Born: April 24, 1581, Pouy, France

Died: September 27, 1660, Paris, France

Nationality: French

Vocation: priest, Founder of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians/Lazarists)

Attributes: priest’s cassock and hat, scroll with the words “Let All Things Be Done With Charity,” performing acts of charity (such as holding loaves of bread)

Patronage: charities, hospitals, horses, Richmond, VA

Beatification: 1729, by Pope Benedict XIII

Canonization: 1737, by Pope Clement XII

Charity is the cement which binds Communities to God and persons to one another.

The word “charity” comes from the Latin word “caritas,” which in turn originated from the word “carus,” meaning “dear” or “valued.” “Caritas” has been used several times throughout history as the Latin translation of “agape,” the Greek word for the highest form of love – which has been used throughout the New Testament to describe God’s love for His Church.

Few men demonstrated this deep meaning of the word “charity” to the degree of St. Vincent de Paul. Born in the village of Pouy in southwestern France during the latter half of the 16th century, Vincent grew up poor. His parents, who were simple peasants, noticed he was pious and intelligent and sent him away to receive a religious education. With the help of a local lawyer, who gave him a job to pay for his studies, Vincent was able to attend universities in both Spain and his native France. He was ordained a priest at the age of 24.

Shortly after entering the clergy, Father Vincent would have an experience that forever transformed his outlook on life and his mission to serve the Lord.  It was the year 1605, and while at sea, he was kidnapped and taken hostage by Turkish pirates. The young priest was subsequently sold into slavery and held in North Africa for two years. Miraculously, he converted his captor to Catholicism and escaped, crossing the Mediterranean to Rome.

There, he received his call to spread the love of God through acts of charity toward the poor. After he heard a humble servant’s deathbed confession, Father Vincent, also remembering his two years as a slave, made it his mission to help the least fortunate in society. With the financial help of the Count and Countess of Gondi, who the servant had worked for, the charity-driven priest founded a new society of apostolic life called the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. The new group worked extensively with rural peasant communities forming them in faith and fostering new vocations. 

St. Vincent also helped found the Daughters of Charity, a women’s organization that shares the Vincentians’ mission of helping the poor alongside St. Louise de Marillac, a saint in her own right. 

Truly, the saint’s accomplishments during his lifetime were boundless. As Franciscan Media writes:

He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war, and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He 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.

The great patron saint of charities died in 1660, just six months after his friend, St. Louise.

In 2010, upon celebrating St. Vincent de Paul’s feast day and the 350th anniversary of his death, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the saint’s life, saying:

He himself keenly perceived the strong contrast between the richest and the poorest of people. In fact, as a priest, he had the opportunity to experience the aristocratic life and life in the country, as well as the dregs of society in Paris. Encouraged by the love of Christ, Vincent de Paul knew how to organize permanent forms of service for marginalized people…

Today the great saint’s name lives on through both the Vincentians and his eponymous Catholic charity, The Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The society was founded by Blessed Frederic Ozanam in France in the year 1833 and fittingly took St. Vincent de Paul as its patron and namesake. It currently has 800,000 members and helps an estimated 30 million poor across over 150 countries.

St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us.