St. Vincent and St. Louise, co-Founders of the Company of the Daughters of Charity, were aware of the novelty being surmised of the new manner of following Christ and the fact that God was the author.
1. Vows and the Evangelical Counsels
In the theology of Christian Spirituality, we generally understand the word “vow” as meaning the very serious way in which a person commits himself/herself before God to accomplish what was promised by this vow. It is like a covenant between God and the person making the vow, a covenant to which one is faithful by reason of his/her word.
A vow is an act of the virtue of reverence. Through this virtue, the creature feels inclined to give honorand worship to God, which is owed him as Master and Lord of all creation. St. Vincent said that Jesus Christ possessed two great virtues, namely: “reverence towards his Father and charity towards mankind.”[1] Thanks to this virtue, Christ gives his Father glory, honor and praise, looking in all things to accomplish the Father’s Will and be pleasing to God.
In the domain and language of consecrated life, the vows are a commitment through which one lives out the Evangelical Counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. There can also be other ways of living them out, for example through promises. Some congregations add a more specific fourth vow; for the Daughters of Charity it is the vow of Service to the Poor.
Vowing to live the Evangelical Counsels expresses the entire offering of oneself to God, in following Christ within these three dimensions of his historical life, while at the same time desiring to overcome the obstacles that can occur and hinder this commitment such as the inordinate use of power, sex, and money. The Exhortation Vita Consecrata presents the Evangelical Counsels as “a spiritual therapy” for humanity[2] in the face of the idolatry of the sexual instinct,[3] a materialism which craves possessions,[4] and the distorted use of freedom.[5]
Jesus Christ himself suffered these three tests as obstacles to his mission, as can be seen in the temptations in the desert.[6] St. John enumerates “carnal allurements, enticements for the eye, and the life of empty show”[7] as being opposed to the love of the Father. St. Vincent asked, “What does a Daughter of Charity say who makes vows of poverty, chastity and obedience? She says that she renounces the world, that she despises all its beautiful promises and gives herself unreservedly to God. That is what one does by making vows, and that is how one should act to observe them faithfully.”[8] The vows express a commitment and a spiritual fervor. Through them, one assumes not only the concrete material that makes up the object of the vows, but the corresponding virtue and Evangelical Counsel as well. This is meaningless unless the vow achieves the demands of the virtue. For example: through the vow of poverty, the Daughters of Charity “commit themselves to a total dependence in the use and disposition of the goods of the Company, as well as in the use of their personal goods.”[9] This manner of concretizing the material of the vows does not free the sisters from the requirements that are implicit in following the poor Christ and their condition as servants of the poor. If the Daughters of Charity take literally the way of understanding and living poverty, they will weaken and diminish the evangelical demands, which were asked for by St. Vincent: “My Daughters, you have chosen him ever since you entered the Company; you have pledged him your word and as he led a life of poverty, you must imitate him in that respect.”[10] “All of you who are members of the Company and have not yet made vows are bound to observe poverty; as for those who have made vows, that goes without saying”.[11] That is why, when the Constitutions present the vows of the Daughters of Charity, in addition to concretizing the vows, they take on the theology and spirituality of the virtues and the corresponding Evangelical Counsels.
It cannot be any other way, for Daughters of Charity, in the pronouncement and renewal of vows, confirm their consecration to God which consists in following the evangelical and radical way of Christ, in totally giving oneself to God in service to the poor. In reaffirming this confirmation and to better fulfill this goal, they accept the Evangelical Counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience and all the demands associated with these vows.
2. Vows in the Company
Vows were introduced nine years after the foundation of the Company. Before this, they were, however, authentic Daughters of Charity. When they entered the Company, they began living poverty, chastity and obedience
Before the practice of vows was introduced, St. Vincent often spoke to the sisters on the need to practice the virtues of chastity, poverty, and obedience. At that time, the vows were not essential elements of the Company, but more the practice of these three virtues. In speaking of poverty, St. Vincent said to the sisters: “Some of you have made a vow of poverty and the rest have determined to do likewise. When you entered the Company, all of you were resolved to embrace poverty, otherwise you would not have been admitted.”[12]
In the Conference of 5 July 1640, St. Vincent said to the sisters: “Daughters of Charity, … even though they have not vows to sustain them, do not cease to be in a state of perfection, if they are real Daughters of Charity.”[13] During his conference two weeks later, he conveyed with much feeling how he was moved by the vow formula of the Hospital Religious of Italy who assumed the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and service to their lords, the poor. The sisters then expressed that they be allowed to do the same. St. Vincent, admitting the possibility, made very clear that if one day they did make vows, it would not be to become religious.[14]
On 25 March 1642, St. Louise, as well as four sisters, pronounced vows for the first time “for life.” Later, other sisters did as well, but freely: some made vows, some did not; for some, they were temporary, for others, perpetual, not that these differences created any obstacles or sense of inequality in the Community. In 1648, the vows began to be annual, and the sisters also asked permission of St. Vincent for first pronouncements as well as renewals.
With time, the practice of making vows and pronouncing them for the first time between five to seven years of vocation began to be generalized. After 1801, this requirement was indispensable for remaining in the Company.
The great concern and effort of the Founders was inculcated in the sisters that, even if they pronounced vows, they would not be as religious but they would continue to be secular. Thus, the Founders wanted to safeguard the mobility of the service of the poor, to be where the poor are found. Fear and danger remained in the fact that in making vows, they could be considered as religious, which would be an inescapable consequence leading to the risk of enclosure: “If he (the bishop) asks you who you are and if you are nuns, you will tell him you are not … but that if you were religious you would have to be enclosed and consequently would have to say good-bye to the service of the poor. Tell him you are poor Daughters of Charity who have given yourselves to God to serve the poor…. If he asks you: ‘Do you make religious vows?’ tell him: ‘Oh, no, Sir, we give ourselves to God to live in poverty, chastity and obedience, some of us forever and others for a year.’”[15]
The present Constitutions faithfully convey the Founders’ plan for the Company, as well as the manner in which they conceived the vows.
Currently, the Company is recognized in the Church as a Society of Apostolic Life. These Societies do not have religious vows; they accept the Evangelical Counsels by a specific bond as defined in the Constitutions.[16] The Constitutions of the Daughters of Charity state that the vows are “non-religious, annual, and always renewable.”[17] The Church, in approving the present Constitutions, guarantees that the Company, through the manner in which the vows are understood and expressed today, remains faithful to theFounders.
by Fernando Quintano, C.M.
Director General of the Daugthers of Charity
6.VII.2001
[1]Coste, Correspondence, VI, 413, Letter 2334.
[2]VC87
[3]VC88.
[4]VC89.
[5]VC91.
[6]Cf. Lk 4:1-13.
[7]1 Jn 2:16.
[8]Coste, Conferences to DCs, 820.
[9]C. 2.7.
[10]Coste, Conferences to DCs, 815.
[11]Ibid., 816.
[12]Ibid., 887.
[13]Ibid., 12.
[14]Cf. ibid., 21-22.
[15]Ibid., 474.
[16]Cf. Canon 731.
[17]C. 2.5.
