The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Servant and Saint of Charity
Vincent was born in 1581 in Gascony, south west France of a peasant family. He was ordained a priest at the age of twenty.
In 1610 he moved to Paris as chaplain to the Royal Household. Seeing the great poverty in Paris he realised his mission. 1617 – 1625 he established a mission to help the poorest and the outcasts of society. 1658 a rule for the mission was written and the order of the “Daughters of Charity” was founded.
In 1660 Vincent died aged 79 years. He would say “to serve the poor is to see the face of God”.
We seek to carry on his work by raising funds to help those in need locally. We meet at St Jude’s every 3 weeks on a Thursday evening in the Presbytery. We would welcome new members and if you wish to know more please contact us by phone on: 07719675167 or speak to one of us in church.
The SVP was formed in 1833 by a 20 year old student at the Sorbonne in Paris. Frederic Ozanam chose as patron St. Vincent de Paul, who had lived two hundred years earlier. The first conference in England was formed in 1845 and today there are more than 75,000 members actively working in 120 countries. You can find out more about the SVP by visiting their website: www.svp.org.uk