St. Vincent de Paul
Posted on September 27, 2020 by admin No comments
Born: 24 April 1576 Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Guyenne and Gascony, Kingdom of France
Died: 27 September 1660, Paris, Kingdom of France
Venerated: in Catholic ChurchAnglican Communion
Beatified: 13 August 1729, Rome, Papal States by Pope Benedict XIII
Canonized: 16 June 1737, Rome, Papal States by Pope Clement XII
Major shrine: St. Vincent de Paul Chapel, 95, Rue de Sèvres, Paris, France
Feast: 27 September 19 July (Roman Calendar, 1737–1969)
Patronage: Charities, horses, hospitals, leprosy, lost articles, Madagascar prisoners, Richmond, Virginia spiritual help, Saint Vincent de Paul Societies, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Preparatory, Vincentian Service Corps, volunteers
Saint Vincent was born in 1576 near Dax, south of Bordeaux, of a poor family which survived by means of their labor. It seemed that mercy was born with him. When sent by his father to the mill to procure flour, if he met a poor man coming home, he would open the sack and give him handfuls of flour when he had nothing else. His Christian father was not angry; seeing his good dispositions, he was sure his son should become a priest, and placed him as a boarding student with a group of religious priests in Dax. Vincent made rapid progress, and after seven years of studying theology at Toulouse and in Saragossa, Spain, was ordained a priest in 1600. He always concealed his learning and followed the counsel of Saint Paul who said, I have wanted to know nothing in your midst but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified.
Soon after his ordination, he was captured by corsairs and sold as a slave in Tunisia. He converted his renegade master, and escaped with him to France. Then, after a time of study in Rome, he returned to Paris and took for his spiritual director Abbé de Berulle, a famous director of souls. This servant of God saw in him a priest called to render outstanding service to the Church, and to found a community of priests who would labor for its benefit. He told Saint Vincent this, that he might prepare himself insofar as was humanly possible. When Saint Vincent was appointed chaplain-general of the galleys of France, his tender charity brought hope into those prisons where hitherto despair had reigned. When a mother mourned her imprisoned son, Vincent put on his chains and took his place at the oar, and gave him to his mother.
His charity embraced the poor, the young and the aged, the provinces desolated by civil war, Christians enslaved by the infidels. The poor man, ignorant and degraded, was to him the image of Him who became as a leper and no man. Turn the medal, he said, and you will see Jesus Christ. He went through the streets of Paris at night, seeking the infants and children left there to die — three or four hundred every year. Once robbers rushed upon him, thinking he carried a treasure, but when he opened his cloak, they recognized him and his burden, an abandoned infant, and fell at his feet. Not only was Saint Vincent the providence of the poor, but also of the rich, for he taught them to undertake works of mercy. When in 1648 the work of the foundlings was in danger of failure for want of funds, he assembled the ladies of the Association of Charity, and said, Compassion and charity have made you adopt these little creatures as your children. You have been their mothers according to grace, when their own mothers abandoned them. Will you now cease to be their mothers? Their life and death are in your hands. I shall take your votes; it is time to pronounce sentence. The tears of the assembly were his only answer, and the work was continued.
The Priests of the Mission or Lazarists, as they are called, and thousands of the Daughters of Charity still comfort the afflicted with the charity of their holy Founder. It has been said of him that no one has ever verified more perfectly than Saint Vincent, the words of Our Lord: He who humbles himself shall be exalted… The more he strove to abase himself in the eyes of all, the more God took pleasure in elevating him and bestowing His blessings on him and on all his works. He died in 1660, in an old age made truly golden by his unceasing good works.
Prayer to St. Vincent de Paul
Noble Saint Vincent de Paul, beloved servant of the poor, may we follow your example and do good works among those whom society has abandoned, enslaved, or forgotten. Inspire us to feed the hungry, to love a child, to provide comfort and medicine to the sick, to clothe those whose garments are threadbare, and to offer hope and our Lord’s words to all who need respite. Pray for us to our beloved God that we may commit ourselves selflessly to doing the same charitable acts that you did all your life, and intercede with him that we may have the favour of his guidance and strength and love upon this important and meaningful work. Amen.
Prayer to St. Vincent de Paul
St. Vincent, patron of all charitable associations and father of those who are in misery, come to our assistance. Obtain from Our Lord, help for the poor, relief for the infirm, consolation for the afflicted, protection for the abandoned, a spirit of generosity for the rich, grace of conversion for sinners, zeal for priests, peace for the Church, tranquillity and order for all nations, and salvation for them all. May we be united in the life to come, by your intercession, and experience joy, gladness, and everlasting happiness. Amen.
