The renewal of Vincentian spirituality can be understood through three important stages drawn from the life of Saint Vincent de Paul:

1. Vocation of “My Life”
2. Conversion
3. Missionary Life

These stages are not only moments in his personal history but also a path of renewal for every Vincentian today.

Stage One: Vocation of “My Life”

If I had known what [the priesthood] was when I had the termity to enter it — as I have come to know since then — I would have preferred to till the soil than to commit myself to such a formidable state of life (CCD:V:569).

Saint Vincent made this reflection when writing to the secretary of the Bishop of Dax. Vincents refers to the dignity and responsibility of priesthood. It was not a rejection of his vocation, but an expression of humility and of his growing awareness that priesthood is a participation in the mission of Christ and demands holiness, sacrifice, and service. Vocation begins when we stop asking What do I want? and start asking, What does God desire of me?

When Vincent de Paul was ordained a priest in 1600 at the age of nineteen, he believed that God had called him to the priesthood. However, during the first ten years of his priestly life, his understanding of vocation was still shaped largely by his own dreams, ambitions, and plans. In many ways, Vincent himself was designing his future.

Like many young priests, he desired a better life, security, recognition, and the possibility of helping his family overcome poverty. During that period, Vincent was still searching for the deeper meaning of his vocation. He experienced disappointments, failures, uncertainties, and a few successes.

His reflections were focused mainly on himself: his future, his family, his social situation, and the limitations he felt as a young man from a poor rural background. Theological reflection and missionary awareness had not yet become central to his life.

Many of us can recognize something of ourselves in this stage. After ordination, our priesthood often begins with enthusiasm and generous intentions, but our understanding of God’s call is still developing. Our preaching may be more formal than inspiring, our ministry may seek visible results, and our spiritual life is still maturing. Like Vincent, we are convinced that we have a vocation, but we have not yet fully discovered that the vocation belongs first to God and His mission, not to our personal projects.

This is the first stage of renewal: recognizing that our vocation is real, but still awaiting deeper purification, conversion, God’s greater vision, conformity to the will of God. Saint Vincent gradually discovered that his true vocation was not personal success or social advancement, but following Christ in the service of the poor.

Stage Two: Conversion

From Self-Centeredness to Seeing Christ in the Poor

Turn the medal and you will see by the light of faith that the Son of God, who willed to be poor, is represented to us by these poor people (CCD:XI:26). They are our masters and lords and we are the servants of those who are poor, although unworthy of that honor (CCDLX:215).

Reflection: Conversion happens when the poor cease to be objects of ministry and become the place where we encounter Christ.

If we look carefully at the life of Saint Vincent de Paul between his ordination in 1600 and the decisive year of 1617, we see that his conversion was not a single event but a gradual transformation through several experiences that purified his ambitions and revealed God’s plan. Historians often speak of a journey of conversion rather than a sudden conversion. Here are some of the most significant experiences or the road to Vincent’s Conversion (1600–1617):

The disappointment of personal ambition

After his ordination, Vincent hoped for a comfortable ecclesiastical career. Like many young priests of his time, he sought financial security and social advancement. Coming from a poor family, he wanted to improve his situation and support his relatives. However, many of his plans failed. Positions he desired did not materialize. His search for stability often led to disappointment. These failures gradually taught him that God’s plan was different from his own. Providence was slowly dismantling the vocation that Vincent had designed for himself. God often begins conversion by showing us the limits of our own projects.

The experience of being accused unjustly (around 1608–1609)

One of the most important but often overlooked events was the false accusation of theft by a friend. Vincent knew he was innocent, yet he endured the accusation in silence for a long period. This experience deeply humbled him. He learned patience, trust in God, and detachment from reputation. Years later, he would say that this event helped him understand humility in a practical way. Humiliation became a school of humility.

Contact with Pierre de Bérulle and engagement in the circle of reform of the French Church (from 1610)

A decisive turning point came when Vincent met Pierre de Bérulle. Bérulle challenged Vincent to see priesthood not as a profession but as participation in the mission of Jesus Christ. Through him, Vincent discovered a deeper spiritual vision centered on the Incarnation and service. Bérulle encouraged Vincent to accept difficult missions rather than seek comfortable positions.

Pierre de Bérulle was founder of the French School of Spirituality where he met good friends such as Jacques Olier, etc. Under Bérulle’s guidance, Vincent entered a circle of priests and spiritual leaders in Paris who were deeply concerned about the reform of the Church after the Council of Trent. Through conferences, theological discussions, spiritual conversations, and shared prayer, Vincent was introduced to a richer understanding of the priesthood as participation in the mission of Jesus Christ.

