Today is the memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, extraordinary servant of the poor. Some links:

The Catholic Encyclopedia article on St. Vincent

Most intriguingly, the Vincentians have a Wiki-type site with LOTS of articles. It’s a really excellent use of the Wiki model, because what they’ve done is construct a site that’s essentially a clearing house for the many, many folks involved in Vincentian-related ministries around the world. The VinceWiki has not only information articles about the history of the movement and organizations, but a place to post news about Vincentian ministries and so on.

A couple of spots in the VinceWiki I particularly liked:

Vincentian Heritage Places – spots associated with Vincentian history

This comprehensive guide to the Vincentian family – the orders and groups that have been birthed from the vision of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marrillac

(the Wiki is in progress, and has gaps, but still, it’s a good resource)

Many people think that St. Vincent de Paul founded the Vincent de Paul Society, branches of which you find in moth town where there are Catholics, a group dedicated to charitable acts. He didn’t – it was founded, inspired by his example and spirituality, by Blessed Frederic Ozanam, a French married layman in the 19th century.

A good bio of Blessed Frederic

The cause for the beatification of Frederic Ozanam, the principal founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, was introduced on 15 March 1925 in the diocese of Paris and on 12 January 1954 in Rome.

Pope John Paul II proclaimed him "Venerable" on 6 July 1993 by decreeing his virtues heroic.

Three years later, on 25 June 1996, he signed the decree recognising the miracle of 2 February 1926 that occurred through the intercession of Ozanam on behalf of an eighteen month old baby who was suffering from violent diphtheria. Fernando Luiz Benedetto Ottoni, who was healed, is still alive.

The Holy Father carried out the beatification on 22 August 1997 at Notre Dame in Paris, during his visit for the World Day of Youth.

Frederic Ozanam, already venerated throughout the world, will thus be proposed as an example to lay people, particularly young people today, seeking social, moral and spiritual guidelines.

Did John Paul II not say in his message to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1983, the year of the 150th anniversary of its foundation, that it was necessary "to thank God for the gift that he made to the Church in the person of Ozanam. We are still astonished by everything that he was able to undertake during the course of his life, that was too quickly consumed, for the Church, for society, for the poor, this student, this professor, this family man of burning faith and genius in the service of charity. His name remains associated with that of St. Vincent de Paul who two centuries earlier had founded the Ladies of Charity, without the same being established for men. How could we not wish that the Church would place Ozanam among its Blessed and its Saints?"

Oh, back to St. Vincent. Two more tidbits:

Steven Greydanus’ review of the 1947 French biopic (based on a popular biography) Monsieur Vincent

St. Vincent de Paul’s body is on display in the chapel at Maison-Mère in Paris.