Part of a new Series on Vincentian Heritage Places

Ranquine

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Vincent de Paul was born on April 24, 1581, at Ranquine, a hamlet near the village of Pouy, a few kilometres from Dax in Gascony in the southwest of France. This region of France was called The Landes (Marshlands), and there Vincent spent his youth, helping with the farm work. The village of Pouy is now known as the town of St Vincent de Paul. In the administrative divsions of modern France, the locality of Ranquine, the town of St Vincent de Paul (Pouy) and the city of Dax, are all to be found in the Département des Landes (No 40) in the Aquitaine Region of the southwest of France.

The Family Property at Ranquine

At Ranquine, the de Paul family owned a single-story house, and also a granary with attached stables. The house occupied some 100 square metres (1076 square feet), and had a kitchen/living room, and four bedrooms – one for husband and wife, one for the eldest son, and two more for the other children. Near the house was a vegetable garden or orchard of some 470 square metres, barnyards for poultry, pigs and sheep, and also a yard for threshing grain.

Interior of reconstructed de Paul House
The farm at Ranquine consisted of three blocks of land known as Lahounade, Mesplé and Bournais, covering a total area of 10,810 square metres (about 2.6 acres). As well as these blocks of land adjacent to the house, the de Pauls worked areas of land on the other side of the Bouglose road and adjacent to the homestead of Laschine, some of which were rented from the Baronecy of Pouy.

The de Pauls were owners of the Ranquine farmhouse and adjacent lands. In addition, the particular title of the land (“Capcazal”) gave them the right to cut wood from the communal woodlands in the area, grazing rights on communal lands, and their own burial plots in the local cemetery. The property at Ranquine remained in the de Paul family at least till 1751. By 1800 it had certainly passed to the Nogaró family, who on September 27, 1841, sold it to the Prefecture of Dax. It then became known as Le Berceau. (The Cradle or Birthplace – of Vincent de Paul). The house shown in the photo is a reconstruction of the original de Paul farmhouse at Ranquine. The original farmhouse had collapsed by 1700. In the nineteenth century, the house was reconstructed almost on the same location as the original, and oriented slightly differently to face the road.

Over time, the hamlet of Ranquine (where Vincent de Paul was born in 1581) has become what is now known as ‘Le Berceau de Saint Vincent de Paul’ (The Cradle of St Vincent de Paul). In English, it is referred to simply as The Berceau. It is a house of the Congregation of the Mission, and a number of Vincentian Ministries are carried out there.

Source: VincentWiki

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