The Vincentians: A General History of the Congregation of the Mission (3: Revolution and Restoration: 1789-1843) (Vincent de Paul)

The French Revolution nearly destroyed the Vincentians in France, and those in most other countries were isolated, persecuted in every degree from niggling regulations to imprisonment and martyrdom, and sometimes squeezed into oblivion. To these external miseries were added painful internal schisms: the Italians, abetted by other countries and the Vatican, pushed to center the Congregation in Rome; interdicts against communications with foreign superiors forced provinces in many countries to act autonomously; national pressures to swear loyalty and conform to compromising regulations created splits within the community and threatened to divide the Daughters and separate them from their brothers. Reduced membership and funding crippled the Vincentians efforts as they emerged from the worst of the state obstructions. Nevertheless, they began rebuilding and even made struggling beginnings in overseas missions, notably the United States, Brazil, Turkey, the Middle East, and China, where the martyrdom of two missionaries galvanized interest in this distant and challenging mission.