Society of St. Vincent de Paul

THE SOCIETY OF St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by a student at the University of Paris, evolved into an international organization of Roman Catholics dedicated to the relief of the impoverished. Springing from the ruins of the French Revolution and the political and economic turmoil of the early 19th century, the society offered a concrete response to those who doubted the role of religion in modern society. In founding the group, Frédéric Ozanam (1813–53), a young law student and later professor of literature, responded to the challenge that Catholics ought to demonstrate their faith through charitable works, not just through prayer and attendance at church. The organization began with eight young men who visited needy families, taking them food, firewood, and other supplies. They named their group the Conference of Charity, eventually becoming known as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul after taking for their patron the famous 16th-century French saint and model of charity. From the beginning the organization was remarkable for its lay character. The members and leadership of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul were not clergy or members of religious orders.

Though they were nonordained men, the spiritual character of the society was paramount. Members committed themselves to following a simple rule that upheld the privacy of those being aided while providing person-to-person assistance. The members prayed together at every meeting, emphasizing the necessity of prayer in lifting up people from poverty as well as the spiritual benefits they hoped to obtain. The members of the society closely linked Christ to the poor, believing that when they served the poor, they were in fact serving Jesus Christ himself.

The model devised by Ozanam in which a handful of Catholic men would join together to respond to the material needs of their neighbors spread rapidly. Individual conferences of the society were formed from parish churches, schools, and even places of employment. The society reached Italy in 1842; England in 1844; Belgium, Scotland, and the United States in 1845; and Germany, Holland, Greece, Turkey, and Mexico in 1846. By 1860 the society counted 2,500 conferences internationally, with more than 50,000 members. In 1933, 100 years after its founding, there were 12,000 conferences and more than 200,000 members, and by 2000 there were almost 900,000 members spread among 46,000 conferences in 130 countries on five continents. An all-male organization since its founding, the society admitted women as members beginning in 1968.

The society's members have embraced Ozanam's vision that no work of charity be foreign to them. Consequently, members of the society, known as Vincentians, [Page 1007]have taken on work as diverse as educational and technical training; visiting the sick, homebound, and prisoners; dispensing free or low-cost pharmaceuticals; offering emergency assistance with rent, food, and utilities; and locating work for the unemployed. Though members of the society are frequently volunteers with little background in social service, the activity of the society has become increasingly specialized in recent years, relying on professionals as well as volunteers to manage a vast network of food pantries, pharmacies, thrift stores, and educational centers. However, unlike other organizations, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is largely decentralized, with funding and volunteers coming from the same neighborhoods as those served.

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