Did you know that when St. Vincent de Paul spoke to his “daughters” of his new Congregation, the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, he used to take pleasure in giving them a characteristic title, namely, ” The Heritage of Madame de Chantal.”(Source: Saint Vincent de Paul, sa Vie, son Temps, etc., by M. l’Abbé Maynard. 4 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1860.)?
Well, that’s what he did! Why?
Here’s the story.
Whilst the plague was ravaging France in 1619 and 1628, Mother de Chantal happened to be in Paris, where St. Vincent de Paul resided. She saw him almost every day. How often she must have communicated her thought to one so capable of understanding her! How often she must have pointed out to him the poor and abandoned sufferers, reminded him of the primitive plan of the Visitation, the necessity of returning to it, and the facility with which it could be carried out! And as St. Vincent de Paul was very prudent and she herself very ardent, in what burning words must she, especially at the time of the second plague, have spurred on his zeal and quickened his charity! He, at last, decided to follow her suggestion, and commenced the work about the year 1634, that is, at the cessation of the great plague .
Twenty years had matured St. Chantal’s idea; two plagues, one after the other, had prepared its way in the popular mind; and when, at last, presented by the hand of St. Vincent de Paul, it met with no opposition. Few institutions have brought so much glory to their founder and more honor to the Church, even in the eyes of her enemies, than the admirable Congregation of the Sisters of Charity. But always humble in success, St. Vincent de Paul never ceased to declare that the first idea of the Institute was not his own, that he owed it to the Foundress of the Visitation.
Source: St Chantal and the Foundation of the Visitation, Volume Two, By Emile Bougaud