Chapel of Saint Vincent de Paul

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Above the high altar of a quiet chapel on the rue de Sèvres, reached by twin staircases behind the altar, rests Vincent de Paul himself, the apostle of charity who died on this day in 1660 after a lifetime spent with the poor, the galley slaves, and the abandoned children of Paris. He founded the Congregation of the Mission in 1625 and, with Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity, and his relics, hidden faithfully through the Revolution, found their home here when the chapel of the new motherhouse was inaugurated in 1827. On April 25, 1830, all Paris watched the solemn translation from Notre-Dame, with King Charles X in attendance and a thousand Daughters of Charity walking behind the silver reliquary made by the great silversmith Odiot. There the saint lies vested as a priest, and pilgrims climb the little stairs to pray beside him in near-perfect silence, one block from the Miraculous Medal chapel of the rue du Bac, in a corner of Paris where charity became a science of love.