St. Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) was a French priest who founded the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians, or Lazarists) in 1625 and, with St. Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity in 1633. Born at Pouy in Gascony — a village now renamed Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in his honour — the son of peasant farmers, he organized Catholic social service for the poor on a scale the modern Church had not seen. His relics are enshrined in the Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul at the Vincentian motherhouse in Paris. Patron of charities, hospitals, prisoners, and volunteers. Canonized by Clement XII in 1737.