Biography

    Saint Vincent de Paul (Pouy, currently called Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Landes, April 24, 1581 or Tamarite de Litera Huesca, April 24, 1576 - Paris, September 27, 1660) was a French priest. Catholic Church and Anglican Communion.

    He was born in Aquitaine in 1581. At the age of 14, he was sent to the Franciscan college in Dax, 5 kilometers from Pouy. Dax is a prosperous city, with wide streets and beautiful mansions. Vicente likes his studies, he wants to leave rural life; he feels ashamed of his origins and of his own father. "As a boy, when my father took me to the city, I was embarrassed to go with him and recognize him as a father, because he was badly dressed and was a bit lame." "I remember that on one occasion, at the school where I was studying, they told me that my father, who was a poor peasant, had come to see me. I refused to go out to see him."

    After four years of studies in Dax, he went to the great city of Toulouse. His father had just died in 1598, while Vicente was 17 years old, he had already received the tonsure and minor orders. His father leaves him part of the inheritance to pay for his studies, but he rejects this help; he prefers to fend for himself.

    To survive, he teaches humanities at the Buñet school and continues with his theology studies at the same time. In 1598 he received the subdiaconate and the diaconate, and on September 23, 1600, at Chateau-l'Eveque, he was ordained a priest by the old bishop of Périgueux. "If I had known, as I have since, what the priesthood was when I had the temerity to accept it, I would have preferred to work the land rather than enter so fearful a state," he will later write.

    The Bishop of Dax offers him a parish, but there is another candidate. Vicente resigns, preferring to continue with his studies and aim higher: he aspires to be a bishop.

         Plays

        SOME OF HIS MOST IMPORTANT WORKS

    In 1617, feeling the need to organize practical works of charity in Châtillon, he founded "the Charities" (later known as the Ladies of Charity and now called the AIC International Association of Charities). These quickly spread throughout France and then throughout the world, reaching today more than 260,000 members. During his life he wrote the statutes for numerous "Charities" that sprang up throughout France.

    In 1625, he founded the Congregation of the Mission. At the time of his death, the Congregation had reached Poland, Italy, Algeria, Madagascar, Ireland, Scotland, the Hebrides and the Orkneys. During her life, the house of San Lázaro alone gave more than a thousand missions. He served as Superior General of the Congregation until his death, holding regular meetings of the council, writing its rules, directing the general assemblies and solving a number of foundational problems such as obtaining the approval of the Congregation by the Holy See, deciding whether to take votes, determine which ones should be pronounced and what their content should be.

    

    In 1633, together with Luisa de Marillac, he founded the Company of the Daughters of Charity. With Luisa at his side, he acted as Superior General, presiding over the frequent councils, drafting a rule, and solving the somewhat revolutionary legal basis that would make the Society such a powerful apostolic force in the years to come. During his lifetime, more than 60 houses were erected between France and Poland. Later, the Company became one of the largest congregations the Church has ever seen.