At the same time, Vincent was welcomed into the spiritual circles of the court, especially through the household of Madame de Valois, the widow queen of France. There he met priests, theologians, and influential laypersons who reflected on the renewal of the Church, the dignity of the priesthood, and the needs of the Christian people. He also met Bishop Francois de Sales whom he sincerely admired.

These encounters broadened his horizons. He began to see that the priesthood was not merely a personal vocation but a service entrusted by God for the salvation of others. Vincent began moving from self-interest to Christ-centred service.

Service in the Gondi Family

As chaplain and tutor to the influential Gondi family, Vincent gained access to wealth and privilege. Yet this experience unexpectedly brought him into contact with the spiritual poverty of ordinary people living on the Gondi estates.

He discovered that many rural Catholics had little religious instruction and lived without access to adequate pastoral care. His years with the Gondi family also played a crucial role. As chaplain and tutor, he travelled through the countryside and discovered the spiritual abandonment of many rural people. This experience prepared him for the decisive events of 1617. The poor and the life of the abandoned began to enter Vincent’s spiritual horizon.

The Conversion of 1617

This was one of the decisive moments of his life. A dying peasant made a general confession to Vincent and later told Madame de Gondi that he would have been lost without it. Vincent realized how many people in the countryside lacked spiritual guidance and lived without proper evangelization. On 25 January 1617, he preached at Folleville on the importance of confession. The response was overwhelming. Vincent later regarded this event as the beginning of the Congregation of the Mission.

Only a few months later came a second decisive event. While serving in Châtillon, Vincent learned of a family that was sick, hungry, and abandoned. He preached about their situation during Mass. The people responded generously, but Vincent noticed that charity was disorganized. Some brought too much assistance while others received none. This led him to organize the first Confraternity of Charity. Charity must be organized if it is to be effective. He discovered effective and affective love to the poor.

Folleville revealed to Vincent the spiritual poverty of the people. Châtillon revealed to him their material poverty. Together these two experiences transformed his life. From that point onward, his vocation was no longer centred on himself but on Christ evangelizing and serving the poor.

Saint Vincent’s conversion was not sudden but progressive. The events of Gannes-Folleville and Châtillon-les-Dombes transformed his heart. His conversion meant moving from self-centered ambitions toward compassionate service. He learned to see Christ in the poor and to trust completely in Divine Providence.

Saint Vincent de Paul’s conversion was gradual, profound, and missionary. After his ordination, he sincerely desired to serve God, yet his understanding of the priesthood was still influenced by the hope of achieving personal security, social advancement, and a stable ecclesiastical career. Through years of disappointments, spiritual guidance, prayer, and providential encounters, God gradually purified his heart. The decisive experiences at Folleville and Châtillon-les-Dombes in 1617 transformed his vision of the priesthood and of the Gospel. His conversion was not a passage from unbelief to faith, but from a self-centred understanding of vocation to a life entirely centred on Christ’s mission of evangelizing and serving the poor. From that moment onward, missionary service became the heart of his priesthood, and his life was gradually shaped by the conviction that to love Christ is to love and serve those who are poorest and most abandoned.

Stage Three: Missionary Life (1625-1660)

Living and Continuing the Mission of Christ

Our vocation is to go, not just to one parish, not just to one diocese, but all over the world; and to do what? To set people’s hearts on fire, to do what the Son of God did. He who came to set the world on fire in order to inflame it with His love (CCD.:XII:215).

This quotation captures Vincent’s missionary maturity: mission without boundaries, zeal for souls, and universal charity.

After his conversion, Vincent dedicated himself entirely to mission. He founded the Congregation of the Mission in 1625 to evangelize the poor and form good clergy. Later, together with Saint Louise de Marillac, he established the Daughters of Charity (1633). His missionary vision was practical, organized, and deeply spiritual. Vincent sent missionaries to rural areas, hospitals, prisons, and foreign lands. For him, mission was continuing the work of Christ among the poor with zeal and love.

Saint Vincent de Paul proposed the Renewal of the Church through Mission. The third stage of Saint Vincent de Paul’s spiritual journey is the stage of Missionary Life. If the years before 1617 were marked by the search for vocation and 1617 by conversion, the period from 1625 until his death in 1660 was dedicated entirely to the mission of Christ and the service of the Church. During these thirty-five years, Vincent became one of the principal agents of Catholic renewal in seventeenth-century France.

The foundation of the Congregation of the Mission in 1625 marked the beginning of this new stage. Vincent understood that the Church could not be renewed unless the poor were evangelized and the clergy were well formed. Therefore, he sent missionaries throughout the countryside to preach popular missions, hear confessions, reconcile enemies, teach the catechism, and renew Christian life among ordinary people. These missions often lasted several weeks and transformed entire villages. Thousands returned to the sacraments and rediscovered their faith.

