Pope to Vincentians: Your founder's vision of service brings renewal to the Church

Pope to Vincentians: Your founder’s vision of service brings renewal to the Church

Vatican news

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Mission of Saint Vincent de Paul, Pope Francis sends a letter to the Superior General, highlighting the founder’s example of service to the poor.

Vatican News

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Mission of Saint Vincent de Paul, Pope Francis sent a letter to the Superior General, Fr. Tomaž Mavric. He highlights how the “service of Christ in the poor” brings renewal in the Church today.

This service can take the form of “missionary discipleship and assistance to those in need and the abandoned in the many peripheries of the world.”

A centuries-old mission

In his letter, Pope Francis recalls the beginnings of the Congregation – founded on April 17, 1625 – and highlights how Saint Vincent de Paul transmitted a heritage of spirituality, apostolic zeal and pastoral concern.

“I hope that the celebrations of the fourth centenary will underline the importance of Saint Vincent’s vision of Christ’s service to the poor for the renewal of the Church in our time,” the Pope writes.

He hopes that the example of the founder “will particularly inspire young people who, with their enthusiasm, their generosity and their concern to build a better world, are called to be bold and courageous witnesses of the Gospel among their peers and wherever they are found.”

Different expressions of the Vincentian Family

For 400 years, people of all cultures and backgrounds have followed St. Vincent’s way of life – from St. Francis Regis and St. Justin de Jacobis to St. Catherine Labouré and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Today, the Vincentian Family includes more than 100 branches of priests, brothers, sisters and lay people. Regardless of which branch they belong to, their mission remains the same: to participate in and create charitable works and to assist in the spiritual guidance and formation of clergy and laity.

An example is the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. In his letter, Pope Francis calls this organization “an extraordinary force for good in the service of the poor, with hundreds of thousands of members around the world.”

A Vincentians volunteer distributing food to the homeless near St. Peter's Basilica during the COVID pandemic

A Vincentians volunteer distributing food to the homeless near St. Peter’s Basilica during the COVID pandemic

The Pope also takes note of two other expressions of the Vincentian lifestyle: the “Confraternities of Charity,” now known as the International Association of Charity or Vincentian Volunteers, and the “Daughters of Charity.”

As Pope Francis points out, the latter is “a revolutionary form of women’s community” because St. Vincent encouraged women to go out and care for the poor and sick.

Model your life on St. Vincent

At the end of the letter, the Pope gives his apostolic blessing and assures the Congregation of his prayers. He expresses his desire that they can be inspired by their founder and continue to model their life and work on the mission that Saint Vincent entrusted to the first members of the Congregation:

“Courage then, brothers, let us dedicate ourselves with renewed love to the service of the poor, seeking the most miserable and the most abandoned. Let us acknowledge before God that they are our lords and masters, and that we are not worthy to offer them our humble services.

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