Summing it all up...

Our tour included so many wonderful places, it is hard to find the discipline to document them all. Having returned yesterday, there are a few images that capture the "essence" of the trip for me.

The image to the left comes from the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere in Lyon. Having been spared by the Germans in the Franco-Prussan war, the citizens of Lyon preferred that Christ look more like a Homeric god than the servant who washes feet (see earlier post). It was a stark reminder of the great theological diversity in the Christian tradition. Vincent's Servant Christ operates under a very different logic.

"Love is inventive to infinity" - one of my favorite quotes. This image came  from his birthplace, Berceau de St Vincent de Paul. 

Every autobiography has an organizing theme that shapes the narrative trajectory of the story. It provides the rationale for including some characters or events and excluding others. For St. Augustine's Confessions the organizing theme is "our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." Unfortunately, Vincent never wrote a spiritual autobiography. If he did write one, however, I think "love is inventive to infinity" would be his organizing theme. Inventive love for the poor and marginalized seems to be the driving, creative force behind Vincent's life story.

   

                                                 

Our tour offered a great snapshot of Vincent's life and times. The picture above denotes where St. Lazare used to be. Originally established as a leprosarium, St. Lazare had gradually lost its sense of purpose in a time that saw relatively few lepers.  Vincent eventually accepted the large endowment that accompanied the hospital and focused St Lazare's resources on other, more pressing needs of the time. Nothing of the original building remains; today it is a park where the homeless sleep. Honoring Vincent's work naturally leads to the Vincentian question, "what must be done" today? 

As the tour comes to a close, the Vincentian question is all the more evident: "what needs are we to address with our resources"? Beyond his status as a revered figure in Catholic or French history, Vincent's most important legacy seems to be his profound belief that love is infinitely inventive when it responds to the most vexing social problems.

Rendering the Dumb Ox

Shortly after ordination, young Vincent attended University in Toulouse. At the College de Foix, he studied under the Franciscans from 1600 to 1604 and may have taught for a time afterward. Down the street, however, is the Eglise Saint Thomas d'Aquin des Jacobins where some relics of Thomas Aquinas remain. To the left is a full-cheeked image of the heavy-set Thomas Aquinas about whom there are many rumors. Said to be over three hundred pounds, he may have died after a heart attack climbing to his guest room in a monastery. It is also rumored that he was too large to be carried down, so they did the next logical thing, "rendering" him to the bones in situ. Fortunately, he was so revered they put a little red wine in the pot, which explains why some of his bones have a reddish hue. 

Less grotesquely, it is also said that he was so brilliant that he composed the Summa Theologica by giving the reply to an objection of one question and while that student was writing he would give another reply to an objection of a completely separate, unrelated question. Just reading the Summa takes a great deal of logical rigor (I recommend starting with “I answer that” before even considering the objections or the replies). Following the scholastic method itself takes a profoundly logical mind, let alone synthesizing the deep faith of Augustine with the reason of “the philosopher,” Aristotle. He is perhaps the Catholic Church’s greatest example of “faith seeking understanding” through the best science and philosophy of the time. Nonetheless, GK Chesterton’s biography The Dumb Ox is a moving account of the intellectual giant. Thomas Aquinas had a ‘deathbed conversion’ of sorts lamenting that his towering magnum opus, the Summa Theologica, was “straw” compared to God’s silent grandeur. Vincent, like many others, may have drank deeply from the font of one of the Catholic Church’s great minds.

St. Marguerite: the former motherhouse for the Daughters of Charity

The first statue of Vincent holding babies, which is a model for most subsequent statues. Done by Stouf for Louis XVI, it notes Vincent's civic virtue of compassion. The Post-Revolutionary Vincent seems to be stripped of his religious association including his famous skull cap. Frederic Ozanam, founder of the St. Vincent de Paul society, notes that the revolutionaries "forgive him the crime of loving God." They seem to have overlooked the founding purposes of the Congregation of the Mission: to grow in holiness, to evangelize the poor, and to assist priests. 

A very insightful little memento of Revolutionary hubris. Having tried to establish an entirely new calendar by renaming the months and starting the year count to zero, the government decided to return to the old calender, finding it too difficult to have two sets of dates and too isolating not to be on the same calendar as the rest of the world.

Stained Glass Windows at St. Etienne

This poor guy is playing dice with some hellish winged creatures. Looks like Vegas!!

In all the grandeur and glory of the various churches we have seen, this image is the most sublime to me. If only this kind of humility and service were more revered...

It is hard to see from the lighting, but there is a UNICORN in Noah's Arc! I know of Behemoth and Leviathan as mythical creatures in the Bible, but Unicorns? I find this interesting for two reasons: first, it reinforces the notion that religious mythology borrows cultural mythology to make larger points. Second, it seems to be saying that Noah even saved creatures from pagan mythology from destruction. Perhaps there is possibility for a pluralistic view of mythology that is still somehow faithful to one's sacred, organizing stories.

The Motherhouse

Shhhh! Be very quiet as you go up to visit St. Vincent: "Scripture tells us that there is a time for speaking and a time for keeping silent, and that in excessive talking sin is not lacking" (St. Vincent in the Rules of the Congregation of the Mission)

J'arrivee a Paris

We landed at 9am, but couldn't check in to the hotel until 3pm. On our bus tour of the city, I got this shot of the Arc de Triomphe. Since the bus window is a nice frame, I'll have to charge more  ... $150 please.

The Streets of Paris

This was a shot from last summer's trip to Paris. Since it was our first time to Europe, Julie and I spent a lot of time walking down random side streets, looking at maps, and trying to snap artistic pictures like this one. If you like it, we'd be happy to mail a framed copy ... $300, please!