Vincentian Studies Institute - Origins

Origins

The origin of the Vincentian Studies Institute can be found in the Second Vatican Council's mandate that religious communities renew themselves in light of the "signs of the times." The council suggested that this renewal take place within the context of a careful self-reflection on the charism by each community.

A more remote origin of the Institute can be found in the work done by a variety of French Vincentian historians beginning in the mid-nineteenth century after the Congregation of the Mission's post-revolutionary restoration. The fourteenth superior general, Jean-Baptiste Étienne (1801–1874), had a lively concern for the preservation of the "primitive spirit" of the Vincentians and Daughters of Charity. He and his successors commissioned a variety of materials including the Annales de la Congrégation de la Mission, editions of selected letters of Vincent de Paul, editions of community documents, and a multi-volume history of the Congregation of the Mission. Confreres such as Gabriel Perboyre, Jean-Baptiste Pémartin, Félix Contassot, Jean Parrang, Fernand Combaluzier, Pierre Coste, and André Dodin are representatives of this French school of Vincentian historiography. Their labors established the foundation for all contemporary work in Vincentian studies.

In the early 1970s there was an attempt to found an organization similar to what would become the Vincentian Studies Institute. The inspiration for this idea was the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome and the Academy of American Franciscan History then located in Bethesda, Maryland. The idea was that the American Vincentians should have a similar organization. The Provincial and Vice-Provincials of the western region of the United States initially accepted this proposal but, for reasons that are not entirely clear, nothing came of it at that time.

In 1973, the Very Reverend James Richardson, C.M., the superior general of the Congregation of the Mission and the Company of the Daughters of Charity, met with the Visitors (provincial superiors) of the United States provinces. He requested that they undertake a new translation into modern American English of the correspondence, conferences and documents of Saint Vincent de Paul. This meant of course the translation of Pierre Coste's monumental fourteen volume French edition originally published from 1920-1926. This new edition would also include those materials discovered since the Coste translation.

After the 1974 General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission Reverend Richardson established the Group International d'Etudes Vincentiennes (G.I.E.V.). Two American confreres, including John Carven, C.M. (USA East) and Stafford Poole, C.M. (USA West), were involved in this effort. The objectives of this organization were: (1) to promote scientific Vincentian studies and assure their dissemination; (2) to make known Vincentian thought and spirituality; and (3) to help the members of the Vincentian Community learn more about their heritage.

The organization proved unsatisfactory, in part because of a lack of clarity about its purpose and functioning and the infrequency of its meetings. Because of displeasure with it, a revised organization was proposed and approved by the General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission in 1980. It was known as the Secrétariat International d'Etudes Vincentiennes (S.I.E.V.), and is still in existence.