St. Vincent de Paul

Their story

Vincent de Paul was born in 1581 to a poor farming family in southwestern France. He was ordained a priest very young, at about nineteen, and at first he hoped the priesthood would bring him a comfortable life. He served for a time as a tutor and chaplain to a wealthy noble family. Everything changed when Vincent heard the confession of a dying peasant and realized how many poor country people had no one to teach them the faith or care for them. In 1617, as a parish priest, he organized the women of his parish into a group to care for the sick and poor, the first of many Confraternities of Charity. In 1625 he founded the Congregation of the Mission, priests who preached missions in poor rural areas and trained clergy. With St. Louise de Marillac he founded the Daughters of Charity, sisters who served the poor in the streets and in their homes instead of living in a cloister. Vincent's energy seemed endless. He cared for abandoned babies, galley slaves, refugees from war, the sick and the elderly, and he persuaded the wealthy and powerful to help. He reformed the training of priests. He died on September 27, 1660, and was canonized in 1737. Today he is the patron of all works of charity, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, founded in his name in 1833, serves the poor in parishes around the world.