There is a truly wonderful old French Film on Netflix on the life of St Vincent De Paul, It is called, 'Monsieur Vincent' and its dubbed in English.
When St Vincent reached his first Parish in the country a poor old woman had the plague and the locals had boarded up both her and her granddaughter there to die. The people were so terrified of the plague that they kept trying to stone Vincent for walking about the streets. It reminded me of Covid. But St Vincent broke into the house of the dead woman and rescued the poor woman's grand daughter and buried the corpse. Everyone thought he was mad. Indeed true holiness can seem insane. But Vincent became a little idolised by the rich and powerful in France who gave him huge power and money to change things. Thus he wound up becoming a kind of administering things. This instead of being hands on with the poor. He got to help the poor but never got a chance to meet them. This reminded me of something St Mother Teresa once said, 'I am not a Social Worker'. So St Vincent went back to basics, rolled up his sleeves and went back to hands on work. For the poor it is not enough to give money, we must give our love, pour out our hearts. The thing that strikes me about St Vincent was his eyes, those beautiful, beautiful eyes: He was the very opposite of virtue signalling. Noise makes no good, good makes no noise. Vincent de Paul
