Centenary of the Foundation of the C.M.
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1 September 1982
Panningen, Holland

My dear Confreres and Sisters,

Exactly one hundred years ago next Sunday, Father Antoine Fiat, Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and of the Daughters of Charity, wrote from Paris to the Bishop of Breda, and in the course of his letter he remarked: "Your Excellency, in the difficult times through which we are passing, it seemed useful to us to have a foothold 'un pied à terre' outside France, and we are thinking of buying the property of Wernhoutsburg in the diocese of Breda."

This letter drew a very prompt reply from the Bishop, for only two days later he replied, authorizing the purchase of the property and welcoming the establishment of the Congregation in his diocese.

In the letter of Father Fiat, there is one little phrase which for all of us has a prophetic ring about it. He sees the new foundation in Holland as a foothold, 'un pied à terre.' Now a foothold is by definition something you take with a view to advancing further. We who now one hundred years later look back on the history of the Congregation in Holland can see the fulfillment of that prophetic little phrase. For Holland was to become a foothold from which the Congregation established houses not only within the borders of this country, but into countries thousands of times its size and thousands of kilometers away from Wernhoutsburg and Panningen.

In the Gospel passage to which we have just listened, St. Luke remarks that the seventy disciples were "appointed by the Lord." Hundreds of Dutch Confreres were by their vows or through ordination to the Priesthood "appointed by the Lord...to go ahead of Him into towns and places where He Himself was about to come." (Lk 10:1-2). And these towns and places are to be found in all five continents of the world.

Each of the ten decades that has passed since September 1882 has been marked by the establishment of houses of the Congregation among peoples who for all eternity will salute our Dutch Confreres in the words of Isaiah, as "ministers of our God...who brought good tidings to the afflicted and proclaimed the year of the Lord's favor." (Is 61:1).

If I were to list in detail the missionary enterprises of this Province of Holland during the past one hundred years, I fear some of you would be distracted, for your mind would linger in one or other country, lost in admiration of what was achieved, and you would refuse to follow me on my missionary journey. Just allow me to choose one decade, or more precisely a span of eleven years, and let me list some of the footholds established by the Confreres of this Province:

1946 - Departure of a group of Dutch Confreres to Tientsin, China.

1947 - Departure of a group of Dutch Confreres to Denmark.

1951 - Departure of a group of Dutch Confreres to the United States.

1952 - Departure of a group of Dutch Confreres to Central America.

1954 - The first Dutch Confreres arrive in Taiwan.

- the first Dutch Confreres arrive in Ethiopia

1955 - Departure of Dutch Confreres to Zaire.

1957 - Departure of first Dutch Confreres to Curaçao.

That is far from being a complete list of the missions established by the Province of Holland, but it is an indication of the vigor and zeal that has been so distinctive. Let me remind you that this year we will be commemorating also the sixtieth anniversary of the departure from Holland of the first two Confreres for Fortaleza in Brazil. One of them died very shortly after his arrival there. The seed, however, did not remain in the ground alone. It has brought forth fruit, so that fifteen years ago, Fortaleza became a fully established Province of the Congregation.

Speaking of anniversaries, I should mention here that this year marks the eightieth anniversary of the establishment of the first house of the Daughters of Charity in Holland, at Sustera. The Daughters of Charity must certainly feel pleased with what the Bishop of Ruremonde wrote a year after their coming and when permission to establish this house of Panningen was being sought: "We know a proverb which says: `When one has tasted a good apple, one wishes to have still another one of them.' Last year your Superior General gave us the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul; yes, tell him to send his Sons this year...."

Perhaps, however, I should remind the Daughters that, whatever was said about the diocese of Ruremonde, other places in Holland had already for twenty years come to know the Sons of St. Vincent as "bonnes pommes."

Enough of the past. We give thanks to God for it. Today we sing a song of "praise to the glory of His grace." (Eph 1:14). What of the future? It is veiled from our eyes as it was from the eyes of Father Fiat and those Fathers who came to Holland one hundred years ago. We could speculate about the future, and among us there may be some prophets of gloom. Let us not give ear to their dark prophecies. Rather let us reflect on Our Lord's words about the pruning that His heavenly Father carries out on the vine, so that it "may bring forth more fruit." (Jn 15:2). Vocations seem to be non-existent. Note that I say "seem." Numerically Dutch Vincentians in the world will become fewer in the years immediately ahead. The vine will be cut back, but only that it may bring forth more fruit. As a thousand years are as one day with the Lord, we may not live to see the new fruit which in the future the vine will yield. Whether we see it or not is unimportant.

What is important is that each Dutch Vincentian establish for himself a foothold in the Gospel as lived and interpreted for us by St. Vincent. What is important is that all of us Vincentians be convinced of the relevance today of St. Vincent's spiritual teaching. What is important is that we maintain confidence in what he established in and for the Little Company. What is important is that we look first to St. Vincent's spiritual formulae and afterwards to his structures. What is important is that the Province here in Holland continues to support spiritually, morally and financially, as it has been doing, the Confreres of Holland who are scattered abroad to preach the good news to the poor. What is important is that the Province here at home remain a true "berceau" for all Dutch Confreres wherever they may be. What is important is that none of us lose hope that God will continue to use us Vincentians "to comfort those who mourn in Sion, to give them the oil of gladness instead of mourning." (Is 61:3). What is important is that wherever Dutch Vincentians are to be found, the people whom they serve may be able to echo what the Bishop of Broda said to Father Fiat three months after becoming acquainted with the Confreres in 1882: "You are men of peace and charity: do all the good that you can in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, which is humility and love of the poor."

With St. Vincent, I pray today as he so often did in his letters to Confreres: "May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with us forever!"

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