VincentWiki:Ephemerides/20 May
1906: On request of Prince Ghika, the house of Daughters of Charity was founded in Bucharest, Romania with Sister Pucci and two companions. Soon, other works were established - an orphanage and tailor shop in Cioplea and a dispensary in Jassy. During the Balkan War Sisters took care of four first aid rooms and nursed typhus and cholera patients. World War I forced Daughters to retreat to Odessa. Four sisters caught typhus and two of them died then. As a Sanatorium, after the death of Sister Pucci on March 26, 1918 the house in Bucharest continued to grow becoming a hospital. In May 1919, Daughters of Charity supported by French army of Danube delivered supply action called "drop of milk". Thanks to it more than two thousand babies were saved from death by starvation. In 1940, during WWII new great opportunities arose: 200 wounded, mostly frozen (because of temperatures at -18F to -40F) refuges and escapees. In 1947 there were 10 aspirant sisters in the community. Unfortunately, in 1949, all establishments were nationalized by communist government, and Daughters of Charity were forced to leave them.
1929: In Paris, death of Fr. Jean Joseph Baros. His life offered a remarkable example of how Providence was used to deliver a soul to the vocation to which it was intended. Baptized in June 1856, in the Church of Saint-Louis in Grenoble, on the same that Blessed Regis Clet. He was ordained on June 11, 1881. Professor at Notre-Dame in Grenoble, then vicar at Saint-Louis. After the death of his sister he was thinking about religious life as Carthusian. But their lifestyle was too harsh for his frail health. Ultimately, the influence of Francis Regis Clet, who will be beatified in 1900, led his compatriot to Saint Vincent in 1895. The last twenty-nine years of his life he spend in the Mother House being primarily one of the chaplains at rue du Bac. His rare prudence and his wise discretion animated by any apostolic sensitivity made him appreciated spiritual Father . The presence of four hundred of Daughters of Charity at his funeral would be a testimony of the hard work, hidden, but real, accomplished by him. For five years he was Director of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Agony. Then he was responsible for the work of Blessed Perboyre, and he launched in 1923, the Bulletin of the Missions, strongly encouraged by Father Verdier.
1990: Pope John Paul II beatified Pier Giorgio Frassati in Rome. He was born in Turin, Italy on Holy Saturday, April 6, 1901. His parents were Alfredo Frassati, founder of 'La Stampa' Italian newspaper, and Adelaide Ametis, well-known painter. In 1918 Frassati joined Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. In the same time he decided to study mining engineering in order, in his words, "to serve Christ better among miners". In late June, 1925, Pier Giorgio became acutely ill with poliomyelitis. He died on July 4, 1925 at the age of 24. Thousands of residents of Turin, knowing of his seven years of service to the poor, stood in the streets to pay respects as the cortege passed. These were the people who petitioned for his canonization; a cause was opened in 1932.
