This listing presents the names and details of members of the Congregation from its beginning in 1625 through 1800. The basis for the work is the “Catalogue du Personnel de la Congrégation de la Mission (Lazaristes) depuis l’origine (1625) jusqu’à la fin du xviiie siècle,” Paris, 1911, edited by Pierre Coste, C.M.[1] This monumental work was based on materials in the archives of the Mission in Paris and other sources. Over the years, he and his successors made additions and corrections, such as removing duplicate entries. Their labors, remaining unpublished, were put into digital format through the efforts of Claude Lautissier, C.M.

Further additions have been made thanks to discoveries of new lists unknown to Coste originating in the early provinces in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Many names have been also added and corrections made to Polish Vincentians on the basis of serious research done in Poland in recent years. Names of the earliest Chinese Vincentians have been added as well. The necrologies published by non-French provinces during the period of the French Revolution have been helpful in providing data for known members as well as the names of previously unknown confreres. Several individuals are known by variants in the spelling of their names, and these have been indicated when they are found.

When available, the signatures of individuals have been added to give a sense of reality to a list such as this. Portraits, which are uncommon, have also been added. The resulting list, open to further additions and corrections, currently numbers 8,786 Vincentian bishops, priests, brothers, and seminarians who took vows.

John E. Rybolt, C.M.

The Congregation of the Mission in the United States: A Personnel History. 2016-2018 marked the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival in the United States of the first Vincentian missionaries from the Italian States. Growing rapidly from a small frontier mission, the Congregation of the Mission began its long history serving the needs of the Church in the United States rooted in the charism bequeathed to it by its founder Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660). From a tiny group of fourteen, to its stunning numerical height in the 1960s, to a contemporary decimation in numbers the history of the Vincentians in our country is the collective story of thousands of individual bishops, priests, brothers, seminarians, and novices who entered the Congregation with the intention of spending their entire lives in the evangelization of the poor. These men’s names and their membership in the Congregation deserves to be remembered for history. This personnel project, sponsored by DePaul University’s Vincentian Studies Institute will eventually record the name and essential personal and vocational data for every single man who entered the Congregation of the Mission in the United States.

The information found in the Vincentian Personnel files includes personal data (name; date and place of birth; entrance date and place; vow date; [where applicable] ordination(s) date, place and ordaining prelate; date, age, and place of death as well as place of burial); assignment history; date of exit; and number of years in the community. Those included are members of the Community from the Roman Mission (1816-1835), Province of the United States (1835-1888), The Western Province (1888-Present). The information concerning the Western Province includes information on those in the former Vice-Provinces of New Orleans and Los Angeles (1958-1975) and the Province of the South, the Province of the West, and the Province of the Midwest (all 1975-2010), and the “recombined” Western Province (2010-Present). Because of privacy concerns data is only presently publicly available through 1968.

The Vincentian Studies Institute intends to expand this personnel study to include those confreres who have belonged to the Eastern Province (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and the New England Province (Hartford, Connecticut). The Archives at DePaul University also contains files on some members of the Eastern Province and various European, Asian, and African Provinces who may have spent some time working or studying in institutions administered by the Western Province. Information about these confreres is not included in the database.

For a more complete listing of records available in the database or personnel files, please consult the Vincentian Studies Collection at DePaul University https://libguides.depaul.edu/vincentianstudies Please send any queries or comments to Mission.depaul@gmail.com

This database includes popular quotes from Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, and Elizabeth Ann Seton. The quotes by Vincent de Paul come from the English translation of the 14 volume Correspondence, Conferences, and Documents, which was translated, edited, and annotated from the 1920 edition of Pierre Coste, C.M. available at https://via.library.depaul.edu/coste_en/ The quotes by Louise de Marillac come from the Spiritual writings of Louise de Marillac, edited and translated from the original French edition Sainte Louise de Marillac: Ecrits Spirituels by Louise Sullivan, D.C. Brooklyn, New York: New City Press, 1991 available at https://via.library.depaul.edu/ldm/ The quotes by Elizabeth Ann Seton come from the four volume Collected Writings available at https://via.library.depaul.edu/seton_lcd/

Please send any queries or comments to Mission.depaul@gmail.com

The image archive began in 2009 with a double purpose: as a free image resource for persons interested in St. Vincent de Paul and his influence, and as an archive for the vast collection of images pertaining to the same topic. By 2023, these had grown to more than 25,000 items and are continually updated.

The images fall into four large categories: (1) Vincent de Paul; (2) Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity and their works, along with related congregations; (3) Vincentian persons, members of the Congregation of the Mission, their works, and related individuals; (4) Vincentian places. Individual descriptions are in English, but the titles of the major headings appear also in French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese. The criteria governing choice of images focus on major varieties in each category, while avoiding repetition of standard items, such as portraits, windows, and statues even when encountered in different countries.

The images are free to download for personal or non-commercial use only. Since some images have been contributed without a precise indication of their origin, and others come from unattributed internet sources, they may be copyrighted, but it is difficult always to be certain.

New materials, corrections, updates, and queries are welcome. Please send them to Mission.depaul@gmail.com. Contributors will be acknowledged by name unless requested otherwise.