Founder, Vincentians (1580–1660)
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 confession of a dying 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. Of their unenclosed congregation, he wrote, “Their convent is the sickroom, their chapel the parish church, their cloister the streets of the city.” 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, and was canonized in 1737.
“Many acts of love for God . . . although good and very desirable, are yet very suspect when they do not lead to the practice of effective love.” —St. Vincent de Paul
