Vincentian Accompaniment

Mark Link shares a story about a missionary sent to Australia to minister to the people there.  One

of the aboriginal women welcomed him and said, “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”¹   This woman’s remark encapsulates current Vincentian accompaniment which calls us to walking with and learning with; to mutually enriching one another.   This manner of accompaniment has evolved over the last 350+ years.

In the mid-1650’s, Vincent de Paul instructed the first Daughters of Charity, who were mostly poor country girls, in these words, “… the Sister responsible … will take care [of poor persons] in a spirit of humility … recalling that she is their servant and they are her Lords and Masters.”²   The Daughters were expected to look up to those they assisted.  The recipients of their charity were superior to them.

Gradually, over many years, into the 1900s, professionalism became a requirement.   In keeping with this mandate, the Sisters were educated to minister, becoming state- certified teachers, nurses and social workers.   Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate degrees were earned and the pendulum swung.  As a result, the Sisters were academically and experientially at a higher level than those they served.

In the mid-1960’s, Vatican Council II invited religious communities to review and renew their Constitutions and to return to their original spirit.    Sister Suzanne Guillemin, the Superioress of the Daughters of Charity during these years, attended the Council.   In 1968, she wrote a circular letter to the Sisters on “The Vow of Service of the Poor,” the fourth vow made annually by the Daughters.   In it, she quotes the Common Rules of the Daughters from the time of St. Vincent.  “… reflecting that they are

Servants of the Poor … They shall consider that the Servants of the poor ought not to be better attended than their Masters.”³   She continues later in this letter with, “There is in each Daughter of Charity a natural as well as supernatural disposition which instinctively places her on the level of the very poor, on a footing of solidarity that the Poor can clearly see.”⁴ Solidarity and equality were now the norm.

This same progression is found in Jesus’ life, teaching and ministry.   First, he instructs the apostles to be servants (Matthew 23: 11).   Then at the Last Supper. Jesus washes their feet, serving them as an example (John 13).   Finally, Jesus calls the apostles friends (John 15:15).

Today, Vincentian accompaniment is interdependent.   The field is level.   The Sisters look to persons living In poverty as their teachers and mentors, and vice versa.  Respect, mutuality, trust and love constitute the basic attitudes needed.   These virtues are the foundation of all truly Vincentian ministry.   Together with persons living in poverty, we can discover the means to live in the freedom of the children of God.

¹ Mark Link, Vision 2000, page 250

² Pierre Coste, CM Saint Vincent de Paul Correspondence, Conferences, Documents volume 13b, 

   page 196 

³ Common Rules of the Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor, Chapter II, paragraphs I and VI

⁴  Circular Letters (1965-1968) of Mother Suzanne Guillemin, page 266, Paris, February 2, 1968