The career of the French saint Vincent de Paul has attracted the attention of hundreds of authors, but the fate of his legacy remains vastly neglected. This book provides a thorough examination of the major activities of de Paul's immediate followers, analyses the unique model of religious life designed by de Paul, and includes a study of the termination of the little-known Madagascar mission which revealed the terrible pressures on de Paul's followers in the decade after his demise. The book also investigates the darker side of the Congregation's novel alliance with Louis XIV, by examining its treatment of Huguenot prisoners at Marseille later in the century.

Autorentext

Seán A. Smith completed degrees at Trinity College Dublin and the National University of Ireland, Galway. His new book project, Succeeding the Jesuits, will examine the handover of former Jesuit patrimony in the eighteenth century. In 2014, he received a Postdoctoral Fellowship with DePaul University in Chicago.

Inhalt

Introduction; In the footsteps of Monsieur Vincent: rhetoric and reality in the congregation of the mission; Fidelity and failure: the mission in Madagascar, 1648-1674; The call of the poor and the call of the prince: the Lazarists at court, 1672-1704; Masters and servants: the royal chaplaincies of the galleys, 1683-1703; Re-establishing Madagascar: piety and the 'prince's law' in the Mascareignes, 1711-1736; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.