His surname, which is French for "twenty-three", is probably from an ancestor who, as a child or baby, was abandoned and found on the 23rd day of the month.

Vingt-Trois completed his secondary studies at the Lycée Henri IV and entered the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice at Issy-les-Moulineaux in 1962.

He was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Daniel Pezeril in October 1968 and to the priesthood by Cardinal François Marty on 28 June 1969.

Vingt-Trois participated in different pastoral movements, including the Centre de préparation au mariage and the sessions of permanent formation of the clergy.

He was later named vicar general of Paris, and was charged with the diocesan formation (the cathedral school and diocesan seminary), of the means of communications (Radio Notre-Dame, Paris Notre-Dame, Centre d'Information), of the familial pastoral, of the chaplains of public education, and of catechetics.

He received his episcopal consecration on the following 14 October in Notre-Dame Cathedral from Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, with Bishops Pézeril and Gabriel Vanel serving as co-consecrators.