FROM THE PROVINCIAL

Generous Sacrifices

Dear friends,

May Jesus Christ be praised!

This past October, we Vincentian priests and brothers observed the 190th anniversary of our foundation here in the United States. In October 1818, a small band of Vincentian priests, brothers, and seminarians from Italy arrived at what would become St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri. They were under the care of Vincentian Father Joseph Rosati, who later would become the first bishop of St. Louis. Vincentian Father Felix de Andreis had arrived earlier that year and was living in St. Louis where he soon had responsibilities as a pastor, novice director, vicar general, and first superior of the “Vincentians in America.”

It was not an easy time for those first Vincentian missionaries. I thought you might appreciate hearing how Father de Andreis described their humble beginnings in a letter he wrote to our superiors in Rome: “I write you this from the very ends of the earth, on the banks of the Mississippi. The cold is so intense…we cannot remain very far from the fire, though we often put one coat on over another. The cold is so piercing that it seems to reach the brain and nearly makes us faint.

I have sometimes found nothing but ice in the chalice while at the altar and had some difficulty in melting it by means of a fire that had to be brought to the altar. Even then, in consuming the sacred species, I was compelled to chew it.”

Their food consisted of bread baked on the hearth, fresh water in place of the wine they were used to in Europe, sometimes meat, sometimes not, potatoes, cabbages, and vegetables. They were far from home, far from their families and fellow Vincentians, and struggling with a language that was foreign to them. And then there was the challenge of the mission for which they had come: ministering in a wild land whose size they could not even imagine, called to start a seminary, celebrating the sacraments for small communities at great distances from each other and the Barrens, sporadic preaching of missions, and more. It was not an easy time. But these were sons of St. Vincent de Paul. Their hearts burned with the same zeal found in the saint’s heart. Sacrifices, hardships, the lack of necessities, not to mention amenities – these meant little to that first band of missionaries. Challenges did not deter them but spurred them on.

Because of the hard work and generous sacrifices of these first Vincentians in the American mission, succeeding generations of Vincentians have been able to build on their foundation. Beginning at the Barrens, the Vincentian charism would reach to every corner of America, from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, and far beyond to the American-based missions in Panama, Guatemala, China, Taiwan, Burundi, Kenya, and more. From such simple beginnings, so much has been accomplished by the grace of God and the zeal of Vincentian priests and brothers preaching missions, running seminaries, ministering in parishes, serving the poor in agencies, and so much more.

As I reflect on our 190 years in America and the kinds of sacrifices needed to preach the Gospel these decades, I am conscious of you – our friends, supporters, collaborators, and benefactors. From the local families who shared their homes with the first missionaries through the countless acts of sacrifice and generosity by so many of you today, we Vincentians have depended upon others to partner with us in our mission. All of us together form that world-wide family of charity with St. Vincent as its inspiration.

In this newsletter, you will read how our outreach continues in Cuba through Father Walker and about our mission in Kenya. Recently I sent each of you a letter inviting you once again to partner with us in our Kenya mission. I do so realizing that, just like us, you are struggling under the impact of the global economic crisis as you try to make ends meet. I invite you to do what you can to financially support us, knowing that each gift regardless of size represents a generous sacrifice for which we are most grateful. And, of course, I ask for your continued prayers for our good works.

Thank you for all you do for the Church and the Province. Please know that you and yours are in my daily prayers.

Blessings,

James Swift, C.M.