00:00Vincent de Paul was born in Gascony, a rural region of France at the end of the 16th century.
00:07Born into a modest peasant family, he was ordained a priest at a young age, initially hoping for a comfortable life and honors.
00:15But life had other plans for him.
00:18Defining encounters will transform his vocation.
00:22He becomes aware of the immense spiritual and material misery of poor peasants and convicts,
00:27his convicts chained to the galleys.
00:31This performance touches him deeply.
00:34Vincent cannot remain indifferent.
00:37Rather than preaching from the pulpit, he chose to act.
00:41This is the beginning of a charity revolution.
00:44He founded the Congregation of the Mission, better known as the Lazarists,
00:49priests dedicated to the evangelization of the countryside and the service of the poor.
00:54But he goes even further.
00:56Together with Saint Louise de Marillac, he created the Daughters of Charity.
01:02It was an incredible innovation for its time.
01:05Nuns who do not live cloistered in a monastery,
01:09but they go out into the world to treat the sick.
01:12to assist the dying and educate abandoned children.
01:16They are their monastery, the homes for the sick.
01:20their cell, a rented room,
01:23their chapel, the parish church,
01:27their cloister, the streets of the city.
01:30Vincent also organizes charitable brotherhoods,
01:34composed of lay people, to structure aid to those in need.
01:38He fights to improve the living conditions of galley slaves.
01:42s'oppupe des enfants trouvés,
01:43and put in place massive aid during the famines and wars that ravaged France.
01:50He does not hesitate to challenge the powerful
01:52so that they open their eyes to the misery and remedy it.
01:57What we remember about Vincent de Paul today,
02:00It is much more than a pious figure.
02:02He is the architect of organized charity,
02:06effective and respectful of human dignity.
02:10He showed that faith is not only lived through prayer.
02:14but in practical terms, serving the most disadvantaged,
02:17seeing in them the suffering Christ.
02:21His work, embodied by thousands of Lazarists
02:24and Daughters of Charity throughout the world,
02:27continues to inspire millions of people
02:30to make compassion and action the pillars of their lives.
02:34THANKS.
02:35THANKS.
02:35THANKS.
02:37THANKS.
