350th Anniversary celebrations on the deaths of Saint Vincent and Saint Louise : (July 2009)

For this issue, I have taken material from the Famvin website about the 350th anniversary celebrations on the death of St Vincent and St Louise.

From the Feast of St Vincent on 27th September 2009 until the Feast day the following year, the worldwide Vincentian Family are invited to celebrate the deaths of both St Vincent (1581-1660) and his closest collaborator St Louise de Marillac (1591-1660).

A special Logo has been devised for this special year of celebration of the great gifts of charity shared by these two saints. A programme of events and themes has also been organised to help mark this year in a practical way.

The Logo attempts to depict a universal vision of the Vincentian Family: International Association of Charities, Congregation of the Mission, Daughters of Charity, Society of St Vincent de Paul, and other branches.

The variety of charism's expressions in the Vincentian Family presents the difficulty: how to translate this diversity into one image and at the same time celebrate the life of the founders?

In their time St Vincent and St Louise lived the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and were led by the power of this Spirit, a power that was shown in their zeal and charity and in a dynamic mission.

St Louise and St Vincent

Archived Reflections....click here

The Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity, the Ladies of Charity were living testimony of this creativity born out of the Spirit. After their deaths in 1660, the Spirit of the Lord continued to release its creative force, giving rise to movements and communities who saw in the Vincentian charism a solid spirituality, forever young, and above all a living response to Church and society.

The Logo does not pretend to be exhaustive - it simply suggests. The symbol consists of "flames" of various colours, in four sets, as in four horizons, suggesting the world of diversity. These flames are so located as to suggest a "dove", the biblical symbol of the Holy Spirit, just as the flames themselves are. The flames are also symbols of charity.

The symbol is completed with the test. First, the theme: "Charity - Mission" - the theme proposed for reflection during this Vincentian year. Below this are the names of the founders, the dates of the death up to 2010. Finally, the reason for the logo.

The letter type suggests dynamism, joy and youthfulness. This represents well the spirit of the Vincentian Family.

Fr Perry (July 2009)