History

Vincent de Paul was born to a peasant family in Gascony. Though he later achieved fame for his dedication to the poor, his early life was spent in a determined struggle to escape his humble roots. For this goal, he chose a career in the priesthood. After ordination, his charm and social skills gained him entry into the highest levels of society. A turning point came in midlife, when he was summoned to hear the dying confession of a peasant. He was struck as never before by the seriousness of his vocation and determined afterward that his priesthood would be dedicated to service of the poor.

Eventually he established a mission congregation—later known as the Vincentians—and, with St. Louise de Marillac, founded the Daughters of Charity to serve the poor and sick. There were few charitable projects in which Vincent was not engaged. He founded hospitals and orphanages as well as homes for the humane care of the mentally infirm. He ministered to prisoners and galley slaves and became, already in his lifetime, something of a legend. The rich and powerful vied to endow his projects, while the poor accepted him as one of their own. His spirituality was based on the encounter with Christ in the needs of one’s neighbors. As he instructed his priests and sisters, “The poor are your masters and you are their servants.”

He died on September 27, 1660, at the age of eighty. He was later named patron of all charitable societies.

A little history: The Society of St. Vincent de Paul began in Paris, France, in 1833, i.e., 173 years after the death of St. Vincent de Paul, when a 23 year old law student at the University of Sorbonne, Frederic Ozanam, was challenged during a debate to demonstrate what he and his fellow Catholic students were personally doing to help the poor living in the slums of Paris. Sister Rosalie Rendu, a Daughter of Charity, mentored Frederic and the first members of the Society on the art of helping the sick and the poor by sending them on home visits in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul.

It was in St. Louis, Missouri where the first meeting of the Society in the United States was held on November 20, 1845, only 12 years after the founding in Paris. As of 2019, SVDP has been in the US for 174 years.