VincentWiki:Ephemerides/17 March

1660: Funeral rites of Louise de Marillac are held in Paris. Firstly, it was planned to burn her in the patio next to the church at Saint Lazare, which in those days served as cemetery. But pastor of the church of St. Lawrence and Vincent de Paul himself opposed it. They decided, the Foundatrice will be laid down in the Visitation chapel at St. Lawrence church, the place she used for private prayers.

1936: Fr Marina, Director of Daughters of Charity in Rome is nominated an Apostolic Delegate to Tehran. In his post he cared not only for 15.000 local Christians but helped Polish refugees from Soviet Union, too. He visited they refugees camps. He spent 9 years in Persia. Then he succeeded Msgr Roncalli (future JOhn XXIII) in Turkey. Thanks to his interventions Austrian Daughters of Charity were released for concentration camps and could return to normal community life. Words "Charity in Truth" ("la charité dans la vérité") were his motto. He fulfilled them in Lebanon, where he became Papal Nuncio in 1947. In result of Israeli-Arab war number of Palestinian refugees multiplied. He organized famous, so called "Papal kitchens" were up to 3,000 meals were served daily. He also founded Church Committee to assist refugees in Lebanon. Daughters of Charity cared for children and searched workplaces for their fathers. He died in 1950 after getting seriously sick.