On August 23 we celebrate the anniversary of the founding by St. Vincent de Paul of the Ladies of Charity, also known as the AIC (Association Internationale des Charités), the Voluntarias Vicentinas, and referred to in their early years as the Confraternities of Charity or simply “the Charities”. This was the the first organized expression of the Vincentian charism.

In the video below, Fr. Patrick Griffin, CM traces the origins of the Vincentian Family with an emphasis on the collaboration among our founders and among different branches of the Family.

 
Transcript:

Rev. Pat Griffin, CM

If we define our Vincentian charism as a following of Christ through caring for the spiritual and material needs of those who are most poor, then collaboration has been part of our story from the very beginning.

When Vincent responds to the spiritual need of the peasant of Gannes in 1617, the de Gondi family notes his effort and recognizes their responsibility to care for the spiritual needs of those on their estates. This leads to the sermon at Folleville – the first sermon of the mission – and rapidly to the gathering together of priests to serve the needs of the poor.

When Vincent expresses an awareness of a sick family in his parish of Châtillon, his parishioners immediately and spontaneously respond. They cause Vincent to reflect on the possibility of meeting the needs of the most abandoned in an organized way. And so the Charities come to be as a result of the collaboration between Vincent and his people.

When Vincent begins to recognize the gifts in Louise and the likelihood of her ability to lead the first Ladies of Charity in their service, he enters into the great personal collaboration of his life. Louise directs these good women and enables their tasks to be more effective in the service of the sick and the hungry.

As the corporal needs of the poor receive greater and greater attention due to the efforts of Vincent and Louise in association with the Ladies, a peasant girl – Marguerite Naseau – arrives on the scene. She wants to collaborate with this growing force for love in action. She volunteers her service – in a most practical and physical manner – a way for which she was particularly well suited. Vincent and Louise take her under their wing and the care of the poor takes on a new face as the Daughters of Charity come to be alongside the priests of the Mission and the Ladies of Charity.

We can look to the 19th Century for another example of collaboration growing around and through our charism. As Rosalie Rendu responds to the needs of the poor in the Mouffetard area of Paris, she becomes well know to the governmental structures, which have this responsibility. They recognize her understanding and contacts, and so they begin to collaborate with her in their response.

When the young Frederic Ozanam wants to do something practical for expressing his Catholic faith, he and the first men of the St. Vincent de Paul Society find their way to the Daughters of Charity, seeking their particular talents for this kind of service. From the common charism emerges another collaboration, which continues to benefit the poor around the world.

The foundational collaboration among the Charities, the Company of the Daughters of Charity, and the Congregation of the Mission has led to wider and deeper connections with those evolving branches of the Vincentian Family.