THE WORLD OF MONSIEUR VINCENT

The inspiring life of St. Vincent De Paul, the great apostle of charity, has been the subject of two noteworthy biographies within the past year and half -- Henri Daniel-Rop's superbly illustrated Monsieur Vincent (Hawthorn) and Igino Giordani's scholarly St. Vincent De Paul, Servant of the Poor (Bruce). Now, in The World of Monsieur Vincent, Mary Purcell gives readers yet another -- and even more enjoyable -- portrait of the Saint who saw ""Christ agonizing in every human being who suffered, and who spent a lifetime in trying to assuage that agony"". Both the grandeur and the misery of life in seventeenth century France is vividly recaptured by Miss Purcell as she traces Vincent de Paul's long life (1580-1660). Here again we meet the young peasant, the priest, the captive slave, the religious reformer, and the founder of the two great religious orders -- the Vincentians and the Daughters of Charity whose work continues today. The wealth of historical detail included in The World of Monsieur Vincent makes it a particularly valuable study of both a renowned saint's life and the turbulent times in which he live.