Charles Vincent

Fr. Charles Vincent (30 June 1828 – 1 November 1890) was a Catholic priest, professor, and academic administrator at the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto, Canada. Early life and career Vincent was born at Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in the highlands of southern France on June 30, 1828. He was sent to Aubenas for his early education, and eventually entered the Basilian novitiate at Vernoux-en-Vivarais in 1848 at age twenty. Although Vincent was confident in his faith, he was hesitant in taking his formal priestly vows, acknowledging personal struggles with self-discipline and torpidness. Nevertheless, he persevered and continued with his theological studies at the main Basilian college in Annonay in 1851. Although not yet a priest, he showed apparent promise as a potential missionary and educator, leading the college's director, Fr. Jean-Mathieu Soulerin, to ask him to join him in establishing a new school in Canada. In 1852, fellow alumnus of the Basilian Collège d’Annonay and recently installed Bishop Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel sent a letter to the Basilian community back in France inviting them to establish a school in Toronto to serve the rapidly growing Catholic population. Led by Soulerin, Vincent as well as two others, Fr. William Flannery and Fr. Joseph Malbosse, departed for Canada, arriving in Toronto on September 15, 1852. Arrival and early years in Canada After their arrival, the Basilians established a school, St. Michael's College, located within the Bishop's Palace adjacent to St. Michael's Cathedral, where Vincent would finalize his vocational training. He was formally ordained into the priesthood the following spring by Bishop Charbonnel. That same year, facing an increasing enrollment and desire for additional space, Soulerin re-established the school at its present location in what is now Toronto's Cloverhill neighborhood. Soulerin had taken a liking to Vincent, writing in a letter that he, "of all his confrères the one who has the best spirit, best minds his own business, delights in and gets along with the students, and has kept his initial piety." Known for his fine tenor voice, in 1856 Vincent organized the first choir at St. Basil's. Soulerin installed Vincent as a professor, and in 1857 appointed him as the college's treasurer. That same year Vincent made a brief trip back to France to visit his parents.