One of the strengths of the university is our dedication to exploring the intellectual underpinnings of our mission and values. To this end, the Division of Mission and Ministry sponsors a series of lecture programs in which we invite a wide variety of noted experts to share the research, questions, conclusions and insights of their research to an academic community which seeks to engage the great questions of our time from DePaul’s distinctive institutional perspective. In addition to lectures, the Division of Mission and Ministry also sponsors other educational events and programs designed to educate and enrich the university community and our external constituencies through reflection upon the historical, spiritual, and contemporary implications of our Vincentian and Catholic identity.
Watch videos of past lectures.
Vincentian Lectures
The St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, or Blessed Frederic Ozanam lectures are not offered regularly, but rather on an occasional basis when unique opportunities present themselves to enhance the numerous lectures offered on a regular basis across the university over the academic year. The Division of Mission and Ministry invites members of the university community or outside experts to address issues of Vincentian history, spirituality, or praxis.
Vincentian Archives Lectures
The annual Vincentian Archives Lecture highlighted some aspect of the history and activities of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) as researched, in whole or in part, by utilizing the archival resources formerly known as the DeAndreis-Rosati Memorial Archives (DRMA) in the Richardson Library of DePaul University.
The DRMA was renamed the Vincentian Archives, Western Province of the Congregation of the Mission, in 2021. The archives were originally named by Vincentian seminarians in 1939 “in honor of the two Italian Vincentians, Felix De Andreis and Joseph Rosati” who first came to the United States in 1816. Rosati’s name was removed from this title, as well as from other uses on the DePaul University campus that had conveyed respect and honor, once it became more widely known that Rosati owned and rented enslaved persons of African descent in Missouri, both in his role as Provincial Superior at the St. Mary’s of the Barrens seminary in Perryville and as Bishop of St. Louis.
New scholarship arising from the Vincentian Archives will no longer bear Rosati’s name but past scholarship and citations may reference the DeAndreis-Rosati Memorial Archives.
For more information, please visit depaul.edu/slavery.