The Common Rules and the Constitutions of the Congregation of the Mission were printed in 1658 and Vincent distributed copies to the missionaries at an emotional ceremony on the 17th of May. At long last, Vincent had finally settled the juridical structures of his Company, just a year and a half before his death.

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With just a very few exceptions the Rules do not give detailed prescriptions for the order of the day or particular community practices. They are more geared to presenting the spirit in which a missionary is to face the demands of his vocation to perfection and to the apostolate. […] They are the code of spiritual perfection that Vincent de Paul proposed to his missionaries […] the embodiment of everything that Vincent hoped for and wanted from his followers.

– José María Román, CM, Chapter XX, The Model and Spirit of the Rules