St. Vincent de Paul

Saint Vincent de Paul was born into a peasant family in the Landes region of Southwest France.  Ordained a priest in 1600 at the early age of 19, he went to Toulouse for further theological studies. Captured by Muslim pirates in 1605, he was for two years a slave in Tunisia but then escaped back to France.  He settled in Paris where he decided to dedicate his principal efforts to the service of the poor.  However, this did not deter him from also serving the great as well– he was a spiritual advisor to multiple kings and queens during the rest of his life.  In 1625 he also founded a congregation of priests (called Lazarists or Vincentians) for foreign missionary work, groups of laymen to help paupers and galley-slaves, and, in 1633 with St Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity, the first congregation of women entirely devoted to the care of the sick and the poor.  St. Vincent de Paul died in 1660 at the age of 79 and was canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1775. His feast day in the Roman calendar is September 27, the day of his death.  In 1833 the “Society of St. Vincent de Paul,’ a lay organization for service of the poor, was founded in his honor. Biography by Dr. Italy