Feast Day: Sep 27

Patron Saint of Charitable societies, Poor

September 27, we celebrate the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), “Holy Hero/Apostle of Divine Charity,” founder of the Congregation of the Mission, patron of catholic charities, who dedicated himself to serving the poor, renowned for his compassion, humility, and generosity and the patron of all catholic charitable societies.

St. Vincent de Paul was born to a poor peasant family in the French village of Pouy on April 24, 1581. His first formal education was provided by the Franciscans. He did so well, he was hired to tutor the children of a nearby wealthy family. He used the monies he earned teaching to continue his formal studies at the University of Toulouse where he studied theology. A highly intelligent youth, he excelled at academics, and sought the priesthood primarily for social advancement and monetary gain.

As a young priest he was captured by Moorish pirates who carried him to Africa. He was sold into slavery, but freed in 1607 when he converted his owner.Returning to France, Vincent was assigned to a small parish. Having begun his ministry with less than pure intentions and motives, the Lord sought to change Vincent’s heart. Spending time with those who lived in poverty, with little education, Vincent was shocked to discover how his fellow man was being forced to live. He was able to empathize with them, given his own imprisonment.

He began preaching the importance of confession and repentance. Lines for confession stretched out the doors of the parish chapel, and the faithful waited for hours to pour out their hearts to Saint Vincent. More than anything, they hungered for the Gospel, and for priests to minister to their basic needs (as well as their spiritual needs).

He founded a religious Congregation under the title of Priests of the Mission or Lazarists (now known as Vincentians), and he bound them by a special way to undertake the apostolic work of charity; he sent them to preach missions, especially to the ignorant peasants of that time, and to establish seminaries. Vincent was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries.

In order to help poor girls, invalids, and the insane, sick and unemployed, he and St. Louise de Marillac founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, now better known as the Sisters of St. Vincent.Membership grew, and the congregations started social and community justice organizations committed to helping the poor, sick, unemployed, imprisoned, and uneducated. Saint Vincent worked tirelessly to bring dignity and justice to the destitute, enslaved, abandoned, forgotten, and ignored. His basic vision was simply that the Good News of Jesus Christ should be announced to the poor through word and service.

He died in 1660 at St. Lazarus’s house, Paris. At his funeral, it was declared that Saint Vincent had “transformed the face of the Church.”His incorrupt heart can be found in the Convent of the Sisters of Charity and his bones have been embedded in a wax effigy of the Saint located at the Church of the Lazarist Mission. He was canonized by Pope Clement XII on 16 June 1737. In 1835, the French scholar Blessed Frederic Ozanam took him as the inspiration and namesake for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, a lay Catholic organization working for the relief of the poor.

Prayer

O God, who for the relief of the poor and the formation of the clergy endowed the Priest Saint Vincent de Paul with apostolic virtues, grant, we pray, that, afire with that same spirit, we may love what he loved and put into practice what he taught.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us