Vincentian Saints and Blesseds

In the more than 300 years since Saints Vincent and Louise lived in service to the Poor, many have been inspired to walk in their footsteps.

St. Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent de Paul was a 17th century priest whose influence is still being felt today through the more than 2 million people who are inspired by him and serve in the many Vincentian organizations.

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St. Louise de Marillac

As a wife, mother, teacher, nurse, social worker, mentor, spiritual leader, and foundress, St. Louise de Marillac stands as a model to all women.

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Bl. Jean-Charles Caron

A Congregation of the Mission priest who refused to sign the Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution, Jean-Charles Caron was martyred.

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Bl. Nicolas ColinNicolas Colin was driven from his presbytery and replaced by a priest loyal to the Civil Constitution. He is known to have said: “...as reward for my fidelity to the faith, hunger, exile, prison and, perhaps even death itself.”

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Bl. Marie-Anne Vaillot

Marie-Anne Vaillot comforted Odile Baumgarten as they were waiting execution by saying “We will have the happiness of seeing God and possessing him for all eternity... and we will be possessed by him without fear of being ever separated from him.”

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St. Francis Regis Clet

St. Francis Regis Clet was a Vincentian priest who in 1820 was found guilty of deceiving the Chinese people by preaching Christianity and was sentenced to strangulation on a cross.

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Bl. Odile Baumgarten

Odile Baumgarten “was regarded to be one of the strongest opponents of the revolutionary ideas, and believed to have influenced many other sisters to resist what the civil authorities wanted to do.”

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Bl. Louis Joseph François

Louis Joseph François “was one of the most zealous and best defenders of the Catholic religion against the oath demanded from priests by the French National Assembly.” He was thrown out of a window, where a group of women battered him to death with wooden clubs, for his faith.

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Bl. Jean-Henri Gruyer“Saint Louis parish was taken over by priests who had taken the oath of fidelity to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which asserted that the Pope had no authority in France and provided for election of bishops and priests by panels of citizens.” Jean-Henri Gruyer left and went to Paris to ask for temporary accommodation in Saint-Firmin only to be held captive and killed within a day.

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Bl. Pierre-René Rogue

Pierre-René Rogue accepted state money for priestly ministry for “his view was that he had done the work and therefore should be paid.” During the troubles of the Revolution, he convinced the superior of the seminary not to take an oath to be loyal to the state, the law and the King.

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St. Joan Antida Thouret

St. Joan Antida Thouret’s desire to commit herself to Christ and to her religious vocation gave her the courage to flee France during the chaos of the French Revolution, on foot and alone.

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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

The first United States-born canonized Saint and foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s, the first community of religious women founded in the United States, are attributed to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She was a wife, mother, then a widow, and a teacher.

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Bl. Rosalie Rendu

“Her example encouraged her Sisters. She often told them: ‘Be a milestone where all those who are tired have the right to lay down their load.’” Sr. Rosalie was sought out by schools and organizations performing good works (such as the first conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society) for advice.

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Bl. Ghebre-Michael

Ghebre Michael was a disciple of Justin de Jacobis who died as a Vincentian seminarist. He was an African convert who died as a prisoner because he would not renounce his faith.

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St. Justin de Jacobis

St. Justin de Jacobis was one of the first Italian missionary Vincentian Priests to go to Ethiopia, a Christian country that had slipped into schism and heresy. Under resentment from Paris because he was not French, he integrated into the Ethiopian culture and is considered an apostle to Africa.

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Bl. Marco Antonio Durando

One initiative of Marco Antonio Durando was the propagation of the Marian Association of the Miraculous Medal among young people. The Association became a fertile ground for vocations; in only ten years, 260 young women of the area joined the Daughters of Charity.

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St. John Gabriel Perboyre

A missionary priest and martyr of the Congregation of the Mission, St. John Gabriel Perboyre was tortured by the Chinese. He declared “I would sooner die than deny my faith!”

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St. Catherine Labouré

The Blessed Mother displayed herself to St. Catherine Labouré and described the images to be put on medallions that we know as the Miraculous Medal. She told her that “All who wear them will receive great graces.”

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Bl. Frédéric Ozanam

This brilliant, sensitive young man of middle class background was confronted daily by the misery of the working poor of Paris, immortalized in Puccini's La Boheme. He and a group of students founded the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which now has 700,000 members in 142 countries.

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Bl. Némésia Valle

"Jesus, empty me of myself, let me be clothed in you. Jesus, for you I live and for you I die..." was a prayer said by Némésia Valle throughout her life.

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Bl. Salvatore Micalizzi

A Congregation of the Mission priest, Salvatore Micalizzi “preached numerous missions and had particular interest in ongoing formation of priests.”

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Bl. Contardo Ferrini

Contardo Ferrini said "If on any particular day we do nothing more than give a little joy to a neighbor, that day will not be wasted. For we have succeeded in giving comfort to an immortal soul."

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Bl. Giuseppina Nicoli

Giuseppina Nicoli as a Daughter of Charity worked in religious education for the needy of all ages along with girls from wealthy families. She provided a model of direct service to the poor.

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St. Agostina Pietrantoni

Saint Agostina Pietrantoni, a Sister of Charity of Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret, was attacked and killed by a patient she cared for as she uttered words of forgiveness and invocations to Mary.

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Bl. Anna Marta Wiecka

Sister Marta Anna Wiecka learned that a hospital worker who was a young father had been given the job of disinfecting the room of someone sick with highly contagious typhoid fever. She volunteered to take the place of the young man, and she became ill with typhoid fever.

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Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati

As a child, Pier Giorgio Frassati once answered the door of the family home to find a mother begging; her son, shoeless, was with her. Pier Giorgio gave the boy his own shoes.

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St. Gianna Beretta Molla

St. Gianna Beretta Molla placed the life of her unborn child before her own. She is the patron saint for mothers, preborn children and physicians.

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Bl. Lindalva Justo De Oliveira

For defending her virginity, Lindalva Justo De Oliveira, Daughter of Charity was brutally murdered by a resident were she worked.

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Bl. Ceferino Giménez Malla

A member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, he was martyred on 9 August 1936 in Spain. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil in July 1936, Ceferino saw a priest being arrested and spoke up on the priest's behalf. The soldiers turned on him and he was eventually executed.

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