Our Special Way of Being Catholic
Spirituality, our Catechism teaches, is our way of living our faith. For members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, our special way of living our faith is inherited from our Patron Saint.
We can fairly summarize this rich heritage in three main tenets:
1. We do the work. Vincent famously said, “Let us love God, but let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows.” We are people of prayer and action. Neither can stand by itself, and for Vincent (and us) the cheerful willingness to roll up our sleeves, physically serve the poor, is our constant offering to Christ. It both proves our faith and feeds it.
2. We see the face of Christ in the poor. Vincent understood that when Christ put on the cloak of humanity, he could have done so in the form of a king, a general, a man of wealth and power, but he didn’t. He chose instead to walk among us as one who was poor, and who served the poor. There could be no more powerful evidence that if we seek to find Him, we need look no further than the one with his hands outstretched; the hungry one, the thirsty one, the prisoner, the naked, the sick. Christ Himself reminds us that we will be judged by how we treat the least of our brothers and sisters just as if it were done to Himself
3. We trust in Providence. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught us to “let the day’s own troubles be enough for the day.” To trust in God’s providence is not only to believe that He will provide what we need, but that He will know what it is we need, even when we may not understand it. To trust in providence is to abandon ourselves to His will, recognizing, as Vincent once said, that “God does not judge our works by their outcome but by the charity which accompanied them.” And so, as Frédéric taught, we “do all the good we can, and trust to God for the rest.”<
A Vocation for Every Part of Our Lives
But spirituality cannot limit itself to a simple set of practices. As important as it is to attend Mass, pray the rosary, and study Holy Scripture, true spirituality calls us to much more. Spirituality is our entire manner of living our faith; “not a part of life, but the whole of life,” as Pope Saint John Paul II reminds us.
As Vincentians, we walk together along a very special pathway towards holiness, towards the perfection to which Christ calls us. We live our faith in imitation of Christ, and also in imitation of our patron, Saint Vincent de Paul, who, Frédéric teaches, “is a model one must strive to imitate, as he himself imitated the model of Jesus Christ. He is a life to be carried on, a heart in which one’s own heart is enkindled, an intelligence from which light should be sought; he is a model on earth and a protector in heaven.”
We devote ourselves, in our little Society, to the spiritual practices modeled for us by Saint Vincent and all the saints and blessed of the Vincentian Family, who found holiness by seeing and serving Christ in the poor, by loving God with the strength of their arms, and by trusting fully in Divine Providence in their lives. And if these are our beliefs, as Christians, as Catholics, and as Vincentians, “let us,” as Frédéric said, “take them seriously, that our lives may be their perpetual expression.”
Spirituality Pathway
Our Patrons and Founder
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
It was about one year after the founding of the Conference of Charity that the Society adopted Saint Vincent de Paul as our Patron Saint. At the same time, and at Blessed Frédéric Ozanam’s insistence, we also adopted as our Patroness the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. At the time, the Immaculate Conception was not yet a dogma of the church, but the newly minted Medal of the Immaculate Conception (Miraculous Medal) was widely known and revered. The medal is based upon the apparition of Mary to St Catherine Labouré, a Daughter of Charity, in Paris. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, became the date of the Society’s annual meeting, and remains a Festival Meeting of the Society to this day.
Frédéric, like Vincent before him, had a very deep Marian devotion. When he was 17, he had consecrated his life to God at the shrine of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon, which is now the site of a Basilica by the same name. Throughout his many travels, he never failed to visit shrines to the Blessed Virgin in all the countries he visited. He died on the Feast of the Nativity of Mary.
St. Vincent de Paul
Founder of the Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity, the Confraternities of Charity, and the Ladies of Charity. A man of deep faith, keen intellect, and enormous creativity, St. Vincent de Paul has become known as the “The Apostle of Charity” and “Father of the Poor.” His contributions to the training of priests, organizing parish missions, and active service of the poor shaped the Church’s role in the modern world.
Read more about Vincent
Mystic of CharityBl. Frédéric Ozanam
The primary founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Frédéric was a model of lay holiness in all his roles as husband and father, professor, and servant of the poor. On his twentieth birthday, along with a group of friends, he founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul when he was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris. Frédéric’s later writings on social justice anticipated the social teachings in the encyclical Rerum Novarum.
Read More about Frédéric
Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam
Apostle in a Top Hat
The Frédéric Ozanam Story
Amélie Ozanam, A Heart with Much Love to Give
The Spirituality of Vincent and Frédéric
The Vincentian Virtues
Growing in Holiness Together
Our Rule calls us to grow in holiness together. In addition to praying together, we do this through reflection, sharing, and retreats. The materials below may be used in meetings, retreats, or for individual reading or viewing:
Vincentian Contemplations
Vincentian Reflections
Materials for Retreats
Fred Talks (Video Collection)
Retreats and Reflections (Video Collection)Prayers
500 Little Prayers for Vincentians: Purchase – Download
500 More Little Prayers for Vincentians Purchase – Download
Vincentian Saints Prayer Cards Purchase
An Extended Sign of the Cross
The Agape Prayer
A Prayer of Gratitude
Virtues Prayer
Vincentian Rosary: English – Spanish
Vincentian Stations of the Cross: English – Spanish
Opening & Closing Prayers for Conference Meetings: English – SpanishFurther Reading
The following publications are available in the online Materials Store. All of them are rich sources of readings for reflection during Conference Meetings, and for individual reading and study.
15 Days of Prayer with Blessed Fredric Ozanam
Apostolic Reflection with Rosalie Rendu
Book of Prayers by Frederic Ozanam
Faces of Holiness
Mystic of Charity
Praying with Louise de Marillac
Praying with Vincent de Paul
‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple
Turn Everything to Love
Vincentian Meditations: English – Spanish
Vincentian Meditations II
“Let us do good, let us do all the good we can, and trust to God for the rest. The will of God is fulfilled from day to day.” – Bl. Frédéric Ozanam
“How beautiful it is to see poor people if we consider them in God and with the esteem in which Jesus Christ held them!” – St. Vincent de Paul
“Let us love God, brothers, let us love God, but let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows…” – St. Vincent de Paul
“You are serving Jesus Christ in the person of the poor. And that is as true as that we are here.” – St. Vincent de Paul