Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) – The Vincentian Family has promoted March 5 to 7, at the Paul VI Foundation of Madrid, a congress to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the death of their founders, St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and St. Louise de Marillac (1591-1660 ). Among the speakers is the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul, Fr. Gregory Gay, and Archbishop Francisco Perez, Archbishop of Pamplona-Tudela and National Director of Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain. The Congress concludes on Sunday, March 7th with a concelebrated Mass at 1pm presided by Cardinal Antonio María Rouco, Archbishop of Madrid.
The Congress is one of many activities organized for the 350th anniversary of the death of the founders, to whom the Congregation has devoted to a special new section of the website of the Vincentian Family, which contains a rich calendar of celebrations at an international level, the international publication "Charity-Mission," an invitation to the celebration in Paris (14 March 2010) and the one in Rome, at the Basilica of St. Peter (25 September 2010), as well as a letter from the Superior General for the occasion and other information on the Vincentian Family.
St. Vincent's goal was to evangelize the poor. And he used all the resources necessary to achieve this goal. For this reason, he did not hesitate in Chatillon, to ask distinguished ladies to organize charity services, nor did he hesitate to ask for financial support from influential people of the Court for his poor, nor was he intimidated by asking the Prime Minister Mazarin to leave his office, given the poverty that plagued Paris, even though this request would cost him expulsion. "To see the suffering of someone and not participate with him in his misery, means to be a fake Christian, it means not having human sensitivity and becoming worse than animals," said St. Vincent. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 05/03/2010)
