St. Vincent de Paul, Saint of the day for 27 September

(1580 - 27 September 1660)

The history of San Vincenzo de 'Paoli
The dying confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de 'Paoli's eyes to the weeping spiritual needs of French peasants. This seems to have been a pivotal moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with a little more ambition than having a comfortable life.

Countess de Gondi, whose servant she had helped, persuaded her husband to equip and support a group of capable and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenants and country people in general. At first Vincent was too humble to accept leadership, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned prison slaves, he returned to being the head of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in the smaller towns and villages.

Subsequently, Vincent set up brotherhoods of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and the sick in every parish. From these, with the help of Santa Luisa de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, "whose convent is the sick room, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city". She organized the wealthy women of Paris to raise funds for her missionary projects, founded several hospitals, raised relief funds for war victims, and redeemed over 1.200 slave galleys from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for the 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 the creation of seminaries.

The most remarkable thing is that Vincent was by temperament a very short tempered person, even his friends admitted it. He said that if it weren't for the grace of God he would have been "hard and hideous, rude and angry." But he became a tender and loving man, very sensitive to the needs of others.

Pope Leo XIII named him the patron of all charitable societies. Among these, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul stands out, founded in 1833 by its admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.

Reflection
The Church is for all the children of God, rich and poor, peasants and scholars, sophisticated and simple. But obviously the Church's greatest concern must be for those who need help most, those rendered powerless by sickness, poverty, ignorance or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today, when hunger has turned into hunger and the high life of the rich stands in increasingly striking contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God's children are forced to live. .