The Cure of Ars and St Vincent de Paul:

(June 2007)

In the little house that once was the presbytery of St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, there is a little museum collection of his few belongings. I was intrigued to see among these a large picture of St. Vincent de Paul. Among his few medals was also a medal in honour of St. Vincent. On the reverse of this medal was a commemoration of the Charities of Macon organised by St. Vincent.

Almost exactly 200 years before St John was appointed to the little parish of Ars in the Dombes district of Burgundy, St. Vincent had been appointed to the nearby

parish of Chatillon, also in the Dombes.

Chatillon-les-Dombes Church

Fr Perry Gildea - Vincentian Fathers

Cliftonville Road, Belfast 15

St. Vincent had approached his duties as parish priest with the same fervour, enthusiasm and reforming zeal that was later to mark the apostolate of the Cure d’Ars.

There was one particularly significant event in the life of St. Vincent and the parish of Chatillon-les-Dombes. One Sunday he was informed of a family in dire poverty and illness just outside the edge of the town. He preached eloquently about their need and the obligations of the community to be charitable.

When later in the day he went to visit the family himself he discovered almost the whole town had arrived with food, clothes, and medicines. It was far too much all at once. It was then Vincent realised that charity to be truly effective needed organisation.

It was in the town of Chatillon that he set up the first of his conferences of Charity. It had a careful constitution, so that its members could carry out their charitable activities in a continuous and equitable way. The all-important motivation was the effective relief of material and spiritual poverty of all who were in need. Was it knowledge of St. Vincent’s activities, which motivated the Cure of Ars to organise his own orphanage?

This brings me to that intriguing medal. In September of 1621 we find St. Vincent in the city of Macon not very far from Chatillon or Ars. The town had a large number of extremely poor people who were reduced to begging in the streets. The town authorities approached St. Vincent to help them address the problem. With his recent experience in Chatillon as guide St. Vincent devised a plan. He had to convince the authorities of the importance of planning and formal organisation.

It says a lot for his powers of persuasion that he convinced the town magistrates, the bishop and his chapter, the city council, the leading merchants and citizens that they must support the Conference of Charity.

In fact he founded two, one for men and another for women!

He organised funding from a variety of sources some civic others from ecclesiastical or wealthy sources. Finally the members undertook a Sunday weekly collection outside the city churches. This organised and financed a whole scheme, which saw to the feeding, clothing, housing, heating, for all those in need. It also organised what we would now call “back to work schemes”.

As always with St. Vincent there was also provision for the catechesis in the essentials of the faith. This was the first large-scale organisation of charity in France. The headquarters building still stands to this day. It was the model and inspiration for many other charities inspired by St. Vincent and it was commemorated on a medal worn by the Cure of Ars.

Fr Perry (June 2007)

St. John Vianney

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