St Vincent de Paul Essay

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St. Vincent de Paul, good works, is a society of members and volunteers who live out their faith and good will to work hard and provide support to those of the less needy. St. Vincent de Paul was founded on April 23rd, 1833 by Frederic Ozanam, a young man who had become deeply moved by the despairing state of families who had been left without any support after the epidemic of cholera that swept throughout Paris in 1832. Frederic and a group of other men were determined to assist the poor to help them with bettering their lives. The group of young men drew up a comment “What can seven young men hope to achieve in alleviating the suffering of Paris?” It was with this that the young group of men adopted the name of their Society; St Vincent de Paul; after the patron saint of Christian Charity. Within a year of the start of the charity the member ship expanded to 100 and after a decade the St. Vincent de Paul society had spread to over 48 cities in France and Italy with over 9,000 members, then reached Rome in 1842, England in 1844, Belgium, Scotland and Ireland in 1845, the United States in 1846 and then finally Australia in 1854 leading to where the St. Vincent de Paul society is today. Currently having 950,000 active members working internationally in over 148 countries and 40,000 volunteers and 2000 paid staff in Australia, St Vincent de Paul society visits over 300,000 bleak homes and 800,000 despairing people are assisted via the specialised work and services that the society provides. St Vincent de Pauls vision is to aspire to be recognised as a caring Catholic charity offering “a hand up” to people in need. To do this by respecting their dignity, sharing hope, and encouraging people to take control of their own destiny. It is their mission to be a Christian voluntary organisation, working with the poor and disadvantaged people. To be inspired by the

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