Memorial of Vincent de Paul, priest Vincent de Paul was born to a poor peasant family in 1581 in southwest France. Vincent was a highly intelligent youth. He spent four years with the Franciscan friars getting an education. He began divinity studies in 1596 at the University of Toulouse and was ordained at age 20. Vincent was taken captive by Turkish pirates to Tunis, and sold into slavery. He was freed in 1607 when he converted one of his owners to Christianity. Returning to France, he served as parish priest near Paris where he started organizations to help the poor, nurse the sick, and find jobs for the unemployed. He founded the Congregation of the Missions (Vicentians / Lazarists) in 1625. With Louise de Marillac, he founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. Vincent de Paul always worked for the poor, the enslaved and the abandoned. He died in 1660 at Paris, France at the age of eighty. His heart is incorrupt, and is displayed in a reliquary in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Paris. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, a charitable organization dedicated to the service of the poor, was established by French students in 1833. The Society is today present in 132 countries.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 01:12:34 +0000
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