Prayer to St. Vincent de Paul
Almighty God, Who called your servant Vincent de Paul to serve you in the person of those in need: Grant that we, following his example, may fulfil your commandments by defending and supporting the poor, and by loving you with all our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer to St. Vincent de Paul
Holy God, Saint Vincent served You as a permanent deacon and gave his whole life and soul to You, even to the point of becoming a martyr. I lift up to You the deacons of the Church and all those who are being called by God to become deacons. Guide them as they discern how to serve the Body of Christ. Prevent the attractions of the world and the busyness of secular jobs from interfering with their vocations. Teach them to grow in humility. Help their families learn from their examples and support their diaconates with trust and joy. Saint Vincent, pray for us. Amen.
Novena to St. Vincent de Paul
(Please recite this Novena for 9 consecutive days)
O Glorious Saint Vincent de Paul, The mention of your name, Suggests a litany of your virtues: Humility, zeal, mercy, self-sacrifice. It also recalls your many foundations: Works of Mercy, Congregations, Societies. The Church gratefully remembers, Your promotion of the priesthood. Inspire all Charitable Workers, Especially those who minister, To both the spiritually And the materially poor. O Lord, give us the grace, That You bestowed upon, Your servant St. Vincent de Paul, To relinquish the temptation, Of material things, In our holy effort, To minister to the poor. Amen.
The Litany of St. Vincent de Paul
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
The just shall spring up like the lily, R. And flourish forever before the Lord. (Alleluia.)
Holy Mary, Mother of God…Pray for us.
Holy Mary, comforter of the afflicted…Pray for us.
Saint Vincent de Paul…Pray for us.
St. Vincent, who at the most tender age did display a wisdom most mature…
St. Vincent, who from thy childhood were full of pity and compassion…
St. Vincent, who like David, from a simple shepherd became a ruler and pastor of the people of God…
St. Vincent, who in thy captivity by Turkish pirates did preserve perfect freedom…
St. Vincent the just man, who did live by faith…
St. Vincent, always supported on the firm anchor of a Christian hope…
St. Vincent, always inflamed with the fire of perfect charity…
St. Vincent, truly simple, upright, and fearing God…
St. Vincent, true disciple of Jesus Christ, always meek and humble of heart…
St. Vincent, perfectly mortified in heart and mind…
St. Vincent, ever animated with the spirit of Our Lord…
St. Vincent, generous maintainer of the glory of God…
St. Vincent, ever inwardly burning and ever outwardly transported with
zeal for souls…Pray for us.
St. Vincent, who in Christian poverty did find the precious pearl and the
rich treasure of the Gospel…Pray for us.
St. Vincent, like to the Angels in thy purity…
St. Vincent, faithful in obedience and victorious in word and deed…
St. Vincent, who didst fly the slightest appearance of evil…
St. Vincent, who in all thine actions did aspire to the practice of perfect virtue…
St. Vincent, who didst remain like a rock amid the stormy sea of this world…
St. Vincent, invincible amidst the arrows of adversity…
St. Vincent, as patient in suffering as thou were indulgent in forgiving…
St. Vincent, ever docile and obedient son of the Holy See…
St. Vincent, who had exceeding horror of the novel ways and subtle words
of heretics…
St. Vincent, destined by a special Providence to announce the Gospel to the poor…
St. Vincent, father and model of ecclesiastics…
St. Vincent, prudent founder of the Congregation of the Mission…
St. Vincent, wise institutor of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity…
St. Vincent, tender in compassionating and prompt in relieving the necessities of the poor…
St. Vincent, equally fervent in the practice of prayer and in ministry of the word…
St. Vincent, admirable in imitation of the life and virtues of Jesus…
St. Vincent, who did persevere to the end in shunning evil and doing good…
St. Vincent, who as in life so in death were most precious in the sight of God…
St. Vincent, glory of France and pride of Paris…
St. Vincent, patron of all charitable associations…
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. The Lord has led the just man through right ways.
R. And showed unto him the Kingdom of God.
Let Us Pray: O God, Who by an effect of Thine infinite goodness, have renewed in our days, in the apostolic character and humility of Thy blessed servant Vincent, the spirit of Thy well-beloved Son – to preach the Gospel to the poor, relieve the afflicted, console the miserable, and add new luster to the ecclesiastical order – grant, we beseech Thee, through his powerful intercession, that we also, delivered from the great misery of sin, may labor to please Thee by the practice of the same humility, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. R. Amen.
O God, Who for the preaching of the Gospel to the poor, and for promoting the honor of the priesthood, did imbue the Blessed Vincent with the zeal of an apostle, grant, we humbly pray Thee, that we who venerate his holy life may profit by the examples of virtue he has left us. Through Christ Our Lord. R. Amen.