RELIGIOUS OF SAINT-VINCENT-DE-PAUL
"Let Christ be proclaimed in every way."
Religious of Saint Vincent de Paul
"Let Christ be proclaimed in every way."
"Let Christ be proclaimed in every way."
"Let Christ be proclaimed in every way."
“It is a great business to form men to Christian perfection,
to make them true religious, fit to contribute to the salvation of the neighbor.”
Letter from Father Le Prevost n° 467
The training is donein several stages. One does not commit oneself definitively to religious life without a maturation and formation time. A big deal cannot be done in a short time.
Therefore, those who feel called to religious life with the Religious of Saint Vincent de Paul will go through several stages that will allow them to know and deepen the specific charism of our little family. At the same time, he and his future brothers will get to know each other better. Fraternal life is one of the points that was dear to the heart of our Founder, Father Jean-Léon Le Prevost:“We must tend to always put our work, our feelings, our life in common, so that the bond of true charity does not slacken between us.” (LPLP 456)
It’s a time of observation that allows you to discover the community.“We get to know each other.” This period lasts more or less long depending on the candidate. He is accompanied by a religious of the Congregation.
If he or she wishes to do so, the person concerned may ask to be admitted to the postulancy in order to deepen his or her discernment further.
This request is made to the Provincial Superior.
The Postulant is encouraged to deepen and intensify the training received previously. He is gradually introduced to all aspects of our religious life:
The postulancy is lived in whole or in part in an apostolic community.
After this time, the young person who wishes to respond to the call of Christ to the Religious of Saint Vincent de Paul asks to enter the Novitiate.
The Novitiate lasts one year; the minimum duration is set by Church law.
During this time, the young man lives by virtue the religious life to which he will choose, perhaps, to commit himself at the end of the novitiate.
It is a time of prolonged desert, of great retreat. The desert is the place and time of personal encounter with God in contemplation. The desert is also a time of trial for not to commit oneself indiscriminately to the following of Christ and to be able, God willing, to freely pronounce these words: Desiring to respond to the call of Christ and to follow in his footsteps in the way of the evangelical counsels, I give myself to God and make the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience *
The novitiate is a time of formation in community religious life and in the charism of our Congregation.
Thus the candidate will first discern whether the Lord is calling him to religious life. In a second phase, he will have to reflect on his orientation towards the priesthood in the service of works or to the life of Brother RSV,“minister of charity“, like Clément Myionnet, Maurice Maignen and so many others after them.
At the end of the novitiate, accompanied by the Novice Master, the candidate who clearly discerns the Lord’s call to follow him more closely in the religious life asks his Provincial Superior to be admitted to temporary religious profession.
With great concern for prudence and truth, the Church asks that the young person who makes religious profession pronounce vows, initially for three years. It is not a question of a trial since the Church asks at the same time that this young person have in conscience in the heart, the desire to commit himself for the whole of his life.
* According to the formula of religious profession
Through religious profession, the young man becomes religious. He is bound by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience to the Lord and to the Congregation.
He continued his spiritual and intellectual formation in another house of formation called a scholasticate.
The scholasticate is also a place where community and fraternal life are intensely lived.
The training is adapted for each one, especially according to his orientation as a brother or father.
After at least three years of religious life (temporary vows may be renewed at the request of the candidate or the Congregation), the young professed member may ask to be admitted to perpetual religious profession. He then committed himself for life to the path of the Evangelical Councils, in the Congregation of the Religious of Saint Vincent de Paul.
At the end of his formation, the religious receives his first appointment in a community of the Congregation.
We have 27 scholastics, 9 novices, 15 postulants, iThere is reason to give thanks to God for these vocations. Because, as we well know, the great poverty of the Church is the lack of vocations.
It is not only up to us to welcome them, but above all to take care of them. Their training is expensive., we know it. We need your financial support …
Thank you for your generosity !
Superior General
General House of the Religious of Saint Vincent de Paul
Via Palestro, 26
00185 Roma – Italy
Phone. (+39) 06 447 00 464