At the same time, Vincent realized that lasting renewal required holy and well-prepared priests. He organized the famous Tuesday Conferences, retreats for ordinands, and seminaries for the formation of clergy. Many bishops and future Church leaders were influenced by these initiatives. Through this work, Vincent became one of the great reformers of the French clergy.

His missionary vision also expanded beyond France. Vincent encouraged missions ad Gentes, sending members of the Congregation to foreign lands. In 1648, missionaries were sent to Madagascar, one of the first overseas missions. Although many missionaries died from disease and hardship, Vincent continued to send new missionaries, convinced that the Gospel must reach all peoples. He also supported missions in North Africa, especially among Christian slaves, and encouraged chaplains to accompany those living in difficult conditions.

Vincent’s missionary commitment was not limited to preaching. He organized vast works of charity for victims of war, famine, and displacement. Through the Daughters of Charity, founded with Saint Louise de Marillac, assistance was brought to abandoned children, the sick, prisoners, and the poor. He transformed charity from occasional generosity into an organized and effective ministry of the Church.

As Vincent matured, his understanding of mission also deepened. In the beginning, he saw mission primarily as preaching and catechesis. Later, he came to understand that evangelization and charity could never be separated. To proclaim Christ meant both preaching the Gospel and serving those who suffered. His famous conviction was clear: the missionary must continue the mission of Jesus Christ, Evangelizer and Servant of the Poor.

The impact on the Church was immense. Vincent renewed parish life through popular missions, reformed the clergy through formation, expanded the Church’s missionary outreach beyond Europe, and institutionalized charity as an essential dimension of evangelization. At his death in 1660, the Church in France had been profoundly transformed by his vision.

For Vincentians today, this third stage is a constant invitation: after discovering our vocation and undergoing conversion, we are sent on mission. Like Saint Vincent, we are called to evangelize the poor, form communities, collaborate with others, and bring the love of Christ to the ends of the earth.

These three stages—vocation, conversion, and mission—continue to form the heart of Vincentian renewal today. Every Vincentian is continually invited to rediscover the gift of his vocation, to allow himself to be renewed through ongoing conversion, and to recommit himself to the mission of evangelizing and serving Christ in the poor. These are not stages to be completed once and for all, but a lifelong journey that continually shapes our identity as disciples and missionaries in the spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul.

The International Formation Center (CIF) of Saint Vincent de Paul in Paris seeks to accompany this journey of renewal. Situated at the heart of the Congregation, the CIF provides an international environment where Vincentian missionaries from different cultures and provinces can return to the sources of Saint Vincent de Paul, deepen their understanding of Vincentian spirituality, and reflect together on the challenges of mission in today’s world. Through prayer, study, fraternity, dialogue, and pilgrimage to the Vincentian places, the CIF encourages participants to renew their vocation, strengthen their missionary identity, and return to their provinces inspired to serve the Church and the poor with greater faith, wisdom, and missionary zeal.

Questions for Vincentian Spiritual Renewal

Stage 1: Vocation of “My Life” – Discovering the Call of God in My Personal History

1. Looking back on my life, what dreams, ambitions, fears, and personal desires have most influenced the way I have understood my vocation?
2. In what ways have successes, failures, disappointments, or unexpected events helped me discover God’s deeper plan for my life?
3. At this stage of my journey, is my vocation centred primarily on my own projects, or on God’s mission and the needs of His people?

Stage 2: Conversion – Allowing God to Transform My Heart

1. What experiences, people, or events have challenged me to move beyond myself and to see Christ more clearly in the poor, the suffering, and those on the margins?
2. What attitudes, attachments, habits, or ambitions still need conversion so that I may follow Christ with greater freedom and authenticity?
3. Like Vincent in Folleville and Châtillon, what realities of spiritual or material poverty is God asking me to recognize and respond to today?

Stage 3: Missionary Life – Being Sent to Continue the Mission of Christ

1. How am I living today the missionary call to evangelize and serve the poor according to the charism of Saint Vincent de Paul?
2. What new challenges, forms of poverty, or missionary opportunities is the Holy Spirit inviting me and my community to embrace?
3. If Saint Vincent were to visit my ministry today, what would he encourage me to continue, what would he challenge me to change, and where would he invite me to go next?

Concluding Prayer

“Lord, help me to rediscover my vocation, renew my conversion, and rekindle my missionary zeal, so that, following Saint Vincent de Paul, I may faithfully continue the mission of Christ, Evangelizer of the Poor.”

Fr. Armada Riyanto, C.M.
cifsvparis@gmail.com
International Formation Center (CIF), Paris