Religious of St. Vincent

The Religious of St. Vincent were founded by Jean Léon Le Prevost (1803-1874)

Overview

JOHN PAUL II wrote to members...

"Guided by apostolic daring and the witness of charity that motivated St Vincent de Paul and your founder, Jean-Léon Le Prévost, open up new paths to communicate Christ's tenderness to children, young people, workers, to life's injured and to all who need his love to start again in hope!"

"Your missionary venture was born of the experience of your founder and his companions who, through the Conferences of St Vincent de Paul of Bl. Frédéric Ozanam, discovered the sad state of workers' families, deprived of dignity and excluded from social life. The contemplation of the face of Christ in the faces of the poor of the time brought forth their desire to leave everything to bring the Gospel into the world, disfigured by the industrial revolution, by all kinds of instability and by the rejection of God and the Church, especially among young workers and those in training. Your predecessors showed that charitable deeds strongly support charitable words, as they participated in the rise of the Church's social teaching that Pope Louis XIII formulated in his Encyclical Rerum novarum." From the Vatican, 17 May 2002.

History

For eleven years, Le Prevost had committed himself to visiting the needy in their homes, to the education of young prisoners and of orphan/apprentices. Moreover, he had founded an association for impoverished families, called `the Holy Family.' Three intuitions had directed him. His experience had shown him the importance of missions in the towns, especially in the capital of France. He had also discovered that the practice of charity is the best way to reconcile the mass of workers to God and to the Church. "Divine Providence," he wrote, "wants, in our time, to save the world by charity." Finally, this type of work required the union of priest and religious brother for the evangelisation of the people. From this he understood that the works of his institute would be "essentially missionary" and that the exercise of charity, in all its forms, would be of primary importance for revealing the love of God towards all. Finally, among the Religious of St. Vincent de Paul, priests and brothers form a single spiritual and apostolic family.

Ministries

They currently work in Italy, France, Canada, Brasil Southeast Province,Brasil Northeast Region, Congo, Burkina-Faso and the Ivory Coast.

Further Resources

Religious of St. Vincent International site

Related Categories

[Category:Vincentian Family] [Category:Religious of St. Vincent]