14 May 1981
Jamaica, New York

I am quite certain that if there is one human agent who has brought us all here this evening, it is St. Vincent de Paul who celebrated his four hundredth birthday three weeks ago.

First, there is His Eminence, Cardinal Oddi, who has received his priestly formation in one of St. Vincent's seminaries. That is a source of pride for us, Vincentians, and from what we hear, a source of joy to His Eminence. I hope St. Vincent won't mind my saying that his Congregation has had more success in the formation of future Cardinals than he had himself when he was on earth. One of the two young men he educated in the De Gondi household subsequently became a Cardinal and it suffices to say here that he must have been at times an embarrassment to St. Vincent in later life. Your Eminence, far from being an embarrassment to St. Vincent's Congregation, you can be considered a joy and a crown of it, so distinguished have been the services which your Eminence has given to the Church and to the world of our time. In the citation which was presented to us this evening by Father Newman, we have been given some insight into the qualities of your dedicated life. In the final months of his life, St. Vincent wrote a letter to his one-time pupil, Cardinal de Retz:

My Lord, I have reason to think that this is the last time I will have the honor of writing to Your Eminence because of my age and an infirmity which has come on me and which, perhaps, will bring me to the judgment seat of God. In this situation, I very humbly ask Your Eminence to pardon me if I have displeased you in anything. I am so spiritually weak that I can do so without willing it, but I have never done so on purpose. I am bold enough also to recommend to Your Eminence this little Company of the Mission which you have founded, maintained and favored and which, being the work of your hands, is also subject and grateful to you as to its Father and its Prelate. (Coste VII, Fr. ed. p. 436).

In the light and tenor of that letter, I feel that the only fault St. Vincent would find with Father Newman this evening is that he spent too much time talking about St. Vincent's successor, time which he could have devoted to telling us more about the Cardinal to whom the Church is so indebted today.

When I studied Canon Law in the Seminary, I recall our professor explaining at length the meaning of the term, "communication of privileges." It was a recognized legal way by which certain spiritual privileges which the Pope granted to one religious body could be communicated to another. When Father Cahill wrote to me and invited me to accept this honorary degree in the company of Cardinal Oddi, I came to the conclusion that the Law School here in St. John's had discovered some hitherto unknown legal principle which allows a simple priest to share, on occasion, the honors and privileges which a University accords to a Cardinal in recognition of his distinguished life. So, let me say at once how grateful I am to St. John's, not only for the degree they have given to me, but for this communication of privileges and, to use the parlance of the Royal Court in Britain, for making me a "Companion of Honor" with the Cardinal from Rome.

On one occasion I recall seeing a large poster with the image of St. Vincent on it. Underneath his picture was printed in capital letters, "This man has a lot to answer for." Beneath that sentence one could read in smaller print some details of the Saint's life, his achievements and the apostolates of his present-day Communities. It was an eye-catching poster for vocations. Certainly St. Vincent lived out his life in the conviction that he had a lot to answer for. His frequent references to his own personal unworthiness and sinfulness can be baffling to us. However, we read the poster slogan, not as St. Vincent would read it, but as the Church has read it, and has responded with a `thanks be to God' and then declared him a saint. What St. Vincent has to answer for are the multiplicity of apostolates we see clustering around his name today. It was Daniel Rops who remarked that St. Vincent's works surround him like a forest and that his humility envelops him like a fog. In that forest of works I have no doubt that he sees this University as a strong and sturdy oak tree. St. John's has remained unbowed by wind and storm and, what would please St. Vincent enormously, has remained firm in the ground of that truth which the Catholic Church possesses and offers to all mankind.