192 Years Serving in Hope

General Council International

Today, 23 April, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul marks its 192nd anniversary, commemorating the day when its seven founders—Emmanuel Bailly, Auguste Le Tallendier, François Lallier, Paul Lamache, Félix Clavé, Jules Devaux, and Frédéric Ozanam as the group’s leader—established the first Conference of Charity, prioritising friendship before action.

Frédéric, a model of a life devoted to goodness and truth, best embodied and carried forward the teachings of Saint Vincent de Paul, enabling their rapid spread across the globe.

An indefatigable advocate for Christianity and social justice, Frédéric Ozanam was recognised by Saint John Paul II at his beatification Mass as “a precursor of the Church’s social doctrine, which Pope Leo XIII would later develop in the encyclical Rerum novarum”. His writings, still strikingly relevant today, remain largely unknown. For this reason, the Council General is making a concerted effort to promote their dissemination.

The problems and conflicts Frédéric Ozanam faced in his time are, in many respects, strikingly similar to those we face nearly two centuries later. He did not merely identify social injustices—he proposed solutions and encouraged others, especially his friends, to step forward in defence of the most oppressed. This he expressed both in his writings and in the example of his life. For Frédéric, God’s blessing would come if we kept our faith, for by preserving it we could share it with others through the channels of charity, knowing that our primary mission is evangelisation.

This is one of the foundational messages we remember on this 192nd anniversary: that charity is not an end in itself, but the best means of spreading God’s love.

On this anniversary day, we join in the Eucharist with a special remembrance of our founders and raise, as a fraternal community, a prayer to the Lord—both in gratitude for the legacy we have inherited and for the eternal rest of the Holy Father. We are overcome with sorrow at the passing of Pope Francis, a humble shepherd and courageous defender of the poor, whose witness of service and call for a renewed Church deeply resonate with the Vincentian charism. Together with the whole Vincentian Family, we commend his soul to the Lord, thanking God for having given us such a guide in times as challenging for the world and the Church as those faced by our founders.

Juan Manuel B. Gómez
XVII President General