St. Vincent de Paul

Vincent, the son of poor French peasants, was born in 1581.  When he grew up and became famous, he loved to tell people how he had taken care of his father's pigs.  Because he was intelligent, his father sent him to school and after finishing his studies, Vincent became a priest.

At first, he was given an important position as the teacher of rich children and he lived comfortably.  Then one day, he was called to the side of a dying peasant. Inf front of many people, this man declared that all his past confessions had been bad ones.  Suddenly father Vincent realized how badly the poor people of France needed spiritual help.  When he began to preach to them, crowds went to confession.  He finally decided to start a congregation of priests to work especially among the poor.

The charities of St. Vincent de Paul were so many that it seems impossible for one person to have begun so much.

  • He ministered to the galley slaves who worked on the sailing ships.
  • He started the Congregations of the Sisters of Charity with St. Louise de Marillac.
  • He opened hospitals and homes for orpans and the elderly.
  • He collected large sums of money for poor areas, sent missionaries to many countries and brought back Christian slaves from northern Africa. 

Even though he was such a charitable man, he admitted that he was not so by nature. "I would have been hard, rough and ill-tempered," he said, "were it not for God's grace."

Vincent de Paul died in Paris on September 27, 1660 and was proclaimed a saint in 1737 by Pope Clement XII.

Jesus asks us to be good to other, especially to those who suffer. He says to us "As long as you did it to one of the least of my brothers or sisters, you did it to me (Mt 25:40). We can put these words of our Lord into practice and follow the example of St. Vincent de Paul bey reaching out to those around us when we see them in need.