Vincent De Paul: The Trailblazer
by Bernard Pujo
from University of Notre Dame Press
"Vincent de Paul, whose good influence is still felt today, is one of the most attractive saints of modern times. His complex life, set against the tumultuous period of seventeenth-century France, demands high historical skills for any potential biographer. Bernard Pujo more than adequately rises to that challenge. This book was a joy to read." —Lawrence S. Cunningham, University of Notre Dame
"Set amidst the French Catholic Reformation, Bernard Pujo introduces the reader to a star-studded cast of political, religious, and social leaders of the age. Kings, queens, popes, ministers, bishops, and habituĂ©s of salons become associates of St. Vincent de Paul as he sets out to recruit an army of elite to minister to the poor and marginalized. In the process, one discovers the complex personality, comprised of both human and saintly qualities that characterized Vincent de Paul. Vincent de Paul, the Trailblazer portrays the age and the man in rich detail." —Joan L. Coffey, Sam Houston State University
Vincent de Paul, the Trailblazer opens a bright window into the turbulent world of a renowned saint who lived during a time of great unrest. Bernard Pujo details how politics, war, and Vincent's own charismatic personality served as essential elements in his construction of a vast and lasting web of charitable works.
Pujo introduces readers not only to the fascinating life of Vincent, but also to the cultural, political, social, ecclesiastical, and economic life of France during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Pujo's rich portrait reveals that Vincent played an active and prominent part in shaping this period of French history. In his quest to minister to the needs of the poor, Vincent counseled and challenged some of the key figures in French politics.
Vincent de Paul, the Trailblazer describes Vincent's childhood, his education, his life as a young priest, his skills as an organizer and manager, and his commitment to serving the physical and spiritual needs of the poor. This authoritative biography is lively enough to interest general readers and detailed enough to appeal to scholars of French and church history.
Journeys to the Spiritual Lands: The Natural History of a West Indian Religion
by Wallace W. Zane
from Oxford University Press, USA
Although much has been written on the Afro-Catholic syncretic religions of Vodou, Candomble, and Santeria, the Spiritual Baptists--an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Protestant Christianity--have received little attention. This work offers the first detailed examination of the Spiritual Baptists or "Converted". Based on 18 months of fieldwork on the Island of St. Vincent (where the religion arose) and among Vincentian immigrants in Brooklyn, Zane's analysis makes a contribution to the literature on African-American and African Diaspora religion and the anthropology of religion more generally.
ADMIRAL LORD ST. VINCENT - SAINT OR TYRANT?: The Life of Sir John Jervis, Nelson's Patron
by James Davidson
from Pen and Sword
This biography of John Jervis, who became Admiral Lord Vincent, makes compelling reading. It throws an oblique light on Nelson's personality. St Vincent, who was born twenty-three years before Nelson, and survived for eighteen years after Trafalgar, fundamentally influenced the younger man's career despite the two men being diametrically different characters. Yet without him, Nelson's genius might have been submerged by professional jealousy or emotional fragility.
It was St Vincent's strategy and preparation which positioned Nelson to win his three famous victories, but St Vincent himself made vital contributions not only to the defeat of Napoleon but to the well-being of the Royal Navy. Before he became First Lord of the Admiralty, the Navy had been severely weakened by corruption in the dockyards, nepotism in appointments and the appalling conditions under which the seamen lived and worked.
St Vincent deserves the profound gratitude of the Nation; not only for enabling Nelson to exercise his tactical brilliance, but also for the role he played in preventing Napoleon from invading the British Isles.
Vincent Van Gogh Drawings (Vincent Van Gogh, Drawings)
by Marije Vellekoop
from Ashgate
The Way of Vincent De Paul: A Contemporary Spirituality in the Service of the Poor
The Political Ecology of Bananas: Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean
This study of banana contract farming in the Eastern Caribbean explores the forces that shape contract-farming enterprises everywhere—capital, the state, and the environment. Employing the increasingly popular framework of political ecology, which highlights the dynamic linkages between political-economic forces and human-environment relationships, Lawrence Grossman provides a new perspective on the history and contemporary trajectory of the Windward Islands banana industry. He reveals in rich detail the myriad impacts of banana production on the peasant laborers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Grossman challenges the conventional wisdom on three interrelated issues central to contract farming and political ecology. First, he analyzes the process of deskilling and the associated significance of control by capital and the state over peasant labor. Second, he investigates the impacts of contract farming for export on domestic food production and food import dependency. And third, he examines the often misunderstood problem of pesticide misuse. Grossman's findings lead to a reconsideration of broader debates concerning the relevance of research on industrial restructuring and globalization for the analysis of agrarian change. Most important, his work emphasizes that we must pay greater attention to the fundamental significance of the "environmental rootedness" of agriculture in studies of political ecology and contract farming.
Charity Alive
by Sister Mary Olga McKenna
from University Press of America
Charity Alive: Sisters of Charity, Halifax, 1950-1980 is the sequel to Sister Maura Power's chronicle of the first one hundred years of the congregation's history (Ryerson, 1956). Based on congregational records and interviews with members of the order, the book traces, describes, and assesses the events which moved the Sisters from the traditional patterns of religious life over the first century into the 1980's. It shows the Sisters' response to the documents of Vatican II and the economic, cultural, and religious challenges during three decades of adaptation, renovation, and renewal. "Charity Alive" also presents the transformation effected within the congregation which liberated the Sisters and empowered them to reach beyond their traditional ministries of education, health and social services to embrace new forms of ministry such as serving the less visible needs of the economically poor on the fringes of society.
1797: Nelson's Year of Destiny
by Colin White
from Alan Sutton Publishing, Ltd.
It was at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797, when the Royal Navy won a great victory over the Spanish, that Nelson first came to public fame. Five months later in the attack on Santa Cruz on 22-25 July he suffered a bloody defeat at the hands of the Spanish and lost an arm. These two events, one a success the other a humiliating failure, played a key role in shaping Nelson's character and style as a leader. Taken together they mark a significant turning point in his life.
In this new and provocative work, Colin White draws together recent research and new discoveries into a comprehensive and enthralling narrative account that places the two battles in their strategic and political contexts. He has uncovered previously overlooked contemporary accounts of both battles and has concluded that the traditional British accounts of both battles need careful reassessment. Specially drawn plans for both battles incorporate this new information.
The narrative is interspersed with more reflective sections in which new evidence is analysed and compared against the traditional accounts, and where the particular significance of the events for Nelson are highlighted.
He Hears the Cry of the Poor: On the Spirituality of Vincent De Paul
is based on conferences and talks Father Maloney gave to Vincentians and Daughters of Charity during the last two years. Drawing from the letters and conferences of Vincent de Paul he then makes the solid connection to contemporary issues. It touches on vital questions for religious communities today: the renewal of community and prayer life; the apostolate; the growing international character of communities and the related inter-cultural challenges; inculturation; and the shift in vocations from North to South. Father Maloney offers his many years of experience and expertise to relay an optimistic outlook for the future.
Coping With Poverty: Adaptive Strategies in a Caribbean Village (Westview Special Studies in Social, Political, and Economic Development)
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