Historical events are meant to be studied and celebrated. The year 2025 brings us, as a memorial, the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the Congregation of the Mission. We begin this commemoration, fittingly, with a profound statement from Saint Vincent himself: “Who has established the Company?… Is it I?… It is God’s paternal Providencre and sheer goodness” (CCD:XI:31).

1. Some Circumstantial Protagonists

In every great work, there are more people involved than one might think. It is well said that “some do the work, others get the glory.” In the founding of the Vincentian Missionaries—and thus the great Vincentian Family that exists today—several prominent figures of social and spiritual importance played a role in one way or another. To name only a few: Cardinal Bérulle (with his emphasis on social action), Madame de Gondi (who provided the financial foundation), Francis de Sales (with his touch of devout humanism), the Marillac family (their connection to the upper classes), Cardinal Richelieu (the political power of the time), Anne of Austria (the queen who had Saint Vincent as her spiritual advisor), and the Duchess of Aiguillon (Richelieu’s niece and a constant benefactor).

2. The Experience of Monsieur Vincent de Paul

To the influence of these individuals (and especially that of Louise de Marillac), we must add Vincent’s own personal experience, which can be summed up in three key events.

The first took place on January 25, 1617, when he preached a sermon in Folleville, near Amiens. His sermon was a heartfelt appeal to a congregation of peasants, urging them to make a good confession. This call sprang from a recent experience: a miller from Gannes, a nearby village, had requested confession while gravely ill. The man was known for his honesty and virtue among his neighbors, and Vincent likely assumed the confession would be brief and routine. To his surprise, the dying man asked to make a general confession and revealed a series of serious sins he had hidden for years out of shame—a burden that had become unbearable. This encounter would forever change the course of Vincent’s life.

Following the miller’s confession, Vincent’s eyes were opened to those he had scarcely noticed before—the poor and the peasants. In Châtillon, a village under the Gondi family’s domain, he found widespread material and moral misery. Was it enough, he asked himself, to attend to the spiritual needs of the Gondi family and their son, or was it more urgent to care for the eight thousand peasants who lacked catechesis and the sacraments? If the miller, respected though he was, had not lived rightly, what would be the condition of those neglected rural poor, deprived of both material and spiritual assistance?

3. The Foundational Bases

All these experiences were formalized in a contract between the Gondi family and Father Vincent de Paul. The document, after citing spiritual motives, stated that:

“through the pious association of some priests… they could devote themselves enitrely and exclusively to the salvation of the poor common people.They would go from village to village, at the expense of their common purse. to preach, instruct, exhort, and catechize those poor peopple and ecnourage all of them to make a good general confession of their whole past life (CCD:XIIIA;214).

The Gondi family endowed the foundation with 45,000 livres. The beneficiary, as stated in the document, was Vincent de Paul, a priest of the Diocese of Acqs and “Doctor of Canon Law.” The date was April 17, 1625.

This contract outlined the rights and obligations of the foundation, summarized as follows:

a) The Gondi family endowed the Congregation with a capital of 45,000 livres—37,000 paid immediately and 8,000 within a year, secured by a mortgage on their properties. Vincent de Paul was designated as the beneficiary, described as a priest of the Diocese of Acqs and, for the first time in an official record, “Doctor of Canon Law.” Biographers assume he earned this title in the autumn of 1623, since it does not appear in any earlier documents.

b) The Gondi family entrusted Vincent de Paul with the task of selecting six priests within a year to live together and work under his direction.

• The only stipulation was that the Superior of the Community should continue residing in the Gondi household.
• The sum of 45,000 livres was to be invested in land or annuities, so that the income could support the priests’ needs. The Congregation itself would manage these funds.
• Upon Vincent’s death, his successors were to be elected by majority vote every three years.
• The Gondi family were declared the perpetual founders of the work, retaining certain rights and honors, though they renounced the right to make appointments and took on certain obligations regarding Masses and funerals.

c) The new Congregation’s obligations were as follows:

• It was to be called the “Company, Congregation, or Brotherhood of the Mission Priests,” living in community under the obedience of a superior.
• The modus operandi reflected Vincent’s own experience over the previous eight years.
• Every five years, the Mission priests were to conduct missions on the Gondi estates; the rest of the time, they were to serve others, particularly the “galley slaves.”
• From October to June, they would preach missions in the countryside; one month would be spent in community service; fifteen days for a retreat of three or four days; and the remaining time for preparing future missions. During the summer months, they were to assist parish priests in rural areas, especially on Sundays and feast days.

4. From the Message of Pope Francis

“I pray that this significant anniversary will be an occasion of great joy and renewed fidelity to the vision of missionary discipleship, grounded in the imitation of Christ’s preferential love for the poor.” With these words, Pope Francis expressed his closeness in a message addressed to the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, CM, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the Congregation founded by Saint Vincent de Paul on April 17, 1625.

Saint Vincent, however, considered January 25, 1617, as the true date of the foundation, recalling the awakening of his calling to bring the Gospel to the poor.

In his message, Pope Francis reflects on the beginnings of the Congregation of the Mission, highlighting its growth to the present day. He contemplates the spiritual heritage, apostolic zeal, and pastoral care that Saint Vincent de Paul bequeathed to the entire universal Church.

The Pope expresses his hope that the fourth centenary celebrations will emphasize the essential aspects of the saint’s mission so that today’s youth, as in the past, may benefit from them: “I hope that the celebrations of the fourth centenary will emphasize the importance of St. Vincent’s vision of serving Christ in the poor for the renewal of the Church in our time, in missionary discipleship, and in helping the needy and abandoned in the many peripheries of our world, as well as on the margins of a superficial and ‘throwaway’ culture. I am convinced that St. Vincent’s example can particularly inspire young people, who, with their enthusiasm, generosity, and concern for building a better world, are called to be bold and courageous witnesses of the Gospel among their peers and wherever they may be.”

Across all continents, countless men and women have embraced and heroically lived out the Vincentian spirituality, following in Saint Vincent’s footsteps. As the Holy Father notes, they have done so moved by that same “fire of love” that burned in the heart of the incarnate Son of God, driving Him to identify with the poor and the marginalized.

The Vincentian Family continues today to initiate charitable works, undertake new missions, and offer spiritual guidance and formation for clergy and laity alike. One notable example is the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, which the Pope describes as “an extraordinary force for good in the service of the poor, with hundreds of thousands of members throughout the world.”

The Pope also recalls two other Vincentian foundations: in 1617, the Confraternities of Charity—now known as the International Association of Charities (AIC)—and in 1633, together with Saint Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity, which the Pope calls “a revolutionary form of female community” for its time. While other religious women lived in cloisters, Saint Vincent encouraged his Sisters to go out into the streets of Paris to care for the poor and the sick.

Today, Vincent’s spiritual heirs show similar creativity through initiatives such as the Vincentian Family Homeless Alliance, an international project inspired by Saint Vincent, who in 1643 built thirteen houses for the poor in Paris. The project seeks to provide affordable housing for those without a home.

The Pope concludes his message imparting the Apostolic Blessing and quoting Saint Vincent: “I pray that, inspired by your Founder, you may continue to model your life and work after the exhortation to humility and apostolic zeal that he addressed to the first members of the Congregation: ‘Come then, my dear confreres, let’s devote ourselves with renewed love to serve persons who are poor, and even to seek out those who are the poorest and most abandoned; let’s acknowledge before God that they’re our lords and masters and that we’re unworthy of rendering them our little services.’”

Fr. Mitxel Olabuénaga, CM