In 1625 in Paris, at the request of Madame de Gondi (Françoise-Marguérite de Silly), Vincent de Paul formally set up the Congregation of the Mission to give missions to the neglected people of the French countryside.  Vincent de Paul had previously been tutor to the Philippe-Emmanuel and  Marguérite de Gondi's children,  and the family was very much intertwined with Vincent's life both before and after 1625.  Below are some details of the Gondi Family.
  

GONDI ARMS

The Gondi Arms are shown at the top of this page. The Heraldic French "Descriptif" of the Arms might be translated as: "On a background of gold (yellow) two combat maces, black in colour, set in the form of a St. Andrew's Cross, and tied with red."
 

GONDI ORIGINS

Evidence of the existence of the Gondi family is found in the late twelfth century and early thirteenth century in Florence, Italy.   The Gondi family  were merchant bankers and prominent financial partners of the Medici.  Unlike the Medici, they were of the old Florentione nobility, tracing their line traditionally back to 805 to the legendary Philippi, said to have been enobled by Charlemagne himself. With Orlando Bellicozzo, a member of the Great Council of Florence in 1197, the Gondi emerge into history, receiving their patronymic from Gondo Gondi, sitting on the Great Council of Florence in 1251, and signatory to a treaty between Florence and Genoa in that year. In the fourteenth century several members of the family sat on the Great Council.  Simon de Gondi renounced, for himself and his house,  the Ghibellines,  a faction which supported the Holy Roman Empire,  and, in 1351; he loaned the Republic 8000 golden florins in a time of extremity. He held extensive lands around Valcava, in the Mugello, where the church bore the Gondi arms inside and out. Of Simon's seven children, his grandson,  another Simon,  was the first of the Gondi to the Grand Prior of the Republic,  and held this position on three occasions. His daughter Maddalena, who married Giovanni Salviati, by the marriage of her daughter Maria with Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, became the grandmother of Cosimo I de' Medici; thence were descended all the Catholic crowned heads of pre-Napoleonic Europe.  Carlo de Gondi was a staunch backer of Piero de' Medici, and when the Medici came to be Grand Dukes, the Gondi received empty but honorary titles of Senators. 

By the fourteenth century, the Gondi Family were participating internationally in the import-export business. What is known of the earlier members of the family has been gleaned largely from business records, and is therefore somewhat patchy, with little historical detail of individuals of the family in Italy available.
   

GONDI GENEALOGY

In the Genealogy below, the numbers in brackets after some names refer to the notes following the Table.

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MEMORIES OF THE GONDI FAMILY
Palazzo Gondi (Florence, Italy)
The Gondi family owned a tower in the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence  Then, in the Via de'Gondi, Centro storico, the construction of the Palazzo Gondi was begun in 1501 after a design by Giuliano di San Gallo, employed by Giuliano Gondi.  The building was not completed till after the death of Giuliano Gondi,  The cortile is surrounded by graceful columns supporting arches, but is most remarkable for the staircase, with its fine balustrade, and curious variety of delicate ornamentation in animals and foliage.  At the head of the interior staircase, leading to the principal apartments, is the statue of the Roman senator, taken from the supposed Temple of Isis.  A magnificent chimney-piece, the work of Giuliano di San Gallo, adorns the large entrance-hall, round which are hung family portraits.
Capella Gondi (Florence, Italy)
The Gondi Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Novella (near the Firenze SMN Railway Station) is probably more visited to view the crucifix of Filippo Brunelleschi than to remember the Gondi Family.   The Gondi Chapel is situated to the left of the high altar of the main church,  and is dedicated to St Luke since the first stone of the new church of Santa Maria Novella was laid here on October 18, 1279, the feast day of St Luke.  The walls of the Chapel were originally entirely covered with frescoes, but in 1503, when the Gondi family became patrons of the chapel, they had the decoration changed to white marble, porphyry mirrors, fine black marble columns and white marble seats.  In the arch near the end wall is Brunelleschi's famous Crucifix. The Arms of the House of Gondi (see graphic at top of this page)  are on the marble slab on the floor to the left of the Chapel altar (above centre), and also in a window (20th Century design) on the north wall of the Chapel (above right).
Chateau des Gondis (Folleville, France)
The Chateau des Gondis at Folleville (Picardy, northern France), known now as the Chateau de Folleville, was built at the end of the fourteenth century.  It was richly furnished by the Lannoy family (ancestors of Françoise-Marguérite de Silly. (Cf  Notes on the Family No. 7,  above). In the seventeenth century it passed to the Gondi family.   It was in this Chateau that Vincent de Paul would have stayed when he came with Madame de Gondi (Marguérite de Silly) to visit her estates. The ruins of the Chateau are seen at right.
Reminders of Albert de Gondi (France)
A Memorial to Albert de Gondi (Note (5) above), Duc de Retz and Maréchal de France, can be found in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Seven Dolours in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. In 1568, Albert, then adviser of Queen Catherine de Medici, acquired the village of Noisy just west of Paris and Versailles, and some surrounding land. In 1575, he acquired the Seignory of Versailles, adjacent to Noisy. On the edge of the forest near Noisy he built a Chateau, the remains of which (La Porte de Gondi) can be seen in the picture on the right. Over the next few decades, with visits of members of the royal family, the de Gondi lands and property became places where french royalty stayed when engaging in hunting. A portion of the land was sold by Albert's heir Jean-François de Gondi, Archbishop of Paris, to Louis XIII who built a hunting lodge there in 1623. Louis soon rebuilt the hunting lodge as a Chateau. The Crown later obtained the rest of the Seignory of Versailles from the de Gondi family. Louis XIV, son of Louis XIII, developed his father's Chateau into what is now the Chateau de Versailles (Palace of Versailles). In the time of Louis XIV, the village of Noisy became known as Noisy le Roi and retains that name today. In 1959, Noisy le Roi chose the Arms of Albert de Gondi as its own Coat of Arms.
Arms of Albert de Gondi