and the action of Saint Vincent for the Church.” writes noted Vincentian historian Luigi Mezzadri, CM in “St. VIncent and the Church in his time.”
The entire document is available at St. VIncent and the Church in his time in the Vincentian Encyclopedia. It is also published in Spanish at somos.vicencianos.org
Here are some excerpts…
Vocation decided by the family
We cannot speak of “vocation” at least up to the time of the “Spiritual Exercises” of Saint Ignatius. One could be in the clerical state through the tonsure (beginning at seven years of age) that was usually given after confirmation. The family made the decision regarding states of life. In making their decision, the parents had the following models:[6]
- sacrificial model: the family would choose one of their children and “offer” him to God.
- cultural model: one enters the clerical state in order to dedicate himself to studies.
- social model: one or more of the sons were sent to the clerical state to gain social prestige.
It was this last model that Vincent’s family followed in choosing the priesthood for him.
Parish support
To examine concretely the pastoral life, we bring a specific case that has been carefully studied. It concerns the diocese of Clermont in France. Through it we can see a microcosm of parish life starting from the problem of income.[16]
- Parishes could survive with two kinds of income.
- The first was the rent which was very low, i.e. between 2 to 4 lire for the parishes in the mountain, 35-40 lire for the city parishes.
- Then there were the extras that included the rights of the altar and those of the Church. The administration of the sacraments (rights of the altar) ensured a certain income.
- The offering for baptism was 3 cents for the head of the family and 1 cent for the other members.
- For the celebration of marriages, the spouses had to pay at the door of the church 5 coins, a quarter of the wedding bread, a quarter of the wine, a leg of the pig, a piece of beef and a chicken.
- In Borgogne the rule was that they had to provide the food for the celebrant for the day and the next.
- If the bridegroom wanted to get married in another place, if he was a landowner he had to pay 10 coins and 1 chicken, if not, he had to pay 5 coins and bring a chicken as a gift.
- The contribution for a funeral was very precise. In the beginning of the 16th century a hostel owner had to pay 16 soldi (coins), for other adults, only 5 coins; for children, only 2 coins and 6 denarii.
- The rights of the Church included different kinds of taxes, usually to be paid in kind.
- For the pastoral Sunday service, i.e. for a simple Mass and a sung Mass, they had to contribute to the parish priest a measure of oatmeal.
- At Longpre’, at the end of the 14th century, each parishioner had to contribute to his pastor a measure of rye for the annual service, plus a copper for the Gospel of the Passion.
- In some cases the tax included a lunch for Christmas, for the parish priest, his chaplain, his acolyte and the sacristan of the Church. On the same occasion, they also had to feed the 3 dogs and the horse of the parish priest.
Vincent’s idea of a priest…
His ideal of the priest is situated within the mystery of charity. Like Christ, the priest must have as his only preoccupation the salvation of souls. He does not insist on the sacrificial character, on being “victim and priest;” the axis of his priestly (sacerdotal) spirituality is that which passes from Christ and reaches out to the poor. “It is not enough for me to love God if my neighbor does not love Him.”[56]
Here is the idea of a priesthood that makes itself evangelizer and bread, in order to meet the twofold hunger of man. Here is the welding of corporal and spiritual assistance: “When the priests dedicate themselves to the care of the poor, they do the office of our Lord and of many great saints, who not only counseled the poor, but they themselves consoled them, served them, healed them. Are not the poor the afflicted members of Our Lord? Are they not our brethren? And if the priests abandon them, whom do you want to assist them? Therefore, if among you there would be someone who thought of belonging to the Mission in order to evangelize the poor and not to help them, in order to provide their spiritual and not their temporal needs, I answer that we should assist them and have them assisted in every way by us and by others…. This is evangelizing with words and with works and it is also what our Lord practiced and what those who represent him on earth should do by virtue of their character and ministry as priests.”[57]
The priest envisioned by Vincent is a man for others, not bound to a place, to a church, but with a missionary dimension in his heart.
Vincent and prayer
All this makes us understand how, at the origin of the charity of Saint Vincent, there was prayer, but especially the Eucharist. It opened him to value the gift of the Church and in the Church he found the poor. He intuited the mystery of the Church of the Poor. And it is this that he wanted to transmit to us.
Reflections:
- What might have surprised you in the excerpts from this article?
- If you were able to read the entire piece wat similarities do you see with the Church of today?
- What dissimilarities?
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Tags: 17th Century, Church, Paris, Vincent
