EMBLEM OF THE VINCENTIAN CONGREGATION
The coat of arms of the Congregation was chosen in 1991. The offering hands stand for our complete dedication to God and human beings. The dove descending is a symbol of the Holy Spirit coming from above as a result of our dedication and commitment to God. Thus our motto, “He has sent me to proclaim the Good News to the poor” (Lk.4:18) is realized. The Holy Spirit descends hence also upon the symbol VC. Five crosses represent the paschal mysteries through which the Holy Spirit is being poured out to the community. These represent also the five basic virtues of our Congregation - simplicity, humility, meekness, mortification and zeal for souls.
The Holy Bible indicates the preaching of the Word of God especially through popular missions and other means. Fire embracing the globe shows that we give light to the whole world. Indeed we become light and life for the whole creation. Thus the fire itself turns out to be a man embracing the whole world. “I came to cast fire upon the earth…” (Lk. 12:49). Fire here is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The coconut shell from which the fire burns shows that the VC was begun in Kerala (land of coconut trees) to give light to the whole world. The fire in fact is burning out from Kerala in the globe. ‘Evangelizare Pauperibus’- the words from Isaiah (61:1-2) and Luke (4:18) (the motto of our Congregation) is the coverage of the emblem.
In the total view the whole emblem turns out something like a budding lotus, symbol of eternal life in India. This represents also the man yearning for self-realization and God experience.