Fr. Hugh O’Donnell, C.M. writes:

“It has been my sense for the past couple of years that at the time of the founding of the Congregation of the Mission and becoming the director of Louise de Marillac, Vincent was a completely free man, fully given over to the will of God. It was as if the long journey of conversion to service of the poor (which might be called Vincent I) was finished, and the public life of the Father of the Poor and the Father of France (Vincent II) was about to begin.”

Source: O’Donnell, Hugh C.M. “The Relationship of Saint Vincent and Saint Louise from His Perspective: A Personal and Theological Inquiry,” Vincentian Heritage Journal: Vol. 11 : Iss. 1, Art. 5