132 ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 



mind to so great a sacrifice as that which is made by these 

 humble servants of their Master. Their quiet unobtrusive 

 works of charity, may be compared to the gentle dew from 

 heaven, which sinks secretly and silently into the earth, 

 which it refreshes with its vivifying influence. None were 

 admitted into the sisterhood whose family had not borne an 

 irreproachable character for several generations; and in order 

 to preclude the possibility of any lingering feeling towards 

 the world, Vincent required that they should only be re- 

 ceived into the establishment after live years of probation, so 

 that they might enter the sisterhood fully aware of the ardu- 

 ous duties which they undertook; nor would he then allow 

 them to dedicate themselves for more than one year, but re- 

 quired that annually their vows should be renewed, so that 

 no backsliders or unwilling or lukewarm servant should be 

 engaged in so righteous a cause. " You will have," he 

 said, " no monasteries but the houses of the poor, no cloisters 

 but the streets of towns and the rooms of hospitals, no enclo- 

 sure but obedience, no veil except a holy modesty. My in- 

 tention is, that you tend every infirm person as a tender 

 mother who watches over an only son." No duties are im- 

 posed upon them but the relief of suffering humanity; and 

 every moment is so entirely devoted to the care of the 

 wretched, their lives are so occupied by the exercise of works 

 of charity, that they have no disposition for levity, but count 

 all the most heavenly virtues of our nature as the ordinary 

 employment of life. 



In 1643, Vincent was summoned to attend the death-bed 

 of Louis XIII, who washed for this holy man to assist and 

 support him in his last hour. According to the desire of the 

 dying monarch, Anne of Austria named him President of her 

 Council of Conscience, an office which gave him great weight 

 in the nomination of the clergy, and in the regulation of ec- 

 clesiastical affairs, but he would never accept any preferment 

 himself; and, in honorable indigence, attended for ten years 

 the Council of the Regent, with all the simplicity of a vil- 

 lage pastor. 



