This article initially appeared in the winter 2024 issue of The Vincentian, the quarterly newsletter of the Congregation of the Mission Western Province.
We like our saints to look, well, saintly. St. Vincent is often depicted as a preaching a mission, carrying abandoned children, or welcoming the poor and abandoned. All saintly images, to be sure. We are not likely to see St. Vincent at a desk, surrounded by account books, receipts, bills, and a cash box. Yet, as superior general of the Congregation of the Mission, our saintly founder spent a great deal of time taking care of financial matters. It was an important part of his work in caring for the Congregation as it grew.
Drawing based on film Monsieur Vincent
When St. Vincent formally founded the Congregation of the Mission 400 years ago, he was determined that he and his confreres would not receive payment for their ministries. Therefore, when he signed an agreement with his patrons, Monsieur and Madame de Gondi, requiring him and his six companions to preach missions on the de Gondi estates, Vincent received a donation of 45,000 livres. This was a sizeable sum for the time. One condition of the gift was that it be invested in either stock or land. Vincent, son of a farmer, naturally preferred land, which he would lease to others for farming and receive a portion of the income.
Over time, other benefactors would donate all kinds of revenue-producing instruments. For example, in addition to many farms, the Congregation became the owners of mills, barges, various buildings, and even coach lines. One of the largest and most famous gifts was the priory of St. Lazare, which became the headquarters of the Congregation of the Mission and from which the moniker of “Lazarist Fathers and Brothers” originated. This was a rather run-down but large (72 acres) property, just outside the city walls of Paris. It soon became the hub of many ministries, as well as a residence for many of the confreres and others. It was an expensive place to maintain!
As the Congregation grew, and its finances became more and more complex, Vincent wisely turned to others, both inside and outside the community, for guidance in temporal matters.
“Far from being a bad thing to seek advice, you must, on the contrary, do so when the matter is of any importance, or when we cannot come to a clear decision on our own. For temporal affairs, we consult a lawyer or some lay persons who are knowledgeable about them.” (CCD, letter to M. Coglée, July 9, 1650).
Despite the size and complexity of the Congregation’s financial matters, St. Vincent never lost sight of why he had to spend so much time and energy dealing with financial matters.
“We cannot make a better use of earthly goods than to employ them in works of charity; by this means we make them return to God Who is their source and Who is also the last end to which everything should be referred.” (source u/k)