Today is the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, the 17th century French priest renowned for his generosity in serving the poorest in society. Happy feast day!
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, named in his honor, is a Catholic lay organization founded in 1833 by Blessed Antoine Frédéric Ozanam and five other university students at the Sorbonne in Paris. Today there are over 800,000 “Vincentians” throughout the World including over 4,500 local conferences across the United States.
The Director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Lansing, Deacon Jim Kasprzak, is certainly grateful to God for the apostolic work of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul across the 10-counties that make up the Diocese of Lansing. He writes:
“On this Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, we honor a saint whose example has led to an international lay Catholic movement called the Society of St. Vincent de Paul that serves in 153 countries.”
“The members of the 30 Saint Vincent de Paul (SVDP) Conferences based in parishes in the Diocese of Lansing strive to follow Christ through service to the most vulnerable people among us.”
“The SVDP Conferences serve to meet the basic human needs of children, families and individuals, including food, assistance with rent and utility payments, bus passes, gas cards and much more.”
“During the resettlement of nearly 300 Afghan evacuees in the greater Lansing area in 2021, volunteers from several Saint Vincent de Paul conferences cooked hot meals daily for six months for these Afghan families living in temporary housing while they awaited permanent housing.”
Blessed Antoine Frédéric Ozanam, pray for us!
Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us!