“In every bed of the hospital with the eyes of faith you will see Jesus.”
– St. Vincent de Paul
“If you help the poor and the needy, God will always provide you with the help you need.”
– St. Vincent de Paul
“Your patients need a share of your joy.” – St. Vincent de Paul
Father Lawrence Lew, OP via Flickr, licensed cc
Today is the feast of St. Vincent DePaul.
Who is St. Vincent dePaul?
Saint Vincent de Paul, was born in 1581 in the small, poor village of Gascony, France to a peasant family.
A bright student from an early age, his father paid for his education by selling the family’s oxen. Vincent studied hard and was ordained a priest at age 19.
Much like the beloved St. Patrick, Vincent was also the victim of kidnapping. In 1605 while on a mission trip, Vincent was kidnapped by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in Tunis (capital of Tunisia in Northern Africa). He was enslaved for two years before becoming the property of an apostate Christian, whose wife aided in the escape of all his slaves.
Vincent was able to return to France where he lived in Paris. It is during this time he came under the guidance of Father Pierre de Berulle, a devout priest and mystic. Father Berulle greatly influenced Vincent and his heart turned from the temporal to the spiritual.
Vincent met a theologian who was struggling with his own faith. For the sake of this friend’s soul and his own peace, de Paul offered God a bargain: He begged for peace for his friend, even if the price would be for de Paul to experience the same spiritual trial. God took him at his word.
While the theologian had his faith restored, de Paul entered a bleak period in which he doubted his faith in God and himself. As a means of diverting himself from his spiritual crisis, Vincent began visiting the poor.
For the next four years, Vincent struggled with his faith. The resolution he ultimately embraced would be surrendering his life’s ambition of living out his priesthood in comfortable wealth. He made a pledge to God to serve the poor, relinquishing his quest for power and prestige.
From here, de Paul’s ministry would grow. “Before we can save the souls of the poor,” de Paul said, “We must give them a life worthy of the name.” This meant food, shelter, and nursing the sick. In 1617, he founded the Ladies of Charity from a group of ladies within his parish. He organized these wealthy women of Paris to collect funds for missionary projects, found hospitals, gather relief funds for the victims of war, and to ransom 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. It was not unusual during those years to find him elbow-deep in dishwater, washing bandages for the sick, or ladling out soup for the poor.
One of the Ladies of Charity, Louise de Marillac, took 12 peasant girls in 1633 to work among the poor. She called them the Company of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Servants of the Poor. They were the first uncloistered community of religious women.
The Daughters went on to become involved in hospitals, prisons, and the care of abandoned children. By 1780, there were 430 houses of the Daughters of Charity in France, 20 in Poland, and one in Spain. Today, the Daughters of Charity currently number 27,223 members in five continents with 81 provinces.
St, Vincent dePaul died in September 1669, in an armchair, saying his prayers in the morning as he always did, just before saying mass.
Road to Sainthood.
Saint Vincent was declared blessed by Pope Benedict XIII and was canonized June 16, 1737 by Pope Clement XII.
Today his remains are visible here.
On a personal note …
This saint has a special meaning in the lives of my family. My dear father-in-law was very active in working for the St. Vincent DePaul society throughout my husband’s growing up years. He even took my husband and his siblings with him from time to time to collect donations and unload trucks.
As I recently read through the old letters of my grandparents I learned that they too were active with the St. Vincent DePaul Society.
When our baby died, the St. Vincent DePaul society stepped in and bought the casket and vault for us, without being asked. They just did it. So dear St. Vincent and his society will always have a special place in my heart!
Things to do today:
Make a donation to your local St. Vincent De Paul organization.
Prepare and eat a simple French meal, much like St. Vincent and the sisters might have had. The French eat bread and salad with their meals. A little wine would be appropriate as well. Decorate your table with some seasonal wild flowers.
Say prayers for the poor, and for the people that are kidnapped and trafficked.
