Vincent de Paul
French priest, founder and saint (1581-1660) · France · Religious Figures · Died at 79
Vincent de Paul is read about 975 times a day, in 53 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A French priest who turned from enslavement in Tunisia to founding two religious orders that still operate worldwide, built around a single organizing principle: the poor weren't a problem to manage but people to serve directly.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
In their own words 5
, The reason why God is so great a lover of humility is because He is the great lover of truth; and humility is nothing but truth, whilst pride is nothing but lying.
The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.
It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible.
About this person
Ordained in 1600, Vincent de Paul was kidnapped and spent two years enslaved in Tunis before escaping in 1607. He returned to Europe and moved through parish work and a post in the French royal court, then pivoted entirely. In 1617 he founded the Ladies of Charity, and by 1622 he was chaplain to the galley slaves in Paris. He established the Congregation of the Mission in 1625 - members took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability to work in smaller towns and villages - and led retreats for clergy when local moral standards had slipped. He pioneered seminary education and in 1633 founded the Daughters of Charity. Canonized in 1737, he became the namesake of the Vincentian Family, a network of organizations that carries forward both communities he built.
Religious Figures from France 6
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