Category Archives: DePaul University

March 11, 2025 · 12:54 pm

New Project: The Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton Family Papers

We are happy to announce the launch of one of our America 250 Projects, celebrating the many, many legacies of the United States in the years surrounding the 250th anniversary of America’s independence in 2026.

Mother Seton, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, adopted and modified the Vincentian rule for the United States. Her community laid the foundation for six separate communities of apostolic religious women to commence world-changing service to those in need, among them being the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, with whom the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s joined in 1850. Her virtuous life and her groundbreaking work led to her becoming the first native-born canonized American citizen in 1975.

The legacy of charity and groundbreaking work in education continues through the Sisters of Charity Federation.

Along with our partners at DePaul University, we have begun to digitize the entirety of Mother Seton and her entire family’s writings, so that they may be searchable and usable to researchers, discerners, and the general public in the most timely way possible. For the writings in the English language, full transcription is provided. (If you would like to volunteer to help provide translation for French, Italian, and Latin writings, please reach out via email at archives@doc.org).

This will not be an easy project. The materials from Box 1 of the collection are now available – for the record, there are 34 more boxes. While the work will extend past the Semiquincentennial year of 2026, accessibility of these materials will as well, and we hope this can be a lasting impact of the Seton Legacy.

We welcome all visitors to the site!: https://via.library.depaul.edu/seton_family_papers/

Sincerely, the Staff at the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives, Emmitsburg, Maryland.

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Filed under Announcements, Archives, DePaul University, Digitized Collections, Elizabeth Ann Seton

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May 5, 2014 · 6:00 am

Digital exhibit of Vincent letters at DePaul University

Vincent letters

Examples of Vincent de Paul letters at DePaul University (Image courtesy of DePaul University Office of Mission and Values)

View the exhibit

DePaul University announces its premier digital exhibit of manuscript letters of Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660). This collection represents the largest of the Saint’s extant holographic documents outside of Europe. These documents are the cornerstone of DePaul’s Vincentian Studies Collection, which includes multidisciplinary resources pertaining to scholarship about Saint Vincent and the Vincentian Family. For more information on the broader collection, see the Vincentian Research Guide.

To view any of these letters, go to http://libservices.org/contentdm/handwritten-letters.php and simply click on the timeline date, or letter itself. In addition, each marker on the European map represents the location where a letter was sent, and clicking on a marker will pull up an individual letter.

The letters range in date from 1641 to 1660, a fertile period during Vincent’s life during which his influence was at its height. By his death on September 27, 1660, he was the administrator of a vast network of religious and charitable endeavors, and one of the most well-known and revered figures in France.

Each letter includes a transcription and translation of the respective text. The transcriptions are taken from Vincent de Paul: Correspondence, Entretiens, Documents (Librairie Lecoffre, 1920-1925), edited by Pierre Coste, C.M. The English translations are taken from Vincent de Paul: Correspondence, Conferences, Documents (New City Press, 1985-2010), translated and edited by Sister Marie Poole, D.C., editor-in-chief, of the Vincent Translation Project.

The kind assistance of DePaul University’s Office of Mission and Values, the Vincentian Studies Institute, and DePaul University Library made this collection possible.

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Filed under Announcements, DePaul University, Digitized Collections, Exhibits, Vincent de Paul

April 3, 2013 · 11:56 am

Louise de Marillac Exhibit and St. Vincent’s Reading List

blog-de-marillac-book

Seen here is an image from one of the oldest books in our collection: La Vie de Mademoiselle le Gras: Fondatrice et Premiére Supérieure de la Compagnie des Filles de la Charité, Servantes de Pauvres Malades, by Nicolas Gobillon. Paris: Chez André Pralard, 1676. . This book is now on display through April 19, as part of our Louise de Marillac exhibit.

Special Collections and Archives at Richardson Library, DePaul University, also has a copy of Gobillon from 1676. DePaul’s copy of the book is featured in a recurring blog series from DePaul University entitled St. Vincent’s Reading List. The series explories texts known to have been read and recommended by Saint Vincent de Paul, those which can be presumed to have been read by him, and works published during his lifetime (1581-1660) illustrating his world. All materials discussed are held by DePaul University’s Richardson Library.

St. Vincent’s Reading List: Entry for Gobillon’s Life of Mademoiselle le Gras

St. Vincent’s Reading List (DePaul University): Entire Series

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Filed under Biographies, DePaul University, Digitized Collections, Finding Aids, Guides, Louise de Marillac, Vincent de Paul