Today is the Feast Day of our patron saint: St Vincent de Paul.
Although we were not able to celebrate mass as we usually would, the school came together on Friday to share their beautiful artwork on Zoom.
Like St Vincent and his co-founder St Louise, we, too, can show our love for Christ by finding practical ways to help people in need.
All week the classes have been learning about St Vincent’s remarkable life.
Here are some of the things we have been learning about:
- St. Vincent de Paul was born to a poor French family that lived near the river “Paul” in France, hence his name “de Paul.”
- He was born into a peasant family. From a young age, Vincent showed a talent for reading and writing.
- His father sold some of the family’s livestock to send Vincent to study Theology at the University of Toulouse. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1600.
- However, in 1605, while on a ship travelling from Marseilles to Narbone, he was captured, taken to Tunis and sold as a slave. Two years later, he managed to escape and return to France.
- Vincent went to Rome to continue his studies but returned to France as a parish priest in Clichy near Paris. Here he became worried for the poor because of the terrible living conditions they faced. This work became his passion and he spent his life preaching and helping the poor.
- He raised money to provide hospitals for the poor and those in captivity.
- By 1625, he had formed a religious group to be called the Congregation of the Mission. This group worked with the poor people, helping them with food and clothing and teaching them about Christ.
- He started a second religious order with the help of his friend, Louise de Marillac. This order was the first religious group of women dedicated entirely to works of charity. This group was called the Daughters of Charity.
- St Louise was the co-founder of the Daughters of Charity and she found true happiness in her work. She established hospitals, schools, and orphanages all over France. By the time Louise died in 1660, 40 convents of the Sisters of Charity had been established. Louise was canonized in 1934 and is today the patron saint of social workers. She encouraged her beloved nuns to treat the poor as if they were serving Christ himself.
- Vincent was a person who devoted his life to not only preaching Gospel values but living them in his daily life.
- He died on 27th September, 1660, and was canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church in 1737. The religious groups he founded continue to carry on his work today.
- Today, the St Vincent de Paul charity is a voluntary Christian organisation, which is active in 150 countries worldwide.
- They dedicate their time and effort to tackling poverty and helping the disadvantaged.
- They provide support and assistance to people of all faiths, ages, races and genders.
St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School has been educating children on the present site since opening in January 1938 just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. In those days and until July 2005, the school was a much different place to now as it was guided under the Daughters of Charity. It was they who originally opened the school in Beaumont Street W1 in 1868 as a day nursery for the benefit of poor milk women, and it is from the Daughters of Charity that our school takes its name. St. Vincent de Paul was their founder and they, like him, dedicated their lives to serving the poor.
Just like St Vincent we try to serve the poor with the help of our Church community and wonderful SVPA, we also raise money for those less fortunate to us. At St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School we also help those who are poor in spirit by listening, caring and being compassionate. We have faith in Jesus and try to follow his way just like St Vincent did.
