St. Vincent de Paul's counsel should be told and retold: If we do not continue to serve the poor, despite our tiredness and self-pity, the poor will never find it in their hearts to forgive us. read more ...

The 3rd International Meeting on the Pastoral Care of the Road took place on November 26-27, 2007 in the offices of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, at Palazzo San Calisto, Vatican City. An 8-page report has been issued, summarizing the meeting and its conclusions. read more ...

Principles, once internalized, lead to something. They prompt activity, impel motion, direct choices. A principled person always has a place to stand, know where he or she is coming from and likely to end up. Principles always lead the person who possesses them somewhere, for some purpose, to do something, or choose not to. read more ...

With the example of the very edict of the 2nd Vatican Council, we have been reminded, nay even more appropriately, Christians have been charged with the retaking of the initial forces that inspired and sheltered the vigor of those ecclesial movements at their inception. It was a universal call to probing into the stimuli that had inspired the beginnings of each movement and of the Holy Church itself, so that from that instant, from the intensity of the first hour, we launched anew into serving the world in accordance with our own vocation. The Council intended for us to detach ourselves from the debris that time had placed over the blooms that once had constituted the first goals. read more ...

In 1842, Frederic Ozanam was 29 years old. He was in the prime of his life. The St Vincent de Paul Society had been up and running for nearly 10 years. He had recently married Amelie Soulacroix, the love of his life. He had been awarded the highest honour of the University of Paris, the agrégation de lettres, and was about to be appointed professor of Foreign Literature. He hoped to complete a long-planned study of the history of European civilisation, but history itself would soon intervene. The future that meets us is rarely the future we plan for. read more ...

Antoine Frederic Ozanam embodies the best of the Catholic intellectual tradition. read more ...

This is the official prayer for the canonization of Blessed Frederic Ozanam. read more ...

Take your Rule seriously. All the parts of it. But especially the parts that call you to pray and grow closer to Christ. This Rule is a great gift precisely because it keeps you from becoming mere social workers. You are followers of Christ. And this Rule is your Way. read more ...

For the Society, like for the very Holy Church, the consideration and importance of suffering, any kind of it, are endorsed by the unique and unrepeatable condition of every human being that endures it, all of them made in the image and resemblance of the God Creator himself. read more ...

The figures of saints such as Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, John of God, Camillus of Lellis, Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, Giuseppe B. Cottolengo, John Bosco, Luigi Orione, Teresa of Calcutta to name but a few—stand out as lasting models of social charity for all people of good will. read more ...

The Church’s social teaching is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. read more ...