Vincent de Paul

Saint Vincent de Paul

Memorial
· 27 September

Profile

Our Saint today was a very bright youth. Prior to his ordination at age 20 he earned a living as a tutor to the children of the wealthy.

He was taken captive by Turkish pirates to Tunis, and sold into slavery. He converted one of his owners to the true Faith and was freed.

After regaining his freedom he returned to France and served as a parish priest but always to an eye to help the poor, nurse the sick, find jobs for the unemployed, etc. He founded organizations to help him in these efforts. He was appointed Chaplain to the king of France. With Louise de Marillac, he founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. Worked always for the poor, the enslaved, the abandoned, the ignored, the pariahs.

He died on the 27 September in 1660 at Paris, France of natural causes. In the year 1712 his bodine was dug up and found to be incorrupt. Sometime later there was a flood and his pristine bodine was damaged, and basically defleshed leaving only the bones, and the heart. The Vincentians encased the skeleton in a wax effigy and it is kept in the house of the Vincentian fathers in Paris. His incorrupt heart is displayed in a reliquary in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity also in Paris

Through the modern Society of St. Vincent de Paul many poor and indigent are helped to this day. Time to clean out the closet again?

Born
· 24 April 1581 France, The town he was born in was later named for him

Patronage
· against leprosy
· Brothers of Charity
· charitable societies
· charitable workers
· charities
· horses
· hospital workers
· hospitals
· lepers
· lost articles (Tony’s better though)
· Madagascar
· prisoners
· spiritual help
· Saint Vincent de Paul Societies
· Sisters of Charity
· Vincentian Service Corps
· volunteers

Representation
· 16th century cleric performing some act of charity usually wearing a zucchetto

· cleric carrying an infant
· priest surrounded by the Sisters of Charity
· cannon-ball and swords