Let us not imagine Father Vincent de Paul with posters or speeches in defense of women’s rights. No, that would be out of place. But it seems to me that made a significant contribution to giving women an ever more important role in society.

With few exceptions, represented by ladies of royalty or nobility, the role of women was that of domestic worker, in the family home, or as a peasant, always under the guardianship of the husband, or in the convent.

Throughout his life, Father Vincent would deal with both, making the former commit themselves to social transformation through social works, and the latter gain confidence and assert themselves in the society of their time. The ladies of high society with enormous wealth were able to leave the luxury of their nobility and use their enormous economic potential to alleviate the great areas of poverty and misery of their time, in contrast to the luxury and splendor in which they lived. The Duchess of Aiguillon, niece and heiress of the powerful Richelieu, who used all her fortune to help the poor, comes to mind. She and many other women stand out not only for the lineage to which they belonged, but also for the use they made of their possessions.

But mainly I want to portray Father Vincent de Paul as a pedagogue in the rise of women to decision-making positions in daily life. The first young women who came from the villages to serve in the parish confraternities of Charity were often illiterate, but hardworking, honest and totally committed (1). It was necessary to work with them spiritually, culturally and professionally. Louise de Marillac, one of those noblewomen, decided to gather and accompany them in her own home. There they received a basic formation that would enable them to serve the poor.

Father Vincent was in charge of their Christian and spiritual formation. It was the time of the great preachers and lecturers (Francis de Sales, Bossuet, etc.). Vincent de Paul opted for a different, colloquial style. Beforehand, he indicated a theme, a subject. When he arrived at the conference, he made the participants feel so at ease that each one was invited to say what he or she thought about the proposed topic. He would then make a summary, sometimes praising what has been said, sometimes correcting what has been said wrong, completing his formation time with what he has prepared. Through this process, the young women discovered what they were capable of, while awakening in them a desire to know more… and to go further.

He combined patience with the habits and customs that each one brought with her. It is interesting to read the advice he gave to Louise de Marillac, who became impatient with the delay of some of the young women in acquiring new habits or in correcting behaviors that did not fit in with the new activities they were to carry out: one who wanted to wear her cap this way or that, her apron this way or that, or, more seriously, a temperament that was more difficult to moderate. Father Vincent recommended: “Give her time to change; you will see that in a few months she will be different”. And, by way of consolation, he said: “I also have these people here”, referring to the priests of the Congregation of the Mission in St. Lazare (Paris).

Regarding the need for formation, he told them: “You must know what is necessary to perform and apply medicine, to teach girls to read and write and to teach the truths of the faith necessary for salvation”, that is to say, literary, professional and doctrinal formation. And some of them became professional experts and gained the confidence of the sick to the point of being preferred to surgeons (2), to the point that some complained that they had no work. Louise de Marillac, in order to avoid collapse, intervened by recommending the Sisters to work only in the absence of the surgeon or when he could not travel.

One of the most degraded public services were the prisons for those condemned to the galleys: sick or waiting to be sent to row on the ships of the royal navy in the Mediterranean Sea. Vincent de Paul, appointed chaplain of the navy, sent those young women to take care of these unfortunates, condemned to a slow death in these dungeons. Their entry into these prisons conveyed an air of hope by the cleanliness and neatness of the cells, the freshness of the laundry and the nursing care dispensed.

By getting the Paris Parliament to approve this association of service to the poor and needy – the Company of the Daughters of Charity – these young women obtained the status of providers of a public service, which gave them the responsibility and initiative to negotiate with the authorities the conditions of work and the means of assistance in prisons, hospitals or home care (3).

It was the official recognition of women’s work in what we now call “public or social service”. It was an important step for women to gain their place in society, not by concession, but by the strength of their work and dedication.

Fr. José Alves, CM

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(1) The shepherdess Marguerite Naseau (the first Daughter of Charity) became famous. She was illiterate, but had a great desire to help young women who experience feelings of inferiority and to help the sick and the poor. To this end, she learned to read and write by asking passersbys the names of the letters … she wanted to be able to teach other young women.

(2) In German, surgeon is “wundarzt”, the doctor of wounds, the one who heals them. “the Sister Pharmacist … shall let the blood of the sick and dress their wounds when it becomes necessary and the surgeon is not present” (Spiritual Writings of Louise de Marillac, p. 752, A.84: Manner in which they are to treat the sick of the Hotel-Dieu of Saint Denis).

(3) Despite being accompanied by the “Letters Patent of the King,” it took years for Parliament to approve the request of the Company of the Daughters of Charity. It ran up against prejudice. An Association of women leading a secular life was inconceivable. The Procurator, who presided over Parliament, did not disapprove of such a plan, but something of such importance deserved to be well thought out.