The French edition of famvin under Claude Lautissier presents a painting (click to enlarge) which depicts a freed prisoner showing gratitude to Vincent de Paul. A Daughter of Charity is present – she can be seen on the right of the painting. But she is not wearing the cap (‘toquet”) which the Daughters at the time of Vincent and Louise wore. On the left of the painting near Vincent there is a secretary recording the event, and next to the secretary, a man with a sword holding what could be a seal. So this probably depicts an official situation..
There are two references to Vincent being involved in freeing prisoners in the book by André Dodin CM titled Monsieur Vincent raconté par son Secrétaire, items No 294 and 295. (This work is of course in French, but an English translation is currently in preparation.) Investigation is continuing in order to identify the author, date, and occasion represented by the painting.
Source of the above information is Fr Bernard Koch CM (Paris). Screenshot of painting is taken from the FamVin Francophone Site. More information (in French) can be found through the link Vincent Freeing Prisoner . . (Some may find help with the French by using the facilities of Google Translate – http://translate.google.com/)
Thanks to Tim Williams, CM of the Australian site of the Congregation of the Mission for providing the above material as the current featured article.
Tags: Australia, history, Painting, Vincent
