CNA Staff, Sep 27, 2025 / 04:00 am

On Sept. 27 the Catholic Church remembers St. Vincent de Paul, the 17th-century French priest known as the patron of Catholic charities for his apostolic work among the poor and marginalized.

During a September 2010 Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI noted that St. Vincent “keenly perceived the strong contrast between the richest and the poorest of people” and was “encouraged by the love of Christ” to “organize permanent forms of service” to provide for those in need.

The exact year of Vincent’s birth is not definitively known, but it has been placed between 1576 and 1581. Born to a poor family in the southwest of France, he showed his intellectual gifts from a young age, studying theology from around age 15. He received ordination as a priest in the y

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