APOSTLE OF CHARITY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 108, 10 May 1933, Page 6

APOSTLE OF CHARITY

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL ADDRESS BY REV. FATHER HOARE “'The name, of St Vincent de Paul stands for all phases of charity in the I'atholic. world,” said the Rev. Father R. J. Hoare, when addressing members of the Wanganui Conference of the Society on Monday nigh.t The meeting was held in keeping with the observance of the St. A’incent Pau! Society. Father Hoare said that Vincent de Paul was born near Dax in the French Lanes in 1576 and died in 16(50. After many adventures he settled in Paris, but it was later as a humble Cure of Chantillon that he established his first conference of charity for the relief of the sick and poor. He next turned his attention to the horrible practice of condemning prisoners to the galleys, even for slight offences, and succeeded in bringing about some amelioration of a custom which had meant untold suffering and death to many convicts. In 1619 Francois de Salos gave him direction of the first convent of the Visitation. At Chartres, Vincent organised the congregation of the Missions and in 1634 he created the T'illes do Charite, the first association of uncloistered women living ny rule and devoted to the care of the sick and poor. He also established the first foundling hospital in Paris in 1640. St. Vincent was beatified in 1729 and canonised as a saint in 1737. The French Revolution brought to naught much of the good that had been established by A’incent de Paul, and it was loft to Frederic Ozanam to establish charity in an organised form as it was known to-day. He adopted as his patron the immortal St. A’incent de Paul, who had pioneered the effort three hundred years before Important Principle. “All our works of charity must boar the stamp of God’s love, otherwise it is mere philanthropy, merely a natural human love, with a human motive,” said Father Hoare. He quoted St. Paul as saying:—“lf I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” hrom the beginning of the foundation of the St. Vincent de Paul Society that principle was laid down as the primary object, always underlying the great works of the society. I rederick Ozanam, the founder of the society, inculcated it into the young students who gathered round him when he, said “Let us rally, and let us unite our efforts and create work together.” Then only a law student he seemed inspired to lift the country of his adoption from the great destruction to which it seemed doomed. Indeed this lawyer’s clerk, not yet eighteen years, seemed to hear the voice of God calling him to be a prophet in a godless time. During his debates on the Christian Truths, on one occasion his opponents railed him on the humanitarianism of his teaching—“ Show us your works. Christianity may be a beautiful idea, but what has it to do with the modern world? Where is it in the Paris of to-day?” Then it was that Frederick Ozanan conceived the idea of organising a society that would meet with these demands, and the first conference of the St. Vincent do Paul Society was held in the back room of a newspaper office in May, 1833. From that time until the present, 100 years have gone by and the St. A incent de Paul Society still held to the traditions of that first conference, which declared that it was not enough todole. out alms “that is a very cheap and unwise charity, even if you had wealth. Go and make friends among the poor, visit them, give them advicn. and deal out your charity judiciously.’' Unflagging Enthusiasm. As a lawyer four years afterward he was fired with the same zeal, and in 1839, as (Doctor of Laws, holding a professorship in his native city, in spite of the extra work it entailed, his enthusiasm and zeal for the development of charitable societies never flagged. Like the church itself, which was born in a little supper-room in Jerusalem, and grew into the millions we have to-day, so the St. Vincent de Paul Society has grown and flourished in a newspaper office, until to-day throughout the world it was computed that there wore 10,000 conferences and 200,000 active members, due in the first place, after God to the energy zeal, and piety of Frederick Ozanam. “Y r ou arc carrying on the work in spired by this holy man, and you, too arc doing it for the honour and glory of God—not to be seen by men and praised by them, but seeing in the poor the person of God Himself,” said Father Hoare. “The Society has to distribute their goods judiciously and to do this each case has to be examined. The houses have to be visited and care must be taken lest unworthy ones may deprive the truly deserving of the benefits to bo bestowed; but all this is done in charity and love, and not through any malicious motive. Like Ozanan. you have a higher motive than mere bodily sustenance. “Your object is to save and nourish the souls, and by visiting the home, by instructing the children you aro doing the real St. Vincent de Paul work, and God will reward you. Wherever yov» meet a fellowman, woman, or child looking to you for help in their hour of need you are meeting Christ Himself who tolls you ‘ What you do to the least- of my brethren, you are doing it unto Ale.’ ” Practice of Christianity. Father Hoare sai dthe practice of Christian charity goes back to the time of Christ, but it was St. A’incent do Paul and later Frederick Ozanam who organised it in its present form. “There is no phase of human misery and affliction that the Catholic Church does not provide some antidote, some alleviation. She has founded asylums to receive and shelter helpless infants that are. abandoned by unnatural mothers or bereft of their parents before they knew a mother’s love. As the church provides homes for those on the threshold of life, so too, does she secure retreats for those who are oil the threshold of death. She has homes in which the aged man and woman find a peaceful home and happy deal h. ” The speaker referred to the Home of Compassion and its zealous activity on behalf of the poor and needy. In conclusion he congratulated the members of the City and Aramoho Conferences of the society on the achievement of their labours and wished them every success in their charitable endeavours for the future. Father Hoare was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address.