Saint Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent de Paul was born on 24 April, 1581 to a peasant farmer family in the village of Pouy, Gascony, France. He had two sister and 4 brother. He studied under the Franciscan Fathers at the Diocese of Acqs. In 1617, he bgan his preaching mission. He was well known for his compassion, humility and generosity. He initiated the Congregation of the Mission which is a society for missionary priests also known as the Vincentians in 1625. Together with  Louise de Marillac, he founded the Daughters of Charity in 1633.

St. Vincent de Paul was respected and loved by people, he died on 27 September, 1660.
St. Vincent de Paul was declared blessed by Pope Benedict XIII in August, 1729. He was later canonized by Pope Clement XII on 16 June, 1737.

St. Vincent de Paul was a Catholic priest in the 17th-century and is the patron saint of charitable societies (patron saint Brothers and the Sisters of Charity). Due to his extensive charitable works and also being declared as the patron of charities, the International Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, or SSVP was name after him. SSVP is charitable organisation dedicated to the service of the poor. It was established 173 years after St.Vincent de Pauls death in 1833 by french university students  which was led by the Blessed Frederic Ozanam. As of current 2012, SSVP is located in almost 132 countries.

The memorial for St.Vincent de Paul is celebrated on the 27 September annually.

Official prayer of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Lord Jesus,
You who willed to become poor,
give us eyes and a heart directed toward the poor;
help us to recognize you in them-
in their thirst, their hunger, their lonliness, and their misfortune.
Enkindle within our Vincentian Family
unity, simplicity, humility,
and the fire of love
that burned in St. Vincent de Paul.
Strengthen us, so that, faithful to the practice of these virtues,
we may contemplate you and serve you in the person of the poor,
and may one day be united with you and them in your Kingdom.
Amen.


Psalm 139: 1-4, 17-18, 23-24
139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
³ You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
²⁴ And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Prayer to St. Vincent De Paul

O Glorious Saint Vincent de Paul,
The mention of your name,
Suggests a litany of your virtues:
Humility, zeal, mercy, self-sacrifice.
It also recalls
Your many foundations:
Works of Mercy,
Congregations,
Societies.

The Church gratefully remembers,
Your promotion of the priesthood.
Inspire all Charitable Workers,
Especially those who minister,
To both the spiritually
And the materially poor.

O Lord, give us the grace,
That You bestowed upon,
Your servant St. Vincent de Paul,
To relinquish the temptation,
Of material things,
In our holy effort,
To minister to the poor.

Amen.

Reading, Psalm and Gospel for 27 September 2012

Reading
Ecclesiastes 1: 2 - 11

2	Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3	What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
4	A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever.
5	The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
6	The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7	All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
8	All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9	What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.
10	Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already, in the ages before us.
11	There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after.

Psalm
Psalms 90: 3 - 6, 12 - 14, 17

3	Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, "Turn back, O children of men!"
4	For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
5	Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning:
6	in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
12	So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13	Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on thy servants!
14	Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
17	Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Gospel
Luke 9: 7 - 9

7	Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,
8	by some that Eli'jah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen.
9	Herod said, "John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?" And he sought to see him.